Current Affairs : October 31

1. Recommending sweeping reforms in the functioning of the bureaucracy in the country, a bench led by Justice K S Radhakrishnan said that the Parliament must enact a law to regulate postings, transfers and disciplinary action against bureaucrats.

2. United Nations Chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for prevention of Chemical weapons (OPCW) has said that Syria's declared equipments for producing, mixing and filling chemical weapons has been entirely destroyed.

3. Four Public Sector Enterprises including Bharat Coking Coal Limited were awarded the Turnaround Awards for 2013. The other Public Sector Enterprises, which bagged the award are National Film Development Corporation Limited, National Projects Construction Corporation Limited and SAIL Refractory Unit.

4. Global emissions of carbon dioxide may be showing the first signs of a "permanent slowdown" in the rate of increase. According to a new report, emissions in 2012 increased at less than half the average over the past decade.

5. Nuclear scientists are being urged by the former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to develop thorium as a new fuel.

6. Saudi Arabia stunned the United Nations and even some of its own diplomatson Friday by rejecting a highly coveted seat on the Security Council, a decision that underscored the depth of Saudi anger over what the monarchy sees as weak and conciliatory Western stances toward Syria and Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival.

7. S. Masood Ahmed, chief scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), here has won the K.K. Menon Award for 2013.

8. The Union Cabinet of India on 30 October 2013 gave its approval for declaring the Bhubaneswar and Imphal airports as international airports to fulfill the long pending demand of people as well as the State Governments of Odisha and Manipur.

9. India has slipped by five places to 106th spot, way below neighbouring Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and China in the World Prosperity Index, largely due to poor ''safety and security'' environment.

10. Business magazine Forbes has announced German chancellor Angela Merkel as the most powerful woman in the world for the third successive year. Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian president, is just behind Merkel in second place with Melinda Gates, co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation in third.

Halloween Witch interactive Google doodle to spook you out

Happy Halloween! The Halloween Witch has checked into Googleplex, thanks to the interactive doodle featured on the Google home page on Thursday, October 31.

The Google doodle features a witch flipping through pages of a book about witchcraft. The witch then starts brewing a potion and four interactive buttons with images of a bone, skull, a glass bottle and an apple appear. Adding a combination of any two ingredients by clicking on them results in appearance of different Halloween related animated visuals appearing including pumpkins, white ghost spirits, slides and coffins with mummies, among others. The visuals are also accompanied by a spooky sound.

In addition to the interactive doodle, Google has also added quirky easter eggs for search terms like 'witch','ghost', 'evil' 'robot', 'skeleton', and 'grim reaper' among others. On searching for these terms Google offers fun light-hearted trivia on these in its knowledge graph box located at the right hand side.

Halloween or 'All Hallows Eve' is celebrated in many countries on October 31. The festival is thought to have been influenced by All Saints' Day marked as November 1 and All Souls Day falling on November 2. Halloween came to America only during the 19th century after the mass Scottish and Irish immigration.

Pumpkins are considered to be synonymous with Halloween, however,  traditionally people in living in Ireland and Scotland used to engrave Turnips. Immigrants to America started to use pumpkins as they were bigger, softer and thus easier to crave than turnips.

Some of the common Halloween activities include trick or treating by children dressed in their favourite costumes, costume parties, pumpkin carving contests and even playing pranks. Keeping up with the spooky theme, people usually dress up as supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, or devils. Have you picked out your Halloween costume yet?

Ministers of State with Independent Charge

1 Ministry of Women and Child Development Smt. Krishna Tirath
2 Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Prof. K.V. Thomas
3 Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Shri Srikant Jena
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
4 Ministry of Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan
5 Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region Shri Paban Singh Ghatowar
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
6 Ministry of Power Shri Jyotiradiya Madhavrao Scindia
7 Ministry of Micro , Small and Medium Enterprises Shri K.H. Muniyappa
8 Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri Bharatsinh Solanki
9 Ministry of Corporate Affairs Shri Sachin Pilot
10 Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Jitendra Singh
Ministry of Defence
11 Ministry of Information and Broadcasting . Shri Manish Tewari
12 Ministry of Tourism Dr. K. Chiranjeevi

Writs - Provisions in Indian Constitution

1. Habeas Corpus---To release a person who has been detained unlawfully whether in prison or in private custody.

2. Mandamus---To secure the performance of public duties by lower court, tribunal or public authority.

3. Certiorari---To quash the order already passed by an inferior court, tribunal or quasi judicial authority.

4. Prohibition---To prohibit an inferior court from continuing the proceedings in a particular case where it has no jurisdiction to try.

5. Quo Warranto---What is your authority? To restrain a person from holding a public office which he is not entitled

List of Indian Railway Ministers

1947 (Nov.) John Mathai (not formally designated the Minister for Railways) presents the first Railway budget for independent India
1948-1952 N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar; worked on consolidating the various railways into the zonal railways
1952-1956 Lal Bahadur Shastri; resigned in 1956 taking responsibility for three fatal railway accidents
1956-1962 Jagjivan Ram
1962 Sardar Swaran Singh
1967?? Kengal Hanumanthaiah (Note: Some sources suggest he was Railway Minister later, in 1971). Ram Sew Singh is also mentioned in some sources as a railway minister in 1966-1968, he may not have been a Cabinet minister for railways.
1968 Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha
1969 Govinda Menon Panampilly
1970-1971 Gulzari Lal Nanda Note: Kengal Hanumanthaiah may have been the Railway Minister briefly in 1971.
1972-1973 Tonse Ananth Pai
1973-1975 Lalit Narayan Mishra; killed by a bomb blast 2-Jan-1975, at the opening of a railway line in Samastipur.
1975-1977 Kamlapati Tripathi (again briefly in 1980?)
1977-1979 Prof. Madhu Dandavate
1980-1981 Kedar Pandey (Kamlapathi Tripathi briefly in 1980)
(1981?) 1982-1984 ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury.
1984 Bansi Lal; his was a brief stint during a reorganization of some ministries and government departments
(1985?) 1984-1989 Madhav Rao Scindia
1989-1990 George Fernandes
1990-1991 Jnaneshwar Mishra; very short tenure
1991-1995 C K Jaffer Sharief
1995-1996 Suresh Kalmadi (briefly), followed by Atal Behari Vajpayee also briefly, who held the Railways portfolio along with being PM.
1996-1998 Ram Vilas Paswan
1998-1999 Nitish Kumar
2000 Mamata Banerjee
2001-2004 Nitish Kumar
2004-2009 Laloo Prasad Yadav
2009- Mamata Banerjee

Interesting matter in "The Vedic Age (1500-600 BC)"

VIEW ON ORIGINÁL HOME OF ARYANS -
1. Europe - Sir W. Jones
2. Central Asia - Max Muller
3. Arctic Region - Bal Gangadhar Tilak
4. Tibet Region - Dayanand Saraswati

THE VEDAS -
1. Rigveda - A collection of hymns
2. Samaveda - A collection of songs
3. Yajurveda - A collection of sacrificial formulae
4. Atharvaveda - A collection of spells and charms

UPVEDAS -
1. Gandharvada - Dance, drama, music
2. Ayurveda - Medicine
3. Shilpveda - Art and Architecture
4. Dhanurveda - Art of warfare

BANKING AND FINANCIAL ABBREVIATIONS

*.ADB :Asian Development Bank
*.ADTV: Average Daily Trading Volumes
*.ACR : Actual Cost Report
*.AOC : Annual Operating Cost
*.BIFR : Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction
*.BOT : Balance of Trade
*.BOP : Balance of Payments
*.BSE : Bombay Stock Exchange
*.CAC : Capital Account Convertibility
*.CACP : Commission for Agricultural Cost Prices(Fixes MSP)
*.CCEA : Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
*.OPCD : Organization Economic Co-Operative Development
*.CPI : Consumer Price Index
*.CRISIL : Credit Rating Information Services Of India Ltd
*.CRM : Customer Relationship Management
*.EA : Economic Analysis
*.EBT : Earnings before Tax
*.ECI : Employment Cost Index
*.ELSS : Equity linked savings scheme
*.EPS : Earning Per Square
*.ESOP : Employee Stock Option Plans
*.EPZ : Export Processing Zone
*.IIP : Index of Industrial Production
*.FSDC : Financial Stability Development Counsil
*.FATF : Financial Action Test Force
*.FSB : Financed Stability Board
*.FDI : Foreign Direct Investments
*.FII : Foreign Institutional Investers
*.FEMA : Foreign Exchange Management Act
*.FIPB : Foreign Investment Promotion Board
*.FPI : Fixed Price Incentive
*.FPO : Follow on Public Offer
*.FTA : Free Trade Agreement
*.FCCB : Foreign Currency Convertable Bonds
*.FRBM Act : Fiscal Responsibility And Budget Management Act
*.GDP : Gross Domestic Product
*.GDR : Global Depository Receipt
*.GNP : Gross National Product
*.GST : Goods and Service Tax
*.IBRD : International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
*.ICRA : Indian Credit Rating Agency
*.IPO : Initial Public Offer
*.IPR : Intellectual Property Rights
*.IRDA : Insurance Regulatory Development Authority
*.JSC : Joint Stock Company
*.LLP : Limited Liability Partnership
*.HDI : Human Development Index
*.MAT : Minimum Alternative Tax
*.MFI : Micro Finance Institution
*.MFN : Most favoured Nation
*.MNC : Multinational Company
*.MSP : Minimum Support Price
*.MOU : Memorandum Of Understanding
*.NAV : Net Asset Value
*.NCD : Non Convertable Debuntures
*.NGO : Non-Government Organisation
*.NRC : Non Recurring Cost
*.NRI : Non-Resident Indian
*.NSE : National Stock Exchange
*.NSSO : National Sample Survey Organisation
*.PPP : Purchasing Power Parity & Public Priveate Partnership
*.PSU : Public Sector Undertakings
*.QIB : Qualified Institutional Borrower
*.SEBI : Securities and Exchange Board of India
*.RIDF : Rural Infrastructural Development Fund
*.ROCE : Return On Capitol Employed
*.SARFAESI : Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest
*.SDR : Special Drawing Right
*.SDR :Special Drawing Right
*.SEBI :Securities and Exchange Board of India
*.SFC :State Financial corporation
*.VAT : Value Added Tax
*.WPI : Wholesale Price Index
*.PPI : Producer Price Index
*.SEZ : Special Economic Zone
*.SHG : Self-Help Group
*.SME : Small and Medium Enterprises
*.SDDS :Special Data Dissemination Standards

