current affairs 2
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Chief EditorB. Singh (Ex. IES)CMD, MADE EASY Group
EditorAniruddh Pratap Singh
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect policy or position of CurrEnt AffAIrS Magazine or MADE EASY Publications. they should be understood as the personal opinions of the author/ authors. the MADE EASY assumes no responsibility for views and opinions expressed nor does it vouch for any claims made in the advertisements published in the Magazine. While painstaking effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of the informations published in the Magazine, neither Publisher, Editor or any of its employee does not accept any claim for compensation, if any data is wrong, abbreviated, cancelled, omitted or inserted incorrect.
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MADE EASY Publications has taken due care in collecting the data before publishing this book. Inspite of this, if any inaccuracy or printing error occurs then Made Easy Publications owes no responsibility. Made Easy Publications will be grateful if you could point out any such error. Your suggestions will be appreciated. All rights reserved by MADE EASY PUBLICATIONS. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form without the written permission from the publisher.
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ISBN: 978-93-83643-68-4
Issue : Annual Edition, 2015
Issue: Annual Edition, 2015
MADE EASY
Current Aff
airs
Civil Services Examination | State Services Exams | Engg. Services Examination | Public Sector Exams
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AffairsCurrent A Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E F O R C O M P E T I T I V E E X A M I N A T I O N S
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9 789383 643684
ISBN 978-93-83643-68-4 2015 ICC World Cup
NITI AAYOG REPLACES PLANNING COMMISSION
AAP SWEEPS DELHI ELECTIONS
UNION BUDGET2015-16
14th FINANCECOMMISSIONREPORT
Chris Gayle hits rst-ever World Cup double hundred
9 789383 643684
ISBN 978-93-83643-68-4
Issue: Annual Edition, 2015M
ADE EASY
OBAMAS INDIA VISIT
ADVT
Publications
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect policy or position of CurrEnt AffAIrS Magazine or MADE EASY Publications. they should be understood as the personal opinions of the author/ authors.
03 Message to Readers
05 Union Budget 2015-16
07 Chris Gayle makes World Cup history
08 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections
AAP Sweeps Delhi Elections
08
12 NITI Aayog Replaces Planning Commission
18 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2015
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
18
20 14th Finance Commission Report 22 National Judicial
Appointments Commission
23 Namami Gange Programme
Namami Gange
23
Contents25 Interlinking of Rivers28 International Yoga Day29 G-20 Summit 201432 Kisan Vikas Patra Relaunched
33 25th ASEAN Summit
ASEAN Summit 2014
33
35 APEC Summit, 2014
22nd APEC Summit
35
36 India State of Forest Report 2013
38 Lok Sabha Election 2014
42 National Affairs
Make in India
49
69 International Affairs
Obamas India Visit
69
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85 Awards and Honours
Jnanpith Award 2014
85
100 Persons in News
108 Environment and Wildlife
120 Science & Technology
128 Defence in News
AGNI-V Launched
128
136 Economy in News
145 Current Sports
162 Ready Reckoner
166 Current Affairs Practice Questions
Issue: Annual Edition, 2015
MADE EASY
Current Aff
airs
Civil Services Examination | State Services Exams | Engg. Services Examination | Public Sector Exams
150
AffairsCurrent A Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E F O R C O M P E T I T I V E E X A M I N A T I O N S
Pri
ce:
15
0
9 789383 643684
ISBN 978-93-83643-68-4 2015 ICC World Cup
NITI AAYOG REPLACES PLANNING COMMISSION
AAP SWEEPS DELHI ELECTIONS
UNION BUDGET2015-16
14th FINANCECOMMISSIONREPORT
Chris Gayle hits rst-ever World Cup double hundred
9 789383 643684
ISBN 978-93-83643-68-4
Issue: Annual Edition, 2015M
ADE EASY
OBAMAS INDIA VISIT
ADVT
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Dear Students,
This annual edition of Current Affairs is prepared to address the needs of Civil
Services, Engineering Services, State Services, SSC exams and other competitive
examinations. This edition contains the current issues national as well as international
affairs of last 12 months which are of importance from examination point of view. Over
the last few years, it has been observed that UPSC examination is more tilted towards
current affairs questions, hence current affairs should be given priority. Though there
are several newspapers and monthly magazines which can be referred for study
of Current Affairs topics but none of these are focused and oriented to address the
need of UPSC Engineering Services Examination (ESE).
The annual issues of Current Affairs MADE EASY is very focused and contains detailed description of all
important topics required for such competitive examinations.
