gyanm general awareness issue july 2014

GENERAL AWARENESS – JULY 2014 1

ROAD TO 16th LOK SABHA

Article 79 of the Constitution of India provides for formation of Parliament with two houses – Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and The House of the People (Lok Sabha). As per article 83, Lok Sabha has a tenure of five years. After which it has to be dissolved to elect a new Lok Sabha.

Article 324 of the Constitution of India confers the relevant powers, duties and functions upon the Election Commission of India. Accordingly, elections were notified by Election Commission on March 5, 2014 to elect the 16th Lok Sabha.

Section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 provides for conduct of the elections.

General Elections 2014 commence from April 7 to May 12, and take place in nine phases covering 543 constituencies

An estimated 81.4 Crore (814 Million) voters were eligible to vote in this election, 10 Crore more than the elections held in 2009.

Counting of votes took place on May 16, 2014 and Election results were announced by Election Commission on 18th May, 2014

PARTY POSITION IN 2014 LOK SABHA

Bharatiya Janata Party 282 Indian National Congress 44 AIADMK 37 Trinamool Congress 34 Biju Janata Dal 20 Shivsena 18 Telugu Desam 16 Telangana Rashtra Samithi 11 Others 81 Total 543

MARCH TOWARDS NEW LOK SABHA May 17: Last meeting of cabinet of UPA II under Chairmanship of

Dr. Manmohan Singh recommended the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha.

May 18: Election results notified by Election Commission 15th Lok Sabha Dissolved by the President

May 20: Mr. Narendra Modi elected as leader of BJP Parliamentary Party President invites Mr. Modi form the government

May 26: Mr. Modi sworn as 15th Prime Minister of India June 4: The first session of 16th Lok Sabha: June 4 to June 11. June 9: President Address to both Houses of Parliament

PROFILE OF 15TH PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

Name: Narendra Damodardas Modi Born: September 17, 1950 (age 63), Vadnagar Education: M.A. Pol. Sci., (Gujarat University) Spouse: Jashodaben Modi (married 1968) Parents: Heeraben, Damodardas Mulchand Modi Siblings: Soma Modi, Pankaj Modi, Prahlad Modi

Swearing in ceremony was attended by following leaders of the SAARC nations: Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Nepal: Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister Bhutan: Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister Sri Lanka: Mahinda Rajapakse, President Bangladesh: Shirin Chaudhury, Speaker Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai, President Maldives: Abdulla Yameen, President Prime Minister of Mauritius Mr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam also participated in the swearing in ceremony

COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

LIST OF CABINET MINISTERS WITH PORTFOLIOS NARENDRA MODI Prime Minister, Personnel, Public

Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; all important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister

Rajnath Singh Home Affairs Sushma Swaraj External Affairs, Overseas Indian

Affairs Arun Jaitley Finance, Corporate Affairs, Defence M. Venkaiah Naidu Urban Development, Housing and

Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs

Nitin Jairam Gadkari Road Transport and Highways, Shipping

D.V. Sadananda Gowda Railways Uma Bharati Water Resources, River Development

and Ganga Rejuvenation Dr. Najma A. Heptulla Minority Affairs Gopinathrao Munde Rural Development, Panchayati Raj,

Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramvilas Paswan Consumer Affairs, Food and Public

Distribution Kalraj Mishra Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Maneka Sanjay Gandhi Women and Child Development Ananthkumar Chemicals and Fertilizers Ravi Shankar Prasad Communications and Information

Technology, Law and Justice AG Raju Pusapati Civil Aviation Anant Geete Heavy Industries and Public

Enterprises Harsimrat Kaur Badal Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment Jual Oram Tribal Affairs Radha Mohan Singh Agriculture Thaawar Chand Gehlot Social Justice and Empowerment Smriti Zubin Irani Human Resource Development Dr. Harsh Vardhan Health and Family Welfare

23 other ministers of states were also sworn in


Dance of Democracy

India is known for its ‘kumbh mela’, the epitome of faith and devotion for millions of Indians observed every twelve years. A much larger celebration is held every five years “General Elections”- the biggest democratic exercise on the earth involving a much larger number of Indians and 814.5 million this time. The whole country, without any distinction in caste or creed, without any fear or greed and without any hatred or despise visit the electoral booths like they enter their places of worship with nothing to demand but with determination to see that the democratic traditions of the country are upheld. When the devotee ( elector) presses the ‘button’ making a choice, he knows that he is just not going to select a candidate, but deciding the destiny of the country, with which his own future is intertwined. And the most beautiful part of the exercise is the grace with which he accepts the results of the mandate without any rancour and bitterness. This we can say is the beauty of democracy. The people have the ultimate power to decide who would rule them and they have the right to change the rulers if they do not come to their expectations. The power to rule in India does not come by birth nor by force. The people can even choose a person who once was a tea vendor! India this time has voted for a change. Beginning of Change: The elections to the sixteenth Lok Sabha held during April and May 2014, have been remarkable for their unexpectedness. Without any doubt, it was a landslide. Even the winner, Bhartiya Janta Party had not thought that it would win a clear majority in the elections of its own and would not have to depend on any outside support to form the government. No psephologist had given the party the numbers it eventually got. A few months back, the general expectation was that the party would get, at the most, around 160-180 seats and would emerge as the single largest party to get the invite from the President to form the government. But even then it would have had to depend on support from regional parties to win the vote of confidence on the floor of the house. It is also for the first time since 1984, that any party has got the majority of its own in the Lok Sabha. Further, most of the opinion polls had given the Grand Old Party, the Congress around 120 seats and no one had imagined that the party would face its worst defeat in its history of existence since independence with just 44 seats and being reduced to a rump of what it was a few days back. Rise of Aspirational Class: One great change in these elections is addition of more than ten crore new and young voterssince last general elections held in 2009. They have

proved that they cannot be taken for granted and that they are not a pocket borough of any one party. This new generation of voters has pressed their hand against the EVMs with their open minds. With mobile in their hands and google in their reach, the hopes of this generation have soared high. Infact, these elections are victory of aspirational class over dynastic politics. The greatest achievement of Mr. Modi was his ability to connect with this class, who is looking past the ‘roti, sadak, bijli, pani’ kind of politics. As rightly stated by a journalist, “Mr. Modi tapped into the frustrations of a generation of Indians who climbed out of poverty in the past decade, but who have been prevented from joining the middle classes by slowing growth and a lack of employment” This new generation is looking for better life, which they know cannot come without better governance. In this age of communication, people will look for results and not slogans. Dawn of a New Era: The results of these elections are an eye opener for all traditional parties as they have rejected caste based parties like Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal(U). However, some states have elected regional parties like Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Biju Janta Dal in Odisha and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and simultaneously in Kerala also supporting the UDF with thumping majority. It may lead to concerns like those witnessed in sixties when the Chief Ministers of Southern states ( aka non-hindi states) had formed a syndicate to stymie the efforts of the government in power at that time. The Prime Minister of the country Mr. Narendra Modi has single handedly changed the contours of Indian polity and put at rest any doubt about his abilities. He also made a great beginning by inviting all SAARC leaders at the swearing ceremony which is likely to create more conducive environment for better neighbourly relations. The future beholds a tough time for him and he knows this when in his acceptance speech, laying contours of his policy,he said: “At the end of the day, for who is the government for? It is for the poor. For rural areas, farmers, untouchables, the weak and the pained; this government is for them. To meet their aspirations and hopes, this is our priority, because our weakest, our poorest have sent us here.” We join all countrymen in wishing him good luck in

running the new government !!!


GENERAL AWARENESS

JULY 2014 Year: 2014 Vol. 3, Issue 01

A PUBLICATION OF GYANM EDUCATION & TRAINING INSTITUTE PVT. LTD.

SCO 13-14-15, 2ND FLOOR, SEC 34-A, CHANDIGARH

CONTENTS

SECTION – A

CURRENT AFFAIRS March to May 2014 1-18

SECTION – B

BULLET NEWS DEC 2013 TO FEB 2014 19-30

SECTION – C SBI PO MOCK TEST

MCQS FOR SBI DESCRIPTIVE ENGLISH

31-49 50-63 64-72

SECTION – E

LATEST GK BYTES 73-95

FIGURES TO REMEMBER

REPO RATE 8.00%

REVERSE REPO RATE 7.00%

MARGINAL STANDING FACILITY RATE

9.00%

STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO

23%

CASH RESERVE RATIO 4.00% BANK RATE 9.00%

BASE RATE(s) (of various banks)

9.80% – 10.25 %

INDIA’S RANK IN

Press Freedom Index 2014 78th

Ease of Doing Business (World Bank) 134th

Social Progress Index 102nd

World Press Freedom Index 140th

Environment Performance Index 155th

Index for Nuclear Safety 23rd

Index of Economic Freedom 120th Rank in Energy Usage 69th

Ease of Doing Business (Forbes) 98th

Corruption Perception Index 94th

World Prosperity Index 106th

Global Hunger Index 2013 63rd

Human Capital Index 78th

Global Gender Gap Index 101st Global Competitiveness Index 60th

Corruption Risk Index 69th

NATIONAL NEWS

MAY 2014 INDIA 2nd BEST IN CONSUMER CONFIDENCE As per the Nielsen global survey, Consumer confidence level in India jumped to 121points in the first quarter of the current fiscal, the highest optimism level since the fourth quarter of 2012. India retains its position as the second most-optimistic country in the survey. Indonesia leads the global index with 124 points and the Philippines is in third place with 116 points. INDIA 3rd IN GDP SIZE Data released by the international comparison programme of the World Bank group shows that in a matter of six years, India has emerged as the world's third largest economy (in terms of PPP) in 2011, from being the 10th largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan, while the US remained the largest economy closely followed by China. The world produced goods and services worth over $90 trillion in 2011 and almost half of this came from low and middle-income countries. GHNP FOR WORLD HERITAGE SITE The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) of Himachal Pradesh has been nominated for the prestigious UNESCO-approved World Heritage Site status by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the advisory body to the UNESCO Committee on Nature. INDIAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL IN CHINA India started its biggest year-long cultural festival, “Glimpses of India” in China with a performance of classical Indian dances in Shanghai by artists from Chennai-based Kalakshetra cultural academy. INDIA 134TH IN ‘EASE OF DOING BUSINESS’ World Bank and International Finance Corporation have released their annual report for “Doing Business” as per which India ranks 134th among 189 nations when it comes to ease of doing business. Singapore ranked first in the list. INDIAN EVMs TO BE USED IN NAMIBIA Namibia has imported 3400 India-made Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for use in their Presidential Election. Namibia is the first African country to use such machines in any of its Polls. These EVMs are manufactured by the public sector unit, Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL) based in Bangaluru. ‘TITLI’ SCREENED AT CANNES Indian film Titli (butterfly), directed by Kanu Behl and produced by Aditya Chopra was screened at Cannes Film Festival at Cannes, France. The film is about the journey of a boy called ‘Titli’ who wants to escape from his oppressive brother.


INDIA 78TH IN PRESS FREEDOM Latest Press Freedom Index 2014 has placed India at 78th place on the basis of freedom of media in the country. Press freedom in India has deteriorated due to increased "interference" by media owners ahead of the general elections this year. Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden topped the list, which included 197 countries. W B AID FOR SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN – III World Bank has agreed to provide $ 1billion assistance to India to support its Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan – III, the largest school education programme in the world. Funds will be deployed by the HRD Ministry over a period of three years. S C BANS BULLS USE IN ‘JALLIKATTU’ The Supreme Court has prohibited use of bulls in Tamil Nadu’s ‘Jallikattu’ festivals, holding that use of bulls in such events severely harmed the animals and constituted an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act. INDIA TOPS IN ‘OPEN DEFECATION’ A UN report- ‘Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, 2014 says that 82 per cent of the one billion people practising open defecation in the world live in just 10 countries, topped by India having sixty per cent (597 million) of this population. DELHI MOST POLLUTED CITY WHO has stated that the quality of air in most cities worldwide failed to meet the WHO standards for safe levels of pollution. The release counted Delhi among one of the most polluted city in the world in terms of air quality as it has highest concentration of particulate matters less than 2.5 microns, which is considered most serious. HIGHEST INFANT MORTALITY IN INDIA More than seven lakh newborns die in India every year, the highest number of such deaths globally, a new study has claimed. Each year 5.5 million babies leave the world without celebrating their first birth day. SC NOD FOR PROBING SENIOR BUREAUCRATS A three judge Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of India has held as invalid the legal provision that makes prior sanction mandatory for the Central Bureau of Investigation to conduct a probe against senior bureaucrats (joint secretary and above) in corruption cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act as it violates the article 14 (equality before law) of the constitution.

