❖ Lithuania adopted the Euro currency on January 1, 2015 and became the 19th member of the Eurozone.
❖ A.B. de Villiers of South Africa scored the fastest century in One Day International cricket history on January 18, 2015. He scored a hundred in just 31 deliveries against the West Indies. He broke
the previous record of 100 off 36 balls set by Corey Anderson of New Zealand in 2014.
❖ Alexis Tsipras was sworn in on January 26, 2015 as the Prime Minister of Greece.
❖ S. Jaishankar was appointed as India's new Foreign Secretary on January 28, 2015. He replaced Sujatha Singh.
❖ NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India Aayog) replaced Planning Commission
on January 1, 2015. Its Chairperson is the Prime Minister. Arvind Panagariya is the first Vice Chairman. Sindhushree Khullar is the Chief Executive officer. Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO Chief V.K. Saraswat are the two full time members.
❖ A.S. Kiran Kumar was appointed the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on January 12, 2015. He succeeded K. Radhakrishnan.
❖ Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was appointed the first Hindu Chief Justice of Bangladesh on January 12, 2015.
❖ Maithripala Sirisena was sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka on January 9, 2015. He succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa. Ranil Wikramasinghe is the new Prime Minister.
❖ Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe took over the post of African Union Chairman on January 30, 2015.
❖ Dineshwar Sharma is the new Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief and Krishna Chaudhary is the new
Director General of the Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
❖ The first canister-based Agni V trial was successful. It was launched from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast on January 31, 2015. It has a strike range of 5,000 km.
❖ The first indigenously-built Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was handed over by Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar to the Indian Air Force on January 17, 2015.
❖ Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) entered the Guinness World Records for opening the highest number of bank accounts in the least time. 11.5 crore new bank accounts have been opened under PMJDY as on January 17, 2015. It was launched by the Prime Minister on August 28, 2014.
❖ ICICI Bank launched India's first contactless debit and credit cards on January 7, 2015 that use the near field communication (NFC) technology.
❖ The government announced the names of 104 recipients of Padma Awards on January 25, 2015. This year's list comprises 9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shree awardees. L.K. Advani, Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Prakash Singh Badal are among the Padma Vibhushan winners.
❖ The President conferred Ashok Chakra on the occasion of the 66th Republic Day to Major Mukund
Varadarajan (posthumous) and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh (posthumous). Ashok Chakra is the highest gallantry award given during peacetime.
❖ Eminent Hindi scholar Kamal Kishore Goenka has been selected for Vyas Samman for 2014 for his research work "Premchand Kee Kahaniyo aa Kaalkramanusar Adhyapan".
❖ Paulina Vega of Colombia was crowned 63rd Miss Universe on January 25, 2015 in Miami, USA.
❖ Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri won the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 for her book "The Lowland". This prize was announced at the Jaipur Literature Festival on January 23, 2015.
❖ Arundhathi Subramaniam won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry for her work "When God is a Traveller" on January 24, 2015.
❖ Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala won the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) biennial award on January 22, 2015.
❖ M.Y.S. Prasad, Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, was selected for the
Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award 2015.
❖ RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan won the Governor of the Year Award in the Central Banking Awards for 2015.
❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" programme in Panipat, Haryana on January 22, 2015 in a bid to encourage birth and education of girls. Actress Madhuri Dixit is the brand ambassador. On the same day Sukanya Samriddhi Account was launched for the girls aged below 10.
❖ Saina Nehwal clinched the women's singles crown of the Syed Modi International Masters Badminton Tournament on January 25, 2015. She defeated Carolina Marin of Spain in the final in Lucknow. In the men's singles final Parupalli Kashyap of India beat compatriot K.Srikanth.
❖ Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2014 Award. It is his second year running and third overall award.
❖ Legendary cartoonist R.K. Laxman died on January 26, 2015. He created "Common Man" cartoon.
❖ Wing Commander Pooja Thakur became the first lady
officer on January 25, 2015 to lead the Inter- Service Guard of Honor for the visiting US President Barack Obama at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. Barack Obama is the first US President to be the Chief Guest for India's Republic Day.
❖ The French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo's Paris office was attacked by gunmen on January 7, 2015. In the attack 12 persons were killed.
❖ The 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) was celebrated between January 7-9, 2015 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It marked the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. The Chief Guest was Guyana President Donald Ramotar. The theme of the 13th PBD was Bharat ko jano, Bharat ko mano. The Vice President Hamid Ansari presented the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards to 15 persons on January 9. The awardees include plant scientist Sanjay Rajaram and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
❖ The 102nd Indian Science Congress (ISC) was held from January 3 - 7, 2015 in Mumbai. The theme was Science and Technology for Human Development.