New Appointments From March 2013-JUNE 2013

1. Amol Rajan appointed as Independent editor.
2. Bobby Ghosh is Time International editor.
3. Kamala Devi Harris is an American attorney.
4. Senate approves James Comey as new FBI director.
5. Susan Rice named as Obama’s new National Security Advisor.
6. Haryana cadre IPS Sharad Kumar to be new NIA chief.
7. Shashi Kant Sharma, an IAS officer of the 1976 batch from Bihar cadre———– CAG of India .
8. P. Sathasivam takes oath as new Chief Justice of India
9. World Trade Organization names Brazilian as new chief———Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo.
10. Antigua’s Ambassador to the United Nations, John Ashe, has been elected President of the United Nations General Assembly.
11. Obama Names Veteran Troubleshooter to Afghanistan-Pakistan Post———–James F. Dobbins.
12. Siddha Ramaiah sworn in as new Karnataka chief minister ——- 22nd .
13. Indian High Commissioner to Maldives Rajeev Shahare.
14. Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
15. Priyadarshini Govind appointed director of Kalakshetra.
16. Sunil Soni appointed Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards.
17. Hemant Soren becomes Jharkhand CM, heads 9th government in 13 years.
18. Jiji Thomson. Director General, SAI.
19. NRI Sunil Chopra elected as the Deputy Mayor of a London Borough.
20. Kushal Singh appointed as NCPCR chairperson—National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
21. Laxman Singh Rathore, the Director General of Meteorology & Permanent Representative of India with World Meteorological Organization.
22. Subhash Kumar appointed as the New Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand.
23. Krishnakumar Natarajan—————— NASSCOM Chairman
24.Som Mittal————————– NASSCOM President
25. Dr Manmohan Singh appoints Rentala Chandrasekhar as NTRO chief—National Technical Research Organisation.
26. Senior IPS officer Krishna Chaudhary ——— Director General, National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence.
27. New chief of Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme——— S Sundareshan.
28. Qatar’s new young emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
29. N. R. Narayana Murthy———————-(Executive Chairman) Infosys
30. S. D. Shibulal——————————–(CEO & MD) Infosys
31. S. Gopalakrishnan-(Executive Vice Chairman, former Co-Chairman) Infosys
32. K. Vaman Kamath is the Lead Independent Director of Infosys Limited , Infosys
33. E.K. Bharat Bhushan has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Kerala.
34. Hindustan Times has appointed Nicholas Dawes, editor-in-chief of Mail and Guardian (M&G), a leading South African paper.
35. Tomas Brunegård, chairman of Sweden’s Stampen Media Group, is the new president of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
36. Foreign Minister of Argentina Mr. Hector Marcos.
37. Pak Pong-ju served as the Premier of North Korea since elected by the DPRK’s Supreme People’s Assembly.
38. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the 25th and current Prime Minister of Turkey.
39. Hassan Rohani is Iran’s president.
40. Foreign Minister of Cuba Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla..
41. Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti has appointed Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan as chief executive officer.
42. Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak is a Malaysian politician who has been the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
43. Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj is the 4th and current President of Mongolia.
44. Amisha Sethi appointed chief commercial officer at AirAsia India .
45. AirAsia’s chief executive officer Tony Fernandes .
46. AirAsia India CEO Mittu Chandilya.
47. AirAsia India appoints TCS’ S Ramadorai as Chairman.
48. Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata will be the chief advisor to the board of AirAsia India.
49. AirAsia has been named the World’s Best and Asia’s Best Low Cost Airline .
50. Tony Fernandes announced as new owner of Queens Park Rangers.
51. Cabinet Secretary——————— Shri Ajit Kumar Seth .
52. Union home secretary—————- Anil Goswami .
53. Secretary of Defense—————- R K Mathur .
54. Foreign Secretary——————- Sujatha Singh.
55. Union finance secretary ————- Rajiv Takru .
56. Economic Affairs Secretary———- Arvind Mayaram .
57. Information and broadcasting (I&B) secretary——–Bimal Julka
58. Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)——M F Farooqui
59. PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq elected Speaker of Pak Parliament.
60. Moin Khan, the former Pakistan captain and wicketkeeper, has been appointed the chief selector of the Pakistan national cricket team.
61. Najam Sethi named PCB’s interim chairman.
62. Kanji Ram became only the second Hindu to be part of the Pakistan’s Punjab assembly after Seth Bharta Ram.
63. Pakistan High Commissioner in India———Salman Bashir .
64. Raja Zafrul Haq———chairman of PML-N.
65. TCA Raghavan is India’s new envoy to Pakistan.
66. Arunachal Pradesh— Nirbhay Sharma – 29 May 2013
67. Bihar————————– D. Y. Patil – 9 March 2013
68. Kerala———————–Nikhil Kumar 9 March 2013
69. Meghalaya—————————K. K. Paul – 1 July 2013
70. Nagaland————— Ashwani Kumar – 9 March 2013
71. Odisha—————– S. C. Jamir 9 March 2013
72. Sikkim——- Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil – 1 July 2013
73. Tripura———– Devanand Konwar – 9 March 2013
74. Andaman and Nicobar Islands Lieutenant-Governor A. K. Singh – 1 July 2013
75. Delhi—- Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung – 1 July 2013
76. Puducherry—— Lieutenant-Governor Virendra Kataria – 1 July 2013
77. Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
78. Paraguayan president Federico Franco (Colorado Party ).
79. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro offered asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
80. Parliamentary Speaker Abdul Hamid sworn in as Bangladesh President to replace Zillur Rahman, who died.
81. .Infosys’ S Gopalakrishnan is the new CII President.
82. Secretary in Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) ———- Amarjit Singh .
83. Axis new President – Retail Banking —————– Rajiv Anand
84. Shri Sunil Kumar has taken over as Managing Director, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).
85. Senior IAS officer Sudhir Bhargava was Tuesday appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
86. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien unanimously elected the Chairman of the prestigious Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) in Bangkok.
87. N. N. Vohra His Excellency Governor of Jammu & Kashmir & Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.
88. New head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission ——- Mary Jo White
89. N Ravi, Director of Kasturi and Sons Limited, publisher of “The Hindu” newspaper, has been unanimously elected President of the Editors Guild of India.
90. Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Arjan Kumar Sikri and Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Sharad Arvind Bobde as new judges of Supreme Court.
91. Ajay S Shriram, chairman and senior managing director of DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd (DSCL) is president designate of CII for the year 2013-2014.
92. Ms. Rashida Manjoo (South Africa) was appointed as UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women.
93. Narendra Kumar has taken over as Managing Director of Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL).
94. Raninder Singh re-elected president of National Rifle Association of India.
95. Jeev Milkha Singh becomes Volvo India brand ambassador.
96. Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA new chairman ————– Amarnath Sengupta .
97. The Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) Vice Chairman ————- P. Devadas
98. Hockey India set to appoint foreign goalkeeping coach————Greg Clarke (junior men’s team coach).
99. Sania Mirza joins Indian Tennis Players Association as Vice President.
100. Chairman of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) —– Amitava Bhattacharyya .
101. Computer Society of India elected H.R. Mohan as its Vice-President-Cum-President.
102. Sikkimese woman who captained the U.S. Army————Former Sikkimese Chief Minister Narbahadur Bhandari’s daughter Perilla Bhandari Swartz .
103. Delhi-born Sunil Chopra elected as the Deputy Mayor of London Borough.
104. Ajay Devgn, Bangladeshi singer Runa Laila and Oscar-winning Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy have been named as SAARC Goodwill Ambassadors for HIV/AIDS.
105. Cognizant CEO Francisco D’Souza gets over $10-mn pay package.
106. Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa will run Asian football for the next two years after the Bahraini won a three-way election for the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
107. P Sathasivam to be new Chief Justice of India.
108. National President of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) ——————————— C. Shekhar Reddy .
109. Chief Justice for High Court of Himachal Pradesh ——– Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar .
110. Who was named ‘Philanthropist of the Year’ at the third edition of the annual Asian Awards—– Narayana Murthy .
111. Professor M Aslam has been appointed as the vice-chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) .
112. Sundar Pichai, Google senior VP of Chrome and Android.
113. Harmanpreet Kaur Named Captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket team .
114. Tushar Arothe is coach of Indian women’s cricket team.
115. Harvard professor Ashish Nanda is set to take over as director of IIM Ahmedabad.
116. Italian ambassador Daniele Mancini .
117. SAI (Sports Authority of India ) Director General Jiji Thomson .
118. Prahlad Joshi appointed Karnataka BJP president
119. Bhaichung Bhutia Appointed as the Chairman of the AIFF’s Technical Committee
120. Aniruddha Bahal, Editor, CobraPost
121. India’s new High Commissioner to Maldives – Rajeev Shahare
122. Justice Mukul Mudgal, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court
123. Julia Pearson New CIA Director
124. Indian ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri
125. Chairman of CII Karnataka —————— Soumitra Bhattacharya .
126. Dinesh K Sarraf will be the new Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)
127. Deepak Sandhu will be appointed as next Chief Information Officer.
128. Indian Weightlifting Federation president Birendra Prasad Baishya has been appointed as the chairman of the Ethics Commission of the International Weightlifting Federation in the executive board meeting of the world body in Beijing.
129. Malala Yousafzai won 2013 International Children’s Peace Prize
130. Navi Pillay, UN high commissioner for human rights
131. Vice President of Afghanistan Mohammed Karim Khalili
132. Rajeev Rishi took over as the CMD of Central Bank of India
133. ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe,Zimbawe
134. Rakesh Sethi took charge as Executive Director at the Union Bank of India.
135. Special Envoy of India for Sudan and South Sudan,PS Raghavan
136. Ms Runa Laila, SAARC Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS made Maiden Visit to India
137. Ali Asghar Soltanieh is Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Geneva.
138. Nishi Vasudeva was today selected to head Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), the first woman ever to head a Navranta PSU.
139. Bhartiya Mahila Bank Ltd CEO ——— Usha Anatha Subramanyam.
140. Executive Director of the Union Bank of India——– Rakesh Sethi.
141. US ambassador to United Nations———- Samantha Power.
142. PM’s Special Envoy to visit Japan ———————- Ashwani Kumar.
143. My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions———— APJ Abdul Kalam.
144. Director General of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) ————– Dilip Trivedi.
145. Retirement announced Microsoft CEO———– Steve Ballmer.
146. UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) Goodwill Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan.
147. Chairperson of the National School of Drama Society ——– Ratan Thiyam.
148. Nepal’s new Indian ambassador—————– Ranjit Rae.
149. Youngest member of the present Parliament —————— Ramya
150. Foreign Minister of Tuvalu—————– Taukelina Finikaso.
151. Prime Minister of Bhutan——————– Tshering Tobgay
152. New Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court —————— Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana.
153. Foreign Minister of Nicaragua——————- Samuel Santos Lopez.
154. Amitabh Bachchan joined UN Campaign The World Needs More.
155. D.Bala Venkatesh Varma appointed Ambassador to UN Conference on Disarmament.
156. First case of human to human Transmission of H7N9 Bird Flu Virus reported in China.
157. Raghuram Govind Rajan Appointed as the 23rd Governor of RBI.
158. Bhim Sain Bassi Took Charge as the 20th Delhi Police Commissioner .
159. United Bank of India: Ms. Archana Bhargav (Chairman & MD)
160. Allahabad Bank: Ms Shubhalakshmi Panse (Chairman & MD)
161. ICICI Bank: Ms.Chanda Kochhar (MD & CEO)
162. Axis Bank: Ms Shikha Sharma (MD & CEO)
163. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has appointed a Pakistani army general, Lt Gen Maqsood Ahmed, as the Military Adviser for United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.
164. L C Goyal has been appointed as the new Secretary in the ministry of Rural Development.
165. India’s IT major Wipro will enter the National Stock Exchange’s 50-share Nifty index.
166. Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corp, Steve Ballmer, announced his retirement as chief executive. Microsoft may consider Satya Nadella, India-born executive, as next Microsoft CEO.
167. V Kannan Chairman & Managing Director of Vijaya Bank.
168. Suresh N Patel as Executive Director of Oriental Bank of Commerce
169. Pumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, of South Africa, took over as the new head of the the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women).
170. Yahoo Inc has appointed veteran technology executive and Silicon Valley investor Maynard Webb as its new chairman.
171. Syndicate Bank has appointed “Sankaran Bhaskar Iyer” as workmen employee director on the board of directors.
172. Brand ambassadors of the Indian Badminton League (IBL) ———— Deepika Padukone and Aamir Khan.
173. Chairman of selection committee for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna award— Billiards legend Michael Ferreira.
174. RBI Governor————- Raghuram Govinda Rajan.
175. SEBI————————-U.K. Sinha
176. NABARD——————–Prakash Bakshi
177. FICCI———————-Naina Lal Kidwai
178. NASSCOM—————-Krishna kumar Natrajan
179. ASSOCHAM—————Rana Kapoor
180. SBI———————–Pratip Chaudhary
181. IRDA———————-T.S.Vijayan
182. World Bank—————-Jim Yong Kim
183. National Stock Exchange—————–Chitra Ramkrishna
184. Bombay Stock Exchange—————— Ashish Chauhan
185. CAG——————————-Shashi Kant Sharma
186. Chief Economic advisor and Vice President of IMF——Kaushik Bas
187. Union Finance secretary————-Rajiv Takru
188. Union Economic secretary———- Aravind Mayaram
189. First women MD in SBI ————– Arundhathi Bhattacharya.
190. First women Bank CEO———- Usha Anathasubramanian
191. Standard Chartered————-Sandeep Das
192. National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL)———Saji Cherian
193. Rakesh Sethi ——- Executive Director of Union Bank of India .
194. Rajeev Rishi———————– CMD of Central Bank of India.
195. Institute of Cost Accountants of India new president——- Suresh Chandra Mohanty.
196. New Chairman of GST Panel————–Abdul Rahim Rather.
197. Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) President——– K R Kamath.
198. President of Asian Development Bank Board —– Takehiko Nakao
199. S Gopalakrishnan———– President of the industry body (CII)
200. Rajan Bharti Mittal ———— President of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) India.
201. MRP Rao——————- Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) in NTPC
202. CBDT chief—————- Sudha Sharma
203. Lic Chairman ———— S K Roy.
204. LIC MD————- S.B. Mainak .
205. A.K. Roy ———–Chairman cum Managing Director, GIC.
206. M.V. Tanksale———Chairman & Managing Director, Central Bank of India .
207. Sh. Sharad Kumar, IPS has joined NIA as the Director.
208. Dilip Trivedi appointed Director General of the CRPF.
209. Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana Appointed New Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court
210. Vinay Mittal appointed as Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) member
211. Suresh Chandra Mohanty Elected as the New President of ICAI
212. Arvind Sharma Re-Elected as the President of Advertising Agencies Association of India
213. Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil appointed new Governor of Sikkim
214. Sunil Soni appointed Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards
215. Anil Chait, took over as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC)
216. Darren Lehmann appointed Coach of Australian Cricket Team
217. Susan Elizabeth Rice Appointed as the National Security Adviser to Obama
218. Avinash Chander appointed as the New chief of Defence Research Development Organiastion(DRDO)
219. Kushal Singh Appointed as the Chairperson of NCPCR
220. Laxman Singh Rathore Elected as the Member of Executive Council of WMO
221. Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo appointed Head of World Trade Organization
222. Staffan de Mistura appointed as Italian Special Envoy to India in Marines Case
223. Subhash Kumar appointed as the New Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand.
224. Ramsar Convention appointed Dr. Christopher Briggs as its new Secretary General.
225. Subhash Kumar appointed as the New Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand
226. Giorgio Napolitano Re-elected as the President of Italy to serve a Second Term
227. Aruna Bahuguna became First Women Special DG of CRPF
228. H.R. Mohan elected as the New Vice President of Computer Society
229. Sunil Kumar Took Over as the Managing Director of CRIS
230. Uhuru Kenyatta Sworn-In as the President of Kenya.
231. Narendra Kumar Verma appointed Director for Exploration of ONGC
232. United Nation (UN) Women chief —————- Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka
233. New High Commissioner of Singapore to India————- Lim Thuan Kuan.
234. Depty Head of UN Mission in Mali —————– Abdoulaye Bathily.
235. President of Mali —————– Ibrahim Boubacar Keits
236. National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) appointed Saji Cherian.
237. Prime Minister of Italy—————————Enrico Letta.
238. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir for the second term————-N N Vohra.
239. Coach of the Junior Hockey Men’s National Team——————Gregg Clark.
240. Vice Chairman of Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) for fiscal 2013-14———-P. Devadas
241. President of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI)————–Raninder Singh.
242. Chairman Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA)———–Amarnath Sengupta
243. Secretary in Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)——————Amarjit Singh
244. Director (Personnel) of Electronics Corporation of India Ltd————-V.S.B. Babu
245. Next Ambassador/Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in New York————–Asoke Kumar Mukerji
246. Head of the Securities and Exchange Commission———————Mary Jo White.
247. Managing Director of Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL)———————Narendra Kumar
248. Chairman of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd———————————–G V Prasad
249. Governor of the Bank of Japan——————————————Haruhiko Kuroda
250. John Ashe elected as the President of UN General Assembly:
251. Elbegdorj Tsakhia new Mongolia President
252. New Bangladesh President: Abdul Hamid
253. New King of Netherlands: Willem-Alexander
254. Nicolas Maduro – New President of Venezuela
255. Horacio Cartes – New President of Paraguay’s
256. XI Jinping – New President of China (succeeded Hu Jintao).
257. Rafael Correa – Ecuador’s President
258. Indian-American Nisha Biswal to be US assistant secretary of state for South Asia
259. “Regional Director” for WHO South-East Asia Region———————Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh
260. Hun Sen is the Prime Minister of Cambodia and leader of the Cambodian People’s Party
261. Syria’s Opposition National Council elected Ahmad Toameh as its Interim Prime Minister
262. President of Mali ————————— Ibrahim Boubacar Keits
263. New United states ambassador to the united nations ————– Samantha Power
264. Head of Atomic Energy organisation in Iran—————-Ali Akbar Salehi
265. Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Mr. Filippo Grandi
266. iGate names former Infosys board member Ashok Vemuri as CEO
267. Cabinet Secretary——————— Shri Ajit Kumar Seth .
268. Union home secretary—————- Anil Goswami .
269. Secretary of Defense—————- R K Mathur .
270. Foreign Secretary——————- Sujatha Singh.
271. Union finance secretary ————- Rajiv Takru .
272. Economic Affairs Secretary———- Arvind Mayaram .
273. Information and broadcasting (I&B) secretary——–Bimal Julka .
274. Former Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal has been appointed as member of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
275. Germany’s Thomas Bach ————– IOC president
276. Bal Sekhar, the new secretary general of Lok Sabha
277. Cabinet ministers:
• Oscar Fernandes gets roads and highways ministry
• Girija Vyas becomes housing and urban development and poverty alleviation minister
• Sis Ram Ola becomes labour and employment minister
• K S Rao gets textiles ministry
278. Ministers of state:
• EMS Natchiyappan takes oath as MoS commerce and industry
• J D Seelam becomes MoS finance
• Manikrao Gavit gets social justice and empowerment
• Santosh Chowdhury gets health & family welfare

