November 08 2015 – Current Affairs Quick Gyan

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Current Affairs – November 08/2015

1. Notification for Implementation of OROP Issued

The government of India has notified the implementation of the one rank-one pension (OROP) scheme that will guarantee equal pension to military personnel retiring at the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of the date of retirement. The scheme, a 40-year-old demand of military veterans, is expected to benefit three million pensioners. The notification came a day after army veterans threatened to return war honours and observe a “black Diwali” to protest against the government’s failure to implement the scheme.

2. PM announces eighty thousand crore rupee package for Jammu and Kashmir

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a package of Rs. 80,000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir and said it should be used to transform the state, devastated by floods last year, into a modern, progressive and prosperous one. The several thousand people at the Sher-i-Kashmir cricket stadium, where he was making his address, broke into applause as PM Modi made his announcement.

Modi said India was “incomplete without Kashmiriyat,” invoking the words of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also of the BJP, who had talked about “Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat aur Insaniyat’ (social consciousness and cultural values of the Kashmiri people, democracy, and humanity).” Modi said he would follow those three mantras and saluted the people of Kashmir for strengthening Mr Vajpayee’s dream for the state.

3. Bihar Election : Nitish Kumar all set to become Chief Minister

The Grand Alliance secured a landslide victory to give Nitish Kumar a third term in power after decimating the BJP-led alliance in the high-stakes Assembly elections in Bihar. As the Grand Alliance surged ahead, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had put up an aggressive campaign, addressing over 30 rallies, called up Mr. Kumar to congratulate him on the poll victory.

Final tally

  • Grand alliance: 178
  • NDA: 58
  • Ohters: 7

BJP chief Amit Shah also congratulated Mr. Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad on the massive victory.

In what is seen as a setback to Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah, the results indicate that the Grand Alliance had done better in villages.

4. Railways doubles ticket cancellation charges

Rail travelers having confirmed tickets will not get any refunds if they don’t cancel four hours before the departure of the train. The railways has also doubled the cancellation charges in the new rules which will come into force from November 12.

According to the new rules, there will be no refund on confirmed tickets after the departure of the train and one can get refund up to four hours before departure. Earlier from six hours before the scheduled departure of the train and up to two hours after the actual departure of the train, the cancellation fee was 50% of the fare. The new rules specify that between 12 hours and 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation fee will be 50% of the fare. Also, between 48 hours and 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation fee will be 25% of the fare.

5. SBI’s Bhattacharya again tops list of most powerful biz women

Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson of country’s largest bank SBI, remains the most powerful woman in the Indian business sector, according to Fortune India. ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank follow Bhattacharya at the second and third place. Besides, HPCL Chairperson and Managing Director (MD) Nishi Vasudeva has bagged the fourth position, while AZB & Partners Co-Founder Zia Mody and Aruna Jayanthi Chief Executive of Capgemini India shared the fifth rank.

Interestingly, all the top-five rank holders retained their positions from the previous year barring Jayanthi who was at seventh position last year.  Moreover, there are only two debutantes in the Fortune India list of 50 most-powerful businesswomen for 2015.  Meena Ganesh MD and CEO at Portea and Jyoti Deshpande Group MD and CEO at Eros International have made their debuts at 43rd and 50th positions, respectively.

6. Titanic getting own amusement park ride in 2018

Titanic is getting its own ride at a Dubai amusement park in 2018. Twentieth Century Fox is building the structure for a Dubai resort, and the studio is also developing attractions based on TV shows and films such as “Sons of Anarchy”, “Planet of the Apes” and “Aliens”.

There are strong merchandising opportunities and it will allow us to connect with our audiences on an ongoing basis. The historic tragedy was recreated in the 1997 drama “Titanic”, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

7. Indian Army successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in Rajasthan

Indian Army on 7 November successfully test fired the nearly 300-km-range Brahmos supersonic land attack cruise missile in Pokhran. At 1000 hrs, the Indian Army fired Brahmos land-attack cruise missile successfully against a designated target at Pokhran test range in Rajasthan, demonstrating the weapon’s supreme operational capability.

The missile was test launched by a Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) deployed in full configuration.The test-fire, carried out in the user-deployment configuration by trained army personnel, met all the mission objectives.

8. Heena Sindhu won gold in 13th Asian Shooting Championship

India’s Heena Sidhu has won Gold medal in 10 metre Air Pistol event in women’s category at 13th Asian Shooting Championships held in Kuwait. In the final match, Heena shot 198.2 score to defeat Gundegma Otreyad of Mongolia who shot 198 winning Silver medal. Jangmi Kim of South Korea won the bronze with a score of 176.2.

9. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became fastest Indian to reach 150 test wickets

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on 6 November 2015 became the fastest Indian to reach 150 wickets mark in the Indian test cricket history. He achieved this feat when he took Imran Tahir’s wicket in the first innings of the first test against South Africa in Mohali, Punjab. In this match, Ashwin also became the first bowler in over 100 years to take 50 wickets after opening the bowling. He achieved this feat in 12 matches off 1888 balls.

The previous record was held by Colin Blythe of England who took 74 wickets between 1902 and 1910 in 13 tests. The test is a part of four-match test series played to win Freedom Trophy, which is in turn is a part of the larger Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela Series that includes ODIs and T20s as well.

10. China, Singapore starts negotiations on upgrading Free Trade Agreement

China and Singapore 7 November began negotiations to upgrade a bilateral Free Trade Agreement. The two nations marked 25 years of establishment of diplomatic relations with a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong witnessed the launch of negotiations to upgrade the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) on the second day of Xis state visit to the country. Both sides will endeavour to complete the review by 2016.

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