Current Affairs 2nd November 2015

Current Affairs 2nd November 2015 - Important Points

• Who has took over as Maintenance Head of IAF - Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna

• Name the eminent archaeologist who has passed away - V.N. Misra

• Who has been appointed as the CMD of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited - AK Jha

• Name the committee constituted by MHRD - TSR Subramanian committee

• Which country has won Rugby World Cup for record third time - New Zealand

• Punjab Government signed MoU to - set up bio-ethanol refinery

• Which missile has been successfully test-fired from INS Kochi - BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile

• Hero Group founder Brijmohan Lall Munjal passed away

• Facebook and BSNL partnered to set up - 100 WiFi hotspots

• 2015 Swiss Indoors men’s singles title won by - Roger Federer

• MTS India merged with - Reliance Communications

• 2015 Mexican Gand Prix Formula 1 championship won by - Nico Rosberg of Germany

• Which scheme has been launched for confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternate trains - Vikalp Scheme

Current Affairs 2nd November 2015 - Details

Who has took over as Maintenance Head of IAF - Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna

Among the important appointments, On 1st November 2015, Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna took over as the Air Officer-in-charge Maintenance (AOM) at Air Headquarters, New Delhi.

On 25th July 1977, Khanna was appointed in the mechanical stream of Aeronautical Engineering branch in the Indian Air Force (IAF). Khanna is also an alumnus of the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.

Khanna had worked as Director General (Aircraft) and Assistance Chief of Air Staff Engg (Transport and Helicopters) at Air HQ, Chief Engineering Officer and Senior Maintenance Staff Officer at HQ Eastern Air Command. He was also a part of successful ordination of large number of Pilatus aircraft, Hawk AJT and MI-17 V5 helicopters.

He was awarded with the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal.

Name the eminent archaeologist who has passed away - V.N. Misra

On 31st October 2015, pre-historian Professor and renowned archaeologist Virendra Nath Misra passed away at the age of 80.

Misra is famous for his research in Ethnoarchaeology, Prehistory and Protohistory. Excavations of the 6000-year-old site of Balathal in Rajasthan and the world heritage site of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh was his most remarkable achievement.

In 2000, he had also served as the Director of Deccan College. Madhya Pradesh Government awarded him for his contribution to pre-history with the prestigious VS Wakankar Award.

Who has been appointed as the CMD of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited - AK Jha

Among the important appointments, On 1st November 2015, Anil Kumar Jha was appointed as the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).

Prior to this appointment, he was serving as the Director (Production & Planning) in MOIL Limited.

He has a rich experience of more than three decades in the field of open cast coal mines, mine planning, management supervision, production.

Name the committee constituted by MHRD - TSR Subramanian committee

On 31st October 2015, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) composed a drafting committee to frame the New Education Policy (NEP) and it will be led by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian.

The purpose of the committee is verify the output of wide-ranging consultation process, among others, initiated by the ministry on 26th January 2015 and draft a revision to the NEP 1986 and also submit Framework for Action.

The other members of the committee are :

• Sudhir Mankad, former Chief Secretary of Gujarat
• JS Rajput, former Director, NCERT
• Shailaja Chandra, former Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi
• Sewaram Sharma, former Home Secretary, NCT of Delhi

Which country has won Rugby World Cup for record third time - New Zealand

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, On 31st October 2015, Rugby World Cup was won by New Zealand for the third time by defeating Australia.

Since 2011, under the leaddership of Coach Steve Hansen, New Zealand has won 49 of the 54 games.

World Rugby Awards Winners

• Coach of the Year: Michael Cheika (Australia)
• Player of the Year: Dan Carter (New Zealand)
• Breakthrough Player of the Year: Nehe Milner-Skudder (New Zealand)
• Man of the Match: Dan Carter (New Zealand)
• Team of the Year: New Zealand
• Try of the Year: Julian Savea (New Zealand) vs France
• Referee of the Year: Nigel Owens

Do You Know :

• The Webb Ellis Cup is awarded to the winner of the Rugby World Cup.
• It is named after William Webb Ellis, the inventor of rugby.