APRIL 2014

KEJRIWAL, MODI IN TIME TOP 100 The Time has named the 100 most influential people in the world without ranking them and four Indians have made it to the list. The four are - Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal (highest score), followed by BJP leader Narendra Modi, noted author Arundhati Roy and Coimbatore-based health activist Arunachalam Muruganantham.

‘AADHAAR’ NOT MANDATORY – S C The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to immediately withdraw the instructions, if any, issued by it for making Aadhaar card mandatory for citizens to avail government services. The Court also said that biometric or any other data should not be shared with any authorities unless the accused gives consent in writing. INDIA RANKS 83RD IN USE OF ICT A World Economic Forum report says that India has slid down to 83rd spot among 148 economies in terms of leveraging information and communications technologies for growth and well being. In 2013, it ranked 68th out of 144 countries. SMALL STATES TOP IN POLICY EFFECTIVENESS The India Public Policy Report 2014, brought out by Jindal School of Government and Public Policy at the Sonepat-based O.P. Jindal Global University, in association with the Oxford University Press, has ranked India’s smallest states — Sikkim, Mizoram, Goa, Punjab and Delhi — best in policy effectiveness, while Gujarat has slipped over the decades to the 16th place and Kerala comes in at 21st slot. INDIA RANKS 102ND IN SOCIAL PROGRESS The Social Progress Index 2014 compiled by US-based non-profit group Social Progress Imperative ranks India102nd among the 132 countries. The index aims to measure quality of life using measures of access to basic human needs such as food and shelter and of equality of opportunity such as education and personal freedom. INDIA BHUTAN FOR JOINT HYDROPOWER India and Bhutan have signed an agreement on development of four hydropower projects for producing 2120 MW on a joint venture-model between public sector undertakings of the two countries. EUNUCHS RECOGNIZED AS ‘THIRD’ GENDER In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has recognised transgenders or eunuchs as third category of gender and directed Centre and states to take steps to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes and extend reservation for admission in educational institutions and for public appointments. The Court clarified that its verdict pertains only to eunuchs and not other sections of society like gay, lesbian and bisexuals who are also considered under the umbrella term 'transgender'.

MARCH 2014 INDIA’S LARGEST SOLAR POWER PLANT The largest Solar Power Plant of India, producing 130 MW of power, was launched at Bhagwanpur in Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh on 26 February 2014. The Welspun Solar MP project has been constructed at a cost of Rs.1100 crore on 305 hectares of land.


INDIA OFFERS $1 BN LOAN TO BANGLADESH India has offered Bangladesh a $1 billion soft loan for infrastructure development. This is the biggest loan amount India offered to any foreign country at 1.75 per cent interest rate with a repayment period 20 years, including a grace period 5 years. MANDATORY OPV FOR SEVEN COUNTRIES India-bound travellers from seven countries where polio cases are still being reported, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria, Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria and Pakistan will have to receive mandatory oral polio vaccine (OPV) six weeks before coming to India. Indians headed for these countries will also be administered the vaccine. INDIA LARGEST IMPORTER OF ARMS The report published by as Swedish Think Tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has claimed that India continues to be the largest buyer of arms in the world, much ahead of China and Pakistan.

Home Ministry has advised that Telangana, the country's 29th state, will come into exsistence on June 2 to start functioning as a separate state.

A commemorative postage stamp released in the honour of freedom fighter “Maulana Hasrat Mohani” .

Global Ayurveda Festival held at Kochi, Kerala.

NEWS FROM STATES

MAY 2014 VIDHAN SABHA ELECTIONS IN 5 STATES Along with the general elections, five states also elected their new MLAs (member of legislative assembly). Following were elected as the new Chief Ministers:

Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal) – Odisha, 4th time Pawan Chamling (Sikkim Democratic Fund) – Sikkim, 5th time, becoming the longest serving C M in India.

Chandrababu Naidu (Telugu Desam Party)—Andhra Pradesh

K Chandrasekhara Rao (Telangana Rastra Samithi) – Telangana

Nabam Tuki (Congress) -- Arunachal Pradesh

Some other Chief Ministers were also changed:

Anandiben Patel (BJP): Elected as Chief Minister of Gujarat in place of Narendra Modi.

Jitan Ram Manjhi became new Chief Minister of Bihar as present CM Nitish Kumar resigned owing the responsibility for poor performance of his party in general elections.

T R Zeliang (Naga People's Front): Elected as the new Chief Minister of Nagaland following the resignation of current C M Neiphiu Rio as he got elected as M P.

A four-year ban which barred short messaging service (SMS) on prepaid mobile phones in Jammu and Kashmir has been lifted by the state government.

Rajasthan has decided to open 325 Ma Bari centres in tribal areas of the four districts to provide education to the children of 6 to 12 age where there are no schools.

APRIL 2014 ARUNACHAL GETS CONNECTED BY RAIL The Arunachal Pradesh was put on the country’s railway map on April 7 with the first passenger train of about 400 commuters arriving at Naharlagun, near state capital Itanagar, starting from Dekargaon, Assam. MAHARASHTRA TOPS IN INVESTMENT According to an Assocham report, Maharashtra has emerged as the number one investment destination in the country replacing Gujarat, attracting cumulative investment proposals of Rs 14,73,466 crore as on December 2013, while Gujarat drew proposals worth Rs. 13,98,347 crore only. Asia’s largest Tulip garden - Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip garden is located on the banks of Dal Lake, Srinagar, J&K. Spread on 15-hectares, it has over 1.5 million tulips. India’s first double-decker flyover opened in Mumbai on 18th April connecting the eastern suburbs with western suburb via the Santa Cruz-Chembur link road.

MARCH 2014 MAHA LAUNCHES PHASE - I OF DMIC The Maharashtra government launched the first phase of the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project that aims at generating industrial output of Rs 20 lakh crore by 2042. First phase includes development of Shendre-Bidkin industrial city and an exhibition-cum-convention centre in Aurangabad, alongwith multi-modal logistics park at Karmad and water supply scheme for Shendre.

Nagaland and Assam became the first two states to be issued with Plastic Photo Identity Card for elections in India.

GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES

MAY 2014 SIT FOR PROBING BLACK MONEY The Supreme Court has reconstituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the chairmanship of retired judge MB Shah to monitor the probe into the black money cases, both inside and outside the country. Incidentally, this is also the first major decision taken by the Union Cabinet lead by Mr. Modi.


SECURITY PACT SIGNED WITH MYANMAR India and Myanmar have inked a pact to enhance security cooperation in combating the key issues of insurgency, arms smuggling and human trafficking. The agreement was signed at Nay Pyi Taw, capital of Myanmar.

In a move that signals changed priorities, the ministry of environment and forests has been renamed as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

APRIL 2014 FREE SALE OF 5KG LPG CYLINDERS Indian Oil Corporation has introduced the sale of market-priced 5-kg Free Trade LPG (FTL) cylinders through kirana stores and supermarkets for the first time in India. To begin with, these have been launched in Bangalore, Chennai, Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Aligarh.

MARCH 2014 FREE CHECK-UPS FOR MINORITY STUDENTS Govt has launched the 'Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme' for minority students in the age group of 5-14 years, enrolled in institutions aided by the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, to provide them free health check-ups twice a year at the place where they are studying.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

MAY 2014 UN PUTS INDIA’S GROWTH AT 5% According to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2014 report, Indian economy will grow 5 per cent in 2014 and record a slightly higher expansion of 5.5 per cent next year riding on stronger consumption and investment. ECONOMY TO GROW BY 4.9% - OECD Latest economic outlook by the Paris-based think-tank- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says that India's economy is expected to grow up to 4.9% in calendar year 2014 from 4.5% a year earlier, helped by a rebound in capital investments as well as a pick-up in private consumption, but rising bad loans at its banks threaten to choke the recovery. IIP SHRINKS BY 0.5% IN MARCH The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contacted 0.5% in March, compared with a 1.8% decline in February this year. This shows the economy is still not showing signs of recovery from tepid below-5% growth in 2013-14 CORE SECTOR GROWTH DOWN TO 2.5% The core sector growth slowed to 2.5 per cent in March from 7 per cent in the same month a year ago as the output of crude oil, natural gas and fertilisers declined. The eight industries forming the core sector - fertiliser, cement, steel, electricity, crude oil, coal, petroleum refinery products and natural gas, have a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

CAD SHRINKS TO 1.7% OF GDP India’s CAD (Current Account Deficit) - a measure of the inflow and outflow of foreign currency sharply narrowed to 1.7 per cent of the GDP or USD 32.4 billion in 2013-14 from a record high of 4.7 per cent ($87.8 billion) in FY’13. The position improved mainly due to sharp decline in imports led by a steep fall in gold imports TRADE DEFICIT DOWN BY $ 48 BILLION India's exports grew to $318.6 in 2013-14, $ 12 billion more than previous year, while imports shrinked to $ 466.2 billlion, $36 billion less than previous year, bringing down the trade deficit to $147.6 billion, compared with $195.7 billion in last year.

Foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.093 billion to $314.92 billion in the week ended May 16, on account of increase in currency assets.

APRIL 2014 LOW GROWTH DUE TO INTERNAL FACTORS World Economic Outlook report by the International Monetary Fund has attributed India's declining economic growth, which has touched a decade's low of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13, to mainly internal factors. India's economic growth, which touched 8.9 per cent in 2010-11 declined to 6.7 per cent in the following year and touched a decade's low of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13. As for the 2013-14, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has pegged it at 4.9 per cent. However as per the projection of ADB and RBI, the growth in the current fiscal is likely to increase to 5.5 %.. GDP GROWTH MAY IMPROVE - IMF According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), growth of India’s GDP could recover to 5.4 per cent in the current fiscal year (2014-15) from 4.4 per cent expected in 2013-14. It may further increase by one percentage point to 6.4 per cent in the year 2015-16 due to stronger global growth, an improvement in export competitiveness and implementation of the recently-approved investment projects. WORLD BANK PUTS INDIA’S GROWTH AT 5.7% The World Bank has projected an economic growth rate of 5.7 per cent in fiscal year 2014 for India on the back of a more competitive exchange rate and many large investments going forward. ADB PUTS GROWTH RATE AT 5.5% The Asian Development Bank has cut India's growth projection for 2014-15 to 5.5% against 5.7% estimated earlier, on account of weaker than expected industrial growth. The Bank pointed out that government needed to clear projects quickly and boost manufacturing, besides carrying out structural reforms.


MARCH 2014 FITCH PUTS ECONOMY GROWTH @ 4.7% Global rating agency Fitch expects that India's economy may grow 4.7 per cent in the current year, lower than the official estimate of 4.9 per cent. The agency expects the economy to pick up in the next two financial years. Latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India shows that the total number of telecom subscribers in the country rose marginally to 92.20 crore in January, 2014 from 91.51 crore at the end of December 2013.

