Dear Readers,

This is the new series which have been started by us in which we will provide you weekly compilation of the current affairs.
We will publish our new document named DOUBLE GA TONIC.
We really hope that you all will like this new initiative by our team. This document contains the important current affairs
from November 2015, i.e. 1st November to 14th November.
This tonic is useful for all those candidates who are appearing for the RBI GRADE B EXAM AND NABARD EXAM.
Also, this is useful for the IBPS CLERK EXAM 2015-16.

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INDIA IN NEWS
The Government of India announced on 12 November
2015 that it signed Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with six countries. These countries are: Finland,
Kazakhstan, Kenya, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and
Oman and Ethiopia. In addition, Agreed Minutes were
signed with Serbia, Greece, and European Commission.
The Record of Discussions was signed with Brunei
Darussalam and Qatar.
India was re-elected by the General Assembly to a six
year term on the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Apart from India,
22 other countries including the United States and
Pakistan were also re-elected to the UNCITRAL.
The Union Government on 9 November 2015 signed
273 million US dollar loan agreement with Asian
Development Bank (ADB) to continue improving rural
roads in the States of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. The loan agreement
was signed by S Selvakumar, Joint Secretary (Bilateral
Cooperation), Department of Economic Affairs and
Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB.
The government approved an agreement with Belgium
for cooperation in development of new and renewable
energy technologies. The objective of the Memorandum,
it added is to establish the basis for a cooperative
institutional relationship to encourage and promote
technical bilateral cooperation on new and renewable
energy issues on the basis of mutual benefit, equality
and reciprocity.
India, UK announced commercial deals worth 9 billion
pounds. The deals cover retail, financial and
professional services, health and education among
others.
India, Indonesia signed MoUs on Energy, Culture
Exchange. These MoUs were signed in the presence of
Vice President Hamid Ansari and his counterpart Jusuf
Kala in Jakarta.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
An Indian culture week called India in Shanghai was on
5 November 2015 inaugurated at China Shanghai
International Arts Festival (SIAF) at the Shanghai Grand
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Theatre. The SIAF annual festival began on 16 October
2015 and will continue till 16 November 2015. The
culture week was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador
Ashok K Kantha along with Zhong Yanqun, Vice Chair of
The Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal
People's Congress.
Sierra Leone has been declared Ebola-free by the World
Health Organisation, prompting nationwide
celebrations tinged with sadness over the loss of 4,000
victims to the disease. The capital Freetown was
transformed into a giant carnival on Friday night as
ecstatic crowds took to the streets in an emotional
outpouring.
President Xi Jinping of China met with Ma Ying-jeou, the
president of Taiwan in the first ever encounter between
the leaders of the neighbors and longtime rivals, an act
both sides described as a breakthrough gesture meant
to promote peace and mutual prosperity.
A court of Belgium asked Facebook to stop tracking the
country's Internet users who are not members of the
US-based social networking website. It gave 48 hours to
the social networking site to stop tracking people in
Belgium. The ruling was pronounced on a case lodged in
June 2015 by the Belgian Privacy Commission, which
said Facebook indiscriminately tracks Internet users
when they click like or share on the website.
A rare tropical Cyclone Chapala has slammed into
Yemen triggering heavy flooding and causing damage in
coastal region of the war racked country. The cyclone
made landfall in the south eastern provinces of
Hadramawt and Shabwa along the Gulf of Aden coast of
Yemen in Arabian Sea bringing winds of speed more
than 100 kms per hour.
Punjabi in the first week of November 2015 became the
third most common language, after English and French,
in the House of Commons of Canada after 20 Punjabi-
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speaking candidates were elected to the parliament in
October 2015.
Cyclone Megh struck Yemeni Island of Socotra.
Bosnian and Serbian Governments held first joint
session post-Bosnian War in Saravejo. The joint session
was the first since the end of the Bosnian War in 1995.
The aim of the session was to improve their relations
and contribute to the stabilization of the Western
Balkans.
Maldives Parliament voted to Impeach Vice President
Ahmed Adeeb. All 61 parliamentarians present voted in
favour of the impeachment and none opposed in the 85-
member house. The opposition Maldivian Democratic
Party stayed away from voting.
Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned. Since
September 2015, he has been facing weeks of intense
pressure to quit after going on trial in facing charges of
fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.
Maldives declared State of Emergency for 30 days.
Maldives president declared emergency, giving
sweeping powers to security forces to arrest suspects
ahead of a major anti-government protest rally.
