5 December 2015 Current Affair Updates | Vocabulary Words
1. Social media giant Facebook, which has over two million Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) on its platform, has set up a SME Council in India to help small ventures from various industries share feedback and discuss ideas around leveraging technology to grow their enterprise. This is the second SME Council set up by Facebook globally, the first one being in the USA.
2. India's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank has become the first bank of the country to launch a 'display variant' debit card which does away with the hassles of generating one time password (OTP) over SMS while transacting. The card, which is being made available for high-value NRE customers, has an embedded EMV chip, a display screen and a touch-sensitive button which helps generating the OTP on the card itself.
3. With 16 Indian educational institutes among top 200 universities, India occupied third place in Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies rankings for 2016. At 16th place, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore is the only Indian institute to feature in the top 20. China dominates the rankings, with Peking University and Tsinghua University at first and second position respectively.
4. Brazil’s economy contracted by 1.7 percent during July-September 2015 compared to April-June period in 2015. It was Brazil's third consecutive quarter of contraction starting from January 2015 and thus, making it the country's longest recession since the 1930s. Inflation rose to over 10 percent, the highest in 12 years, in October 2015. Unemployment rate was pegged at 8.9 percent during July-September 2015 up from 6.8 percent in 2014-15.
5. Noted industrialist and former parliamentarian M.A.M. Ramaswamy passed away. He was 84-years old. He was the Chairman of Tamil Nadu's famous Chettinad Group. The group is engaged in diverse areas like cement, granite and engineering services.
6. Union Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley along with Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Thaawar Chand Gehlot launched “Accessible India Campaign” (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), a nationwide campaign that will enable persons with disabilities to gain universal access, equal opportunity for development, independent living and participation in all aspects of life in an inclusive society. Under the campaign, atleast 50% of all the government buildings of National Capital and all the State capitals will be made fully accessible for persons with disabilities by July 2018.
7. With the launch of the Rotavirus vaccination project by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country to start this project. The vaccine will help in controlling the child mortality rate (under five years of age) due to diarrhoea.
8. National Textile Corporation (NTC) Limited signed a MoU with Transparency International India (TII) for adopting Integrity Pact (IP). With this signing, NTC became the 51st Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) and 49th Central PSU to sign a MoU with TII. Integrity Pact is a tool which ensures that all activities and transactions between a Company or Government Department and their Suppliers are handled in a fair, transparent and corruption-free manner.
9. Indian-American Dr. Vijay M. Rao was named as the chairperson of the prestigious Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Board of Directors.
10. Aricent, a US-based product engineering firm, tied-up with Nasscom Foundation to launch Aricent Employability Programme. This programme is CSR initiative to create employability opportunities for 2500 engineering graduates. The programme will be offered to under graduate students across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi NCR and Rajasthan.
2. India's third largest private sector lender Axis Bank has become the first bank of the country to launch a 'display variant' debit card which does away with the hassles of generating one time password (OTP) over SMS while transacting. The card, which is being made available for high-value NRE customers, has an embedded EMV chip, a display screen and a touch-sensitive button which helps generating the OTP on the card itself.
3. With 16 Indian educational institutes among top 200 universities, India occupied third place in Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies rankings for 2016. At 16th place, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore is the only Indian institute to feature in the top 20. China dominates the rankings, with Peking University and Tsinghua University at first and second position respectively.
4. Brazil’s economy contracted by 1.7 percent during July-September 2015 compared to April-June period in 2015. It was Brazil's third consecutive quarter of contraction starting from January 2015 and thus, making it the country's longest recession since the 1930s. Inflation rose to over 10 percent, the highest in 12 years, in October 2015. Unemployment rate was pegged at 8.9 percent during July-September 2015 up from 6.8 percent in 2014-15.
5. Noted industrialist and former parliamentarian M.A.M. Ramaswamy passed away. He was 84-years old. He was the Chairman of Tamil Nadu's famous Chettinad Group. The group is engaged in diverse areas like cement, granite and engineering services.
6. Union Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley along with Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Thaawar Chand Gehlot launched “Accessible India Campaign” (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), a nationwide campaign that will enable persons with disabilities to gain universal access, equal opportunity for development, independent living and participation in all aspects of life in an inclusive society. Under the campaign, atleast 50% of all the government buildings of National Capital and all the State capitals will be made fully accessible for persons with disabilities by July 2018.
7. With the launch of the Rotavirus vaccination project by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country to start this project. The vaccine will help in controlling the child mortality rate (under five years of age) due to diarrhoea.
8. National Textile Corporation (NTC) Limited signed a MoU with Transparency International India (TII) for adopting Integrity Pact (IP). With this signing, NTC became the 51st Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) and 49th Central PSU to sign a MoU with TII. Integrity Pact is a tool which ensures that all activities and transactions between a Company or Government Department and their Suppliers are handled in a fair, transparent and corruption-free manner.
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| 5 December 2015 Current Affair Updates | Vocabulary Words |
9. Indian-American Dr. Vijay M. Rao was named as the chairperson of the prestigious Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Board of Directors.
10. Aricent, a US-based product engineering firm, tied-up with Nasscom Foundation to launch Aricent Employability Programme. This programme is CSR initiative to create employability opportunities for 2500 engineering graduates. The programme will be offered to under graduate students across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi NCR and Rajasthan.
Vocabulary Words
1. CASANOVA (NOUN): ladies' man
Synonyms: Romeo, paramour
Antonyms: enemy, anti
Example Sentence:
He was still holding Casanova's hands, and he pressed them fondly.
2. PAWN (NOUN): security for a loan
Synonyms: assurance, collateral Antonyms: break, uncertainty
Example Sentence:
The young lady had no comprehension of the fact that she was only a pawn in the game.
3. ASTIGMATIC (ADJECTIVE): able only to see things near at hand
Synonyms: nearsighted, myopic Antonyms: far-sighted, perceptive
Example Sentence:
They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right.
4. INSURRECTION (NOUN): rebellion
Synonyms: revolt, riot Antonyms: compliance, subordination
Example Sentence:
In a few minutes the square was cleared and the insurrection was over.
5. REHASH (VERB): talk over again
Synonyms: restate, repeat Antonyms: deny, refuse
Example Sentence:
It is, of course, but a rehash of speculations which amuses a half-hour.
6. TRAUMATIC (ADJECTIVE): scary, shocking
Synonyms: alarming, dreadful Antonyms: pleasing, comforting
Example Sentence:
Parents described the incident as “traumatic and humiliating” for their kids.
7. SQUAT (ADJECTIVE): short and stocky
Synonyms: broad, fat Antonyms: slight, thin
Example Sentence:
It was a squat building with two floors above ground and two below and the grounds
surrounded by a wire fence.
8. INCURSION (NOUN): invasion
Synonyms: attack, foray Antonyms: retreat, thin
Example Sentence:
Then, at last, when there was no need of it, the king landed and made an incursion for plunder into the country.
9. SQUELCH (VERB): suppress, restrain
Synonyms: extinguish, oppress Antonyms: uncompress, let go
Example Sentence:
Yes, the party wants to squelch cultural expressions that threaten its own continuity and survival.
10. CONDONE (VERB): make allowance for
Synonyms: excuse, forgive Antonyms: condemn, prevent
Example Sentence:
She could even understand those facts, though she could not condone them.