SOME QUESTION FOR IBPS- PO

1.Which bank’s Head Quarters is in Baroda?-
Bank of Baroda
2. The United Nations' Day is celebrated on -24
october
3. Full form of EMI- Equated Monthly
Installment
4. Name the Prime Minister of Hungary- Viktor
Orban
5. Joshna Chinappa is a ---------- player.- Squash
6. Who has been appointed as the Chief Justice
of Madras High Court?- Rajesh Kumar Agrawal
7. Full form of FCNR- Foreign Currency Non-
Resident
8. Asia’s first Stock Exchange is - Bombay Stock
Exchange Ltd
9. Which rate has been changed by RBI’s
Monetary policy review on 07/10/13?– MSF and
bank rate
10. Recently ,who has been appointed as the
Chief Justice of Manipur High Court?-
Laxmikanta Mahapatra
11. The Uttar Pradesh government has
announced an ambitious pension scheme to pay
Rs.400 a month for families living below the
poverty line.What is the name of this pension
scheme?- Rani Laxmibai Pension Scheme
12. Asian Development Bank Head Quarters is
situated in- Manila
13. According to 2011 census, which state in
India has the highest population density?- Bihar
14. MNREGA workers will now get more money
with the Centre revising their wages under
which the maximum daily wage of Rs 214 has
been fixed for Which state? - Haryana
15. Who has been appointed as the CEO of
Google?- Larry Page
16.Which company has won a new contract to
supply Britain's Network Rail?- Tata Steel
17. In Bollywood Movie Pan singh tomar, Which
Actor played the lead role?- Irfan khan
18. The Supreme Courthas appointed a
committee, regarding allegations of betting
against- Gurunath Meiyappan
19. What is the Capital of Laos? - Vientiane
20. Jeev Milkha Singh is related to which sport?-
Golf
21. Kremlin Cup is related to which game? -
Tennis
22. HSBC lowers India’s CAD forecast for FY’14
to- 3.4%
23.What is the Maximum limit of RTGS ?-there
is no limit for RTGS
24. Bangalore, known as ---------, has been
ranked as the country’s top business destination
in a survey.- India’s silicon city
25. The theme of this year on UN Day
is-‘Partnerships for Global Progress’
26 . Golden Fibre Revolution is associated with-
Jute Production
27. The Largest Air Traffic Control Tower of
India Inaugurated at which Airport?- Mumbai
Airport
28. The Parivartan sustainability leadership
awards is given to which company?- Infosys
29. Define CAD -The difference between inflow
and outflow of foreign exchange
30. Who has been appointed as the Chief
Justice of Madras High Court?- Justice Rajesh
Kumar Agrawal
31. Which International bank re-enters India
after 5 years?- Bank International Indonesia
32. India and ----------- have signed a civil
nuclear agreement.- South Korea
33. What is the aim of the Rajiv Gandhi
Grameen Vidhyutikaran Yojana ?- electrification
of all unelectrified villiages
34. Recently,who has been named as the brand
ambassador for Philips, the country's leading
lighting company?- Ranbir Kapoor
35. Recently,who has been appointed as the
goodwill ambassador for South Korea?-Shah
Rukh Khan
36. The country’s second largest private sector
lender bank is – HDFC Bank
37. Which tennis player came into the top 10 of
the world women's doubles?- Indian tennis ace
Sania Mirza
38. Who is the President of the Republic of
Maldives?- Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik
39. Which Bank signs MoU with CII for credit
access to MSMEs?- Canara Bank
40. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013 was
awarded to Alice Munro for her work on -
"master of the contemporary short story".
1. Who is the new president of Iraq?- Jalal
Talabani
2. Ronjan Sodhi is related with which game?-
Shooting
3. Full form of IFRS?- International Financial
Reporting Standards
4. What is the current CRR?- 4%
5. ASSOCHAM stands for?- Associated
Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
6. Name the Prime Minister of Tanjania?-
Mizengo Pinda
7. ____________,Rituparno Ghosh died recently-
Bengali film Director
8. Indira Awaas Yojana provide housing for the
________.- rural poor in India
9. Who has been given the Noble Prize in
Literature 2013-Alice Munro
10. Who is a Banking Ombudsman? - Senior
official appointed by the Reserve Bank of India
11. Which country will be hosting the 2016 ICC
World Twenty20 ?- India
12. Who is the new Governor of RBI?-Raghuram
Govinda Rajan
13. In which year BSE was established in
India?- 1875
14. Indian Institute of Banking and Finance is
in_______?-Mumbai
15. What is Bopha?- strongest tropical cyclone
16. Headquarter of World Bank is situated in __
_______ .- Washington, DC
17. Who has been crowned Miss World 2013?-
Megan Young
18. Who has been appointed as Indian Premier
League Chairman?- Ranjib Biswal
19. Current Reverse Repo Rate?- 6.50 per cent
20. Which country has successfully launched?-
Proton-M rocket
21. Who has won Asian rowing championship?-S
waran Singh
22. RIDF stands for______.- Rural Infrastructure
Development Fund
23. What is cross selling?- the action or practice
of selling an additional product or service to an
existing customer.
24. Recently with which country India inked
border pact and 8 other agreements? - China
25. Who won prestigious Saraswati Samman
2012?- Sugathakumari
26. Nissan India recently inked 100 year pact
with_______.- Ennore PortT
27. What is india's growth rate according to
Fitch? 4.8%
28. Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone
of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University at ___.-
Bhopal
29. Name the wholly owned subsidiary of
Reserve Bank of India (RBI).- National Housing
Bank
30. _____ hosted 14th India-Russia Annual
Summit.-Moscow
31. Who received the Sakharov Prize for
Freedom of Thought? Aung Suu Kyi
32. Who has been appointed the Brand
Ambassador of Border Security Force?-Virat
Kohli
33. Where 7th India-Russia Trade Investment
Forum held?- St. Petersburg
34. Who launched Seekho Aur Kamao (Learn
and Earn) Progrmme?-Union Government of
India
35. Who is the new Davis Cup team captain of
India?-Anand Amritraj
36. Small Industries Development Bank of India
is an independent financial institution aimed to
aid the growth and development of______.-
MSME
37. Recently which film is nominated to
represent India in the Best Foreign Film
category at next year’s Oscars?- The Good Road
38. At which place the Heavy Industries
Ministry is planning to set up an ‘Ultra Mega
Green Solar Power Project’?-Rajasthan
39. Prithvi II is a__________missile.-surface-to-
surface
40. Which country is at the top of the FIFA
World Ranking?- Spain
1 - How many member countries are in the
European countries?
Ans- 28
2 - How many alphanumeric digits are in the
PAN card?
Ans – 10
3 - Which bank receive the Indira Gandhi
rajbhasha award 2013 by Reserve Bank of
India?
Ans – PNB
4- In BRICS, B is stands for__
Ans – Brazil
5- Douglas Engelbert, who recently passesd
away, is famous for?
Ans - mouse
6- ABM stands for___?
Ans – Anti Ballistic Missile
7- M-pesa is launched by which company?
Ans- Vodafone
8 - Which movie got the highest number of
awards in Oscar Awards 2013?
Ans- Life Of Pi(4 awards).
9 - Who is Manna dey?
Ans- Playback singer .
10- Sebestian vettel , famous formula one
racing driver, belongs to which nation?
Ans- Germany.
11- A money deposited in a bank that cannot be
withdrawn for a fixed period of time is known
as a__?
Ans- Term deposit.
12- Which is not a function of RBI?
Ans- Fiscal policy regulation.
13- Where 17th SAARC summit will be held?
Ans – Maldives
14- What is the theme for 17th SAARC summit?
Ans- “Building Bridges”.
15- Who is appointed as 14th chief vigilance
commissioner of India?
Ans- P.J.Thomas.
16- Finance ministry announced to infuse ____
equity in banks in current financial year
2013-14?
Ans – Rs. 14,000 crore .
17- ____ is the Indian tennis star , who came
into the Top 10 Worls Womes’s Doubles
ranking?
Ans – Sania Mirza.
18- As per Telecom authority ‘s latest data, by
the end of july 2013, how many broadband
subscriber are in India?
Ans- 15.24 million.
19- What is the current Statutory Liqudity Ratio?
Ans – 23%.
20- Who is the Prime Minister of Australia
presently?
Ans- Tony Abbot.
21- Who won the first Mahathir Award for
Global peace?
Ans- Nelson Mandela.
22- Humming Bird algorithms is made by?
Ans – Google.
23- What is the full form of CRR?
Ans- Cash Reserve Ratio.
24- Which indian nuclear submarine exploded
and sink at Mumbai port?
Ans- INS Sindhurakshak>
25- What is NPA?
Ans- Those customer who do not repay the loan
to bank.
26- Which of the institute is related with credit
rating in india?
Ans- ICRA.
27- Word related with Swimming____?
Ans- Butterfly stroke.
28- Full form of BSBDA?
Ans- Basic Saving Bank Deposit Account.
29- Which bollywood actor is the UNICEF
Goodwill Ambassador ,who is promoting “The
World Needs More”?
Ans - Amitabh Bachchan.
30- Largest volcano is discovered in which
ocean?
Ans- Pacific Ocean.
31- Which gas is used in chemical
weapons ,which is also called Nerve agent?
Ans- Sarin Gas (originally developed by
Germany).
32- Which missile is test fired by DRDO
recently?
Ans- Agni-5(5000km)