❖ The 60th Filmfare Awards were presented on February 1, 2015. "Queen" bagged highest number of awards i.e. 6. "Shahid Kapoor" is the best actor for the film "Haider" and "Kangana Ranaut" best actress for "Queen".
❖ Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic was sworn in as the first female President of Croatia on February 15, 2015.
❖ Sergio Mattarella took over as the President of Italy on February 3, 2015.
❖ Ashton Carter replaced Chuck Hagel as the Defense Secretary of the United States.
❖ Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party became the Chief Minister of Delhi on February 14, 2015.
Manish Sisodia is the Deputy Chief Minister.
❖ Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar on February 22,
2015. He succeeded Jitan Ram Manjhi.
❖ L.C. Goyal replaced Anil Goswami as the Union Home Secretary.
❖ Dr.Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award 2014 was conferred on two women scientists- Tessy Thomas (DRDO) and Geeta Varadan (ISRO).
❖ Eminent Marathi writer Bhalachandra Nemade was chosen for the Jnanpith Award 2014. He is the 50th recipient of Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honor.
❖ Nobel Economics laureate Amartya Sen has been awarded the inaugural Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015.
❖ Ricky Kej of India won the Grammy award for his album "Winds of Samsara" in the Best New Age Album category.
❖ ICICI Bank launched first digital bank in India "Pockets" on a mobile phone.
❖ Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Serena Williams of USA won the men's and women's singles titles respectively, in the 2015 Australian Open tennis championship. Indo-Swiss pair Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won the Mixed Doubles title.
❖ Virat Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score a century in a World Cup game against Pakistan on February 15, 2015.
❖ Kerala hosted the 35th National Games from January 31 to February 14, 2015. Sachin Tendulkar was the brand ambassador. Ammu, the Great Hornbill, was the mascot. Services Sports Control Board (SSCB)
won 159 medals with 91 gold, 33 silver and 35 bronze and topped the medals tally.
❖ Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented Railway budget on February 26, 2015 that did not announce any passenger fare hike.
❖ Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Economic Survey 2014- 15 on February 27, 2015. He presented the Union Budget for 2015- 16 on February 28, 2015.
❖ The 87th Academy Awards ceremony was held on February 22, 2015. The Best Picture Award was given to "Birdman". Its director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Best Director Award. Eddie Redmayne was given the Best Actor Award for "The Theory of Everything" and the Best Actress Award was given to Julianne Moore for "Still Alice".
❖ Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was named as the President of Britain's prestigious Royal Society. He will take up the post on December 1, 2015. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009.
❖ IFS officer Vikas Swarup was appointed as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 25, 2015. He is the author of the novel "Q & A" on which the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire was based.
❖ Kerala Finance Minister K.M. Mani was appointed as the Chairman of the Empowered Committee
of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST) on March 24, 2015.
❖ Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir on March 1, 2015. Nirmal Singh of BJP is the Deputy Chief Minister.
❖ Aditi Arya of Chandigarh was crowned Miss India 2015. She will represent
India at the Miss World pageant.
❖ The 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) took place in Sendai, Japan from March 14 to 18, 2015.
❖ According to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on March 16, 2015, India is the world’s largest importer of weapons and military equipment.
❖ Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar undertook SAARC Yatra and visited four SAARC nations Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan from March 1 to 4, 2015.
❖ India banned dreaded terror group The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
❖ The Supreme Court struck down the centre's controversial decision to grant reservation to the Jat community in jobs and educational institutions.
❖ The government has launched a new National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities on March 21, 2015. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) will be the implementing agency for this Plan.
❖ Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched a scheme for girl child "Aap ki Beti Humari Beti" with an aim to combat the problem of declining child sex ratio in the state on March 8, 2015. March 8 is International Women’s Day.
❖ Maharashtra government launched "Bhagyashree" scheme for girls on March 8, 2015. Bollywood actress
Bhagyashree is the brand ambassador.
❖ The indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra, was launched from
Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft on March 18, 2015.
❖ The 8th edition of India-Nepal combined exercise Surya Kiran VIII was held at Salijhandi in Nepal.
❖ India launched its fourth navigation satellite on March 28, 2015. The PSLV-C27 ejected the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1D.
❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a five-day tour of three Indian Ocean countries Seychelles,
Mauritius and Sri Lanka from March 10 to 14, 2015.
❖ As per the IntelCenter's "Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries" list released in March 2015, Pakistan is the eight most dangerous country. The list is topped by Iraq.
❖ The President Pranab Mukherjee conferred country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on March 27, 2015. Educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya was honored with Bharat Ratna posthumously on March 30, 2015.
❖ Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize for the
year 2014.
