1. Malayalam poet and social activist who has been chosen for Mathrubhumi Literary Award (Mathrubhumi Sahitya Puraskaram) for 2014?
Sugathakumari.
Some of her major works are Pathirappookal, Raathrimazha, Ambalamani; Krishnakavithakal, Radhayevide, Kurinjippookkal and Thulaavarshappacha.
2. Noted poet, critic and cultural activist who has been adjudged winner of the Vallathol prize for the year 2014, instituted by the Vallathol Sahithya Samithi.?
P. Narayana Kurup.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1,11,111 and a citation.
3. British taxicab driver-turned-volunteer humanitarian aid worker who has been killed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on October 3, 2014?
Alan Henning.
Henning was captured during ISIL's occupation of the Syrian city of Al-Dana in December 2013. He was there helping provide humanitarian relief. His killing was publicised in a beheading video by the Islamic State. A video of Henning's beheading was released on 3 October 2014. He was the fourth western hostage to be murdered on video by the jihadist organisation, following the murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and UK aid worker David Haines.
4. Who won the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) 2014?
Chennai Super Kings.
Chennai Super Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 8 wickets in the final match played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Man of the Match: Pawan Negi, for his bowling figures of 5 for 22.
Suresh Raina of Chennai Super Kings won the Man of the Series award.
5. Japanese swimmer who was named the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the 17th Asian Games?
Kosuke Hagino.
Hagino, won medals in all seven events he competed in, winning golds in the men's 200m freestyle, 200m and 400m individual medleys, and the 800m freestyle relay, in addition to one silver in the 400m freestyle and two bronze medals in the 100m and 200m backstroke events.
6. Olympic bronze medallist who was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of India’s Incheon Asian Games campaign?
M C Mary Kom.
Mary Kom, who became the first Indian woman boxer to win a gold medal in Asian Games when she clinched the yellow metal in the Incheon Games in flyweight (-51kg) class.
7. Indian-American Professor who has been selected for the prestigious National Medal of Science, highest honour for achievement in the fields of science and engineering?
Thomas Kailath.
US President Barack Obama has selected Indian-American Professor Thomas Kailath for the prestigious award. The National Medal of Science was created by statute in 1959 and is administered for the White House by the National Science Foundation.
Kailath is also a recipient of the Padma Bhushan. He was born in 1935 to a Malayalam-speaking Syrian Christian family who hailed from Kerala, India.
8. WINNERS OF NOBEL PRIZE-2014:
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Economics:
Winner: Jean Tirole(France).
French economist Jean Tirole won the 2014 economics Nobel Prize for his analysis of market power and regulation. He won the award for his work that has shed light on how governments should regulate powerful companies that dominate markets.
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Peace:
Winners: Kailash Satyarthi (India) and Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan).
Kailash Satyarthi is a child rights activist from Madhya Pradesh and he has saved thousands of children from bonded labour in factories through the Bachpan Bachao Andolan which he founded in 1980, and other organisations.
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school.
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature:
Winner: Patrick Modiano (France).
Patrick Modiano whose work focuses on the Nazi occupation and its effect on his country was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His novel “Missing Person” won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1978.
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics:
Winners: Isamu Akasaki (Japan) ,Hiroshi Amano (Japan) and Shuji Nakamura (U.S.A).
They won the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes a new energy efficient and environment-friendly light source.
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Chemistry:
Winners: Eric Betzig (USA) , William Moerner (USA) and Stefan Hell (Germany).
They won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing new methods that let microscopes see finer details than they could before. The three scientists were cited for “the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy which had bypassed the maximum resolution of traditional optical microscopes.
The 2014 Nobel Prize for Medicine:
Winners: John O’Keefe (U.S.-British scientist) , May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser (Norway).
They won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discovering the brain’s positioning system.
9. The word 'selfie' has recently made its way into the dictionary, but the world's first known self-portrait was taken 175 years ago by an American photographer. Name that American Photographer?
(Self-portrait by Robert Cornelius (Photo: Courtesy, Library of Congress).)
Robert Cornelius.
In 1839, 30-year-old Robert Cornelius took the world's first self-portrait or selfie at the back of his father's shop in Philadelphia. Cornelius had set up his camera at the back of his father's shop in Philadelphia (US), removed the lens cap, ran into the frame and sat stock still for five minutes before running back and replacing the lens cap. Cornelius wrote on the back of the now historic photo: "The first light picture ever taken. 1839."
