Daily Current Affairs -19th October 2014

1) What is the name of India’s nuclear-capable cruise missile developed with indigenous technology by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that was successfully test fired on 17 October 2014? – ‘Nirbhay’

Explanation: The test was conducted from the Integrated Missile Test Range in Chandipur, Odisha. Nirbhay’s first test was conducted on 12 March 2013 but it had to be terminated in the middle as it deviated from its course about 20 minutes after launch. So the 17 October launch became its first fully successful launch. Nirbhay (which means fearless) is very manoeuvrable and can fly at tree-top level, making it difficult to detect on radar, and strikes targets more than 700 km away carrying nuclear warheads, giving India the capability to strike deep into enemy territory. Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni, Nirbhay has a wing and pronounced tail fins. It launches like a missile and in early flight the small wings get deployed. It then flies like an aircraft and can even hover near the target, striking at will from any direction.

Daily Current Affairs - 18th October 2014

1) What is the name of India’s nuclear-capable cruise missile developed with indigenous technology by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that was successfully test fired on 17 October 2014? – ‘Nirbhay’

Explanation: The test was conducted from the Integrated Missile Test Range in Chandipur, Odisha. Nirbhay’s first test was conducted on 12 March 2013 but it had to be terminated in the middle as it deviated from its course about 20 minutes after launch. So the 17 October launch became its first fully successful launch. Nirbhay (which means fearless) is very manoeuvrable and can fly at tree-top level, making it difficult to detect on radar, and strikes targets more than 700 km away carrying nuclear warheads, giving India the capability to strike deep into enemy territory. Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni, Nirbhay has a wing and pronounced tail fins. It launches like a missile and in early flight the small wings get deployed. It then flies like an aircraft and can even hover near the target, striking at will from any direction.

Daily Current Affairs - 17th October 2014

1) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16 October 2014 kicked-off an overhaul of archaic labour rules in the country by launching a series of ambitious steps. What was the name of this programme which integrates numerous labour related reforms? – “Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram”

Explanation: Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram was launched to implement a series of labour reforms. This includes measures to end the so-called ‘Inspector-Raj’ with a system that is expected to sharply curb the element of discretion with labour inspectors and a single window compliance process.

Daily Current Affairs - 16th October 2014

1) India’s third navigation satellite IRNSS-1C was launched and placed successfully in its pre-designated orbit on 16 October 2014. This launch was executed by ISRO from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota at 1.32 a.m. Which rocket of ISRO launched this satellite? – PSLV-C26

Daily Current Affairs - 15th October 2014

1) Australian author Richard Flanagan was awarded the prestigious Man Booker literature prize for 2014 on 14 October 2014. Flanagan’s which literary work was chosen for this award? – ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’

Explanation:  The book ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ is set during the building of the so-called Thailand-Burma “Death Railway” in World War II. The other books on the short list were ‘We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves’ by Karen Jay Fowler (American), ‘To Rise Again at a Decent Hour’ by Joshua Ferris (American), ‘J’ by Howard Jacobson (British), ‘The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee’ (British} and ‘How to be Both’ by Ali Smith (British). Flanagan was awarded £50,000 ($79,530) cash award under the prize. This was the first time Man Booker Prize was opened up for anyone writing in English regardless of nationality. Previously, the prize was open only to authors from the U.K. and Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.

Daily Current Affairs - 14th October 2014

¬ Khaled Bahah new PM of Yemen

¬ PM announces interim assistance of Rs 1000 crore for AP

¬ Global Hunger Index Report 2014 released: India Ranked at 55th Position

¬ Ajay Jayaram won Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament

¬ Mary Kom voted as India's Most Valuable Player in Asian Games 2014

Daily Current Affairs 12 -13th October 2014

1.    Frenchman Tirole wins Nobel economics prize 

i. French economist Jean Tirole won the Nobel prize for economics on Monday for research on market power and regulation.

ii. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited Tirole for clarifying "how to understand and regulate industries with a few powerful firms." 

iii. Tirole, 61, works at the Toulouse School of Economics in France. 

Daily Current Affairs - 11th October 2014

1.    Prime Minister launches Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana 

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana', an ambitious village development project under which each MP will take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by 2019. 

ii. He said on the basis of the model created by this experience, it is envisaged that two more villages would be developed by each MP by 2019 and that one village will be developed every year.