❖ Veteran actor and film producer Shashi Kapoor has been named
for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2014. He is the 46th film
personality to receive India's highest award in cinema.
❖ Former Union Minister Veerappa Moily was selected for the Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his
Kannada book "Ramayana Mahanveshanam".
❖ John Nash and Louis Nirenberg of USA shared the 2015 Abel Prize for Mathematics. The prize was announced by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.
❖ Rajendra Singh of India won the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize. He is popularly known as
"Waterman of India". He is an eminent water conservationist from Rajasthan.
❖ Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil has won the Tyler Prize 2015 for environmental achievement. He shared the prize with American marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco.
❖ National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has linked 15 crore Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
accounts with the Aadhaar numbers.
❖ Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won women's and men's singles titles in the Indian Open Badminton
Championship in New Delhi on March 29, 2015.
❖ K. Srikanth of India won the Swiss Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship title in Basel on
March 15, 2015. He beat Viktor Axelson of Denmark in the final.
❖ Carolina Marin of Spain won the All England Badminton Championship women's singles title by defeating Saina Nehwal in the final on March 8, 2015. Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the final.
Men's singles title was won by Chen Long of China.
❖ Services beat Punjab to win the Santosh Trophy football championship in Ludhiana on March 15, 2015.
❖ Karnataka clinched their eighth Ranji Trophy cricket title by defeating Tamil Nadu in the final in
Mumbai on March 12, 2015. Karnataka retained the Irani Cup also by beating Rest of India on March 20, 2015.
❖ Former Sri Lankan Army Chief Sarath Fonseka was conferred the highest military rank of Field
Marshal by the Government of Sri Lanka.
❖ Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister, passed away on March 23, 2015.
❖ India launched a massive air and sea operation-"Operation Raahat"- to evacuate over 4,000 Indian
nationals from Yemen in April 2015.
❖ Tennis star Novak Djokovic and athlete Genzebe Dibaba were named Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year on April 15, 2015. The German football team was named "World Team of the Year".
❖ Sachin Tendulkar was inducted as a Laureus World Sports Academy member.
❖ Former Chief Minister of Odisha J.B. Patnaik died on April 21, 2015. He was also the former Governor
of Assam.
❖ Former Nepal Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa passed away on April 15, 2015.
❖ German Nobel laureate Gunter Grass died on April 13, 2015. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. His most famous book is "The Tin Drum".
❖ Former Australia Cricket captain and renowned commentator Richie Benaud died on April 10, 2015.
❖ Ace Indian mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu who went missing in the Andes Mountains on March 24 was
found dead on April 4, 2015.
❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA Bank) on April 8, 2015. It is set up with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore.
❖ RBI approved the merger deal between Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Vysya Bank.
❖ Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy was won by Gujarat on April 7, 2015. It beat Punjab in the final.
❖ New Zealand lifted the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament after defeating Australia in the final in Malaysia.
❖ Chris Gayle of West Indies became the first batsman to make double century in ICC World Cup history on February 24, 2015. He scored 215 runs against Zimbabwe. New Zealand's Martin Guptill hit the highest score of 237 in ICC World Cup. He achieved this feat against the West Indies on March 21, 2015.
❖ Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka became the first batsman to score four consecutive One Day International centuries. He created this record in the 11th ICC World Cup.
❖ Viswanathan Anand was granted the honor of having a minor planet named after him on April 1, 2015.
It is called 4538 Vishyanand.
❖ Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the Man Booker International Prize for 2015. This prize is given every two years. Indian author Amitav Ghosh is one of the ten short listed authors.
❖ David Cameron became the Prime Minister of United Kingdom for the second term on May 8, 2015. David Cameron-led Conservative Party won 331 seats out of total 650 seats in House of Commons.
❖ J. Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time on May 23, 2015.
❖ Actor Mukesh Khanna was appointed as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI).
He is known for his iconic role as Shaktimaan on Television.
❖ Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev won his fifth successive term in the Presidential election. Karim Masimov is the Prime Minister.
❖ Indian-American Vivek Murthy was sworn in as the US Surgeon General. He is the youngest ever in-charge of America's public health.
❖ Neel Mukherjee's "The Lives of Others" won the UK's Encore Award for the best second novel on May 12, 2015.
❖ UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2015 was awarded to Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist.
❖ Two Indians Ananda Kumar and Pramod Patil were awarded the Whitley Awards, dubbed "Green Oscar", for their contribution to wildlife conservation.
❖ Siddhartha Gigoo won the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asian region for "Umbrella Man".
❖ Aruna Shanbaug, a former hospital nurse, brutally raped in 1973, died on May 18, 2015. She was at the centre of euthanasia or mercy killing issue.
❖ The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia Ebolafree on May 9, 2015.
