November 5 2015 – Current Affairs Quick Gyan

In Current Affairs 2017
November 5, 2015

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Current Affairs – November 4/2015

Forbes World’s Most Powerful People 2015 : Putin Tops the list

Vladimir Putin has been voted the most powerful person in the world for the third time in a row, in a new list published by financial magazine Forbes. The Russian President has topped the Most Powerful People list, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama coming in second and third place respectively. It is the first time a sitting US President has not made one of the top 2 spots. Pope Francis has retained his fourth place position from last year, while General Secretary of the Communist Party of China’s Xi Jinping is at number five, having fallen two places. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked as the world’s ninth most powerful person.

Others in the top ten are Microsoft Founder Bill Gates at the sixth place, US Federal Reserve Chairperson Janet Yellen (7), UK Prime Minister David Cameron (8) and Google’s Larry Page(10).

NGT bans age-old agricultural practice of straw burning in Northern States

A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the Delhi government and the four northern States of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to check the bi-annual menace, which the farmers engage in to save time between sowing of wheat and rice. The tribunal also announced a fine of Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 15,000 on farmers found indulging in straw burning.

The practice is followed by farmers not only to save time under the rice-wheat crop rotation to clear the land of residue of one harvest and sow the next, it is also believed that it makes the land more fertile and kill pests. In November, farmers sow crops such as wheat and vegetables. They often set fire to their fields to clear them before planting making the atmosphere in Delhi more blinding and suffocating with the smoke moving towards the city.

Boxer Shiva Thapa attains Number Two spot in World Rankings

Shiva Thapa became the highest-ranked Indian boxer, zooming to second in the latest international rankings after winning a bronze medal at last month’s World championships in Doha. Shiva was placed second with 1550 points in the 56kg category, up five places from the previous list. The top spot was occupied by Irishman Michael Conlan (2150 points), who won the gold medal at the World Championships. The 22-year-old Shiva became only the third Indian ever to clinch a medal at the showpiece event after Vijender Singh (2009, bronze) and Vikas Krishan (2011, bronze).

Michelle Payne becomes first female jockey to win Melbourne Cup

Michelle Payne made history Tuesday as the first female jockey to win Australia’s 154-year-old Melbourne Cup when she rode 100-1 outsider Prince of Penzance to a shock win. The New Zealand-bred Prince of Penzance won despite being an outsider, with French horse Max Dynamite second and New Zealand horse Criterion third. Frankie Dettori was banned for a month and fined A$20,000 (£9,338) for careless riding on Max Dynamite.

Hindi largest spoken Indian language in US: Census Bureau of US

Hindi has emerged as the largest Indian language spoken in the US, with nearly 6.5 lakh people speaking it, according to the latest Census data. The US Census Bureau based on American Community Survey data collected from 2009 to 2013, said that more than 60 million people in the US speak a language other than English at home, 25 million of whom speak English.

Nearly 250,000 people speak Telugu while Tamil is spoken by about 190,000 people, Malayalam (about 146,000 people) and Kannada (about 48,000).

Prime Minister launched Three Gold Schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched three gold schemes in New Delhi, ahead of the festive season. The Schemes are