Wednesday 21 May 2014

CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FEBRUARY 2014


1.    India's first monorail service started its operation on February 2, 2014 in?
Mumbai.
The Mumbai Monorail is a monorail system in the city of Mumbai, India, part of a major expansion of public transport in the city. The project was implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), along with a consortium of Mumbai-based conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and the Malaysian infrastructure firm Scomi Engineering Bhd. It is the first monorail in India since the Kundala Valley Railway and Patiala State Monorail Trainways were closed in the 1920s. Construction began in 2009 and the first operational line, between Wadala Depot and Chembur, was opened to the public on 2 February 2014.

2.    The third Interfaith Harmony Conference held on 3 – 8 February as part of the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week was held in?
Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

3.    Chief Minister of Uttarakhand who resigned from his CM post on 31st January 2014?
Vijay Bahuguna.
He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on 13 March 2012.

4.    Man of the match winners of three ODI cricket matches played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Bangladesh in February-2014:
First ODI between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Mirpur on February 17, 2014:
Man of the Match: Thisara Perera (Sri Lanka). He scored unbeaten 80 runs.
Result: Sri Lanka won by 13 runs.

Second ODI between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Mirpur on February 20, 2014:
Man of the Match: Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka). He scored 128 runs.
Result: Sri Lanka won by 61 runs.

Third ODI between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Mirpur on February 22, 2014:
Man of the Match: Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka). He scored 106 runs.
Result: Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets.
Series Sri Lanka won the 3-match series 3-0.

5.    Who won the Player of the series award in the three ODI cricket matches played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Bangladesh in February-2014?
Sachithra Senanayake (Sri Lanka).

6.    Name the Mexican sailor who survived 16 months moribund in the Pacific Ocean by eating hand caught birds and drinking turtle’s blood for fluid?


Jose Ivan.
Ivan had been drifting in a propeller-less boat for 16 months after setting out from Mexico, more than 8,000 miles (12,500km) away.

7.    Who won the Player of the Match award in the third T20 cricket match played between England and Australia held in Sydney on February 2, 2014?
George Bailey (Australia). He scored unbeaten 49 runs. Australia won the match by 84 runs.
Series: Australia won the 3-match series 3-0.

8.    Who became the fourth fastest batsman to complete 8,000 runs in One-Day Internationals during the fifth and final ODI against New Zealand, in Wellington?
Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Dhoni, in 214 innings, is the fourth fastest to cross 8,000 after Sourav Ganguly (200 innings), Sachin Tendulkar (210) and Brian Lara (211). He is the 7th Indian to cross 8,000 runs in 50-over international cricket.

9.    Which team won the 2013-14 seasons’ Ranji Trophy title defeating Maharashtra by seven wickets?
Karnataka.
This was Karnataka's seventh Ranji Trophy title and first since 1998-99 season.

10.    Who has been appointed as the Head Coach of ODI and T20 Cricket Team of England?
Ashley Giles.

11.    Who is sworn in as the new Lokayukta of Kerala?
Pius C Kuriakose.
Justice K P Balachandran will be the new Upa Lokayukta.

12.    Austrian-born actor who won an Oscar for his role as a defense attorney in Stanley Kramer’s “Judgment at Nuremberg”, passed away on February1, 2014?
Maximilian Schell.
He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film Judgment at Nuremberg.  For his role as Vladimir Lenin in the TV series, Stalin (1992), he won the Golden Globe Award.

13.    The Seventh Central Pay Commission of India is headed by?
Ashok Kumar Mathur.
 He is a retired Supreme Court judge and retired chairman of Armed Forces Tribunal and will revise the salary structure of five million central government employees, including those in defence and railways and about three million pensioners. Vivek Rae, secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, will be a full-time member of the commission, while Rathin Roy, director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), will be a part-time member. Meena Agarwal, officer on special duty in the department of expenditure, will be the secretary of the commission.

14.    Who has been appointed as chief executive (CEO) of the legendary tech giant “Microsoft”?
Satya Nadella.
Hyderabad-born Satya Nadella has been named as chief executive of Microsoft that has given the world products which have become household names like Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook Express.

15.    The first science city in south India is inaugurated in Kerala on February 1, 2014 by Defence Minister AK Antony. The city is located in?
Kuravilangad .
The Science City at Kuravilangad, Kottayam will come up in 30 acres with a budget of Rs. 100 crores. Kolkata Science City being the largest in India.