❖ Francois Hollande visited Havana on May 10, 2015, the first French President to visit Cuba in more than a century.
❖ Seychelles became the 161st member of World Trade Organization (WTO) on April 26, 2015.
❖ India ranked at a low 100th position on global Human Capital Index 2015. Finland topped the 124 nation list.
❖ Switzerland topped the World Happiness Index 2015 and India ranked 117 out of 158 countries.
❖ India signed an agreement with Iran for the development of Chabahar Port on May 6, 2015. It will give India sea-land access route to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.
❖ Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani visited India from April 27 to April 29, 2015.
❖ India assumed Presidency of the 68th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the top decision making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).
❖ The Union Cabinet cleared the "Namami Gange" integrated conservation mission to clean river Ganga on May 13, 2015. Budget allocated is Rs. 20,000 crore for the next 5 years.
❖ The Lok Sabha passed the Goods and Services Tax Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill on May 6, 2015. GST is proposed to be implemented from April 1, 2016. It will subsume excise, service tax, state
VAT, entry tax, octroi, etc.
❖ Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda launched "Kayakalp" –an initiative for awards to public health facilities.
❖ Nadia in West Bengal became the first Open Defecation Free (ODF) district in India. Nadia has more than 3.47 lakh toilets.
❖ Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) won the Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015 for Technology Implementation in the category of Best Outsourcing Project (New Bank). The award was received by Usha Ananthasubramanian, CMD of BMB in Hong Kong.
❖ Bilateral naval exercise SIMBEX- 15 between India and Singapore was held from May 23 to 26, 2015 in Singapore.
❖ The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was presented with the 2015 Freedom of Expression Courage Award of the PEN American Centre at the American Museum of Natural History.
❖ Four Indians have been named in Forbes magazine's 12th annual list of World's 100 Most Powerful
Women. They are- Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI Chairperson), Chanda Kochchar (MD and CEO of ICICI
Bank), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (MD of Biocon) and Shobhana Bhartia (Chairperson of Hindustan Times
Group). The list is topped by Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.
❖ China defeated Japan in the final of the Sudirman Cup badminton tournament in Dongguan, China on May 17, 2015.
❖ Mohun Bagan won the I-League football title on May 31, 2015. Bengaluru FC ended as runners-up.
❖ The trial of Pinaka Mark-II missile cum multi barrel rocket launcher system was successfully conducted at Pokhran on May 30, 2015.
❖ The Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited three Asian nations i.e. China, Mongolia and South Korea
from May 14 to 19, 2015.
❖ Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the New Bank Note Paper Line unit of 6,000 metric tonne capacity at Security Paper Mill in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.
❖ India topped in World Hunger List with around 194 million people according to a UN report.
❖ Maharashtra Government has launched Swachhata Saptapadi Scheme on the lines of Union Government's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
❖ Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo succeeded Amartya Sen as the Chancellor of Nalanda University in Bihar.
❖ S. Christopher is the new Director General of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). G. Sateesh Reddy is the new Scientific Advisor to the Defense Minister.
❖ Veteran actor Michael Douglas received the Genesis Prize on June 18, 2015. This prize is nicknamed "Jewish Nobel Prize".
❖ Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar of Aam Aadmi Party was arrested for possessing fake academic documents on June 9, 2015. Later he resigned.
❖ Sepp Blatter resigned as the President of FIFA on June 2, 2015, four days after being elected to a fifth term.
❖ Sister Nirmal Joshi, who succeeded Mother Teresa as the head of the Missionaries of Charity, died on June 23, 2015.
❖ K.V. Chowdary, former Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), was appointed the
new Central Vigilance Commissioner on June 8, 2015. He is the first
non IAS to head the Central Vigilance Commission. Indian Bank CMD T.M. Bhasin was appointed the Vigilance Commissioner.
❖ Repo Rate: 7.25% Reverse Repo Rate: 6.25% Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): 4% Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): 21.5%
❖ Britain celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta accord on June15, 2015.
❖ China unveiled the world's first facial recognition ATM on June 1, 2015.
❖ The first International Yoga Day was celebrated on June 21, 2015. 192 countries celebrated.
❖ The 41st G7 Summit was held in June 2015 in Krun city in Germany.
❖ Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia to win his first French Open singles title. Serena Williams of USA defeated Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic to win the women's singles title of French open.
❖ Australia won the ICC World Cup for the fifth time beating New Zealand by seven wickets in the final in Melbourne on March 29, 2015. James Faulkner of Australia was declared the Man of the Final and Mitchell Starc of Australia the Player of the Tournament.
❖ IPL 8 Mumbai Indians clinched their second Indian Premier League (IPL) title defeating ChennaiSuper Kings by 41 runs in the final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24, 2015.
