nov_ca_2014

Current Affairs

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November 2014

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November Month Current Affairs NATIONAL

1. PM receives Patel memorabilia –Nov 1

i. Plates, cups, saucers and other items used by

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were handed over by

Sheila Ghatate to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

2. One rank, one pension scheme pushes up

defence pension bill

i. The implementation of one rank, one pension has

pushed up the Centre‘s defence pension payments

by a record 40 per cent

ii. The Finance Ministry is revising upwards its Budget

estimate for the outgo on account of the scheme

that benefits nearly 24 lakh pensioners of the armed

forces.

3. Appointment of eight public sector bank heads

by month-end

i. The Narendra Modi-led government will begin a

fresh selection process for the selection of public

sector bank (PSB) heads

4. Modi govt. adds another national day

i. Mr. Modi announced that Sardar Vallabhbhai

Patel‘s birth anniversary would henceforth be

observed as ‗Ekta Diwas‘ (National Unity Day),

which appeared to rob November 19.

5. Amnesty demands to reopen 1984 riots cases –

Nov 2

i. Amnesty International has demanded that the

Union government reopen investigations into the

1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

6. India forces U.N. to review peacekeeping

i. Under pressure from India over the safety of

United Nations Peacekeeping forces, U.N.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set up a 14-

member panel by Jose Ramos-Horta, the former

President of East Timor and will include Lt. General

Abhijit Guha, a retired Indian Army officer who now

holds a U.N. post

7. Yerawada prison papers stand testimony to

Gandhi-Patel bond

i. The yellowing pages of the prisoners records at

Yerawada Central Prison (YCP) would vouch that

Mahatma Gandhi, appears incomplete without

Sardar Patel, since Patel‘s sentences were in

context with calls for the national movement made

by Gandhi

8. Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav launches

nutrition mission

i. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav

launched the State Nutrition Mission and hoped it

would make the state malnutrition free

9. India assures Mauritius on bilateral tax treaty

i. India today told Mauritius that it will not take any

decisions that will ―adversely impact‖ bilateral

relations while reassuring the country that

amendments to the bilateral tax treaty would be

made only after considering the legitimate interests

of both sides

10. Govt to form teams to identify source of Ganga

pollution

i. The Centre will constitute 25 special teams to

check the source of pollution for the project of

cleansing the holy river Ganga so that further

action could be taken accordingly.

11. Bangladesh grapples with nationwide blackout

i. Bangladesh has been struggling to restore power

hours after a transmission line bringing electricity

from neighbouring India failed, causing a

nationwide blackout

12 North elects more women MLAs –Nov 3

i. Haryana and Rajasthan have the highest

proportion of women MLAs in the country while

Nagaland, Mizoram and Karnakata bring up the

bottom

ii. Using 50 years of State elections data until 2012,

economists Mudit Kapoor and Shamika

Ravi of the Indian School of Business found the data

13. Manmohan Singh became 1st Indian to be

chosen for top national award by Japan




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i. Fomer PM Manmohan Singh will be awarded 'The

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia

Flowers' for his contribution to India-Japan ties for 35

years

ii. Manmohan Singh is the first Indian recipient of this

Order

14. Madhya Pradesh to have country‟s first school

for children of labourers

i. The country's first 'Shramodaya School' for the

children of labourers named as the 'Deendayal

Shramodaya Vidyalala‘‘s foundation was laid by

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan

15. India to cooperate with Mauritius to safeguard

Indian Ocean

i. The Indian Navy is committed to ensuring the

safety and security of the strategically vital Indian

Ocean region in cooperation with the coast guards

of Mauritius, External Affairs Minister said

16. Nepal, India to start bus services between

Kathmandu and Delhi

i. The Motor Vehicle Agreement will be signed

during the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to Nepal during the 18th SAARC

Summit which is taking place on November 25

ii. The agreement envisages regular bus services on

three routes, Kathmandu to New Delhi, Kathmandu

to Varanasi and Pokhara to New Delhi

17. Rajnath Singh to attend Interpol meet

i. Mr.Rajnath Singh will represent India at Interpol's

General Assembly beginning in Monaco and India

may seek a permanent berth in Interpol's General

Secretariat

ii. He would also visit Israel, to meet Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu and it will be the first visit of an

Indian Home Minister to Israel since June 2000

18.NDMC painted road dividers pink and green

i. Under New Delhi Municipal Council, road

elements like kerbs,traffic dividers and roundabouts

have been painted pink and green which is in

violation of the international traffic guidelines

19. Pakistani hackers deface two Gujarat state

government websites

i. Pakistan-based hackers, who called themselves

'Pakistan Cyber Mafia Hackers', hacked two

Gujarat government websites as well as three other

websites in India

20. India calls for international action to strengthen

nuclear security –Nov 4

i. India has called for effective international

cooperation and responsible action by

governments to strengthen nuclear security

ii. First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to

the United Nations is Abhishek Singh

21. No question of demolishing Ramar Sethu –

Gadkari

i. Nitin Gadkari said there was no question of

demolishing ‗Ramar Sethu‘

ii. He said the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel

Project would be implemented without touching

the mythical bridge or harming the environment

22. Centre gives nod for dissolution of Delhi

Assembly

i. The Union Cabinet gave its nod to the proposal for

dissolution of the Delhi Assembly

ii. Delhi is under President‘s rule since February 2014

23. SC asks Centre, States to decide on taking RTI

online

i. The Supreme Court asked the Centre and the

States to decide on a plea to electronically provide

information to applicants under the Right to

Information (RTI) Act.

24. MEA welcomes Pentagon reports

i. Ministry of External Affairs welcomed Pentagon

reports on Pakistan using terrorists to counter Indian

Army

25. Focus on Fifth Gen fighter jets –Nov 5

i. The Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) being

jointly developed by India and Russia is once again

in focus

ii. India reaches a final agreement with Russia,

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and will

partner with Sukhoi in converting the T-50 into a Fifth

Gen Fighter




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iii. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister is Dmitry

Rogozin and Russian Foreign Minister is Sergey

Lavrov

26. Defence Ministry issues RFI for helicopters

i. The Defence Ministry has issued a Request for

Information (RFI) to domestic manufacturers for

surveillance helicopters for the Army Aviation Corps

(AAC) and the Indian Air Force (IAF)

27. Russian deputy PM in India

i. Mr. Rogozin will chair the 20th commission (IRIGC-

TEC) along with Ms. Swaraj

ii. President Vladimir Putin‘s visit to Delhi, is expected

in December for the annual India-Russia summit

iii. External Affairs Minister is Sushma Swaraj and

National Security Adviser is Ajit Doval

28. New Zealand defence team in India

i. Commodore Wayne Burroughs of the Royal New

Zealand Navy is the leader of the delegation

ii. The 65-member delegation is on a study tour in

India to enhance its military and strategic

understanding of the region

29. PM's Council on Climate Change reconstituted

i. Eminent environmental scientist R.K. Pachauri and

economist Nitin Desai have been included in the

newly re-constituted 18-member panel of Prime

Minister‘s Council on Climate Change

30. Modi among world‟s most powerful people:

Forbes –Nov 6

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his debut

among the world‘s most powerful people, ranked

15th on the Forbes list

ii. Forbes list has put Russian president as the world‘s

most powerful person, followed by U.S. President

Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

31. India tops in demand for blocking Facebook

posts

i. In the first six months of 2014, Facebook has

restricted access to nearly 5,000 pieces of

information from India on its website.

32. India Economic Summit from Nov 4-6

i. The World Economic Forum's India Economic

Summit is returning to India after and the theme for

this year's summit is, 'Redefining Public-Private

Cooperation for a New Beginning'.

33. Nepal to felicitate Indian Army Chief

i. Indian Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag will

undertake his first visit to Nepal next week

34. Navy vessel sinks off Visakhapatnam coast –

Nov 7

i.A Torpedo Recovery Vessel (TRV) of Indian Navy

sunk off the Visakhapatnam coast

ii. Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan took over as the

Chief of the Naval Staff on 17 April this year

35. President Mukherjee leaves on Bhutan state visit

i. Mukherjee is visiting Bhutan on the invitation of

Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

ii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose Bhutan for his

first visit abroad in June

36. Modi adopts Jayapur

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted a

village Jayapur, under the Sansad Adarsh gram

Yojana scheme for MPs

37. Israel positive about „Make in India‟ campaign

i. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has responded

favourably to Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ‗Make

in India‘ initiative.

ii. Indian Home Minister has also proposed exploring

jointly third country markets in Africa and Latin

America, where Indian industry has a strong

presence

38. Flight-tests of Agni, Prithvi missiles

i. The missile cluster of the Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO) and the

Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Services will

flight-test Agni-II, Agni-IV, Prithvi-II and Dhanush

missiles which are all surface-to-surface missiles,

capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

ii. Dhanush is a naval variant of Prithvi and

launched from ships.

iii. The first off the block will be Agni-II from a mobile

launcher on Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast.

39. 60 Indians chosen for Australian research

scholarship

i. Australia has chosen sixty Indian scholars for its

prestigious Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships




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for 2015, Australian High Commissioner Patrick

Suckling said

40. Information of working hours, hours of public

interaction on government websites

i. The Department of Personnel and Training has

ordered all the Ministries and departments to

upload the information of working hours, holiday list,

hours of public interaction on government websites

based on proposal by Commodore (retired) Lokesh

K. Batra

41. Mumbai will get a CEO to coordinate

development, says CM Devendra Fadnavis

i. Mumbai to get chief executive officer, at the rank

of additional chief secretary, just below the chief

secretary, as coordinator for Mumbai, chief minister

Devendra Fadnavis said

42. Exclusive drug controller to test Ayurvedic

medicines –Nov 8

i. India will soon have an exclusive drug control

department to facilitate testing of Ayurvedic drugs

ii. The Arogya Expo organised alongside the 6th

World Ayurveda Congress was held in New Delhi.

iii. A mission AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and

Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) was

created

43. Laxmikant Parsekar chosen Goa Chief Minister

i. Goa Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar was

chosen to succeed Manohar Parrikar as the State‘s

Chief Minister

44. BJP patriarch L K Advani turned 87

i. BJP patriarch L K Advani turned 87 and received

greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi

45. „Visa-on-arrival for Russian businessmen‟

i. India will extend visa-on-arrival facility to Russian

businessmen at 18 airports in the country,

Commerce Minister has said

46. Activist calls for joint effort to fight child abuse

i. The time is right for the governments of India and

the United Kingdom to establish a MoU on the

investigation of child abuse in India, says Christine

Beddoe, adviser to the British Parliament on Child

Abuse

ii. ECPAT UK (End Child Prostitution, Child

Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual

Purposes)is the UK national representative of ECPAT

International, a global network of 80 children's rights

organisations in many countries

47. Cooling systems for Indian Scorpenes submarine

i. At the Nantes-Indret Centre of French Shipyard

DCNS, four neatly-packed cooling systems are kept

for delivery to Mazagon Dock for fitment on the

Indian Scorpenes under construction

ii. DCNS is a French industrial group specialising in

naval defence and energy

48. India can lead the world in achieving gender

equality: UN

i. UN Women's Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-

Ngcuka said,India has the potential to lead the

world in creating just and equitable societies

49. India gifts second fast attack craft to the

Seychelles - Nov 9

i. India has formally handed over the second fast

attack craft INS Tarasa to the Seychelles

Coastguard to boost the country's anti-piracy effort

and maritime security

ii. James Alix Michel, is the President and also

Commander in-Chief of the Seychelles defence

forces

50. Israel, Australia lend support to India‟s „Second

Green Revolution‟ quest

i. The Ananta Centre, in collaboration with Tel Aviv

University, Israel and Pratt Foundation from

Australia, would be launching an India - Australia -

Israel Track II Trilateral Dialogue, focusing on Food

and Water Security for India

ii. India's agricultural sector contributes 16 per cent

of total GDP & 10 per cent of export earnings in the

economy

51. Women representation in Modi ministry goes

upto 8

i. With inclusion of Uttar Pradesh MP Sadhvi Niranjan

Jyoti in Union Cabinet the Women representation in

Modi ministry goes upto 8

ii. Nirmala Sitharaman is a Minister of State with

Independent Charge




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iii. The Women Cabinet Ministers are Sushma Swaraj,

Uma Bharti, Najma Heptulla, Maneka Gandhi,

Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Smriti Irani

52. 21 new Ministers inducted into Modi Cabinet

i. 21 ministers, including four cabinet ministers, three

ministers of state (independent charge) and 14

ministers of state are now included in Modi‘s

cabinet

ii. The strength of the Union Council of Ministers is

now 66

53. Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

was a silver medal Olympian –Nov 10

i. Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore,

retired as a colonel from the Grenadiers Regiment

of the Army has won a Silver for the Double Trap

shooting event at the Athens Olympics in 2004

54. Eminent citizens unite against death penalty

i. To repeal of the terrible legal provision of the

death penalty hundreds of eminent citizens,

including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, actor Aamir

Khan, sociologist Andre Beteille, economist Jagdish

Bhagwati and author Vikram Seth have signed in a

statement ―We Oppose the Death Penalty‖

55. Researchers Gather in India to Discuss

Malnutrition‟s Links to Sanitation

i. Responding to new research that links childhood

malnutrition with poor sanitation, Unicef began a

conference in New Delhi to explore ways of

encouraging better hygiene

56. Gujarat first to make voting compulsory in local

body polls –Nov 11 - 14

i. Gujarat has become the first State to make voting

compulsory in local bodies after Governor O.P. Kohli

recently gave his sanction by signing the

controversial Gujarat Local Authorities Laws

(Amendment) Bill

57. Pass resolutions on MCC, MUDA name change:

govt.

i. The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) and the

Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) have

been asked to pass a resolution immediately to

alter their names to Mysuru City Corporation and

Mysuru Urban Development Authority

ii. The Karnataka State government issued a special

gazette notification for changing the names of 12

cities, including Mysuru

58. LRSAM flight-tested successfully in Israel

i. The Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM),

developed jointly by India and Israel through

Defence Research and Development Organisation

(DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) was

successfully flight-tested against a flying target in a

range in Israel

59. Armistice day events in Puducherry

i. A host of events was observed in Puducherry on

the occasion of the centenary of World War I and

Armistice Day on Nov 11

ii. City of Madras was attacked by German light

cruiser SMS Emden and the first ever victory of Royal

Australian Navy was when it defeated the Emden

iii. Sean Kelly is the Australian Consul-General to

South India

iv. French Consul General Philippe Janvier-

Kamiyama will lead the wreath laying ceremony on

the occasion of Armistice Day at the French War

memorial on Goubert Avenue

60. New building of ICCW, Vellore

i. District Collector and president of the Indian

Council for Child Welfare (ICCW), Vellore district R.