MAY 2014 AGRI PRODUCTION TO CROSS 264 MN TON The 3rd Advance Estimates of crop production in the 2013-14 crop year (July-June) released by the Agriculture Ministry says that India is likely to produce 264.38 million tonnes of foodgrains during 2013-14 compared to 257.13 million tonnes last year, supported by higher production of wheat and rice. The Agriculture Ministry comes out with four estimates on foodgrains production at different stages of crop harvesting. INDIA IS CHEAPEST MAJOR ECONOMY A report from German banking giant - Deutsche Bank says that a weaker Indian rupee has allowed India to remain the cheapest major economy in the world despite persistently suffering the highest inflation rate. Australia is overall the most expensive major economy, while the United States is the cheapest developed country and Brazil most expensive developing country. TELECOM BASE TOUCHES 933 MILLIONS India’s telecom industry added over one million users in March, taking the total number of subscribers to 933 million, as per latest data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Rural India is growing faster claiming 377.73 million subscribers.

Exim Bank has extended $ 100 million in line of credit to Nigeria for building energy projects that will eventually help boost Indian exports.

FDI inflows from Singapore added up to nearly $6 billion in 2013-14, making it largest source of FDI in India, followed by Mauritius at $4.9 billion.

APRIL 2014 INDIA TOPS IN INWARD REMITANCES As per a World Bank report, India ranked first in receiving global remittances in the year 2013 with a whopping $70 billion in its kitty, of which $65 billion were earned from the country's flagship software services exports.

STEEL EXPORTS EXCEED IMPORTS India became net steel exporter in 2013-14 after a gap of six years and is likely to maintain the momentum in 2014-

15. Total steel exports by India during the last fiscal stood at 5.59 million tonnes (MT), as against imports of 5.44 MT. India is the world's fourth largest steel maker. JICA TO FUND FOREST PROJECT IN U’KHAND The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has approved a loan of about Rs 674 crore for a forest project in Uttarakhand. The project will support implementation of disaster reconstruction and prevention measures in the forest area of Uttarakhand where heavy rains caused devastating floods and landslides in June 2013. MORE WOMEN DIRECTORS IN COMPANIES Under the rules notified by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, every listed company and those public firms having paid up share capital of Rs 100 crore or more should have at least one woman director on their board. It will be also applicable to entities with a minimum turnover of Rs 300 cr.

SC ALLOWS IRON ORE MINING IN GOA The Supreme Court has allowed mining of iron ore in Goa after a gap of nearly one-and-a-half year when it was banned. However, the court has fixed an annual cap of 20 million tonnes of iron ore that can be extracted in Goa. SUN PHARMA BUYS OUT RANBAXY In the biggest deal in two years, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries announced to fully acquire rival Ranbaxy Laboratories in an all-stock transaction valued at USD 3.2 billion to become the largest pharmaceutical company in India, with estimated combined revenue of USD 4.2 billion, and 5th largest speciality Generics Company in the world. CADBURY COMPANY CHANGES ITS NAME Cadbury India has changed its name to Mondelez India Foods Limited to fall in line with its parent company - Mondelez International. The change in name will have no impact on the names or packaging of its products such as Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Gems, Perk, Bournvita, Tang and Oreo.

MARCH 2014 INFLATION TARGET FOR RBI In a stern message to RBI, the Finance Minister has stressed that economic stability should include both price stability and growth and so the Parliament could also set a target for the RBI to rein in inflation. CSR RULES NOTIFIED Govt has notified that ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) rules will take effect from April 1, 2014 as part of the new Companies Act-2013. They will apply to companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit, or Rs.1,000 crore turnover or Rs.500 crore net worth. Such companies will need to spend 2 per cent of their three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year, beginning 2014-15.


ETF LAUNCHED FOR PSEs The government has launched an exchange-traded fund of central public sector enterprises, to raise 3,000 crore rupees for its disinvestment plan. This is an open ended scheme, comprising of shares of 10 central PSEs including ONGC, GAIL India and COAL India. It tracks an index fund, but trades like a stock on the exchange. INTEREST HIKED ON PO DEPOSITS Govt has decided to hike interest rates on fixed deposit schemes offered by post offices by up to 0.2 per cent, to 8.4 per cent, w.e.f. April 1, 2014. The interest rate on PPF (public provident fund) has, however, been kept unchanged at 8.7 per cent.

BANKING & FINANCE

MAY 2014 NAYAK COMMITTEE SUBMIT ITS REPORT P J Nayak Committee appointed by the RBI to review Governance of Boards of Banks in India has recommended that the government should cut its stake in public sector banks to below 50 percent. All banks be incorporated under the Companies Act and a Bank Investment Company (BIC) be constituted to which the Government transfers its holdings in banks. It has also said that RBI — and not the finance ministry — should have the last word on regulation of public sector banks which command 70% of the market share. NO PENALTY FOR TERM LOAN PREPAYMENT RBI has asked banks to consider allowing their borrowers the facility of prepaying all floating rate term loans without any penalty. Earlier this facility was available on house loans only. Some banks are charging pre-payment penalty of up to 2 per cent of the outstanding loans. NO PENALTY IN INOPERATIVE ACCOUNTS RBI has asked banks not to levy penalties on customers who don’t maintain a minimum balance in any inoperative account, as part of a consumer protection initiative. Already, Banks are not allowed to charge customers for non-operation or activation of Basic Savings Bank deposit accounts. However, Banks are permitted to recover charges for non maintenance of minimum balance in normal savings accounts. INDEPENDENT SB ACCOUNTS FOR MINORS RBI has advised that banks are allowed to open only savings bank account in the name of minors of age above 10 years, independently, without the name of their guardians. However, it has been left to the banks to decide various terms and conditions, including amount of withdrawal, issuance of cheque book / debit cards.

RUPAY CARD LAUNCHED BY THE PRESIDENT President of India formally launched India’s first indigenous payment gateway, RuPay, to counter rival networks such as Visa and Mastercard to work on ATMs and merchant outlets and help in reducing cash transactions. Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), it is the seventh such payment gateway in the world. LOK ADALATS FOR CHEQUE BOUNCE CASES The Law ministry is working on amendments to the Legal Services Authority Act that would allow leading banks to set up permanent Lok Adalats on their premises for settlement of all disputes related to cheque bouncing. Retired district judges or additional district judges may be appointed as chairpersons of such Lok Adalats. CRYSTALLIZE INOPERATIVE FC ACCOUNTS-RBI The Reserve Bank has directed banks to convert credit balances in any inoperative foreign currency (FC) denominated deposit into Indian rupee if the former remains not in use for three years from the date of maturity of deposit. BANKS TO TRANSFER UNCLAIMED ACCOUNTS The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to remit amount lying in deposit accounts classified as unclaimed to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) by 30th of June. An unclaimed deposit account is one in which there are no transactions for 10 years or more. BANKS TO HAVE TALKING / BRAILLE ATMs RBI has directed that all new ATMs to be installed by commercial banks from July 2014 onwards would provide audible instructions and Braille keypads to customers. Later, all existing ATMs should also be converted as talking ATMs with Braille keypads. RBI also asked banks to provide the facilities of magnifying glasses at all bank branches for the use of persons with low vision. 10 YEAR TERM LOANS FOR EXPORTERS The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to provide long-term loans of up to a maximum tenor of 10 years to exporters to be utilised for execution of long-term supply contracts for export of goods. Existing norms allow banks to give loans for up to one year only. BMB DECLARED AS SCHEDULED BANK Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the country's first all-women lender, has been included in the second schedule to the RBI Act. This means that now it is eligible for loans from RBI on bank rate and to acquire membership of clearing houses. RBI TO LAUNCH PLASTIC CURRENCY RBI has advised that one billion plastic notes of Rs.10 denomination will be introduced in a field trial to be launched in the latter half of 2014 in five cities selected for their geographical and climatic diversity. The selected cities are Shimla, Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, and Bhubaneswar. Plastic notes have an average life span of about five years and are difficult to imitate.


RBI DEFERS BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION RBI has put on hold its order requiring all future credit card swipe machines and ATMs to be capable of biometric authentication. Instead, a pilot project will be launched where issuers of prepaid cards will be allowed cash withdrawals on the basis of biometric authentication.

APRIL 2014 BANK LICENCE FOR IDFC AND BANDHAN

The Reserve Bank of India has granted "in-principle" bank licences to only two applicants - Infrastructure Development Finance Company and microfinance lender Bandhan Financial Services Ltd. The in-principle approval is valid for 18 months. The announcement took time as there was a debate over whether corporate houses and entities with exposure to real estate should be given licences or not and finally they lost the race. RBI TO MEASURE INFLATION BY CPI The Reserve Bank has adopted the new Consumer Price Index (combined) as the key measure of inflation. Earlier, RBI had given more weightage to Wholesale Price Index (WPI) than CPI as the key measure of inflation for all policy purposes. This has been done on recommendations of Urjit R. Patel panel. NO CHARGES ON MIN BALANCE VIOLATION The Reserve Bank has asked banks not to levy penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance in ordinary savings bank account and inoperative accounts. Instead, banks could curtail the services accorded to those accounts until the balance is restored.

DOUBLE PASSWORD FOR ONLINE BANKING The RBI report on 'Enabling Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in Payment System Applications’ has suggested that banks should introduce two-stage authentication to ensure security of online transactions. It also said that banks should also inform customers about risks associated with different types of online banking transaction.

RBI TO LAUNCH MSS FOR 50,000 CRORE The Reserve Bank has fixed the quantum of intervention through Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS) at Rs 50,000 crore to manage liquidity. The government launched MSS in consultation with RBI in 2004 with the objective to absorb excess liquidity, arising out of significant foreign exchange inflows, by issuing treasury bills or dated securities.

SBI JOINS TWITTER COMMUNITY State Bank of India has taken one more step on the social media front by launching a twitter handle. The Twitter handle for SBI is https:// twitter.com/ The Official SBI". The bank expects this Twitter handle to connect better with the tech-savvy young generation.

PRE PAID CARD LIMIT FIXED AT Rs 50,000/- The Reserve Bank has fixed the upper limit to Rs. 50,000 for issuance of pre-paid payment instruments to make all issuers comply with the strict money laundering laws and all the relevant KYC norms. No card can be issued without verifying the KYC of the issued party.

FIMMDA/FEDAI TO ADMINISTER BENCHMARKS Accepting the recommendations of the Vijaya Bhaskar committee, the Reserve Bank has asked the Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA) and the Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association of India (FEDAI) to act as administrators of the Indian rupee interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks.

GOVERNMENT INTERNAL REVENUE ORDER The panel set up by RBI under chairmanship of Umesh Bellur to suggest modalities for setting up a system for GIRO - Government Internal Revenue Order has suggested a mechanism for centralised bills payment system in the country, primarily by setting up two organisations - Bharat Bill Payment Services or BBPS and the Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units or BBPOUs. The BBPS will function as a 'not-for-profit' organisation which has necessary experience in the payment systems while the BBPOUs may be operated on commercial lines.

The Reserve Bank has directed banks offering gold metal loans (GML) to strengthen their credit appraisal process in the wake of frauds committed by certain jewelers.

MARCH 2014 RBI EXTENDS TIME FOR BASEL III NORMS The Reserve Bank has extended the timeline for full implementation of the Basel III capital regulations by a year to March 31, 2019, instead of as on March 31, 2018. This breather comes in the wake of industry-wide concerns about the potential stresses (of the implementation of the regulations) on the asset quality and consequential impact on the performance/profitability of banks. BANK DEPOSITS MOVE UPWARDS Bank deposits continued to outpace credit growth, growing by 15.55 per cent year-on-year to Rs 7,692,309 crore as on March 7, according to RBI. Meanwhile, credit grew at 14.65 per cent year-on-year to Rs 5,937,249 crore during the same period. SBI LAUNCHES ITS OWN PAYMENT GATEWAY State Bank of India has launched a payment intermediary christened as 'SBI ePay', which will facilitate e-commerce or m-commerce transactions among merchants, customers and various financial institutions for all kinds of payments with electronic connectivity. SBI is the first bank in India to start its own online aggregator services.