Hindi largest spoken Indian language in US: Census
Bureau of US. As per the American Community Survey
data, Hindi has emerged as the largest Indian language
spoken in the US with nearly 6.5 lakh people speaking it.
Nepal, US armies launched Joint Military training
Balance Nail 16-01. Since 2003, the two countries have
conducted about 30 Balance Nail training sessions. The
Balance Nail is beneficial as the training is then passed
on to the wider Nepalese army.
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won
majority in Parliamentary elections of Turkey. The
party founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
secured 376 seats which was 14 seats less needed to
call a referendum on changing the constitution to
increase the powers of the president.
APPOINTMENTS (INDIA & WORLD)
Indian-origin barrister in UK, Kalyani Kaul was sworn-
in as a Circuit Judge in the UK on 9 November 2015.
Now, she will be sitting at Snaresbrook Crown Court
with immediate effect.
Former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India Subir
Vithal Gokarn on 12 November 2015 was appointed as
an Executive Director on the board of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). Gokarn will replace Rakesh
Mohan at the IMF. Mohans three year tenure ends in
November 2015.
Raghuram Rajan, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor
who has been a vocal votary for increased co-ordination
among central banks, has been elected vice-chairman of
the Bank of International Settlement (BIS). Mr. Rajan
will have a three-year term as vice-chairman of the BIS.
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Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice Ajit
Prakash Shah, was on 9 November 2015 appointed as
the ethics officer (ombudsman) at Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI). He will preside as the sole
decision maker on all conflict of interest issues plaguing
Indian cricket.
Tanzania's first female Vice President Samia Hassan
Suluhu was sworn into office. She was sworn in along
with the new President John Pombe Magufuli at the
swearing-in ceremony held in the countrys economic
capital Dar es Salaam.
Navtej Singh Sarna appointed as Indian High
Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK). Sarna is a 1980
batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer.
Oxford University Press India (OUPI) has appointed V
Sivaramakrishnan (Siva) as the managing director, with
regional responsibilities including Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, and Nepal.
Indo-Canadian Sikh Harjit Sajjan was on 4 November
2015 sworn-in as Defence Minister of Canada. Sajjan
succeeded Conservative Defence Minister Jason Kenney.
Justice T S Thakur (63) will be next Chief Justice of
India. His name has been recommended by current CJI
Justice Dattu. Current CJI Justice Dattu will retire on
December 2, 2015. Presently, Justice Thakur is the
senior most judge of the Supreme Court. He would be
the 43rd CJI.
Former Cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramanian has been
appointed chairperson of a committee set up by the
Human Resource Development Ministry to draft the
new education policy. The committee has been
mandated to submit the draft of the new policy no later
than December 31, 2015.
Anil Kumar Jha today took over the charge of Chairman-
cum-Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd
(MCL), a leading subsidiary of Coal India.
Indian-born Harjit Sajjan sworn-in as Defence Minister
of Canada. He is one of the Prime Minister Justin
Trudeaus 30-member Cabinet that was sworn-in at a
public ceremony held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Canada.
Deepak Singhal appointed Executive Director of Reserve
Bank of India. Singhal replaced K K Vohra who will now
look after the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee
Corporation (DICGC).
Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna took over as
Maintenance Head of IAF
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STATES (INDIA) IN NEWS
After a six-day delay in the implementation of the
Environment Compensation Charge or environment
cess on trucks entering Delhi, the concessionaire
SYMR Consortium LLP has begun to collect the tax at
its toll booths. Apart from the toll tax, an environment
tax to the tune of Rs 700 on light-duty vehicles and Rs
1,300 for three-axle vehicles and above, would be
charged at all entry points to the national capital.
However, trucks destined to Delhi will not have to pay
the environment cess; only trucks passing through the
capital would have to pay it.
Annual Hundred Drums Wangala Festival has begun on
a cultural fervor at Asanang near Tura town in
Meghalaya. The three day-long started with the arrival
of ten Wangala Dance Troupes from various parts of
Garo Hills. Significance of Wangala Festival Wangala
Festival is an annual post-harvest festival of the Garos
tribes of North east India.
The Supreme Court of India (SC) upheld Kerala
Governments ban on online lotteries. The judgment
was delivered by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of
India (CJI) H L Dattu while hearing the All Kerala Online
Lottery Dealers Association Vs State of Kerala & Ors.
case in which Sikkim Government is also one of the
petitioners opposing the ban.