FIRST IN INDIA

1 First Solar Energy Centre
Gwalpahar, Gurgaon, Haryana

2 First song-less film
JBH Wadia's Naujawan

3 First south Indian film to be released in Korea
Tamil Film Muthu Maharaja

4 First Talkie Film
Alam Ara

5 First Telefilm
Satyajit Ray's Sadgat

6 First Telegraph Line
It was laid between Calcutta and Agra in 1854

7 First Telephone system
It was started in 1881 from Calcutta

8 First Television Reception Centre
Arvi, located in Maharashtra

9 First veterinary college
Opened in Parel in Bombay in 1885

10 First Wind farm
Mandvi, Kutch in Gujarat

11 India’s first Antartica expedition
January 11, 1982

12 India’s first Satellite
Aryabhatta, April 19, 1975.

13 India's first colour film
Sairandhri.

14 India's first fully indigenous silent feature film
Raja Harishchandra.

15 India's first indigenously built missile destroyer
INS 'Delhi'.

16 India's first indigenously built submarine
INS 'Shakti' .

17 India's first indigenously made colour film
Kisan Kanya.

18 India's first manufacturer of light bulbs and electrical equipment
Bengal Lamps, Calcutta.

19 India's First Oil well
Digboi.

20 India's first radio programme
ClubRadio in 1924.

21 India's First largest inland lake
Lake Chilika, Orissa.

22 First Largest circulated multi-edition daily in India Roudramukhi Swar .

23 First Largest circulated periodical in India
Malayala Manorama

24 First Largest circulated single edition newspaper in India Hindustan Times from Delhi
25 First Largest Nandi in India
Nandi of the Leepakshi Temple at Andhra Pradesh.

26 First Largest Stupa in India
Mahachaitya Stupa, Amravati, Andhra Pradesh.

27 World's First University
Taxila (700 B.C.).

Changes in Data Collection - Census 2011

Several changes have been incorporated in Census 2011 for better capturing and analysis of data. The following is the list of changes incorporated:
1. Gender: New category Other introduced in addition to Male and Female.
2. Date of Birth question introduced along with Age.
3. Current Marital Status: Separate codes Assigned for Separated and Divorced.
4. SC/ST: New filter Question on SC/ST Introduced – Is this person SC/ST?
5. Disability: The 2001 Census had categorised the disability into five types. Census 2011 is collecting information on eight types of disabilities, namely: Disability

a) In Seeing
b) In Hearing
c) In Speech
d) In Movement
e) Mental retardation
f) Mental Illness
g) Any Other
h) Multiple Disability

6. Literacy Status: Literacy status for 'Other' sex added in addition to existing Male and Female.
7. Status of Attendance in Schooling: New Codes have been introduced for Not Attending viz.,
a) Attended before
b) Never attended.
8. Work: In the previous censuses, workers were categorized as ‘Main workers’ - those who worked for more than 6 months and ‘Marginal workers’ - those who worked for less than 6 months. At the Census 2011, ‘Marginal workers have been classified into two categories viz.,
a) worked for 3 months or more but less than 6 months
b) worked for less than 3 months.
9. A separate code-5 has been included under Non-economic activity for rentiers.
10. Migration: Provision to specify the present name of the Village/Town of the Birth Place as well as the Place of Last Residence introduced.
11. Name of the Institutional Household is also being recorded.

Current Affairs

1. Moscow, the Capital of Russia hosted the 14th India-Russia Annual Summit on 21 October 2013. Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin co-chaired the summit.

2. Tata Steel on 21 October 2013 won a new contract to supply Britain's Network Rail with more than 95 percent of its rails for at least five years.

3. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) on 21 October 2013 unanimously elected Kanwar Deep Singh as the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for a four-year term.

4. Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza came into the top 10 of the world women's doubles by gaining two spots to ninth place in the latest WTA Team Rankings issued on 21 October 2013. Sania Mirza jumped from 11th spot to 9th spot.

5. India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) expects India's GDP growth to remain sluggish at 4.9 per cent in the current financial year, due to a mix of domestic and external factors.

6. Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries plans to run an exclusive chicken restaurant chain named "chicken came first" in India in partnership with a UK-based company.

7. The Finance Ministry decided to pump in Rs 2,000 crore in State Bank of India and Rs 1,800 crore each in IDBI Bank and Central Bank of India as part of the Rs 14,000 crore capital infusion plan for the current fiscal.

8. Four companies, including three Chinese firms, have participated in bids for the 1,320-MW Udangudi thermal power project. The other company is the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, says an official in the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), which has floated bids for the project.

9. Bangalore, known as India’s silicon city, has been ranked as the country’s top business destination, followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune in terms of infrastructure, human capital, city culture and basic quality of living, says a survey.

10. India and China on Wednesday inked a comprehensive pact which commits them not to use military capability to attack each other but a deal on a liberalised visa regime could not be signed with India strongly opposing China's stapled visa policy.

11. Aung Suu Kyi on 23 October 2013 received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought at Strasbourg, France.

12. India will launch the first interplanetary probe, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft onboard the PSLV C-25 on the fifth of next month from Satish Dhawan Space Centre Sriharikota.

13. Canara Bank signed a MoU with industry body CII to facilitate cheaper credit access to micro, small and medium enterprises.

14. Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) marked its re-entry into India after five years by opening a branch in Mumbai.

15. India Post on 22 October 2013 released a commemorative postage stamp on the Golden Jubilee of Bhakra Dam.

Current Affairs : October 27

1. The Indian cricket team will open its campaign in next year's World Twenty20 Championships against arch-foes Pakistan when the event is staged in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6.

2. Serial bomb blasts rocked Patna on Sunday even as the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's arrived in the city for 'Hunkar' rally.

3. Sebastian Vettel roared into history as Formula One's youngest four-time champion in superlative style as he dominated the Indian Grand Prix on Sunday.

4. Paradip Port Trust inked an initial pact with public sector pipeline operator GAIL (India) for setting up a liquefied natural gas terminal at Paradip at a joint investment of 3108 crore rupees.