In case of engineers, it is specifically observed that most of the engineering aspirants preparing for Engineering
Services Examination do not get sufficient time to prepare Current Affairs because they hardly get time to
prepare for GS due to vast syllabus of technical subjects and importance of other exams like GATE & PSUs.
Coming few months will see most of you burning midnight oil to get winning score meriting a jump to the next
stage of the competition. For all aspirants preparing for competitive exams it is time to give finishing touch to
your preparation. In last few weeks of your preparation this annual issue will prove to be an important tool to
cover all important areas with precision in minimum possible time.
All aspirants are suggested to give last minute revision of important issues, concepts and formulae, as the
case may be.
B. Singh (Ex. IES)
CMD, MADE EASY GROUP
Message TO ReaDeRs
B. Singh (Ex. IES)CMD, MADE EASY Group
85 Awards and Honours
Jnanpith Award 2014
85
100 Persons in News
108 Environment and Wildlife
120 Science & Technology
128 Defence in News
AGNI-V Launched
128
136 Economy in News
145 Current Sports
162 Ready Reckoner
166 Current Affairs Practice Questions
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In todays fast changing world, everything has become so competitive that sometimes even better is not enough, it requires only the best. Be it life or be it examination, it is imperative to have the best of the preparations and hence timely and timeless preparation is an essence of the success in the competitive examinations. Competitive examinations are sometimes less about strength or intelligence and more about understanding the examination requirements and incessant effort to unlock our potential for accomplishing the goal.
It gives me an immense pleasure and satisfaction in introducing the current issue of Current Affairs Made Easy. The very basic purpose of launching this Magazine is to be able to fulfill the requirement of various competitive examinations in an efficient and effective way and helping the aspirants achieving the desired success in those examinations. We have tried to provide an ingenious, resourceful, authentic and relevant informations in a most lucid, comprehensible, communicative and self- explanatory manner. With the comprehensive yet precise coverage, this issue of the Current Affairs Made Easy will be accomplishing the requirements of the various Competitive Examinations like Civil Services Examination, State Civil Services Examinations, Indian Engineering Services Examination, Indian forest Services Examination, and the various Public Sector undertakings Examination. Despite Competitive examinations being the main focus, the Magazine will generate awareness about the nation and the World among the General readers too.
In this issue of the Magazine we have covered the wide ranging issues of national and International importance that occurred in the last twelve months or so with additional inputs in order to provide the basic understanding of the key issues. Background material has been covered for such issues which require greater attention keeping examination requirement in mind. All important Awards and Honours, Books and Authors, Persons and Places, Meeting and Summits, Institutions and Organisations have been covered in such a manner so that examination requirement is successfully met. Current issues related to Defence, Science and technology, Environment and wildlife, Economy and Sports has also been covered extensively. Issues of greater importance like nItI Aayog, namami Gange Programme, Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, Indian State of the forest report 2013, IrnSS, LVM-3, ASEAn Summit, Ordinance Promulgation, national Judicial Appointment Commission, unfCCC conference in Lima and Lok Sabha Election 2014 and some other topics have been given both the objective and the Analytical coverage.
I sincerely hope that this Magazine will help you access the hidden treasure trove of success and will act a pathfinder through the journey towards your dream.
Wishing you all the very best and a bright future ahead.
Aniruddh Pratap Singh Editor
A letter from the Editor
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Current AffairsAnnual Edition, 2015
5Union Budget 2015-16
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 28 February 2015 presented Union Budget 2015-16 in the Parliament. It was the first full year Budget of the NDA government under leadership of PM Narendra Modi.
Shunning populism, Finance Minister proposed a 5% reduction in corporate tax over the next four years, replacing of wealth tax with an additional 2% surcharge on super-rich and raised excise duty and service tax rates that will make a host of articles and services costly.
Finance Minister proposed no changes in personal income tax rates for 2015-16 but extended benefits to middle-class by increasing the limit of deduction on health insurance premium from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.The service tax plus education cess has been raised from 12.36% to 14%that will increase bills, air travel and eating out expenses. A new 2% Swachh Bharat cess on taxable services is also being proposed from a future date.
State of Economy CPIinflationprojectedat5%bytheendoftheyear,
consequently, easing of monetary policy. Monetary Policy Framework Agreement with RBI, to keep inflationbelow6%.GDPgrowthin2015-16,projectedto be between 8 to 8.5%.
Government firmon journey toachieve fiscal targetof 3% of GDP. Accordingly, journey for fiscal deficit target of 3% will be achieved in 3 years rather than 2 years. The fiscal deficit targets are 3.9%, 3.5% and 3.0% in FY 2015-16, 2016-17 & 2017-18 respectively.