SWIFT TO START OPERATIONS IN INDIA SWIFT India, the domestic arm of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has tied up with nine domestic banks to provide its electronic channel for financial messaging on transactions between banks and other financial institutions. So far, they provided services to banks for overseas transactions only, now, they will develop the same platform for domestic operations by end 2014.

JOINT LENDERS’ FORUM FOR NPAs RBI has issued guidelines for revitalising high value distressed assets (loans gone bad) by forming Joint Lenders’ Forum (JLF) and adoption of Corrective Action Plan (CAP) for operationalising the framework. The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) would prepare a master JLF agreement and operational guidelines for JLF which could be adopted by all lenders.

Reserve Bank has extended the date for exchanging the pre-2005 banknotes to January 01, 2015.

Axis Bank has become first private sector bank to introduce the "Kisan Card" through which a farmer can withdraw up to Rs 1 lakh per day from ATMs.

RBI has announced to conduct review of the Monetary Policy at bi-monthly intervals from 1st April, 2014 onwards, instead of quarterly and mid quarterly at present.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE

& TECHNOLOGY

MAY 2014 NANO FINGERPRINTS FOR CURRENCY / CARDS

Scientists have developed invisible nano 'finger-prints' that could be embedded into gadgets, banknotes and credit cards, making it impossible to counterfeit the objects. Unique patterns made from tiny, randomly scattered silver

nanowires have been created in an attempt to authenticate goods and tackle the growing problem of counterfeiting. NEW ANTIBIOTICS DISCOVERED In a breakthrough, scientists have discovered a new class of antibiotics to fight deadly bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other drug-resistant bacteria that threaten public health. The new class, called oxadiazoles, was discovered by University of Notre Dame, USA. UN WARNS AGAINST ‘EL NINO’ EFFECT The UN weather agency-World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned that there is strong possibility of an "El Nino" climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean this year,

bringing droughts and heavy rainfall to the rest of the world, including India. The El Nino phenomenon occurs every two to seven years, when the prevailing trade winds that circulate surface water in the tropical Pacific start to weaken. JOINT NAVAL DRILL WITH SINGAPORE Singapore Indian Maritime Bilateral Exercise - SIMBEX 14, the 2014 series of annual bilateral naval exercises between the Indian Navy and Singapore Navy was conducted in the Andaman Sea from 22 May to 28 May 14 to enhance inter-operability and mutual understanding between the two navies. ARMY HOLDS WAR PRACTICE IN RAJASTHAN Indian Army conducted the “Sarvada Vijay” exercise in West Rajasthan as part of regular training with a large army formation for practising and honing war fighting skills in tough desert conditions. ‘NABHRATNA’ TO TEST RADAR SYSTEMS Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has delivered a Dornier light-weight aircraft named Nabhratna to the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to carry out testing of its under-development airborne radar systems. ASTRA MISSILE TEST FIRED India’s first indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) air to air missile successfully test fired from a Russian-built Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet. It has a range of 60 kilometers. SINO INDIA JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE India and China have decided to conduct a joint military exercise at Bathinda, Punjab, less than 100 kms from Pakistan. Bathinda is the base of the Indian Army’s 10 Corps and has a big airbase also.

The DRDO has successfully test-fired the surface to air Akash air defence missiles off the coast of Balasore in Odisha.

Pakistan successfully test-fired its surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hataf-III Ghaznavi capable of carrying nuclear weapons up to 290 kilometers.

APRIL 2014 IRNSS 1B LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY India successfully launched its second navigational satellite IRNSS 1B onboard PSLV-C24 from Sriharikota on Andhra coast. The 1,432 kg satellite will form part of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), an equivalent to GPS of the USA, comprising of seven satellites. MICROSOFT SAYS GOODBYE TO WINDOWS XP From April 8, Microsoft has stopped technical support for its most popular operating system (OS) Windows XP globally. The OS launched in October 2001, is three generations behind the latest Windows 8 that hit markets in Oct. 2012.


NAVY SELLS OFF ITS FIRST AIRCRAFT CARRIER The Navy has sold the iconic air craft carrier INS Vikrant to a ship-breaking company for Rs. 63.2 crore. The ship decommissioned in 1997 played a major role in 1971 war. INS Vikrant (formerly HMS Hercules) was purchased by India from the United Kingdom in 1957. It was operated from 1961 to 1997. (The present INS Vikrant is the indigenously built aircraft carrier which was launched in 2013 will be commissioned around 2018.) NEW INTERCEPTOR MISSILE TESTED In a significant milestone in the direction of developing a two-layered ballistic missile defence system, India successfully tested its maiden Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) for engaging targets (incoming missiles) at more than 120 km altitude. JOINT INDO FRENCH AIR EXCERCISE From June 3, India and France will start a 10-day joint Air exercise 'Garuda-5 in Rajasthan's Jodhpur airbase, aimed at training the pilots and crew of Indian and French fighters in air superiority operations. WOMEN TO BECOME COMBAT OFFICERS The government has approved recruitment of young women as 'combat officers' in Sashastra Seema Bal. Young women up to the age of 25 years will be recruited as direct entry officers in the rank of Assistant Commandants. AGNI -I TESTED IN NIGHT TIME India successfully conducted maiden night test of its indigenously developed nuclear-capable surface to surface ballistic missile – Agni-I, with strike range of 700 km from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, off Odisha coast. INS SHIVALIK: The advanced Indian missile frigate visited Qingdao - the eastern port city of China, to take part in exercises to mark the Chinese Navy’s 65th anniversary. The Army successfully test fired an advanced version of

290-km range supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos, at the Pokhran test range in Rajasthan.

DRDO team successfully tested its indigenously developed surface-to-air missile Aakash from the Integrated Test Range near Chandipur, District Balasore in Odisha.

MARCH 2014 LARGEST YELLOW STAR Astronomers have spotted the largest yellow star ever observed in our galaxy that is 1,300 times larger and one million times brighter than the sun. Despite its great distance of nearly 12,000 light-years from earth, the star named HR 5171 can be seen with the naked eye.

WORLD’S LARGEST AIRCRAFT Britain has unveiled the world’s largest aircraft—a 300 feet long monster which is part plane, airship and helicopter, capable of flying non-stop for 3 weeks without refuelling.

BRAIGO: Name of the low-cost Braille printer developed by 12 years old Indian-origin boy Shubham Banerjee in USA by using toy construction Lego pieces.

VENOM GT: World’s fastest car developed by the US car manufacturer Hennessey, with a top speed of an incredible 435 km/hr.

JUMBO LOSS TO AIR FORCE A recent and most modern acquisition of the Indian Air Force from the United States, the C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft, crashed on Friday near Gwalior (MP), killing all five IAF personnel on board. Ex-Surya Kiran Drills VI: Joint Indian and Nepal army military exercise at Saljhandi in Rupandehi district, Nepal.

Prithvi-II: India successfully test-fired it’s indigenously developed nuclear-capable missile having a strike range of 350 km, from a test range in Odisha.

INTERNATIONAL

MAY 2014 RUSSIA, CHINA VETO AGAINST SYRIA Russia and China on 22 May 2014 exercised their veto power in UN Security Council against a draft resolution which was intended to refer the Syrian civil war to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Of the total 15 votes in Security Council, the resolution received 13 votes in favour but was double vetoed by the Russia and China for the fourth time.

VIETNAM PROTESTS AGAINST CHINA Widespread violent protests against China spread in Vietnam over the South China Sea dispute as thousands of angry Vietnamese torched several Chinese projects to protest attempts by a Chinese oil rig to drill in the disputed waters.

US TROOPS TO STAY IN AFGHANISTAN USA has said that America will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan completely by 2016. The current 32,000-strong US deployment in Afghanistan will be reduced to around 9,800 by the start of 2015 and to bare minimal by end of 2016.

OVER 200 GIRLS ABDUCTED BY BOKO HARAM Suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants abducted more than 200 school girls aged between 12 and 15 from north-eastern Nigeria to pressurize Nigerian government for release of their ally militants. USA and several other countries have condemned this ghastly act and offered all possible help to Nigeria for locating the girls. Boko Haram literally means ‘Western education is forbidden’.


E E S FORMED LED BY RUSSIA The leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus have signed a treaty in Astana on the creation of a Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EES) to create a territory for unified customs tariffs beginning on January 1, 2015. WORLD ECONOMY TO GROW BY 2.8% - U N The United Nations has lowered its forecasts for global economic growth in 2014 and 2015 to 2.8 per cent and 3.2 percent respectively, for reasons such as the exceptionally cold winter in the United States, the escalating political crisis in Ukraine, and financial turbulence earlier this year. WHO WARNS AGAINST POLIO The World Health Organisation has warned that polio has reemerged as public health emergency, as new cases of this crippling disease have been noticed in countries like Syria and Pakistan. UNO AND IOC TO PROMOTE SPORTS The United Nations and the International Olympic Committee have signed a historic agreement to use the power of sports to promote peace and economic development, a move that strengthens collaboration between two of the world's major organizations. TRAIN TUNNEL AT AN ALTITUDE OF 3.6 KMS The world's highest tunnel for high-speed trains became operational in northwest China on May 1 passing through the Qilian Mountains at an altitude of 3,607.4 metres (11835 feet). The 16.3-km-long tunnel links the Gansu and Xinjiang provinces. MOLDOVA AND GEORGIA JOIN HAND WITH E U Two former Soviet republic countries-Moldova and Georgia have signed the European Union (EU) Association Agreement to strengthen their trade and political ties with EU. The accord will also help them defend from threats by Russia which opposes the EU's eastward expansion. ISLAMIC BANKING IN AFGHANISTAN Afghanistan's Central Bank, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) has signed an agreement with a non-profit independent organization 'Harkat' for implementing the Sharia compliant banking system in the country. The Islamic banking or Sharia compliant banking is a system based on the principles of Islam which prohibit payment/charging of interest on deposit/loans, respectively.

Bhutan is likely to become the first country in the world to go wholly organic in its food production, totally avoiding usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Royal Navy Submarine Service of United Kingdom for the first time in its 110-year history has appointed female submariners.

Spain has suspended the 12th bull fight festival (called San Isidro festival in Spain) after matadors got injured by bulls.

Brazil released two postage stamps to pay tribute to the 100 years of Indian cinema.

Saudi Arabia has decided to ban the import of Indian chilies due to presence of high pesticide residues.

APRIL 2014 G-20 FMs MEET AT WASHINGTON Finance Ministers and business leaders from G20 nations met at Washington, USA, to discuss ways to boost investment in infrastructure to boost world GDP by more than $2 trillion over the coming five years. E U BANS IMPORT OF MANGOES FROM INDIA The European Union has decided to temporarily ban the import of Alphonso mangoes and four other vegetables from India from May 1 due to the alleged presence of pests in them. The trading community pegs the loss because of the ban at more than Rs100 crore as India is the leading exporter of mangoes in the world. India accounts for more than half of the total Mango production in the world. WORLD TRADE TO GROW BY 4.7% Latest WTO report projects global trade to recover and grow by 4.7% in 2014, more than double of what was achieved in 2013. The growth is projected to be slightly faster at 5.3% in 2015, which is also the 20-year average growth rate. For the past two years, global trade growth averaged 2.2%.