5. Nasa's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes are teaming up to look deeper into the universe than ever before and search for the most distant and faint galaxies that can possibly be seen.

6. The power generation at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project’s first reactor, which was resynchronized with the southern grid on Thursday night, has been stabilised at 200 MWe.

7. The Japan-aided drinking water project for Kozhikode (Calicut, Kerala) will be ready for commissioning by April next year, District Collector C.A. Latha has said.

8. Global retail giant Walmart has resumed its lobbying with the US lawmakers on matters related to FDI in India and it spent USD 1.5 million on about 50 specific issues, including those related to Indian market during the last quarter.

9. Human Development Index (HDI) front as the Gujarat's Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has declined significantly. It has fallen to 38 in 2012 from 57 in 2003 - a drop of 33.3% - better than the 30% decline at the national level.

10. Georgians geared up to vote in presidential polls on Sunday to pick a successor to flamboyant Mikheil Saakashvili, with a trusted proxy of his billionaire foe Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili frontrunner to claim victory in the ex-Soviet state.

ABBREVIATION IN NEWS

1. BSBDA - Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account
2. FCNR(B) - Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank
3. TARC - Tax Administration Reform Commission
4. ITEs: Intra-Group Transactions and Exposures
5. LCR: Liquidity Coverage Ratio
6. NSFR: Net Stable Funding Ratio
7. LRMT: Liquidity risk monitoring tools
8. CBS: Core Banking Solution
9. DEAF: Depositor Education and Awareness Fund
10. CRAR: Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio
11. External Commercial Borrowings (ECB)
12. SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication
13. FSLRC: Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
14. MIBOR: Mumbai Inter-Bank Offer Rate
15. LIBOR: London Inter-Bank Offer Rate
16. LAF – Liquidity Adjustment Facility
17. GIRO - Government Internal Revenue Order
18. EEFC - Exchange Earner's Foreign Currency
19. FRBMA: Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act
20. ALM- Asset Liability Management
21. AMFI- Association of Mutual Fund in India.
22. TIEA – Tax Information exchange Agreement
23. CAR – Cash Adequacy Ratio
24. CCEA – Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
25. CECA - Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
26. CEPA – Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
27. DTAA – Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement
28. DTC – Direct Tax Code
29. ECBs - External Commercial Borrowings
30. EEFC - Exchange Earner's Foreign Currency

IMPORTANT HEADS IN INDIA - 2013

1. Dr. Manmohan Singh: Chairman, Planning Commission.
2. Ms. Meira Kumar: Speaker, Lok Sabha.
3. Mohammad Hamid Ansari: Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
4. Mr. P. J. Kurien: Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha.
5. Mr. Karia Munda: Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha.
6. Mrs. Sushma Swaraj : Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha).
7. Mr. Arun Jaitley: Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha).
8. Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.
9. Mr. V. S. Sampath: Chief Election Commissioner
10. Mr. Harishankar Brahma : Election Commissioner.
11. Syed Nasim Zaidi : Election Commissioner.
12. Mr. Shashi Kant Sharma : Comptroller and Auditor-Generalof India
13. Mr. Justice K. G. Balakrishnan : Chairperson, National Human Right Commission (NHRC)
14. Mr. K. M. Chandrasekhar: Cabinet Secretary.
15. Mr. T. K. A. Nair : Principal Secretary to Prime Minister .
16. Mr. Justice M. N. Rao: Chairman, National Commission for Backward Classes.
17. Ms. Shanta Sinha: Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
18. Dr. Buta Singh: Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes
19. Ms. Urmila Singh: Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
20. Prof. D. P. Agrawal: Chairman, UPSC.
21. Dr. M. S. Swaminathan : Chairman, National Commission on Farmers (NCF).
22. Mr. Shiv Shankar Menon: National Security Adviser and Special Adviser to PM (Internal Security).
23. Mr. S. C. Sinha : Director-General, National Investigation Agency (NIA).
24. Mr. Vinay Mittal: Chairman, Railway Board.
25. Mr. Shumsher K. Sheriff : Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha
26. Mr. T. K. Viswanathan : Secretary-General, Lok Sabha.
27. Mr. Syed Asif Ibrahim : Director, IB.
28. Mr. Ranjit Sinha: Director, CBI.
29. Mr. Alok Joshi : Director, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
30. Mr. Arvind Ranjan : Director-General, NSG.
31. Mr. Dilip Trivedi : Director-General, CRPF.
32. Mr. Subhash Joshi : Director-General, Border Security Force (BSF).
33. Mr. Rajiv : Director-General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
34. Mr. P. K. Mehta: Director-General, Railway Protection Force. (RPF)
35. Mr. Ajay Chadha: Director-General, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
36. Mr. Arun Chaudhary : Director-General, Sashastra Seema Bal.
37. Vice-Admiral Anurag G. Thapliyal : Director-General, Indian Coast Guard.
38. Lt. Gen. Avtar Singh: Director-General, Defence Intelligence Agency.

Crops : Largest Producers

1. The largest producer of paddy in India----West Bengal
2. The lagest producer of wheat in India---Uttar Pradesh
3. The lagest producer of sugarcane in India ---Uttar Pradesh
4. The lagest producer of groundnut in India ---Gujarat
5. The largest producer of tea in India---Assam
6. The largest producer of coffee in India---Karnataka
7. The largest producer of jute in India ---West Bengal
8. The largest producer of tobacco in India---Andhra Pradesh
9. The largest producer of bananas in India---Tamilnadu
10. The largest producer of saffron in India---Jammu & Kashmir
11. The largest producer of onion in India---Maharashtra
12. The largest producer of black pepper in India---Kerala
13. The largest producer of cotton in India---Gujarat*
14. The largest producer of bamboos in India---Assam

*Maharashtra has the largest area under cotton cultivation but Gujarat is the largest producer as per GoI release dt 25 Jul 2011

Current Affairs : October 26

1. Global Gender Gap Report 2013, which was published on 25 October 2013 by World Economic Forum- India was ranked 101 out of 136 countries on Gender Gap index.

Top 5 country:
--------------------
1. Iceland
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Philippines

2. The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has assigned Corporation Bank No. 1 rank under the ‘National Awards for Excellence in MSE (micro and small enterprises) Lending’ for 2012-13.

3. The World Bank has approved $250-million assistance for Uttarakhand, which was hit hard by rains and landslides in June that killed 580 people, to help the State undertake rehabilitation work and strengthen its capacity for disaster management.

4. Government of India on 25 October 2013 signed an agreement with World Bank for credit of 360 million US Dollar for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring Project.

5. Himachal Pradesh on 26 October 2013 became the second state after Haryana to introduce Union National Vocational Qualitative Framework (NVQF) Scheme. The scheme has been implemented by the All India Technical Education Council and the National Skill Development Council.

6. Ethiopia's government on 24 October 2013 temporarily banned its citizens from travelling abroad to look for work.

7. The world's oldest national football body, the English Football Association, or FA is marking its 150th anniversary today.

8. The Uttar Pradesh Government on 25 October 2013 appointed retired Justice Tarun Chaterjee as the new chairman of the state Human Rights Commission.

9. Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers on 25 October 2013 sanctioned setting up of a Plastic Park at Siju Village, Kujanga Tehsil of Jagatsinghpur District in Odisha. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Paradeep Plastic Park Limited would set up the Plastic Park.

10. Indian cueist Alok Kumar could not add the World Billiards trophy to his cabinet as he lost in the final to local favourite David Causier to settle for the silver medal at the mega-event here.

World's 10 worst countries for women

1. Chad: Women in Chad, Africa, are forced to marry at an early age of 11 or 12..............

2. Afghanistan: A country with highest maternal mortality rate, one woman dies in childbirth every half an hour............

3. Democratic Republic of Congo: Women in the Congo face especially harsh realities; around 1,100 are raped every day............

4. Sudan: Abduction, rape or forced displacement has destroyed more than one million women’s lives since year 2003.....

5. Guatemala: The impoverished female under-class of Guatemala in Latin America faces domestic violence, rape and the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS after Sub-Saharan Africa.....

6. Mali: One of the poorest countries of the world, there are no laws against female genital mutilation in this African country.

Forced early marriages have caused deaths due to pregnancy.....

7. Somalia: These factors have made living in what was already one of the most dangerous areas on the planet even harsher for women. ....

8. India: One woman dies every hour in India because of dowry-related crimes, indicating that the country's economic boom has made demands for dowries even more persistent.

The National Crime Records Bureau says 8,233 women were killed across India last year because of disputes over dowry payments given by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage.

NCRB records reveal that a crime against women is committed every three minutes, women is raped every 29 minutes.

50 million girls were killed in the past century in the practice of female infanticide or foeticide; around 100 million women and girls are estimated to be victim of human trafficking; 44.5 percent of girls are married before the age of 18...........

9. Pakistan: An estimated 5,000 women are killed per year due to domestic violence. Selling women, acid attacks, honour killings are common in this Islamic country.......

10. Iraq: The US-led invasion to “liberate” Iraq from tyrant Saddam Hussain has led to women caught in the inferno of sectarian violence.

The female literacy rate, once the highest in the Arab world, is now among the lowest..

