There are quite few questions on current affairs asked in the SNAP GK section. To help you ace the section, we have sifted through the important news of the year and compiled a list of the top 60 news items of the year. Here it is, handed to you on a platter! đ
1. Veteran journalist and author Vinod Mehta passed away after a prolonged illness in the Capital in March. Mehta, 72, who had founded the Outlook Magazine and served as its Editor-in-Chief, last held the post of editorial Chairman of the publication.
2. Actor-filmmaker Shashi Kapoor, who has starred in over 100 Hindi films and best known for his powerful portrayals in hits like âNamak Halaalâ, âDeewarâ and âKabhie Kabhieâ, was chosen for the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award, the highest official recognition for film personalities in India.
3. Singaporeâs founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, passed away in March, leaving behind the unlikely nation that he and his colleagues fostered and built over five decades as his lasting legacy.
4. India unveiled its indigenously developed and manufactured Rotavirus vaccine, âRotavacâ claimed to be the worldâs cheapest at the rate of around Rs. 60 per dose and aimed at boosting efforts to deal with Diarrhoea that kills upto 80,000 children under 5 every year.
5. After a gap of over 20 years, Rs. 1 note was released in the country and it bears the signature of Finance Secretary of India – Rajiv Mehrishi.
6. PM launched Sukanya Samridhi Yojna under Beti Bachao campaign. It is a small deposit scheme for girl child, as part of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign, which would fetch an interest rate of 9.1 per cent and provide income tax rebate.
7. Nasim Zaidi took over as the 20th Chief Election Commissioner of India from Hari Shankar Brahma.
8. India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush Ballistic Missile with a strike range of 350 km from a naval ship off the Odisha coast. The surface-to-surface Dhanush is a naval variant of Indiaâs indigenously-developed Prithvi missile.
9. Finland-based Nokia and French telecom gear maker Alcatel Lucent announced their merger in a 15.6 billion euro deal.
10. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank which will provide credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs and act as a regulator for âMicro-Finance Institutionsâ (MFIs).
11. US mathematician John Nash, who inspired the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind, died in a car crash with his wife. The mathematician is renowned for his work in game theory, winning the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994.
12. Reaching out to farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched DD Kisan Channel, which would provide information about best agricultural practices and related content. The âDD Kisanâ channel is being dubbed as the first of its kind in the world by officials, who say that it would cover agriculture, rural areas and also areas like horticulture, food processing and animal husbandry.
13. In the biggest event boxing staged in years, Floyd Mayweather defeated Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision after 12 rounds to improve his professional record to 48-0 and unify the world welterweight titles. The legendary bout termed as âFight of the Centuryâ was played at iconic MGM Grand, Las Vegas.
14. India-born Nikesh Arora was appointed as president of Japanâs SoftBank Corp and has been named as a potential successor to CEO Masayoshi Son.
15. Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria entered the UNESCO World Heritage site of Palmyra after seizing the town next to the ancient ruins. The ruins at Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site just to the south-west of the town, are one of the regionâs most renowned historic sites.
16. Eminent banker K V Kamath will be the first president of USD 100 billion BRICS Bank which will provide infrastructure loans to emerging nations, rivalling multilateral lenders such as World Bank and IMF. Kamath, will have a five year term at the bank, which is likely to be operationalized within one year as âNew Development Bankâ being set up by the five nation grouping, BRICS.
17. Google will build its largest campus outside the US in Hyderabad at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.
18. Delhiâs Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been adjudged the worldâs best airport for the year 2014, under the category of handling 25 to 40 million passengers per annum.
19. Satnam Singh Bhamara, a 19-year-old from the small village of Ballo Ke, Punjab, became the first Indian-born player ever selected in the NBA Draft.
20. Looking not to miss out on the e-commerce boom, private lender HDFC Bank launched a mobile phone application, PayZapp, for online payments and money transfer.
21. Walmart stayed at the top of the Fortune 500 annual list of the largest US companies, while Apple was the most profitable and Facebook the most upward-bound.
22. With earnings of $31 million, ace Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the only Indian to feature in Forbes magazineâs 2015 list of the worldâs highest-paid athletes. The list is topped by American boxer Floyd Mayweather with earnings of $300 million, more than double the previous high for an athlete.
23. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed of Bangladesh was announced as the 2015 winner of the World Food Prize, the most prominent global award for individuals whose breakthrough achievements alleviate hunger and promote global food security.
