2015

Career Anna GK 2015 Program

- January Fact Sheet

Career Anna

Indian Government and Politics

The Central government has renamed the 64-year old Planning Commission as
NITI Ayog' (NITI- National Institution for Transforming India) which will provide
the Centre and the States with relevant strategic and technical advice across key
elements of policy.
1.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a mobile application Himmat' in

order to improve women safety in the national capital region. The app is an
initiative by Delhi Police which caters to working women who own android smart
phones and travel alone.

2.

The government has appointed M Sathiyavathy as the new director general of

civil aviation (DGCA) till 28th January 2018. With this Sathiyavathy, who is
currently additional secretary and financial advisor in the aviation ministry, will be
the first director general of civil aviation (DGCA) of the country.

3.

Government has announced to separate the post of Chairman and Managing

Director and Chief Executive Officer in public sector banks as advised by the
Central Bank Reserve Bank of India.

4.

India's insurance industry regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development

Authority (IRDA) was renamed to Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority of India.

5.

India's fiscal deficit for the April-November period of financial year 2014-15
touched 99% of the Budget estimate for the current financial year. As per the
data published by the Controller General of Accounts, the deficit touched at Rs
5.25 lakh crore in the same period.

6.

A suspicious fishing boat carrying explosives from Pakistan was intercepted by

Indian Coast Guard in Arabian Sea on the New Year eve. The crew on the boat
was expected to carry 26-November like attack on Indian land. But the crew set
the boat on fire and it sank at the same spot.

7.

Famous economist Arvind Panagariya is likely to be appointed Vice Chairman of

the new Planning Commission, which has now been named NITI (National
Institution for Transforming India) Aayog.

8.

R.K Srivastava took over as the new chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI)
on 2nd January. He succeeds Sudheer Raheja.

9.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 102nd Indian Science Congress at
Mumbai University on 3rd January. The theme of 2014 Indian science congress is
'Science and Technology for Human Development.'

10.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scheme for distribution of LED bulbs in
Delhi under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme and a National
Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting. Under the scheme, Delhi
people will be able to request for LED bulbs under the Domestic Efficient Lighting
Programme through a new Website www.eeslindia.org/Delhi-Launch launched by
Modi.

11.

Famous Economist Arvind Panagariya has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of
National Institution for Transforming India, NITI Aayog

12.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. India has been holding Bhartiya
Pravasi Divas for 12 years now to coincide with the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi
back to India from South Africa in order to acknowledge the contribution of the
Indian diaspora to the development of the country.

13.

Central Government has announced to launch Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan to

create interest among the students in Science and Mathematics fields, as per a
recent announcement made by the Human Resource Development Minister
Smriti Irani

14.

Senior Indian diplomat Atul Khare has been named as the United Nations (UN)
Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field Support (DFS) by Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon.

15.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Vibrant Gujarat and promised to

make India as the easiest destination to do business with a stable tax regime and
a transparent policy environment. He also said a single window clearance for
projects is being set up at both central and state level.

16.

Senior IAS officer Sindhushree Khullar was appointed as the Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, newer
version of planning commission.

17.

H.S. Brahma will assume charge as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India
and he will succeed VS Sampath. With this, H.S.Brahma will be the 19th Chief
Election Commissioner of India. V S Sampath, Chief Election Commissioner, will
retire tomorrow after attaining the retirement age of 65.

18.

The Central government removed DRDO chief Avinash Chander, also known as
Agni Man, 15 months before his contract period ends.

19.

Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi joined BJP in presence of Party President Amit Shah,
Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Dr. Harshvardhan in New Delhi.

20.

Anupam Shrivastava has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing
Director of state run telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited by the
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

21.

Union Minister of State for Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas
Naqvi was sentenced to a one-year jail term by a local court. He and 19 others
were convicted for breaching prohibitory orders in the run-up to the 2009 Lok
Sabha election.

22.

Haryana government has appointed Yoga guru Ramdev as its brand ambassador
as it plans to promote yoga and ayurveda aggressively.

23.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' scheme at
Panipat in Haryana.

24.

The National Girl Child Day is observed (24th January) across the nation. PM
tweeted "On National Girl Child Day, I salute the unparalleled accomplishments of
the girl child. Their role in nation building is paramount.'