The Meghalaya High Court has asked the Centre to
consider enforcing Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act,
1958 (AFSPA) in militancy-hit Garo Hills region in the
state to help the administration restore the rule of law.
Mysuru Railway Station (Karnataka, India) became the
first blind-friendly Railway Station in India. The visually
impaired friendly facilities at Mysuru Railway Station
has been inaugurated by Mysurus Member of
Parliament Pratap Simha. Anuprayaas, a Non
Governmental Organisation assisted the railways in
making Mysuru railway station blind-friendly.
In what a major step towards tackling the menace of
wheat and paddy straw burning in Punjab, the State
government signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) for setting up a bio-ethanol refinery. The MoU
was inked with a consortium of Beta Renewables,
Novozymes and CVC India Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. for an
estimated project worth Rs. 950 crore, during the
Progressive Punjab Investor Summit, 2015.
President approved Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and
Gausamvardhan Bill. Cow slaughter in Haryana will
invite rigorous imprisonment ranging from 3 to 10
years and a fine of up to 1 lakh rupees.
Grand Alliance won the 2015 Assembly Elections of
Bihar with two-thirds majority. Grand Alliance of RJD,
JD(U) and INC with thumping two-third majority
emerged as the winner of the election.
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Phase-I of T-Hub inaugurated in IIIT-Hyderabad.
Technology Hub or T-Hub is the countrys largest
incubation centre for start-ups and entrepreneurship.
Indian Railways signed MoU with Odisha for
implementation of railway projects. The MoU aims at
forming a Joint Venture Company to develop railway
infrastructure in Odisha.
SPORTS IN NEWS
Indias Heena Sindhu on 6 November 2015 won the gold
medal in the 10m air pistol womens event at the 13th
Asian Shooting Championship. The championship was
started on 1 November 2015 and will be held for 12
days in Kuwait City. Incidentally, Heena was also the
winner of the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event in
8th Asian Air Gun Championship. It was held in New
Delhi in September 2015.
N Srinivasan dethroned as the ICC Chairman after the
BCCI decided to recall him and nominate its recently-
elected President Shashank Manohar as the chief of the
world body. The decision to remove Srinivasan was
taken at the BCCIs 86th Annual General Meeting,
virtually signalling the end of his hold on Indian cricket.
Ravichandran Ashwin's CV has another bullet point
under the achievements column as he is now the fastest
among Indian bowlers to reach the landmark of 150
Test wickets in 29 Tests. Overall, former England fast
bowler Sydney Barnes is the fastest to the landmark of
150 wickets, which he achieved in 24 Tests.
Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win
6.2 million Australian dollars Melbourne Cup. Payne
rode rank outsider Prince of Penzance to a famous
victory in Australia's richest and most prestigious horse
race.
Ace shooter Jitu Rai on 4 November 2015 won India's
first senior medal at the 13th Asian Shooting
Championship in Kuwait City. He bagged the silver in
the finals of the men's 50 metre pistol event. Koreas
Park Daehun, won the gold medal of the event.
Veteran Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, who made a
spectacular comeback into the Pakistani Test squad
after five years, has announced retirement from the
longest format of the game. The 33-year-old said that he
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wanted to vacate the place for youngsters who are
ready to fill in his shoes.
Inzamam ul Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has been
roped in as the Afghanistan coach for a two-year period.
Inzamam had agreed to be the batting consultant for the
Asian side during the recent tour of Zimbabwe.
Mana Patel and Virdhawal Khade emerged as the best
swimmers of the 69th senior National Aquatic
Championships 2015 that concluded in Rajkot on 2
November 2015.
The name of former footballer and Asian games gold
medallist late Ram Bahadur Chetri and renowned
athletics coach Renu Kohli have been officially approved
by the state sports ministry for the prestigious Khel
Ratna (posthumous) and Devbhoomi Uttarakhand
Dronacharya respectively this year.
Nico Rosberg claimed victory at the Mexican Grand Prix
ahead of Mercedes teammate and newly-crowned world
champion Lewis Hamilton.
New Zealand cemented their status as the greatest team
in rugby history when they overwhelmed Australia 34-
17 at Twickenham to become world champions for a
record third time, and the first nation to retain the
Webb Ellis Cup.
Nigeria won 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup. The
championship was held across 8 cities in Chile.
BCCI announced monetary benefits for former players.
All retired All India Panel Umpires who have officiated
in One Day International as field Umpires will get 15000
rupees per month.
FIFA World Rankings 2015: Belgium topped for first
time. Belgium rose from third to first after overtaking
Argentina and world champions Germany.