10. Which newspaper has apologised for a cartoon on India's Mars Mission following readers' complaints that it mocked India?
The New York Times.
The cartoon was carried September 28 with an article titled India's Budget Mission to Mars.
11. Who was named recipient of the 2014 Waislitz Global Citizen Award for his "exemplified values of a Global Citizen" through his work in founding Humanure Power (HP) in Bihar in 2011 that builds community sanitation facilities in rural India?\
Anoop Jain.
12. Man of the Match winners of 5 ODI cricket matches played between India and West Indies held in India in October 2014:
First ODI between India and West Indies held in Kochi(Kerala) on October 8, 2014:
Man of the Match: Marlon Samuels.(West Indies). He scored unbeaten 126 runs and took two wickets.
Result: West Indies won by 124 runs.
Second ODI between India and West Indies held in Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on October 11, 2014:
Man of the Match: Mohammed Shami (India). He took 4 wickets.
Result: India won by 48 runs.
Third ODI between India and West Indies: Match cancelled without a ball bowled.
Fourth ODI between India and West Indies held in Dharmasalai on October 17, 2014:
Man of the Match: Virat Kohli (India). He scored 127 runs.
Result: India won by 59 runs.
Fifth ODI between India and West Indies: Match cancelled without a ball bowled.
Result: India won the 5 ODI series 2-1.
13. Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi who has tendered her resignation from the post on September 30, 2014?
Leela Samson.
Leela Samson is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor and writer from India. As a soloist she is known for her technical virtuosity and has taught Bharatanatyam at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years.
14. Former chairman of Prasar Bharati and veteran journalist who passed away on October 9, 2014?
M.V.Kammath.
He worked as the editor of The Sunday Times for two years from 1967 to 1969, and as Washington correspondent for The Times of India from 1969 to 1978. He also served as editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India. He was awarded Padma Bhushan for his contributions to Indian journalism in 2004 and he has written over 50 books. The latest being one on Prime Minister Narendra Modi named as ‘Narendra Modi – The Architect of a Modern State’
15. American former professional soccer player who announced his retirement from National Team in October 2014?
Landon Donovan.
16. Who has won the 38th Vayalar Rama Varma Memorial Literary Award for 2014?
K.R.Meera.
Arachar, the novel written by K R Meera has been selected for the Vayalar Rama Varma Memorial Literary Award for the year 2014. The Vayalar award instituted by the Vayalar Ramavarma Memorial Trust carries a cash prize of Rs.25,000, a statuette and a citation. She won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009 for her short-story, Ave Maria.
17. Name the strong tropical cyclone that caused extensive damage and loss of life in eastern India and Nepal during October 2014?
Cyclone Hudhud.
Cyclone Hudhud pounded the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha with heavy rain and winds of almost 200 kmph and damages were estimated to be 21908 crore (US$3.4 billion) by the Andhra state government.
18. What is the name of the autobiography of England cricketer Kevin Pietersen which was published in October 2014?
“KP The Autobiography”.
19. Who won the Shanghai Open Tennis title-2014 defeating Gilles Simon in the final?
Roger Federer.
This is his first-ever Shanghai Masters title
20. Who won the 2014 Russian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix) held on 12 October 2014?
Lewis Hamilton.
The Russian Grand Prix is an annual auto race held at Sochi Autodrom—a street circuit built around Olympic Park in Sochi, Russia, as part of the Formula One World Championship.
21. Who are the winners of G.V Raja awards-2014, the highest government-level recognition for sports persons in Kerala?
Anju Bobby George (Olympic athlete) , O.P Jaisha (Asian games medal winner), Tom Joseph (volleyball player) and Jithin Thomas (Asian games medal winner) are the winners of G.V Raja awards-2014. The award comprises a purse of Rs one lakh and citation. Ace athlete P T Usha has been nominated for the best coach award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 55,000 and a citation.
22. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on October 13, 2014 banned India’s largest real estate developer and six officials, including Chairman K.P. Singh, from accessing the capital markets for three years, after finding them guilty of engaging in fraud and unfair trade practices. What is the name of that company?
DLF.
DLF Limited (Delhi Land & Finance) is one of the largest commercial real estate developers in India. It was founded by Chaudhary Raghvendra Singh in 1946 and is based in New Delhi, India.