Nanthagopal inaugurated the new building of

ICCW, Vellore

61. Aerial surveys to check for uranium deposits

i. Eastern side of the Krishna, Badami town in

Karnataka being covered to find if valuable

deposits of uranium, thorium and osmium are in

these parts

62. SAMVAY launched

i. The Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational

Advancement of Youth (SAMVAY) was launched to

mark National Education Day which is on nov 11

63. Wildlife institute nears completion in Tamilnadu

i. Reproductive biology, animal care sciences,

conservation ecology and a wildlife forensic lab will

form part of the advanced institute for wildlife

conservation which is nearing completion in

Vandalur, near the zoo




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64. Exhibition of digital prints of Tagore‟s art opens in

Serbia

i. A collection of 45 digital prints of paintings by

Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore has been

displayed at the National Library of Serbia in

Belgrade

ii. Tagore has a special connection with Serbia

Gurudev since he has visited Serbia (former

Yugoslavia) in 1926 and gave two lectures at

Belgrade University

65. Obama calls Modi „man of action‟

i. U.S. President Barack Obama called Prime Minister

Narendra Modi a ―man of action.‖

66. India, US reach pact to resolve WTO impasse

i.India and the United States settled a dispute that

had paralysed the World Trade Organization and

risked derailing a $1 trillion package of reforms of

global customs procedures.

ii. India had plunged the WTO into the deepest crisis

in its 20-year history in July by vetoing a deal on

streamlined customs rules due to a lack of progress

on its demands to be allowed to stockpile food

without observing the usual WTO rules on

agricultural subsidies.

67. Modi in Australia

i. Prime Minister Narendra Mod is the first Indian

Prime Minister to visit Australia since Rajiv Gandhi in

1986

68. India third largest passport issuing country

i. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that

India is the third largest passport issuing country

after China and the US

ii. Meghalaya Chief Minister is Mukul Sangma

69. Putin, Rousseff Plunge in Bloomberg Poll While

Modi Soars

i. In a survey Fifty-six percent of respondents said

they are optimistic on the policies of Indian Prime

Minister Narendra Modi, 61 percent pessimistic of

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff‘s policies and 87

percent said unfavourable the worst rating for

Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s policies

70. Ranade, the man who inspired Modi

i. Mr. Modi revealed his old association with Eknath

Ranade whose birth centenary falls on November

19, is supposed to be the man who inspired Modi,.

71. AFSPA doesn‟t give unlimited powers – Nov 15

i. Union Minister Gen (retd) V K Singh defended the

Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), saying it

did not come in the way of punishing erring soldiers

72. Modi meets Hollande, calls for common fight

against terror

i. PM Narendra Modi met French President Francois

Hollande on the margins of the G20 summit in

Brisbane and spoke of global cooperation against

terror and common strategy between states.

73. Rangarajan report on gas pricing no longer

valid: Centre

i. The Rangarajan panel report on natural gas

pricing will be no longer applicable as the Centre

has issued fresh guidelines increasing the rate from

$4.2 per mmBtu (million metric British thermal units)

to $5.61 per mmBtu from November 1

74. German taken off third language slot

i. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan (KVS), which

runs 500 Central Schools across the country, has

decided to offer German as a ―foreign language‖

instead of third language since MoU with German

government‘s Goethe Institute which also provides

the KVS with 700 German teachers violates national

education policy said Human Resources

Development Minister Smriti Rani

75. Farhan is UN Women‟s first male Goodwill

Ambassador

i. Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar has

become the first man in UN Women‘s history to be

appointed its Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia.

ii. The 40-year-old actor will serve as an advocate

for UN Women‘s newly-launched HeForShe initiative

for gender equality and women‘s empowerment.

76. Sachin to adopt village – Nov 16

i. Sachin Tendulkar visited the tiny village of

Puttamrajuvari Kandrika located in Gudur mandal

which he had decided to adopt under the Sansad

Adarsh Gram Yojana.




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77. Tax havens should provide information on black

money: Modi

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked every

country, to provide information for tax purposes

ii. He also expressed the hope that Base Erosion and

Profit Sharing (BEPS) system would fully address

concerns of developing and developed

economies.

iii. BEPS is a technical term referring to the effect of

tax avoidance strategies used by multinational

companies on countries‘ tax basis. BEPS is known

more commonly as ―Transfer pricing‖

78. Modi regales Obama, Abbott with tales of Griffin

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared with Tony

Abbott, and U.S. President Barack Obama the story

of Walter Burley Griffin who made a name in their

three nations, an American architect who designed

the Australian capital of Canberra and left behind

many works in India.

ii. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson is Syed

Akbaruddin

iii. Griffin, who died on February 11, 1937, at King

George‘s Hospital in Lucknow at the age of 61, was

a landscape architect.

iv. Griffin designed the library at the University of

Lucknow, University of Lucknow Student Union

building; a museum and library for the Raja of

Mahmudabad; a zenana (women‘s quarters) for

the Raja of Jahangirabad; Pioneer Press building; a

bank; and a memorial to King George V.

v. Griffin won complete design responsibility for the

1936-37 United Provinces Exhibition of Industry and

Agriculture.

79. Indian team gets Singapore funding for

language-learning app

i. The Singapore International Foundation (SIF)

Chairman Euleen Goh , has awarded seed fund to

four winning teams of social entrepreneurs including

'Jugnu' in India

80.India to take ideas from Barcelona

i. The Minister has already held discussions with

officials from Singapore and Seoul on the smart

cities project.

ii. Singapore has shown interest in partnering with

India for the development of a new smart satellite

city and a new capital for Andhra Pradesh.

iii. Netherlands and Canada too have offered their

expertise and are willing to partner with India

iv. India will next be looking at Barcelona to borrow

best practices for its own model

v. Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah

Naidu has been invited by the Mayor of Barcelona

to attend the Smart City World Conference to be

held between November 18 and 20.

81. Jurists seek Bharat Ratna for Krishna Iyer

i. The All India Association of Jurists (AIAJ) has

appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee and

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer the Bharat

Ratna on Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, who turned 100

on November 15

82. Doubt of inclusion of 'Dhanush' for the Army

i. The Dhanush prototype suffered a barrel burst

during firing trials at Pokhran in August last year,

which has since been resolved but still there are

doubts will it be included in the army

83. British lawyer to walk 1260 kms for Indian widows

i. A 53-year old British lawyer Chris Parsons will

undertake a 1260 kms walk starting Gateway of

India in Mumbai to Bengaluru via Goa, Mangalore

and Mysore in 30 days to raise $1 million

(approximately Rs 6.1 crore) for improving the lives

of Indian widows and children.

ii. Mr Parsons is very close to British parliamentarian

of Indian origin Lord Raj Loomba and wanted to

support his, The Loomba Foundation which has

been working extensively for the uplift of poor

widows.

iii. There are about 42 million widows in India

84. Modi unveils Gandhi statue in Brisbane

i. Mr. Modi unveiled a bronze 2.5-metre tall statue of

the Mahatma at Roma Street Parkland in Brisbane.

ii. Gandhi was born On October 2 (1869) in

Porbandar

85. India-EU n-deal likely by next year

i. An agreement is expected to be signed between

the India‘s Department of Atomic Energy and Joint




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Research Centre of the European Union for civil

nuclear cooperation

ii. European Union‘s Ambassador to India is Joao

Cravinho

86. Government may not let Rajan go to BRICS bank

i. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan is on the list to

become President for BRICS but sources said it

might be difficult to send Dr Rajan

87. Vrindavan to be a hub of religious tourism

i. President Pranab Mukherjee lauded the

International Society for Krishna Consciousness

(ISKCON) for undertaking the construction of a 210-

metre-high Chandrodaya Mandir (three times taller

than the Qutub Minar), stating it added a new

dimension to the government‘s initiative of making

Vrindavan a hub of religious tourism.

88. More youth in India than rest of the world: UN

report – nov 18

i. India has a larger proportion of youth population

than the rest of the world, according to the United

Nations Population Fund‘s (UNFPA) State of the

World‘s Population Report

89. Govt re-launches Kisan Vikas Patra

i. The government re-launched Kisan Vikas Patra

(KVP), an instrument which will provide trusted

option of investment to poor

ii. In the last 2-3 years, savings rate in country has

declined from a record high of 36.8 per cent to

below 30 per cent

90. Australia and India to push for free trade pact

i. Australia and India have pledged to push for a

major free trade deal, as Indian PM Narendra Modi

made a rare speech to lawmakers in Canberra.

91. Modi presents Man Singh Trophy to Abbott

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the Man

Singh Trophy, a prized possession of Sikh regiment

battalions, to his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott

at the War Memorial in Canberra

92. ISRO chosen for Indira Gandhi prize for peace,

disarmament –Nov 19

i. Indian space agency ISRO will be conferred the

Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and

Development for 2014

93. “Army will become network-centric by 2020”

i. The Army will be network-enabled by 2017 and

fully network-centric by 2020, Lt. Gen. Philip

Campose, Vice-Chief of Army Staff said

94. China not to block Japan building Indian border

roads

i. China has signalled that it would not object to

Japanese involvement in specific border road

projects in India

ii. India had signed a contract with the Japan

International Corporation Agency to build 2,000 km

of road along the China-India border

95. PM gifts Rani of Jhansi's petition to Abbott

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted Australian PM

Tony Abbott, Australian lawyer John Lang‘s 1854

petition against the East India Company on behalf

of Rani Lakshmibai .

ii. Lang is generally regarded as Australia‘s first

native novelist and in 1854 he became the counsel

of Lakshmibai

iii. Modi gifted a memento to Australia signed by

him and World Cup winning Indian captainsiv. At

the iconic 161-year-old Melbourne Cricket Ground

(MCG) Abbott said Modi is like a ―brother.‖

96. Modi in Fiji

i. Modi addressed before the Fiji parliament, after

an invite by Fiji‘s President Voreqe Bainimarama

ii. Modi is the second Indian prime minister to visit Fiji,

despite Indians making up 40 percent of the

population, after Indira Gandhi in 1981

97. US has 450,000 illegal immigrants from India –

Nov 20

i. A new report said of the 11.2 million illegal

immigrants in the US, about 450,000 of them are

from India and India is the largest birth country of

unauthorised immigrants in New Hampshire

98. Modi's has over 25 mn followers on Facebook

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has crossed 25

million followers on Facebook and continues to

remain the second-most followed politician in the

world after US President Barack Obama, the social

networking website said




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99. 10 million child deaths attributed to global lack

of toilets

i. A health and development crisis claimed at least

10 million children under the age of five since 2000

because they have no access to a basic toilet,

according to a report by the international

development organization WaterAid.

ii. India accounts for about 60 percent of Earth‘s

residents without toilets, highest in the world

100. ISRO to consolidate its partnership with industry

i. India‘s Mars Orbitor Mission (MOM) had the

participation of 125 firms

ii. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is

looking at means to consolidate its partnership with

industry to produce launch vehicles and

operational communication satellites

iii. ISRO chairman is K. Radhakrishnan

101. Medileaks launched

i. Keshav Desiraju, is now the Secretary, Department

of Consumer Affairs

ii. Medileaks, a website that will allow stakeholders

to register complaints, point out irregularities in

healthcare and generate information about

malpractices in the medical care sector, was

launched in New Delhi

iii. The website‘s founders are Sunil Nandraj and

Alam Singh

102. Govt plans to use India Post's postmen to

educate people on schemes and policy

i. The government is planning to use India Post's

strong branch network to reach out to citizens in far

and backward areas and educate them about the

various policies, schemes and incentives.

ii. Modi has set up a Task Force to leverage the

postal network in India

iii. Former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian is the

Chairman of the Task Force

iv.The world's largest postal network, India Post has

about 1.55 lakh post offices and on an average, a

post office serves an area of 21.21 sq km and a

population of 7,175 people

103. Cabinet clears 3 key pacts for SAARC meet –

Nov 21

i. Three key framework agreements with member-

countries to enhance rail and road connectivity

and to set up a regional power grid were cleared

by the Union Cabinet ahead of South Asian

Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

summit to be held at Kathmandu on November 26 –

27

104. Key Aspect dropped in Beijing plus 20

i. A key aspect of the Beijing declaration and

platform for action adopted in 1995 on sexual rights

was left out after objections by some countries

ii. Roberta Clarke, regional director of UN Women,

said the objectives of the conference — to assess

and review the Beijing goals, recommit to the

centrality of gender equality and strengthen social

institutions — were achieved

105. India-Bhutan relations has good understanding

i. India-Bhutan relations had reached an

―unprecedented level of cooperation and

understanding‖, Bhutan‘s Prime Minister Tshering

Tobgay said

106. „Think in India‟ drive to complement the PM's

'Made in India' campaign

i. Union Minister for Human Resource Development

Smriti Irani said the HRD Ministry is planning to come

up with a ‗Think in India‘ drive to encourage

students and researchers to come up with

innovations and new ideas and to keep the talent

back home from leaving abroad.

107. India's Mangalyaan among best inventions of

2014

i. Mangalyaan has been named among the best

inventions of 2014 by Time magazine which

described it as a technological feat

ii. Time, called Mangalyaan, it is "The Supersmart

Spacecraft."

108. US for enhancing defence ties with India

i. The United States sought increased defence

cooperation with India.

ii. The world‘s top arms exporters is U.S and Asia‘s

third largest economy is India




11

iii.Eric L. Hirschhorn, is the under secretary for the

Bureau of Industry and Security, US Department of

Commerce

109. SC kicks CBI Director Ranjit Sinha out of 2G

scam probe

i. The Supreme Court asked CBI Director Ranjit Sinha

to withdraw himself from overseeing the

investigation into the 2G scam case.

110. India to invest $4 billion to tackle power theft

i. India will spend 253 billion rupees ($4.1 billion) to

tackle rampant theft of electricity by rolling out

metering in cities and upgrading old distribution

networks, the power ministry said

ii. These projects will help cut technical and

commercial losses and improve collection

efficiency

111. Gender-based violence is an epidemic in

India: Kate Gilmore –Nov 22

i. UNFPA deputy executive director Kate Gilmore,

was in New Delhi for the Global Symposium 2014 on

Men and Boys for Gender Justice, held from 10-13

November, says that gender-based violence has

become an epidemic in India and worldwide.

112. Merit-based bureaucracy could add nearly a

percentage point to India‟s per capita growth

i. Investment bank Goldman Sachs has estimated

that civil service reforms that include a merit-based

rather than seniority-based, could add nearly a

percentage point annually to India‘s per capita

growth, which stood at 3.4 per cent last year.

ii. To arrive at its estimation, Goldman Sachs used

the World Bank‘s latest Worldwide Governance

Indicators (WGI) data released in September

iii. India‘s WGI ranking deteriorated from 55th

percentile in 2004 to the 47th percentile in 2013

iv. India‘s growth could increase by 0.28

percentage points for every one index point

change in effectiveness of government, according

to the Goldman Sachs results

113. IMAC will help Navy step up coastal

surveillance

i. The Information Management and Analysis Centre

(IMAC), located in Gurgaon ,the nerve centre of

the Navy for coastal surveillance and monitoring is

ready for commissioning

ii. It will function under the National Security Adviser

(NSA)

iii. The National Command Control Communication

and Intelligence System (NC3I) will eventually

become the backbone of National Maritime

Domain Awareness (NDMA)

iv. The NC3I will link 20 naval and 31 Coast Guard

monitoring stations

v. The network was built by Bharat Electronics

Limited (BEL) which has sourced customised

software from the U.S. Company Raytheon

vi. Agreement for data sharing with 24 countries in

the Indian Ocean region is awaiting clearance from

the Prime Minister-led Cabinet Committee on

Security (CCS)

114. India's first aircraft carrier Vikrant fades into

history

i. Vikrant built for the British Royal Navy as HMS

Hercules in 1943, acquired by India in 1957 was

auctioned to a ship-breaker Mumbai's IB

Commercials Pvt Ltd for Rs 63 crore

ii. Vikrant saw action during the India-Pakistan war

in 1971

115. Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)

i. Launched on 2nd October 1975, today, ICDS

Scheme represents one of the world‘s largest and

most unique programmes for early childhood

development

ii. UNICEF acknowledged India‘s success in

improving lot of children in the, State of the World

Children Report 2015

116. Obama to be the chief guest at the Republic

Day

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Mr. Obama

to be the chief guest at the Republic Day

celebrations, an invitation which has been

accepted by the American leader and this is the

first time a U.S. President is to attend Republic Day

celebrations

ii. U.S National Security Advisor is Susan Rice




12

117. Bengal Governor to hold additional charge of

Bihar - Nov 23

i. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will

hold the additional charge of Bihar, the President‘s

Secretariat said since Bihar Governor Dr. D.Y. Patil

completes his tenure on November 26.