MARCH 2014 CRIMEA BREAKS AWAY FROM UKRAINE Crimea's Parliament voted to join Russia, breaking away from Ukraine. Crimea has now become a province of Russia, despite strong protests from USA and its European allies. The UN General Assembly has not approved this merger. RUSSIA EXPELLED FROM G-8 The United States and its closest allies in the Group of 8 industrialized democracies expelled Russia from the G-8 Group to punish President Vladimir V. Putin for his lightning annexation of Crimea. The Group has threatened further tougher sanctions if Russia escalates aggression against Ukraine. The Group also cancelled its proposed meet at Sochi, Russia. The meet now will be held at Brussels, Belgium. MH 370 BOEING 777 MISSING Investigating authorities from over 10 countries have failed to locate the Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines, having 239 passengers aboard that went missing mysteriously over the South China Sea on March 7. GATES IS BACK AS TOP BILLIONAIRE Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has regained the title of the world's richest man with $ 76 billion, in the Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list that includes 56 India based billionaires led by RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani. Gates is back at the top spot after a four-year gap when Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu was at top.


AIR POLLUTION CLAIMS 7 MN LIVES From taxi tailpipes in Paris to dung-fired stoves in New Delhi, air pollution claimed seven million lives around the world in 2012, according to figures released by the World Health Organization. More than one-third of those deaths, the organization said, occurred in fast-developing nations of Asia, where rates of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease have been soaring.

The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) 2014 held at The Hague, Netherlands.

Changi Airport, Singapore: Declared as world’s best airport

PERSONS IN NEWS

MAY 2014 YINGLUCK SHINAWATRA: Prime Minister of Thailand was removed from office by a Constitutional Court as she was found guilty of abusing her power when she transferred a civil servant to another post more than three years ago. The court ordered her to step down immediately along with all members of her cabinet who were in office at that time. Later the army imposed martial law in the country.

RAMARNI WILFRED: An 11-year-old boy in the UK has achieved the highest possible score of 162 on a Mensa IQ test, making him brainier than physicist Albert Einstein.

ALENKA BRATUSEK: First lady Prime Minister of Slovenia submitted her resignation as she lost the majority in her own party.

APRIL 2014 CHUNG HONG-WON: South Korea’s Prime Minister resigned taking moral responsibility for the sinking of a passenger ferry that left 300 people dead or missing. He apologized for having been unable to prevent the accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards.

SERIK AKHMETOV: Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy, was in news as he resigned from his post, along with his entire cabinet.

JEAN-MARC AYRAULT: Prime Minister of France was in news as he was sacked by his President after a stinging defeat of his (Jean’s) group in local elections.

NANCY POWELL: The U.S. ambassador to India has resigned following a row over the arrest of a junior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York and her subsequent strip search that pushed relations between the world's biggest democracies to their lowest ebb in more than a decade.

MARCH 2014 NANDAN NILEKANI: He was in news as he resigned from the Chairmanship of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on 13 March 2014 to contest Lok Sabha election from the Bangalore South on congress ticket.

K. C. CHAKRABARTY: Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India was in news as he resigned three months ahead of the completion of his term. ARJUN KAPOOR: Bollywood actor was in news as he became the national ambassador of the Earth Hour 2014 that was observed on March 29. Under the Earth Hour initiative, citizens are asked to switch off electricity for an hour from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. This year’s theme is “I Will If You Will”

ALI ZEIDAN: Prime Minister of Libya was in news as he was ousted by his country’s parliament, after passing a no-confidence motion against him.

APPOINTMENTS

MAY 2014 MUKUL ROHATGI: 14th Attorney-General of India

RAJIV MATHUR: Chief Information Commissioner

Lt Gen D S SUHAG: Chief of Army Staff (28th)

RAJEEV SURI: President and CEO of Finnish tele- communications equipment maker Nokia.

AHMED MAITEEQ: Prime Minister of Libya

DALIA GRYBAUSKAITE: President of Lithuania, popular as ‘Iron Lady’ of Lithuania

PETRO POROSHENKO: President of Ukraine

JACOB ZUMA: President of South Africa, from African National Congress party

LUIS GUILLERMO SOLIS: President of Costa Rica

APRIL 2014 RAJENDRA MAL LODHA: Chief Justice of India (41st), appointed by President of India

ILA PATNAIK: Noted economist has been appointed Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance.

Admiral Rabinder Kumar Dhowan: New Chief (22nd) of Indian Navy

ARVIND MAYARAM: Union Finance Secretary.

R. CHANDRASEKARAN: Chairman, National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom)

R. GANDHI: Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

VIKTOR ORBÁN: Prime Minister of Hungary

KARIM MASSIMOV: Prime Minister of Kazakhstan

ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA: President of Algeria

MANUEL VALLS: Prime Minister of France


MARCH 2014 JUSTICE R.M. LODHA: 41st Chief Justice of India RAJIV TAKRU: Finance Secretary, Govt. of India SHEILA DIKSHIT: Governor of Kerala RAKESH SETHI: Chairman and Managing Director of Allahabad Bank. JUSTICE B N SRIKRISHNA: Chairman of Financial Planning Standards Board India AJAY SHRIRAM: President CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) AAMIR KHAN: National Icon of The Election Commission to spread awareness about the importance of voting and to urge people to cast their votes. ARJUN BAHADUR THAPA: Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). SANCHEZ CEREN: President of El Salvador MICHELLE BACHELET: First women President of Chile

AWARDS & HONOURS

MAY 2014 GOLD MEDAL FOR INDIAN DOCUMENTARY “Silent Screams — India’s Fight Against Rape” a documentary film directed by Pria Somiah won a Gold World Medal for ‘Best Investigative Report’ as well as Bronze Medals each in the ‘Current Affairs’ and ‘Human Concerns’ sections respectively at the 2014 New York Festivals International TV and Film Awards. NEW FRONTIERS AWARD 2014 FOR INDIA Arabian Travel Market (ATM) awarded this award to India for its outstanding contribution to rebuild physical infrastructure and its rural tourism economy in the wake of the June 2013 floods, landslides in the northern state of Uttarakhand and the devastation wreaked by tropical Cyclone Phailin. Palme d’Or: The top prize for best picture at the Cannes Film Festival Turkey’s Winter Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan National Florence Nightingale Awards 2014 conferred on 35 nursing personnel by President of India for their meritorious services.

APRIL 2014 THE IIFA 2014 AWARDS

Held at Tampa Bay, Florida, USA

Best Picture: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Best Actor: Farhan Akhtar for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Best Actress: Deepika Padukone for Chennai Express

Best Director: Rakeysh Om Mehra for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Lifetime Achievement Award: Shatrughan Sinha

Best Entertainer of the Year: Deepika Padukone

61ST NATIONAL FILM AWARDS – 2013

NAME OF AWARD NAME OF THE WINNER Best Feature Film

Ship of Theseus (English-Hindi) by Anand Gandhi

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Hindi) by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Best Hindi Film Jolly LLB by Subhash Kapoor Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration

Thalaimuraigal(Tamil) by Balu Mahendra

Best Direction Hansal Mehta for Shahid (Hindi) Best Actor Raj Kumar

For Shahid (Hindi) & Suraj Venjaramoodu for

Perariyathavar(Malayalam) Best Actress Geetanjali Thapa for Liar’s Dice

(Hindi) FEMINA MISS INDIA WORLD 2014 (KOYAL RANA)

1st Runner Up Jhataleka Malhotra 2nd Runner Up Gail Nicole Da Silva Femina Miss India Asia Lopamudra Raut Pacific 2014

GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE: Indian environment activist Ramesh Agrawal has won the prestigious award ‘Green Nobel’ that honours heroic grassroot environmentalists around the world for their achievements. Agrawal founded Jan Chetana, a grassroots movement to protect people and the environment from rampant industrialisation. The award is given to six persons across the world annually by Goldman Environmental Foundation based in San Francisco, USA.

PULITZER PRIZE (public service): American journalism’s highest honour awarded to the leading US newspapers The Washington Post and The Guardian for revealing the massive U.S. government surveillance effort.

PULITZER PRIZE (POETRY): India-born poet Vijay Seshadri, for his witty and philosophical collection of poems – ‘3 sections’.


MILLENNIUM TECHNOLOGY PRIZE: Stuart Parkin, British-American physicist has won the 1 million-Euro prize for discoveries leading to a thousand-fold increase in digital data storage on magnetic disks. His discoveries enabled cloud services and the online distribution of social networks, music and film. THE KNIGHT GRAND CROSS: Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has been decorated with the British government’s highest civilian honour in recognition for the work his group is doing in England. 45th DADASAHEB PHALKE AWARD – 2013: Gulzar, veteran poet and film lyricist. His real name is Sampooran Singh Kalra. It is the highest honour from the govt side to recognize a person’s contribution in promoting Indian cinema.

MARCH 2014 GANDHI PEACE PRIZE- 2013: Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Eminent Gandhian and environmentalist, founder of ‘Chipko Movement’ to save forests. The award, given by Govt. of India, carries a cash reward of Rs one crore.

SARASWATI SAMMAN 2013: Noted writer Govind Mishra for his Hindi novel, Dhool Paudhon Par. The award carries a cash reward of Rs. 10 lac.

Protein Science Young Investigator Award: Dr. M. Madan Babu, Indian-born scientist won the award at Cambridge University, UK.

International Women of Courage Award: Won by Indian acid attack victim, Ms. Laxmi for successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on women in India.

86th ACADEMY AWARDS (OSCARS) LOS ANGELES, USA

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity, Best Actor: McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club Best Actress: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine TEMPLETON PRIZE- 2014: Tomas Halik, Czech priest and intellectual has been awarded £1.1 million prize for his “exceptional contribution to life’s spiritual dimension.” THE PRITZKER Architecture Prize: Shigeru Ban (Japan) for his simple low cost designs.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

MAY 2014 Post Haste: Quintessential India by B.G. Verghese

Hard Choices by Hillary Clinton

India Junction – A Window to the Nation brought out by Public Relations Directorate, Railway Board.

A Stamp is Born by C. R. Pakrashi

Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut

Capital in The Twenty First Century by Thomas Piketty

My Years with Rajiv and Sonia by R.D.Pradhan

Shivaji, the Real Hero: A pictorial book by the artist Brijesh Mogre, released in Parliament of UK.

APRIL 2014 ‘An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election’ by S. Y. Quraishi Story of A Death Foretold by Oscar Guardiola-Rivera Good Governance: Never On India's Radar by Madhav Godbole

MARCH 2014 The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy Doniger India at Risk by Jaswant Singh My Way by Derek O’Brien, Rajya Sabha member In Pursuit of a Lesser Offence by Sujata Parashar Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer The Country Without a Post Office by Agha Shahid Ali Dhool Paudho Par by Govind Mishra The Political Economy of Energy and Growth by Najeeb Jung, Lt. Governor of Delhi. The Triple Package: What Really Determines Success by Jed Rubenfeld, Amy Chua

OBITUARY

MAY 2014 RUSSY MODI: Noted corporate personality, Ex Chairman and Managing Director of Tata Steel MADHAV MANTRI: India's oldest Test cricketer, maternal uncle of the legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar GARY BECKER: Nobel Laureate economist from Chicago, USA

APRIL 2014 V K MURTHY: Renowned cinematographer and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee, known for capturing breathtaking images in Guru Dutt's classics like Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Kagaz Ke Phool. GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ: The Nobel laureate, most popular veteran Spanish-language story writer and novelist from Colombia. His famous works include ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ and ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’.

MARCH 2014 KHUSHWANT SINGH: Writer, historian, novelist, humorist and columnist. Known for his popular column ‘with malice towards one and all’. His famous novels include ‘Train to Pakistan’, ‘Delhi: A Novel’, ‘The Company of Women’ and ‘Sunset Club’

NANDA: Veteran film actress of Hindi Cinema


PLACES IN NEWS

MAY 2014 HERAT: City in Afghanistan was in news as militants armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the Indian Consulate. The Indian diplomatic staff escaped unharmed, while all four attackers were killed. The attack is believed to be the handiwork of elements operating from Pakistan. MANISA: place in the western Turkey was in news as over 300 people were killed and hundreds more remained trapped underground after an explosion and fire in a coal mine took place. AAB BAREEK: a village in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan was in news as several hundreds of persons were killed when their village was swept away due to a heavy mud slide.

