1) Which tiny Pacific Ocean country will bring a lawsuit against 9 countries including India for allegedly failing to halt the nuclear arms race? – Marshall Islands

Explanation: The tiny Marshall Islands in March 2016 will seek to persuade International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take up a lawsuit against nine countries that includes India, which it accuses of failing to halt the nuclear arms race.

The International Court of Justice on 30 January 2016 announced dates for separate hearings for the three cases between 7 and 16 March 2016.

2) Novak Djokovic won the men’s singles title of 2016 Australian Open on 31 January 2016 to win his sixth title of the career. Whom he defeated in the final? – Andy Murray (Britain)

Explanation: Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Andy Murray in straights sets by 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 to earn his sixth Australian Open title of his magnificent career.

This was Djokovic’s 11^th Grand Slam title overall. His 11^thgrand slam title also means he has drawn level with Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver.

3) Who defeated six-time champion Serena Williams (US) in the women’s singles final of the Australian Open on 30 January to win her maiden Grand Slam tennis title? – Angelique Kerber (Germany)

Explanation: Seventh seeded German player Angelique Kerber ended six-time champion and top seeded Serena Williams’ unbeaten streak in finals on 30 January 2016 and won a major title for the first time.

Williams was an overwhelming favourite to win the final where she had won all six previous times she’d reached the final. But Kerber displayed great guts to stun Williams by 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

It is worth mentioning that Williams won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon titles last year before losing to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semifinals.

4) Which state became the first non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state to sign agreement for the central government power reforms plan – Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana (UDAY)? –Uttar Pradesh

Explanation: Uttar Pradesh on 30 January 2016 became the first non-BJP ruled state to sign the MoU for Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana (UDAY). It became the fourth state (overall) to sign MoU after Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The total states that have given in-principle approval of joining the UDAY reforms are now 15.

For the states that sign up for UDAY, one of the first steps is to take over 75% of discom debt as on 30 September 2015 over two years – 50% in 2015-16 and 25% in 2016-17.

5) Who took over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command on 30 January 2016? – Vice Admiral Girish Luthra

Explanation: Vice Admiral Girish Luthra took over charge as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command from Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba on 30 January at a function held at the Naval base in Kochi.

On the other hand Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba assumed the charge of the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command at a function held at Mumbai on 31 January 2016. He took reins from Vice Admiral SPS Cheema, who retired on the same day.

6) Former Army Chief General KV Krishna Rao, who passed away on 30 January 2016, was known to have played a key role in which war? – 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War

Explanation: General Rao was the 14^thChief of the Army Staff of Indian Army and had an illustrious career spanning over four decades in the force. He headed Indian Army from 1 June 1981 to July 1983.

2 feb 2016

1) Chinese Army on 1 February 2016 implemented which major step as part of the comprehensive plan to carry out reforms in country’s military structure? –It established military’s five new battle zones

Explanation: Chinese Army on 1 February 2016 reclassified seven military regions into five new battle zones – the East, West, South, North and Middle battle zones. These new zones will now shoulder the responsibility of responding to their respective security threats, upholding peace and constraining conflict.

It is worth mentioning that China is pushing major reforms in its military establishment for some time now.

2) Which community of Andhra Pradesh came to news for being engaged in a stir seeking reservation under OBC category, which turned violent on 31 January 2016 after a train was sent ablaze? – Kapu Community

Explanation: Andhra Pradesh’s Kapu community has been demanding job reservations under Other Backward Caste (OBC) category for quite some time. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had promised OBC status to the community during Assembly elections in 2014.

The protest, which was going on for some days, turned violent on 31 January 2016 as the agitators went on rampage, setting four coaches of Ratnachal Express on fire at Tuni station near Vijayawada and blocked the national highway-16 in East Godavari district. However, no casualty took place as all passengers had vacated the bogies.

3) Which two-wheeler company on 1 February 2016 launched ‘V’, a new bike, which contains the metal from India’s first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant? – Bajaj Auto

Explanation: Bajaj Auto, the Pune-based two and three-wheeler maker, rolled-out the 150-cc bike, christened ‘V’. The main attraction of ‘V’ is that it has been built from metal used in the country’s most celebrated aircraft carrier – the INS Vikrant. The bike sports a special logo to commemorate the aircraft carrier.