118. Shahi Imam picks son as successor

i. Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari

anointed his son Shaban Bukhari as the Naib Imam

(deputy Imam) of the 17th century mosque at a

ceremony in New Delhi, while the High Court has

said that there is no legal sanctity for the move.

119. Terror activities rise in India by 70 per cent:

Global Index

i. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2014,

prepared by Institute for Economics and Peace

(IEP), the number of attacks in India has increased

by 70 per cent during 2012-2013 with 55 more

incidents in 2013 than in 2012.

ii. There were attacks by 43 terrorist groups who can

be categorised into three categories - Islamists,

separatists and Communists

120. Two beatified candidates from Kerala will be

conferred sainthood by Pope Francis

i. Two beatified candidates from Kerala Father

Kuriakose Elias Chavara(1805-1871) and Sister

Euphrasia (died in 1952) will be conferred

sainthood by Pope Francis at Vatican

121. DRDO to make unmanned combat systems –

Nov 24

i. Defence Research and Development

Organisation (DRDO) Director General Dr. Avinash

Chander said the DRDO is working on different

unmanned combat system projects for aerial,

underwater and surface applications

122. NSA Ajit Doval named for border talks with

China

i. The NDA government named National Security

Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval as its Special

Representative on boundary talks with China

123. Canada province offers uranium

i. Brad Wall, Premier of the Saskatchewan province

in Canada said the province is discussing sale of

uranium to India as well as partnering in agriculture

and clean coal technologies

124. Sale of loose cigarettes banned –Nov 25

i. The ministry has approved the recommendation

of an internal panel to ban sale of loose cigarettes

and raised the minimum age to buy tobacco

products to 25 years from 18 year at present

125. Swaraj meets Pak PM‟s Advisor on Foreign

Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz meet

i. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj interacted

with Pakistan Prime Minister‘s Advisor on Foreign

Affairs and National Security, Sartaj Aziz in the

SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting in Kathmandu

ii. India in August called off foreign secretary-level

talks with Pakistan after Pakistan High Commissioner

Abdul Basit held talks with Kashmiri separatists.

126. NGT bans cutting of trees across country

i. The National Green Tribunal banned cutting of

trees across the country

ii. The Green Bench issued the direction to restrain

people from cutting trees in forests illegally

iii. The Indian Institute of Sustainable Development

raised the issue of illegal cutting of trees

127. US „cautiously optimistic‟ about ties with India

i. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said

that despite positive developments such as the

easing of the FDI cap in the Defence sector, the

U.S. remained ―cautiously optimistic‖ about

relations with India as the Modi government had

raised tariffs

128. MoU to share best practices in the sanitation

sector

i. The World Toilet Organisation (WTO), WASTE and

the Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and

Health (FINISH) signed a memorandum of

understanding (MoU) to share best practices in the

sanitation sector and help millions of Indians gain

access to basic sanitation facilities

129. Mumbai terror attacks sixth anniversary – Nov

26

i. Horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks sixth

anniversary is today




13

130. U.S. raises IPR issues

i. The U.S. raised concern over the level of

protection India affords to its companies and the

intellectual property rights (IPR) regime in India.

ii. A joint India-US statement was issued after the

eighth ministerial-level meeting of the India-United

States Trade Policy Forum (TPF)

131. Army gets first BEL-upgraded air defence

system

i. The Army received the first of the upgraded

Schilka air defence weapon systems from Bharat

Electronics Ltd.

ii. Lt Gen V.K. Saxena is Director-General, Army Air

Defence and BEL Chairman and Managing Director

is S.K.Sharma

132. K Durga Prasad to no longer head SPG

i. K Durga Prasad will no longer hold the charge of

chief of the elite Special Protection Group

ii. The Special Protection Group guards the PM and

former PMs and their immediate family

iii. S S Chaturvedi, the next senior-most officer, will

look after the charge till the appointment of the

successor

133. Jaipur Literature Festival – Nov 27

i. The Jaipur Literature Festival is scheduled from

January 21 to 25

ii. Nearly 200 writers, both from India and abroad,

have confirmed participation.

Listed below are some information of various poets

who are to attend the festival

-Ruth Padel is a British poet and great-great-

granddaughter of Charles Darwin

-Hakan Nesser and Nils Nordberg are maestros of

Nordic noir

- Kai Bird is a Pulitzer-winning American biographer

-Helon Habila is one of the leading lights of Nigerian

literature

-Mark Gevisser from South Africa, wrote a

biography of the former South African President

Thabo Mbeki won him international acclaim.

-Pulitzer-winner is Vijay Seshadri Hindi poet

Kedarnath Singh is a Jnanpith award winner

134. The Hindu‟s photographers win prestigious

awards

i. Press Institute of India – International Committee of

the Red Cross (PII-ICRC) award 2014 in the category

‗Best Photograph on a Humanitarian Subject‘ was

awarded to Manob Chowdhury

ii. Media Foundation of India award in the arts and

culture category was given to K.R. Deepak, The

Hindu‘s photographer

135. Australia offers assistance for cleaning up the

Ganga

i. Australia will offer technical support and

assistance to India‘s mammoth undertaking of

cleaning up the Ganga, Australian High

Commissioner Patrick Suckling said

136. Parliament passes Apprentices Bill

i. The Apprentices (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was

passed by voice vote

ii. The Bill removes imprisonment as a punishment for

violating the provisions of the Act and allows

employers to fix the hours of work and leave

137. Ebola has claimed only one Indian life

i. The Ministry of External Affairs informed the Lok

Sabha that a single Indian employed in Liberia had

died of Ebola virus infection on September 7, 2014

138. Anoop Mishra new Lok Sabha Secretary-

General

i. Anoop Mishra, former Uttar Pradesh Chief

Secretary, will be the new Secretary-General of the

Lok Sabha

139. SAARC leaders reach last-minute energy deal

i. South Asian heads of state attending their first

summit in three years have reached a deal on

energy sharing but failed on two other economic

agreements

140. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers to

export first warship to Mauritius –Nov 28

i. Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and

Engineers (GRSE) would export its first warship to

Mauritius next month said Rear Admiral A K Verma,

chairman and managing director of GRSE




14

141. No dilution of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Gurantee (MGNREGA) scheme

i. The government said MGNREGA scheme

launched during the previous UPA rule will not be

diluted

142. France to grant visas in 2 days

i. French Ambassador Francois Richier announced

that tourist and business visas would be processed

within two days of application

143. Pak. to have 200 nuclear warheads by 2020: US

think tank

i. Pakistan is likely to have enough fissile material to

build over 200 nuclear warheads by 2020,

according to the latest report by Council on

Foreign Relations (CFR), a US think tank.

ii. The CFR special report ―Strategic Stability in the

Second Nuclear Age‖, authored by Gregory

Koblentz from George Mason University details that

―Pakistan has deployed or is developing eleven

delivery systems for its nuclear warheads‖

144. Only beginner‟s level Sanskrit to be taught

i. Only beginner‘s level Sanskrit would be taught in

Classes 6 to 8 in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan

145. Russia expresses interest in aircraft production

in India

i. Russia has expressed interest in production of civil

and light transport aircraft in India with their

technology

146. E-visa facility launched for 43 countries

i. The government rolled out the electronic-visa

system for visitors from 43 countries, including the

U.S., Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan and Russia.

147. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State is Nisha Biswal

148. India Post order to boost Ricoh India business

i. Ricoh India, has got a Rs.1,370-crore order with

India Post which involves modernising 1.29 lakh rural

post offices, which would be automated

ii. Ricoh India Executive Vice President and Chief

Executive Officer Manoj Kumar

149. Improvements in child nutrition over the last

five years –Nov 29

i. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released

data for the fourth round of the District Level Health

Survey (DLHS), which covers all of the country,

except the eight backward northern States known

as the Empowered Action Group (EAG) States and

Assam

ii. India‘s more developed States, especially

southern States, have seen improvements in child

nutrition over the last five years but have a patchy

record on immunisation, new official data shows

iii. A large sample survey was conducted by the

Mumbai-based International Institute for Population

Studies.

iv. The EAG states and Assam are being covered by

the Annual Health Survey conducted by the

Registrar General of India

v. IIPS director is Dr. Faujdar Ram

150. Rajya Sabha demanded birth anniversary of

Thiruvalluvar to be celebrated

i. The Rajya Sabha stood united in demanding a

national-level celebration next year of the birth

anniversary of Thiruvalluvar

151. India vulnerable to climate change; among

top 20 –Nov 30

i. India is among the top 20 countries in regions that

are at risk based on analysis of climate risk

ii. Mumbai and Kolkata will have the greatest

population and assets exposed to coastal flooding

in 2070

iii. Christiana Figueres is the Executive Secretary of

the UN Climate Convention

152. Planning Commission replacement likely in

December

i. A new institution to replace the 64-year old

Planning Commission may be unveiled this

December.

153. Make the police force of the country as

„SMART‟ police force - Modi

i. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi called for making

the police force of the country ‗SMART‘ police force

which is Strict and Sensitive, Modern and

Mobile, Alert and Accountable, Reliable

and Responsive; Techno-savvy and Trained.

ii. Modi addressed the 49th Annual Conference of

Directors General of Police / Inspectors General of




15

Police and head of all central police organisations

in Guwhati

154. Aadhaar number through EPFO

i. Retirement fund body EPFO has decided to

become a registrar of the Unique Identification

Authority of India

ii. Employees‘ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)

wants to seed over 4.2 crore portable Universal PF

Account Numbers issued by it, with the Aadhaar

number of subscribers

155. INTERNATIONAL

Washington tries to stop Hungary's deal with Russia –

Nov 1

i. The United States is mounting a diplomatic

offensive to stop Hungary selling a stake in a

Croatian energy firm to Russia

156. Test flight of Virgin Galactic spaceship ends in

fatal crash in California

i. A passenger spaceship being developed by

Richard Branson‘s Virgin Galactic company

crashed during a test flight near the Mojave Air and

Space Port in California

157.U.S. chides Russia over military flights in Europe

i. Stepped-up flights by Russian fighters, long-range

bombers and tanker aircraft are aggravating

security concerns in Europe

ii. NATO said it had conducted more than 100

intercepts of Russian aircraft this year and Britain

scrambled RAF fighter jets second time after a

Russian Bear bomber approached UK airspace

158. U.S. blacklists Aung Thang

i. The United States imposed sanctions on Aung

Thaung a prominent lawmaker and businessman

and now a member of Myanmar's lower house of

parliament in Myanmar

159. U.K. to repay 18th Century debts

i. Britain said it was paying back bonds issued in

1927 by then finance minister Winston Churchill to

cover debts from World War I

160. Burkina Faso President steps down

i. Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore stepped

down after a 27-year rule

161. Drones over French nuclear plant

i. French authorities said that they had detected

drones over two nuclear power plants

ii. Green peace has denied its involvement in this

incident

162. UN climate change report to warn of 'severe,

pervasive' effects of global warming

ii. The UN Environment Program has launched a

report on climate change said emissions, mainly

from the burning of fossil fuels, may need to drop to

zero by the end of this century for the world to have

a decent chance of keeping the temperature rise

below a level that many consider dangerous

163. China, Russia block Antarctic protection

i. Two proposals for the protection of the Ross Sea

and East Antarctic coastal regions blocked by

China and Russia calls into question, The

Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic

Marine Living Resources‘ (CCAMLR) ability to deliver

on its conservation commitments

164. First lawsuit from relatives of MH370 victims filed

by 2 boys

i. Two Malaysian children sued Malaysia Airlines and

the government over the loss of their father on Flight

370, the first lawsuit filed in the country by

relatives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court

165. An Iranian-British woman detained for trying to

attend a men‟s volleyball game

i. An Iranian-British woman Ghoncheh Ghavami has

been detained while trying to attend a men's

volleyball game in Iran has been sentenced to one

year in prison

166. Spain imposes „Google Tax‟

i. The Spanish government has successfully passed a

new intellectual property law, known popularly as

the ―Google Tax‖ or by its initials LPI, will impose fees

for online content aggregators such as Google

News

167. Pro-Russian separatist Zakharchenko wins

Ukraine rebel vote –nov 3

i. Pro-Russian separatist Alexander Zakharchenko

has won rebel leadership election in eastern

Ukraine




16

168. China to set up new anti-graft office

i. China will set up a anti-corruption bureau with top

prosecutor to streamline campaign against graft.

169. The United Nations launched a campaign for

stateless people

i. At least 10 million people are not recognised as

nationals by any country.

ii. The United Nations launched a campaign to end

statelessness within a decade

170. Air pollution slashes India's potential grain

yields by half

i. Air pollution seems to have a direct, negative

impact on grain production in India, a study

warned with recent increases in smog decreasing

projected yields by half

171. Thai junta appoints panel to draft new charter

i. Thailand's military government appointed a

committee to draft a new constitution

ii. Thai junta leader is General Prayuth Chan-ocha

and its former Prime Minister was Thaksin Shinawatra

172. Mongolian parliament votes to oust prime

minister –Nov 5

i. Mongolia's parliament voted to remove Prime

Minister Norov Altankhuyag

173. Russia absent in nuclear summit meetings

i. The White House said it regretted Russia's decision

not to attend preparatory meeting last week for the

2016 nuclear security summit

174. UK loathe to pressure China over Hong Kong

because of trade - former governor

i. Britain is not putting enough pressure on China

over an agreement on the transfer of Hong Kong's

sovereignty because it is worried about damaging

trade links -former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten

175. Libya top court rejects elected assembly - Nov 6

i. Libya's Supreme Court declared the

internationally recognised parliament as

unconstitutional

176. Canada's Harper heads to China

i. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in

China, facing the delicate task of improving

economic ties with Canada‘s second-largest

trading partner

177. Demolition of remaining Syria chemical arms

sites to begin soon

i. The demolition of a dozen remaining chemical

weapons production facilities in Syria to begin later

ii. Australian Ambassador to the United Nations is

Gary Francis Quinlan

178. Jordan-Israel relations in crisis over al-Aqsa

mosque strife

i. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said

Amman (Jordans capital) withdrew its ambassador

because of the situation at the al-Aqsa mosque

compound.

