Last Six months Current affairs 2012-13 for sbi po exam

67. Bangalore Best Indian City To Live : Bangalore ranks better than New Delhi, Mumbai,

Chennai and Kolkata amongst Indian cities in overall global quality of living index,

according to a Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey.Bangalore’s overall quality of living

rank went up from 141 in 2011 to 139 in 2012 and is highest amongst other Indian cities.

68. India Ranked 94th Position in Corruption : Denmark, Finland and New Zealand

tied for the first place in watchdog Transparency International’s 2012 index of the least

corrupt countries. India is on 94th position in the Corruption Perceptions Index. Most

corrupted nations are Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia in 174th positions.

69. US Extends Exemptions For India to Iran Oil Sanctions : On 8 December the US

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has extended exemptions to India, China ,South Korea,

Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan from Iranian Sanctions

Act mainly because of their significant reduction in oil import from Iran.The 9 countries

have again qualified for an exception to sanctions outlined in Section 1245 of the National

Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012, based on additional reductions in

the volume of their crude oil purchases from Iran.This is for the second time that countries

including India has received waiver from US under the Iranian sanctions act.

70. 3 Indian Projects among Strategic- Global Infrastructure Projects List : Three

Indian projects have placed in the new york’s Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum “Top

100 Strategic Global Infrastructure Projects “ list. GIFT city (Gujarat International Financial

Tech city), Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project (Maharashtra) and the Hyderabad

Metro Rail (HMR) project (Andhra Pradesh).

71. India, Ukraine Signed on Five Agreements : India and Ukraine on 10 December 2012

signed on five agreements in New Delhi to enhance cooperation including in areas of

defence, Nuclear, Science and Technology and also to remove barriers in trade and

commerce.

72. Indians ‘Largest Ethnic Minority Group in UK :On 11 December According to the

2011 Britain population census record Indians are the largest ethnic minority group in the

UK.With 1.5 percent of the Hindu religion became a third-largest religion in the nation’s.

The Christian population in the country is also a drop in the statistics.. The Muslim

community population in the country’s fastest growing increased by 3 percent to 4.8.

73. India& Pak Signed on New Visa Agreement : The new Visa Agreement between India

and Pakistan on 14th December, 2012 at New Delhi. However, the Visa-on-Arrival will

come into effect from 15th January, 2013. Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, Home Minister of

India and Mr. A. Rehman Malik, Pakistan Interior Minister singed on the agreement.

74. Cell Phone Connections to exceed the World Population by 2014 : The

International Telecommunications Communication Union (ITU) to be designed and released

Information Society 2012 – Observe report on 11 December. According to the report

number of cell phone connections exceeding the world’s population by 2014. Now 6 billion

(hundreds of millions) cell phone connections they will reach 730 Millions by 2014 .Then

the world’s population is 700 crore.Already in Russia 1.8 times cell phone accounts more

than 25 million people.

75. Indians now Live Longer but in Poor Health in Old Age : According to the the

prestigious British medical journal, ‘The Lancet ‘ report the life expectancy (LE) at birth of

an average Indian male has gone up by 15 years between 1970 and 2010. An average

Chinese male is living 10 years longer than an Indian male, while a Chinese woman is

living 11.5 years longer than her Indian counterpart. An average American lives nearly 13

years longer than an Indian.

76. World Malaria Report 2012 : According to the WHO “ World Malaria Report 2012” India,

the country most affected by malaria in the South East Asian Region, is projected to see a

decrease of 50-75 per cent in malaria case incidence by 2015.In South East Asia Region,

Bhutan, Korea, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand have registered decreases of 75 per cent or

more in the incidence of microscopically confirmed malaria incidence rates between 2000

and 2011.

77. Hinduism Third Largest Religion of World :According to the ‘ Pew research ‘ survey

report Hinduism is the third largest religion of the world after Christianity , Islam and 97

per cent of all Hindus live in the world’s three Hindu-majority countries (India, Mauritius

and Nepal), and nearly nine-in-ten Christians (87 per cent) are found in the world’s 157

Christian majority countries.In the total world population 2.2 billion Christians (32 per cent

of the world’s population), 1.6 billion Muslims (23 per cent) around the world as of 2010.

78. India & Russia signed Rs 22,000 crore Defence Deals : India and Russia signed

defence deals worth around Rs. 22,000 crore ($4 billion) on 24 December. According to

this pact Russia will sell India 71 military helicopters for $1.3 billion and technological kits

to assemble 42 Sukhoi jet fighters for $1.6 billion.