16.    Who became the second person in the history of Cricket to score a triple century and a century in the same test match?
Kumar Sangakkara.
He has become the third Sri Lankan batsman to score a triple century as he blasted 319 runs against Bangladesh at Chittagong. The other two Sri Lankan cricketers are Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also becomes fastest batsman to reach 11000 runs in Tests.

17.    Which film bagged the best feature film award at the 7th CMS Vatavaran International Environment and Wildlife Film Festival held in New Delhi?
Sthalam.
The Film is directed by Kerala-based filmmaker Shivaprasad.

18.    Man of the Match winners of 2 Test Cricket matches played between New Zealand and India held in New Zealand in February 2014:
First Test between New Zealand and India held in Auckland from February 6-9:
Man of the Match: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) He scored 224 runs in the first innings.
Result: New Zealand won by 40 runs.
Second Test between New Zealand and India held in Wellington from February 14-18:
Man of the Match: Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) He scored 302 runs in the second innings.
Result: Match drawn.
Series New Zealand won the 2-match series 1-0.

19.    Name the American woman who was executed by lethal injection on February 5, 2014 in the August 1998 murder of Louis "Buddy" Musso, a mentally retarded man, who was tortured and murdered for his life insurance money?
Suzanne Basso.
Basso was originally convicted of torturing and killing a mentally disabled man named Louis Musso after promising to marry him in New Jersey and leading him to Texas in 1998. Musso was reportedly beaten by Basso and a group of five others using baseball bats, steel-toed boots, fists and feet. She was sentenced to death in October 1999. She became the 14th woman executed in the United States since 1976, when the Supreme Court restored capital punishment.

20.    Who has been named CEO of YouTube?
Susan Wojcicki.

21.    Indian Government has renewed the ban on Islamic student organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for another five years from February 1, 2014. Which is that organisation?
Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
SIMI is a banned Islamic student organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ from Western materialistic cultural influence and to convert its Muslim society to live according to the Muslim code of conduct. This organisation is blamed by Government of India, to be involved in terrorism. The Supreme Court of India in 2007 described the Students Islamic Movement of India as a secessionist movement.

22.    The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games were held in?
 Sochi, Russia.
It was the first Olympics in Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Soviet Union was the host nation for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. A total of 98 events in 15 winter sport disciplines were held during the Games.

23.    Jammu and Kashmir's health Minister who resigned on February 7, 2014 over allegations of sexually assaulting a lady doctor?
Shabir Ahmad Khan.

24.    Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, (SEBI), who was given an extension for two years by the finance ministry?
 U.K. Sinha.
Sinha becomes the first person to serve as head of SEBI for over 3 years since D.R. Mehta in 2002.

25.    Name the two Indians who are among Fortune magazine's list of 50 most powerful women in business who are "taking on the world" by pushing into new territories and inspiring women in their home countries?
Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo Chief Executive Officer) and Chanda Kochhar (ICICI Bank Managing Director.)
The list has been topped by General Motors CEO Mary Barra, the first woman to run a global automaker.

26.    Indian-origin hedge fund portfolio manager who has been indicted in one of the "most lucrative" insider trading schemes ever involving USD 276 million?
Mathew Martoma.
As a former portfolio manager at S.A.C. Capital Advisors, a Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund, he was accused of generating possibly the largest single insider trading transaction profit in history at a value of $276 million. On February 6, 2014, Martoma was found guilty on all charges.

27.    Who was elected as Prime Minister of Nepal on 10 February 2014?
Sushil Koirala.

28.    Name the committee, investigating allegations of spot-fixing and betting in the Indian Premier League (IPL) which submitted its report to the Supreme Court on 10 February 2014 after completing a four month probe?
Justice Mudgal committee.
The Justice Mukul Mudgal committee, formed by the Supreme Court to inquire into spot-fixing and illegal betting in the Indian Premier League
The committee comprises of Mr. Justice Mukul Mudgal (Retired Chief Justice, Punjab & Haryana High Court) as the Chairman, Mr. L. Nageswara Rao, Sr. Advocate & Additional Solicitor General as Member, Mr. Nilay Dutta, Sr. Advocate, Guwahati High Court as Member.