179. Indian-origin UK Cabinet minister Sajid Javid

tops influential Asian list –Nov 7

i. Britain's first Indian-origin cabinet minister Sajid

Javid has topped a list of the most influential Asians

in the country

ii. The 'Power 101 Britain's Most Influential Asians

2015' included Indian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz at

the third, Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and

Hinduja brothers at the fourth and fifth positions

respectively.

iii. The Power 101, also has NRI industrialist Lord Swraj

Paul and son Angad, chairman and CEO of

Caparo Group of Industries, curry king Lord Gulam

Noon and Deutsche Bank's Indian-origin CEO Anshu

Jain

180. China paper calls Obama a banal leader

i. China's state-run media decried Barack Obama

as a banal leader who has done an "insipid job"

181. U.N.'s Zeid questions Sri Lanka's integrity over

war crimes probe

i. Sri Lankan attempts to "sabotage" a war crimes

enquiry are an affront to the U.N. body that set it

up, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid

Ra'ad al-Hussein said

182. West African leaders name Togo's president to

lead Ebola response

i. West African leaders appointed Togolese

President Faure Gnassingbe to supervise the

region's efforts to contain the deadly Ebola

epidemic, which has killed nearly 5,000 people




17

183. U.S. Army to deactivate long-serving 'Iron

Brigade' in S.Korea

i. An Army combat brigade that has anchored the

U.S. military presence in South Korea for nearly 50

years will be deactivated and replaced with a

rotational unit

184. China to establish $40 billion Silk Road

infrastructure fund –Nov 8

i. Chinese President Xi Jinping today committed

USD 40 billion to give a push to the country‘s mega

plan aimed at reviving the ancient Silk Road and

―break the connectivity bottleneck‖ in Asia.

185. U.S. urges Europe, Asia to do more for U.N.

peacekeeping

i. The United States is urging countries in Europe,

Latin America and Asia to commit more to U.N.

peacekeeping operations around the world

186. Ukrainian PM‟s party wins parliamentary

election

i. The People‘s Front Party, led by Ukrainian Prime

Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk won the country‘s

parliamentary election, the Central Election

Commission (CEC) said

187. Germany marks 25 years since Berlin Wall's

fall - Nov 9

i. Germany celebrates the 25th anniversary of the

night the Berlin Wall fell

188. Israel ready to share aviation security

technology with India

i. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said

Israel was "ready and willing" to share technology

with India in areas such as aviation security, border

protection and water harvesting

189. Narendra Modi paving 'third revolution' in

India: Shimon Peres

i. Nobel Prize winner and former president of Israel

Shimon Peres lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi

saying he is paving the 'third revolution' in India by

combining tradition with the right technology

190. Despite strong support, no timeline for Asia

trade pact – Nov 10

i. There was strong support among international

leaders to reach a deal on an Asia-Pacific trade

pact called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in

coming months, but no timeline has been set

191. Catalan independence hopes high after

symbolic vote on split from Spain

i. Millions of Catalans voted in a symbolic

referendum on independence from Spain that

supporters hope will propel the issue further despite

opposition from Madrid

192. Iranian-built copy of U.S. drone takes first flight

i. An Iranian copy of a U.S. reconnaissance drone

captured in 2011 has taken its first flight

193. U.S., China to extend visa validity to boost

trade, tourism

i. China and the US have agreed to significantly

extend the terms of short-term visas, a deal which

would improve trade and business ties between the

world's two largest economies.

194. China unveils sophisticated stealth fighter

aircraft –Nov 11 - 14

i. China unveiled a new stealth fighter jet J-31

developed by the Aviation Industry Corp of China

(Avic)

195. Google to rent historic airfield from NASA

i. Three hangars a 1,000-acre site part of former

Moffett Field Naval Air Station on the San Francisco

Peninsula will be renovated and used for projects

involving aviation, space exploration and robotics

196. U.N. chief names retired Dutch general to head

Gaza war inquiry

i. Patrick Cammaert, a retired Dutch general and

former force commander of the U.N.

peacekeeping mission in eastern Democratic

Republic of the Congo, will head the investigation

into attacks on UN facilities during Israel‘s recent

war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip

197. UK PM Cameron‟s Conservatives take largest

poll lead in 4 years

i. Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives

have taken their largest Ipsos-MORI poll lead over

the opposition Labour party in four years, according

to the latest survey published




18

198. Malala Yousafzai denounced by Pakistani

schools group

i. Group of Pakistani private schools denounced

Nobel peace laureate and girls' education

champion Malala Yousafzai as disrespectful to

Pakistan and to Islam.

199. U.S. says Myanmar should draft plan to give

Rohingya citizenship

i. The US urged Myanmar to draft a new plan to

allow the ethnic Rohingya minority to become

citizens and to scrap a proposed plan to send them

to detention camps if they decline to identify as

Bengalis

200. Enough evidence to hold N.Korea's Kim

accountable - U.N. official

i. A U.N. investigator said there was enough

evidence to hold North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

accountable for "massive" human rights atrocities

committed by the state.

201. U.S. using fake cellphone towers on planes to

gather data

i. The program run by the U.S. Marshals Service

began operations in 2007 and uses Cessna

planes in gathering data from thousands of cell

phones, including criminal suspects, by using fake

communications towers on airplanes

202. North Korea's Kim to send special envoy to

Russia

i. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is to send a

personal envoy to Russia Choe Ryong Hae, a high-

ranking member of the ruling Workers' Party as it

fends off accusations of crimes against humanity.

203. China identifies “dozens” of Uighurs in Thailand

i. Chinese officials in Thailand have identified

"dozens" of Uighurs from the Chinese region of

Xinjiang who were rescued by Thai police from a

human-smuggling camp

204. Myanmar law on presidential candidates

makes no sense

i. U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting Myanmar's

opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said a provision

in the Southeast Asian nation's constitution that

prevents candidates from running for president

because of their children's nationality made no

sense

205. Taiwanese president says relations with China

should get back

i. Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou said relations

with China should quickly get back on track

ii. Taiwan‘s parliament building was occupied from

March for weeks by hundreds of protesters angry at

a pending trade pact that would open 80 of

China‘s service sectors to Taiwan, and 64 Taiwan

sectors to China, as part of the Economic

Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

206. Sweden‟s Saab has submitted bid to upgrade

Australia‟s submarine fleet

i. Swedish defence firm Saab has submitted a bid to

build new submarines for the Australian defence

207. Zen anti-Vietnam war leader suffers brain

haemorrhage in France

i. Internationally renowned Zen monk Thich Nhat

Hanh, who in the 1960s came to prominence as an

opponent of the Vietnam War, is in intensive care in

France after suffering a brain haemorrhage

208. 6.4 million Newborns do not get measles

vaccine every year: WHO – Nov 15

i. The WHO Weekly Epidemiological Report and the

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention‘s

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reveals an

overall increase in the number of deaths from

measles and nearly 6.4 million newborns are still not

being immunized annually

209. First Muslim prayers at National Cathedral

i. The first Muslim prayer service was hosted at the

National Cathedral, a landmark Christian church in

the U.S. capital

210. Let's use first names, Abbott tells G20 leaders

i. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott asked G20

leaders in Brisbane to use first names to show

―personal warmth‖ and to ―speak from the heart,

not from notes‖

211. Putin left G20 –Nov 16

i. Russian President Vladimir Putin left the G20

summit in Brisbane early




19

212. Australian PM says G20 signs off on growth goal

package

i. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the

Group of 20 leading economies had signed off on

package of measures to add an extra 2.1

percentage points to global growth over five years,

with progress to be reviewed by the IMF and OECD

213. Microsoft leapfrogs Exxon to become second

largest firm

i. Energy giant Exxon has ceded its position as the

world's second-largest public company to tech firm

Microsoft, after concerns about the falling price of

oil drove its shares down

214. Klaus Iohannis won elections in Romania –Nov

17

i. German ethnic Klaus Iohannis, the mayor of Sibiu –

one of Romania‘s largest cities, won the presidential

elections in Romania

215. India urges higher pay for millions of Gulf

workers

i. India is pressing rich countries in the Gulf to raise

the wages of millions of Indians working there, in a

drive that could secure it billions of dollars in fresh

income

216. Australia and China in joint effort to combat

climate change

i. China and Australia agreed to work jointly to

combat climate change by sharing technology

aimed at improving the efficiency of coal usage

217. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain end rift with

Qatar

i. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain agreed at the

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to return their

ambassadors to Qatar, signalling an end to an

eight-month rift over Doha's support for Islamist

groups

218. G20 pledges lift Green Climate Fund towards

$10 billion

i. The United Nations has set an informal target of

raising $10 billion this year.

ii. Christiania Figueres, head of the U.N. Climate

Change Secretariat

iii. Hela Cheikhrouhou, executive director of the

GCF

219. Japan cuts Antarctic whale hunt target –Nov 18

i. Japan has cut by two-thirds the number of whales

it plans to catch each year in the Antarctic under

its controversial whaling programme

ii. Japan signed the 1986 global whaling

moratorium but continues to hunt

220. Czechs mark Velvet Revolution

i. Czechs marched through Prague to mark the the

25th anniversary of the fall of communism

ii. A memorial was unveiled by President Milos

Zeman at the site where the "Velvet Revolution"

began in November 1989

221. Iran uses China bank to transfer funds to Quds

i. A Western intelligence report says several

companies in China that receives money from Iran

through Chinese bank transfers the amount to

finance international operations of the Islamic

Revolutionary Guards Corps' elite Quds Force

222. Plans for rare Paris skyscraper fall into legal

limbo

i. Paris city councillors voted against plans for

French capital's first modern skyscraper in more

than 40 years

ii. Skyscrapers have faced deep opposition in Paris

ever since the 300-metre high Eiffel Tower is there

223. Australia wants to be source of energy,

resource, food security for India

i. Australia wants to be a dependable source of

energy, resource and food security for India, Prime

Minister Tony Abbott said

224. U.N. panel calls for N.Korea referral to

international court –Nov 19

i. The U.N. General Assembly committee dealing

with human rights called for the U.N. Security

Council to consider referring North Korea to the

International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against

humanity




20

225. UN says fast-track plan can end global AIDS

threat by 2030

i. A five-year, fast-track battle against HIV could

end the global threat of the AIDS epidemic by 2030,

the United Nations said

ii. Michel Sidibe is the UNAIDS executive director

227. Modi pledges $70 million credit for Fiji sugar

industry

i. India will provide a $70 million line of credit to

build a co-generation power plant at a sugar mill in

Fiji

228. Under Modi, Israel and India forge deeper

business ties

i. In October, India closed a $520 million deal to buy

Israeli anti-tank missiles.

ii. A jointly developed aerial defence system passed

a major trial, which India called a "milestone".

iii. Naftali Bennett is Israel's economy minister and a

member of Netanyahu's inner cabinet,

iv. India is now the largest buyer of Israeli military

equipment, while Israel is India's largest customer

after Russia.

229. Kids still a target for marketers of sugary drinks

i. Children and teens are seeing fewer ads for

sugary drinks on television, but they remain a prime

target for marketers - Yale Rudd Center for Food

Policy and Obesity

230. Russian Space Object Sparks Worries –Nov 20

i. Russian object that was put into orbit along with

three military communication satellites six months

ago sparks worries that the craft is conducting a

test run for anti-satellite warfare.

231. 400 feminist women activists working on

women‟s rights met in Bangkok

i. Over 400 feminist women activists working on

women‘s rights met in Bangkok at the Asia-Pacific

CSO Forum on Beijing+20 (APCSOB20) to discuss

what‘s done for gender equality and

empowerment

ii. The standards of Development Priorities, already

agreed upon, were mentioned in Beijing Platform

for Action (BPfA) and the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against

Women (CEDAW)

iii. Union Minister for Women and Child

Development Maneka Gandhi participated in the

meeting

232. Britain‟s last governor in Hong Kong to address

U.S. China commission

i. The last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris

Patten, is to address a U.S. government commission

on prospects for democracy in the territory.

233. Burkina Faso names army colonel Zida as

prime minister

i. Burkina Faso named Lieutenant Colonel Isaac

Zida as prime minister

ii. Neither Kafando, a former foreign minister and

ambassador to the UN is the interime president

234. Non-Muslim sworn in as Jakarta governor

i. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known by his

nickname "Ahok" has become Jakarta's first

Christian ethnic Chinese governor in nearly 50 years

235. Nearly 30% of world population is overweight –

nov 21

i. More than 2.1 billion people globally or nearly 30

percent of the world's population are now

overweight or obese, with the figure set to rise

further by 2030, according to a study published by

consultants in McKinsey Global Institute

ii. Obesity now costs the global economy $2 trillion

in healthcare and lost productivity or 2.8 percent of

global GDP

236. Nuclear delays pose threat to China‟s climate

goals

i. China's efforts to curtail coal consumption and

bring spiralling greenhouse gas emissions under

control by 2030 could be stymied by the slow pace

of its nuclear reactor programme

237. Obama unveils U.S. immigration reform

i. President Barack Obama imposed the most

sweeping immigration reform in a generation,

easing the threat of deportation for some 4.7 million

undocumented immigrants

ii. Administration officials described Obama's

actions as the biggest shift in immigration policy




21

since 1986 changes enacted during President

Ronald Reagan's administration.

238. UN to spin off its humanitarian news service IRIN

i. The United Nations will spin off its humanitarian

news service IRIN as an independent Swiss-based

foundation after getting a $25 million 15-year

investment from a Hong Kong-based philanthropist.

239. U.N. Green Fund

i. The U.N. Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a major part

of a plan agreed in 2009 whereby rich countries

agreed to give $100 billion a year from both public

and private sources from 2020

240. Sri Lankan health minister to run for president

i. Sri Lankan Health Minister Mithripala Sirisena

resigned and said he would run as an opposition

candidate against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in

a snap election in January.

241. Saudi Arabia tackles MERS virus, still hunting

source

i. Saudi Arabia has not yet traced the source of a

mysterious camel virus called Middle East

Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in people, leaving

many questions about a disease that has killed 346

people there

242. Martial law to stay in Thailand

i. Thailand's martial law imposed in May will not be

lifted for the foreseeable future, the justice minister

said

ii. The tourism sector accounts for nearly 10 percent

of GDP in Thailand

243. i. U.S. Vice-President is Joe Biden

244. UK troops in largest armoured deployment –

Nov 22

i. Britain is carrying out its largest armoured

deployment in Eastern Europe for six years, in a joint

exercise with Poland

245. Ebola death toll rises to 5,459

i. The death toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to

5,459 out of 15,351 cases identified in eight

countries by the end of Nov. 18, the World Health

Organization (WHO) said

246. Intensive Dutch animal farms seen vulnerable

to disease

i. A highly infectious strain of bird flu found at a

Dutch farm has made Netherlands vulnerable to

disease since it has the highest concentration of

farms in the world

247. The biggest advertising billboard in Times

Square

i. The biggest advertising billboard in Times Square

history at Marriott Marquis Hotel is longer than a

football field and eight stories high

ii. The world's largest high-definition video display

has nearly 24 million LED pixels

iii. Google has signed a deal for an undisclosed

amount for an ad campaign that runs through the

New Year in this billboard

248. New auction world record for a female artist -

Nov 23

i. A painting by late American artist Georgia

O‘Keeffe, titled ‗Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1‘

has sold for more than $44.4 million in New York,

which Sotheby‘s called a new auction world record

for any female artist.

ii. Previous auction record by a female artist was

$11.9 million, by U.S. painter Joan Mitchell‘s Untitled

249. Watercolour painted by a young Adolf Hitler at

an auction house

i. A watercolour painted by a young Adolf Hitler a

century ago went under the hammer for 130,000

euros (USD 161,000) at an auction house Weidler in

the southern German city of Nuremberg.