Amrut Mahotsav : The year 2022, 75th year of Independence
Vision for Team India led by PM: Housing for all - 2 crore houses in Urban areas and
4 crore houses in Rural areas.
Basic facilityof24x7power,cleandrinkingwater,atoilet and road connectivity.
Electrification of the remaining 20,000 villagesincluding off-grid Solar Power- by 2020.
Tostrengthenruraleconomy-increaseirrigatedarea,improve the efficiency of existing irrigation systems, and ensure reasonable price for farm produce.
To make India, the manufacturing hub of the Worldthrough Skill India and the Make in India Programmes.
Gamechangingreformsontheanvil: Goods and Service Tax (GST) Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile (JAM) - for direct
benefit transfer.
Agriculture ` 5,300 crore to support micro-irrigation, watershed
development and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. States urged to chip in.
` 25,000 crore in 2015-16 to the corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) set up in NABARD; ` 15,000 crore for Long Term Rural Credit Fund; 45,000 crore for Short Term Co-operative Rural Credit Refinance Fund; and ` 15,000 crore for Short Term RRB (Regional Rural Banks) Refinance Fund.
Funding the Unfunded Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA)
Bank, with a corpus of ` 20,000 crores, and credit guarantee corpus of ` 3,000 crores to be created.
MUDRABankwill be responsible for refinancing allMicro-finance Institutions which are in the business of lending to such small entities of business through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
ComprehensiveBankruptcyCodeofglobalstandardsto be brought in fiscal 2015-16 towards ease of doing business.
From Jan Dhan to Jan Suraksha Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna to cover accidental
death risk of ` 2 Lakh for a premium of ` 12 per year.
Atal Pension Yojana to provide a defined pension, depending on the contribution and the period of
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Current Affairs | MADE EASY6
Current Affairs Annual Edition, 2015
contribution. Govt. to contribute 50% of the beneficiaries premium limited to ` 1,000 each year, for five years, in the new accounts opened before 31st Dec. 2015.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana to cover both natural and accidental death risk of ` 2 lakh at premium of ` 330 per year for the age group of 18-50.
Infrastructure National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), to be
establishedwithanannualflowof` 20,000 crores to it.
Atal Innovation Mission to be established in NITI Aayog to provide Innovation Promotion Platform involving academicians, and drawing upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation , research and development. A sum of `150 crore will be earmarked.
Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU) to be established as Techno-financial, incubation and facilitation programme to support all aspects of start-up business. ` 1000 crore to be set aside as initial amount in NITI Aayog.
Monetising Gold Gold monetisation scheme to allow the depositors of
gold to earn interest in their metal accounts and the jewellers to obtain loans in their metal account to be introduced. Sovereign Gold Bond, as an alternative to purchasing metal gold scheme to be developed.
Foreign investments in Alternate Investment Fundsto be allowed. Distinction between different types of foreign investments, especially between foreign portfolio investments and foreign direct investments to be done away with. Replacement with composite caps.
Skill India Lessthan5%ofourpotentialworkforcegetsformal
skill training to be employable. A national skill mission to consolidate skill initiatives spread accross several ministries to be launched.
Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana to enhance the employability of rural youth.
An IIT tobesetup inKarnatakaand Indian School of Mines,Dhanbadtobeupgradedintoafull-fledgedIIT.New All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) to be set up in J&K,Punjab,TamilNadu,HimachalPradeshand Assam. Another AIIMS like institutions to be set up in Bihar. A post graduate institute of HorticultureResearch & Education is to be set up in Amritsar.
Tax Proposals Nochangeinrateofpersonalincometax.Proposalto
reduce corporate tax from 30% to 25% over the next four years, starting from next financial year.
Black Money Bill foracomprehensivenew law todealwithblack
money parked abroad to be Introduced in the current session.
Keyfeaturesofnewlawonblackmoney: Evasion of tax in relation to foreign assets to have
a punishment of rigorous imprisonment upto 10 years, be non-compoundable, have a penalty rate of 300% and the offender will not be permitted to approach the Settlement Commission.
Non-filing of return/filing of return with inade-quate disclosures to have a punishment Of rig-orous imprisonment upto 7 years.
Concealment of income/evasion of income in re-lation to a foreign asset to be made a predicate offence under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill to curb domestic black money to be introduced in the current session of Parliament.
Make in India GeneralAntiAvoidanceRule(GAAR) to be deferred by
two years. Basic Custom duty on certain inputs, raw materials, inter mediates and components in 22 items, reduced to minimise the impact of duty inversion.
Wealth-tax replaced with additional surcharge of 2 per cent on super rich with a taxable income of over `1 crore annually.
Service-tax plus education cesses increased from12.36% to 14% to facilitate transition to GST.
