Last Months current Affairs

1. Economic outlook
Economic outlook for 2009-10 submitted by the PM’s Economic Advisory Concil (PMEAC).
Highlights::
1. Indian economy comes out from global crisis.
2. GDP growth 6.5%.
3. 7% GDP growth expected for 2009-10.
4. Inflation rate remain 6%.
5. Fiscal Deficit expected to be 10.1% of GDP


2. GDP GROWTH
Grew by 6.1% during Q1 of 2009-10.
This is the heighest GDP growth whichever indian economy obtained.
India obtained the second fastest growing economy among major countries after China (7.9%).
GDP
2008-09- Q1- 7.8%
2009-10- Q1- 6.1%
2009-10- Q2- 7.9%
=>The major increment in GDP in mining and Quarring 7.9%.
Growth Rate
Actual Estimated
2008-09- 6.7% -----
2009-10- 6.5% 6.3%
2010-11 ------- 8%
2011-12 ------- 9%

3. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna
To support agriculture growth to level 4%, government has allocated 30% more fund to the agriculture ministry’s “Flagship Scheme”.

4. New Direct Tax code Proposed
Highlights
1. Tax deduction limit on saving to be raised to 3L.
2. Rate of Tax to be uniform.
3. Securities transction tax to be abolished.
4. No tax deduction on interest payable on any govt. Securities.
5. Base year for calculation of cap gains tax moved to April-2000.

5. Gift Exceeding Rs. 50,000 Brought under Tax Payment
If the recipient of gift with value exceeding Rs. 50,000 has to pay tax of 30% of the value of the gift.


6. MSP(Minimum Support price) for 2009-10 Kharif crops
=>union government announced MSP for paddy and pulses. Price raised for paddy and pulses by 100 and upto 240/quintal.
Paddy- 950 - 980(A Grade)

7. MSP for Rabi Crop
Wheat- 1080(2008-09) - 1100(2009-10)
Mustard 1830 (“) - 1830(“)
Sunflower 1650 (“) - 1680(“)

8. Maharatna Status after Navratna Proposed
=>Initially Navratna status awarded to 7 PSE, but at present it ahs gone to 18.
Now the government come one more step forward to initiate ‘Maharatna’ status: to be given those Navratna compnies which show better performance.
Presently maharatna status given to 6 PSE
=>ONGC, IOC, BHEL, BSNL, NTPC, SAIL
=>These compnies have the antonomy to invest upto 1000 crore without prior permission to govt but limit has raised to 5000 crore.

9. World bank to fund India’s Secondary Education Programme
=> Indian covernment has recently launched “Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) to improve the quality of secondary education. World bank is supposed to provide soft loan for the Scheme.

10. New BPL Criteria Recommended:
=> Currently BPL families are identified on the basis of score (0-4) on 13 Socio-Economic parameter. This methodology had a maximum score 52 (4 point to each 13 parameter). The new recommended method will have a maximum score of 10 marks only.

11. Monetary Measures
1. Bank rate, repo rate, reverse repo rate and CRR (Cash reserve ratio) unchanged at 6%, 4.75%, 3.25%, and 5% respectively.
2. SLR raised to 25% from 24% by 100 basis point.

12. RBI buys 200 tones gold from IMF
=> Top gold holders are:
1. USA 8133.5 tonne
2. France 2445.1 tonne
3. Germany 3408.5 tonn.
4. Itly 2451.8 tonn.
5. India 557.7 tonn

13. New base year for new WPI
Presently wholesale price index with base year 1993-94 is being used for measuring inflation. The new WPI with base year 2004-05 has been planned.

14. ICEX Becomes fourth commodity Exchange
=> Indian commodity Exchange (ICEX) is fourth commodity exchange in india which is sponsored by India Bulls and MMTC.
=> Other three commodity Exchange are:-
1. MCEX- Multi Comm. Exchange
2. NCDEX- National comm. & Derivative Exchange
3. NMCEX- National multi comm. Exchange

15. India to Generate 14,500 MW Renewable Energy by 2012
=> According to IREDA (India renewable Energy Development Agency) spend over 1,00,000 crore to setting up this plant.
=> In similar development govt. Is also taking steps to setup 20,000 MW solar power generation capicity under the national solar mission by 2020.