250. China building South China Sea island big

enough for airstrip

i. Satellite images show China is building an island

on a reef in the disputed Spratly Islands large

enough to accommodate what could be its first

offshore airstrip in the South China Sea

251. France's Sarkozy wants EU to lose half its

powers

i. The European Union must hand back half of its

powers, former French president Nicolas

Sarkozy said

ii. French have long been among the strongest

backers of Europe




22

iii. The anti-Europe, far-right party National Front

won EU parliament elections in the country this year

252. Lawyer for bin Laden son-in-law

i. A prominent New York defence lawyer Stanley

Cohen represented the son-in-law of Bin Laden

253. Obama signs order expanding U.S. Afghanistan

role

i. Obama has signed a secret order authorizing a

broader military mission in Afghanistan in 2015

254. UK faces biggest threat to its security since 9/11

- Interior Minister –Nov 24

i. Britain faces a bigger threat to its security from

terrorism than at any time before or since the Sept.

11 2001 attacks on the United States, Home

Secretary Theresa May said

255. Multi-national crew reaches space station

i. A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan to deliver

three new crew members, incoming station

commander Terry Virts from U.S. space agency

NASA, Soyuz commander Anton Shkaplerov from

the Russian Federal Space Agency and Italy‘s first

female astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of the

European Space Agency

256. European Parliament may propose Google

break-up

i. The European Parliament is preparing a non-

binding resolution that proposes splitting Google

Inc‘s search engine operations in Europe from the

rest of its business

257. Dutch complete recovery of MH17 wreckage

i. A week long operation to clear the wreckage

from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in

Ukraine has been completed

258. Tunisians vote for first freely elected president

i. Tunisians voted for their first directly elected

president, as the final step to full democracy after

the 2011 revolution that ended the rule of Zine el-

Abidine Ben Ali.

259. Video streaming service Aereo files for

bankruptcy

i. Aereo Inc, the online video streaming company

backed by media mogul Barry Diller, has filed for

bankruptcy protection.

260. 56 countries seek carbon capture

incentives in next climate deal – Nov 25

i. Fiscal incentives for carbon capture should be

part of the global climate change agreement that

replaces the Kyoto Protocol, 56 countries belonging

to the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe

(UNECE) said

ii. The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate

Change is to be held in Paris in December 2015

iii. The UNECE recommendation says that

commercial development of carbon capture and

storage (CCS) does not have enough political

support

iv. A post-Kyoto international agreement should

accept a broad array of fiscal instruments to

encourage CCS/CCUS (carbon capture utilisation

and storage)

261. China considers tougher tobacco controls

i. China, the world's biggest tobacco market, is

considering a draft regulation that would ban

indoor smoking, limit outdoor smoking and end

tobacco advertising

262. Extreme El Nino weather stunted growth of

Peruvian children

i. The study of 2,095 children born between 1991

and 2001 in villages around Tumbes in northern Peru

found that those born during or just after the El Nino

weather system suffered stunted growth

263. Putin strengthens ties with Georgia breakaway

region

i. President Vladimir Putin signed a "strategic

partnership" agreement with Georgia's breakaway

region of Abkhazia

ii. NATO Secretary-General is Jens Stoltenberg

iii. Georgia's Foreign Minister is Tamar Beruchashvili

iv. EU foreign policy chief is Federica Mogherini

264. UN to miss Dec 1 Ebola target

i. The U.N. Ebola Emergency Response Mission will

not fully meet its Dec. 1 target for containing the




23

virus due to escalating numbers of cases in Sierra

Leone, Anthony Banbury, the head of UNMEER, said

265. Iran nuclear talks extended through end of

June

i. Iran and six world powers will extend through the

end of June 2015 talks on Tehran's nuclear

programme after failing to clinch a final agreement

that could end a 12-year atomic dispute, British

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said

266. Bank on poor women and phones to drive

growth in Africa

i. Mobile phone technology can help to bring

financial services to the 80 percent of African

women who do not have a bank account Nigeria's

finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said

267. Australia working on new drift modelling for

MH370 wreckage – Nov 26

i. Australia is working on new drift modelling to

expand the geographical area in which wreckage

from missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 may

come ashore

268. Fat to blame for half a million cancers a year -

WHO agency

i. Some half a million cases of cancer a year are

due to people being overweight or obese, and the

problem is particularly acute in North America, the

World Health Organization's cancer research

agency , International Agency for Research on

Cancer (IARC) said

269. Kazakhstan on brink of WTO membership deal,

Afghanistan in line

i. The 160-member World Trade Organization is in

active discussions with 10 countries aiming to

become members, including Kazakhstan and

Afghanistan, WTO Director General Roberto

Azevedo said

ii. Seychelles is set to take the 161st spot

270. Sudan shuts U.N. peacekeepers‟ Darfur rights

office in Khartoum

i. Sudan has shut the human rights office of the joint

United Nations-African Union (UNAMID)

peacekeeping mission, in Darfur

ii. UNAMID is currently the largest peacekeeping

mission in the world

271. Tunisian secularist wins first presidential round

i. Tunisian secularist leader Beji Caid Essebsi beat

President Moncef Marzouki in first round of election

272. Young sister of North Korean leader takes

senior party post – Nov 27

i. Kim Yo Jong ,The younger sister of North Korean

leader Kim Jong Un has assumed a senior position in

the ruling Workers' Party

273. British lawmakers urge EU to stop Sri Lanka

trade perks if UN probe not given access

i. Leading British lawmakers urged the European

Union to remove preferential trade tariffs from Sri

Lanka if it fails to address human rights concerns

274. Sao Tome ex-president's son returns to prime

minister's job

i. Patrice Trovoada, the son of Sao Tome and

Principe‘s former President Miguel Trovoada, has

been reappointed prime minister of the tiny island

nation

275. Former deputy PM Groysman elected as

speaker of Ukrainian parliament

i. The Ukrainian parliament elected former deputy

prime minister Volodymyr Groysman to the post of

speaker

ii. Under Ukrainian law, the speaker is the first to

stand in for the president if the head of state is

unable to fulfill his duties

276. Thai election pushed back to 2016

i.A military coup was led by Prime Minister Prayuth

Chan-ocha in May and now Deputy Prime Minister

Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also defense minister,

said elections will take place in 2016

277. Japan military chief urges early 'crisis

management' pact with China –Nov 28

i. Japan's highest-ranking military officer urged an

early start to a "crisis management" mechanism with

China amid conflicting claims to a group of tiny

East China Sea islands.

ii. Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano is the chief of the

Japanese Self-Defense Forces' Joint Staff

278. Risk British‟s EU exit: UK's Cameron




24

i. Britain's continued membership of the European

Union is contingent upon it being allowed to stop

migrants into U.K or U.K may exit exit EU said

Cameron

ii. wants EU migrants in work have to wait four years

before they can access welfare benefits and

unemployed EU migrants will not to be eligible for

any help from the British state at all

279. Western media websites hacked by Syrian

Electronic Army

i. British, North American media

organizations,retailer Wal-Mart's Canadian unit

websites were hacked and its suspected the Syrian

Electronic Army, that supports Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad did it

280. Europe‟s space-based, laser-powered data

highway passes early test–Nov 29

i. A European satellite beamed images to earth

using new laser-based communications technology

for uninterrupted and near instantaneous viewing of

natural disasters being sent to governments and

relief agencies

ii. European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS), will allow

faster and more secure transmission

iii. Josef Aschbacher is the head of the European

Space Agency's (ESA) Earth Observation

Programme Planning & Coordination Service

281. EU imposes sanctions on Ukraine rebel vote

organisers

i. The European Union has imposed sanctions on the

organisers of rebel elections in eastern Ukraine

ii. EU governments decided to add 13 Ukrainian

separatists and five of their political organisations to

a sanctions list that already covers 119 people and

23 entities

282. Modi in second spot in TIME‟s latest poll reports

–Nov 30

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has slipped to the

second place in the Time magazine‘s ‗Person of the

Year‘ poll . Till November 26, Mr. Modi was leading

the polls with 11.1 %

ii. Joshua Wong, face of the Hong Kong pro-

democracy movement, is placed third

iii. Malala Yousafzai fourth and Russian President

Vladimir Putin at fifth

iv. U.S. President Barack Obama is placed at a

distant 11th position

283. Greenland's ruling party to seek coalition after

election win

i. Greenland‘s ruling Siumut Party narrowly won a

snap election, but its new leader Kim Kielsen will

need to build a coalition to form a government

284. BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

RBS sets aside $639 million for currency probe –Nov

1

i. Royal Bank of Scotland, in the U.K has set aside

400 million pound to cover potential fines arising

from international investigations into alleged

manipulation of foreign currency trading

285. World Bank to create 300 new posts in India

i. The World Bank plans to slash 500 jobs in the next

three years globally, even as it looks to create up to

300 new positions in India to meet business needs.

286. China's October official PMI edges down to

50.8

i. The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)

eased to 50.8 in October from September's 51.1, but

above the 50-point level that separates growth

from contraction on a monthly basis

287. India‟s aviation downgrade by US FAA set to be

revoked soon

i. India‘s embarrassing downgrade by the US

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier this

year could be revoked, with the FAA team slated to

carry out another inspection on December 8 this

year.

288. Nokia shuts down its India plant in Chennai,

over 8000 workers lose job

i. Nokia, once an iconic mobile handset maker, is

shutting down its India plant on november1

289. Sept infrastructure output growth slows to 1.9%

y/y

i. India‘s annual infrastructure output growth slowed

to 1.9% in September

290. US body probes India‟s trade policies under

Modi




25

i. The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has

launched an investigation to examine "significant

changes" to India's trade and investment policies

291. Bangalore City railway station becomes the

first station in India to have Wi-Fi –Nov 2

i. Bangalore City railway station has become the

first station in the country to have Wi-Fi facility for

providing high speed internet to passengers

292. Finance panel gets two-month extension

i. The term of the Fourteenth Finance Commission

has been extended by a period of two months to

carry out financial projections and consultations for

the new states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

293. ECB moves to new domicile

i. The European Central Bank is constructing its new

premises on the former Grossmarkthalle (wholesale

market) site in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

294. Publicis to buy U.S.-based Sapient for $3.7

billion – Nov 3

i. Publicis, the world's third-largest advertising

agency, has agreed to buy digital ad specialist

Sapient for $3.7 billion in cash

295. China Oct PMIs point to cooling economic

momentum, growth target at risk

i. China's economy lost further momentum heading

into the fourth quarter as a cooling property market

weighed on activity and export demand softened,

surveys showed

296. Vijay Kelkar new NIPFP chairperson

i. Thirteenth Finance Commission Chairman Vijay

Laxman Kelkar has been appointed as Chairperson

of the Finance Ministry‘s think-tank National Institute

of Public Finance & Policy (NIPFP)

297. Maruti Suzuki Swift, Nissan Datsun Go fail crash

tests – Nov 4

i. Hatchbacks Maruti Suzuki Swift , Maruti Alto 800,

Tata Nano, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen

Polo and Datsun Go of Nissan have failed crash

tests conducted by Global NCAP

ii. Global NCAP(New Car Assessment Programme)

chairman is Max Mosley and Nissan India

Operations President is Guillaume Sicard

298. Discussions to implement “Wall Street reforms”

i. President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve

Chair Janet Yellen discussed the outlook for the U.S.

and global economies and the implementation of

Wall Street reforms

299. U.S. factory activity back at 3-1/2-year high

i. The Institute for Supply Management said its index

of national factory activity rose to 59 last month

from 56.6 in September.

ii. The index is now within spitting distance of its

cycle high of 59.3 reached in February 2011

300. EU cuts growth forecasts as big economies

falter

i. The official forecast for growth this year in the 18-

country eurozone was cut to 0.8 per cent from a

prediction of 1.2 per cent made in the spring

ii. E.U. Vice-President is Jyrki Katainen, European

Commissioner for economic and financial affairs is

Pierre Moscovici and the E.U. Commission

headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium

301. NCAER lowers India GDP growth forecast to 5%

i. The National Council of Applied Economic

Research(NCAER) has lowered India‘s GDP growth

forecast to 5 per cent in the current financial

302. Baring Asia in talks to buy major stake in CMS –

Nov 5

i. Baring Private Equity (Asia) is in advanced talks

with Blackstone Group LP to buy a controlling stake

in Indian cash management services firm CMS Info

Systems

303. India completes $900 mln payment to Iran

under interim deal

i. Indian refiners completed payment of $900 million

in frozen oil revenues to Iran under an interim deal

that eased some sanctions against Tehran over its

disputed nuclear work

303. RIL says considering divestment of Eagle Ford

midstream business

i. Reliance Industries Inc said it had agreed to

consider the divestment of its Eagle Ford Shale

midstream joint venture with partner Pioneer

Natural Resources Co




26

304. India opens to privatisation of loss-making firms

i. India is open to privatisation of certain loss-making

public sector companies, Arun Jaitley said

305. Services growth stalls in October at six-month

low

i. The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI),

compiled by Markit, fell to 50.0 in October from

September's 51.6, the lowest in six months and right

on the break-even point between growth and

contraction

306. Sweden asylum seekers to hit two-decade high

i. The number of asylum seekers arriving in Sweden

may reach its highest in two decades because of

people fleeing Syria and Iraq, whose arrival could

push immigration costs close to 1 percent of GDP

307. APEC set to launch study on China –backed

free trade area –Nov 6

i. Leaders will agree to launch a study on a China-

backed free trade area at Asia-Pacific Economic

Cooperation meeting in Beijing

ii. China is pushing the Free Trade Area of the Asia-

Pacific (FTAAP) at APEC

iii. The proposal is seen as a way to divert attention

from the more comprehensive U.S.-backed Trans-

Pacific Partnership (TPP)

308. For India, China-backed lender may be

answer to coal investment

i. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),

sponsored by China, is expected to allow funding

of coal-fired power plants in India that the World

Bank has almost totally blocked.

309. Key concerns of leaders: World economic

forum (WEF) –Nov 7

i. According to the Outlook on the Global Agenda,

income inequality and jobless growth head the top

10 trends for 2015

ii. The trends are based on a survey of almost 1,800

experts from the Forum's network of global agenda

councils

310. Home Ministry may soon give nod to allowing

Aadhar card as e-KYC for entry at airports

i.A passenger having an Aadhaar number can

place his fingerprint on a biometric kiosk at airport

entry gate in Bengaluru starting January for entry in

to the airport.

