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December 2015 Current Affairs:
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS AND EVENTS
| From which date there would be no interviews in any recruitment for junior level posts in the Government of India and its Public Sector Undertakings? | January 1, 2016 |
| Name the Marathi poet and Padma Bhushan recipient who passed away recently at the age of 86? | Mangesh Padgaonkar |
| Name the surface-to-air missile jointly developed by India and Israel which was successfully test fired from INS Kolkata by Indian Navy recently? | Barak-8 |
| The Union Government set up a National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) with equal contribution from the Unon Budget and private investors. What is the corpus of this fund? | ₹40,000 crore |
| According to the recent announcement by the Union Government, consumers under the tax-paying bracket of annual income over which amount will not get cooking gas (LPG) subsidy from next month? | ₹10 lakh |
| To respect the constitutional autonomy, the high court of which state has directed the government to hoist the state's flag on all official building and cars? | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Name the Indian referee who has been selected to supervise wrestling in 2016 Rio Olympics? | Ashok Kumar |
| Name the 24-year old boy who created a new Guinness World record for the longest individual net session by batting for 50 hours straight facing a total of 2,447 overs breaking the previous records of 48 hours? | Virag Mare |
| Name the two mobile application which has been launched by the Ministry of Agriculture recently to celebrate the 'Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan' week? | Crop Insurance and AgriMarket |
| Name the bank which was formally established in Beijing, China with India and 56 other nations as members? (The bank would finance projects like roads, railways, airports, etc. in Asia.) | Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) |
| Which telecom operator has launched India's first unrestricted validity data plans for prepaid mobile customers in Delhi and Mumbai circles recently? | Bharti Airtel |
| Name the veteran bollywood actress who passed away at the age of 74 recently? (She had worked in films like Waqt, Mera Saaya, etc.) | Sadhana |
| Name the bollywood actor who has been signed up as the brand ambassador of Reliance Industries telecom subsidiary Reliance Jio? | Shahrukh Khan |
| Name the former Indian wicket-keeper batsman and Padma Shri awardee who was awarded lifetime achievement award by BCCI? | Syed Kirmani |
| GVK Lounge at Terminal 2 of which International Airport has been named the 'World's Leading Airport Lounge - First Class 2015' at the World Travel Awards in Morocco? | Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai |
| Which country has alloted land to India to build its first naval base in the Indian Ocean region? | Seychelles |
| According to the All India Higher Education Survey 2014-15 conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources Development what percent of the total students in higher education are PhD scholars? | 0.4% |
| Name the states in which the Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold Assembly elections in April-May 2016? | West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam |
| Name the city for which the Union Cabinet approved the construction of metro rail project (Phase 1-A) covering a length of 22 km at the cost of ₹6,298 crore recently? | Lucknow |
| Name India's first indigenously designed and built warship which was decommissioned recently in Mumbai after thirty-two years of service? | INS Godavari |
| In which state complainants can register first information report (FIR) online from January 1, 2016 and get confirmation for the FIRs on WhatsApp as well as on SMS? | Maharashtra |
| Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, by another six months to? | June 30, 2016 |
| Name the telecom operator which became the third telecommunication operator after Bharti Airtel and Vodafone to launch the high speed 4th Generation (4G) mobile services in India? | Idea Cellular |
| Indian Railways will hike Tatkal fare for sleeper class by ₹25, for AC III tier by ₹50 and AC II tier by ₹100. This fare will be effective from? | December 25 |
| Which bank became the first in country to allows users to book online rail tickets on its website in association with the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC)? | ICICI Bank |
| How many bills were passed in the Winter Session of Lok Sabha? | 13 bills |
| Name the 7-year old Manipuri boy who set world record for the longest Limbo skating under horizontal bars by covering 116 meters bettering previous record of 72 meter? | Tiluck Keisam |
| Name the BJP MP who was suspended by the BJP for allegedly attacking Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for corruption in DDCA during his tenure as its chief? | Kirti Azad |
| Name the telecom operator who was asked by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to temporarily stop Facebook's Free Basic service formerly known as internet.org? | RCom |
| Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) issued notification to fill non-technical graduate posts for different zonal railways and production units in India Railways. Interested candidates can submit their application online. How many job vacancies will be on offer? | 18,000 |
| Who was appointed as the CEO of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently replacing Yudhvir Singh Malik? | Pawan Kumar Agarwal |
| Juvenile Justice Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha. This bill reduced the age of juveniles from 18 to? | 16 years |
| With which company Reliance Communications (RCom) is in talks for merger, the combined entity of which will make RCom India's second-largest mobile phone operator by subscriber base overtaking Vodafone? | Aircel |
| Based on which method the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the final guidelines on computing interest rates on advances? | The Marginal Cost of Funds Methodology |
| Name the veteran leader of Communist Party of India (M) of eastern India who passed away recently? | Noorul Huda |
| Who was appointed as the head of the single member committee to look into the KG-Basin gas dispute between Reliance Industries and ONGC? | A P Shah |
