GK Power Capsule – January 2015 (The Hindu Review)
This GK Capsule has been prepared by Career Power Institute Delhi (Formerly Known as Bank Power). This has been prepared on the basis of news and events appeared in The Hindu Newspaper in the month of
January 2015.

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RBI cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to
7.75 per cent. RBI’s growth estimate for 2014-15 is 5.5 per cent.
a. Bank Rate – 8.75 % (0.25% Decreased)
b. Cash Reserve Ratio – 4 % (Unchanged)
c. Statutory Liquidity Ratio – 22 % (Unchanged)
d. Repo Rate – 7.75 % (0.25% Decreased)
e. Reverse Repo Rate – 6.75 % (0.25% Decreased)
f. Marginal Standing Rate – 8.75 % (0.25%
Decreased)
United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Indian sociologist Saraswathi Menon in peace-building panel.
Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed as the
Chairman
of
Central
Board of Film
Certification. Nihalani will succeed Leela Samson.
Nepali Congress leader Deep Kumar Upadhyay was appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India.
Hari Shankar Bramha was appointed as the new
Chief Election Commissioner. Brahma succeeds
V.S. Sampath.
Anupam Shrivastava was appointed as CMD of
BSNL.
Arvind Panagariya took charge as Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog. He became the first vice-chairman of the National Institution for Transforming India
(NITI) Aayog, which replaced the Planning
Commission on 1 January 2015. NITI Aayog comprises of Prime Minister as chairperson, one vice-chairman, two full-time members, four exofficio members (Union ministers) and three special invitees.

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Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar was appointed as
Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO). Kiran Kumar became eighth Chairman of
ISRO after succeeding K Radhakrishnan.
Senior bureaucrat Sindhushree Khullar was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of NITI
Aayog with effect from 1 January 2015. She will serve the position for one year.

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10.

11.

Krishan Kant Paul was sworn in as the sixth
Governor of Uttarakhand. He succeeded Governor
Aziz Qureshi.
Atul Khare was appointed as the United Nations
Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field
Support.

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Sutirtha Bhattacharya took charge as Coal India
Limited’s full-time Chairman and Managing
Director.
Modibo Keita was appointed as the Prime
Minister of West African nation Mali.
R. Koteeswaran took charge as new Chairman and
Managing Director of public sector Indian
Overseas Bank.
R K Srivastava took over as the new chairman of
Airports Authority of India.
A.K. Mittal was appointed as the Chairman of
Railway Board. He succeeded Arunendra Kumar.
Senior IAS officer S Bhattacharya was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal
India Ltd.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh adopted
Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchyat under Sansad
Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY). Pachim Bekeli Gaon
Panchyat is located in Kamrup district of Assam.
Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath demitted his office as Chief Election Commissioner on 15 January
2015.
Leela Samson resigned as Chairperson of Central
Board of Film Certification.
Actor Amitabh Bachchan was presented with the
Social Media Person of the Year Award 2015 by the Internet and Mobile Association of India.
The United States Department of State designated
Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan’s chief Maulana
Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Fazlullah, as a
Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Union Government removed Avinash Chander, the Chairman of Defence Research and
Development Organization (DRDO).
Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa
Sirisena (Maithiripala Sirisena) was sworn-in as

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the 7th President of Sri Lanka. Leader of the
United National Party Ranil Wickramasinghe took the oath as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
Larry Page, the chief executive officer and cofounder of Google was named as the Business person of the Year for 2014 by Fortune magazine.
Koppillil Radhakrishnan retired as the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation.
Koppillil Radhakrishnan featured in the Top 10
List of Journal Nature.
Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Tshering
Tobgay visited India from 10 January to 18
January 2015. He also attended the Vibrant
Gujarat Summit 2015.
Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited South Korea on 28 December 2014 to attend the 8th India-Republic of Korea (RoK) Joint
Commission meeting held in Seoul. The Meeting was co-chaired by Sushma Swaraj and Yun Byungse, Minister of Foreign Affairs (FM) of South
Korea.
Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz passed away. After the death of Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, his brother and Crown Prince Salman bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud was named as the new king.
Actor and comedian Taylor Negron died.
Hollywood actress, Luise Rainer died at her home at London. She won the Oscars for The Great
Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937).
Veteran British actor David John Ryall died.
Noted Hindi poet Nand Chaturvedi died.
The oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid case
Mohammad Farooq passed away.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Chairman R.K.
Tyagi was conferred with the JGBS-Top Rankers'
Excellence Award for CEO of the year 2014.