EducationcessandtheSecondaryandHighereducationcess to be subsumed in Central Excise Duty.
Swachh Bharat 100%deductionforcontributions,otherthanbyway
of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) contribution, toSwachhBharatKoshandCleanGangaFund.
Clean energy cess increased from ` 100 to ` 200 per metric tonne of coal, etc. to finance clean environment initiatives.
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Current AffairsAnnual Edition, 2015
7Chris Gayle makes World Cup history
WestIndiesopenerChrisGaylehitthe first double century in World
Cup history in their Pool B victory over Zimbabwe at Canberra. The 35-year-old left-hander reached 200 off
138 balls, hitting Tendai Chatara for a boundaryinthe46thover.Hismarkeclipsedthe unbeaten 188 by South Africas Gary KirstenagainsttheUnitedArabEmiratesin1996. Gayle hit a total of 16 sixes in 147 balls before he was out for 215 off the last delivery of his sides innings. The Partnership of 372 with Marlon Samuels
was also a record partnership for any ODI wicket, surpassing the 331 shared by Indias Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar against NewZealandatHyderabadin1999.
History created in Canberra ChrisGaylescoredthefirstWorldCupdoublehundred.
Gayles 16 sixes equalled the ODI record held by RohitSharmaandABdeVilliers,andshatteredthepreviousWorldCup record of nine.
GayleandSamuelsputon372-thehighestODIpartnershiprecord for any wicket. Gayle became the only batsman to hit a century in Twenty20 Internationals, a double century in ODIs and a triple century in Tests.
India at World Cup 2015
India vs Pakistan: ViratKohlion15February2015becamethefirstIndiancricketertoscoreacenturyagainstPakistanintheICCWorldCup.Hescored107runoff126-ballsattheAdelaideOval,Australia.Indiascored300runsforsevenwicketsafterelectingtobatfirstanddefeatedPakistanby76runs.Withthiscentury,Kohlialsobecamethequickestbatsmantoscore22centuriesinODIs.Hehadtakenjust143inningstoreachthemark.Previousrecordofquickest22centurieswasheldbySachinin 206 innings.
India vs South Africa: Shikhar Dhawan hit a superb century as defending champions India maintained their unbeaten start to theWorldCupwitha130-runwinoverSouthAfrica.Indias307-7wasbuiltaroundDhawans137,whileAjinkyaRahanemade79off60ballsandViratKohli46.SouthAfricawerebowledoutfor177.ThedefeatwasSouthAfricasheaviestinWorldCup.
Pool A Pool B
new Zealand India
Australia West Indies
Bangladesh Ireland
Afghanistan South Africa
Sri Lanka Zimbabwe
England united Arab Emirates
Scotland Pakistan
Anil Kumble inducted into ICC cricket Hall of FameFormerIndiaCaptainandacespinnerAnilKumblehasbeeninductedintotheICCCricketHallofFame.Heisthe77thinducteeintotheICCCricketHallofFame.Hewasfelicitatedandinductedon22February2015duringtheICCCricketWorldCupmatchbetweenIndiaandSouthAfricainMelbourne.AnilKumbleisthe4thIndiancricketertobeinductedintotheICCCricketHallofFame.OthersareBishenSinghBedi,KapilDevandSunilGavaskarwhowereinductedintoHallofFamein2009.
Top five one-day innings
Score Player Opposition Year
264 rohit Sharma Sri Lanka 2014
219 Virender Sehwag West Indies 2011
215 Chris Gayle Zimbabwe 2015
209 rohit Sharma Australia 2013
200 Sachin tendulkar South Africa 2010
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Current Affairs Annual Edition, 2015
82015 Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 10 February 2015 declared the results of Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections 2015.AamAadmiParty(AAP)headedbyArvindKejriwalsecuredabsolutemajorityintheassemblybywinning67seatsin the house of 70 seats.
2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections results
Summary of results of the Delhi Legislative Assembly Election, 2015
Political Party flag Seats Contested
Won net Change in seats
% of Seats
Vote % Change in vote %
Aam Aadmi Party 70 67 39 95.7% 54.3% 24.81%
Bharatiya Janata Party 69 3 28 4.28% 32.2% 0.8%
Shiromani Akali Dal 1 0 1 0% 0.5% 0.5%
Indian national Congress 70 0 8 0% 9.7% 14.85%
Bahujan Samaj Party 70 0 - 0% 1.3% -
InLD 2 0 - 0% 0.6% -
Independents - 0 1 0% 0.5% -nOtA nA nA nA nA 0.4% nA
nOtA : 35924 Votes
total seats: 70 Voters turnout : 67.08%