Main Points of Food Security Bill 2013

1. The food security bill approved is directed towards giving the right to food to around 67 per cent of India's 120-crore population (including 75% rural and 50% urban).

2. While families in the poorest of the poor will continue to get 35 kg of grains per month.

3. Rice will be made available at 3 Rupees per Kg.

4. Wheat will cost 2 rupees a kg and cereal will be sold for 1 Rupees per kg.

5. The Food Security programme will be the biggest in the world with the government spending estimated at Rs. 1,25,000 crore annually on supply of about 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to 67 per cent of the population.

6. About 2.43 crore poorest of the poor families covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme under PDS (Public Distribution System) would continue to get 35 kg of food grains per family per month but with legal entitlement.

7. In Union Budget 2013-14, Rs 10,000 crore set aside for incremental cost for National Food Security Bill.

8. The scheme will be linked to the Aadhar scheme which provides every citizen with a unique identification number that's linked to a database that includes the biometrics of all card-holders.

9. C Rangarajan is the head of the committee for examination of the Food Security Bill.

10. NOTE: Chhattisgarh the first state to pass legislation on food security. The state legislative assembly passed the Food Security Bill 2012 that confers legal rights to the beneficiaries to receive food grains and food items at highly subsidized prices.
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Important Pointers on Food Security Bill:
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With Food Secuirty Bill being passed in Lok Sabha lets understand the important pointers related to the same.

What’s the food security scheme?
It provides for 5kg per person, per month, of rice, wheat or coarse grain. Proposes to cover 67% of India’s population or 82 crore people, 75% rural & 50% urban. The rates at which it will be given are 3 for rice, 2 for wheat & 1 for bajra, jowar. Cost of scheme approximately 1.3 lakh crore, up from current food subsidy bill of 75,000 crore in 2012-13. States to get one year for rollout

What about existing schemes?
Some schemes subsumed: Antodaya Anna Yojana (for poorest of poor), midday meals, meals for children aged 6 months-2 years with their mothers, ICDS (for kids below 6). As of now, apart from state schemes, Centre provided cheap food to around 32 crore people under BPL. This jumps to 82 crore. Govt will need to procure 62 million tonnes of grain

When will the scheme roll out?
There are some grey areas and missing links. States have to identify beneficiaries. This can be a problem as exclusion criteria not clear. Centre is to share transport and commission costs, which need to be worked out. Also govt admits to 20-35% leakage in PDS, which needs to be plugged. Ration cards reduced from 22 crore to 16 crore, but more needs to be done. Storage capacity needs to be augmented

What’s the impact on the economy?
There will be a push on govt spending which will increase current account deficit – not desirable in present situation. There are also concerns that India’s procurement for the scheme could push up world food prices in case of drought and under-procurement

Does it make for great politics?
So far states have cornered political benefits for cheap food grain. Now central govt will seek to gain the upper hand in this populist game. On election eve, this could help Congress

Latest Committees

1. Committee Set Up On Uttarakhand Floods : The committee will be headed by AK Ganju (Chairman, Ganga Flood Control committeesCommission, Patna).
2. JS Mathur committee : to revise NewspaperAdvertisement Rates.
3. K. Ratna Prabha : Committee on indecent depiction of women in media.
4. Mukul Mudgal Committee: looking into US giant Walmart’s lobbying activities to enter India
5.Mukul Mudgal Committee: to look at process of film clearance. (data by facebook/cnaonweb
6. MBN Rao Committee: to prepare the blueprint of India’s first women’s bank
7. SK Srivastava Committee: to formulate a policy on public-private partnership model to raise coal output.. (data by facebook/cnaonweb
8. K M Chandrasekhar Committee –for rationalization of foreign investment norms
9. Arvind Mayaram Committee –for giving clear definitions to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII), (data by facebook/cnaonweb
10. Janakiraman Committee – To investigate the security transactions of the bank
11. MS Ahluwalia committee – to evaluate aspects related to set up of Nalanda University
12. Sitakant Mahapatra committee- for inclusion of Bhojpuri language in eighth schedule of constitution
13. N R Narayana Murthy committee – for evaluation of corporate sector participation in Higher Education. (data by facebook/cnaonweb
14. C Rangarajan committee – for poverty scale estimates in the country
15. MB Shah committee – for inspection of illegal mining activities
16. N Rangachary committee – to examine taxation policies for I.T. sector
17. Parthasarathi Shome committee – implementation of GAAR (General Anti Avoidance Rule).
18. Deepak Parekh committee – for Financing Infrastructure sector(data by facebook/cnaonweb
19. Naresh Chandra committee – 14 member task force on security issues
20. Bhandari Committee – Reconstruction of RRBs
21. RS Gujral Committee – suggest measures to boost MSME exports

Top Ten Wealthiest Towns of India

1 Chandigarh Chandigarh
2 Panaji Goa
3 Delhi Delhi
4 Valparai Tamilnadu
5 Greater Mumbai Maharashtra
6 Pune Maharashtra
7 Ludhiana Punjab
8 Chennai Tamil Nadu
9 Shimla Himachal Pradesh
10 Jalandhar Punjab

Top 10 based on World Gold Council data

1. United States-------- 8,133.5 70%
2. Germany------------- 3,390.6 66%
3. International Monetary Fund logo.svg International Monetary Fund-------------------- 2,814.0 N.A.
4. Italy-------------------- 2,451.8 65%
5. France---------------- 2,435.4 65%
6. China------------------- 1,054.1 1%
7. Switzerland----------- 1,040.1 8%
8. Russia---------------- 1,015.4
9. Japan----------------- 765.2 2%
10. Netherlands--------- 612.5 52%

Person who recognized as Father/Mother of a subject

• Father of Microscopy - Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek
• Father of Western Medicine - Hippocrates
• Father of Internet - Vint Cerf
• Father of the American Constitution - James Madison
• Father of the Indian Constitution - Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
• Father of Humanism - Francesco Petrarca
• Father of Geometry - Euclid of Alexandria
• Father of New France - Samuel de Champlain
• Father of Genetics - Gregor Mendel
• Father of the Green Revolution - Norman Ernest Borlaug
• Father of the Green Revolution in India - M.S Swaminathan
• Father of Scientific Management -Frederick Winslow Taylor
• Father of Biology - Aristotle
• Father of Evolution - Charles Darwin
• Father of Microbiology - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
• Father of Nuclear Chemistry - Otto Hahn
• Father of Periodic Table - Dmitri Mendeleev
• Father of modern Medicine - Hippocrates
• Father of Modern Physics - Galileo Galilei
• Father of Modern Astronomy - Nicolaus Copernicus
• Father of Nuclear Physics - Ernest Rutherford
• Father of Nuclear Science - Marie Curie and Pierre Curie
• Father of Computer Science -George Boole and Alan Turing
• Father of American Football - Walter Camp
• Father of Walter Camp - Geoffrey Chaucer
• Father of modern Olympic - Pierre De Coubertin
• Father of of Numbers - Pythagoras
• Father of Botany - Theophrastus
• Father of Electricity - Benjamin Franklin
• Father of Electonics - Michael Faraday
• Father of Television - Vladimir K. Zworykin
• Father of Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell
• Father of Mobile Phone - Martin Cooper
• Father of Laptop - Bill Moggridge
• Father of Psychology - Sigmund Freud
• Father of Surgery - Sushruta
• Father of Plastic Surgery - Sir Harold Gillies
• Father of Ayurveda - Dhanwantari

Who's Who (Business)

Mr. Cyrus Mistry---------- Chairman Tata Sons
Mr. Mukesh Ambani----- Chairman Relience Industries
Mr. Lakshmi Mittal------- Chairman Mittal Arcelor Steels
Ms. Kiran Majumdar------ Chairman Biocon
Ms. Chanda Kochhar---- Managing Director & CEO ICICI Bank
Mr. Shiv Nadar--------- Chairman HCL Technologies
Mr. Naresh Goyal------- Chairman Jet Airways
Mr. Sunil Mittal---------- Chairman Bharati Group
Ms. Indira Nooye-------- CEO Pepsico
Shikha Sharma---------- MD, CEO Axis Bank
S. D. Shibulal------------ CEO and Managing Director Infosys
Azim H. Premji---------- Chairman Wipro
Mr. Vineet Nayyar------- Chairman of Mahindra Satyam
Mr. Rohit Nandan------- Chairman & Managing Director of Air India
Mr. K. V. Kamath---------Chairman ICICI Bank
Mr. C. M. Vasudev------ Chairman, HDFC Bank
Mr. Pratip Chaudhuri--- Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI)
Mark Zuckerberg------- CEO Facebook
Narayan Murthi---------- Founder & Chairman of Infosys
Steve Jobs-------------- Founder of Apple Company
Mr. Vijay Maliya-------- Chairman of UB Group and Kingfisher Airlines
Mr. Sunil Mittal---------- Founder of Airtel (Telecom Service Provider in India)
Mr. Kumaramangalam Birla--- Chairman of Aditya Birla Group of Company
Mr. Anand Mahindra--------- Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra Group
Mr. Warren Buffett----------- Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Rajan Bharti Mittal---------- President of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) India
Dr. Arup Roy Choudhury------------Chairman NTPC Mittu Chandilya CEO, Air Asia India.....
John Biswal The Youth Inspirer

states and their capitals

1 Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad
2 Arunachal Pradesh Itanagar
3 Assam Dispur
4 Bihar Patna
5 Chhattisgarh Raipur
6 Goa Panaji
7 Gujarat Gandhinagar
8 Haryana Chandigarh
9 Himachal Pradesh Shimla
10 Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar (summer), Jammu (winter)
11 Jharkhand Ranchi
12 Karnataka Bengaluru
13 Kerala Thiruvananthapuram
14 Madhya Pradesh Bhopal
15 Maharashtra Mumbai
16 Manipur Imphal
17 Meghalaya Shillong
18 Mizoram Aizawl
19 Nagaland Kohima
20 Orissa Bhubaneswar
21 Punjab Chandigarh
22 Rajasthan Jaipur
23 Sikkim Gangtok
24 Tamil Nadu Chennai
25 Tripura Agartala
26 Uttar Pradesh Lucknow
27 Uttarakhand Dehradun
28 West Bengal Kolkata

