1. Who won the Player of the series award in the 3 test cricket matches played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka held in Sri Lanka in 2015?
Yasir Shah (Pakistan).
2. Which plane has broken the record for the longest non-stop solo flight without refuelling?
Solar Impulse.
At 76 hours into the journey, pilot Andre Borschberg broke the record for the longest ever non-stop solo flight without refuelling. The previous mark was set by the American Steve Fossett in 2006. Mr Borschberg's Solar Impulse plane, which carries no fuel at all, had gone "only" some 5,500km in its 76 hours of flight.
3. Name the four Indian-Americans who have been honoured with this year’s prestigious “Great Immigrants: The Pride of America” award?
Preet Bharara, Rakesh Khurana, Madhulika Sikka and Abraham Verghese.
Pret Bharara-US attorney.
Rakesh Khurana-Dean of Harvard College and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership and Development.
Madhulika Sikka vice president, executive editor, Mic
Abraham Verghese, eminent physician, professor and author.
4. Name the two Indian Cricketers who announced their retirements from all forms of the game on July 2, 2015?
Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Ajay Ratra.
Kanitkar scored over 8,000 runs in the Ranji Trophy, inclusive of 28 centuries. He played two Tests and 34 One-Day Internationals (ODI). It was under his captaincy that Rajasthan first won the Ranji Trophy, in 2010-11. Among Kanitkar’s best moments was the boundary in near-darkness at Dhaka off Saqlain Mushtaq as India beat Pakistan chasing 315 with three wickets and a ball to spare. It was only Kanitkar’s third ODI.
Ratra represented India in six Tests and 12 ODIs, and was a consistent performer at the domestic level. He was a member of the Indian team that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2000.
5. Australian fast bowler who retired from all forms of cricket on July 4, 2015?
Ryan Harris.
He made his Test debut against New Zealand at Wellington in 2010. He picked up 113 wickets in 27 Tests. He also picked up 44 wickets from 21 ODIs.
6. Which country won the Copa America-2015 defeating Argentina (41) in the Penalty Shootout?
Chili.
Chile won the Copa America for the first time in the country's history.
7. Who won the Player of the Series award in the two T20 matches played between Bangladesh and South Africa held in Bangladesh in July 2015?
F du Plessis (South Africa).
8. Who won the British Grand Prix-2015?
Lewis Hamilton.
The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
9. Which country won the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup?
U.S.A.
The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The competition has been held every four years since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the Women's World Championship, was held in China.
10. Which country won the 2015 South Asian Basketball Championship?
India.
The games were held from 3 July to 5 July in Bengaluru, India. India successfully defended their title by sweeping the entire tournament. Sri Lanka finished second and Nepal ended third.
11. Which country will host the first day-night Test match under lights in November-2015?
Australia.
Australia will host the first day-night test match under lights in November when they meet neighbours New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval. The "historic" Test, starting on November 27, will be the final game of a three-Test series against New Zealand and will employ the pink Kookaburra ball.
12. Kerala Monorail Corporation to be renamed as?
Kerala Rapid Transit Corp Ltd.
13. Former South Zone player who has been named Kerala coach for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season?
P. Balachandran.
14. The world's oldest man and Japanese super centenarian who has died in Tokyo at the age of 112?
Sakari Momoi.
In April the world's oldest person and oldest woman, Misao Okawa from Japan, died at the age of 117. Her titles are now held by 116-year-old American Susannah Mushatt Jones.
15. Who became first Indian to win a Gold Medal at World University Games in Gwangju?
Inderjit Singh.
Indian shot-putter Inderjit Singh on 8 July 2015 came up with a best throw of 20.27 meter in the final attempt to win the Gold medal of men’s shot put event at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea.
16. Former prime minister of Italy who has been sentenced to three years in prison for bribing a senator as part of a plot to destabilise a 2006-08 centre-left government?
Silvio Berlusconi .
17. ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which is successfully launched three identical DMC3 commercial Earth Observation Satellites, along with two smaller satellites from United Kingdom on July 10, 2015?
PSLV-C28.
