Civil Services' Surgicals

  Chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research He will be the Chairman of the committee to review NCERT's political science textbooks for schools . The committee will submit its report within one month. The Government has set up a committee in the wake of the cartoon row to review NCERT's political science textbooks for schools. The committee, comprising 5 members from a social science background, will review the textbooks from the point of view of identifying educationally inappropriate material in them.

Japanese mountaineer   Became the oldest woman to climb Mount Everest at the age of 73 years.

(Courtesy : asianmirror.lk) New President of Serbia  Replaces Boris Tadic as the President of Serbia The contest had been seen as a vote on EU membership and the newly-elected President promised that Serbia will not wander off from its European path.

One of the leading NRIs and Private education providers.   The Founder and Chairman of GEMS Education Group of institutions in the gulf region. Conferred the title of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Education Partnerships. Sunny Varkey is the second Indian to become a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He was lauded for his contribution in innovative public-private partnerships to ensure that underprivileged children across the world receive a good quality education, especially in Africa. Sunny Varkey began the Varkey Group in 1980 with 'Our Own English High School'. Since 1980, the organisation has since evolved to include a number of schools internationally. The Varkey group has also grown to include separate divisions in healthcare and construction in addition to their large role in education under the title GEMS Education. GEMS Education is the largest private school operator in the world for students from kindergarten to grade 12. There are over 100,000 students in...

Archery player The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs approved an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh (from National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons) to archery player Nisha Rani Dutta who is living in a poor condition.

Akash test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore in Odisha coast. Akash :

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tabled a White Paper on black money in Lok Sabha, which makes a strong case for setting up Lokpal and Lokayuktas to deal with the menace of Black Money. The minister informed that there was no exact estimation of the black money generated in the country but refuted the reports that Indians held the largest deposits in Swiss banks by providing data. The White Paper suggests 4-pronged strategy to curb generation of black money which includes-

A verdict on where to site the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope will be taken soon. The choices under considerations are: South Africa Australia and New Zealand The SKA will be built in the southern hemisphere, in South Africa or Australia and New Zealand, where the view of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is best and radio interference least What is “Square Kilometre Array Project”?

What is Dragon?

  Who was Nazrul? He was a famous Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works invoking powerful spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. Full name was Kazi Nazrul Islam , sobriquet, ‘Bidrohi Kobi’ (Rebel Poet). Period : Birth May 25, 1899 - Death August 29, 1976 His intense poetic work and nationalist activism earned him the paopular title of Bidrohi Kobi . ‘ National poet of Bangladesh’: Accomplishing a plethora of highly praised works through his life, Nazrul is officially known as the ‘National poet of Bangladesh’ and celebrated in India. Nationality: Bangladeshi (Invited by the Government of Bangladesh, Nazrul and his family moved to Dhaka in 1972, where he died four years later.) His relation with Indian Independence Movement:

MoU inked b/w the EXIM bank of India and Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank MoU on: · Border area development · Setting up Myanmar Institute of Information Technology · Setting up Advance Centre for Agricultural Research and Education at Yezin Agriculture University. · Establishing Rice Bio Park · Establishing of border haats across the border between the two countries · Cooperation b/w Indian council of world affairs and Myanmar institute of strategic and international Studies. · Kolkata University and Dagon University Yangon to collaborate on higher studies and research. India and Myanmar will also launch bus service from Imphal to Mandalay. Nay Pyi Taw is the new capital of Myanmar, earlier it was Rangoon. Source  : www.gktoday.in

Senior IAS officer S R Rao has been appointed as new Commerce Secretary. Rao, a 1975-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, is Special Secretary in the Department of Telecommunications, at present.   He has replaced Rahul Khullar, who has been appointed new TRAI Chairman.   Saurabh Chandra, Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), was holding the additional charge of Department of Commerce.  

Axis bank, the 3 rd largest private sector lender tied up with Bahrain's Ahli United Bank for inward remittances. What does this tie up would bring in for customers of Ahli United Bank? Any person having an a/c with Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank can transfer money to a bank account holder in India using the Internet banking platform. If the recipient account holder is an Axis customer, the amount will be credited the same day but if the account is in any other bank branch covered under the NEFT network, it can take up to two days. Customers can initiate transactions of up to BHD 5,000 (Rs 732,000 roughly) a day. Source  : www.gktoday.in

“One MP-One Idea” Scheme announced by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation  under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). Focus of the Scheme:

What is “Roshni” ? A green innovative concept with a vision to turn all urban habitats eco-friendly and sustainable. Concept evolved at the behest of the President of India, which encompasses environment management and empowerment of local communities to create eco-friendly sustainable urban habitats via participation of stakeholders and union of partnership programmes. Started on July 25, 2008, the programme aims to make the President’s Estate a model in green, energy efficient and zero waste model township for all other habitats across India. Objectives :

Govt constitutes committee to review the functioning of Petroleum Service Companies (PSCs) in the country. Who will head this Committee? The committee will be headed by the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory, Dr. C. Rangarajan Objectives:

The Neurology centre at All India Medical Institute of Sciences (AIIMS) will aid in building a National Registry for Multiple Sclerosis (MS).It will help in maintenance of epidemiological data of MS patients from across India for evidence based research, treatment, and education. What is Multiple Sclerosis?