311. India wants steps at G20 summit to cut costs on

remittances

i. India, which is world's largest recipient of

remittances with $71 billion sent last year, will urge

the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane to work on

steps to reduce costs in sending money home from

abroad.

ii. Former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, was

appointed as PM Modi's 'sherpa' for the

deliberations

312. Singapore expressed its keen desire in the

development of 100 new smart cities in India

i. Singapore expressed its keen desire in the

development of 100 new smart cities in India

including a new capital for the state of Andhra

Pradesh.

ii. AP Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah

Naidu had earlier spoken to Singapore's Prime

Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former Prime Minister

and Emeritus Minister Goh Chok Tong

313. Launch of the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG

(DBTL) scheme on Nov 15

i. Oil Minister has reviewed preparedness, for the

launch in nov 15 of the Direct Benefit Transfer for

LPG (DBTL) scheme, in four of the 54 districts

314. '10.9% salary hike in 2015, third-highest in Asia'

i. Employees in India will see their salaries increase

by an average of 10.9 per cent in 2015, the third-

highest pay rise in Asia after Pakistan and Vietnam,

says an ECA International report

315. OECD trims India's growth forecast to 5.4%

i. Revising its forecast downwards, Paris-based think

tank Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD) projected a 5.4% growth for

the Indian economy

ii. OECD secretary-general is Angel Gurría

316. Britain owes £1.7bn EU bill; the highest

i. EU finance ministers discuss a £1.7bn budget

payment demanded by Brussels to Britain

ii. The surcharge follows an annual review of the

economic performance of EU member states since




27

1995, which showed Britain had done better than

previously though

317. South India emerges as property hotspot –Nov 8

i. South India from January to September has almost

50 percent of new office space deals, especially

struck in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

318. U.S. fast food chain Burger King tests India

waters, starts with 12 outlets

i. U.S. Burger King Worldwide announced last year a

tie-up with the Everstone Group to develop the

Burger King brand presence in India and will now

open about 12 outlets here over the next 60-90

days

319. APEC countries agree to establish network to

curb corruption

i. The APEC Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities

and Law Enforcement Agencies (ACT-NET), led by

China but also pushed forward by the United

States, is the first network that members of the Asia-

Pacific Economic Cooperation group had worked

to set up to share intelligence on graft.

320. United States and China have reached an

"understanding" in ITA

i. President Barack Obama says the United States

and China have reached an "understanding" in

negotiations to eliminate tariffs on high-tech goods.

ii. The Information Technology Agreement (ITA)

would mark the first major tariff reduction

agreement by the WTO in 17 years

321. Centre will revamp FCI, crop insurance - Nov 9

i. The Centre will formulate a new farm insurance

scheme and finalise reconstitution of the Food

Corporation of India by March 31, Union Agriculture

Minister Radha Mohan Singh said

322. U.S. rules out major Trans-Pacific trade

announcement at APEC

i. There will be no "major announcement" on a

Washington-backed Asia-Pacific free trade deal

during a meeting of leaders in Beijing, U.S. Trade

Representative Michael Froman said

323. Chinese, Canadian central banks agree to 200

bln yuan currency swap

i. The central banks of China and Canada have

agreed to a currency swap worth 200 billion yuan

($32.67 billion), according to a Canadian

government statement at a meeting of Asia Pacific

nations

324. Hong Kong leader expects economic growth

of around 2-3 percent this year

i. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said

that Hong Kong's economy would grow around 2-3

percent this year.

325. Euro zone risks self-fulfilling loss of momentum:

ECB's Coeure

i. The euro zone economy is at risk of slipping into a

self-fulfilling loss of growth momentum, European

Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit

Coeure said

326. U.S. energy major Chevron says yet to finish

Romanian shale gas assessment- Nov 10

i. Chevron has yet to complete an assessment of

Romania‘s natural gas potential from shale

327. New rules proposed to put an end „too big to

fail‟ banks

i. Global regulators proposed new rules to ensure

that bank creditors rather than taxpayers pick up

the bill when a big lender collapses

ii. Mark Carney, chairman of the Financial Stability

Board and Bank of England governor, said the

plans would end banks that are too big to be

allowed to fail.

328. Time Warner eyes $588 million bid for

Australia's Ten Network

i. U.S. media giant Time Warner Inc has

approached struggling Australian broadcaster Ten

Network Holdings Ltd about a A$680 million ($588

million) takeover bid

329. Detroit gets court‟s nod to exit bankruptcy

i. Detroit won U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval for a

road map to end its fiscal free fall and revitalise a

city huge debt load and dysfunctional

government.




28

330. Siemens should keep majority if healthcare unit

floated

i. Siemens has agreed to keep its healthcare unit as

a ―part of its long-term, strategic core portfolio‖

and must strive for majority ownership even if the

unit is listed on the stock market, according to trade

union IG Metall.

331. South Africa suffers another credit rating

downgrade

i.The ratings agency Moody's has downgraded

South Africa's sovereign debt rating.

ii. The move comes after similar downgrades from

Fitch and Standard and Poor‘s.

332. Danish ship fuel supplier OW Bunker goes

bankrupt

i. The world's largest ship fuel supplier, OW Bunker,

has filed for bankruptcy after alleged fraud.

ii. OW Bunker is Denmark's third-largest company

and supplies 7% of the world's bunker fuel, used in

shipping

333. U.S. urges IMF to cancel debt of Ebola-stricken

countries – Nov 11-14

i. The United States proposed that the International

Monetary Fund write off some $100 million in debt it

is owed by Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to free

up more resources for those countries

334. RBI tightens rules for “shadow banks” as

business grows

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the

minimum capital requirement for so-called shadow

banks and tightened rules on deposits and bad

loans to avoid any potential risk to the economy

335. Indian iron ore imports surge to record

i. India‘s iron ore imports jumped to a record 5

million tonnes in April-October, industry data

showed, as a deepening shortage at home forces

steelmakers to turn overseas for the raw material.

336. India‟s slowing profits growth

i. Indian corporate earnings are growing at the

weakest pace in nearly six years, but stock markets

hovering near record highs since the May election

337. Food ministry recommends raising edible oil

import taxes

i. Ministry has recommended increasing the duty to

5 percent on crude oils and 15 percent on refined

oils

ii. India imports nearly 60 percent of its 18-19 million

tonnes annual demand, mostly as palm oil from top

producers Indonesia and Malaysia.

338. Iranian stake hurts CPCL‟s revival plan

i. Indian Oil Corp the country's biggest refiner, is

exploring options including a merger to save loss-

making unit Chennai Petroleum Corp (CPCL), its

chairman B. Ashok told

339. Tata Steel sees more pain ahead in Europe

i. Tata Steel Ltd said it did not see improvements

coming swiftly in Europe, where steel demand has

languished since the financial crisis and clients have

turned to cheaper Chinese imports.

340. Essar opens Geneva trading office, expands

Europe footprint

i. Essar Group has set up an office in Geneva to

trade crude oil, refined petroleum products, coal,

iron ore and steel, the head of the company told

341. Retail inflation slowed to 5.52 percent in

October

i. Retail inflation, which the Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) tracks in setting lending rates, slowed to 5.52

percent in October from a multi-year low of 6.46

percent a month earlier

342. Big economy growth stable, but Germany

weakening

i. The world's major economies show stable

economic momentum but the euro zone continues

to lose steam, notably in Germany and Italy, while

Japan and Britain may be faltering too, the OECD

said

343. Aurobindo to buy U.S. nutritional supplements

i. Generic drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma Ltd said

its U.S. unit won a bankruptcy auction to buy

nutritional supplements maker Natrol Inc for $132.5

million




29

344. FDA warns Cadila Pharma over drug

production processes

i. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has

warned privately owned drug maker Cadila

Pharmaceuticals Ltd that it was not following quality

and manufacturing standards at one of its plants

345. India to raise 60 billion rupees from hike in

excise duty on fuel

i. India expects to raise around 60 billion rupees

($975 million) from a hike in excise duties on petrol

and diesel and the money will partly cover a

shortfall in revenue collection

346. Sesa Sterlite to invest $782 million for zinc

deposits in Africa

i. Sesa Sterlite Ltd said it would invest $782 million

over a three-year period in southern Africa to tap

the region's large undeveloped deposits of the

metal

347. Indian Oil defers Koyali units' shutdown to

March-Apr

i. Indian Oil Corp has deferred a planned shutdown

of key units at its Koyali refinery in Gujarat to March-

April 2015 from around October this year to

capitalize on sliding crude prices

348. India's liquidity expected to go back into

deficit

i. India's liquidity is expected to go into its normal

state of deficit from current surplus

349. India flow tide has turned decisively - Citi

Research

i. India flow tide has turned decisively, said Citi

Research, a unit of Citigroup Global Markets Inc

ii. Year-to-date foreign debt inflows are ahead of

equity flows for the first time, says Citi Research

350. Inflation drops to 5-year low

i. Continuing decline in food prices, including

vegetables, pulled wholesale price inflation to a

five-year low of 1.77 per cent in October.

ii. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation

was at 2.38 per cent in September and 7.24 per

cent in October 2013.

351. India‟s GDP to grow at 6.3% in 2015: Morgan

Stanley

i. India would have the fastest economic expansion

among Asian countries and its gross domestic

product is expected to grow by 6.3 per cent in 2015

said Morgan Stanley forecasts of global economies

352. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys P&G's

Duracell

i. Berkshire Hathaway Inc has agreed to acquire

Procter & Gamble Co's Duracell battery unit

ii. Berkshire Chairman is Warren Buffett

353. Brent stays near 4-year low above $77

i. Brent has dropped eight weeks in a row, its

longest weekly losing streak since records began in

1988

354. Slowing WPI, CPI inflation builds case for rate

cut

i. The wholesale price index rose an annual 1.77

percent last month, its slowest since September

2009, compared with the 2.20 percent forecast by

economists in a poll.

ii. The RBI is meeting on Dec. 2 to review policy,

having kept its key repo rate steady at 8.0 percent

since January.

355. S&P says it will be tough for China to revive

debt-laden corporates

i. Debt levels at China's 200 biggest companies

increased by five times between 2007 and 2013

and financial pressures on them will likely intensify as

the economy continues to cool - Standard & Poor's

356. Glencore to shut Australia coal mines for 3

weeks

i. Glencore Plc, the world's largest exporter of

thermal coal, plans to shut its Australian mines for

three weeks to help attack a crippling global supply

glut that has pushed prices to 5-1/2 year lows

357. Brazil, China and India still offer long-term

investment value

i. Mark Wiseman, Canada Pension Plan Investment

Board‘s (CPPIB) chief executive, said he's optimistic

about North American assets and longer-term plays

in Brazil, China and India, where economic growth

looks set to continue




30

358. China, Myanmar sign $7.8 bln of deals – Nov 15

i. China and Myanmar signed deals worth $7.8

billion for energy, agriculture, telecommunications,

infrastructure and finance during Chinese Premier Li

Keqiang's visit to the Southeast Asian country

359. Infosys ties up with DreamWorks for new

engineering solutions

i. Software major Infosys has entered into a strategic

partnership with DreamWorks Animation SKG to

develop new engineering solutions

ii. Infosys chief executive is Vishal Sikka and

DreamWorks chief executive is Jeffrey Katzenberg

360. Modi Made a strong pitch for speeding up the

creation of a BRICS development bank

i. India hopes to ratify the agreement over the

financial institution by year-end and 2016 should be

set as the target for its inauguration.

ii. India will hold the Presidency of the USD 100 billion

New Development Bank for the first six years.

iii. The bank will be based in Shanghai, China‘s

financial hub.

iv. India‘s presidency will be followed by Brazil and

Russia who will have five years term each under an

agreement reached among the five country-

grouping BRICS —— Brazil, Russia, India, China and

South Africa.

v. The decision to set up the bank and a USD 100

billion Currency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) that

will help countries to deal with short-term liquidity

pressures was made at the 6th BRICS Summit held in

the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in July.

361. Ratan Tata invests in Urban Ladder

i.Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata has made a

personal investment in Bengaluru-based online

furniture company Urban Ladder.

ii. This is the third personal investment by Mr. Tata in

online business after an investment in online

jewellery retailer Bluestone and in Snapdeal.com.

362. Reliance Entertainment plans to acquire

Western game studios

i. Reliance Entertainment plans to begin acquiring

North American and European mobile game

studios starting in early 2015

363. BlaBlaCar eyes global ride-share push

ii. The online company, A fast-growing French firm is

a pioneer in connecting drivers with passengers to

cover the costs of long-distance trips is planning to

globalise

iii. The latest investment round in the company was

led by Index Ventures and joined by existing

investors Accel Partners, ISAI and Lead Edge

Capital

364. Canada's Niko Resources says evaluating

plans for India assets

i. Canada's Niko Resources Ltd which owns 10

percent in the D6 Block, off the eastern coast of

India and Hazira field in western India said it was

evaluating plans for its oil and gas assets in India

ii. BP Plc has a 30-percent stake in the block, while

the rest is owned by India's Reliance Industries Ltd.

365. Bank's deposit grows at 12.3% to Rs 81 lakh

crore in Q2 FY15 –Nov 16

i. Bank deposits grew by 12.3 per cent to Rs 81.14

lakh crore in the second quarter of the current

fiscal.

ii. The credit grew at 9.4 per cent to Rs 61.57 lakh

crore during the July-September quarter of 2014-15

iii. Bank deposits growth was 11.5 per cent (Rs 72.26

lakh crore) in the corresponding July-September

quarter of 2013-14.

iv. The credit-deposit (CD) ratio for all banks was

75.9 per cent as on end-September 2014, led by

metropolitan branches.

366. India among top 5 revenue generators for us:

Coursera

i. Online education firm Coursera is in talks with

educational institutes and companies in the

country as it looks to further expand presence in the

Indian market, one of its top-five revenue

generators.

367. FPI inflows in stocks hit $1.5 billion in November;

total crosses $15 billion

i. Since the beginning of the year, foreign investors

have made a net investment of $15.3 billion (Rs

91,780) crore into the country's equity market.

ii. The debt market has also seen similar trends with




31

overseas fund inflows of $23 billion (Rs 1.4 lakh

crore) since January

368. Australia, China deepen ties with landmark

free trade deal –Nov 17

i. China and Australia sealed a landmark free trade

agreement , more than a decade in the making,

significantly expanding ties between the world's

second largest economy and one of Washington's

closest allies in Asia

369. China says FTA with S.Korea may be effective

in 2015

i. The free trade agreement between China and

South Korea to be effective in second-half of next

year

369. Japan slips into recession

i. Japan's economy unexpectedly shrank for the

second consecutive quarter, leaving the world's

third largest economy in technical recession

ii. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is widely expected to

delay an increase in the sales tax to 10%, scheduled

for 2015 which was legislated by the previous

government in 2012 to curb Japan's huge public

debt, which is the highest among developed

nations.

370. Trade deficit narrows to $13.35 bln in October

i. India's trade deficit narrowed to $13.35 billion in

October on lower oil imports, government data

showed

371. Merkel urges Europeans to speed up TTIP trade

talks with U.S

i. German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged

European nations to speed up their negotiations

with the United States over a Transatlantic Trade

and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement

between the U.S. and EU

372. Adani group‟s Australian mine project cleared

i. The Adani group‘s proposed plan to build a 7

billion dollar coal mine in the Galilee basin was

cleared by Australia‘s Queensland state

ii. Adani is the proponent of the North Galilee Basin

Rail (NGBR), Queensland‘s first standard gauge line

373. GST will likely result in higher tax revenues –

Nov 18

i. Government may introduce the bill for goods and

services tax (GST) reform, in winter session of the

parliament

ii. GST will likely result in higher tax revenues of over 1

pct of GDP.

iii. GST implementation likely only in 2016, and in

phases

374. $1 bn. SBI loan for Adani to build Australian

coal mine

Adani Enterprises won support from the State Bank

of India (SBI) and an Australian state to help it build

a $7 billion coal mine

375. Mindtree to open new delivery centre in

Europe

i. Mindtree which started operations of its first

delivery centre in Europe at Belgium in 2012 is now

planning to strengthen its presence in the European

market by opening a second delivery centre.