This was the twenty ninth consecutively successful flight of PSLV. PSLV-C28 successfully launched three identical DMC3 commercial Earth Observation Satellites, along with two smaller satellites from United Kingdom, into a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit which was very close to the intended orbit of 647 km height. The five satellites together weighed about 1440 kg at lift-off.
18. The 7th BRICS summit was held in?
Russia.
The 7th BRICS summit was the seventh annual diplomatic summit of the head of states or government of the BRICS member states. It was held in the Russian city of Ufa in Bashkortostan on 8–9 July 2015.
19. The Supreme Court on 09-07-2015 decided to transfer the investigations into the multi-crore Vyapam scam to manipulate the results of entrance examinations for government jobs and medical colleges and deaths of various persons linked with it to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Explain the Vyapam Scam?
The Vyapam scam is an admission and recruitment scam involving politicians, senior officials and businessmen in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), popularly known by its Hindi acronym "Vyapam" (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal), is a self-financed and autonomous body incorporated by the State government responsible for conducting several entrance tests in the state. These entrance exams are held for recruitment in government jobs and admissions in educational institutes of the state. The scam involved a collusion of undeserving candidates, who bribed politicians and MPPEB officials through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests.
20. Which country was accepted as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a six-member regional grouping including China and Russia?
India.
India, which has had an observer status for the past 10 years, will technically become a member by next year after completion of certain procedures.
The Beijing-based SCO currently has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as members.
21. The dashing, Egyptian-born actor who was one of the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1960s, with memorable roles in “Dr. Zhivago,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Funny Girl,” passed away on July 10,2015?
Omar Sharif.
He made his screen debut in the 1954 Egyptian film Siraa Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun) .He was nominated for an Academy Award. He won three Golden Globe Awards and a Cesar Award.
22. Who won the Player of the Series award in the three ODI cricket matches between India and Zimbabwe held in Zimbabwe in July 2015?
Ambati Rayudu.
Series - India won the 3-match series 3-0.
23. Name the tropical cyclone which affected Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Ryukyu Islands, China and Korea in July 2015?
Typhoon Chan-hom.
Typhoon Chan-hom is known in the Philippines as Typhoon Falcon.
24. COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS OF THE 2015 WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Wimbledon Men’s Singles -2015:
Winner: Novak Djokovic (Serbia). He defeated Roger Federer (Switzerland) in the final.
Wimbledon Women’s Singles -2015:
Winner: Serena Williams (USA). She defeated Garbine Muguruza (Spain) in the final.
Wimbledon Men’s Doubles -2015:
Winners: Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) & Horia Tecau (Romania).
They defeated Jamie Murray (UK) & John Peers (Australia) in the final.
They defeated Jamie Murray (UK) & John Peers (Australia) in the final.
Wimbledon Women’s Doubles -2015:
Winners: Martina Hingis (Switzerland) & Sania Mirza (India).
They defeated Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina (Russia) in the final.
Wimbledon Mixed Doubles -2015:
Winners: Leander Paes (India) & Martina Hingis (Switzerland).
They defeated Alexander Peya (Austria) & Tímea Babos (Hungary) in the final.
Wimbledon Boys’ Doubles -2015:
Winners: Sumit Nagal (India) & Ly Hoang Nam (Vietnam).
They defeated Reilly Opelka (USA) & Akira Santillan (Japan) in the final.
25. Canadian-born opera singer, nicknamed “God’s tenor” for his inimitable voice and strong Christian beliefs, passed away on July 10, 2015?
Jon Vickers.
In 1958, he debuted at the Bayreuth Festival as Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walkuere (The Valkyrie), which launched his international career and become one of his signature roles. He achieved his greatest fame in the 1960s, as part of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with his critically acclaimed performances of Tristan in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde and the eponymous Peter Grimes. Vickers received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in 1998.
26. Which countries inked seven agreements in fields of science & technology, sports, tourism, defence and several other important sectors on July 11, 2015?
India and Turkmenistan.
27. One of the most popular music composers of south Indian cinema who composed music for over 1,700 films, passed away on July 14, 2015?
M.S.Viswanathan.
