1. SPIN: Sarkaari People in News
  2. CIN: Committee in news
  3. DSPIN: Diaspora in news
  4. FIN: Foreigners in News
  5. Sports
    1. Mary Kom
    2. Tennis
    3. Other games
    4. Asian Games 2014 (Incheon)
  6. FAQ and usual Moral disclaimers

SPIN: Sarkaari People in News

  • RBI assistant’s exam 2014: asked about Ministers vs portfolios. You can check the list on PMO site. click me
  • not dwelling into CEC, CAG, service chiefs, commission chairman etc. You can get the list under previous PIN-2014 click me (although some names may be outdated).
AEC R.K. Sinha Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
Lok Sabha LK Advani became new chairman of ethics Committee.
NCW National commission for women. Lalitha Kumaramangalam new chief
NGT National green tribunal. Justice Swatanter Kumar
PFRDA New chief Hemant Contractor
SC
  • Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu replaced R.M.Lodha  as new CJI
  • Dattu will retire in Dec 2015. (so thankfully I won’t have to update PIN series soon)
  • If NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission) system becomes effective, then Dattu will retire as the last person selected from Collegium system.
TN Paneer-selvam became new CM after Jayalalitha was jailed.
TRAI Chairman Dr. Rahul Khullar.

CIN: Committee in news

Bibek Debroy (Economist) Railways restructuring.
Bezbaruah (IAS) Safery of North Eastern people working in rest of India. Home ministry.
GC Mishra by Delhi Government for metro safety
Gopalkrishna RBI Panel for Capacity building in banks and non-banks. Recommended job rotation, transfer reforms etc in Public sector banks
HR Khan (Dy.Gov.RBI) How to utilize unclaimed PPF money for senior-citizen welfare.
Justice VC Daga NSEL’s forensic audit
Mahayuti Coalition of BJP, Shivsen and other smaller parties for Maharashtra elections. But later they decided to fight independently.
PJ Nayak RBI, to reduce Government’s ownership to below 50% from sarkari banks. report given long time back, in news because of Wilful defaulter topic.
TSR Subramanian (Ex-cabinet Secretary) former cabinet Secretary. Green law panel to reform existing environment laws.

DSPIN: Diaspora in news

America

Ami Bera California, House of representative.
Bobby Jindal Louisiana Governer, USA, Indian origin, Republican party
Fareed Zakaria works for CNN. in his interview, Modi said for the first time that Indian muslims will fail Al-Quaeda.
Nikky Haley S.Carolina Governer, USA, Indian origin, Republican party
Tulsi Gabbard 1st Hindu in US House of Representatives (their Lok Sabha). Elected from Hawai State.
Party:Democrat.She took oath on Gita, Served in US army, was deployed in Iraq.
Gave that Gita to Modi during his visit.
Krittika Biswas Daughter of Indian diplomat. Earlier jailed for another person’s crime. Court gave her millions in compensation
Maneesh K. Goyal Obama appointed him as member of prestigious J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Richard Rahul Verma
  • nominee for the post of Ambassador to India
  • Served in US airforce

Others

Alok Shetty
  • Time’s “leaders of tomorrow”
  • He is an Architect working for floor-proof houses for slum people.
New Zealand Mahesh Bindra and Parmjeet Parmar elected as Member of Parliament
Spelling bee Obama meets Spelling Bee co-champions Sriram Hathway and Ansun Sujoe. In that meeting, Obama couldn’t spell two words correctly – Corpsbruder (a close comrade)” and “Antigropelos (waterproof leggings)

Desi-Videshi awards

  • Padma, Bharat etc not covered because not given in September 2014 and dead topic. Although, older list available in PIN-2014 click me
  • Noble etc. not covered because 2014’s yet to be declared and 2013’s is dead topic. although if you want to see 2013 list click me
  • In videshi awards – I’m including foreigners as well e.g. snowden.
Alternative Nobel
  • Right livelihood award
  • Edward Snowden
  • Pakistani activist Asma Jahangir
Fields prize Mathematician Manjul Bhargava
Rolf Nevanlinna prize
  • Subhash Khot Professor of computer science at New York University
  • Won Rolf Nevanlinna prize of International mathematical union
Gandhi seva award
  • SN SubbaRao
  • By Karnataka Government

FIN: Foreigners in News

Complete list of PM/President given in earlier PIN-2014 (although some may have become outdated)
Here are the leaders in news during Sep-2014.