Shiva Thapa ranked World No 2 in boxing.
2015 Paragliding World Cup concluded. It was held for
eight days in Bir village of Himachal Pradesh.
Roger Federer won 2015 Swiss Indoors mens singles
title by defeating Rafael Nadal. Federer defeated Rafael
Nadal 6-3 5-7 6-3 at the final match held at the St.
Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.
Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis won women's doubles title
of Singapore Open. The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair
defeated eighth seed Spanish team of Garbine Muguruza
and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3.
BANKS & ECONOMY IN NEWS
Union Ministry of Finance on 6 November 2015 decided
to impose 0.5 percent Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC) on all
taxable services. It will be levied in addition to the 14
percent service tax that is in force now. The SBC will
come into force on 15 November 2015. Its proceeds will
be exclusively used to support Swachh Bharat initiative.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 5 November 2015
issued revised and uniform guidelines on Internet
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Banking for all licensed cooperative banks including
Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), Cooperative Banks
(StCBs) and Districts Co-operative Banks (DCBs). These
guidelines relate to Internet Banking (View Only)
facility and Internet Banking with Transaction facility.
The cooperative banks have to report commencement
of the service to the concerned Regional Office of RBI
(and also NABARD in case of StCBs/DCCBs) within one
month of operationalisation of this facility.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has
cleared four FDI proposals worth 384 crore including
that of pharma firm Lupin. Based on the
recommendations of FIPB in its meeting held on
October 19, 2015, the Government has approved four
proposals of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
amounting to Rs. 384.45 crore, a Finance Ministry
statement said.
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,
respectively.
Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, is planning to
meet Chief Executives of State-run banks every 45 days
to take stock of various performance parameters and
discuss evolving issues. The move comes at a time when
public sector banks are witnessing increasing pressure
on asset quality, which is eroding their capital and
profitability.
A leading UAE-based bank has announced a partnership
deal with State Bank of India to help NRI customers in
the gulf to carry out their remittances instantly and
more conveniently. Emirates NBD has expanded its
partner bank network in India to include State Bank of
India (SBI) for the DirectRemit 60 seconds remittance
platform.
The Reserve Bank has imposed Rs 1 crore penalty on
Dhanlaxmi Bank for violation of Know Your Customer
(KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) norms. It had
issued a Show Cause Notice to the bank for not
complying with KYC and AML guidelines in respect of a
current account under investigation of the Economic
Offences Wing (EOW), Mumbai.
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BUSINESS NEWS
Sameer Gehlaut led Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd.
(IHFL) has acquired a 40 per cent stake in OakNorth
Bank of the U.K. for $100 million, making it the largest
shareholder of a full service universal bank. The
investment has been identified and approved by the
Strategic Investment Committee for Liability Franchise
Develop- ment, headed by K. C. Chakrabarty, an
independent director on the board and ex-Deputy
Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
Anheuser-Busch InBev says it has finalized the terms of
a $107 billion takeover of SABMiller that will combine
the planets two biggest brewers and create a company
that makes almost a third of the beer consumed
worldwide. As part of the deal, SABMiller will sell its
stake in a venture with Molson Coors.
Ministry of Railways issued a Letter of Award (LoA) to
USA-based GE Global Sourcing India Pvt Limited for
setting up of Diesel Locomotive Factory (DLF) at
Marhowra, Saran district, Bihar and for procurement
and maintenance of mainline Diesel Electric
Locomotives. With this, a Joint Venture Company
between Union Ministry of Railways and GE Global
Sourcing India Pvt Limited will be formed soon to
construct and run the factory. The factory will
manufacture modern diesel electric locomotives of
4500 HP and 6000 HP to Indian railways.
Internet giant Google is working with the government
on a pilot project for providing Internet connectivity by
using large balloons. Google, under its Project Loon, is
using big balloons floating at a height of 20 kilometers
above earth surface for transmission of Internet
services. It has already tested this technology in New
Zealand, California (the US) and Brazil.
US-based social networking giant Facebook on 31
October 2015 partnered with state-owned Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) to create 100 WiFi hotspots
in rural areas of western and southern India. During the
partnership, Facebook will invest 5 crore rupees per
annum for buying bandwidth from BSNL. The hotspots
will be set up by BSNL selected vendor Quad Zen and
Trimax.
Tata Motors has roped in Football star Lionel Messi as
the global brand ambassador for its passenger vehicles.