21st Screen Awards were announced at Mumbai.
Shahid Kapoor for Haider and Priyanka Chopra for Mary Kom won the Best Actor Award for Male and Female category respectively. Best Film award was given to film Queen, while its Director
Vikas Bahl won the Best Director award. Hema

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Malini was honoured with Lifetime Achievement
Award.
Sanskrit scholar Prabhu Nath Dwivedi was named as the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for Sanskrit language.
The Mars Orbiter Mission Team of Indian Space
Research Organization won the 2015 Space
Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering category. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan received the
Governor of the Year Award for 2015.
The director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, MYS
Prasad was selected for the Vikram Sarabhai memorial award 2015.
Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Yash
Chopra Memorial Award.
Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Ex-Foreign Minister of Pakistan, authored a book titled Neither a
Hawk nor a Dove.
Hindi novel Farishta was in news after its author
Kapil Isapuri accused the makers of film PK of plagiarism. The Red Sari, an unauthorized biography of
Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, was released by Roli Books. The book has been written by Spanish author Javier Moro.
Book titled The Indian Parliament – A Critical
Appraisal was released by Vice President Hamid
Ansari. The book is authored by Prof. Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar.
Malawi witnessed flash floods due to heavy torrential rain.
AirAsia flight number QZ8501 went missing with
162 people on board en route from the
Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on 28
December 2014. Indonesian searchers discovered the wreckage of plane by using Sonar equipment also spotted some bodies floating with the debris in the Java Sea off the Indonesian part of Borneo.
7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit was held from 11
January to 13 January 2015 in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat.
13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas 2015 concluded in
Gandhinagar Gujarat. The chief guest of the 13th
PBD was Guyana President Donald Ramotar. The theme of 2015 PBD was Bharat ko jano and
Bharat ko mano.

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102nd Indian Science Congress was held from in
Mumbai. The theme of the ISC was Science and
Technology for Human Development.
The International Hindi Conference will be hosted by New Jersey in April 2015.
8th India-Republic of Korea Joint Commission
Meeting was held in Seoul on 29 December 2014.
The meeting was co-chaired was by Union
External Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and
Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea Yun
Byung-se.
International Labour Organisation released a report titled World Employment and Social
Outlook – Trends 2015. By 2019, more than 212 million people will be out of work, up from the current 201 million.
Anti-poverty charity Oxfam released study tittled
Wealth: Having it all and wanting more. The study highlighted that the wealthiest 1% will soon own more than the rest of the world's population by
2016. Currently, 85 billionaires have the same wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population. |

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56.

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The first of the indigenously-built Light Combat
Aircraft Tejas was handed over to the Indian Air
Force. LCA Tejas was handed over to the Air Force after Initial Operational Clearance-II. It is expected that the aircraft will receive its Final
Operational Clearance by December 2015.
Union Government decided to launch Operation
All Out against Bodo militants.

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The four member high-level committee headed by
Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanium was appointed to review environmental laws.
The Lunchbox was nominated for British
Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)
Awards 2015 under non-English best film category. The Lunchbox, starring Nimrat Kaur and
Irrfan Khan is directed by Ritesh Batra.
PM Narendra Modi inaugurated a state-of-the-art museum Dandi Kutir opposite Mahatma Mandir in
Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
The Interview, an American political comedy film, is produced by Sony Pictures and directed by Seth
Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film centers on a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim JongUn.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna made it to
Guinness Book of World Records. Indian Banks opened 11.50 crore accounts under the Pradhan
Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana in a short span of five months. Out of the total account opened, 5.68 crore accounts (49.37 %)belonged to male and
5.82 (50.63%) crore account belonged to females.
All-women contingent of Indian army will march for the first time on 2015 Republic Day parade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released
Commemorative Postage Stamps to mark 100
Years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Return from South
Africa to India. A set of two Commemorative
Postage Stamps were released during the 13th
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
The coins are of denomination of 100 rupees and
10 rupees, while the stamps are of value of 25 rupees and 5 rupees.