Afghanistan New President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. He replaced Hamid Karzai who had been misruling the country since 2001.
Australia PM Tony Abbott: visited India, signed nuke deal, wants to legalize marijuana for medicinal use.
Bangladesh New law that empowers parliament to impeach judges
Denmark PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Sent F16 figher jets to destroy ISIS militants in Iraq.
EU Ex-Polish PM Donald Tusk will become EU President from December 2014.
Fiji PM: Voreqe Frank Bainimarama. President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. 37% of Juntaa Indian origin.
Indonesia New bill to provide indirect elections at local bodies. Only President will be elected directly.
Iran President Hassan Rouhani. terms US led anti-ISIS coalition “ridiculous”
Iraq Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi
Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu met Modi in USA
Kiribati President of Kiribati Anote Ton- visited Arctic to understand climate change threat.
New Zealand PM Jonh Key. Wants to redesign flag and remove UK’s royal emblem from it.
Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas seeks U.N. deadline to end Israeli occupation
Philippines President Benigno Aquino survived impeachment
Poland President Bronislaw Komorowski.  PM Ewa Kopacz
Thailand PM Prayuth Chan–ocha . Thinks opposition parties doing black magic on him!
Tibet  Prime Minister-in-Exile (Sikyong) Lobsang Sangay

 

World organizations
FAO
  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
  • DG Jose Graziano da Silva, visited India in Sep.
WHO DG Margaret Chan
UNGA
  • President Sam Kutesa of Uganda.
  • Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon of S.Korea.

Sports

Mary Kom

Hot topic for competitive exams because of the movie. Just like in past, Milkha Singh was hot favorite because of his movie. Here is the brief biography of Mary Kom.

  • full name Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom
  • Coach: Narjit Singh.
  • Hails from Imphal, Manipur
  • Five time World ametuer boxing champ
  • Plays in the flyweight category. (Her weight ~51 kg)
  • Won bronze in London Olympics 2012.
  • Won gold at Asian games 2014, at Incheon South Korea.
  • Autobiography “Unbreakable”
  • Priyanka Chopra player her role in the movie Mary Kom. Director Omung Kumar, Producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
  • Civilian awards: Padma shree, Bhushan, Arjun Award, Rajiv Khel Ratna.

Tennis

Grand Slam involves four “Opens”-

  1. Australian (covered in earlier PIN-2014 article series)
  2. French (same as above)
  3. Wimbledon (given below)
  4. US (given below)

Wimbledon 2014, June July

CATEGORY WON DEFEATED
Men Single Novak Djokovic, Serbia Roger Federer, Swiz.
Men doubles Vasek Pospisil, Jack Sock Not important
Women single Petra Kvitová, Czech Eugenie Bouchard, Canada
Women doubles Italy Sara Errani, Roberta Vinci Not important
Mixed Serbia Nenad Zimonjic, Australia Samantha Stosur Not important
Men Single Serbia Novak Djokovic Switzerland Roger Federer

 

US Opens 2014, Aug-September
CATEGORY WON DEFEATED
men single Marin Cilic (Croatia) Nishikori (Jap)
men doubles Bob and Mike Bryan, US not important
women single Serena Williams, USA Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
women doubles Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina (Russia) not important
mixed Sania Mirza (India), Bruno Soares (Brazil) Not important

 

Tennis: Misc.
Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori First time made it to US Open Finals. Modi wished him best of luck
Chinese tennis star Li Na Two grand slams won in career. Retired in Sep 2014.