APRIL 2014 THE EBOLA (GUINEA): A deadly disease, outbreak of which in West Africa has claimed more than 145 lives so far. More than 240 people, mostly in Guinea, are suspected of having caught the illness. There is no vaccine, no treatment and the disease is almost always fatal.

MARCH 2014 RAKHIGARHI: Place in Hissar district, Haryana, was in news as the discovery of two more mounds at this Harappan site has led archaeologists establishing it as the biggest Harappan civilisation site. Until now, Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan was regarded as the largest among the 2,000 Harappan sites known to exist in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. BHAGWANPUR: Site of the 130-MW solar power plant, largest in India, set up at a cost of Rs. 1,100 crore on 305 hectares of land in district Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh. AJNALA: City in Amritsar district was in news as the remains of at least 282 persons who were executed by the British for participating in the First War of Independence in 1857, were exhumed from a well at the local Gurdwara Shaheedganj, during a digging of the well which was popularly known as “Kalianwalia Khuh”.

KUNMING: Capital city of Yunnan province in China was in news as a terrorist attack by knife wielding Islamic Uighur fanatics killed over 30 civilians and injured 140 others in city’s main Railway Station on March 1.

SPORTS WORLD MAY 2014

Uber Cup for women’s badminton: China beats Japan in the final played at New Delhi. Indian team lead by Saina Nehwal won the bronze medal for the first time in Uber Cup.

Thomas Cup: (men’s badminton) Japan beats Malaysia to lift their maiden trophy in the final played at New Delhi.

National Football Championship (women’s): Manipur beats Odisha to clinch the title at Golaghat, Assam.

Virat Kohli was ranked no 1 in the latest ICC list of One Day International (ODI) rankings.

Malavath Purna: The 13 year old school girl from Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh created history by becoming the youngest female to scale the Mount Everest.

Ronnie O'Sullivan: Snooker player from UK named World Snooker's ‘player of the year’

World Snooker Championship 2014: won by Mark Selby of England at Sheffield, England, beating the defending champion Ronnie O Sullivan.

EUROPEAN CUP (football): Real Madrid won the cup beating Atletico Madrid in the finals played at Lisbon, Spain

WTA Portugal Open 2014: Sania Mirza of India and Cara Black of Zimbabwe won women’s doubles title held in Oeiras, Portugal.

ATP World Tour Masters Tennis: Men’s title won by Rafael Nadal (Spain) at Mutua Madrid, Spain. Women’s title was won by Maria Sharapova of Russia.

FIFA WORLD CUP TO USE ‘BRAZUCA’ BALLS In the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil in June 2014, technology will get a new meaning as the ‘Brazuca’ balls to be used in the mega event will come with six in-built HD cameras capturing 360 degree view of the on-field action. These footballs have been specially manufactured by the global sports company Adidas. The word Brazuca meaning the Brazilian way of life was chosen by over one million football fans. Barcelona club has agreed to retained Football player Lionel Messi on net annual salary of 20 million Euros ($27.4 million) making him world’s highest paid player India has slid down two places to the 147th spot in the latest FIFA Rankings of Football playing countries.

APRIL 2014

Manavjit Singh Sandhu: won the men's trap gold medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Tucson, USA. Saurav Ghosal: India's numero uno squash player has been awarded the Dato Alex Lee Award for the 'Outstanding Asian Men's Player of the Year 2013'.


Heena Sidhu has been ranked world No.1 in the 10 meters air pistol event by the International Shooting Sport Federation.

Chitra Magimairaj: won the senior’s title in World Snooker Championships held in Leeds,UK.

7th South Asia Judo Championships: Indian judokas won 10 gold, one silver and one bronze medal at Kathmandu, Nepal.

USA Open Karate Championship: Indian players won eight medals comprising two gold and six bronze in held at Las Vegas, USA.

Sri Lanka lifts ICC World T20 trophy after beating India in the final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Australia beats England to lift the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 trophy at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Stanislas Wawrinka won the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters Tennis Cup beating Roger Federer at Monte Carlo, Monaco.

2019 Asian Games: Vietnam has decided to quit as hosts due to lack of preparedness and concerns that holding the multi-sport event would not be financially viable.

MARCH 2014 RECENT SPORTS EVENTS

Event Venue Winner Looser Vijay Hazare

Trophy – Cricket Eden Gardens,

Kolkata Karnataka Railways

Deodhar Trophy – Cricket

Vishakhaptnam West Zone North Zone

Santosh Trophy -National Football

Championship

Siliguri, West Bengal

Mizoram Railways

Federation Cup – Volleyball (Men’s)

Kerala Tamil Nadu Services

Federation Cup – Volleyball (Women’s)

Kerala Railways Kerala

Hockey India Senior Men

National Championship

Lucknow Air India CAG India

Hockey India Senior Women

National Championship

Bhopal, MP Railway Haryana

Manisha National Snooker

Championship (Men’s)

Lucknow, UP Pankaj Advani

Kamal Chawla

Manisha National Snooker

Championship (Women’s)

Lucknow, UP Vidya Pillai Arantxa Sanchis

64th National Basketball

Championship

New Delhi Tamil Nadu Punjab

(Men’s) 64th National

Basketball Championship

(Women’s)

New Delhi Chhattisgarh Railways

BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells

Tennis (Men’s)

California, USA Novak Djokovic

Roger Federer

BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells

Tennis (Women’s)

California, USA Flavia Pennetta

Agnieszka Radwanska

Candidates Tournament –

Chess

Khanty Mansiysk,

Russia

Viswanathan Anand

Peter Svidler

Malaysian Grand Prix – F1

Sepang, Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton

Nico Rosberg

7th Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait: Chain Singh and Ms Heena Sidhu clinched gold medal

Arvind Bhat won the Grand Prix Gold beating Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark at German Open Badminton Championship at Mulheim an der Ruhr, Germany.

Sachin Tendulkar voted Cricketer of the Generation by a 50-member international jury. R V Rahul won two gold and one silver in the boys’ 77kg weight category in the 16th Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships at Bangsaen, Thailand LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS - 2014 Men - Sebastian Vettel: Formula 1 world champion from Germany Women - Missy Franklin: American Olympic swimmer, winner of 6 golds. ICC World T20 tournament for men and women to be held in Bangladesh from March 22 to April 6, 2014. ICC U-19 World Cup: South Africa won the cricket trophy defeating Pakistan in final played at Dubai, UAE. Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship: Roger Federer beats Tomas Berdych to lift the cup.

1st Asian Grand Prix Archery Championships held at Bangkok, Thailand.

ALL THE NEWS ITEMS IN THIS MAGAZINE HAVE BEEN SOURCED FROM VARIOUS NEWS PAPERS AND GOVT. PRESS RELEASES

A Child Without Education ,is like a Bird

Without Wings


DAYS & DATES

JULY

Architecture day Doctor’s day International jokes day

July 01

World Sports Journalists Day July 02 Free 4th of July July 04 World Zonnosis Day July 06 International day of Co-Operatives July 07 World Population Day July 11 Man Walks on the Moon July 20 Kargil Vijay Divas July 26

JUNE

International Children’s Day June 01 World Naturist Day June 03 World Environment Day June 05 Father’s Day June 16 Hugging Day June 21 International Olympic Day Rath Yatra June 23 International Anti-Drugs day June 26 World Diabetes Day June 27

MAY

World Labour Day, Maharashtra Day May 01 International Energy Day, World Asthma Day May 03 Coal Minor's Day May 04 World Midwives Day May 05 World Red Cross and Red Cresent Day May 08 World Migratory Bird Day, This year’s theme is - Destination Flyways: Migratory Birds and Tourism”

May 10-11

National Technology Day May 11 Mother’s Day (Second Sunday of May) May 11 International Nurses’ Day May 12 International Family Day May 15 World Telecom Day May 17 National Anti Terrorism Day May 21 World Turtle Day May 23

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N A T I O N A L N E W S

FEBRUARY 2014 Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Kiran Kumar Reddy

resigned from his seat and the state was put under President’s rule.

For the first time in its history, President’s Rule was imposed in Delhi following the resignation by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The ceiling on poll expenditure for Lok Sabha seat has been raised to Rs. 70 lac per candidate from Rs. 40 lac at present and to Rs. 28 lac from Rs. 16 lac for assembly seat.

Joachim Gauck, President of Germany visits India. India’s electorate for the general election 2014 will be

81.5 crore, Prime Minister attended the BIMSTEC-Bay of Bengal

Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation Summit at Nay Pyi Taw, capital of Myanmar.

India ranked 8th among 10 countries in their use of "digital government".

As per World Press Freedom Index, India has been ranked 140th in the list of 180 countries in terms of freedom of press.

Govt has directed that Companies should use words such as 'Bank', 'Stock Exchange' and ‘Exchange’ only after receiving no-objection from the concerned regulator.

Government has decided to give two additional attempts to all categories of candidates of the prestigious exam conducted by Union Public Service Commission.

Indian to construct the 450 kms long Haramain High Speed Railway project in Saudi Arabia to link two of Islam’s holiest cities, Makkah and Medina.

Purushottam Express, a super-fast train running between Delhi and Puri will become the first train in India to be attached with a Braille-embedded AC coach.

The National Green Tribunal has banned the burning of tyres at public places and also during protests by political and religious groups as it is likely to cause health hazard.

India and China have agreed to celebrate 2014 as the 'Year of Friendly Exchanges'.

India has signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Fiji.

India signs three security agreements with Israel. 57.62 crore Aadhaar cards issued till January 31, 2014.

People not having document based identity and address proof can avail of introducer-based enrolment.

India currently has the largest population of illiterate adults in the world at 287 million. 37 per cent of the global total.

India and Saudi Arabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the field of defence manufacturing.

World Islamic Tamil Conference held at Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu from 14 to 16 February.

101st Indian Science Congress held at the University of Jammu, J&K, 3-7 February.

A commemorative stamp released in honour of noted ghazal singer Jagjit Singh

DAVID JOHNSTON: Governor General of Canada visits India.

Ali Mohamed Shein, President of Zanzibar visited India.

Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Baharin visited India.

JANUARY 2014

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, passed by the President. It has come in to force from 16th Jan. 2014.

Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day Parade of 2014.

The 12th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention was held from 7-9 January, 2014 at Vigyan Bhawan New Delhi

Malaysian Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, G Palanivel, who is president of the Malaysian Indian Congress, was the chief guest at this year’s PBD.

Park Geun-hye, President of South Korea, the country’s first woman president, visited India on a four-day state tour.

India has completed three years without reporting any case of polio.


Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, President of Maldives visited India.

Export-Import Bank has agreed to provide a Line of Credit of $ 19.50 million to Vietnam

Govt. has allowed super jumbo A-380 aircraft to fly into India.

Jeevan Raksha Padak awarded to 37 people for their meritorious act of bravery in saving human lives.

The 18th National Youth Festival held in Ludhiana from Jan 12 to 16. 12th January is birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, observed as the National Youth Day.

After Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis, now the Jains have been accorded minority status by the central government.

A newly built railway platform at Gorakhpur has been declared as the longest railway platform in the world, spanning 1,355.40 metre.

In the Nuclear Materials Security Index 2014 released by the US-based think-tank Nuclear Threat Initiative, India has been ranked at 23rd place.

Finance Minister presented the vote-on-account for 2014-15 on February 17 in the Lok Sabha in place of regular budget.

The Index of Economic Freedom-2014 ranks India 120th globally as India continues to suffer from low, but improving levels of economic freedom.

Indian Ordnance Factory has come out with “Nirbheek”, a .32 bore light-weight (500gram) revolver designed especially for women to defend themselves.