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Kailash Satayarthi dedicated his Nobel Peace
Prize to the Nation. The medal was presented by
Satyarthi to the President at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine, was in news due to attack by terrorist.
The magazine has been under threat since 2006, the year when it published cartoons on Prophet
Mohammad.
Jangmi, a tropical storm made landfall in northeastern Mindanao Island of Philippines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a small deposit scheme Sukanya Samridhi Yojana for girl child under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign. Yojana will enable parents to open bank accounts of girls who are under 10 years of age. Account will fetch an interest rate of 9.1 percent and provide income tax rebate. It can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years with a minimum deposit of 1000 rupees and maximum of 1.5 lakh rupees. The account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl child after attaining 18 years of age. To meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 percent of the balance amount will be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of age.
The Union Ministry of Urban Development launched the National Heritage Development and
Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) that seeks to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country. In the initial phase of HRIDAY, 12 heritage cities have been identified.

Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu inaugurated India’s first compressed natural gas
(CNG)-powered train on the Rewari – Rohtak link of Northern Zone.
President Pranab Mukherjee signed the
Ordinance that amends’ Citizenship Act, 1955.
The ordinance provides life-long Indian visa

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facility to Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and exempts them from appearing before the local police station on every visit.
IRDA was renamed as Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of India.
The President of India Pranab Mukherjee appointed the
Governors
of
Mizoram,
Uttarakhand and Meghalaya. Governor of
Uttarakhand Aziz Qureshi was transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of his term. Meghalaya Governor Dr
Krishan Kant Paul was transferred and appointed as Governor of Uttarakhand for the remainder of his term. Krishan Kant Paul will continue to hold the additional charge of the office of the Governor of Manipur, till further orders. Keshari Nath
Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, will take additional charge as the Governor of Meghalaya in addition to his own duties, till further orders.

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The Union Cabinet approved promulgation of an ordinance that amends the Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land
Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act,
2013. It removes Consent Clause (CC) and Social

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Impact Assessment (SIA) for acquiring land for five purposes, but compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement packages will be applicable as per the new Land Acquisition Act for acquiring land for these purposes. The five cases include National security, Defence,
Rural
infrastructure including electrification, Industrial corridors and Building social infrastructure including PPP where ownership of land continues to be vested with the government.
Union Government launched Madan Mohan
Malviya National Mission on Teachers and
Teaching.
The World Bank has approved $ 75 million credit for the Andhra Pradesh Rural Inclusive Growth
Project.
Online marketplace Snapdeal has partnered India
Post to jointly work on bringing thousands of weavers and artisans from Varanasi through its website. For the first time in history, the BJP has more
State legislators than the Congress across the country. With over 1,000 MLAs, the BJP has gone from being regionally concentrated to geographically widespread.
SEBI has passed an order providing the exit to
Bangalore Stock Exchange as a stock exchange.
National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) 2011-12 data on Nutritional Intake shows that per capita calorie consumption rose to 2099 kilocalories per day in rural areas and 2058 kilocalories per day in urban areas. Both numbers are still below a
Planning Commission benchmark of 2,400 kilocalories per day.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raghuvar Das was sworn in as Chief Minister of Jharkhand in
Ranchi.
Congress celebrated its 130th Foundation Day.
Amending the rules for voluntary disclosure of assets and liabilities by government employees under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, the
Department of Personnel and Training has made revealing of foreign bank deposits mandatory.
The form for the disclosure has thus been changed and the deadline extended by four months from December 31.

