Current Affairs: October,2013

October, 2013            

20th October:

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Moscow to strengthen bilateral strategic partnership.
• Lata Mangeshkar presented with the first national Yash Chopra Memorial Award in Mumbai.

19th October:

• India’s tallest air traffic control (ATC) tower with 84-metre structure inaugurated in Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai.
• An Italian court ruled that former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should be barred from holding public office for two years following a conviction for tax fraud.
• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has banned Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Pradeep Sangwan for 18 months after he was found violating the board's anti-doping regulations in IPL 2013.

18th October:

• The Archaeological Survey of India team began digging at Daundia Khera village of Unnao district, UP for the prophesied 1,000 tones of gold as claimed by a local priest Swami Shobhan Sarkar.
• Micromax has roped in Hollywood star Hugh Jackman as its brand ambassador.

17th October:

• The U.S. Congress approved a deal to end a partial government shutdown.US federal workers back to work after 16-day shutdown.The workers have been furloughed since the partial government shutdown began October 1.
• The Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into the tapes of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia.
• Terence Walsh appointed as Chief Coach of the Indian National Hockey Team.

16th October:

• World Bank cuts India growth forecast to 4.7 per cent from 6.1 percent for the current fiscal year.
• Indian Railways appointed acting chairman of Railway Board Arunendra Kumar as the head of the board.
• INS Sunayna inducted into Indian Navy’s service which is the largest offshore patrol vessel (OPV).
• New Zealand author Eleanor Catton wins Man Booker prize for her book "The Luminaries". She becomes the youngest novelist to win the man booker prize at the age of 28 years. Also the book has set a new record for the longest winning novel with 852 pages.
• Australian batsman set a new world record with their top five compiling individual half centuries while scoring 359 runs against India in Jaipur.
• Virat Kohli scores the fastest century by an Indian batsman in ODI with 52 balls against Australia.
• EPL club Liverpool launched a residential football academy in Pune.

15th October:

• Kumar Mangalam Birla, head of the Aditya Birla Group has been charged with conspiracy and cheating to land two coal blocks in Odisha in 2005 by CBI in new FIR.
• An Afghan provincial governor Arsala Jamal killed in a bomb blast at a mosque after Eid prayers in Logar, close to the capital Kabul.
• 93 died in a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in central Philippine island of Bohol.  

14th October:

• Vijayadashami and Dussehra celebrated across India.
• Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert Shiller of America wins the Nobel prize for economics for developing new methods to study trends in asset markets.

13th October:

• Over 70 people died and over 100 injured in a stampede at Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district.
• Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the Japanese Grand Prix.

12th October:

• Cyclone Phailin has made landfall in Odisha. Over five lakh people have been evacuated in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to grant cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar his wish to play his 200th and farewell Test in his home town Mumbai.

11th October:

• Hague-based Organisation OPCW awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan selected for the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for the year 2012.
• India's industrial production growth slowed to 0.6 percent in August from an upwardly revised 2.75 percent pace in July.

10th October:

• High alert has been declared as the cyclonic storm "Phailin" is expected to hit coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on Saturday night.
• Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement from Test cricket after playing 200th game which is most likely to be held in Mumbai from November 14.
• Canada's Canada's Alice, 82 Munro won the Nobel Literature Prize.
• Malala Yousafzai, 16-year-old education activist from Pakistan wins European Union's Sakharov human rights award.

9th October:

• The Nobel prize in chemistry awarded jointly to three US scientist named Martin Karplus ( Harvard University), Michael Levitt (Stanford School of Medicine) and Arieh Warshel (University of Southern California).
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Bharti Enterprises breaking up their Indian joint venture. Now Wal-Mart will independently own and operate separate businesses in the country.
• Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf granted bail and free to leave Pakistan after a decision by a court in Islamabad.

8th October:

• The Union Cabinet of India approved the National Identification Authority of India Bill  that will give statutory status to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
• Peter Higgs (United Kingdom) and Francois Englert (Belgium) jointly awarded Nobel Prize for Physics.
• Supreme Court lifted the restraints it put on N Srinivasan from assuming charge as the elected chief of the Indian cricket board (BCCI).