25.

India observed the 118th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
(23rd January). Some functions held at different locations to pay tribute to him.
PM Modi took to his official Twitter account to express his gratitude to the
phenomenal freedom fighter.

Sports
26.

27.

28.

Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was voted as Europe's best football

player for the second year in a row by European sports reporters for the year
2014.
In other categories, Argentina's Diego Simeone won the Europe's best coach title
in the same survey. He coached Atletico Madrid to victory in the Spanish 20132014 season and the final of the UEFA Champions League.
Sri Lanka Batsman Kumar Sangakkara became the fastest player to reach 12,000
Test runs and also become the fifth man to cross the 12,000 test run mark. He
achieved this feat in just 224 innings.

29.

Andy Murray won the ATP World Tennis Championship at Zayed Sports City in
Abu Dhabi as Novak Djokovic withdrew from the final match citing illness.

30.

The sports ministry has decided to recommend famous badminton player Saina
Nehwal for the Padma Bhushan award even if it did not receive her nomination
from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) within the given deadline.

31.

BCCI has announced the 15-member cricket team for the ICC world cup to be held
next month in Australia and New Zealand. Indian team will fight to defend the
world title. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be the captain of the Indian team and Virat
Kohli will be Vice Captain of the team.

32.

Tennis legend Roger Federer won his record number 1000 th win the men's
professional tennis area while he defeated Milos Raonic by 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 in the
final match to win the Brisbane International title.

33.

Bengaluru FC won their first Federation Cup football title after defeating Dempo
Sports Club by 2-1 in the final match held at Margao.

34.

Portugal's footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded with the FIFA Ballon d'Or
award for 2014. With this, he won the title of world's best football player for a
third time.

35.

Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee announced retirement from all forms of
cricket following the conclusion of the Big Bash League (BBL).

36.

India's open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma has set a world record by swimming
1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean.

37.

UK's Stephen Constantine has been appointed as the head coach of Indian men's
football team.

38.

South Africa's AB de Villiers hit the fastest century in one-day internationals while
playing against West Indies in Johannesburg. He took just 31 balls to reach 100
and scored 149 out of 44 balls with 16 sixes and 9 fours.

39.

Indian tennis player Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie MattekSands won women's doubles title at the Sydney International Tennis Tournament.

40.

The Supreme Court announced its much-awaited verdict on IPL Spot fixing and
former BCCI chief N Srinivasan's conflict of interest case on 22 nd January. The
court-appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee had also found Srinivasan's

son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan guilty of IPL spot fixing during IPL 2013 despite
being a CSK team official.

41.

Colombia's Paulina Vega won the Miss Universe title at function held in Florida.

42.

Indian Tennis player Leander Paes and his partner Martina Hingis have reached
mixed doubles finals in the Australian Open Tennis but Sania Mirza and her
partner Bruno Soares lost in the semifinal match.

43.

Argentine footballer Juan Roman Riquelme retired from international football on

26th January. He played for Argentina in 2006 World Cup in Germany.

44.

Australian fast bowler Sean Abbott has been named Australia's young cricketer of
the year, also known as the Bradman award, two months after bowling the
bouncer which led to Philip Hughes's death. Steve Smith was awarded with the
Allan Border Medal and also named both Test and one day player of the year.

Business and Economy

45.

India's largest private bank ICICI Bank launched its own 'digital village' project in
presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while adopting an entire village in
Gujarat to provide services ranging from cashless banking to digitize school
teaching. Digital village has three themes; cashless, comprehensive and
connected.

46.

India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by USD 287.5 million to USD
319.710 billion in the week ended 26th December, as per weekly report published
by the RBI. The decrease was mainly due to decrease in foreign currency assets
which were decreased by USD 271 million to USD 295.399 billion in the same
week.

47.

The Reserve Bank of Indian has relaxed Know-Your-Customers (KYC) rules for
Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) due to practical difficulties and
constraints being faced by NBFCs in getting KYC documents at frequent intervals.

48.

Famous photo journalist Virendra Prabhakar passed away after suffering cardiac
arrest. He was 84. He was awarded with Padmashree in 1982 for his contribution
to photography.