To start with, Tata Motors will roll out the association
campaign, #madeofgreat, starring Lionel Messi.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications Ltd (R-Com)
is merging the telecom business of Sistema Shyam
Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) that operates MTS brand with
itself in an all-stock deal worth Rs.4,500 crore, marking
the start of the much-anticipated consolidation in
Indias telecom sector.
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SUMMITS/CONFERENCE
The 21st International Conference on Frontiers in Yoga
Research and its Applications (INCOFYRA) will be held
from 3 to 7 January 2016 at Prashanti Kutiram,
Bengaluru. The summit will be organized by the
Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Sansthana. The 21st
INCOFYRA will bring together the traditional and
modern medical systems. The theme of the conference
is Yoga in Integrated Healthcare Systems.
To recognise the spirit of the persons with disabilities,
first international film festival for the persons with
disabilities (IFFPD) will be held in Delhi from 1
December to 3 December 2015.
11th National Tribal Crafts Mela Aadishilp has begun in
New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Union Minister of
Tribal Affairs Jual Oram. This edition of Crafts Mela has
been organised by Tribal Cooperative Marketing
Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) and
will be open till November 11, 2015.
2015 Valletta Summit on Migration concluded
in Valletta (Malta). Among the key initiatives, the EU
Emergency Trust Fund was established with 1.8 billion
euros to deal with ongoing Mediterranean Migration
Crisis.
12th ASEM Foreign Ministers' meet held in Luxemburg.
The ASEM FMM 12 was held under the theme Working
Together for a Sustainable and Secure Future.
21st INCOFYRA to be organised in Bengaluru in 2016.
The theme of the conference is Yoga in Integrated
Healthcare Systems.
International Indigenous Terra Madre 2015 started in
Shillong.
OBITUARIES
Rhythm and Blues legend Allen Toussaint died at the
age of 77 after suffering two heart attacks.
Hero MotoCorp patriarch and doyen of Indian two-
wheeler industry, Brijmohan Lall Munjal, passed away
this evening after a brief illness. He was 92.
Former Israeli President Yitzhak Navon died. Navon
was Israels first Sephardic president.
NRI industrialist Swraj Pauls son Angad Paul dead.
French intellectual Rene Girard passed away.
India's former Ambassador to Nepal Bimal Prasad dead
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Tollywood comedian Kondavalasa Lakshman Rao died.
Colin Welland, the writer of Oscar winning Chariots of
Fire, died at 81
Former England Cricketer Tom Graveney died.
Former West Bengal assembly speaker Hashim Abdul
Halim died.
American actor Al Molinaro passed away.
Eminent archaeologist V.N. Misra passed away.
DAYS
The World Science Day for Peace and Development,
dubbed World Science Day, was observed on 10
November 2015 across the world. The theme for 2015
is Science for a Sustainable Future.
World Pneumonia Day observed on 12th November with
the theme Every Breath Counts: Stop Pneumonia Now.
DEFENCE IN NEWS
Indian Army on 7 November 2015 successfully test-
fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile at the
Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. It was launched from
an Autonomous Mobile Launcher (AML). For BrahMos,
it was the 50th test-flight. The previous test-firing was
from INS Kochi off the west coast on 1 November 2015.
Indian Armys Strategic Forces Command (SFC) on 9
November 2015 successfully test-fired surface-to-
surface Agni-IV missile. The nuclear capable missile was
test-fired from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 10 November
2015 commissioned the India Coast Guard Offshore
Patrol Vessel (OPV), Samarth at Vasco in Goa. It is
Coast Guards largest OPV. The Ship built by Goa
Shipyard limited is the first in the series of six off Shore
Patrol vessels. The 105m OPV is fitted with most
advance technology, navigation and communication
equipment, sensors and machinery. It has a maximum
speed of 23 knots and has an endurance of 6000
nautical miles at economical speed.
The seventh edition India-Russia Joint Military Exercise
Indra-2015 has begun in Bikaner district of Rajasthan.
This edition of exercise is focusing on Counter
Terrorism Operations in Desert Terrain under a United
Nations Mandate. The bilateral exercise would be held
between Indian Armys Infantry Battalion and
Independent Russian Motorised Brigade from 7 to 20
November 2015.
An Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Arinjay was on 1
November 2015 commissioned by Vice Admiral Sunil
Lanba PVSM, AVSM Flag Officer Commanding-in-chief,
Southern Naval Command at a ceremony held at Naval
Base in Kochi. The ship will be based at Okha under the
administrative and operational control of the
commander, coast guard region (north west). The ship
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is commanded by Commandant AK Mudgal and has
complement of four officers and 31 enrolled personnel.
Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, with a strike-range
of over 290 kms, was test-fired from the navy's newest
stealth destroyer INS Kochi successfully hitting a
decommissioned target ship in the Arabian Sea.
Captain Krishna Swaminathan took over command of
aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. INS Vikramaditya is
Indian Navy's new and formidable aircraft carrier which
was commissioned at Severodvinsk in Russia on 16
November 2013.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Book titled What Happened to Netaji? authored by
former journalist Anuj Dhar was released.
The book titled Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion
Aspirations authored by Nandan Nilekani and Viral
Shah was released on 4 November 2015.
Interlinking of Indian Rivers authored by Radha Kant
Bharati released.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on 7
November 2015 was honoured with the Aditya Vikram
Birla Kala Shikhar Award for lifetime achievement. The
governor of Maharashtra C Vidyasagar Rao presented
the award to the 77-year old Santoor player in Mumbai.
Liberian teenager Abraham M Keita was on 10
November 2015 awarded with the prestigious
International Childrens Peace Prize 2015. He was
awarded for his extraordinary and peaceful fight for
justice for child victims of physical or sexual violence,
and for successfully campaigning for the Liberian
parliament to adopt the Childrens Law.
A team of Indian scientist led by Sameer Panda from
Odisha on 6 November 2015 won the NASA award for
an innovative technology named Burst Prevention &
Puncture Curative (BPPC) technology. Udit Bondia, KN
Panda and Smitiparna Satpathy are the other members
of the team. They won the award in the Create the
Future Design Contest- 2015 conducted by NASA Tech
Brief in New York. Tech Brief is a contest jointly
organized by NASA and Society of Automobile
Engineers, International.
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 Renowned film, television and stage actor Vikram
Gokhale was conferred with the prestigious Vishnudas
Bhave Award. The actor was felicitated with the award
for his outstanding contribution to Marathi theatre.
The 33-year-old Mary Kom actress, who has made it
to the top five, will be competing with big names like
Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Marcia Gay Harden
and Lia Michele. In her debut American TV thriller
Quantico the Gunday star plays the lead role of a
young FBI recruit Alex Parish. The news of her being
one of 15 actresses vying for a final nomination in the
category came last month.
NASA/ISRO IN NEWS
a) Indigenously made communications satellite GSAT-
15 was launched successfully by the European Ariane 5
VA-227 launch vehicle at 3:04 am. The launch took
place from Kourou in French Guyana in South America.
The Ariane-5 rocket was hired at a cost of
approximately 581 crores rupees.
b) The 3164 kilogram GSAT-15 carries communication
transponders in Ku-band as well as a GPS Aided GEO
Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload operating in
L1 and L5 bands. An Arabsat communications satellite
also accompanied the GSAT-15 on the same launch.
SCHEMES/POLICIES LAUNCHED BY CENTRAL &
STATE GOVERNMENT
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on 5
November 2015 launched the Rajasthan Agro-
Processing and Agri-Marketing Promotion Policy 2015.
The policy seeks to promote agro-processing and to
reduce post-harvest losses at the farm gate. The policy
aims to promote agro-processing and to reduce post-
harvest losses at the farm gate thus ensuring maximum
prices of farmers agri produce. The state government
also signed 112 MoUs with private companies in
different sectors during the launch of policy.
The Union Human Resource Development Minister
Smriti Irani on 7 November 2015 launched the e-
Pathshala, Saaransh and National Programme on School
Standards and Evaluation Framework (Shala Siddhi)
web portals/ mobile apps. These portals were launched
during the edNEXT, the National Conference on ICT in
School Education that was held at New Delhi. During the
Conference, Shala Darpan, MDM-IVRS and Ekta project
from Alwar, Rajasthan were also show-cased.
Union Government issued the notification regarding
implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) in
respect of Defence Forces personnel. The notification is
in tune with the modalities for implementation
announced on 5 September 2015.
Features of OROP scheme -
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Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners retiring in the
same rank and with the same length of service as the
average of minimum and maximum pension in 2013.
The benefit will be given with effect from 1 July 2014 to
the ex-service men of all the three forces.
Those drawing pensions above the average will be
protected.
In future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years.
Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly installments.
All widows, including war widows, will be paid arrears
in one installment.
Personnel who voluntarily retire will not be covered
under the scheme.