7th October:

• Government hike railway fares by two per cent for all classes because of a rise in the prices of diesel and power.
• India test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile with a strike range of 350 km from Balasore, Odisha.
• Arundhati Bhattacharya appointed as SBI's first woman chairperson.
• Randy Schekman(USA), James Rothman(USA) and Thomas Sudhof (Germany) wins Nobel Prize for Medicine for cell transport.
• The Supreme Court has proposed a three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukul Mudgal to probe into IPL spot-fixing scandal.

6th October:

• Sania Mirza and Cara Black wins the Women’s Doubles in China Open tennis championship trophy.
• Mumbai Indians wins the Champions League Twenty20 for the second time after beating Rajasthan Royals by 33 runs in the final at the Ferozeshah Kotla. It is the last Twenty20 match for both Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.

5th October:

• The Union government launched the Inter Company LPG portability scheme in 24 cities across the country through which consumer can switch their LPG distributors through a portability system and also buy 5kg cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas at select petrol stations.
• The Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India inaugurated a joint power transmission plant through which Bangladesh will receive up to 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

4th October:

• Indian Election Commission announced election dates for five states - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Delhi. The Polls in the five states will be start from 11th Dec to 4th of December and the counting will be on 8th December.
• Afghanistan qualified for its maiden ICC World Cup after defeating Kenya by seven wickets to finish second in the World Cricket League Championship in Sharjah.

3rd October:

• The CBI court in Ranchi sent former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad to five years in jail with a fine of Rs.25 lakh in the case of illegal withdrawal of public money from Chaibasa treasury.
• The union cabinet formally decided to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh to carve out Telangana as India's 29th state.Hyderabad will be shared for 10 years as the capital of the old and new state.
• Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi resigned from his post in protest against the Union Cabinet's approval of the formation of separate Telangana.

2nd October:

• The Union Cabinet decided to drop the controversial ordinance and bill aimed at protecting convicted politician.
• Gandhi Jayanti observed in India.
• U.S. master writer and master of spy thriller novels Tom Clancy dies at 66.

1st October:

• Levy of 3% service-tax on all non-unit-linked products of LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) added as per IRDA guideline.
• S. Varadarajan took over as the new Chairman & Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
• SEBI (Securities Exchange Board of India) approved Jet-Etihad deal.
• National Voluntary Blood Donation Day observed.

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Posted in: 2013 , CURRENT AFFAIRS , october

General Awareness: Company Slogan Quiz

Q.1)  I'm loving it.
    
A. HP
B. Coca Cola
C. McDonald's
D. Wal Mart

The correct answer is C. McDonald's

Q.2)  Like a good neighbor, ___________ is there.
    
A. Allstate
B. Prudential
C. Geiko
D. State Farm

The correct answer is D. State Farm

Q.3)  Just do it!
    
A. Nike
B. Adidas
C. Reebok
D. Goodyear

The correct answer is A. Nike

Q.4)  Finger lickin good.
    
A. Popeye's
B. Mrs. Winters
C. Kentucky Fried Chicken
D. ChikFilA

The correct answer is C. Kentucky Fried Chicken

Q.5)  Strong enough for a man, made for a woman.
    
A. Degree
B. Secret
C. Mitchum
D. Old Spice

The correct answer is B. Secret

Q.6)  Melt in your mouth, not in your hand.
    
A. Hersheys
B. M & M's
C. Reese's
D. Milky Way

The correct answer is B. M & M's

Q.7)  Snap, crackle, pop.
    
A. Frosted Flakes
B. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
C. Cheerios
D. Rice Crispies

The correct answer is D. Rice Crispies

Q.8)  When you care enough to send the very best.
    
A. FTD Flowers
B. FedEX
C. Hallmark
D. UPS

The correct answer is C. Hallmark
Q.9)  Always low prices.
    
A. Kmart
B. Wal-Mart
C. Lowe's
D. The Home Depot

The correct answer is B. Wal-Mart

Q.10)  Zoom. Zoom. Zoom.
    
A. Mazda
B. Toyota
C. Subaru
D. Kia

The correct answer is A. Mazda

Q.11)  Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's _________.
    
A. Degree
B. Revlon
C. Maybelline
D. Maxim

The correct answer is C. Maybelline
Q.12)  Betcha can't eat just one.
    
A. Lay's
B. Fritos
C. Doritos
D. Grippos

The correct answer is A. Lay's
Q.13)  Eat fresh.
    