29.    Maruti Suzuki has recently stopped the production of one of its most popular car, after 31 years. What is the name of that model which remains the second longest production car in India, next only to Hindustan Ambassador?
Maruti 800.
Maruti 800 is a small city car that was manufactured by Maruti Suzuki in India from 1983 to 18 January 2014. First generation (SS80) was based on 1979 Suzuki Fronte and had a 800cc litre F8B engine, hence the moniker. Widely regarded as the most influential automobile in India, about 2.87 million 800s were produced during its course of which 2.66 million were sold in India itself.

30.    Chairman of PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) who has been sacked from his post on February 10, 2013?
Zaka Ashraf.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has dissolved the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) constitution and removed PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf from his post.

31.    Which online social networking service completed 10 years on February 4, 2014?
Facebook.
Facebook was founded on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.

32.    Which state has raised the age for buying and selling liquor to 21 years from the present 18 years?
Kerala.

33.    The eminent Hindi writer who has been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2013?
Vishwanath Tripathi.
He has been chosen for his memoir 'Vyomkesh Darvesh' that is a biography of the noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi. The Vyas Samman is a literary award in India, first awarded in 1991. It is awarded annually by the K.K. Birla Foundation and includes a cash payout of Rs 250,000 (as of 2005).To be eligible for the award, the literary work must be in the Hindi language and have been published in the past 10 years.

34.    World Squash Federation (WSF) president who was elected unopposed as the president of the Indian Olympic Association?
N Ramachandran.
 He is also the brother of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) supremo N Srinivasan. Kho Kho Federation of India president Rajeev Mehta and All India Tennis Association chief Anil Khanna were elected secretary general and treasurer respectively. The duo also won unopposed.

35.    Who becomes the first woman to be appointed as Additional Director in the CBI?
 Archana Ramasundaram.
 Ramasundaram, a 1980 batch officer from Tamil Nadu cadre, who had served in the agency as Deputy Inspector General and later as its first woman Joint Director and handled various cases pertaining to economic Offences between 1999 and 2006.

36.    Which team won the Irani Cup 2013-14?
Karnataka.
Karnataka, with its innings victory against Rest of India, became the first Ranji Trophy champion in the last eight seasons to win the Irani Cup. The Irani Cup (earlier called Irani Trophy) tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970. The fixture is always played between the previous year's Ranji Trophy winners and the Rest of India Team.

37.    Man of the Match winner of two test cricket matches played between South Africa and Australia held in South Africa in February 2014:
First test cricket match between South Africa and Australia held in Centurion from February 12-15:
Man of the Match: Mitchell Johnson (Australia). He took 7 wickets in first innings and 5 wickets in second innings
 Result: Australia won by 281 runs.

Second test cricket match between South Africa and Australia held in Port Elizabeth from February 20-23:
Man of the Match:  JP Duminy (South Africa). He scored 123 runs in first innings.
Result: South Africa won by 231 runs.


38.    Man of the match winners of two T20 cricket matches played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Bangladesh in February-2014:
First T20 between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Chittagong on February 12, 2014:
Man of the Match: Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka). He scored 64 runs.
Result: Sri Lanka won by 2 runs.

Second T20 between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Chittagong on February 14, 2014:
Man of the Match: Thisara Perera (Sri Lanka). He scored 35 runs.
Result: Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets.

39.    Who won the Player of the series award in the two T20 cricket matches played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held in Bangladesh in February-2014?
Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka).

40.    Which cricketer emerged as the most expensive player in the 2014 IPL Auction with a massive price tag of Rs. 14 crore paid for him by Royal Challengers Bangalore?
Yuvraj Singh.

41.    Who has been appointed as the head coach of the Pakistan national Cricket team?
Moin Khan.
He will replace Australian Dav Whatmore whose two-year contract expired in January 2014.

42.    Name the Nazi death camp officer and guard in several Nazi concentration camps including the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau who has been found in Croatia recently?
Jakob Frank Denzinger.
He was a guard in several Nazi concentration camps including the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were killed between 1940 and 1945.


43.    Chief Minister of Delhi who has resigned on February 14, 2014 as the Jan Lokpal Bill was not allowed to be tabled in the assembly amid strong protests from Congress and BJP
Arvind Kejriwal.
He resigned 48 days after he assumed power, and recommended the dissolution of the State Assembly.