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Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh summoned
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and conveyed India’s “strong concern” at the lack of
“effective action” by Pakistani prosecuting authorities to keep Mumbai attack mastermind
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in custody.
The Delhi Government Transport Department modified the law governing radio taxis plying in the Capital, paving the way for the return of webbased services, such as Uber, after weeks of deliberations post the rape of a 27-year-old MNC executive. The Union Cabinet approved infusion of Rs.60 crore in Industrial Finance Corporation of India
(IFCI) Ltd. to make it a government company. It would raise the shareholding of the Centre to 51 per cent.
After Lucknow, Metro rail will run in Kanpur,
Agra, Meerut and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
President gave his assent to the setting up of the
National Judicial Appointments Commission as a constitutional body. The commission gives the executive an equal role in the appointment of judges to the highest judiciary. The NJAC has the
Chief Justice of India as chairperson and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court as members, apart from the Union Law Minister and two eminent personalities, one of whom would be nominated from among the Scheduled Castes, the
Scheduled Tribes, minorities, the Other Backward
Classes or women.
A.K. Mittal was appointed as the new Chairman of
Railway Board succeeding Arunendra Kumar.
Government announced splitting the post of
Chairman and Managing Director into two for the public sector banks.
Government’s fiscal deficit at the end of
November touched almost 99 per cent of the target for the entire year.
Modi government set up NITI Aayog (National
Institution for Transforming India) in place of the
Planning Commission. The Prime Minister will

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head the new institution tasked with the role of formulating policies and direction for the government. Its governing council will comprise the Chief Ministers and the Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories. The Prime Minister will appoint the Aayog’s Vice-Chairperson and Chief
Executive Officer.
93. After taking action against the international environment group Greenpeace, the government has clamped down on four American NGOs working in the same field — Avaaz, Bank
Information Centre (BIC), Sierra Club and 350.org.
94. After Uttar Pradesh, the Bihar government has decided to give Aamir Khan-starrer PK entertainment tax exemption.
95. Krishan Kant Paul will be sworn in as the sixth
Governor of Uttarakhand on January 8. The current Uttarakhand Governor, Aziz Qureshi, would be transferred to Mizoram.
96. The Reserve Bank of India extended the deadline for submission of applications for licensing of
Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks to
February 2.
97. Sixty-six wild tiger deaths were reported in the country in 2014.
98. The Centre has extended the Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act, 1958 declaring Assam as a
‘disturbed area’ for another year beyond
November 3.
99. U.S. imposed new sanctions on North Korea in retaliation for a cyber attack on Hollywood studio
Sony Pictures.
100. The Union Cabinet approved the largest ever telecom spectrum auction that is targeted to fetch at least Rs.64,840 crore from the sale next month.
101. The eurozone slipped into deflationary territory in December for the first time since the height of the financial crisis in 2009.

102. ICICI Bank launched the country’s first contactless debit and credit cards that use the near-field communication technology.

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103. SEBI proposed e-IPO norms, where investors can bid for shares through Internet and eventually on mobiles, while already listed public sector undertakings (PSUs) will be provided a ‘fasttrack’ route for share sales to meet the disinvestment targets. Under the new norms, SEBI has proposed to drastically cut the timeline for listing of shares within 2-3 days of the IPO, as against 12 days currently.
104. The shareholders of Kotak Mahindra Bank and
ING Vysya have approved the amalgamation of
ING Vysya with Kotak Mahindra Bank.
105. Jammu and Kashmir came under Governor’s rule with no political party coming forward and staking claim to form the government and
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah asking to be relieved as caretaker Chief Minister.
106. SunEdison Inc, the U.S.-headquartered solar energy services firm, and India’s Adani Group have come together to invest $4 billion or Rs.
25,000 crore in setting up one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility in Gujarat.
107. The Government of Gujarat, the Government of
India and the World Bank have entered into a tripartite agreement in support of Gujarat’s
‘swachhta abhiyaan’ and smart city initiatives.
108. The government informed the Supreme Court of its decision to accept the Election Commission's recommendation to allow Non-Resident Indians to vote from overseas through e-postal ballots or proxy voting.
109. Ramesh Abhishek has been given a three-month extension as the Chairman of the Forward
Markets Commission.
110. According to World Bank report, India will catch up with China’s growth at 7 per cent in 2016–17.
World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice
President Kaushik Basu told “China’s growth will remain high, but it will begin to taper very gently, reaching 6.9 per cent in 2017”.
111. Wholesale inflation inched up to 0.11 per cent in
December from zero per cent in November on the back of a surge in food prices.
112. The Indian Olympic Association-appointed Games
Technical Conduct Committee gave the all clear