Daily Current Affairs - 10th October 2014

1) Who won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature as announced by the Swedish Academy on 9 October 2014? – Patrick Modiano of France

Explanation: Patrick Modiano’s works have primarily centered around the Nazi occupation and its effect on France. He is the 11^th person from France to win the literature prize, the last being Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio in 2008. He, however, is relatively unknown outside of France and hence his declaration came as surprise for many. Modiano has already won France’s prestigious Goncourt prize in 1978 for his work. Some of his 30 literary works include “Missing Person” (1980), “Trace of Malice” (1988) and “Honeymoon” (1992).

Daily Current Affairs - 9th October 2014

1) What is the name given to the tropical cyclonic storm building over the north Andaman Sea which is expected to hit the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on sheer intensity on 12 October 2014? –“Hud Hud”

Explanation: The name “Hud Hud” was given by the Indian Met Department (IMD) according to international cyclonic naming conventions. This cyclone is moving in from the Bay of Bengal and is forecast to bring gales of up to 140 kmph with heavy rains and storm when it hits the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on 12 October. ‘Hud Hud’ is expected to hit land between the port city of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and the resort town of Gopalpur in Odisha.

Daily Current Affairs - 8th October 2014

1) The Indian Air Force (IAF) is celebrating 8 October 2014 as its foundation day in the form of ‘Air Force Day’. The IAF completed how many years of its establishment on this day? – 82 years

Explanation: IAF was established on 8 October 1932 with formation of the No.1 Squadron. It was established as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire and the prefix ‘Royal’ was added in 1945 in recognition of its services during World War II. The prefix was dropped in 1950 when India became a republic.

Daily Current Affairs - 7th October 2014

1) Norwegian couple May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser and Anglo-American John O’Keefe were announced as the winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize for Medicine on 6 October 2014. The three are being rewarded for which of their pioneering work associated with the human mind? –They solved the mystery – How does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?

Daily Current Affairs 5 - 6th October 2014

1) Who was nominated as the next U.S. Ambassador to India recently? – Richard Rahul Verma

Explanation: Verma was the Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, at the U.S. Department of State until March 2011. He was nominated as America’s next Ambassador to India by President Barack Obama during September 2014. He will take place of Nancy Powell whose tenure ended during March 2014.

2) The 17th Asian Games concluded at Incheon (South Korea) on 4 October 2014 with a glittering closing ceremony. The next edition of Asian Games would be held in which city? – Jakarta (Indonesia)

Daily Current Affairs - 4th October 2014

1) The rates of the tatkal tickets of Indian Railways went up from October 2014 with the railways deciding to sell 50% of the quota tickets using dynamic fare system. The ‘Premium Tatkal Ticket scheme’ became operational in how many trains from 1 October 2014? – Eighty

Daily Current Affairs - 3rd October 2014

1) Indian men’s Hockey team moved one more step closer in regaining its lost glory by claiming the gold medal at 17th Asian Games at Incheon on 2 October 2014. India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by 4-2 in a nerve-wracking shoot-out in the finals to earn a direct berth to the 2016 Rio Olympics. With this win India has now won how many gold medals in men’s hockey at the Asian Games? – Three

Daily Current Affairs - 2nd October 2014

1. Modi launches 'My Clean India' campaign

Ø Making an appeal for a non-political movement driven by patriotism, Mission on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Ø PM Narendra Modi flagged off the mission at Valmiki Basti in Delhi

Ø He also invited nine people – Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, Shashi Tharoor, cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, actors Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Kamal Haasan, industrialist Anil Ambani, yoga practitioner Baba Ramdev, and the crew of the TV serial Tarak Mehta ka Ulta Chashma – to join him in his cleanliness mission

Daily Current Affairs - 1st October 2014

1) What is the name of the social network belonging to search engine Google whose operations were closed from 30 September 2014? – Orkut

Explanation: Orkut was Google’s first foray into the social networking space, which failed to take off due to tough competition from rival services such as Facebook and Twitter. Orkut was started in 2004 and it initially caught the fancy of youth all over the world. While Orkut wasn’t a big success across the world, it was very popular in India and Brazil. Google later launched another social network called Google+, which turned out to be far more popular than Orkut. Google stated that the growth of communities of YouTube, Blogger and Google+ outpaced Orkut’s growth and hence it was decided to bid Orkut farewell.