49.

Google's CEO Larry Page has been named as the business person of the year' for
2014, as per the popular business magazine Fortune. Five women leaders have
been included in the list of 20 global corporate leaders.

50.

Global crude oil price dropped to five-and-half year low at USD 52.27 per barrel
due to oversupply and lower demand amid lower economic growth. This is the
lowest crude oil price since May 2009.

51.

Trade unions have begun a five-day coal industry strike in order to protest against
government's decision for 'disinvestment and restructuring of State-run Coal
India'. This is also the biggest industrial action for any sector since 1977. The
strike is expected to affect coal production of up to 1.5 million tonnes a day and
may also hit supplies to power plants.

52.

Group Executive and Chairman of Larsen & Toubro, AM Naik has been awarded
with the Order of the Dannebrog as Knight First Class by Queen Margrethe of
Denmark in recognition of his role to enhance Indo-Danish ties in the fields of
business, commerce and culture.

53.

R Koteeswaran has taken charge as the new Managing Director and Chief
Executive Officer of Indian Overseas Bank. Earlier he was an Executive Director of
Bank of India.

54.

Indian Chat application company, Hike Messenger has acquired a US-based free
voice-calling firm Zip Phone to expand Hike's product range in the Internet-based
communication space.

55.

Maithripala Sirisena won the Presidential election held in Sri Lanka recently and
former President Mahinda Rajapaksa conceded defeat.

56.

AirlineRatings.com, safety and product rating website, has published the list of
top ten safest airlines and top ten safest low cost airlines for 2015 from the 449
airlines around the world.

57.

Tata's newly launched airlines Vistara flew its first flight on 9th January from Delhi
to Mumbai. With this Tata re-enters into Indian aviation industry after a gap of six
decades.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has projected Indian economic growth at
6.4% for the next year 2015 and will improve further in the next year.

58.

59.

Indian IT Services company Tech Mahindra acquired SOFGEN Holdings (SOFGEN),

a niche consulting and services company specialising in private wealth,

commercial and retail banking solutions. The transaction is expected to be

completed before March 2015, subject to regulatory approvals.
60.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has been named as the 'governor of the year' in
the Central Banking Awards for 2015 by a British magazine for 'his deep
understanding of the root causes of economic problems of the country combined
with an impressive leadership style.'

61.

India's Online Restaurant portal Zomato has announced that it has acquired
UrbanSpoon, which is a dominant player in the US, Canada and Australia for
specialized restaurant content.

62.

Corporation Bank won the MSME Banking Excellence Awards 2014' given by the
Chamber of Indian Micro Small & Medium Enterprises.

63.

As per one recent World Bank report, India would catch up with China's growth in
the year 2016-17 and will become the fastest growing country in the world. As
per the World Bank forecast, India's GDP growth will be 7% in 2016-2017 financial
year compared to 7% in 2016 and 6.9% in 2017 for China.

64.

India's leading IT Services Company Infosys has created a USD 250 million (Rs
1,550 crore) 'Innovate in India Fund' to invest in Indian start-ups, announced by
Infosys Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka in a meeting with the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

65.

Pakistan plans to ban 10 terror outfits, including 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeedled Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Haqqani Network after the deadly Peshawar
school massacre by the Taliban recently.

66.

Largest shareholder of cash trapped SpiceJet, Maran Family, has agreed to

transfer its entire 53% stake worth of around Rs 500 crore to original promoter
Ajay Singh for its revival, as per details shared with stock exchange.

67.

India's leading IT Services Company Wipro has appointed Senior VP (Finance) Jatin
Dalal as the new Chief Financial Officer effective from 1st April 2015.

68.

The first India's indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft, LCA Tejas is finally was
handed over to the Indian Air Force on 18th January in the presence ofChief of Air
Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha after 32 years of getting the project approved.

69.

K. Tamilmani, Chief Controller of Aeronautics Cluster in the Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO), is likely to be appointed as the interim head

of the government organization. He is the senior-most of the seven cluster heads

in the DRDO.
70.