INS Vikrant was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of Indian Navy in 1961. After years of distinguished service, she was decommissioned in January 1997 and served as a museum till 2012. In late 2014, Vikrant was dismantled and sold as scrap metal.

Bajaj Auto purchased the Vikrant metal and processed it to be a part of its new brand. The company feels that the new bike will therefore preserve a significant piece of Indian military history.

4) Which Indian player won the men’s singles title of the Syed Modi Badminton Grand Prix Gold that concluded on 31 January 2016 at Lucknow? – K Srikanth

Explanation: Top-seeded and world no. 9 Kidambi Srikanth of India defeated Huang Yuxiang of China in the men’s singles finals of the Syed Modi Badminton Grand Prix Gold Cup on 31 January. He defeated Huang by 21-13, 14-21, 21-14 in three games to claim the title.

5) T.N. Gopakumar, who passed away during January 2016, was a noted electronic media personality of which state? – Kerala

Explanation: T.N. Gopakumar was the editor-in-chief of Asianet, a Malayalam TV channel. He was also the popular anchor of the show ‘Kannadi’.

His show was noted for sharp commentary and revealing portraits of Kerala that was far away from the development tapestry as it was hailed to be.

3 feb 2015

1) What is the name of the woman IPS officer who on 2 February 2016 became the first woman to head a paramilitary force in India? –Archana Ramasundaram

Explanation: Archana Ramasundaram, a 1980 batch officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, created history when she was appointed the new Director General (DG) of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). She thus became the first woman to head a paramilitary force in the country.

Archana is currently Special Director, National Crime Records Bureau. She has been appointed to the post till the date of her superannuation, 30 September 2017.

2) State Bank of India (SBI) on 1 February 2016 launched the ‘FlexiPay Home Loan’ scheme, which gives borrowers an option to pay only interest during a three-five year moratorium period. This product has been targeted towards which home loan segment? – Young working professionals

Explanation: Under the ‘FlexiPay Home Loan’ scheme, which has been launched primarily for young professionals, the borrowers can pay only interest during a three-five-year moratorium. Thereafter they will pay moderated equated monthly installments (EMIs).

3) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram G. Rajan presented the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review on 2 February 2016. All the key rates were kept unchanged in the policy review which meant that the most important Repo Rate will remain unchanged at 6.75%. What the projected growth rate is for fiscal 2016-17 as stated in the review? – 7.6%

Explanation: Keeping the key rates unchanged, the RBI indicated that rates would continue to soften.

The RBI Governor, however, cautioned that the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission had not been factored into its growth projections.

After the latest review, the repo rate, or the rate at which the central bank infuses liquidity into the system, remained at 6.75%. The cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the portion of a bank’s money maintained with the central bank in cash, remained at 4%.

The RBI expected growth 7.6% for the financial year 2016-17 (ending March 2017).

4) The World Health Organization (WHO) on 1 February 2016 made which important announcement pertaining to explosively spreading Zika virus? – It declared it as an international emergency

Explanation: The WHO convened an emergency meeting of independent experts on 1 February 2016 to assess the outbreak after noting a suspicious link between Zika’s arrival in Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads.

5) Which company replaced Apple Inc. as the world’s most valuable company, as reflected in the US markets on 1 February 2016? – Alphabet (Google’s parent company)

Explanation: Apple Inc., which has long been on the top of the world’s most valuable companies list, slipped to second place as Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. on 1 February overtook it to become no.1. This happened after Alphabet released a fourth-quarter earnings report that highlighted the robust growth of the digital ad market. Apple Inc.’s iPhone, meanwhile, is suffering its first downturn since it debuted eight years ago.

4 feb 2016

1) What is the name of the indigenously built new basic trainer aircraft being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), the first prototype of which was rolled-out on 2 February 2016? – Hindustan Turbo Trainer – 40 (HTT-40)

Explanation: Hindustan Turbo Trainer- 40 (or HTT-40) is the name of the indigenous replacement for the Indian Air Force’s retired HPT-32 ‘Deepak’ that is being developed to be used as a basic trainer aircraft.

The HTT-40 will be an all-metal tandem seat aircraft powered by a 950 HP (708 kW) turbo-prop engine.