| Name the speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh against whom an impeachment resolution was passed recently? | Nabam Rebia |
| Name the leading payment and e-commerce shopping website which will offer services to make online payments for the food ordered through e-catering with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)? | Paytm |
| Name the French President who will be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations on 26th January 2016? | Francois Hollande |
| Name the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launched by ISRO which successfully put six satellites of Singapore into orbit recently? | PSLV-C29 |
| Vijay Diwas was observed across the country to commemorate India's victory in 1971 war on? | 16th December |
| How much loan was approved by the World Bank to India for its ambitious 'Clean India' campaign to support the government's efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation and end the practice of open defecation by 2019? | USD 1.5 billion |
| Who was appointed as the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)? | Arun Kumar Jain |
| Name the Olympic silver medallist who won gold in 25-metre centre fire pistol in the 59th National shooting championship? | Vijay Kumar |
| Name the biggest Tibetan Buddhist Festival which began on 12 December 2015 in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir? (This festival marks the beginning of New Year for Buddhists.) | Losar |
| Name the two Indian cities which for the first time have been designated as members of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network (UCCN)? | Varanasi (City of Music category) and Jaipur (City of Crafts and Folk Art category) |
| Name the legendary bollywood actor who has been conferred with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award? | Dilip Kumar |
| Name India's young cycling sensation from Andaman who has become the first female cyclist from the country to ranked fourth in the World Elite Women Ranking for the 500m time trial event? (The ranking was issued by cycling world body International Cycling Union (ICU).) | Deborah Herold |
| According to the Global Financial Integrity's (GFI's) Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2004-2013 Report, what is the rank of India in black money outflows among the developing and emerging economies? (China tops the list at $139 billion average outflow of illicit finances per annum, followed by Russia ($104 billion per annum) and Mexico ($52.8 billion per annum).) | Fourth, at $51 billion per annum outflow |
| Which bank announced to mobilize 5 billion US dollars from 2015 to 2020 for climate action? | Yes Bank |
| Name the Hyderabad-based company which became the first company in the country to get approval from Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) to launch hepatitis C medicines? (The product will be available under the brand name Ledisof in India.) | Hetero Drugs |
| Name the company which has become the first oil company from India to join the global initiative that is aimed at curbing routine gas flaring at oil production sites around the world by 2030? | ONGC |
| Which state has become country's first state to allow the members of state legislature to raise online questions in an effort to move towards complete digitization of the process? | Maharashtra |
| Name the company which was honored with the prestigious 'Forbes Top 100 Middle East - Global Meets Local 2015' Award? | Tech Mahindra |
| Which Railway Zone has introduced Biodiesel for train operations? | South Western Railways |
| Under which Act, Delhi Assembly passed the Jan Lokpal Bill, 2015 to establish an independent authority to investigate offences? | Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 |
| Which country has recently send its first consignment of Uranium to India after 41 years? | Canada |
| Name the two new teams of Indian Premier League (IPL) which replaced the suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) for the next season of IPL which will be held from April 9 to May 29 2016? | Pune and Rajkot |
| Which State Government ambitious "Clean UP, Green UP" initiative has earned itself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records recently? | Uttar Pradesh |
| Name the Supreme Court judge who sworn in as 43rd Chief Justice of India? (He took over from Justice H L Dattu who retired on 2nd December 2015) | Tirath Singh Thakur |
| The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of six new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). These six IITs will be set up at? (Each new IIT will have an initial intake of 180 students in its first year from temporary / transit which would increase to 450 in the second year and to 928 (840 Undergraduates, 80 Postgraduates and 8 Ph.D.) in the third year of their operation.) | Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Jammu, Kerala and Karnataka |
| Name the Senior Janata Dal (United) leader and five-time MLA who was unanimously elected new Speaker of the Bihar State Legislative Assembly? | Vijay Kumar Chaudhary |
| Name the pilot and actor who won the gold medal in the 'physique fitness' category at the seventh WBPF World Bodybuilding and Physique Championships in Bangkok? | Thakur Anoop Singh |
| Name the renowned Sarangi maestro (a recipient of Padma Bhushan (2006) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1986)) who passed away recently at the age of 88? | Ustad Sabri Khan |
| What is the rank of India in the Global Innovation Index 2015 which is released by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently? | 81 |
INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS AND EVENTS
| Name the country which has launched its first high orbit high-definition (HD) optical imaging satellite called Gaofen-4? | China |
| Which Hollywood film was the most pirated film of 2015 with over 46 million illegal downloads? | Interstellar |
| Which West-African country has been declared Ebola-free by the WHO? | Guinea |
| Name the 53-year old British man who has become the first man in the world to row across the Pacific Ocean from North America to Australia non-stop and solo? | John Beeden |
| Which country became the first team in the cricket history to score 1000 individual centuries across all three formats of International cricket? | Australia |