Global Intellectual Property Cente, USA has placed India last in list of 25 countries in terms of protection and enforcement of intellectual property practices.

India has been ranked at a low 155th position in a list of 178 countries compiled by the 2014 Environmental Performance Index.

The seventh edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival started on 17th January in Jaipur with a keynote speech by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

The National Capital Region Planning Board has approved the inclusion of Jind and Karnal districts of Haryana in the National Capital Region, NCR.

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to celebrate 50 years of its existence (Feb.1964)

India’s first Mono Rail starts operation in Mumbai India signs labour cooperation agreement with Saudi

Arabia to cover about a quarter of the 28 lakh Indian expatriates working there.

Asia’s biggest botanical garden will come up on 153 hectares of area near the Khandwa reservoir, in Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

India and Israel have agreed to set up a $40 million joint fund to support technological ventures for consolidating and strengthening economic ties.

Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his wife Queen Jetsun Pema were in India on a five-day official visit.

Foundation stone laid for Global Centre for Nuclear Energy at Jassaur Kheri in district Jhajjar, Haryana.

UGC- University Grants Commission celebrates its Diamond Jubilee on completion of its 60 years.

DECEMBER 2013

9th Ministerial Conference of WTO held in Bali, Indonesia agreed to allow countries to provide subsidy on staple food crops.

The International Court of Arbitration (ICA) has upheld India’s right to divert water from the Kishenganga river for power generation in Jammu and Kashmir

Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited India.

The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) — number of women who die of pregnancy-related causes per one lac live births — has come down to 178 in 2010-12

National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report says that number of slum dwellings has come down to 88 lakh, compared to 1.3 crore households in 2011.

Number of homeless people across the country has come down by 8.8%, from about 19.4 lakh in 2001 to 17.7 lakh in 2011, says latest Census 2011 data.

The Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report-2014 has placed India at 69th position in terms of their ability to deliver secure and sustainable energy.

India has been ranked 98th in the Forbes list of world's best countries for doing business.

India has been ranked among the world's highly corrupt nations at the 94th spot in a global list of 177 countries compiled by Transparency International.

The Labour Ministry report has revealed that unemployment rate in the country during 2012-13 was estimated to be 13.3 per cent for the age group 15-29.

Film 'Liar's Dice, directed by Geetu Mohandas, selected in the competition category at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in USA.

The Sankirtana — ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur has been added to UNESCO's list of "intangible heritage".

India and San Marino, a tiny country within Italy, signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) for exchange of banking and ownership information

Govt has cleared a services and investment deal with 10-member Asean group as part of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).

Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement-DTAA signed with Macedonia, a small country north of Greece.

NEWS FROM STATES

FEBRUARY 2014

The Union Cabinet has approved Odia as the sixth classical language of India. The other five classical languages are - Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.


Sikkim has become first state to achieve more than 100 percent sanitation in rural and urban households and other public sanitary centers.

The Union Ministry of Tourism declares Sikkim as the best State in implementation of rural tourism projects.

Taj Mahotsav 2014 held at Agra, U P with the theme - Paigham-e Mohabbat - the message of love.

West Bengal and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a campaign about safe drinking water and safe sanitation practices.

Central Govt. to develop the 37 km stretch between Sholinganallur to Kalpakkam in South Buckingham Canal, Tamil Nadu as the National Waterway-4 (NW-4).

JANUARY 2014

Karnataka has topped the first ever ranking of state governments on the basis of their performance and implementation of the midday meal scheme

Odisha is the Best State for providing self employment to urban poor under SJSRY (Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana) during 2012-13.

Kerala won the ‘UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Public Policy and Governance’ for the world renowned backwater resort of Kumarakom.

Odisha has launched 'Ama Jangal Yojana' (AJY) to enhance forest cover in the state jointly by govt. and forest dependent communities.

Uttarakhand became the first State to adopt the provisions of the recently passed Lokpal Act by passing the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill-2014.

Jonbeel Mela held in Assam to promote harmony between people of Assam and Meghalaya

Bihar has announced a bonus of Rs 250 per quintal on procurement of paddy, pushing the MSP to Rs 1560 a quintal, highest in the country.

DECEMBER 2013 ARUNACHAL PRADESH: is fast turning into a producer of large cardamom, a sought-after spice.

5 NEW CHEIF MINISTERS

Vasundhara Raje: Rajasthan

Arvind Kejriwal New Delhi

Shivraj Singh Chouhan: Madhya Pradesh

Dr. Raman Singh: Chattisgarh

Pu Lalthanhawla: Mizoram

GOVT INITIATIVES

FEBRUARY 2014 Govt has accepted the long pending demand of ex-

servicemen for ‘one rank, one pension’. A Bill that provides for the protection of livelihoods

rights, social security of street vendors and regulation

of urban street vending has been passed by the parliament.

A Bill to set up a regular mechanism to encourage and protect persons to disclose information on corruption or wilful misuse of power by public servants has been passed.

Quota of subsidized LPG cylinders has been raised from nine to 12 in a year

A committee led by M. P. Bezbaruah, has been formed to examine the cause for violence and discrimination against people from the northeast

The government has extended Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna to auto and taxi drivers by committing to pay half of the premium amount and other half by state govt.

The Planning Commission has introduced an annual rating system for states to enable them improve on their business climate.

India will extend visa-on arrival to tourists of 180 nations as against 11 at present, to boost tourism.

In order to utilize and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, Government of India has launched the ‘GI Cloud’ named as ‘MeghRaj’.

The Union government has launched an ambitious project titled ‘Green Mission’ to increase forest cover by 50 million hectares in the next 10 years

India plans a multi-nation and multi-modal transport corridor between India and Central Asia - Russia.

JANUARY 2014

Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram launched to cover health needs of the nearly 243 million children in the age group of 10 to 19 years.

On recommendations of the Sachchar Committee, Govt has set up the National Waqf Development Corporation Limited for the development of Waqf properties.

Govt. has launched the India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF), with the initial corpus of Rs 500 crore to invest in innovative, sustainable and profitable ventures.

PAN card applicants will now have to submit Proof of Address also.

Govt. has decided to include works relating to rural sanitation also in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) launched in Bangalore to provide adequate and efficient urban public health delivery system for the urban poor

The Union Cabinet has approved a new framework for release of TRPs (Television Rating Points), fixing a sample size of not less than 50,000 households.

Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to constitute a Rail Tariff Authority, RTA to advise the Railway Ministry on fares.

Govt. has launched the Housing Start Up Index (HSUI) to measure level of house construction activity. The HSUI is a joint initiative of the National Building Organisation and RBI.


Scheduled Tribes (ST) households living in forest areas who have received land rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 will get 150 days employment under mgnrega scheme.

The government has approved a proposal to pay formal sector workers a minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000, benefiting over 27 lakh pensioners.

Govt has adopted the new National Youth Policy (NYP-2014) to improve their participation in priority areas of education, skill development and entrepreneurship.

The Centre has approved the rollout of the Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme to address the problems of maternal and child under-nutrition in the country.

To encourage school children to explore scientific discoveries, 100 innovation hubs will be set up by the National Innovation Council in the country by 2017.

DECEMBER 2013 Govt has agreed to grant constitutional status to the

proposed Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) for appointment and transfer of judges

The Centre has cleared a proposal for setting up of National Cancer Institute at Badhsa village in Jhajjar of Haryana at a cost of Rs 2035 crore.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, raising the reservation for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) from three at present to 5%.

Every NREGA job cardholder who plans to build a toilet in his house will get Rs 10,000 from NREGA funds.

Govt has launched e-inclusion project to make people e-literate, aiming to make at least one individual in every household e-literate.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

FEBRUARY 2014 India’s GDP growth during October-December 2013 was

at 4.7 per cent Due to subdued performance in agriculture, mining and

manufacturing in 2012-13, govt has revised growth rate for the year to 4.5 per cent, from earlier 5 per cent.

Per Capita Income in India at ‘current prices’ for the year 2013-14 will be Rs.74920

India has recorded an average annual economic growth rate of 8 per cent during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) compared to targeted 9 per cent.

JANUARY 2014 The Reserve Bank says that growth of GDP is expected

to fall below 5 per cent in 2013-14 in absence of pick-up in manufacturing sector.

Moody's Analytics says that India’s GDP growth will be in the 5 to 5.5 per cent range through 2014, before heading north of 6 per cent in 2015.

UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 (WESP) report projected India’s growth rate at less than 5.3 per cent for this year.

DECEMBER 2013 The economy grew at a faster pace of 4.8 per cent in

the second quarter (ending September 30th), primarily due to improved performance of agriculture

ECONOMY

FEBRUARY 2014

INTERIM BUDGET FOR 2014 – 15 HIGHLIGHTS

Income tax rates kept unchanged; 10 pc surcharge on 'super-rich' having annual income

above Rs. 1 Crore to continue; 5 pc surcharge on corporates with turnover of Rs 10 cr. Defence allocation increased by 10 per cent to Rs 2.24

lakh crore; Moratorium on interest on student loans taken before

March 31, 2009; to benefit 9 lakh borrowers Rs 11,200 cr. to be infused as capital in PSU banks in

2014-15. Target for banks for credit to farm sector during 2014-

15 fixed at Rs. 8 Lakh Crore Disinvestment target for FY2014-15 fixed at Rs. 36,925

Cr; plus Rs. 3000 Crore by residual stake sale. Allocates Rs 1,000 Cr more to Nirbhaya Fund; Rs. 2,46,397 Crore for food, fertiliser and fuel subsidy.

KEY BUDGET FIGURES – 2014-15

BUDGET HEAD Rs in Cr 1 Revenue Receipts (2+3) 1167131

2 Tax Revenue (net to centre) 986417

3 Non-Tax Revenue 180714

4 Capital Receipts (5+6+7) 596083

5 Recoveries of Loans 10527

6 Other Receipts 56925

7 Borrowings and other liabilities 528631

8 Total Receipts (1+4) $ 1763214 9 Non-Plan Expenditure (10+12) 1207892

10 On Revenue Account - of which, 1107781

11 Interest Payments 427011

12 On Capital Account 100111

13 Plan Expenditure (14+15) 555322

14 On Revenue Account 442273

15 On Capital Account 113049

16 Total Expenditure (9+13)(Budget Size) 1763214

17 Revenue Expenditure (10+14) 1550054

18 Of Which, Grants for creation of

Capital Assets 146581

19 Capital Expenditure (12+15) 213160


20 Revenue Deficit (17-1) 3.3% of GDP 382923 21 Effective Revenue Deficit (20-18) 1.8% of

GDP 236342

22 Fiscal Deficit {16-(1+5+6)} 4.8% of GDP*

528631

23 Primary Deficit (22-11) 1.5% of GDP* 101620

*–GDP for 2014-2015 has been projected at `12839952 crore (Rs. 128.39 trillion)

GOVT HOUSE KEEPING (In %) Rupee Comes From Rupee Goes To Borrowings 25 Central Plan Outlay 10 Corporate Tax 21 Plan Asst. to State / UTs 16

Income Tax 14 Non Plan expenditure State/UTs 03

Custom Duty 09 Non-Plan Expenditure 11 Excise Duty 10 States Share of Taxes 18 Service Tax 10 Interest Payments 20 Non-Tax Revenue 10 Defence 10 Non Debt Capital Receipts 01 Subsidies 12

Total 100 Total 100

ADB to give $ 605.2 million loan for road development in the N E region, power distribution in Madhya Pradesh and improvement of railways services in the country.

India and Namibia have agreed for early conclusion of a preferential trade agreement between New Delhi and Southern African Customs Union (SACU)

Govt plans to roll out electronic toll collection on all national highways by December to streamline the toll collection and reduce commuter hassle.

The government has set a deadline for public transport vehicles running in major cities with a population of over 10 lakh to install GPS devices by Feb. 20, 2014.

