Current Affairs on General

India Ranked at what position as a filer of international trademark applications among the BRICS nations in 2014, registering an increase of 5.6 per cent, according to an annual review of international patent filings ?: 2nd (second) Position

Explanation: Nearly 215,000 applications were filed in 2014, a 4.5 per cent increase over the previous year and according to UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China and the US together accounted for 87 per cent of the total growth in filings under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). After this India (1,394) is the largest user of the PCT system among BRICS countries, followed by the Russian Federation (890), Brazil (581) and South Africa (297). International trademark applications filed under the WIPO - administered Madrid System grew to a record 47,885 in 2014, representing 2.3 per cent growth on 2013. Therefore, among the top origins, Australia (23.3 per cent) and the UK (19.3 per cent) saw double-digit growth in 2014, while France (9.9 per cent), China (5.5 per cent), Germany (4.8 per cent) and the Netherlands (4.2 per cent) saw declines. Telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. of China, with 3,442 published applications, overtook Panasonic Corp. of Japan as the largest applicant in 2014, while the US-based Qualcomm Inc. was the second largest applicant in 2014, with 2,409 published applications, and China's ZTE Corp. took third place with 2,179 applications.

In the Budget 2015, Railway Minister had announced the Prograam “Kaya Kalp” to uplift the railways service and other fundamentals. Thus on 19 March 2015, Who was appointed to be Head of this programme?: Industrialist Ratan Tata

Explanation: As per the promise made by railways minister in the budget 2015, Railways intend to set up an innovation council called "Kaya Kalp" for the purpose of business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovative in the state-run transporter. This Council will be now headed by the famous industrialist Rata Tata, who is no longer in business. Besides this the Council will have two leaders of two main federations of railways as its members thus Gopal Mishra, General Secretary of All Indian Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) and M Raghavaiah, General Secretary, National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) are the two recognized federations representing the railway employees are also appointed as members. The other committee, under former DIPP secretary Ajay Shankar, has been set up to revamp ministry's PPP (public private partnership) cell to get private investment. The PPP Cell is critical for the growth of Indian railways since getting funds for new projects has become a challenge.

On 18 March 2015, Which famous scientist resigned as the Chairman of Board of Governors of IIT Bombay?: Anil Kakodkar

Explanation: Anil Kakodkar was a former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission has resigned as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Bombay. The main speculation for his resignation was because of differences with the HRD ministry over selection of some IIT directors. The issue of his resignation was raised in the Parliament however, later the HRD Ministry claimed that Kakodkar has withdrawn his resignation.

Japan video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd are teaming up with which online gaming company to develop smartphone games featuring the likes of Super Mario, in a bid to retain users increasingly shunning their console and browser-based games?: Online gaming firm DeNA

Explanation: DeNA, grew from a startup launched in 1999 to a major online gaming company and they both Nintendo Co Ltd  and DeNA would buy 22 billion yen ($181.4 million) worth of shares in each other as part of a capital and product tie-up. As a result, Nintendo will acquire a 10 percent stake in DeNA while DeNA will acquire a 1.2 percent stake in Nintendo. Both Companies will jointly develop and operate gaming apps, including those with Nintendo`s iconic game characters, for smartphones. They will also launch later this year an online membership service accessible on mobile devices and Nintendo`s existing 3DS portable system and its Wii U console. After this capital alliance, Nintendo will become the second largest shareholder of DeNA after its founder, Tomoko Namba, who has a 13.1 percent stake.

The Supreme Court on 16 March 2015 passed what important order in ragrds to Aadhaar cards?: Aadhaar cards are not compulsory to avail of government subsidies

Explanation: The Supreme Court made it clear the Aadhaar cards, issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), are not mandatory as far as availing the subsidies associated with numerous govt. schemes is concerned. The Supreme Court’s in his interim order on 23 September 2013 directed that “no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card, inspite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory”. The order was paased issued after it came to limelight that many government authorities still insist on Aadhaar for providing government subsidies and basic services to ordinary citizens and thus issued this stern warning to the government.

What is the name given to this year’s Puri Rath Yatra by Union Govt. which has announced that will take major steps towards pitching for international branding and promotion this Festival, which would be a special event which comes every 19 years?: Nabakalebar Rath Yatra

Explanation: Last time Nabakalebar was celebrated in 1996, where the term ‘Nabakalebar’ name is given to the Rath Yatra of 2015 which stands for the periodical renewal of the wooden images of Lord Jagannath, Bhalabhadara, Subhadra and Sudarshan. The Union Tourism Ministry in coordination with the Petroleum Ministry is planning to observe this special event as an International Tourism Event of the year which is schedule to be held on 18 July 2015.