Punjab Government signed MoU to - set up bio-ethanol refinery

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 29th October 2015, The Punjab Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a bio-ethanol refinery worth 950 crore rupees in the state, with a consortium of Beta Renewables, Novozymes and CVC India Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.

Key features of the bio-refinery

• It will resolve the persistent problem of wheat and paddy straw burning.
• Co-products of biogas, pellets and compost will be generated through processing bio-refinery pellets and effluents.

Apart from this, 12 other MoUs worth 21305 crore rupees were also signed which include 150 MW solar plant and 300 MW solar plant with Biomass Power Plant by Sukhbir Agro Energy Ltd., 50 MW solar power plant by Imperial Solution Pvt. Ltd., 100 MW waste-to-energy projects by AG Dauters Consulting Pvt. Ltd., Co-Generation power plant by Indian Sucrose Ltd., 100 MW power generation unit by Navrattan Group and Neuron Power Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Which missile has been successfully test-fired from INS Kochi - BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 1st November 2015, BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile was successfully test-fired by India from INS Kochi to verify the capabilities of BrahMos and INS Kochi, the country’s newest stealth-destroyer.

Features of BrahMos Missile

• It has a top speed of Mach 2.8.
• It has Solid propellant in the first stage and Ramjet liquid propellant later.
• It is capable of carrying a conventional and nuclear warhead of 300 kilogram and is also the first supersonic cruise missile.
• This missile can be launched from air, Sea, Sub-seas and land.

Hero Group founder Brijmohan Lall Munjal passed away

On 1st November 2015, Hero Group founder Brijmohan Lall Munjal passed away at the age of 92.

Achievements of Brijmohan Lall Munjal

• In 1956, he officially started the Hero Group along with this four brothers.
• He led the Hero MotoCorp to the world’s largest two-wheeler company now for the 14th year in a row.
• Since 1986, he led Hero Cycles, part of Hero Group, to become the largest manufacturer of bicycles.

Facebook and BSNL partnered to set up - 100 WiFi hotspots

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 31st October 2015, BSNL associated with Facebook to create 100 WiFi hotspots in rural areas of southern and western India.

Facebook has planned to invest 5 crore rupees per year for buying bandwidth from BSNL. BSNL selected vendor Quad Zen and Trimax will set up the hotspots.

100 villages have been chosen by Facebook to provide Wi-Fi hotspots on a revenue-sharing model. According to the project, the first half an hour will be free for the consumers.

2015 Swiss Indoors men’s singles title won by - Roger Federer

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, On 1st November 2015, Roger Federer of Switzerland won the Swiss Indoors men’s singles tennis title 2015 by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain.

About Swiss Indoors

• It is a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts for men.
• It is initially an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit between 1970 and 1989.

MTS India merged with - Reliance Communications

On 2nd November 2015, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) took over Russian conglomerate Sistema Shyam Teleservices’ (SSTL) venture that is functional in the name MTS.

Around 1500 crore rupees in revenues and 9 million customers will be brought to RComby this merging activity. Besides this, it will also help RCom extend the validity of spectrum in 800/850 MHz band spectrum, ideally suited for 4G LTE services, in eight circles, including Delhi and Kolkata.

2015 Mexican Gand Prix Formula 1 championship won by - Nico Rosberg of Germany

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, On 1st November 2015, the 2015 Mexican Gand Prix Formula 1 championship was won by Mercedes racing driver Nico Rosberg of Germany.

Lewis Hamilton of Britain was defeated by Nico Rosberg in the final race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

Force India drivers-Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) and Sergio Perez (Mexico) were at the seventh and eight positions respectively.

It was the fourth title for Rosberg in the 2015 season. Before this, he won the titles in Australia, Monaco and Spain.

Which scheme has been launched for confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternate trains - Vikalp Scheme

On 1st November 2015, Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) called as Vikalp to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternate trains was launched by Indian Railways.

The scheme will be operational for six months and will be available for the tickets booked through internet on Delhi-Lucknow and Delhi-Jammu sectors of Northern Railway.

Although, ATAS opted passengers who remain fully waitlisted after charting will only be considered for allotment in the alternate train.