But the project to develop HTT-40 has been marred by doubts and controversy. The Indian Air Force (IAF) repeatedly told the Defence Ministry the HTT-40 would be over-weight, over-priced and under-performing. But HAL doggedly continued development, committing more than Rs. 350 crore of company funds.

In its place, the IAF wanted to import over a hundred new trainers from Swiss company, Pilatus, to supplement the 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mark II trainers it had already bought.

2) The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which is the largest programme of its nature for providing employment in rural areas anywhere in the world, completed how many years on 2 February 2016? – 10 years

Explanation: MGNREGA, which was earlier known as NREGA, came into effect on 2 February 2006. It was implemented by the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Then it covered only the 200 poorest districts of the country and was expanded to cover all rural areas of the country from April 2008.

3) A unique MAGIC (Modular, Agile, Intensified & Continuous) Process Lab of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was inaugurated at which CSIR lab on 2 February 2016? – CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (Pune)

Explanation: The MAGIC Process Lab at CSIR-NCL (Pune) is expected to bring about a paradigm shift in the way in which India’s fine and specialty chemicals industry will operate in the future.

The MAGIC processes developed in this lab can radically change currently practiced process technologies into modern processes that are cleaner, greener, safer, compact, scalable and economical.

4) What is the name of the ex-Indian Army official who was appointed as the Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) by the UN on 2 February 2016? – Major General Jai Shanker Menon

Explanation: Major General Jai Shanker Menon was Additional Director General Equipment Management in the Indian Army. From 2012 to 2013, he was General Officer, Commanding an Infantry Division of the Indian Army.

5) Veteran Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar passed away on 3 February 2016. He was a towering personality during his prime and was a 4-time MP. He was best known for his tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker. When he served this post? – From 1980 to 1989

Explanation: In 1980, Balram Jakhar became Lok Sabha Speaker and served till 1989 for two terms during which he was instrumental in automation and computerisation of the House works. He also contributed to the establishment of Parliament Museum.

5 feb 2016

1) The second-ever International Fleet Review (IFR) in India, comprising of navies from 54 countries, commenced at which place from 4 February 2016? –Vishakhapatnam

Explanation: The International Fleet Review 2016 is being held at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) from 4 to 8 February 2016.

The theme (motto) for IFR 2016 is ‘United through Oceans’. However, the overall theme of the this 

54 navies are participating in IFR 2016, compared to 29 in 2001, and 24 foreign warships are at Vishakhapatnam, exactly the same number as in 2001 in Mumbai. During the review, 24 foreign naval chiefs are expected to visit Visakhapatnam, while some 4,000 foreign sailors will also be part of this event. Apart from this, 75 Indian warships will participate in IFR 2016.

2) Union Government is set to infuse how much more funds into the state-run banks in the current financial year 2015-16, as was announced by Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal on 3 February 2016? – Rs. 5,000 crore

Explanation: The Government is has earmarked fund worth Rs. 25,000 crore for 2015-16 primarily to strengthen PSU banks’ balance sheets. Of this about Rs 20,088 crore has already been pumped into 13 public sector banks.

3) What is the name of India’s first anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug, which was launched by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on 3 February 2016? – BGR-34

Explanation: BGR-34 is the name of the country’s first anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug (for type II Diabetes). It has been developed jointly by National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), the Lucknow-based research units of CSIR.

4) Which Indian drug manufacturer came to news on 3 February 2016 after it claimed to have filed for global patents of two vaccines for Zika virus, with which it could become world’s first company to develop a vaccine for Zika? – Bharat Biotech (Hyderabad)

Explanation: Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech on 3 February claimed to have filed for global patent of two vaccine candidates – a recombinant vaccine and an inactivated vaccine – for Zika virus. It also announced that it could make available the inactivated vaccine in two years if the Indian Government fast-tracked the regulatory approvals once the pre-clinical trials proved to be successful.

5) The 2-day ‘India Investment Summit’ was inaugurated by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on 4 February 2016. This summit seeks to attract long term investors including Sovereign Wealth Funds and Pension Funds across the globe. Which entity is partnering with the Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) in organizing this summit? – SBI Caps

Explanation: The Summit is to showcase and discuss the huge long term infrastructure investment opportunities in India.

The Government of India has already established National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) as a Category II Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Regulations.