79. India – Pakistan Exchanged Nuclear Unit’s Lists : On 1 January India and Pakistan

exchanged their nuclear units’ lists , as it is customary since 20 years. The list which

contains the names of nuclear units of two countries, are exchanged between India and

Pakistan as a custom and part of an agreement which prevents them from aiming the

nuclear installations of each others’ nations.

80. Thousands of illegal Indian Migrants in UK : According to a 2012 UK Home Office

report, India has been named along with Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh,

Afghanistan, Vietnam, Brazil and Iran as the main sources of illegal immigration to

Britain.What the report does not mention is how many of the 863,000 illegal migrants that

it says are living in the UK are students. This is a contentious area because critics of the

coalition government claim it is counting students among overall immigrants.

81. World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report :According to the World Economic

Forum (WEF) report , India ranks lowest among the world’s major economies for its

preparedness to tackle global environmental risks and second-lowest for economic

risks.Switzerland is best placed among the world’s 10 major economies for adapting to or

recovering from global economic and environmental risks.While India is ranked 9th in

terms of its ability to tackle global economic risks, it comes last at 10th position for

environmental risks.However, India fared relatively better at 6th position in terms of the

government’s risk management effectiveness.The US and China were ranked fourth and

fifth respectively.

82. Indians Top the List of Working in Dream Jobs : According to survey conducted by

networking website LinkedIn,Indians have emerged at the top of the list of people working

in their dream job.The dream job league table:1. India – 44 percent 2. Indonesia – 42

percent 3. United Arab Emirates – 35.7 percent 4. Germany – 33 percent 5. Brazil – 32

percent 6. Austria – 31 percent 7. Switzerland – 30 percent 8. USA – 29 percent 9. France,

Canada, Sweden, South Africa – 28 percent 13. Singapore, Hong Kong – 27 percent 15.

Australia – 26 percent 16. New Zealand – 25 percent 17. UK – 21 percent

83. India – Vietnam Signed on Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises : On 15 January

India and Vietnam signed an MoU aimed at building capacity for developing institutional

framework and identifying thrust areas and opportunities for micro, small and medium

enterprises in this country.The MoU was signed here between the Ministry of Planning and

Investments of Vietnam and Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of

India .

84. India and Sri Lanka signed Anti-terror, Tax evasion Agreements : On 22nd January

India and Sri Lanka signed two separate agreements on combating international terrorism

and avoidance of double taxation, eyeing elevation of “robust” bilateral ties to building of

a special economic partnership.The two key accords were signed after the 8th India-Sri

Lanka Joint Commission meeting held at New Delhi , both countries discussed enhanced

cooperation in a range of areas including civil nuclear energy.At the meeting, the Indian

side was led by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid while the Lankans were led by

his counterpart G.L. Peiris.During the meet, both the parties also decided setting up of the

Special Economic Zone at Trincomali and a textile and pharmaceutical cluster in Sri Lanka.

85. International Tea Producers Forum formed : On 22 January India, along with five

other tea producing countries, has formed the International Tea Producers Forum (ITPF) at

Colombo.Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry D Purandesari signed the

joint communique on behalf of India along with representatives of Kenya, Sri Lanka,

Indonesia, Rwanda and Malawi in Colombo.The ITPF will initially be an independent body

but in future may get affiliated to Food & Agriculture Organisation of United Nations.

86. India , Bangladesh Signed Extradition and Visa Agreements : On 28 January

Bangladesh and India signed an extradition treaty and struck a deal to relax business visa

restrictions between the neighbouring countries. However, refusal provisions were

incorporated into the extradition treaty.Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde signed the

agreement with his Bangladeshi counterpart Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir at the end of their

bilateral talks.

87. India Dropped to 140th Rank in Press Freedom : According to the report Reporters

Without Borders India has dropped nine places to the 140th rank in the list of 179

countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index.China (173rd, +1) shows no sign of

improving. Its prisons still hold many journalists and netizens, while increasingly unpopular

Internet censorship continues to be a major obstacle to access information.As last year,

the list is topped by three European countries – Finland, Netherlands and

Norway.Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea continue to be at the bottom of the list as

has been in the last three years

NATIONAL

1. Ban on SIMI upheld by Tribunal: A special tribunal has upheld the ban imposed by the

Centre on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which has links with Pakistan-based

terrorist outfits including Lashkar-e-Taiba and its front, Indian Mujahideen. The Home

Ministry on February 3 extended the ban on SIMI by two more years.

2. India is the second-largest mobile phone user in world : India is the second-largest

mobile phone user with over 900 million users in the world said Union Health Minister

Ghulam Nabi Azad in London on 03 August 2012. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) announced that the mobile users in India are increased to 93.4 crore.