376. UK grocery sales fall for 1st time in 20 years

i. A price war, led by German-based discounters,

has pushed Britain's grocery market into its first sales

decline in 20 years

377. Botox maker bought for $66 billion in biggest

deal of 2014

i. Allergan, the company behind Botox, agreed to

be acquired for $66 billion by pharmaceutical giant

Actavis, which is the biggest deal so far in 2014

378. IBM launches new email service „Verse‟ –Nov

19

i. IBM has launched a new e-mail application

‗Verse‘ for enterprises that integrates social media,

file sharing and analytics to help increase

productivity

ii. It is the first messaging system to feature ‗faceted

search‘

iii.IBM‘s current enterprise mail services is known as

Notes

379. Infosys co-founders float new venture

i. Infosys co-founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and S. D.

Shibulal have joined to set up business incubator

Axilor Ventures




32

380. Nokia bounces back with launch of Android

tablet N1

i. Nokia of Finland launched a new brand-licensed

tablet computer N1 which is due to be in stores in

China in the first quarter of next year

ii. Taiwan‘s Foxconn will handle the manufacturing,

distribution and sales of N1

iii. Sebastian Nystrom is the head of products at

Nokia‘s Technologies unit

381. OECD raises India growth outlook

i. India's economy will accelerate and would grow

by 6.6 percent in 2015/16 , the Organisation for

Economic Cooperation and Development

(OECD) said

ii. It also added Growth would edge higher to 6.8

percent in 2016/17

382. RBI chief Rajan wants focus on sustainable

growth

i. India will focus on sustainable economic growth

and developed economies should do the same,

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan

said

383. Banks chase trading cheats with 'fuzzy'

surveillance

i. Six global banks agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle

claims they failed to stop traders from trying to rig

foreign exchange markets

ii. The world's big banks are planning to use 'fuzzy

logic' tools such as relationship mapping and

behavioural analytics to read the minds of would-

be cheats among their traders

384. China's Xiaomi says invests $300 million in

online video firm iQiyi – Nov 20

i. Xiaomi Technology Co Ltd said it has made $300

million investment in online video provider iQiyi.

ii. The investment in iQiyi followed a separate stake

purchase deal Xiaomi announced in China's largest

video streaming site Youku Tudou Inc.

385. Zomato gets $60 million more in funding, now

valued at $660 million

i. Restaurant search and discovery service Zomato

has got a fresh round of funding of $60 million. With

this the total funding has gone up to $113 million

and the post-money valuation $660 million.

386. Mobile transaction users to surpass 2 bln by

2017

i. Over two billion mobile phone or tablet users will

make some form of mobile commerce transaction

globally by the end of 2017, up from 1.6 billion this

year, a report by Juniper Research said

387. Indian e-tailing market to reach $15 billion by

2016: Google report

i. According to Google's annual online shopping

growth trends report, done in collaboration with

Forrester Research, the online shopper base in India

will reach 100 million by 2016.

ii. Rajan Anandan, is the MD, Google India.

388. Royal Bank of Scotland fined for IT failure: British

financial regulators

i. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined state-

owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) £42 million

while the Prudential Regulation Authority, which is

overseen by the Bank of England, imposed a

penalty £14 million, a combined £56 million for a

series of IT failures that left customers unable to

access services

389. India axes licence requirement for ammonium

nitrate fuel oil explosives

i. India has scrapped the need for obtaining

licences for the production of ammonium nitrate

fuel oil (ANFO) explosives

390. S&P sounds warning on Chinese property

sector, Russian banks

i. Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's said

that China's over-priced and over-supplied

property market and capital-starved Russian banks

were likely to face further downgrades in the

coming years

391. Pro-gender policies could bring up Indian

economy: OECD

i. OECD estimates that annual growth of the

economy could be up to 2.4 percentage points

higher if India implements a package of pro-growth

and pro-gender policies.




33

ii. OECD Chief Economist is Catherine L. Mann

393. eBay partners ShopYourWorld for 'Black Friday'

sale in India – Nov 21

i. eBay India has partnered with shopyourworld.com

to introduce 'Black Friday' sale in India that will go

on from nov 21- nov 30, 2014.

ii. Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving

Day in the US

394. Rs 6,000 crore collected under Dhan Yojana

i. Under Dhan Yojana people deposited about Rs

6,000 crore in total and about 70 million new bank

accounts were opened

395. Hard to hit tax revenue target in India this fiscal

year

i. It would be hard to hit tax revenue targets in this

fiscal year, with weak credit demand

ii. Finance ministry source said that economic

growth in the fiscal year to March was likely to

come in near the lower end of the 5.4-5.9 per cent

forecast range in the budget, while tax receipts

may fall short by 70,000 crore rupees ($11 billion).

396. Bharti Airtel appoints Titus Naikuni as new

chairman for Kenya operations

i. Sunil Mittal-driven Bharti Airtel appointed Titus

Naikuni, former permanent secretary to the Ministry

of Information, Transport and Communications and

a member of the Board of Kenya Airways as the

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Airtel Kenya.

ii. Christian de Faria is the CEO of Airtel Africa

397. World‟s adult population controls nearly $30

trillion in assets

i. A bare 0.004 per cent of the world's adult

population controls nearly $30 trillion in assets, 13

per cent of the world's total wealth, according to a

new study by the Swiss bank UBS and luxury industry

consultant Wealth-X

398. Alibaba made jumbo deal without China

premium

i. Alibaba Group Holding sold the largest bond by

an Asian company via a US$8bn six-tranche

offering which many believed would have

occurred without paying a Chinese premium

399. GMR claims $803 million from Maldivian

government for termination of Male Airport

contract

i. GMR Male' International Airport Private Limited

(GMIAL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Limited

(GMR), has claimed $803 million (around Rs 4,987

crore) from the Maldivian government for

'wrongfully' terminating the international airport

contract in that country's capital.

400. FDI limit in the insurance sector may increase

by insurance bill

i. Long-pending insurance bill, may propose to

increase foreign direct investment limit in the

insurance sector to 49 per cent from the current 26

per cent

401. India Post inland letter tracking service

i. India Post new service called 'Nanyatha' will track

movement of inland letters in any post box

identified by the department, until its delivery in

vijayawada

ii. The service is available for 173 post boxes in city

out of 183 post boxes and is already in Hyderabad

402. UK troops in largest armoured deployment –

Nov 22

i. Britain is carrying out its largest armoured

deployment in Eastern Europe for six years, in a joint

exercise with Poland

403. Ebola death toll rises to 5,459

i. The death toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to

5,459 out of 15,351 cases identified in eight

countries by the end of Nov. 18, the World Health

Organization (WHO) said

404. Intensive Dutch animal farms seen vulnerable

to disease

i. A highly infectious strain of bird flu found at a

Dutch farm has made Netherlands vulnerable to

disease since it has the highest concentration of

farms in the world

405. The biggest advertising billboard in Times

Square

i. The biggest advertising billboard and the world's

largest high-definition video display with nearly 24

million LED pixels, in Times Square history is at




34

Marriott Marquis Hotel and it is longer than a

football field and eight stories high

iii. Google has signed a deal for an ad campaign

that runs through the New Year in this billboard

406. RBI says overseas borrowed funds can be

parked with banks in India

i. The RBI allowed external commercial borrowings

to be parked with banks in the country as term

deposits for up to six months pending their utilisation

407. China commits $45.6 billion for economic

corridor with Pakistan

i. The Chinese government and banks will finance

Chinese companies to build $45.6 billion worth of

energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan over

the next six years

ii. The project is dubbed as China-Pak Economic

Corridor (CPEC).

408. India monitors foreign flows into debt funds,

may tighten rules

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could take action

if foreign investors pour excessive amounts into

mutual funds to bypass limits on ownership of

government debt

ii. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have almost

reached their $25 billion limit on direct holdings of

government debt, but have begun raising their

exposure by investing through debt-focused

domestic mutual funds

409. Kotak acquires ING Vysya Bank

i. Kotak has agreed to buy ING Vysya Bank in

record $2.4 billion share deal.

ii. It will create India‘s fourth largest private sector

bank by branch network

410. China rolled out a surprise interest rate cut -

Nov 23

i. China rolled out a surprise interest rate cut and

the European Central Bank indicated it would step

up asset purchases to boost the euro zone

economy.

411. VW unveils multi-billion auto

investments through next five years

i. Volkswagen AG is to invest 85.6 billion euros ($106

billion) in its automotive operations over the next

five years

412. Government asks France to 'open shops' in

India for railway projects –Nov 24

i. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu invited France to

"open shops" in the country to execute Railway

projects and sought co-operation in areas of safety,

customer service and high-speed train service while

addressing Indo-French Rail seminar in New Delhi

413. India targets private cash to build railways to its

ports, eyes $1 billion investment by 2017

i. India is targeting up to $1 billion of private

investment by 2017 to build rail lines linking ports

and national networks

414. China ready to cut rates again on fears of

deflation

i. China's leadership and central bank are ready to

cut interest rates again and also loosen lending

restrictions since Economic growth has slowed to

7.3 percent in third quarter

415. Reserve Bank planning more measures for

NBFCs

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering more

measures for non-banking financial companies

(NBFCs), Deputy Governor R. Gandhi said

416. RBI ready to give more flexibility in recasting

distressed loans: Raghuram Rajan – Nov 25

i. Government is considering giving banks more

flexibility when restructuring distressed loans in a bid

to help cash-strapped projects to get funding from

lenders, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor

Raghuram Rajan said

417. India needs to grow at 7-8% a year

i. India has no choice but to grow at a higher rate

of 7-8 pct a year, the country's junior Finance

Minister Jayant Sinha told

418. Indian Railways team in China for Delhi-

Chennai bullet train

i. An Indian Railways team is in China to chalk out

plans for conducting feasibility study to build the

1,754 km-long Delhi-Chennai high-speed train

corridor, world's second largest bullet train line




35

ii. Japan is conducting feasibility study for the Bullet

train project in Mumbai-Ahemdabad corridor

419. GDP to grow 6.4% in 2015: Nomura

i. Indian economy is set for a 'goldilocks' period --

used to describe a timeframe of high growth and

low inflation -- while it can become Asia's fastest

growing economy in 2016, Japanese financial

major Nomura said and It estimated the GDP

growth for 2015 at 6.4 per cent

420. Electronic toll system can help save Rs 86,000

crore annually

i. The country is expected to save at least Rs 86,000

crore annually after electronic toll collection (ETC)

system becomes operational pan-India by

December

421. MTS to offer Wi-Fi services at 3 railway stations

i. Russia's Sistema JFSC that operates under the MTS

brand in India has partnered with the Indian

Railways to create Wi-Fi hotspots at Agra,

Ahmedabad and Varanasi railways stations

422. Air pollution costs EU up to 189 billion euros: EU

agency

i. Air pollution, chiefly from coal-fired power plants,

cost society up to 189 billion euros ($235 billion) in

2012 the European Environment Agency (EEA) said

423. Thomas Cook says CEO Harriet Green to step

down – Nov 26

i. British holiday company Thomas Cook chief

executive Harriet Green is stepping down and

would be replaced by chief operating officer Peter

Fankhauser

424. Carl Icahn raises stake in car rental company

Hertz

i. Activist investor Carl Icahn raised his stake in U.S.

car rental company Hertz Global Holdings Inc

425. Germany to introduce legal quotas for women

on company boards

i. Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s coalition parties

agreed to draft a law that would force Germany‘s

leading companies to allocate 30 percent of seats

on non-executive boards to women from 2016

426. RBI may punish lenders who violate foreign

debt rules

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it could

penalise lenders that help domestic companies

raise debt abroad if that fundraising violates

external commercial borrowing rules when

repatriated to India

427. India, U.S. hold first trade dialogue in four years

i. The United States and India held their first round of

formal trade talks in four years

428. China to offer aid for India high-speed rail

study

i. China will conduct and pay for a feasibility study

in India for a high-speed rail line to link Delhi with

the southeast city of Chennai

429. Nepal gives Indian firm $1 billion hydroelectric

plant

i. Nepal has given an Indian company , Satluj Jal

Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited, permission to build a

900 megawatt hydropower plant in the Arun River

which provides Nepal with free electricity and India

energy

ii. The two countries will sign an agreement for the

$1.04 billion project Nepal's Law Minister Narahari

Acharya told

430. State Bank of India to launch Islamic equity

fund

i. The Securities and Exchange Board of India

allowed the government-owned State Bank of India

and three mutual funds to launch Sharia funds , an

Islamic equity fund

ii. India is only the second country outside the

Islamic world where a state-owned bank is offering

a Sharia-compliant fund

iii. Charging and receiving interest is considered

usury and is not allowed under Islamic law known as

Sharia and India's stock exchanges have between

600 and 700 companies that are Sharia-compliant.

431. India to give business visa for 3-5 years for

SAARC

i. Modi said India will give business visa for three to

five years for Saarc countries




36

432. WGC, IIM-A set up gold policy centre – Nov 27

i. The World Gold Council (WGC) along with the

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

(IIMA), has set up ‗India Gold Policy Centre‘ to

conduct research on all aspects of the domestic

gold industry

433. OPEC meeting keeps world on the edge

i. Oil ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet in Vienna to press

for a one million barrels a day production cut to

support falling Brent crude oil prices

434. EU's Juncker survives no confidence vote in

European parliament

i. European Commission President Jean-Claude

Juncker survived a confidence vote in the

Parliament

435. Indonesia's Lion Group buying ATR planes

i. Indonesia's Lion Group is buying an additional 40

aircraft from ATR for $1 billion

ii. ATR is co-owned by Airbus group and Italian

industrial conglomerate Finmeccanica

436. Corporation Bank allows unlimited ATM

transactions –Nov 28

i. Corporation Bank allowed unlimited free

transactions on its ATMs for SB account holders of

the bank

437. France, Italy, Belgium may break budget rules,

EU to revisit in March

i. The European Commission will tell France, Italy

and Belgium their 2015 budgets risk breaking EU

rules, but it will defer decisions on any action until

early March

ii. At that point, France could face a multi-billion

euro fine and Italy and Belgium be put on a

disciplinary program.

438. Saudis block OPEC output cut

i. Saudi Arabia blocked calls from poorer members

of the OPEC oil exporter group for production cuts

to arrest a slide in global prices of oil

ii. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Countries accounts for a third of global oil output

439. WTO clinches first global trade deal in its history

i. The World Trade Organization adopted the first

worldwide trade reform in its history, after years of

stalemate, deadlock and a final days delayed

objection.

ii. The agreement means the WTO will introduce

new standards for customs checks and border

procedures.

iii. Proponents say streamlining the flow of trade will

add as much as $1 trillion and 21 million jobs to the

world economy

440. Subdued food price inflation in Europe

i. Prices paid in Europe for fast-moving consumer

goods rose at their slowest pace since 2010 in the

third quarter, and fell in Spain, France and Italy,

according to consumer data firm Nielsen

441. SABMiller, Coca-Cola and local firm to create

African bottler

i. SABMiller Plc, The Coca-Cola Company and

Gutsche Family Investments (GFI) are combining

their soft drinks bottling operations in South and East

Africa to create a group with $2.9 billion in revenue

442. India Post takes up 5,000 crore investment

project to utilize e-commerce based opportunity

i. India Post is taking up a connectivity revamping

project worth Rs 7000 Crore to utilize e- commerce

opportunity and add up vehicles to its nationwide

fleet to ensure 'delivery on time

443. Defence equipment worth over Rs 1800 crore

exported since 2011

i. India has exported defence equipment to the

tune of Rs 1,812.17 crore since 2011 and the exports

are undertaken by Defence Public Sector

Undertakings (DPSUs), Ordinance Factory Board

(OFB) and Private Industry

444. BSE ranks at top-10 largest exchanges of the

world with Rs 100-trillion market cap

i. The BSE ranks at 10th position globally with a

market cap of over $1.6 trillion, crossing Rs 100-

trillion mark in the rupee terms for the first time ever.

ii. It is the largest exchange in the world in terms of

number of listed companies.