❖ A.B. de Villiers of South Africa scored the fastest century in One Day International cricket history on January 18, 2015. He scored a hundred in just 31 deliveries against the West Indies. He broke
the previous record of 100 off 36 balls set by Corey Anderson of New Zealand in 2014.
❖ Alexis Tsipras was sworn in on January 26, 2015 as the Prime Minister of Greece.
❖ S. Jaishankar was appointed as India's new Foreign Secretary on January 28, 2015. He replaced Sujatha Singh.
❖ NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India Aayog) replaced Planning Commission
on January 1, 2015. Its Chairperson is the Prime Minister. Arvind Panagariya is the first Vice Chairman. Sindhushree Khullar is the Chief Executive officer. Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO Chief V.K. Saraswat are the two full time members.
❖ A.S. Kiran Kumar was appointed the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on January 12, 2015. He succeeded K. Radhakrishnan.
❖ Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was appointed the first Hindu Chief Justice of Bangladesh on January 12, 2015.
❖ Maithripala Sirisena was sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka on January 9, 2015. He succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa. Ranil Wikramasinghe is the new Prime Minister.
❖ Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe took over the post of African Union Chairman on January 30, 2015.
❖ Dineshwar Sharma is the new Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief and Krishna Chaudhary is the new
Director General of the Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
❖ The first canister-based Agni V trial was successful. It was launched from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast on January 31, 2015. It has a strike range of 5,000 km.
❖ The first indigenously-built Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was handed over by Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar to the Indian Air Force on January 17, 2015.
❖ Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) entered the Guinness World Records for opening the highest number of bank accounts in the least time. 11.5 crore new bank accounts have been opened under PMJDY as on January 17, 2015. It was launched by the Prime Minister on August 28, 2014.
❖ ICICI Bank launched India's first contactless debit and credit cards on January 7, 2015 that use the near field communication (NFC) technology.
❖ The government announced the names of 104 recipients of Padma Awards on January 25, 2015. This year's list comprises 9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shree awardees. L.K. Advani, Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Prakash Singh Badal are among the Padma Vibhushan winners.
❖ The President conferred Ashok Chakra on the occasion of the 66th Republic Day to Major Mukund
Varadarajan (posthumous) and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh (posthumous). Ashok Chakra is the highest gallantry award given during peacetime.
❖ Eminent Hindi scholar Kamal Kishore Goenka has been selected for Vyas Samman for 2014 for his research work "Premchand Kee Kahaniyo aa Kaalkramanusar Adhyapan".
❖ Paulina Vega of Colombia was crowned 63rd Miss Universe on January 25, 2015 in Miami, USA.
❖ Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri won the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 for her book "The Lowland". This prize was announced at the Jaipur Literature Festival on January 23, 2015.
❖ Arundhathi Subramaniam won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry for her work "When God is a Traveller" on January 24, 2015.
❖ Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala won the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) biennial award on January 22, 2015.
❖ M.Y.S. Prasad, Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, was selected for the
Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award 2015.
❖ RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan won the Governor of the Year Award in the Central Banking Awards for 2015.
❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" programme in Panipat, Haryana on January 22, 2015 in a bid to encourage birth and education of girls. Actress Madhuri Dixit is the brand ambassador. On the same day Sukanya Samriddhi Account was launched for the girls aged below 10.
❖ Saina Nehwal clinched the women's singles crown of the Syed Modi International Masters Badminton Tournament on January 25, 2015. She defeated Carolina Marin of Spain in the final in Lucknow. In the men's singles final Parupalli Kashyap of India beat compatriot K.Srikanth.
❖ Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2014 Award. It is his second year running and third overall award.
❖ Legendary cartoonist R.K. Laxman died on January 26, 2015. He created "Common Man" cartoon.
❖ Wing Commander Pooja Thakur became the first lady
officer on January 25, 2015 to lead the Inter- Service Guard of Honor for the visiting US President Barack Obama at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. Barack Obama is the first US President to be the Chief Guest for India's Republic Day.
❖ The French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo's Paris office was attacked by gunmen on January 7, 2015. In the attack 12 persons were killed.
❖ The 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) was celebrated between January 7-9, 2015 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It marked the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. The Chief Guest was Guyana President Donald Ramotar. The theme of the 13th PBD was Bharat ko jano, Bharat ko mano. The Vice President Hamid Ansari presented the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards to 15 persons on January 9. The awardees include plant scientist Sanjay Rajaram and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
❖ The 102nd Indian Science Congress (ISC) was held from January 3 - 7, 2015 in Mumbai. The theme was Science and Technology for Human Development.