Current Affairs : 25th October

1. Global financial services major HSBC today lowered India’s current account deficit (CAD) forecast for this financial year to 3.4 per cent of GDP from 4.1 per cent earlier.

2. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is going ahead and launching new services even as the decision on whether the Aadhaar card is mandatory for getting government subsidies is pending before the Supreme Court.

3. Centra sanctions 1,260 crore rupees to upgrade jawans' facilities in far-flung Indo-Tibetan Border Police , ITBP posts.

4. Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood actor, was on 23 October 2013 appointed as the goodwill ambassador for South Korea.

5. According to the China-based Hurun India Rich List, Ambani retained the top position for the second year even after a wealth decrease of 2 percent.

6. British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro passed away on 23 October 2013. He was 89 years old.

7. Simona Halep of Romania defeated Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 to win the Kremlin Cup on 20 October 2013 at Moscow, Russia.

8. The Government of India will appoint Hockey India’s Director High Performance Roelant Oltmans as Chief Coordinator and High Performance Director for Indian Hockey.

9. The committee probing the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing episode sought information from the public regarding allegations of betting against Gurunath Meiyappan and the other accused in the scandal on Thursday.

Important information on Banks

1.The oldest Joint Stock Bank of India --Allahabad Bank

2. The bank founded by Freedom Fighter Dr. Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya --Andhra Bank

3. First bank to open a branch outside India -- Bank of India, London, 1946

4. The first bank to be given an ISO 9002 certificate for one of its branches --Canara Bank

5. The Postal Dept has issued a commemorative stamp in the name of this bank celebrating 100 years in 2011 --Central Bank of India

6. First Indian Bank to be wholly owned by Indians--Central Bank of India

7. The bank formed on the efforts of Lala Lajpat Rai --Punjab National Bank

8. The only merger of nationalised banks took place between --Punjab National Bank and New Bank of India in 1993

9. The bank whose brand equity is "Pygmy Deposit Scheme" --Syndicate Bank

10. The bank which was conceived by Shri GD Birla --UCO Bank...

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS

India Ranks 66th On ‘Global Innovation Index..........

India and Mauritius Signed 5 MoUs:-

* MoU between Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) and Enterprise Mauritius (EM)
* MoU between Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA) and Mauritius Standards Bureau
* MoU between NITRA and National Productivity and Competitive Council (NPCC) of Mauritius
* MoU between Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) and Mauritius Export Association (MEXA); and
* MoU between Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) and Fashion and Design Institute of Mauritius (FDI).........

UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2013........

India, Albania Signed Agreement For Avoidance Of Double Taxation........

India, Iraq Signed Agreement To Enhance Co-operation In Energy Sector...........

India, SriLanka & Maldives Signed Tripartite Maritime Security Agreement..........

India – Tanzania Signed Agreements On Bilateral Cooperation.....

India, Nigeria Signed Solar Power Plant Agreement.......

India, Belarus Signed Protocol To Enhance Trade Ties....

India and Afghanistan Signed MoUs for SDP scheme projects....

Current Affairs : October 24

1. As inflation continues to hover above its comfort zone, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to increase the short-term lending or repo rate by another 25 basis. Current repo rate is 7.50%.

2. Today is the United Nations' Day. The day is celebrated to commemorate the launch of the UN Charter in 1945. The theme of this year is-‘Partnerships for Global Progress’

3. A CBI court here yesterday sentenced former Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank M Gopalakrishnan and four others to one year imprisonment for defrauding various branches of the bank to the tune of about Rs 6.5 crore.

4. Internet giant Google has emerged as the world’s best multinational company to work for, followed by software developer SAS Institute and network storage provider NetApp in the second and third place, respectively.

5. Manna Dey, the legendary singer died on 23 October 2013 in Bangalore hospital. He was 94 years old.

6. Actor Ranbir Kapoor was Thursday named the brand ambassador for Philips, the country's leading lighting company.

7. Market regulator Sebi has disqualified Cals Refineries from issuing equity shares and any other security for a further eight years, as the company was found guilty in a case involving irregularities in issuance of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).

8. The US comedian Carol Burnett was on 20 October 2013 honoured with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

9. The Sports Ministry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have launched 'India Sports 2014' at the 5th Global Sports Summit to promote sports among youth in the country.

10. The Reserve Bank of India has constituted a GIRO Advisory Group (GAG) to implement a national Indian Bill Payment System so that households will be able to use bank accounts to pay school fees, utilities, medical bills and make remittances electronically.

The first computer viruses

The Creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, in the early 1970s. Creeper was an experimental self-replicating program written by Bob Thomas at BBN Technologies in 1971.Creeper used the ARPANET to infect DEC PDP-10 computers running the TENEX operating system. Creeper gained access via the ARPANET and copied itself to the remote system where the message, "I'm the creeper, catch me if you can!" was displayed. The Reaper program was created to delete Creeper.

The first computer mouse

The first computer mouse was invented by Doug Engelbart in around 1964 and was made of wood.

Current Affairs : 23rd October

1. India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) expects India's GDP growth to remain sluggish at 4.9 per cent in the current financial year, due to a mix of domestic and external factors.

2. Tata Steel on 21 October 2013 won a new contract to supply Britain's Network Rail with more than 95 percent of its rails for at least five years.

3. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) on 21 October 2013 unanimously elected Kanwar Deep Singh as the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for a four-year term.

4. Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza came into the top 10 of the world women's doubles by gaining two spots to ninth place in the latest WTA Team Rankings issued on 21 October 2013. Sania Mirza jumped from 11th spot to 9th spot.

5. Harsh Vardhan to be BJP's chief ministerial candidate in Delhi.

6. Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries plans to run an exclusive chicken restaurant chain in India in partnership with a UK-based company.

7. U.S. is against penalising countries on greenhouse gas emissions. The US special envoy on climate change, Todd Stern said this at a conference in London on October 22, elaborating on the US vision of the new agreement countries have to sign by 2015.

8. Four companies, including three Chinese firms, have participated in bids for the 1,320-MW Udangudi thermal power project. The other company is the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, says an official in the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), which has floated bids for the project.

9. Bangalore, known as India’s silicon city, has been ranked as the country’s top business destination, followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune in terms of infrastructure, human capital, city culture and basic quality of living, says a survey.

10. India and China on Wednesday inked a comprehensive pact which commits them not to use military capability to attack each other but a deal on a liberalised visa regime could not be signed with India strongly opposing China's stapled visa policy.

11. Reserve Bank on said it has received USD 10.1 billion under two schemes which were announced last month to attract foreign funds.

12. Moscow, the Capital of Russia hosted the 14th India-Russia Annual Summit on 21 October 2013. Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin co-chaired the summit.

13. GAIL India Ltd on signed an agreement for development of natural gas infrastructure and city gas network in Bihar.

14. Canara Bank signed a MoU with industry body CII to facilitate cheaper credit access to micro, small and medium enterprises.

15. Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) marked its re-entry into India after five years by opening a branch in Mumbai.

16. India Post on 22 October 2013 released a commemorative postage stamp on the Golden Jubilee of Bhakra Dam.

17. The Finance Ministry decided to pump in Rs 2,000 crore in State Bank of India and Rs 1,800 crore each in IDBI Bank and Central Bank of India as part of the Rs 14,000 crore capital infusion plan for the current fiscal.

18. India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) expects India's GDP growth to remain sluggish at 4.9 per cent in the current financial year, due to a mix of domestic and external factors.

19. India will launch the first interplanetary probe, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft onboard the PSLV C-25 on the fifth of next month from Satish Dhawan Space Centre Sriharikota.

20. Lawrence R Klein, Nobel Prize winning economist died on 20 October 2013 in Gladwyne, near Philadelphia.

21. Aung Suu Kyi on 23 October 2013 received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought at Strasbourg, France.

22. Singer Noel Harrison has died at his home in Devon, aged 79 on 22 October 2013. He was the son of the actor Rex Harrison.