Famous Mathematician and Fields medalist Manjul Bhargava has been chosen as
the face and to lead Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet education project to
rope in eminent scholars and scientists staying abroad to teach students at IITs
and central universities. He is the first person of Indian origin to win the coveted
international prize, Fields medal, for his pioneering work in mathematics.

71.

Microblogging site Twitter has appointed Taranjeet Singh as business head for its
India operation. As head of Indian operation, he will be responsible to increase
commercial opportunities for Twitter and will work closely with different brands
and agencies to maximize its presence within India.

72.

The Company Secretaries' Institute has appointed Atul Hasmukh Rai Mehta as the
new President for 2015. He was elected by the new central council of the institute
at its meeting held. It has also elected Mamta Binani as Vice-President of the
Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) for 2015.

73.

India's largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank has announced the launch of
banking services on Twitter, first by a bank in India. This application named as
icicibankpay', enables ICICI Bank customers to transfer money to anyone in the
country who has a Twitter account, check account balance, view last three
transactions and recharge prepaid mobile.

74.

China's economic growth dropped to 7.4% in 2014 compared to 7.7% in previous

year of 2013. This is also its slowest growth in last 24 years.

75.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered global economic growth
forecast for the current and next year. It has reduced global economic growth
projection to 3.5% for 2015 from earlier projection of 3.8%. It has also reduced
GDP growth projection for 2016 at 3.7%.

76.

Microblogging site Twitter announced its first acquisition in India as it plans to

acquire Indian mobile phone marketing start-up ZipDial for nearly USD 30 million.

77.

Axis Bank board reappointed Shikha Sharma as the bank's managing director and
chief executive officer (MD and CEO) for a three-year period.

78.

Indian Tier-II IT Services Company, Mindtree has announced the acquisition of USbased Discoverture Solutions for USD 15 million during its quarterly result
announcement.

79.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Chairman R K Tyagi was awarded with the 'JGBSTop Rankers' Excellence Award for CEO of the year'.

80.

Famous Indian RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal was awarded with the
Giraffe Hero award 2015 by a US-based NGO 'The Giraffe Heroes Project' which
will be presented to him later this month.

81.

Famous economist Bibek Debroy assumed charge as full time member of the NITI
Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India).

82.

Indian CEOs are the second most optimistic in the world in terms of their
companies' growth prospects and hiring plans in next 12 months, as per a survey
report conducted by PwC. The annual CEO survey of global consultancy PwC was
released at the 45th WEF Annual Meeting 2015 which started in Davos,
Switzerland.

83.

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC has announced that it would invest nearly
USD 165.5 million in India's Bandhan Financial Services, which has recently got
approval to open new bank from RBI last year.

84.

India's largest IT services company has now become the largest profitable private
company of India, replacing Reliance Industries as per latest quarterly results
published by these two companies. With this, It ends Reliance's position as largest
profitable company after 23 years.

85.

Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri has been awarded with the prestigious DSC
Prize for Literature for her book "The Lowland". DSC Prize is considered among
South Asia's top literary awards with a prize value of USD 50,000. Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Vijay Shesadri awarded this prize to Jhumpa Lahiri.

86.

India's largest bank, State Bank of India has signed a loan agreement for 100
million euro with European Investment Bank for lending to private businesses in
the country.

87.

Sunil Sood has been appointed as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive
Officer of Vodafone India. He is currently the chief operating officer of Vodafone
India.

88.

The USA economy, largest in the world, grew by 2.6% in the fourth quarter of the
previous year 2014. This growth rate was slightly lower than 5% growth witnessed
in the previous quarter.

89.

Euro zone deflation worsens as prices dropped by 0.6% in January across 19

member nations of the zone compared to same period last year.

90.

India has successfully test-fired indigenously developed, inter-continental surfaceto-surface nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-5 from Wheeler's Island off
Odisha coast. This missile has a strike range of over 5000 kms and can carry a
nuclear warhead of over one tonne.

Entertainment
91.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been appointed as the Brand

Ambassador of Andhra Pradesh health sector, as per announcement made by the
Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas in Hyderabad.

92.

Ritesh Batra's movie The Lunchbox' has bagged a nomination in the non-English
best film category at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)
Awards.

93.