| Which country has announced to use Chinese currency Yuan as its legal currency along with the US Dollar and South Africa Rand after China cancelled debts worth $40 million? | Zimbabwe |
| Name the FIFA Chief and UEFA Chief who were banned from all football-related activities for 8 years? | Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini |
| The Winter Solstice which marks the shortest day of the year in Earth's northern hemisphere occurred on? (During Winter Solstice, the northern hemisphere is at its farthest from the sun.) | December 22 |
| Name the Hollywood film which has become Hollywood's biggest opener having collected $238 million in its opening weekend breaking previous record of Jurassic World ($208 million)? | Star Wars: the Force Awakens |
| Name the Jamaican sprint star, a 11-time world champion and 6-time Olympic medalist, who has been voted the Best Male Athlete of 2015 by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS)? (Novak Djokovic and Lionel Messi were voted second and third place respectively.) | Usain Bolt |
| A 1,370 year old copy of the Quran, claimed to be the world's oldest copy of the Islamic holy book, was found in? | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
| Which country recently lifted a 32-year ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men? | USA |
| The three-day long 2nd World Internet Conference was concluded on 18 December 2015. At which place this conference was held? | Wuzen (China) |
| International Migrants Day was observed across the world on? (On 18 December 1990, the General Assembly, United Nations adopted the international convention on the protection of the rights of migrant workers and members of their families.) | 18th December 2015 |
| Which country's membership terms to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as 163rd member was approved at the WTO's Tenth Ministerial Conference (MC10) recently? | Afghanistan |
| By what percentage the Federal Reserve of United States (US) increased the interest rate for the first time since 2006? | 0.25% |
| Name the first-ever vaccine against dengue fever which has been manufactured by French company Sanofi and has been cleared for use in Mexico? (Dangue fever affects up to 400 million people per year.) | Dengvaxia |
| Name the German Chancellor who was named as Person of the Year 2015 by Time Magazine? | Angela Merkel |
| Name the world number one women shuttler from Spain who has won the 2015 Female Badminton Player of the Year award? | Carolina Marin |
| International Anti-Corruption Day was observed across the world on? | 9th December 2015 |
| Which country formally joined as the ninth member of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)? | New Zealand |
| 5th "Heart of Asia" conference began at? | Islamabad (Pakistan) |
| Which bank holds world's largest assets at 2.95 trillion dollar? | Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) |
| International Day of Persons with Disabilities with the theme - Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities, was observed on? | 3rd December 2015 |
| International Day for the Abolition of Slavery was observed on? | 2nd December 2015 |
| World AIDS Day (Theme - On the Fast-Track to end AIDS) was observed on? | 1st December 2015 |
| Who was elected as the president of Burkina Faso? | Roch Marc Christian Kabore |
| The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Yuan for inclusion in its elite basket of reserve currencies. Yuan is the currency of which country? (The yuan, also known as the renminbi, will join the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound next year in the basket of currencies the IMF uses as an international reserve asset.) | China |
International Tennis Federation (ITF) on 22 December 2015 announced winners of 2015 World Champions.
List of ITF 2015 World Champions:
| Awards | Winners |
|---|---|
| Men's World Champion | Novak Djokovic (Serbia) |
| Women's World Champion | Serena Williams (USA) |
| Men's Doubles World Champions | Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) & Horia Tecau (Romania) |
| Women's Doubles World Champions | Martina Hingis (Switzerland) & Sania Mirza (India) |
| ITF Junior World Champions | Dalma Galfi (Hungary) & Taylor Fritz (USA) |
| ITF Wheelchair World Champions | Jiske Griffioen (Netherlands) & Shingo Kunieda (Japan) |
ICC Awards 2015
List of ICC Awards 2015 Winners:
| Awards | Winners |
|---|---|
| Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year | Steven Smith (Australia) |
| ICC Test Cricketer of the Year | Steven Smith (Australia) |
| ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year | AB de Villiers (South Africa) |
| ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year | Meg Lanning (Australia) |
| ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year | Josh Hazlewood (Australia) |
| ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year | Khurram Khan (UAE) |
| ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year | Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) |
| David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year | Richard Kettleborough |
| ICC Spirit of Cricket Award | Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) |
| ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year | Faf du Plessis (South Africa for his 119 off 56 balls in 2nd T20I vs West Indies, 11 January 2015, Johannesburg) |
Abbreviations in News:
1. NIIF: National Investment and Infrastructure Fund
2. AIIB: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
3. ECI: Election Commission of India
4. FIR: First Information Report
5. IRCTC: Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd.
6. TRAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
7. RRB: Railway Recruitment Board
8. FSSAI: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
9. RCom: Reliance Communications
10. PSLV: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
11. CBDT: Central Board of Direct Taxes
12. UCCN: UNESCO's Creative Cities Network
13. ICU: International Cycling Union
14. GFI: Global Financial Integrity
15. DGCI: Drug Controller General of India
16. IPL: Indian Premier League
17. WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization
18. HD: High-Definition
19. ITF: International Tennis Federation
20. ICBC: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