Other games

I’m not dwelling into cricket, because I don’t follow it on TV/newspaper and directly make note out of current affairs magazines. But September’s current magazines are yet to reach my home.

Chess Magnus Carlsen agreed to play against Vishwanathan a Sochi, Russia. Carlsen was scared because Russian intervention in Ukrain. Sochi not far away from the troubled region.
Oscar Pistorius Handicapped Athlete. Guilty of culpable homicide of his girlfriend in South Africa.
Basketball Sikh Players allowed to wear turbans.
Football First ever Indian women football referees: Maria Rebello Piedade and Uvena Fernandes. They served at Asian Games 2014.
Dutee Chand Rejected in CWG-2014, after a test showed higher level of androgen (male hormone) in her body.

Asian Games 2014 (Incheon)

  • Theme “Diversity shines here”
  • 2014: Games at Incheon, S.Korea
  • 2018: Games at Indonesia.
  • India’s flagbearer: Indian hockey team captain Sardar Singh.

 

Mascots of 2014 games
Vichuon light
Barame Wind
Chumuro dance

I’m not going into medals by Indian sportspersons at the moment, because event will end on October 4. After that hopefully some news website will prepare full list thus saving me the time and trouble.
For other parts visit Mrunal.org/PIN.

FAQ and usual Moral disclaimers

Q. You’ve added too many trivial GK type things in it.
Ans.
After observing the trend of general awareness questions in SSC, RBI grade “B” office and RBI assistant exams of 2014 round- (thanks to comments by readers), it seems that the trend of trivial-GK type current affairs is back.

  • SSC walla asking height of actresses
  • RBI officer asking Vidhya Balan movie
  • RBI assistant focused too much in number type factoids and so on.

So need to adapt accordingly.

Q. You’ve not added xyz thing in it. This coverage is far superficial than what is available under xyz current affairs magazine..
Ans.

Imran Hashmi (In once upon a time in Mumbai) अगर रास्ते की परवा करता रहा तो मंजिल बुरा मान जाएगी. [If I keep worrying about the road, then the destination will feel upset].
Mrunal अगर [PIN] की परवा करता रहा तो [Current-series] बुरा मान जाएगी.
  • I didnot specifically research on any of these topics. I simply noted down the factoids while reading Hindu and Indianexpress for the ongoing [Current] Series. And today, I’ve sorted, tabulated and published them in three parts.
  • In other words, these three articles are ‘by-products’ of my [Current] series. Beyond that, I lack the time and manpower to specifically research on PIN series, like I had done in past- for the [PIN-2014] series.
  • If you feel that xyz topic must be prepared then please do add in the comments below.

Q. What about PIN July and August.
Ans.
Not possible because of same Imran Hashmi problem. But there is a desi-jugaad available. Goto library, check the current-affairs magazine- Pratiyogita, Wizard, chronicle etc. and update stuff from it in your database.

Q. Will you release PIN October 2014?
Ans. Most likely yes, Because PIN is merely a byproduct of my [Current-series]. But then again, unlike Bhai, I make no commitments.

Q. I read xyz current affairs magazine and your PIN articles, is that sufficient for clearing IBPS exam?

Ans. No. If you really want to join banking sector then you must pursue one English newspaper on daily basis- for comprehension, vocabulary, banking and economy. And maintain notes – It doesn’t need to be as comprehensive as UPSC note, but an just overview of all current affairs especially in banking and economy.

Because even if you clear the written stage through aptitude, the lack of current affairs will hurt you severely at the interview stage. And Interview stage is the deciding factor in bank allotments- sometimes people from borderline cutoffs get selected and sometimes, aptitude-wizards fail to get even the last “khopche-walli” bank. It all depends on your interview- Ask those who got allotted/failed in Round 3 of IBPS.