A. Panera
B. Subway
C. Quiznos
D. Jimmy John's

The correct answer is B. Subway

Q.14)  There are some things money can't buy, for everything else there's ______.
    
A. Visa
B. American Express
C. Mastercard
D. Discover

The correct answer is C. Mastercard
Q.15)  You are now free to move about the country.
    
A. Southwest
B. American
C. Continental
D. Delta 

The correct answer is A. Southwest

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Posted in: General Awareness

What Is GSM?

GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications, is a cellular phone protocol that is standard in most parts of the world. Technology experts created the protocol in the 1980s and ’90s to standardize cellular phone service between countries in Europe. GSM phones use subscriber identity module (SIM) cards, which is essential to their function and enable the user to change phones easily. It is a chief competitor to the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) protocol.

Technology

Technically, the term GSM refers to second-generation (2G) voice networks that operate based on a combination of time division multiple access (TDMA) and frequency division multiple access (FDMA). TDMA takes the frequency channel the phone uses and divides it into individual bits of time that are assigned to each user. FDMA divides the frequency band into sections and assigns one to each cell phone tower. Towers are typically spread far enough apart so that those using the same frequency do not overlap their areas of coverage.

The term “GSM” is also used to refer to third-generation (3G) technology put into place by the same companies and using the same underlying network. This is actually called Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and uses the Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) air interface standard in most places. Although they are both spread spectrum technologies, W-CDMA and the standard used by competing CDMA phones (usually CDMA2000) are not compatable.

GSM and CDMA

Although both refer to cellular phone networks, GSM and CDMA differ in the technology that they use. CDMA uses a system in which all signals are sent at the same time, but each is spread across multiple frequencies. Servers assign an individual code to each transmission so that the signals don’t interfere with each other and can be matched up between the sender and receiver.

Originally, the two protocols differed in signal quality, consistency, and voice distortion, among other features. Both methods have been improved, however, and there are few significant differences between the two in terms of call quality. GSM phones are slightly more likely to drop calls as a user moves between cell towers, but they have better coverage in places with a lot of mountains. This technology also allows for voice and data transmission at the same time, which most CDMA phones cannot do.

In some parts of the world, both services are available, but one tends to be more common than the other. Most cellular service providers only use one type of network because it’s very expensive to maintain both types of service. GSM is the older service, and is found in most places around the world, while CDMA is most common in the US and Asia.

SIM Cards

GSM phones use a SIM card, which is a small card with an embedded integrated circuit that stores personal data, the user’s phone number, account information, and contacts. When a user switches phones, exchanging the SIM card from one phone to the other transfers the cell service and phone number, and activates the new phone. The contact list, calendar, and other personal data is usually easily moved between handsets.

Data Transfer Information

The 2G system is capable of data transmission speeds of up to 14.4 kilobits per second (kbps). Originally, not all networks had this capability, but continued advances and improvements in the system have raised speeds. 3G systems, which are designed specifically for mobile Internet and video, can transfer data much more quickly; depending on the interface, theoretical download speeds range from 2 megabits per second (Mbps) to 56 Mbps.

Frequencies

The frequency band used by these phones depends on several factors, including the location and technological changes. For example, in Europe, 2G GSM networks operate in the ranges of 900MHz and 1,800MHz and 3G networks use the 2,100 MHz band. The United States operates on frequencies in the range of 850MHz and 1,900MHz. Many other countries, including Australia and some places in South America, use the 850 MHz range. Most phones are designed for the countries where they are used most often, but a quad-band handset will handle 850, 900, 1,800, and 1,900MHz, and usually work in most areas.

Coverage

As of 2011, most countries from the Arctic region to Antarctica use the GSM protocol. It’s particularly common in Europe, where it originated, and most of the Eastern hemisphere generally, including many developing countries. In the Western hemisphere, the CDMA protocol is more common in the United States and a few other countries. However, many countries, including Canada and Brazil, use GSM.

History

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) created GSM to standardizemobile phone communications among European nations; before this, each country had its own protocol. Standardizing the technology created a large, growing pool of users, and the protocol spread throughout the world. In 2002, approximately 70% of cellular phone clients worldwide used GSM services, while about 12% used CDMA. By early 2010, the GSM Association stated that there were over 4 billion users, and they estimate that there will be over 6 billion by 2015.

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Posted in: gsm , mobile , Technology