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114.

115.

116.
117.

signal to Kerala for the conduct of the 35th
National Games from January 31 to February 14.
Even as fuel retailers announced a Rs. 2.42 per litre cut in the price of petrol and Rs. 2.25 a litre in that of diesel, the Centre notified a Rs. 2 per litre hike in the excise duty on both.
The Union Cabinet cleared the third phase of auction of FM radio channels, expected to fetch
Rs. 550 crore to the government.
India has taken strong exception to the European
Parliament’s resolution accusing India of “a serious breach of human rights” in its treatment of two Italian marines accused of killing two
Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala in
February 2012.
BJP declared India’s first woman IPS officer Kiran
Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate in Delhi.
Rajni Kothari, preeminent political theorist and activist, died.

118. Mali’s Health Minister says the West African country is Ebola-free after recording no new cases for 42 days, the period required for the World

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Health Organization to declare an outbreak officially over.
119. Microfinance company Bandhan Financial
Services is set to get Rs.1,600 crore equity infusion from the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

129.

130.

131.
120. The Reserve Bank of India asked banks to notify the Base Rate, or the minimum lending rate, at least once in every three months based on the cost of funds.
121. The International Monetary Fund in its World
Economic Outlook report, has projected India to grow at 6.5 per cent in 2016, overtaking China whose growth was forecast to slow down to 6.3 per cent.
122. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the
Guinness Book of World Records had recognised the achievements made under the Pradhan Mantri
Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the biggest financial inclusion initiative in the world.
123. The seven-month ban on Indian mangoes, imposed last year by the European Union, has been lifted well in advance of the deadline set for the ban, which was originally till December 2015.
124. The first full-year budget of the Modi government will be presented on February 28, five days after the budget session of Parliament begins on
February 23.
125. The Centre decided to give flexibility to State governments to set retail price of PDS sugar that has been kept unchanged at Rs. 13.50 per kg since
2002.
126. Switzerland assured India of full cooperation on tax information exchange and agreed to discuss the issue of black money stashed in Swiss banks.
127. Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri won the
$50,000 DSC Prize for Literature, one of South
Asia’s top literary awards for her book, The
Lowland.
128. RBI asked banks to disclose more information on lending rates and fees on their websites, “for

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133.

134.

135.

promoting transparency in the operations of the banks.” These guidelines will come into effect from April 1, 2015.
Microsoft has taken the wraps off a new version of Windows 10, and a new wearable 3D gadget it calls the HoloLens.
Government will release next month a new series of Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2012 as base year for computing the retail inflation rate.
Foreign exchange reserves jumped by a massive
$2.66 billion to touch an all-time high of $322.135 billion in the week ended January 16.
US President Barack Obama arrived on a two-day visit during which both sides will seek to break the deadlock in operationalising the civil nuclear pact, firm up a defence cooperation agreement besides broadening ties in areas like trade and investment. Obama will be the first US President to grace the Republic Day parade as the Chief
Guest.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked bankers to speed up the process of linking all Jan Dhan bank accounts to Aadhaar and indicated that these accounts would be used for providing credit, insurance and pension services in the second phase of the scheme.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued draft regulations to facilitate full mobile number portability (MNP) which is to come into effect from May 3.
Ahead of the Budget, the Expenditure
Management Commission, headed by Bimal Jalan, has recommended to the government that it cut fiscal deficit to 3.6 per cent of the GDP during
2015-16.