❖ The 60th Filmfare Awards were presented on February 1, 2015. "Queen" bagged highest number of awards i.e. 6. "Shahid Kapoor" is the best actor for the film "Haider" and "Kangana Ranaut" best actress for "Queen".
❖ Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic was sworn in as the first female President of Croatia on February 15, 2015.
❖ Sergio Mattarella took over as the President of Italy on February 3, 2015.
❖ Ashton Carter replaced Chuck Hagel as the Defense Secretary of the United States.
❖ Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party became the Chief Minister of Delhi on February 14, 2015.
Manish Sisodia is the Deputy Chief Minister.
❖ Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar on February 22,
2015. He succeeded Jitan Ram Manjhi.
❖ L.C. Goyal replaced Anil Goswami as the Union Home Secretary.
❖ Dr.Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award 2014 was conferred on two women scientists- Tessy Thomas (DRDO) and Geeta Varadan (ISRO).
❖ Eminent Marathi writer Bhalachandra Nemade was chosen for the Jnanpith Award 2014. He is the 50th recipient of Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honor.
❖ Nobel Economics laureate Amartya Sen has been awarded the inaugural Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015.
❖ Ricky Kej of India won the Grammy award for his album "Winds of Samsara" in the Best New Age Album category.
❖ ICICI Bank launched first digital bank in India "Pockets" on a mobile phone.
❖ Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Serena Williams of USA won the men's and women's singles titles respectively, in the 2015 Australian Open tennis championship. Indo-Swiss pair Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won the Mixed Doubles title.
❖ Virat Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score a century in a World Cup game against Pakistan on February 15, 2015.
❖ Kerala hosted the 35th National Games from January 31 to February 14, 2015. Sachin Tendulkar was the brand ambassador. Ammu, the Great Hornbill, was the mascot. Services Sports Control Board (SSCB)
won 159 medals with 91 gold, 33 silver and 35 bronze and topped the medals tally.
❖ Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented Railway budget on February 26, 2015 that did not announce any passenger fare hike.
❖ Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Economic Survey 2014- 15 on February 27, 2015. He presented the Union Budget for 2015- 16 on February 28, 2015.
❖ The 87th Academy Awards ceremony was held on February 22, 2015. The Best Picture Award was given to "Birdman". Its director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Best Director Award. Eddie Redmayne was given the Best Actor Award for "The Theory of Everything" and the Best Actress Award was given to Julianne Moore for "Still Alice".
❖ Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was named as the President of Britain's prestigious Royal Society. He will take up the post on December 1, 2015. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009.
❖ IFS officer Vikas Swarup was appointed as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 25, 2015. He is the author of the novel "Q & A" on which the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire was based.
❖ Kerala Finance Minister K.M. Mani was appointed as the Chairman of the Empowered Committee
of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST) on March 24, 2015.
❖ Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir on March 1, 2015. Nirmal Singh of BJP is the Deputy Chief Minister.
❖ Aditi Arya of Chandigarh was crowned Miss India 2015. She will represent
India at the Miss World pageant.
❖ The 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) took place in Sendai, Japan from March 14 to 18, 2015.
❖ According to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on March 16, 2015, India is the world’s largest importer of weapons and military equipment.
❖ Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar undertook SAARC Yatra and visited four SAARC nations Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan from March 1 to 4, 2015.
❖ India banned dreaded terror group The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
❖ The Supreme Court struck down the centre's controversial decision to grant reservation to the Jat community in jobs and educational institutions.
❖ The government has launched a new National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities on March 21, 2015. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) will be the implementing agency for this Plan.
❖ Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched a scheme for girl child "Aap ki Beti Humari Beti" with an aim to combat the problem of declining child sex ratio in the state on March 8, 2015. March 8 is International Women’s Day.
❖ Maharashtra government launched "Bhagyashree" scheme for girls on March 8, 2015. Bollywood actress
Bhagyashree is the brand ambassador.
❖ The indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra, was launched from
Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft on March 18, 2015.
❖ The 8th edition of India-Nepal combined exercise Surya Kiran VIII was held at Salijhandi in Nepal.
❖ India launched its fourth navigation satellite on March 28, 2015. The PSLV-C27 ejected the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1D.
❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a five-day tour of three Indian Ocean countries Seychelles,
Mauritius and Sri Lanka from March 10 to 14, 2015.
❖ As per the IntelCenter's "Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries" list released in March 2015, Pakistan is the eight most dangerous country. The list is topped by Iraq.
❖ The President Pranab Mukherjee conferred country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on March 27, 2015. Educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya was honored with Bharat Ratna posthumously on March 30, 2015.
❖ Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize for the
year 2014.
❖ Veteran actor and film producer Shashi Kapoor has been named
for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2014. He is the 46th film
personality to receive India's highest award in cinema.