The estimated cost to the exchequer would be 8000 to
10000 crore at present, and will increase further in
future.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched three gold
related schemes. The schemes are Gold Monetization
Scheme, Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Indian Gold
Coins. The primary purpose of the schemes is to reduce
dependence on imported gold, recycle the unutilized
gold in the country and most importantly, streamline
the gold business in the country. At present, India is the
largest consumer of gold in the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 November 2015
launched Imprint India, a Pan-IIT and IISc joint
initiative. The project encourages the Indian technical
institutions to develop a blueprint for research to crack
major engineering and technology challenges relevant
to the nation. Imprint India is a 1000 crore rupees
project, which aspires to identify areas of immediate
relevance to society requiring innovation and Direct
scientific research into identified areas.
The Maharashtra state Government has approved a
revised scheme, named APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Yojna,
for pregnant and lactating women in the tribal areas of
the state. The scheme aims at providing at least one full
hot cooked nutritious food to every pregnant lady and
lactating mother. The scheme will be rolled out on 15
November 2015. The anganwadis workers, the tribal
women and the local meal committees will implement
the scheme. The Women and Child Welfare Department
will spend 10 crore rupees in stipend to anganwadi
workers.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Forbes list of the World's Most Powerful People
2015 was released on 4 November 2015. The list was
topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the
third year in a row. Putin is followed by German
Chancellor Angela Merkel (rank 2) who moved up 3
spots from 2014, and President Barack Obama (rank 3)
dropped 1 spot, making it the first year a sitting US
President has not made it into the top 2 spots. Indias
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ranked as the
worlds ninth most powerful person. In 2014, Modi was
placed at 14th position.
The United Nations General Assemblys (UNGA)
Disarmament Committee has adopted a draft resolution
submitted by Japan calling for the abolition of nuclear
arms. The resolution was adopted by 156 member
countries, while 17 abstaining and 3 voting against it
including China and Russia. But it failed to secure
endorsement US, Britain, France and other key powers
as they abstained from voting despite supporting it. The
resolution Stresses the inhumanity of nuclear weapons
and urges nuclear powers to be more transparent in
their disarmament efforts. The resolution asks world
leaders to visit the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki which were devastated by the nuclear attacks.
Since 1994, Japan has been spearheading efforts UNGA
Disarmament Committee to introduce resolutions on
nuclear arms every year.
Financial Secrecy Index 2015 released; India
moderately secretive. While Switzerland is the most
secretive jurisdiction in the world, India is moderately
secretive among the 92 countries/jurisdictions
surveyed.
Shekhar Kapur to head jury and Anil Kapoor to be chief
guest at IFFI 2015. The Man Who Knew Infinity, a
British film on Indian mathematician Srinivasa
Ramanujans life, will open the 46th edition and Spain
will be the focus country of the IFFI 2015.
The Legatum Prosperity Index 2015 released. India
ranked 99 in terms of prosperity out of the 142
countries surveyed.
COMMITTEES IN NEWS
The Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP) on 5
November 2015 submitted its report. It was constituted
by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Council
under the Chairmanship of Prof Ashok Misra to suggest
reforms to the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).
Richard Proud-chaired Independent Commission (IC)
on Doping in Sports submitted its report to the World
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Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The report was submitted
on 9 November 2015 in Vienna, Switzerland.
The Union Government on 4 November 2015
constituted an Empowered Committee to approve
schemes proposed under the Nirbhaya Fund. The
Committee comprises officials from various ministries,
including Women and Child Development, Home Affairs,
Road Transport and Railways. The Nirbhaya Fund has a
total of 3000 crore rupees fund as 1000 crore each was
allocated to it in 2014-15 and 2015-16 on top of 1000
crore rupees initial corpus.
Dr T K Viswanathan Committee on Bankruptacy Law
Reforms submitted its report. The report is in two
parts-Recommendations and a comprehensive draft
Insolvency and Bankruptcy bill.
Justice MB Shah-headed SIT on Black Money submitted
its third report. The report dealt with shell companies
and beneficial ownership.
Army Cloud, Software Defined Data Centre and
Digi-Locker in New Delhi
a) Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 9
November 2015 launched Army Cloud, Software
Defined Data Centre and Digi-Locker facilities for the
Indian Army at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi.
b) The three initiatives are aimed at catalysing automation
and digitization of the Indian Army and help in
transforming it from a Platform Centric to a Network
Centric Force.
c) Army Cloud includes a Central Data Centre, a Near Line
Data Centre, both in Delhi and a Disaster Recovery site
for replication of its critical data along with virtualised
servers and storage in an environmentally controlled
complex.
d) Digi Locker will provide a secure and exclusive data
storage space to all the units and formation
headquarters of the Army over its dedicated data
network. It is similar to e-Locker of Digital India
program and has all the advanced features like digital
signatures and watermarking.