136. Perhaps for the first time, petrol in India costs more than the superior jet fuel (ATF) used in aeroplanes, as the government has levied a record excise duty on the fuel used in two-wheelers and cars. A litre of petrol in Delhi costs Rs 58.91 per litre. On the other hand, ATF is priced at Rs 52.42 a litre.

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137. World Bank said it will commit USD 1 billion in the Narendra Modi government’s Swachh Bharat
(Clean India) campaign.
138. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane — payable by sugar mills for the
2015-16 season — to be fixed at R230 per quintal, as compared with R220 for the 2014-15 season.
139. In a bid to augment supply of environment friendly fuel, the government allowed private manufacturers of bio-diesel to sell it directly to consumers like Indian Railways.
140. The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government in
Haryana which has ambitious plans to promote yoga and ayurveda in a big way has appointed yoga guru Ramdev its brand ambassador.
141. Indian economy is likely to expand by 6.4 per cent this year, according to a United Nations report.
142. The Supreme Court asked a group of major companies — including Reliance
Communications, Bharti Infratel, Ambuja Cement,
Ultratech Cements, Reliance Infratel, Vodafone
Essar South, Adani Wilmar and Dalmia Cements
— to pay up 50% of the tax demanded by the
Rajasthan government by way of entry tax for now. 143. Retail inflation moved up marginally to 5 per cent in December as prices of some food items, including fruits and vegetables, increased.
144. Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said his ministry will come out with a brand new
“simplified
and time-bound” defence procurement procedure (DPP) by March 2015 that will help smoothen defence procurement.
145. RBI said dilution of government holding in public sector banks (PSBs) might not be sufficient for meeting Basel III capital adequacy norms. It has been reported recently that the government is contemplating scaling down their holdings in
PSBs to 52%.
146. The Narendra Modi government has reportedly raised the solar generation target five-fold from the earlier target of 20,000 MW in 2022 envisaged in the Solar Mission.
147. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the
‘ICICI Digital Village’ to the nation at an event which was organised to celebrate the ICICI

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Group’s 60 years of ‘partnering India’ in its progress. It has created the ‘ICICI Digital Village’ at Akodara in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat.
148. LPG consumers across the country will from 1st
January get cash subsidy directly into their bank accounts so that they buy the cooking fuel at market price. Domestic LPG users will get Rs 568 in the bank account the moment they join the
Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG, which has now been renamed PAHAL. PAHAL or
‘Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh’ was rolled out in 54 districts from November 15 and will extend to rest of the country from January 1.
149. Following the tradition, the winners of Padma
Awards 2015 announced on the eve of India's
66th Republic Day.
Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian
Awards of the country. The awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan,
Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

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Padma Vibhushan:
S.
No.
1.

Name of the
Awardee
Shri L. K. Advani

2.

Shri Amitabh
Bachchan
Shri Prakash
Singh Badal
Dr. D. Veerendra
Heggade
Shri Mohammad
Yusuf Khan alias
Dilip Kumar
Shri Jagadguru
Ramanandacharya
Swami
Rambhadracharya
Prof. Malur
Ramaswamy
Srinivasan
Shri Kottayan K.
Venugopal
Shri Karim Al
Hussaini Aga
Khan (Foreigner)

3.
4.
5.

6.

7.

8.
9.

Discipline
Public
Affairs
Art

State /
Domicile
Gujarat

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.

8.
9.
10.

Name of the
Awardee
Shri Jahnu
Barua
Dr. Vijay
Bhatkar
Shri Swapan
Dasgupta
Swami
Satyamitranand
Giri
N. Gopalaswami
Dr. Subhash C.
Kashyap
Dr. (Pandit)
Gokulotsavji
Maharaj
Dr. Ambrish
Mithal
Smt. Sudha
Ragunathan
Shri Harish
Salve

13.
14.

Maharashtra

Public
Affairs
Social Work

Punjab

15.

Karnataka

16.

Art

Maharashtra

Others

Uttar
Pradesh

17.