24. Chile won the Copa America for the first time in its history after a dramatic penalty shootout against Lionel Messiâs Argentina in the final in Santiago.
25. U.S.A defeated Japan, 5-2, to win the 2015 FIFA Womenâs World Cup.
26. Ajay Mathur was appointed as the Director-General (DG) of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). He succeeded RK Pachauri who was removed from the top most position over sexual harassment charges.
27. Information Technology Secretary Ram Sevak Sharma was appointed Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
28. Sanjiv Chaturvedi and Anshu Gupta were awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award. Sanjiv Chaturvedi was awarded for Emergent Leadership for his exemplary integrity, courage and tenacity in uncompromisingly exposing and painstakingly investigating corruption in public office. He is an Indian Forest Service officer and currently the deputy secretary of All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Anshu Gupta was recognized for his creative vision in transforming the culture of giving in India and his enterprising leadership in treating cloth as a sustainable development resource for the poor. He founded Goonj in 1999, which is a non-governmental organization based in Delhi.
29. The Centre declared 7th August as National Handloom Day beginning from this year throughout the country.
30. Taj Mahal became the 1st monument to have a twitter account.
31. Railwayman Ashwani Lohani was appointed as the CMD of national carrier Air India.
32. Kochi Airport in Kerala became the worldâs 1st airport to operate completely on solar power.
33. BNP Paribas announced that it was acquiring broking firm Sharekhan for Rs. 2000 cr.
34. Google to be subsidiary of new parent company Alphabet Inc
35. Sundar Pichai appointed new CEO of Google. Google chief executive Larry Page announced the change, saying he will hold the same title at Alphabet. Co-founder Sergey Brin will be the president at Alphabet, the new holding company for the tech giant’s newer ventures such as research arm X Lab, investment unit Google Ventures and health and science operations.
36. Founder of Hero Cycles, Om Prakash Munjal passed away.
37. Government launched Indradhanush Mission to revamp Public Sector Banks.
38. Bandhan Bank became the 1st micro finance company to operate as a commercial bank.
39. âUltimate Frisbeeâ was recognized as Olympic Sport by International Olympic Committee.
40. Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning British Monarch.
41. Union Government announced One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for ex-servicemen. OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the armed forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement.
42. ISRO was conferred the 2014 Gandhi Peace Prize for its contribution to the countryâs development through space technology and satellite-based services.
43. Kalamandalam Sathyabhama, a renowned Mohiniyattam artist, passed away.
44. ISRO launched Astrosat â Indiaâs 1st space observatory satellite.
45. Lewis Hamilton won his third Formula 1 world title with a victory at US Grand Prix.
46. J Manjula becomes DRDO’s (Defence Research and Development Organisation) first woman Director General
47. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the merger of Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to strengthen the regulation of commodity futures market.
48. Air India launched the worldâs longest non-stop commercial flight between the cities of Bengaluru and San Francisco.
49. Shashank Manohar was elected as BCCI president for a second term. He previously served between 2008 and 2011.
50. Communist leader Bidhya Bhandari was elected Nepalâs first woman President.
51. Tata Motors roped in soccer superstar Lionel Messi as its global brand ambassador.
52. Grand Alliance won the 2015 Bihar assembly elections. The Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) comprised of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) and Indian National Congress (INC).
53. Aung Sang Suu Kyi won the 2015 Myanmar elections.
54. The government announced that the Swachh Bharat cess was to be levied on the portion of taxable service. The levy of 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat cess on services will lead to an increase of 50 paisa per Rs 100 worth of taxable services while the cess would be applicable only on services received after November 15.
55. Justice Tirath Singh Thakur was sworn in as the Chief Justice of India.
56. Rajesh Exports agreed to buy Swiss company Valcambi, the world’s largest gold refiner, for $400 million to secure raw material supplies at lower prices and add technological expertise to expand operations at home.
57. Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and ONGC were the 7 Indian companies featured in the world Fortune 500 list.
58. India signed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA targets non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers using foreign accounts and is quickly becoming the international standard for curbing tax evasion.
59. First International Yoga day was celebrated on 21st June, 2015.
60. The foundation stone for the Andhra Pradesh capital Amravati was laid. Touted to be modelled after Singapore, Amaravati is projected as a city that would be rich in greenery, industrialization and energy-efficient buildings.
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