He was popularly known as Mellisai Mannar (Tamil for "The King of Light Music"). He composed songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi. He worked primarily in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He also acted and sung in a few Tamil films. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa conferred the Thirai Isai Chakravarthy (Tamil for "The Emperor of Cine Music") title on him in August 2012 and presented him with 60 gold coins and a new car.
Viswanathan composed film music together with composer and violinist T. K. Ramamoorthy from the 1950s to 1965, as Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy and from 1965 until 2014 he worked independently as a composer.
His first film was Jenova and the hero was M.G. Ramachandaran. He was the only film music composer to receive the Tamil Isai Sangam's 'Isai Perarignar' title, usually conferred on professional classical musicians.
MSV is popular for his collaboration with fellow composer T.K. Ramamoorthy. The duo composed music for 86 Tamil films during their association of over a decade. “Sonnathu Needhana” (Nenjil Oru Alayam), “Viswanathan Velai Vendum” (Kadalikka Neram Illai), “Kettavarellam Padalam” (Thangai) are among MSV’s all time favourites that are still popular in Tamil Nadu. In Telugu, his compositions include “Tenali Ramakrishna”, “Anthuleni Katha”, “Idhi Katha Kaadu”, “Aakali Rajyam” and “Maro Charitra”.
28. Which countries inked four pacts, including in defence and culture on July 12, 2015?
India and Kyrgyzstan.
The agreements signed are:
1. Agreement on Defence Cooperation.
2. Memorandum of Mutual Understanding and Cooperation in the field of Elections.
3. MoU between Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on cooperation in the sphere of Standards.
4. Agreement on Cooperation in Culture.
29. A panel appointed by India's Supreme Court has suspended two top Indian Premier League teams for two years over a corruption scandal. Which are these teams?
Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
The Supreme Court-constituted legal panel headed by Justice RM Lodha suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for a period of two years over their involvement in spot-fixing and betting. The panel also suspended Royals co-owner Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan of Super Kings from all cricket-related activities for life.
30. Name the interplanetary space probe launched by NASA which flew 12,500 km (7,800 mi) above the surface of Pluto on July 14, 2015?
New Horizons.
New Horizons is the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet ‘Pluto’. The spacecraft was launched to study the Pluto system and, in its secondary mission, the Kuiper belt, performing a flyby of Pluto and one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs).
31. Iran and six leading world powers signed a comprehensive plan on July 14, 2015 for ending international sanctions against Iran in exchange for putting restrictions on its controversial nuclear program. Which are these six world powers?
The USA, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.
The P5+1 is a group of six world powers which, in 2006, joined together in diplomatic efforts with Iran with regard to its nuclear program. The term refers to the UN Security Council's five permanent members (the P5); namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; plus Germany. The P5+1 is often referred to as the E3+3 by European countries.
32. Former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on 9 July 2015 launched the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) in New Delhi. The aim of Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) is?
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan is a unique concept developed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development that aims to inculcate a spirit of inquiry, creativity and love for Science and Mathematics in school children.
33. Which footballer was bagged by Mumbai City FC for a massive Rs.1.20 crore at the 2015 Indian Super League (ISL) players’ auction?
Sunil Chhetri. (Indian football team captain).
FC Pune City bought midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh for Rs.1.05 crore.
34. Which state became first Indian state to install a system to detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings?
Uttarakhand.
An Earthquake Warning System (EWS) was successfully installed in Uttarakhand, Dehradun in the first week of July 2015. The system will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more occur. The system is designed and manufactured by Italian firm, Space Dynamics which already has installed it in Japan, Italy and US.
35. Name the prominent Tibetan monk who has died in a Chinese prison in Sichuan province on July 12, 2015?
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
Rinpoche was a Tibetan Buddhist leader who was arrested on April 7, 2002, accused of being involved in a bomb attack on April 3, 2002 on the central square of Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu. He was convicted for alleged involvement in a series of unsolved bombings in his region by the Chinese authorities and sentenced to death in December 2002 along with Lobsang Dhondup, a 28-year-old assistant of his. Lobsang was executed almost immediately in late January 2003, marking the first execution of a Tibetan for political crimes in 20 years.