18.

Science and
Engineering

Tamil Nadu

19.

Public
Affairs
Trade and
Industry

Delhi

20.

France/UK

Discipline
Art

State /
Domicile
Assam

S.
No
1.
2.

Science and
Engineering
Literature and
Education
Others

Maharash tra Delhi

3.

Uttar
Pradesh

5.
6.
7.

Civil Service

Tamil
Nadu
Delhi

8.

Art

Madhya
Pradesh

10.

Medicine

Delhi

11.

Art

Tamil
Nadu
Delhi

12.

Public Affairs

Public Affairs

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Shri Rajat
Sharma
Shri Satpal
Shri
Shivakumara
Swami
Dr. Kharag Singh
Valdiya
Prof. Manjul
Bhargava
(NRI/PIO)
Shri David
Frawley
(Vamadeva)
(Foreigner)
Shri Bill Gates
(Foreigner)
Ms. Melinda
Gates
(Foreigner)
Shri Saichiro
Misumi
(Foreigner)

Medicine
Literature and
Education
Sports
Others

Delhi
Delhi

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Karnataka

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USA

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USA

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USA

Others

Japan

Delhi
Karnataka

USA

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11.
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4.

9.

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Name of the
Awardee
Dr. Manjula
Anagani
Shri S. Arunan
Ms. Kanyakumari
Avasarala
Dr. Bettina
Sharada Baumer
Shri Naresh Bedi
Shri Ashok Bhagat
Shri Sanjay Leela
Bhansali
Dr. Lakshmi
Nandan Bora
Dr. Gyan
Chaturvedi
Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh
Kumar Chawla
Smt. Jayakumari
Chikkala
Shri Bibek Debroy

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Medicine

State /
Domicile
Telangana

Science and
Engineering
Art

Karnataka

Literature and
Education
Art
Social Work
Art

Jammu and
Kashmir
Delhi
Jharkhand
Maharashtr a Assam

Literature and
Education
Literature and
Education
Medicine

Tamil Nadu

Madhya
Pradesh
Chandigarh

Medicine

Delhi

Literature and
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Delhi

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Medicine

Manipur

Public Affairs
Medicine

Delhi
Delhi

16.
17.
18.

Dr. Sarungbam
Bimola Kumari
Devi
Dr. Ashok Gulati
Dr. Randeep
Guleria
Dr. K. P. Haridas
Shri Rahul Jain
Shri Ravindra Jain

Medicine
Art
Art

19.

Dr. Sunil Jogi

20.

Shri Prasoon Joshi

Literature and
Education
Art

Kerala
Delhi
Maharashtr a Delhi

21.
22.

Dr. Prafulla Kar
Ms. Saba Anjum

Art
Sports

23.

Literature and
Education
Medicine
Medicine
Medicine
Literature and
Education

37.

Smt. Ushakiran
Khan
Dr. Rajesh Kotecha
Prof. Alka Kriplani
Dr. Harsh Kumar
Shri Narayana
Purushothama
Mallaya
Shri Lambert
Mascarenhas
Dr. (Mrs.) Janak
Palta McGilligan
Shri Veerendra Raj
Mehta
Shri Tarak Mehta
Shri Neil Herbert
Nongkynrih
Shri Chewang
Norphel
Shri T. V.
Mohandas Pai
Dr.Tejas Patel
Shri Jadav Molai
Peyang
Smt. Bimla Poddar

38.

Dr. N. Prabhakar

39.

Dr. Prahalada

40.

Dr. Narendra
Prasad
Shri Ram Bahadur
Rai
Ms. Mithali Raj

Science and
Engineering
Science and
Engineering
Medicine

14.
15.

24.
25.
26.
27.

28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.

41.
42.

Literature and
Education
Social Work

Maharashtr a Odisha
Chhattisgar
h
Bihar
Rajasthan
Delhi
Delhi
Kerala

Goa

43.
44.
45.
46.

Shri Kota Srinivasa
Rao
Prof. Bimal Roy

47.