❖ Former Union Minister Veerappa Moily was selected for the Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his
Kannada book "Ramayana Mahanveshanam".
❖ John Nash and Louis Nirenberg of USA shared the 2015 Abel Prize for Mathematics. The prize was announced by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.
❖ Rajendra Singh of India won the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize. He is popularly known as
"Waterman of India". He is an eminent water conservationist from Rajasthan.
❖ Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil has won the Tyler Prize 2015 for environmental achievement. He shared the prize with American marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco.
❖ National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has linked 15 crore Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
accounts with the Aadhaar numbers.
❖ Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won women's and men's singles titles in the Indian Open Badminton
Championship in New Delhi on March 29, 2015.
❖ K. Srikanth of India won the Swiss Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship title in Basel on
March 15, 2015. He beat Viktor Axelson of Denmark in the final.
❖ Carolina Marin of Spain won the All England Badminton Championship women's singles title by defeating Saina Nehwal in the final on March 8, 2015. Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the final.
Men's singles title was won by Chen Long of China.
❖ Services beat Punjab to win the Santosh Trophy football championship in Ludhiana on March 15, 2015.
❖ Karnataka clinched their eighth Ranji Trophy cricket title by defeating Tamil Nadu in the final in
Mumbai on March 12, 2015. Karnataka retained the Irani Cup also by beating Rest of India on March 20, 2015.
❖ Former Sri Lankan Army Chief Sarath Fonseka was conferred the highest military rank of Field
Marshal by the Government of Sri Lanka.
❖ Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister, passed away on March 23, 2015.
❖ India launched a massive air and sea operation-"Operation Raahat"- to evacuate over 4,000 Indian
nationals from Yemen in April 2015.
❖ Tennis star Novak Djokovic and athlete Genzebe Dibaba were named Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year on April 15, 2015. The German football team was named "World Team of the Year".
❖ Sachin Tendulkar was inducted as a Laureus World Sports Academy member.
❖ Former Chief Minister of Odisha J.B. Patnaik died on April 21, 2015. He was also the former Governor
of Assam.
❖ Former Nepal Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa passed away on April 15, 2015.
❖ German Nobel laureate Gunter Grass died on April 13, 2015. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. His most famous book is "The Tin Drum".
❖ Former Australia Cricket captain and renowned commentator Richie Benaud died on April 10, 2015.
❖ Ace Indian mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu who went missing in the Andes Mountains on March 24 was
found dead on April 4, 2015.
❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA Bank) on April 8, 2015. It is set up with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore.
❖ RBI approved the merger deal between Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Vysya Bank.
❖ Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy was won by Gujarat on April 7, 2015. It beat Punjab in the final.
❖ New Zealand lifted the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament after defeating Australia in the final in Malaysia.
❖ Chris Gayle of West Indies became the first batsman to make double century in ICC World Cup history on February 24, 2015. He scored 215 runs against Zimbabwe. New Zealand's Martin Guptill hit the highest score of 237 in ICC World Cup. He achieved this feat against the West Indies on March 21, 2015.
❖ Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka became the first batsman to score four consecutive One Day International centuries. He created this record in the 11th ICC World Cup.
❖ Viswanathan Anand was granted the honor of having a minor planet named after him on April 1, 2015.
It is called 4538 Vishyanand.
❖ Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the Man Booker International Prize for 2015. This prize is given every two years. Indian author Amitav Ghosh is one of the ten short listed authors.
❖ David Cameron became the Prime Minister of United Kingdom for the second term on May 8, 2015. David Cameron-led Conservative Party won 331 seats out of total 650 seats in House of Commons.
❖ J. Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time on May 23, 2015.
❖ Actor Mukesh Khanna was appointed as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI).
He is known for his iconic role as Shaktimaan on Television.
❖ Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev won his fifth successive term in the Presidential election. Karim Masimov is the Prime Minister.
❖ Indian-American Vivek Murthy was sworn in as the US Surgeon General. He is the youngest ever in-charge of America's public health.
❖ Neel Mukherjee's "The Lives of Others" won the UK's Encore Award for the best second novel on May 12, 2015.
❖ UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2015 was awarded to Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist.
❖ Two Indians Ananda Kumar and Pramod Patil were awarded the Whitley Awards, dubbed "Green Oscar", for their contribution to wildlife conservation.
❖ Siddhartha Gigoo won the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asian region for "Umbrella Man".
❖ Aruna Shanbaug, a former hospital nurse, brutally raped in 1973, died on May 18, 2015. She was at the centre of euthanasia or mercy killing issue.
❖ The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia Ebolafree on May 9, 2015.