23. Who was re elected as the 80th President of Bolivia in the 2014 general election?
Evo Morales.
24. What is the name given to the rural development programme launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, on 11 October 2014 ?
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community.
Under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, each member of parliament needs to choose one village each from the constituency that they represent, fix parameters and make it a model village by 2016. Thereafter, they can take on two or three more villages and do the same by the time the next general elections come along in 2019, and thereafter, set themselves ten-year-long village or rural improvement projects. Villages will be offered smart schools, universal access to basic health facilities and Pucca housing to homeless villagers.
Under the scheme, Narendra Modi has adopted Jayapur village from his constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Sonia Gandhi adopted Udwa village in her constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi adopted Deeh village in his constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. V. K. Singh adopted Mirpur Hindu in his constituency Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Ahmed Patel adopted Vandari village in Rajpipada, Gujarat. Sachin Tendulkar adopted Puttamraju vari Kandriga(P.R.Kandriga) a village near Gudur in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
25. Which country won the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship?
U.S.A.
The 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship was held in Italy from 23 September to 12 October 2014 and was contested by 24 teams. The United States defeated China 3-1 to win the tournament. Kimberly Hill was selected Most Valuable Player. USA defeated China to claim their first FIVB World Championship title ever.
26. Which club won the inaugural match of the Indian Super League-2014?
Atletico de Kolkata.
Atletico defeated Mumbai City (3-0) in the inaugural match of ISL. The Indian Super League, officially known as the Hero Indian Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in India. It features eight franchise teams from all around India. The league runs from October to December, with a finals series determining the champion. The Indian Super League was founded in 2013 in an effort to make football a top sport in India and to make Indian football a major player worldwide. The league operates along the lines of the Twenty20 cricket Indian Premier League, and Major League Soccer of the United States.
27. Bollywood actor who has been appointed as Unicef's Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia region?
Aamir Khan.
28. Name the Australian author who has won the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for his wartime novel “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”?.
Richard Flanagan.
29. Reserve Bank of India governor who has been conferred with the Best Central Bank Governor award for 2014 by Euromoney magazine?
Raghuram Rajan.
30. Which channel/website was blocked in China hours after a video of Hong Kong police beating and kicking a pro-democracy protester began circulating online?
The BBC's website.
31. Name the indigenously developed nuclear capable sub-sonic cruise missile of India which was test-fired from a test range at Chandipur on October 17, 2014?.
'Nirbhay'
Nirbhay is a long range, subsonic cruise missile which can strike targets more than 700 kms away, developed in India by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
32. US actress who appeared in films including Lone Star and Rush Hour, who died on October 14, 2014 from medical complications related to alcohol abuse?
Elizabeth Pena.
Pena was also known for TV shows like sitcoms I Married Dora and Modern Family, in which she played the mother of Sofia Vergara's character Gloria.
33. Who has been appointed as the first woman vice chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology(CUSAT)?
Dr J. Letha.
She has been appointed as the 13th vice chancellor of CUSAT and as the first woman VC of the university.
34. Indian cricket icon who has been selected for the Sree Chithira Thirunal Trust national award for his benefaction in the sports field?
Sunil Gavaskar .
The award, embracing a cash prize of Rs.One lakh and citation, has been inaugurated by the Trust to honour those who proved their excellence in sports at the national level.
35. Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election results , 2014:
A legislative assembly election was held on 15 October 2014, in a single phase, to select the 288 members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in India. The result was announced on 19 October. The BJP won the majority in the Assembly.
Results:
Total Seats:288.
BJP-122
Shiv Sena-63
Indian National Congress-42
Nationalist Congress Party-41
Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi-3.
Peasants and Workers Party of India-3
Others-14
36. Haryana Legislative Assembly election results, 2014:
A general election was held on 15 October 2014 to elect 90 members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly. The term of previous assembly elected in 2009 was to expire on 27 October 2014. The results were announced on 19 October. The BJP won the majority in the Assembly.
Results:
Total Seats:90.
BJP-47
Indian National Lok Dal -19
Indian National Congress-15.
Haryana Janhit Congress (BL)-2
Others-7.
37. Name the A mysterious American space plane which has returned from space on October 17,2014 after 15 months in orbit?
X-37B.