3. Hamid Ansari re-elected as India’s 14th Vice President : Hamid Ansari has been reelected

as the 14th Vice President of India.He received 490 votes in his favour.His rival,

BJP nominee Jaswant Singh polled 238 voted.He became the only person after

Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to get a second term.

4. PSCC recommends declaration of tea as ‘national drink’: The Parliamentary Standing

Committee on Commerce (PSCC) headed by BJP Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar has

recommended declaration of tea as a ‘national drink‘.Stating this at Palampur on Friday,

Kumar said the 102nd report of the Committee on the Tea Industry had placed in both

houses of the Parliament that 96 percent to 99 percent people in both Urban and Rural

areas of the country consume tea and as such it has already acquired the status of a

national drink.

5. NRHM to be expanded to towns also : The government will expand the scope of the

NRHM(National Rural Health Mission) to all towns and cities, by converting it into a

National Health Mission(NHM).

6. Mobile base Station radiation limit will be cut from September 1 : The Union

government has told parliament that exposure limit of radio frequency fields(base station

emissions) will be brought down to one-tenth of the existing level from 1st September

2012,because they receive petitions in High Courts and Supreme Court on fears of health

hazards like cancer from mobile tower radiations.RF signals produced by base stations are

caused for short and long term health effects.

7. Complete ban on child labour below 14 approved by Cabinet : The Union Cabinet on

28th August 2012 approved a proposal for amending the Child Labour (Prohibition and

Regulation) Act, 1986, to ban employment of children aged up to 14 in any form of

industry. It will be an offence to employ such children not only in factories or industries but

also in homes or on farms, if their labour is meant to serve any commercial interest.

8. Supreme court upholds death sentence for Kasab : The Supreme court has upheld

the death sentence for pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the 26/11/2008 Mumbai terror

attack.

9. 2% Reservation to Sports Persons : Youth Services and Sports – Sports Policy -

Incentives to Sports Persons – Extension of Sports Reservation to Two (2%) to meritorious

sports persons in direct recruitment in Government Departments / Undertaking / Grant –

in – Aid Institutions at all levels – Instructions and Guidelines – Notification Orders Issued.

10. Sebi plans investor website in 13 Indian languages : Market regulator Sebi is

planning to soon offer its investor website in as many as 13 Indian languages, besides the

existing one in English, to spread awareness among investors and to help resolve their

grievances.

11. Supreme Court lifts ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka: Supreme Court partially

lifts ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka on 3rd September 2012, on the basis of the

recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). CEC divides the leases of

iron ore mines in three categories A,B,C.marginal irregularities and no irregularities of

leases come under A category, most irregularities in leases come under C

category,moderate irregularities come under B category.The Supreme Court has lifted the

banwould only be effective in 18 category A mines, subject to their compliance with

statutory clearances.The ban will continued on the remaining leases.

12. Lok Sabha passed two Bills on 3rd September 2012 : Lok Sabha passed two bills on

3rd September 2012 They are 1.Sexual harassment may mean loss of business

licence:Non-compliance with the provisions of the law will be punishable with a fine of up

to Rs 50,000. Repeated violations may lead to higher penalties and cancellation of licence

or registration to do business.2.National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) expansion bill

passed

13. 4.6 magnitude quake rocks Ladakh, no impact in Kashmir : A 4.6 magnitude quake

rock Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir on 4th September 2012 afternoon. However, it

was not felt in the Kashmir valley.Its epicentre was in Southern Xinjiang China, located at

a distance of 327 km from Leh.

14. MGNREGA work days raised to 150, crop loans cut to 7% : Empowered Group of

Ministers(EGoM) on drought headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar decided to

increase the number of guaranteed work days under Mahatama Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) to 150 days and cut interest rates on crop loans to 7

percent for one year for the farmers in drought-affected states.

15. Women and Child Development Ministry launched a Web Portal named Track

Child : The Union Women and Child Development Ministry on 18 September 2012 decided

to launch a web portal named Track Child, which will serve as a central database of all

those children who have gone missing in different parts of the country. The portal will act

as a coordination mechanism between child homes, police departments and state

governments.

16. Govt launches Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme : The Finance Minister P

Chidambaram on 21st September 2012 cut withholding tax on overseas borrowings to 5

percent from 20 percent and approved the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme

(RGESS).While the RGESS is aimed at encouraging first time retail investors to invest in

stock markets through tax concessions, the cut in withholding tax to 5 percent seeks to

lower the cost of foreign borrowings by the Indian companies.The RGESS will give tax

benefits to new investors who invest up to Rs 50,000 and whose annual income is below

Rs 10 lakh.

17. C P Joshi given additional charge of Railways : Union Minister of Road Transport and

Highways C P Joshi has been assigned the additional charge of the Ministry of Railways in

place of Mr Mukul Roy, who was among the six Ministers who resigned from the United

Progressive Alliance (UPA) government 22nd September 2012.