❖ Francois Hollande visited Havana on May 10, 2015, the first French President to visit Cuba in more than a century.
❖ Seychelles became the 161st member of World Trade Organization (WTO) on April 26, 2015.
❖ India ranked at a low 100th position on global Human Capital Index 2015. Finland topped the 124 nation list.
❖ Switzerland topped the World Happiness Index 2015 and India ranked 117 out of 158 countries.
❖ India signed an agreement with Iran for the development of Chabahar Port on May 6, 2015. It will give India sea-land access route to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.
❖ Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani visited India from April 27 to April 29, 2015.
❖ India assumed Presidency of the 68th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the top decision making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).
❖ The Union Cabinet cleared the "Namami Gange" integrated conservation mission to clean river Ganga on May 13, 2015. Budget allocated is Rs. 20,000 crore for the next 5 years.
❖ The Lok Sabha passed the Goods and Services Tax Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill on May 6, 2015. GST is proposed to be implemented from April 1, 2016. It will subsume excise, service tax, state
VAT, entry tax, octroi, etc.
❖ Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda launched "Kayakalp" –an initiative for awards to public health facilities.
❖ Nadia in West Bengal became the first Open Defecation Free (ODF) district in India. Nadia has more than 3.47 lakh toilets.
❖ Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) won the Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015 for Technology Implementation in the category of Best Outsourcing Project (New Bank). The award was received by Usha Ananthasubramanian, CMD of BMB in Hong Kong.
❖ Bilateral naval exercise SIMBEX- 15 between India and Singapore was held from May 23 to 26, 2015 in Singapore.
❖ The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was presented with the 2015 Freedom of Expression Courage Award of the PEN American Centre at the American Museum of Natural History.
❖ Four Indians have been named in Forbes magazine's 12th annual list of World's 100 Most Powerful
Women. They are- Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI Chairperson), Chanda Kochchar (MD and CEO of ICICI
Bank), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (MD of Biocon) and Shobhana Bhartia (Chairperson of Hindustan Times
Group). The list is topped by Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.
❖ China defeated Japan in the final of the Sudirman Cup badminton tournament in Dongguan, China on May 17, 2015.
❖ Mohun Bagan won the I-League football title on May 31, 2015. Bengaluru FC ended as runners-up.
❖ The trial of Pinaka Mark-II missile cum multi barrel rocket launcher system was successfully conducted at Pokhran on May 30, 2015.
❖ The Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited three Asian nations i.e. China, Mongolia and South Korea
from May 14 to 19, 2015.
❖ Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the New Bank Note Paper Line unit of 6,000 metric tonne capacity at Security Paper Mill in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.
❖ India topped in World Hunger List with around 194 million people according to a UN report.
❖ Maharashtra Government has launched Swachhata Saptapadi Scheme on the lines of Union Government's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
❖ Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo succeeded Amartya Sen as the Chancellor of Nalanda University in Bihar.
❖ S. Christopher is the new Director General of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). G. Sateesh Reddy is the new Scientific Advisor to the Defense Minister.
❖ Veteran actor Michael Douglas received the Genesis Prize on June 18, 2015. This prize is nicknamed "Jewish Nobel Prize".
❖ Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar of Aam Aadmi Party was arrested for possessing fake academic documents on June 9, 2015. Later he resigned.
❖ Sepp Blatter resigned as the President of FIFA on June 2, 2015, four days after being elected to a fifth term.
❖ Sister Nirmal Joshi, who succeeded Mother Teresa as the head of the Missionaries of Charity, died on June 23, 2015.
❖ K.V. Chowdary, former Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), was appointed the
new Central Vigilance Commissioner on June 8, 2015. He is the first
non IAS to head the Central Vigilance Commission. Indian Bank CMD T.M. Bhasin was appointed the Vigilance Commissioner.
❖ Repo Rate: 7.25% Reverse Repo Rate: 6.25% Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): 4% Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): 21.5%
❖ Britain celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta accord on June15, 2015.
❖ China unveiled the world's first facial recognition ATM on June 1, 2015.
❖ The first International Yoga Day was celebrated on June 21, 2015. 192 countries celebrated.
❖ The 41st G7 Summit was held in June 2015 in Krun city in Germany.
❖ Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia to win his first French Open singles title. Serena Williams of USA defeated Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic to win the women's singles title of French open.
❖ Australia won the ICC World Cup for the fifth time beating New Zealand by seven wickets in the final in Melbourne on March 29, 2015. James Faulkner of Australia was declared the Man of the Final and Mitchell Starc of Australia the Player of the Tournament.
❖ IPL 8 Mumbai Indians clinched their second Indian Premier League (IPL) title defeating ChennaiSuper Kings by 41 runs in the final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24, 2015.