36. Name the satellite-based navigation system launched by ISRO, India on July 13, 2015?
GAGAN (The GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation.).
India launched its satellite-based air navigation services, thereby joining a select league comprising the US, Europe Union (EU) and Japan which have similar systems.
Gagan works by augmenting and relaying data from GPS satellites with the help of two augmentation satellites and 15 earth-based reference stations. Gagan provides autonomous, high precision geo-spatial location information of the user in terms of latitude, longitude and height along with velocity and time. GAGAN is jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), at an investment of Rs 774 crore.
37. Which state won the 55th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships held between 10 July and 13 July 2015 in Chennai?
Kerala.
Tamil Nadu was at the second position, Haryana stood third.
38. Mumbai Ranji cricketer who has been suspended by the BCCI with immediate effect after being found guilty of breaching BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Code?
Hiken Shah.
39. Former President of India, widely acclaimed as the “people’s President”, passed away on July 27, 2015?
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. A career scientist turned politician, Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He took the lead in the conduct of India’s nuclear tests in May 1998 and was later fielded as the National Democratic Alliance candidate by then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. He had the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions. His term lasted from 25 July 2002 to 25 July 2007.
He spent the four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space program and military missile development efforts. He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. He also played a pivotal organizational, technical, and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.
He passed away after collapsing during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong on 27 July 2015. A P J Abdul Kalam's 79th birthday was recognised as World Student's Day by United Nations. He has been awarded the coveted civilian awards - Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997). “Wings of Fire” is his famous autobiography. “Ignited Minds - Unleashing the Power within India” is another famous book consists of many inspirational messages.
40. Who won the Hungarian Grand Prix -2015?
Sebastian Vettel.
41. Which country won the CONCACAF Gold Cup-2015 defeating Jamaica in the final?
Mexico.
42. Name the crickets who were recently acquitted by Patiala House Court in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing case?
S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.
The accused were charge sheeted for offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
43. Who was appointed coach of the Indian hockey team, replacing Paul van Ass, who was unceremoniously sacked after a bitter spat with Hockey India president Narinder Batra?
Roelant Oltmans.
44. Which club won the 2015 International Champions Cup held in china?
Real Madrid.
Real Madrid won the International Champions Cup after defeating AC Milan 10-9 on penalties. The 2015 International Champions Cup (or ICC) was a series of friendly association football tournaments. It was the first tournament played separately in Australia, China and the United States.
45. Who are the two members of Anglo-Indian Community who has been nominated to Lok Sabha by President Pranab Mukherjee using his authority provided by Article 331 in the Constitution of India?
Prof. Richard Hay and Mr. George Baker.
Professor Hay is from Kerala and he teaches economics in various academic institutes in India as well as abroad. Mr Baker had joined BJP in 2014 and unsuccessfully contested on a party ticket from Howrah in West Bengal. He has acted in several Assamese and Bengali movies since 1970s.
46. Who has been appointed as the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund in July 2015?
Maurice Obstfeld.
Mr. Obstfeld, a University of California, Berkeley, professor and a member of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, will replace Olivier Blanchard in September.
47. The former South Africa captain who led the national team on their return from isolation, passed away on July 28, 2015?
Clive Rice.
He played three One Day Internationals for South Africa following the country's return from sporting isolation. He was controversially left out of the squads for the one-off Test against West Indies and the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Despite this he is widely regarded as one of the best all-rounders of his generation, alongside Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and his county team-mate Richard Hadlee.
48. Name the portal inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 20, 2015 with the view of modernising all government-run employment exchanges?
National Career Counselling Portal.
National Career Service (NCS) refers to a national web portal - www.ncs.gov.in - that brings job seekers, employers, career counsellors and skill / training providers on a common platform. In addition to placement services, the National Career Service (NCS) also offers a variety of other services like information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internship, career counselling, etc. free of costs to the beneficiaries. The portal also make available, information on local service providers to household and other consumers, say for services like driving, plumbing, carpentry, etc. The Ministry of Labour and Employment, on 20 July 2015, launched the National Career Service (NCS) Project by transforming the processes in the existing network of 978 Employment Exchanges whereby they also function as career centres.