16. India’s free Trade Agreement with ASEAN
17. World bank approves $4.3 billion loan to india
=> Approved loan to four projects of india
1. Infrastructure investment
2. Enable PSU banks to expand credit
3. Strengthen power transmission

18. HDI (Humuan development Index) Report
=> India’s ranking 134th out of 182
1st- Norway
2nd – Australia
3rd- Iceland

Current Affairs Refreshers 2009

1. Recently the 15 member caricom summit was held in “Santiago de Cuba.”
2. The European union has decided to ban the use of “Incandescent bulb”.
3. The UNO recently banned terriost orgnization “jamat-ud-Dawah”.
4. United Human Award has given to “Benazir Bhutto”.
5. UK based indian industrialist “Swaraj Paul” has become the first asian deputy speaker of the house of loards of Britain.
6. Jamaica’s spinter Usain Bolt has been choosen for International Media’s 2008 Athlete of the year.
7. Russia’s “Yelena Isinbayeva” has been choosen as the SportsWoman of the year 2008.
8. “John Atta-Mills” has been elected as a new president of the Republic of Ghana.
9. The Australian Cricketer “Matthew Hayden” announced his retirement from international cricket.
10. FIFA world Footballer of the year award was given to “Christiano Ronaldo” for 2008.
11. Malaysia won both men’s and women’s titles in the asian junior squash championship.
12. The internation Labour orgnization (ILO) recently said that up to 50 million jobs worldwide could be disappear by the end of 2009.
13. According t NASAreports, Mars shows fairly Large Amount of methane along with the water in the summer time.
14. US president Barrac Obama approved the deployment 17,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.
15. Indian Tabla Masetro Zakir Hussain has won the Grammy award for the best contemporary world music album Category for his collaborative album “Global drum project”.
16. Slumdog Millionaire sweeps 8 Oscars, Rahman Wins 2
17. India, China and Brazil have joined a key decision-making committe of the world’s leading policy forum for securities regulators.
18. The Earth Hour was observed on March 28, 2009.
19. The British Scientists plan to use stem cell for producing unlimited amount of Synthetic humun blood.
20. Top seeded American Mardy Fish won Delray Beach title.
21. Jenson Button won the Australian Formula 1 Grand prix in melbourne.
22. ATP Tour’s stefan Edberg sportmanship award given to Roger Federer.
23. The Prestigious Abel prize has won by Mikhail Gromov.
24. The south African paceman Andre Nel announced his retirement form international cricket on 25 Mar, 2009.
25. Rafael Nadal defeated Andy Murray and won BNP paribas open championship.
26. Australia’s first elected woman premier is Anna Bligh.
27.The winner of Dubai cup is Well Armed.
28. The first person to travel space twice as a tourist is Charles Simonyi.
29. Japan Deployed two ballistic missile destroyersfor its defencein the sea.
30. Recently WHO warned that the deadly swine flu virus first detected in Mexico where it killed a large number of people can no longer be contained.
31.The winner of Ashes Series 2009 is “England”.
32. The Winner of UEFA super cup is “barcelona”.
33.The athlete who won the 5,000 and 10,000 metre race in world athlete championship is “kenenisa Bekele”.
34.Miss universe 2009 is “stefania Fernandez”.
35.The G-20 summit was recently held in “Pittsburgh”.
36.Kerry-Lugar Bill is related to US aid to “Pakisthan”.
37.Angela Merkel has been re-elected recently as Germany’s chancellor for the Second time.
38. The winner of Singapore Grand Prix is “Lewis Hamilton”.
39. The Winner of US open (Men’s Single) 2009 is “Juan Martlin del Potro”.
40. The winner of US open (women’s Singles) 2009 is “Kim Clijisters”.
41. The Winner of Qatar Moto GP is Casey Stoner.
42. Injaz is a World First Cloned camel.
43. The Pritzker Prize Winner is Peter Zumthor.
44. The east Asian Country where recently emergency was imposed is “Benjamin Netanyahu”.
45. The winner of champions League Trophy is Barelona.
46. New PM of Nepal is “Madhav Kumar Nepal.”
47.The Two country which recently signed gas pipeline deal are “Iran and Pakistan”.
48.The winner of Man Booker International Prize is “Alice Munro”.
49. The Group of people who recently won the right to settle in England is “Gurkhas”.
50. Recently BRIC Summit was held in “Russia”.
51. The Winner of French open Tennis Championship 2009(Man’s Singles Title) is “Roger Federer.
52. The new re-elected president of Iran is “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”.
53. The Winner of French open Tennis Championship 2009(Women’s Singles Title) is “Sveltana Kuznetsoa”.
54.The Winner of ICC world T-20 Cricket Tournament 2009 is “Pakistan”.
55. Recently, the country which test fired 7 missile is “North Korea”.
56. The new re-elected president of Indonesia is “Susilo Bambarg Yudhoyono”.
57. The Wimbledon 2009 Tennis Championship winner(Women’s Singles) holder is Serena Williams.
58. The Wimbledon 2009 Tennis Championship winner(men’s Singles) holder is Roger Federer.
59. The Winner of Grand prix is “Mark Webber”.
60. The 15th Non-Aligned movement Summit was held in “Sharm-el-Sheikh”.