44.    Parliament of which country has passed a bill allowing euthanasia (Mercy Killing) for terminally ill children without any age limit?
Belgium.
Belgium becomes the first country in the world to allow child euthanasia without any age limit.

45.    Olympic champion who has broken Sergey Bubka's 21-year-old pole vault world record with a 6.16m leap in the Ukrainian's home city of Donetsk?
Renaud Lavillenie.

46.    Which team won the prestigious IFA Shield trophy (2014) after a gap of 43 years?
     Mohammedan Sporting Club
The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. It is the fourth oldest club cup competition in the world (it was started in 1893) after the English and Scottish FA cup's and the Durand Cup. The first Indian club to win this prestigious tournament was Mohun Bagan Athletic Club in 1911 when they beat East Yorkshire Regiment 2–1.

The 2014 IFA Shield is the 118th edition of the IFA Shield. The tournament this season is being held from 29 January to 11 February 2014 in Kolkata. This year, the Indian announced that three foreign clubs would participate in the tournament, S.League club Geylang International FC, South Korean SunMoon University and Bangladesh Premier League club Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.

47.    Which footballer has signed a new £300,000 contract at Manchester United which has made him the Premier League's highest-paid player?
Wayne Rooney

48.    Who was sworn in as Italy's youngest Prime Minister on February 22, 2014?
Matteo Renzi.
At the age of 39, Renzi overtook Benito Mussolini's record as the youngest person to become Prime Minister of Italy since unification in 1861. He is also the first to lead a government serving as a Mayor instead of a Member of Parliament.

49.    Renowned satellite broadcasting company which has been awarded the telecast, internet and mobile rights of the Pepsi Indian Premier League for the period 2015 to 2017, for the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and the European territories.?
British Sky Broadcasting Ltd (BSkyB).

50.    The key highlights of the interim budget-2014(vote on account 2014).
Fiscal deficit seen at 4.6 percent of GDP in 2013/14, below target of 4.8 percent.
Current account deficit for 2013/14 estimated at $45 billion from last fiscal year's $88 billion.
Revenue deficit estimated at 3% for current fiscal
Excise duty on SUVs cut from 30 to 24%, in large and mid-segment cars from 27-24% to 24-20%.
Excise duty on small cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles cut from 12% to 8%; appropriate cut to be done on chassis, trailers
Rs 100 crore scheme formulated to promote community radio stations
Excise duty cut from 12 to 10 per cent in capital goods sector to stimulate growth
Blood banks to be exempt from service tax
Moratorium on interest on student loans taken before March 31, 2009; to benefit 9 lakh borrowers.
Food subsidy will be Rs 1,15,000 crore for implementation of National Food Security Act.

51.    New Zealand cricketers who broke the world record for the highest sixth-wicket partnership with a 352-run stand against India in the second Test match held in February 2014?
Brendon McCullum and Bradley Watling. (New Zealand).
McCullum and Watling scored 229 (not out) and 124 runs respectively to break the previous record of 351 which was put together by Mahela Jayawardene and Prasanna Jayawardene in 2009 against India.

52.    World-renowned Indian-origin physicist who is best known for being one of the men behind the discovery of the Top Quark, passed away on February 15.2014?
Rajendran Raja.
Top Quark is an elementary particle that is considered to be one of the foundations for all matter that exists on earth. Raja worked very closely with Japanese physicists Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa during his time at Fermilab, located just outside Chicago. Dr. Raja obtained his PhD in physics from the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, U.K., and was inducted as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1973

53.    A controversial bill (Telangana Bill) to create Telangana by dividing Andhra Pradesh was passed in the Lok Sabha on?
February 18, 2014.
An amendment to make Hyderabad the sole capital of Telangana was defeated, paving way for the city to become the joint capital of Telangana and Seemandhra for the next 10 years.

54.    Who has been appointed as the new ADGP Intelligence of Kerala?
A Hemachandran.
Mohammed Yasin has been appointed as the Managing Director of the Kerala Police Housing Construction Corporation (KPHCC).