49. Senior India hockey player who was suspended for nine months by Hockey India for indulging in groupism and creating disharmony within the team?
Gurbaj Singh.
50. The son of Libya’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, who has been sentenced to death by a court in Tripoli in a mass trial?
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
51. Who won the Player of the Series award in the three ODI matches played between Bangladesh and South Africa held in Bangladesh in July 2015?
Soumya Sarkar (Bangladesh).
Series - Bangladesh won the 3-match series 2-1.
52. Who has been recently appointed as Director of National Book Trust?
Rita Choudhary.
53. Who has been appointed as the director of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)?
Prashant Pathrabe.
National Film Archive of India Director Prashant Pathrabe has been given additional charge of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.
54. Bollywood actress who was appointed as the brand ambassador of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao: Call to Action campaign, which was launched by the Haryana government?
Parineeti Chopra.
55. Pakistan all-rounder who has been banned from bowling in international cricket for 12 months after his action was found to be illegal for a second time since November 2014?
Mohammad Hafeez.
56. Italian-Uruguayan football player who scored the winning goal in the final game of the 1950 World Cup to give Uruguay a stunning 2-1 victory over Brazil, passed away on July 16, 2015?
Alcides Ghiggia.
Ghiggia scored the deciding goal 10 minutes from time with the match level at 1-1. It gave Uruguay their second World Cup title in a match Brazilians fully expected to win before approximately 200,000 fans at Rio’s Maracana stadium.
57. Malayalam actor who has been chosen as the brand ambassador of the 'Make in Kerala' summit’?
Mammootty.
The summit aims at making Kerala a model investment destination and will be held during the last week of August. The summit will be held at the Bolghatty Palace,Ernakulam.
58. Who is the third Keralite cricketer and the first wicket keeper-batsman from Kerala, who has been included in the Indian Cricket team?
Sanju V Samon.
59. Name the Indian amateur golfer who won the Junior World Golf Championships in 2015?
Shubham Jaglan.
The 10-year-old prodigy is the son of a milkman from rural Haryana.
60. Who broke the world record in the women’s 1500 meters, running (3:50.07) in Monaco?
Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia).
Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba ran the fastest 1,500-meters of any woman in history. The record Dibaba broke was nearly 22 years old and Dibaba’s time in Monaco—beating China’s Qu Yunxia’s world record of 3:50.46—was only the second time below 3:55 since 1997.
61. Japanese sprinter who broke Usain Bolt's world youth championships record by winning the 200m final in 20.34 seconds?
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown.
62. Which blockbuster film has broken the Guinness World Record for making the largest poster of more than 50,000 sq ft?
‘Baahubali’.
The largest poster has an area of 4,793.65 m² (51,598.21 ft²) and was achieved by Global United Media Company Pvt Ltd (India) in Kochi, India, on 27 June 2015. The film “Bahubali” is directed by S S Rajamouli.
63. Indian men’s hockey team coach has been sacked in July 2015 after he took the charge just five months ago?
Paul Van Ass.
64. National-level fencing champion who dies after he was thrown off a train allegedly by the Railway Police in Uttar Pradesh.?
Hoshiyar Singh.
He won the bronze medal in an under-17 championship in 2005.
65. The former Bihar and Kerala Governor and senior Republican Party of India (RPI) leader who passed away on July 25, 2015?
R.S. Gavai.
Gavai was Governor of Bihar from 2006 to 2008 and Governor of Kerala from 10 July 2008 to 25 August 2011. On 7 June 2009, Gavai gave the Central Bureau of Investigation permission to prosecute CPI (M) Kerala State Secretary and former Kerala Electricity Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin case. This became controversial as he ignored the advice of the Advocate General not to allow the CBI to prosecute Vijayan.
66. Who won the Player of the series award in the 5 ODI cricket matches played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka held in Sri Lanka in 2015?
Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan).
67. Who took charge as the Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on 29 July 2015?
Swati Maliwal.
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) is a statutory body of the Government of Delhi with main aim to investigate and examine all matters relating to the safeguards provided for women under the constitution and other laws in Delhi. DCW was constituted in 1994 by Government of Delhi under Delhi Commission for Women Act, 1994 and it started functioning in the year 1996.