Movie "Boyhood" won the Golden Globe award for best drama and "The Grand
Budapest Hotel" won the Golden Globe award for best comedy or musical
category. "Boyhood" took three Globes, including the night's top honour, best
director award for Richard Linklater and best supporting actress for Patricia
Arquette.

94.

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has been awarded with the Social Media
Person of the Year award by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

95.

Censor Board Chief Leela Samson has quit as the chief of India's Censor board
citing interference and corruption of panel members appointed in the Central
Board of Film Certification (CBFC) by the Union Information & Broadcasting
Ministry.
Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani has been appointed as the new chief of Central Board
of Film Certification, CBFC by the Central Government. The government also
reconstituted the board by appointing new nine members including film Director
Dr. Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, film maker Ashok Pandit and BJP leader Vani
Tripathi Tikoo.

96.

International News and Global Awards

97.

Justice S K Sinha has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Bangladesh. With this,
he has become the first Hindu to hold the highest judicial post in the Muslimdominated country.

98.

M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota Range (SHAR),
has been selected for the Vikram Sarabhai memorial award for the year 2015.

99.

Famous Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist, Frank Islam, has been

awarded with the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr Award in recognition of his
contribution in international service and civil engagement. He was given the
annual award by the president of the Memorial Foundation, Harry Johnson.

100.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the current ruler of United Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
passed away on 22nd January. He was 90. His brothers, Prince Salman bin
Abdulaziz became king and Prince Muqrin was declared Crown Prince.

101.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has nominated ruling party lawmaker Lee
Wan Koo as the new Prime Minister of South Korea.

Miscellaneous
102.

(12-January) is Swami Vivekananda's 152th birth anniversary and the day is

observed as the National Youth day across the country.

103.

A.S. Kiran Kumar has been appointed as the new head of Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO). He joined ISRO in 1975 and was also behind the success of
India's Mars Orbiter Mission which entered the Martian orbit on 24 thSeptember
last year.

104.

India's Mars Orbiter programme team in ISRO won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award
in the science and engineering category from the US based National Space Society
(NSS), as per announcement made by the society. This award will be presented to
an ISRO representative during the National Space Society's 2015 International
Space Development Conference to be held in Toronto, Canada.

105.

67th Army day was observed (15th January) across the nation. The day is
celebrated to commemorate the day when Lieutenant General K M Cariappa
became the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army post
Independence on 15 January 1949.

106.

The 66th Republic Day was observed across the nation with different parade
functions organized at different locations. President Pranab Mukherjee hosted
the national flag at Rajpath in the presence of Chief Guest Barack Obama, First
lady of US Michelle Obama.

107.

Famous cartoonist and creator of common man, RK Laxman passed away in a

Pune hospital. He was 94. He is famous for his 'You Said It' pocket cartoon in
Times of India featuring the much-loved 'common man'.

108.

Major Mukund Varadarajan and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh were awarded with the
Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime military honour, posthumously by Indian
President Pranab Mukherjee on republic day.

109.

IPS Officer K Durga Prasad has been appointed as the Special Director General
(DG) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

110.

Poet Arundhathi Subramaniam won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial

Prize for Poetry for her work 'When God is a Traveller', announced at a prize
ceremony at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

111.

Nation observed Martyrs' Day and remembered the Father of Nation Mahatma
Gandhi on 30th January on his 67th death anniversary.

112.

S Jaishankar, India's Ambassador to the US, has been appointed as the new
Foreign Secretary. He succeeds incumbent Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh whose
tenure was abruptly curtailed by the Central Government.

113.

Senior IPS officer Krishna Chaudhary has been appointed the new chief of ITBP.
She is currently working as the Director General of the Railway Protection
Force.The post has been lying vacant since 1st January after the retirement of
Subhas Goswami on 31st December 2014.

114.

Defence Secretary RK Mathur has been given additional charge of Department of

Defence Research and Development (DDR&D).

115.

Famous composer and actor Shekhar Sen has been appointed as the Chairman of
the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

116.

Reserve Bank of India has constituted a High Powered Committee headed by

Deputy Governor R Gandhi to re-examine and recommend appropriate set of
businesses, size, conversion and licensing terms for the Urban Cooperative
Banking Sector.