GK & Current Affairs: December 7-10, 2014

615
615 essential drugs have been brought under price control mechanism. 175 essential drugs have been added to the list of drugs which are under price control mechanism, taking the number to 615 as 440 were already covered under it.

USA
American President Barack Obama signed the Ukraine Freedom Support Act to intensify punitive measures against Moscow’s defense, energy and financial sectors, and supply Kiev with weapons. The Ukraine Freedom Support Act, signed by US President Barack Obama, authorizes providing anti-tank weapons, surveillance drones to Ukraine, and allows the White House to impose sanctions on Russian energy giant Gazprom and arms exporter Rosoboronexport.

Twelve
Godavari pushkaram is a festival of River Godavari which occurs once in 12 years. The pushkaram festival last held in the year 2003. The next festival is in 2015. During Godavari pushkaram pilgrims from all over the country will have a holy dip with belief that they would be relieved from all sins, and perform rituals to departed souls.

Denmark
Denmark topped Forbes’ 9th annual ranking of the Best Countries for Business, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ireland and Sweden. India has not fared well in Forbes’ list of the best countries for business this year, ranking 93rd out of 146 nations, behind countries like Mexico, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka as it cited challenges like poverty and corruption that the country needs to address.

Russia

Wind Energy
India’s total renewable power installed capacity has reached 33 gigawatt (GW). Wind energy accounts for 70 per cent of the installed capacity at 22.1 GW followed by biomass power 4.2 per cent, small hydro power 3.9 GW and solar power 2.8 GW.

Beijing
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution proposed by China. The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia Pacific region. AIIB is regarded by some as a rival for the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which the AIIB says are dominated by developed countries like the United States and Japan.The Bank, to be headquartered in Beijing, is expected to be operational by next year.

Tuberculosis
For early and rapid diagnosis of drug resistant tuberculosis, new diagnostic technologies such as Line Probe Assay (LPA) and Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) have been developed globally. India is using these technologies since 2012.

USA
The Bakken Formation is one of the largest contiguous deposits of oil and natural gas in the United States. It is an interbedded sequence of black shale, siltstone and sandstone that underlies large areas of north-western North Dakota, north-eastern Montana, southern Saskatchewan and south-western Manitoba.

Imtiaz Dharker
The Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker has been awarded the Queen’s gold medal for poetry. Dharker was born in Lahore in 1954 and grew up in Glasgow as what she calls a “Muslim Calvinist” before eloping with an Indian Hindu to live in Bombay. She later moved to Britain when she married the late Simon Powell, the founder of Poetry Live.

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