68. The leader of banned Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who was killed in a police encounter on 29 July 2015 in Lahore?
Malik Ishaq.
Malik was a Pakistani militant, Sunni supremacist, and leader of globally designated terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Under Ishaq's leadership, the LeJ claimed responsibility for several mass-casualty attacks largely targeting Pakistan's Shia and Barelvi population, including multiple bombings that killed over 200 Hazara Shias in Quetta in 2013. He was also accused of masterminding the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009, and the Ashura bombings in Afghanistan in 2011.
69. Name the two Indians selected for the Ramon Magsaysay Award-2015?
Sanjiv Chaturvedi and Anshu Gupta.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi is an Indian forest officer, who was removed from the post of Chief Vigilance officer at AIIMS in New Delhi. He had alleged that he was transferred because he had detected irregularities at the institute. Chaturvedi is currently the Deputy Secretary of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Anshu Gupta, who left his corporate job to start Goonj in 1999.
Three others who have been selected for the award include Kommaly Chanthavong from Laos, Ligaya Fernando-Amilbangsa from Philippines and Kyaw Thu from Myanmar. This year's Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President, and a cash prize.
70. The 1993 Mumbai blasts convict who was executed at Nagpur Central Jail on July 30, 2015, barely two hours after the Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch petition by senior lawyers to spare his life following a dramatic late-night hearing?
Yakub Memon.
Yakub, the lone death row convict in the case was hanged at 7am amid massive security on his 53rd birthday. He was sentenced to death for the dozen explosions that rocked India’s financial capital, killing 257 people and leaving more than 700 injured.
Yakub was an Indian terrorist and chartered accountant, who was convicted over his involvement in the 1993 Bombay bombings by Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court on 27 July 2007. Yakub Memon was the brother of one of the prime suspects in the bombings, Tiger Memon.
71. The Pakistani Supreme Court's three-judge panel overturned the death sentence of a Pakistani Christian woman who was convicted of blasphemy. Name that Christian woman?
Asia Beebi.
Asia Beebi is a Pakistani Christian woman who was convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court, receiving a sentence of death by hanging. In June 2009, Noreen was involved in an argument with a group of Muslim women with whom she had been harvesting berries after the other women grew angry with her for drinking the same water as them. She was subsequently accused of insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a charge she denies, and was arrested and imprisoned. In November 2010, a Sheikhupura judge sentenced her to death. If executed, Noreen would be the first woman in Pakistan to be lawfully killed for blasphemy.
Under Pakistani blasphemy laws, insulting the Quran or the Prophet Muhammad can be punished with life imprisonment or death. But experts say the laws often are exploited for personal gain.
French journalist Anne Isabelle Tollet assisted Noreen in writing a memoir titled Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death over a Cup of Water. Noreen is illiterate, and Tollet was unable to visit her directly due to prison restrictions, but Tollet was able to conduct interviews through Noreen's husband, who passed questions and answers between them.
72. Political parties of which country have recently agreed to remove the word “secularism” from the new constitution of that country?
Nepal.
Nepal was declared a secular country in 2007 after Nepal’s hardcore Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist joined mainstream politics after a decade-long insurgency that killed over 13,000 people. The decision ended Nepal’s century-old identity as the world’s only Hindu kingdom. Over 80 per cent of Nepal’s population is Hindu.
73. Which country has started construction of its largest solar power plant spread over 6,301 acres in the Gobi desert that can supply electricity to 1 million households in the country's northwest?
China.
The plant in Qinghai province will have an installed capacity of 200 megawatts, and be capable of supplying electricity to 1 million households.
74. Scientific tests prove that a Quran manuscript in a University in Britain is one of the oldest known and may have been written close to the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Which is that university?
The University of Birmingham.
Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence. The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century.
75. Senior IFS officer who has been appointed as India's next Ambassador to South Sudan?
Srikumar Menon.
South Sudan gained independence in 2011 after seceding from Sudan. South Sudan has some of the largest oil reserves in Africa.