55.    Award-winning Indian film director who made films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages, passed away on February 13, 2014?
Balu Mahendra .
 Balu Mahendra was a cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor, who worked in various Indian film industries. Making his directorial debut through Kokila, a Kannada film, Mahendra made over 20 films in all South Indian languages apart from two in Hindi. He made many memorable films, including Moondram Pirai (Third Day of the New Moon) and Veedu (House). He also directed the Hindi film Sadma. He is a recipient of six National Film Awards—including two for Best Cinematography, Filmfare Awards South apart from a few state awards from the governments of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

56.    Who became the first New Zealand player to score a triple century in Test cricket after making 302 in the second Test against India at Wellington?
Brendon McCullum.

57.    Noted Malayalam music composer who composed music for more than 108 songs in about 30 films, passed away on February 20, 2014?
P.K.Reghu Kumar.
He started his career through the movie ‘Visham’ in 1981. He composed music for hit movies such as ‘Aram Plus Aram Kinnaram’, ‘Thalavattam’, ‘Hello My Dear Wrong Number’, ‘Shyama’, ‘Boeing Boeing’, ‘Maya Mayuram’.

58.    Venezuelan beauty queen who served as her state's 2013 Miss Turismo who was shot dead during protests in the Valencia, Venezuela on Feb. 18?
Genesis Carmona.

59.    Which English rock band completed 50 years on February 2014?
The Beatles.

60.    Who has been appointed the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kerala?
Dr. P K Radhakrishnan.

61.    Which social network bought the popular messaging application “Whatsapp” for $19 billion?
Facebook.

62.    The world’s most powerful Mexican drug lord who has been arrested in February 2014 in a seaside resort on the Pacific coast of Mexico?
Joaquin Guzman.
He was recently listed at 67th on Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful people. Guzman, known as "El Chapo" (Shorty) in Spanish, has long run Mexico's infamous Sinaloa Cartel and over the past decade emerged as one of the world's most powerful organized crime bosses.

63.    Who won the Rio Open Men’s title 2014, beating Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final?
Rafael Nadal.

64.    Who is designated as acting President of Ukraine on February 23, 2014?
Oleksandr Turchynov.

65.    Name the Indigenously developed surface-to-air missile successfully test-fired by India on 21 February 2014 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) launch complex-3 at Chandipur in Odisha coast?
Akash Missile

66.    Egypt’s interim prime minister who submitted his resignation on February 25, 2014?
Hazem el-Beblawi.
Previously he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in 2011. After the July 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi and his government, Beblawi was named interim Prime Minister.

67.    Microscopic zircon crystal discovered in which place is confirmed to be the oldest known material of any kind formed on Earth?

Western Australia.

The tiny piece of zircon crystal was extracted from a rock on a sheep ranch in Western Australia and is a staggering 4.4billion years old.

68.    Two officers were feared dead and seven other Navy personnel seriously injured in a mishap involving the Russian-origin Kilo Class submarine off the coast of Mumbai on February 26, 2014. Which is that submarine?
INS Sindhuratna
Sindhuratna is a Sindhughosh-class diesel-electric submarine of the Indian Navy. Sindhughosh-class submarines are Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines in active service with the Indian Navy. Their names are in Sanskrit, but in their Roman-alphabet forms sometimes a final short -a is dropped.

69.    Indian Chief of Naval Staff who resigned on 26 February 2014, taking moral responsibility for repeated accidents of naval vessels and submarines?
Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi,
Joshi resigned following a fire aboard Kilo-class submarine INS Sinduratna on 26 February 2014. He becomes the first Indian naval chief to resign from the post.

70.    Top commander in Fidel Castro’s army who assisted Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and other members of the 26th of July Movement (M-26-7) in successfully overthrowing the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista as part of the Cuban Revolution, passed away on February 27, 2014?
Huber Matos
Matos had opposed Batista since the general's effective coup in 1952, which he regarded as unconstitutional, but became increasingly critical of the movement's shift towards Marxist principles, and closening ties with leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). Convicted of "treason and sedition" by the new Castro regime, he would spend 20 years in prison (1959–1979) before being released in 1979.
He divided his time between Miami, Florida and Costa Rica where he was politically active in speaking out against the Cuban government.

71.    Who won the Man of the match award in the first ODI cricket match played between England and West Indies held in Antigua (West Indies) on February 28, 2014?
Darren Bravo (West Indies). He scored unbeaten 87 runs.
Result: West Indies won by 15 runs.