6 November 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

6 November 2013 – Daily Current Affairs

Mars-Mission-2013-Mangalyaan

1) India’s prestigious mission to send a spacecraft to Mars got off to a flying start on 5 November, 2013 when the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C-25) lifted off at 2.38 p.m. from the spaceport at Sriharikota and put the Mars Orbiter ‘Mangalyaan’ into a precise elliptical orbit around the earth later in the day. What is the tentative date for ‘Mangalyaan’ to move into the orbit of Mars? – 24 September, 2014 (After going around Earth for 20-25 days in an elliptical orbit, the Rs. 450-crore orbiter would begin a nine-month long voyage to Mars around 12.42 am on 1 December, 2013. This launch marked Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s first -ever inter-planetary expedition in a bid to join a select band of 3 space agencies. European Space Agency (ESA) of the European consortium, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US and Roscosmos of Russia are the three agencies which have successfully sent their missions to Mars. The Mars mission of ISRO
is aimed at establishing the country’s capability to reach the red planet and focus on looking for the presence of methane, an indicator of life in Mars)
2) Which city would host the 12th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas to be held from 7 January to 9 January, 2013, announcement pertaining to which was made on 5 November, 2013? – New Delhi (The theme of 2014’s Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas will be “Engaging Diaspora - Connecting across Generations”, which will focus mainly on the younger generation. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on 9th January every year to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India)

3) An eminent Sri Lankan personality Gamani Corea, who passed away on 2 November, 2013, was associated with which field? – Economics (Corea was one of the chief architects of Sri Lanka’s first national plan in the late 1950s. A highly regarded economist, Dr. Corea was also a seasoned diplomat, who held key positions such as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1974 to 1984. He played an active role in the partial liberalisation exercise in Sri Lanka in from 1965 to 1970)

4) In one of the world’s biggest ever mass criminal trials a Bangladeshi court on 4 November, 2013 pronounced death sentence to 152 soldiers and life imprisonment to 158 soldiers while jail terms of three to ten years was given to 251 other soldiers. This mass trial was conducted for which criminal act? – A soldier mutiny of 2009 in which 74 persons including top army officers were massacred (The case relates to the uprising at the BDR headquarters in 2009 in which mutineers stole 2,500 weapons, broke into a meeting of top officers and shot them at close range. Then BDR Chief Major General Shakil Ahmed was among those killed by the mutineers. A total of 820 ex-paramilitary soldiers and 26 civilians were put to trial and the sentence was pronounced by Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Md. Akhtaruzzaman. 271 convicts were acquitted in the case)
5) Struggling smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry on 4 November, 2013 announced abandoning the proposed sell-off of the company. It was also announced that company’s CEO Thorsten Heins will leave after the collapse of a tentative takeover offer from BlackBerry's largest shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings. Who will be appointed BlackBerry’s new acting Chairman and CEO after this move? - John S. Chen (Chen led Sybase from 1998 until the company was acquired by SAP of Germany in 2010. He is widely credited with saving Sybase from bankruptcy)




6) As per the data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on 4 November 2013, Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the service sector declined by 47.5 percent to 1.19 billion US dollars during the April-August 2013 period. The services sector contributes over 60 percent to India’s GDP.

7) The 12th edition of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas will be held in New Delhi from 7th to 9th of January 2014. This was announced by Vayalar Ravi, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs on 5 Novemeber 2013 in New Delhi. The theme of the convention is -Engaging Diaspora - Connecting across Generations- with a special focus on the younger generation.