18. Election Commission Ban the usage of animal and birds in poll campaign : The

Election Commission of India (ECI) on 26th September 2012 issued an order banning the

use of animals and birds by political parties during campaigns. People for the Ethical

Treatment of Animals (PETA) India said that following repeated requests by animal activist,

the Election Commission asked political parties and candidates to refrain from using

animals for their campaigns.

19. FICCI urges Centre to ban bauxite exports : Trade body Federation of Indian

Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has urged the Union ministry of commerce

and industry to ban bauxite exports fearing closure of alumina refineries for shortage of

the key raw material required to produce alumina.

20. Supreme Court directs Centre and states to provide basic facilities to students :

The Supreme Court on 3rd October 2012 directed all schools across the country to provide

basic infrastructure facilities like drinking water and toilets to school children within six

months and failure to implement will be viewed seriously. The order was passed on a

petition filed by an NGO Environmental and Consumer Protection Foundation.

21. Kejriwal forms political party, promises to change the system : Social activist

Arvind Kejriwal added a new dimension to his movement against corruption as he formally

launched his political party and said it belonged to the people of the nation. :

22. Ministry of Rural Development Launched Nirmal Bharat Yatra : Ministry of rural

development on 3 October 2012 started a campaign named Nirmal Bharat Yatra which

focuses on making the country free from open defecation.The yatra will begin from Wardha

District of Maharashtra from 3 october 2012 and will go through Indore, Kota, Gwalior, and

Gorakhpur and end up in Bettiah district of Bihar on November 17, covering about 2000

km of distance.

23. SC orders new survey to identify bonded labour : The Supreme Court on 15th

October 2012 directed all states and Union Territories to conduct fresh surveys to identify

bonded labour problems in the country and regretted that a large number of children

continue to work as domestic help even after the enactment of the Right to Education Act.

24. Centre to launch Aadhaar based delivery system : The much awaited Aadhaar

enabled system for direct cash transfer to beneficiaries under social schemes such as

MNREGA and pension will be launched on 19th October 2012 by PM Manmohan Singh at

Dudu, Rajasthan.

25. India’s infant mortality rate drops : India’s infant mortality rate (IMR) has come down

by three points from 47 to 44 deaths per 1,000 live births during 2011.

26. Centre, states sign MoU for broadband linking of villages : The Central government

has signed a tripartite agreement with 16 states and union territories and a special

purpose vehicle Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL) has been launched to expedite the

mission of connecting every gram panchayat with broadband network.

Reshuffling of Central Cabinet

Cabinet Ministers Portfolio

M. Veeerappa Moily Petroleum & Natural Gas

S. Jaipal Reddy Science & Technology and Earth Science

Kamal Nath Urban Development & Parliamentary Affairs

Vayalar Ravi Overseas Indian Affairs

Kapil Sibal Communications & Information Technology

C.P. Joshi Road Transport & Highways

Kumar Selja Social Justice & Empowerment

Pawan Kumar Bansal Railways

Salman Khursheed External Affairs

Jairam Ramesh Rural Development

K. Rahman Khan Minority Affairs

Dinsha J. Patel Mines

Ajay Maken Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation

M.M. Pallam Raju Human Resource Development

Ashwani Kumar Law & Justice

Harish Rawat Water Resources

Chandresh Kumar Katoch Culture

Ministers of State with

Independent Charge

Portfolio

Jyotiraditya Madharao Scindia Power

K.H. Muniappa Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

Sachin Pilot Corporate Affairs

Jitendra Singh Youth Affairs & Sports

Manish Tewari Information & Broadcasting

K. Chiranjeevi Tourism

Ministers of State Portfolio

E. Ahamed External Affairs

D. Purandeswari Commerce & Industry

Jitin Prasada Defence & Human Resource Development

S. Jagathrakshakan New & Renewable Energy

R.P.N. Singh Home

K.C. Venugopal Civil Aviation

Rajeev Shukla Parliamentary Affairs & Planning

Shashi Tharoor Human Resource Development

Kodikunni Suresh Labour & Employment

Tariq Anwar Agriculture & Food Processing Industries

K.J. Surya Prakash Reddy Railways

Ranee Narah Tribal Affairs

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Railways

A.H. Khan Choudhury Health & Family Welfare
Sarvey Sathyanarayana Road Transport & Highways

Ninong Ering Minority Affairs

Deepa Dasmunsi Urban Development

Porika Balram Naik Social Justice & Empowerment

Kruparani Killi Communication & Inforamtion Technology

Lalchand Kataria Defence