37

445. Mauritius inks Rs 100 crore deal with Hindustan

Aeronautics Limited for Dornier aircraft

i. The Mauritius government has signed a contract

worth nearly Rs 100 crore with aerospace major

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to acquire its

Dornier aircraft for maritime surveillance

446. Government plans to cut stake in state lenders

to raise $14.4 billion –Nov 29

i. The government plans to raise about 891.2 billion

rupees ($14.4 billion) by reducing its stakes in state-

run banks to 52 percent

447. Essar's plans oil-for-steel deal in Iran

i. Essar Group, a $39 billion conglomerate, is looking

to tap frozen Iranian oil revenues to pay for its steel

exports to Tehran

448. April-October fiscal deficit nears 90 pct of full-

year target

i. India's fiscal deficit was 4.76 trillion rupees ($76.77

billion) during April-October, or 89.6 percent of the

full-year target

449. i. RBI raises FII limit in Just Dial, allowing

overseas investors to buy up to 75 percent in the

company

450. Rosneft‟s Sechin says oil could fall below

$60/barrel next year

i. Russia's most powerful oil official Igor Sechin said

oil prices could fall below $60 by mid-way through

next year

451. IMF lauds World Trade Organization decisions

on TFA, food security

i. The IMF has said that the WTO decisions on the

trade facilitation agreement and public stock

holding for food security purposes would provide an

opportunity for advancing multilateral trade

negotiations in other areas which is essential for

global growth

452. India overtakes China in corporate

governance rankings

i. India is at par with Malaysia and Australia ranking

4th across 25 markets globally and is at the 2nd spot

in the Europe-Middle East-Asia (EMA) market

category, said the study jointly conducted by

KPMG and ACCA

453. Germany‟s Gabriel says sees Berlin backing

EU-Canada trade deal –Nov 30

i. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said he

expected his Social Democrat party (SPD) would

back Europe's free trade agreement with Canada

(CETA)

ii. It is widely seen as a template for a larger trade

pact between the EU and the United States

454. Indian economic growth slows to 5.3%

i. India's economy grew by 5.3% in the July-to-

September period from a year earlier, down from a

rate of 5.7% in the previous quarter

SPORTS 455. i. The National under-19 women‟s cricket

championship began at four venues in Kerala on

nov 1

456. Nico Rosberg heads Lewis Hamilton in Japan

practice

i. Nico Rosberg beat Mercedes team-mate and title

rival Lewis Hamilton to set the fastest time in first

practice at the Japanese Grand Prix

457. Misbah sets fastest Test fifty record –Nov 2

i. Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq set a new world

record for the fastest Test half-century, reaching 50

off just 21 balls beating previous record by South

Africa's Jacques Kallis

458. Lewis Hamilton wins the United States Grand

Prix 2014 – Nov 3

i. Lewis Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix

at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas

ii. Hamilton now leads Rosberg by 24 points in the

world championship race with two venues

remaining

459. World Chess Championship – Nov 5

i. The World Chess Championship will be held in

Sochi from November 7 to 28

460. Sachin Tendulkar‟s autobiography

i. The first copy of Sachin Tendulkar‘s much

autobiography -- ‗Playing It My Way‘ -- was

presented to his mother Rajni Tendulkar




38

461. Sachin says yes to „standardised‟ DRS- Nov 9

i. Former captain Sachin Tendulkar wants the sport

to embrace the Decision Review System (DRS) if the

same technology is used everywhere

462. Fernando Alonso will be the highest paid in F1

History

i. Fernando Alonso‘s contract with McLaren-Honda

for a highest salary will reportedly be the ‗biggest in

F1 history‘

463. Panel to look into Walsh‟s demands – Nov 11-

14

i. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has formed a six-

member committee, including well-known hockey

players Ajitpal Singh, Ashok Kumar and Zafar Iqbal,

to look into the demands of National team chief

coach Terry Walsh.

464. FIFA clears Russia, Qatar to host World Cup

i. Russia and Qatar were cleared by a FIFA judge of

corruption in their winning bids for the 2018 and

2022 World Cups

465. AIBA grants permanent membership to Boxing

India

i. AIBA unanimously gave permanent membership

to the recently-elected Boxing India during its

quadrennial congress in Jeju Islands, Korea

ii. Boxing India president is Sandeep Jajodia

466. Indian company reviews Aussie debacle

i. Cricket Australia has engaged a Chennai-based

Indian company to review the recent Test debacle

of Michael Clarke‘s men in the UAE

467. Johnson named ICC Cricketer of the Year

i. Mitchell Johnson the Australian fast bowler was

declared ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as the

ICC Test cricketer of the Year.

ii. The 33-year-old has won the coveted Cricketer of

the Year award for the second time in his career

while he is only third Australian after Ricky Ponting

(2006) and Michael Clarke (2013) to win the Test

Cricketer of the Year award

468. Saina, Srikanth lift China Open –Nov 16

i. first time an Indian shuttler K Srikanth clinched his

maiden Super Series title since the Super Series and

Premier tournaments were introduced

ii. Saina won the women's singles title , which was

her third title as she had won the Australian Super

Series in June, besides clinching the Syed Modi

International Grand Prix Gold early in the year

469. Expectations high on Indians at World Snooker

Championship –Nov 18

i. India is hosting the World Snooker Championship

for the fifth time

ii. The 29-year-old Advani, holder of 12 World titles

and fellow-Bengalurean Vidya Pillai, the reigning

women's national champion, are among title

favourites

470. Srikanth breaks into top 10 in badminton

ranking –Nov 20

i. K. Srikanth climbed up six places to achieve a

career-best 10th in the men‘s singles category of

the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF)

rankings released

471. Boxer Manoj to receive Arjuna Award –Nov 21

i. Boxer Manoj Kumar, a 2010 Commonwealth

Games gold-medallist will be bestowed the Arjuna

Award by Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in

New Delhi on November 26

472. Lionel Messi set a La Liga scoring record of 253

goals – Nov 23

i. Lionel Messi set a La Liga scoring record of 253

goals, surpassing the previous record of 251 set by

former Athletic Bilbao forward Telmo Zarra six

decades ago

473. Deborah signs off with two more golds–Nov 24

i. Deborah finished her campaign in style by

securing two more gold medals in the Track Asia

Cup cycling event, which concluded at the Indira

Gandhi velodrome

474. Indian women beach kabaddi team wins gold

i. Indian women‘s beach kabaddi team grabbed

the gold and finished 20th in the overall medal tally

in the Asian Beach Games in Phuket , Thailand

475. Davis Cup final

i. The 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer

beat Richard Gasquet to seal Switzerland's first

Davis Cup triumph




39

476. The World Chess Championship Match –Nov 28

i. Magnus Carlsen won The World Chess

Championship Match with Challenger Viswanathan

Anand that took place in Sochi, Russia

from November 7–28, 2014

ii. 2016 World Chess Championship will take place in

the US

477. New Records at Jio 30th National Junior

Athletic championship at Indira Gandhi Municipal

stadium

i. Uttar Pradesh‘s Priyanka created a national and

new meet record in the 10,000 metre walk event

ii. Kerala‘s Sreenith Mohan cleared a height of

2.18m thus creating new national and meet record

478. Shuttler PV Sindhu won Macau Open title –Nov 30

i. Two-time World Championship bronze medallist

P.V. Sindhu won Macau Grand Prix Gold trophy in

the women‘s singles finals, in Macau

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

479. Iraqi child gets stem cell treatment in Chennai

hospital –Nov 1

i. A seven-year-old girl from Iraq underwent stem

cell treatment for a heart ailment at Frontier Lifeline

Hospital in Chennai

480. New species of frog found in NY

i. A team of scientists has identified the unique

critter, dubbed the Atlantic Coast leopard frog, in

the marshes of Staten Island -- beside New York

Harbour

481. California hospital explores genetics-aided

cancer treatment –Nov 6

i. The University of California said it is working on a

new project with Silicon Valley start-up Syapse to

build a store of genetic data about various

metastatic cancer cases hoping to break new

ground in a fledgling field of genomic medicine

482. Sensor Fish –Nov 7

i. To find out the kind of struggles by a fish that live

near hydroelectric power plants face, scientists at

the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

have designed "sensor fish" — plastic tubes filled

with technology that can measure the stresses and

strains put on salmon swimming through dam

machinery.

483. Insect family tree devised

i. An international research team unveiled what it

called the most comprehensive insect family tree

ever devised

ii. The scientists analyzed 1,478 genes from 144

species covering all the major insect groups

484. Tiny robotic scallops can swim through blood

and eyeball fluid to fix you up- Nov 8

i. Scientists have developed microscopic robots ,

known as micro-robo-scallops that move back and

forth to swim through blood, eyeball fluids and

other liquids inside our body to repair the body

485. Scientists scour the genomes of people who

live past 110 – Nov 11 to 14

i. Scientists have sequenced the genomes of 17

people ages 110 to 116 to try to determine whether

they possess genetic traits that may account for

extreme longevity

486. Probe landed successfully on comet

i. The European Space Agency landed a probe

named Philae on a comet.

ii. Rosetta has become the first spacecraft to orbit a

comet rather than just flying past to take pictures

iii. The Cometary Sampling and Composition

(COSAC) gas analysing instrument on Philae was

able to detect the first organic

molecules containing carbon elements

487. Warming climate may fuel more lightning

i. Rising global temperatures may cause a big jolt in

the number of lightning strikes in the United States

over the rest of the 21st century scientists say.

488. Studies of brain during smoking may offer clues

on smoking addiction

i. British scientists say they have found the best way

yet to analyse the effects of smoking on the brain --

by taking functional magnetic resonance imaging

(fMRI) scans of people while they puff on e-

cigarettes




40

489. “Star-gazing” shrimp discovered in South Africa

–Nov 21

i. A tiny shrimp equipped with large, candy-striped

eyes to ward off predators has been discovered in

South African waters, the University of Cape Town

said

490. "Back boost" could help future-proof flu

vaccines

i. The scientists found that when flu re-infects, the

immune system responds not just to the infecting

strain, but also to all the strains it has encountered in

the past -- a phenomenon the researchers termed

"back-boost" and this phenomenon may make it

possible to make seasonal and future-proof flu

vaccines

491. Cheap e-cigarette may have malware - Nov

23

i. A cheap e-cigarette from an untrustworthy

supplier gains physical access to a device when

plugged into a computer‘s USB port and infects the

system through malware hardcoded into the

charger

492. Symantec uncovers stealth virus

i. An advanced malicious software application

(known also as Regin) that since 2008 was used to

spy in 10 countries has been uncovered, antivirus-

software-maker Symantec Corp said

493. IIT-Madras joins CERN experiment

i. IIT-Madras has been accepted as a full member

of the The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS)

experiment, which is part of the Large Hadron

Collider at CERN

ii. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai,

and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre have long

been members, as also Delhi and Punjab

Universities

494. Two New Subatomic Particles Found Using

Large Hadron Collider

i.The new particles found, known as the Xi_b'- and

Xi_b*-are six times as large as the proton and are

members of the baryon family, which also includes

protons and neutrons

495. Diabetes: new drug target found –Nov 28

i. A team of scientists led by Satish Kumar, Chief

Scientist and Group Leader at Centre for Cellular

and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has genetically

deleted Wdr13 gene in a mouse afflicted severely

with Type 2 diabetes and demonstrated that the

absence of the gene corrects the pathology of the

disease

496. APPOINTMENTS, AWARDS AND RESIGNATIONS

a. Hindustan Zinc, CEO Akhilesh Joshi has been

appointed as the vice-chairman of the Brussels-

based International Zinc Association–Nov 5

b. The IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism,

2014, has been awarded jointly to Hindustan Times

and The Week for “outstanding journalistic work”

during 2013.

c. Eminent Jurist Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer has been

chosen for this year‟s K.R. Narayanan award for his

services to the nation.The award was instituted by

the K.R. Narayanan Foundation in memory of the

late President – Nov 15

d . Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar has been

chosen as the recipient of this year's Col. C K

Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by

the BCCI–Nov 18

e. Venu Srinivasan who also serves as the Honorary

Consul General of the Republic of Korea, has been

appointed as Honorary Commanding Officer of

Korean Naval Vessel, ROKS Choi Young (DDH-981)

f.The 45th edition of the International Film Festival of

India (IFFI) is held in Goa –Nov 20

i. Film star Rajinikanth will be bestowed the

Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the

Year

ii. Actor Waheeda Rehman was the first recipient of

the award.




41

iii.. Chinese film-maker Wong Kar Wai will receive

the Lifetime Achievement Award

g. Mongolia‟s parliament has appointed Chimed

Saikhanbileg as prime minister

h. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned

i. Ukraine's parliament approved Arseny Yatseniuk

for a new term as prime minister

500. BIRTHDAYS AND DEATHS

Social scientist Pandian dead

i. M.S.S. Pandian, an eminent social scientist who

has written for national newspapers and the

'Economic and Political Weekly' and one of the

finest authorities on the Dravidian Movement has

died

Duchess of Alba, the world's most titled aristocrat,

died - Nov 20

i. Spain's 18th Duchess of Alba known to friends as

'Cayetana', named by Guinness World Records as

the world's most titled person and one of Europe's

wealthiest and most titled aristocrats died

German who created Noah‟s Ark for the Western

Ghats is dead

i. Wolfgang Theuerkauf, a German who dedicated

his life to the conservation of plants of southern

India, created a sanctuary as a Noah‘s Ark for

endemic plants passed away in Wayanad, Kerala

ii. The International Union for the Conservation of

Nature has named the Gurukula as one of the 25

global centres of biodiversity

iii. In 2006, he won the Whitley Award, the highest

environment honour in the U.K., for the most

effective conservation effort across the world.

a. India‟s longest serving Petroleum Minister, Senior

Congress leader and former Union Minister Murli

Deora died –Nov 24

b. Australia Test batsman Phillip Hughes aged 25

has died – Nov 27

c. Hillel Oscar an umpire and former captain of

Israel‟s national cricket team died after being hit in

the jaw by a ball –Nov 30

IMPORTANT DAYS IN NOVEMBER

2 November International Day to End

Impunity for Crimes against Journalists

6 November International Day for

Preventing the Exploitation of the

Environment in War and Armed Conflict

10 November World Science Day for Peace

and Development

14 November World Diabetes Day

16 November International Day for

Tolerance

16 November (Third Sunday in November)

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic

Victims

19 November World Toilet Day

20 November Universal Children‘s Day

20 November (Third Thursday in November)

World Philosophy Day

21 November World Television Day

22 November Africa Industrialization Day

25 November International Day for the

Elimination of Violence against Women

29 November International Day of Solidarity

with the Palestinian People

nov_ca_2014

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