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 UDAY Scheme
a) Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has given its nod Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojna
(UDAY) for financial restructuring of debt of power
distribution companies.
b) The Scheme aims for financial turnaround and revival of
Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs) and also
ensures a sustainable permanent solution to the
problem.
c) UDAY scheme allows power DISCOMs in selected states
to convert their debt into state bonds as well as roll out
number of measures to improve efficiency at power
plants.
d) Selected states would be able to sell the balance 25 per
cent as state-backed power bonds or loans which will
carry interest rates of g-sec plus 50 basis points.
e) Thus with nod to UDAY Scheme, Union Government
seeks to accelerate the process of reform across the
entire power sector in order to ensure affordable and
accessible 247 Power for All.
f) The scheme has been framed by Union Power Ministry
as power DISCOMs in several states have been severely
mismanaged, resulting in a debt burden upward of 4
lakh crore rupees. This has taken a toll on the power as
well as bank sectors.
GOLD SCHEMES by Union Government
The three schemes launched by Govt. are:
(i) Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS)
(ii) Gold Sovereign Bond Scheme
(iii) Gold Coin and Bullion Scheme
a) Prime Minister Modi also unveiled the first ever
national gold coin minted in India with the national
emblem of Ashok Chakra engraved on it. The Gold
Monetisation Scheme is aimed at tapping part of an
estimated 20,000 tonnes of idle gold worth Rs. 5,40,000
crore in family lockers and temples into the banking
system.
b) The Gold Sovereign Bond will be issued by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) on behalf of the government with an
interest rate of 2.75%. The bonds will be sold through
banks and designated post offices. Describing the
schemes as sone pe suhaga (icing on the cake), Modi
said gold has often been a source of womens
empowerment in the Indian society, and these schemes
will underscore that sense of empowerment.
c) Gold monetisation scheme (GMS) is a deposit scheme of
banks where you will be paid interest on the weight of
gold you give. The minimum deposit is 30 grams (of 995
fineness). To make a deposit under this scheme, you
need to first get your gold tested from one of the centres
certified by BIS. These centres, gold refiners and banks
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will be in a tripartite agreement. After doing an XRF (x-
ray fluorescence) and a fire assay test, you will be told
the result. If you still wish to deposit the gold, the centre
will give a purity certificate endorsing the weight and
purity of gold. You have to then take the certificate to
one of the designated banks. In the meantime, the
banker will also get intimation from the centre of your
gold deposit and he will credit your gold deposit
account with the equivalent amount of gold. The test
centre will send the gold to a refiner who will keep the
gold in his warehouse (unless the banks choose to hold
it themselves).
d) This deposit scheme will be available for the short term
of one to three years, medium term of five to seven
years and long term of 12-15 years. While deposits of all
tenures will be run only by banks, for the medium and
long-term deposits, the terms and conditions and rate of
interest will be fixed by the Central Government. At the
end of the deposit period, your deposit, either in
cash/gold (medium and long-term deposits will be
redeemed only in cash) will be returned to you by the
bank. If redeemed in cash, the rupee value of the gold
deposit at the prevailing market price will be paid.
e) Some Key Features:
Gold Monetization Scheme
KYC - a must, but income is tax-free
Will be melted, but returned as gold
Fixed deposit, but can break it for a fee
Interest nominal, but it is on gold weight
Gold Sovereign Bond
Earns you interest
Minimal charges
Better liquidity
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 Important Days in November
Nov. 1 - World Vegan Day
Nov. 6 - International Day for Preventing the
Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed
Conflict
Nov. 7 - World Cancer Awareness Day
Nov. 8 - World Radiology Day
Nov. 9 - World Legal Service Day
Nov.11 - National Education Day
Nov.12 - Public Service Broadcasting Day
Nov.13 - World Kindness Day
Nov. 14 - World Diabetes Day
Nov. 16 - International Day for Endurance or Tolerance
Nov.19 - World Toilet Day, National Integration Day
Nov. 20 - Universal Childrens Day
3rd Sunday of November - World Day of
Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
3rd Thursday of November - World Philosophy Day

ALL THE BEST FOR RBI GRADE B

EXAM AND NABARD ASSISTANT
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