Shri Shekhar Sen

48.

Shri Gunvant Shah

49.

Shri Brahmdev
Sharma (Bhaiji)
Shri Manu Sharma

50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.

Social Work

Madhya
Pradesh
Delhi

Art
Art

Gujarat
Meghalaya

60.

Others

Jammu and
Kashmir
Karnataka

61.

Trade and
Industry
Medicine
Others

Gujarat
Assam

Other

Uttar
Pradesh
Delhi
Maharashtr
a
Bihar

Literature and
Education
Sports

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58.
59.

62.

63.

64.

65.

Delhi
Telangana

Shri P. V.
Rajaraman
Prof. J. S. Rajput

66.

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Prof. Yog Raj
Sharma
Shri Vasant Shastri
Shri S. K.
Shivkumar
Ms. P. V. Sindhu
Shri Sardara Singh
Ms. Arunima Sinha
Shri Mahesh Raj
Soni
Dr.Nikhil Tandon
Shri H. Thegtse
Rinpoche
Dr.Hargovind
Laxmishanker
Trivedi
Shri Huang
Baosheng
(Foreigner)
Prof. Jacques
Blamont
(Foreigner)
Late Shri Syedna
Mohammad
Burhanuddin (Pos thumous) Shri Jean-Claude
Carriere
(Foreigner)
Dr. Nandrajan
“Raj” Chetty
(NRI/PIO)
Shri George L. Hart
(Foreigner)

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Tamil Nadu

Literature and
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Art

Uttar
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Andhra
Pradesh
West Bengal

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Art
Literature and
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Literature and
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Science and
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Sports
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Medicine
Social Work

Maharashtr a Gujarat
Delhi
Uttar
Pradesh
Delhi
Karnataka
Karnataka
Telangana
Haryana
Uttar
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Rajasthan

Medicine

Delhi
Arunachal
Pradesh
Gujarat

Others

China

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France

Others

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France

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USA

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USA

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67.

68.

69.

70.
71.

72.
73.

74.

75.

150.

Jagat Guru Amrta
Suryananda Maha
Raja (NRI/PIO)
Late Shri Meetha
Lal Mehta
(Posthumous)
Ms. Tripti
Mukherjee (NRI/P
IO)
Dr. Dattatreyudu
Nori (NRI/PIO)
Dr. Raghu Rama
Pillarisetti (NRI/P
IO)
Dr. Saumitra
Rawat (NRI/PIO)
Prof. Annette
Schmiedchen
(Foreigner)
Late Shri Pran
Kumar Sharma alias Pran
(Posthumous)
Late Shri R.
Vasudevan
(Posthumous)

Others

Portugal

Social Work

Rajasthan

Art

USA

Medicine

USA

Medicine

USA

Medicine

UK

Literature and
Education

Germany

Art

Delhi

Civil Service

Tamil Nadu

In a departure from tradition for the Chief Guest at the
Republic Day parade, Obama arrived in his own highlysecured bomb-proof vehicle, ‘The Beast,’ at Rajpath.
A highlight of this year’s parade was the display for the first time of the recently acquired long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine P-8I aircraft and the long-range advanced MiG-29K fighter plane.
Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” campaign to boost the country’s manufacturing industry and create much-needed jobs was featured in one of the tableaus.

66th Republic Day Celebrations

India celebrated its 66th Republic Day and showcased before the chief guest US President Barack Obama and the world its military might and cultural diversity with a splendid display of land and naval weaponry, fighter and reconnaissance aircraft.
Obama was the first ever US President to attend the parade as Chief Guest on the second day of his three-day visit, as light rains and overcast skies failed to dampen the enthusiasm of thousands of spectators who gathered along the Rajpath to watch the pomp-filled spectacle. Smartly attired all-female units from the Army, Navy and Air Force marched for the first time in this year’s parade, as the country’s military hardware with carnival-style floats featuring achievements in diverse fields as well as tribal dancers and traditional music rolled past in a show of ‘unity in diversity’.

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