‘X-37B’, the 'mini space shuttle', which is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle-2, was unmanned and made an automatic landing from space. The Air Force’s secretive X-37B spy plane has returned to Earth after nearly two years circling the globe.
The X-37B last entered orbit Dec. 12, 2012 and landed on October 17, 2014 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
38. Which country won the Sultan of Johor Cup (SOJC) U-21 hockey title, beating Great Britain 2-1 in the final?
India.
39. Name the first ophthalmologist to win the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award-2014?
Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati.
He is the professor & vice chair of the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at UK.
40. Which country has been declared officially free of Ebola by World Health Organisation after six weeks with no new cases?
Nigeria.
Nigeria has been officially declared Ebola-free on October 20, 2014 after containing the disease that has killed more than 4,500 people.
41. Who is sworn in as the new president of Indonesia on October20, 2014?
Joko Widodo.
He is universally known in Indonesia as Jokowi.
42. Who was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Haryana after BJP's win in the Haryana Legislative Assembly election, 2014?
Manohar Lal Khattar.
He became the BJP's first Chief Minister of Haryana after his swearing-in ceremony on 26 October 2014.
43. Who is the 18th and current Chief Minister of Maharashtra?
Devendra Fadnavis.
44. Name the comet which came extraordinarily close to Mars as it whizzed by on 19 October 2014?
Siding Spring.
Siding Spring, mere 500 metres in diameter – passed the Red Planet at a distance of just 137 000 kilometres, where it was observed by several spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Comet Siding Spring originates from the Oort Cloud, a comet ‘reservoir’ in the outer reaches of the Solar System. The comet was named after the Australian Observatory at which it was originally discovered back in 2013. Siding Spring was travelling at a velocity of around 56 kilometres per second relative to Mars.
45. The third out of seven in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) series of satellites which was launched on 15 October 2014 by PSLV-C26?
IRNSS-1C.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) - C26, carrying IRNSS 1C, lifted off from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The satellite will help augmenting the satellite based navigation system of India which is currently under development. The satellite will provide navigation, tracking and mapping services.
46. Who has been appointed as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry of India?
Arvind Subramanian.
Arvind Subramanian is an Indian economist and the current Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, having taken charge of the position on 16 October 2014 succeeding Raghuram Rajan. Arvind Subramanian is the author of two books, “India's Turn: Understanding the Economic Transformation” published in 2008, “Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance” published in September 2011, and co-author of “Who Needs to Open the Capital Account?” which was published in 2012.
In 2011, Foreign Policy magazine has named him as one of the world's top 100 global thinkers.
47. The Indian men’s hockey team chief coach who resigned from the post, citing difficulty in working under the present system of governance?
Terry Walsh.
As a coach of Indian men's team , he guided the team to its first gold medal at the Asian Games after 16 years. He was appointed as the coach of the India men's team in 2013, before he submitted his resignation in October 2014, citing "difficulty adjusting to the decision making style of the sporting bureaucracy in India" as the reason. However, he withdrew his resignation the next day.
48. South African double-amputee Olympian who was sentenced on October 21, 2014 to a maximum of five years imprisonment for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year?
Oscar Pistorius.
Pistorius is a South African sprint runner. Although both of Pistorius' legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, he has competed in events for single below-knee amputees and for able-bodied athletes. On Valentine's Day 2013, Pistorius fatally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria home. He said he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder, but he was arrested and charged with murder. At his trial the following year, Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide. He received a five-year prison sentence for culpable homicide and a concurrent three-year suspended prison sentence for a separate reckless endangerment conviction.
49. Australia's 21st prime minister and a titan of the Australian Labor Party who passed away on October 21, 2014?
Edward Gough Whitlam.
He served as Prime Minister of Australia from 1972 to 1975. The Leader of the Labor Party from 1967 to 1977, Whitlam led his party to power for the first time in 23 years at the 1972 election. He went on to win the 1974 election before being controversially dismissed by the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have his commission terminated in that manner.
Whitlam stepped down after losing again at the 1977 election, retiring from parliament in 1978. Upon the election of the Hawke Government in 1983, he was appointed as Ambassador to UNESCO. He remained active into his nineties. The circumstances of his dismissal and the legacy of his government remain a large part of Australian political discourse.
50. The chief executive of French oil and gas company Total SA who has died in an air crash in Moscow?
Christophe de Margerie.
Mr de Margerie, had been chief executive of Europe's third largest oil company since 2007.
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