Current Affairs Refreshers Dec.2009

1) The CNN IBN Indian of the year is “A.R.Rahman”.
2) The Winner of the Kingfisher 57the national Squash Championship are “Saurav Ghoshal and Joshan Chinappa”.
3) The Lal BahadurShastri award has been conferred on “Sunil Bharti Mittal”.
4) India recently test-fired “Dhanush Missile”.
5) The Indian industrialist who recently received ‘orderof merit of italian republic is “Ratan Tata”.
6) The Writer who has won Sahitya Acedmy award in Hindi is “Kailash Vajpeyi”.
7) The Champions in the Jaypee cup syed Modi International grand prix Badmintation Tournment are “Chetan Anand and Sania Nehwal”.
8) India’s first Commercial 2 Mega Watt Solar Power pant was inaugrated in “Awan Village”
9) The Asian Tour Rookie of the Year is “C.Muniayappa”.
10) Vasudha award has been bagged by “Underground inferno and melt down in Tibet”
11) The Sahitya Akademi’s Bhasha Sammam for 2008 has been given to “Vishwanath Khaire and Surrendra Nath Satpathy”.
12) The Indian State which recentlt got aid birth Rs 2254 crore from world bank is “Rajasthan”.
13) The nation party of india which celebrated recently its 125th foundation days “Indian National Congress”.
14) The Japanese PM Who recently visited india is “Yukio Hatoyama”.
15) The top test Cricket team of the World is “India”.
16) India recently sealed civil Nulear Deal with “Russia”.



International
1. The nepal cabinate recently held its meeting at “The Averest”.
2. Recently Pakistan Supreme Court annulled “The National Reconciliation ordinance”.
3. The world’s fastest rail link is “The Wuhan Guangzhou Railway Link”
4. The hockey world player for 2009 is “Jamie dwyer”.
5. The Champions Trophy (Hockey) was recently won by Australia.
6. The Indian American who has recently been maid the head of the United state Agency for International Development (USAID) is “Rajiv Shah”.
7. The FIFA Player and European Footballer of the Year 2009 is “Lionel Messi”.
8. The Winner of the super Series Masters final of badmintation is “Lee chong wei”.
9. The Tennis Player who have been named International Tennis Federation ITF Champions are “Roger Federer and Serena Williams”.

Indian Economy

Monetary and Credit policy
Bank rate: 6.0%
Cash Reserve Ratio(CRR) 5.0%
Statutory Liquidity Ratio(SLR) 25%
Repo rate 4.75%
Reverse Repo Rate 3.25%
Banking and Capital Market
The First fully indian bank is “Punjab National Bank”.
India’s central bank is “Reserve Bank of India”.
Governer of RBI is “Dr. D.Subbarao”.
Nationalisation of 14 big banks in “july 19, 1969”.
Nationalisation of 6 another banks in “April 1980”.
Present No. Of Nationalised Banks are 19.