Government mopped up around Rs 61,141 crore from the auction of 2G spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands of radio waves.

Asian Development Bank to give a $300 million loan to improve road connectivity along key corridors in Chhattisgarh state.

JANUARY 2014 Govt has approved setting up of the Amritsar-Kolkata

Industrial Corridor (AKIC) and formation of the AKIC Development Corporation (AKICDC).

India, Bangladesh, China and Myanmarwill to develop a joint trade corridor from Kunming in China to Kolkata, via Mandalay (Myanmar), Dhaka and Chittagong.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has approved UK-based Tesco Plc's proposal to enter the multi-brand retail segment in jointly with a Tata Group company.

After a 16-month gap, India and Pakistan resumed their trade talks by announcing a series of steps, including 24x7 trade activity at the Attari-Wagah border.

EPFO has decided to increase the rate of interest on provident fund deposits from 8.5% at present to 8.75% for 2013-14.

South Korean steel giant Posco has won environmental clearance to build Rs 52,000 crore steel plant in Odisha, involving the largest-ever FDI in India.

RBI to include 'Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul’ (MRO) of aircrafts as part of airport infrastructure for the purpose of external commercial borrowings (ECB).

The World Bank to give $500 million loan for the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States (Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh).

The ADB to provide $700 million loan under the Accelerating Infrastructure Investment Facility in India (AIIFI) to accelerate infrastructure growth.

ADB to provide $100 million loan for the project -- Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya for vocational and educational training to youth.

As per a UN report, India received $ 28 billion as FDI, ranking 16th among the top 20 global economies receiving the most FDI in 2013.

DECEMBER 2013

According to a study by global research firm Ipsos, has ranked India as the seventh most economically confident country in the world.

The Asian Development Bank has agreed to lend $176 million to extend the first metro train line in Jaipur.

BANKING

FEBRUARY 2014 RBI has allowed four companies for setting up and

operating White-Label ATMs (ATMs allowed to NBFCs). The country's first Post Office ATM was inaugurated at

Thiyagaraya Nagar Head Post Office (HPO), Chennai Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) has tied with New India

Assurance Company to launch health insurance products - BMB Sakhee, BMB-Nirbhaya and BMB-Parivar Suraksha.

NABARD has developed the concept called Joint Liability Group (JLG) to provide institutional credit to small farmers

RBI has formed G Gopalakrishna committee to look into capacity building and skill requirements at various levels of banking and financial services

The Reserve Bank has withdrawn from April 1, 2014, the ceiling of 26% on the maximum interest rate that the micro finance institutions (MFIs)

The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to refinance existing infrastructure project loans through take-out financing agreements with any financial institution.

IBA has cautioned banks to ensure business continuity after Microsoft ends support for its Windows XP operating system on April 8, 2014.

HDFC Bank has launched its six basic banking transactions through toll-free numbers.

RBI has directed banks to provide credit data in a revised format for all loan accounts of Rs. 5 crore or


more to the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits-CRILC.

Finance Minister has proposed to infuse Rs.11,200 crore in public sector banks in the next financial year – 2014-15 to enhance their capital.

In a bonanza for farmers, the government has set an agriculture credit target of Rs 8 lakh crore for the banks for 2014-15.

Govt. has advised that every old bank branch should have ATM facility by March 31, 2014.

JANUARY 2014 The Reserve Bank hiked the repo rate to 8% from

7.75% per annum w.e.f. 28th Jan. RBI has advised that all banknotes issued prior to 2005

will be withdrawn after Jan 1, 2015 as they have lesser security features compared to notes issued thereafter.

Dr. Nachiket Mor Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income Households submitted its final report on December 31.

The Mor committee set up by the RBI has called for establishing differentiated lenders, including one for small businesses and low-income households.

RBI has advised banks that amount of loans sanctioned by them against pledge of gold jewellery should not exceed 75 per cent of the value of the gold.

Reserve Bank has allowed payments from abroad in Indian rupees to utility service providers, tax payments in India to promote cross-border inward remittances.

Reserve bank has announced issuance of Inflation Indexed National Savings Certificates (IINSC) to offer an inflation savvy investment option.

The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to permit bullet payment of gold loans of up to Rs.1 lakh provided the period of the loan does not exceeds 12 months.

The Reserve Bank has decided to establish ‘Depositor Education and Awareness Fund’ by taking over amount lying in unclaimed deposit accounts.

State Bank of India has strengthened its social media presence with the launch of its channel on popular video sharing website Youtube.

Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) has asked banks to compensate bank customers who have been victims of electronic / online fraud.

RBI has allowed Banks collection of account payee cheques drawn for an amount not exceeding Rs 50,000 in the accounts of co-operative credit societies

RBI has constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of P. J. Nayak (former Chairman of Axis Bank) to review governance of boards of banks.

Govt. has revised its target upwards for opening new bank branches to 10,000 a year, from 7000 a year at present.

Axis Bank has become the first domestic private sector bank to have a branch in China.

Prizm Payment Services has launched ‘Money Spot’, a chain of 10, 000 white label ATMs, under licence from the RBI.

DECEMBER 2013 Nepal and India have agreed to allow circulation of

Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denomination Indian notes within Nepalese territory, ending over 10 years of ban.

Doha Bank became the first Qatari bank to get the license from RBI to start operations in India, with first branch in Mumbai.

Govt approved the enhancement of the bilateral currency swap arrangement between the RBI and Bank of Japan to $ 50 billion, up from $ 15 billion at present.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

FEBRUARY 2014 Two naval officers died and seven Indian others were

injured after smoke filled a compartment in the Russia made INS Sindhuratna submarine

TROPEX (Theatre level readiness and operational exercise): Indian Navy’s major annual exercise held in Indian Ocean

Indian Navy has started high tech Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) at INS Hansa in Panaji, Goa.

The SBTF is primarily used for flight testing of naval aircrafts that operate from aircraft carriers

JANUARY 2014 'MILAN 2014', the biennial international naval exercise

conducted by the Indian Navy held in Andaman & Nicobar Islands between February 5 and 9.

Indian Coast Guard Ship Abhinav, a Fast Patrol Vessel inducted in to service at Kochi base of Indian Coast Guard.

India’s first indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant is now ready for sea trials.

Sahayog - Kaijin 2014’: Joint exercise held by the Indian Coast Guard and its Japanese counterpart, off the Kochi coast, Kerala.

The Mountain Strike Corps, aimed at countering China, raised at Ranchi - its headquarters in Jharkhand.

Agni-IV: India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable strategic missile, with a strike range of about 4,000 km, from a test range off the Odisha coast.

ISRO launched the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-D5 (GSLV-D5), carrying 1,982 kg communication satellite GSAT-14, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has launched India's high performance computing system 'Dhruva-3’.

SUPERCOMPUTER PARAM YUVA-II developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) rated 1st in India and 44th in the world.


British Scientists have achieved the fastest ever broadband speeds of 1.4 terabits per second that can transmit 44HD movies at once on existing fibre network

Indian Council for Medical Research has developed two low cost glucose (sugar) monitoring devices and testing strips, Suchek and Quickcheq for diabetic patients.

DECEMBER 2013

India’s indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft Tejas inducted into the Indian Air Force on December 20.

India test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile with a strike range of over 3,000 km from Odisha coast

Indian Air Force has bid farewell to MiG-21 FL – its first supersonic combat jet aircraft that served it for over five decades.

India has signed a mega contract of $1.01 billion with USA for six more C-130J "Super Hercules" jumbo military cargo aircrafts.

India offers to train Sri Lankan Navy officers. China’s lunar probe Chang'e-3 landed on the Moon,

carrying the “Jade Rabbit” or Yu Tu rover. A US space agency rover rambling on the dry surface of

Mars has for the first time discovered evidence of what used to be a freshwater lake.

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

FEBRUARY 2014 Facebook has acquired mobile messaging company

WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars in a cash and stock deal. Latest official data shows that the U.S. economy grew

at a 3.2 per cent annual rate in the October-December quarter

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has approved domestic trading in the Indian Rupee and some other foreign currencies.

China has emerged as the largest buyer of gold in the world in 2013 having bought 1,066 tonnes (up32 per cent), surpassing India as the largest gold consumer.

North and South Korea have agreed to hold a reunion for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the first such event since 2010.

BiblioTech: First Paperless public Library of the world opened in Bexar County, Texas, USA. It has only e-books to read.

35th meeting of SAARC Council of Minister meeting held in Bandos Island Resort in Maldives.

Theme of this year’s World Cancer Day, observed on Feb. 4, is 'Debunk the myths'.

JANUARY 2014 The coldest, most dangerous blast of polar air in

decades-‘polar vortex’ gripped the US Midwest and adjoining East and South eastern Canada.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has announced tapering of its massive asset purchase programme, widely known as quantitative easing (QE), starting from January, 2014.

44th annual meeting of World Economic Forum – WEF held at Davos, Switzerland was attended by over 2,500 participants from almost 100 countrie.

The GDP growth rate for the quarter ending December 31, 2013 was pegged at 7.7%, lower than 7.8% in the previous quarter.

China has formally abolished its controversial labour camps and relaxed family planning restrictions from ‘one’ child norm to ‘two’ child norm.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to make military service compulsory for all adult males aged between 18 and 30, but kept it optional for women.

Latvia has become 18th country to adopt Euro as its currency. Its earlier currency was ‘Latvian Lats’.

Greece takes over the Presidency of the European Union Council. (not the presidentship)

DECEMBER 2013 Jordan has been elected as a non-permanent member

of the UN Security Council for filling a seat that fell vacant after Saudi Arabia declined to join the Council

China’s currency Yuan, also called Renminbi has replaced the Euro to become the second-most used currency in trade and finance in world, claiming 8.66%.

A remote region in East Antarctica has set a new record for the coldest place on earth, with temperatures dipping to a bone-chilling minus 93.2 degrees Celsius.

PERSONS IN NEWS

FEBRUARY 2014 K.T. THOMAS: The former Supreme Court judge has been appointed head of the eight-member search committee to select the persons for various posts of Lokpal. LAKSHMI SWAMINATHAN: Lady from Chennai has become the first Indian to be elected as the President of the Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank. SANJEEV KULKARNI: A noted Professor of electrical engineering in USA has been appointed as the next dean of the Princeton University Graduate School in the Princeton University, USA. VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH: President of Ukraine was in news as he fled from his country to an unknown destination following the public revolt against him. The Parliament impeached the absconding President and he has been put on the international list of wanted persons.

MARK ZUCKERBERG: Facebook founder and chief executive and his wife Priscilla Chan were the largest philanthropic donors in the United States in 2013, donating nearly 1 billion dollars to charity, according to the annual list published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.


JANUARY 2014

ANAND SINHA: Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India was in news as he retired from the service. He was looking after the new bank license process. ANEES SALIM: Kerala-based writer won The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction 2013 for his novel Vanity Bagh for consistent writing and humour and imagination. The Prize recognises the contribution of Indian writers to literary culture. CYRUS MISTRY: Mumbai-based author-journalist won the prestigious $50,000 DSC prize for South Asian literature, given at the Jaipur Literature Festival for his book Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer narrating the painful lives of members of the small Zoroastrian community of corpse carriers. SACHIN TENDULKAR: Legendary cricketer was placed fifth on a list of 30 most admired persons on the planet compiled by by YouGov for The Times by surveying almost 14,000 people. The list was topped by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. MEERA CHANDRASEKHAR: An Indian-American university professor of physics and astronomy has been honoured with the top US teaching award “Baylor University's 2014 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching”. The award carries the single largest monetary reward of $250,000. GEN. BIKRAM SINGH: Indian Army Chief took over as the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC), a body of three service chiefs with the senior-most among them heading it. ASHA KHEMKA: A Bihar born eminent educationist has been awarded one of Britain's highest civilian award-Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), making her the first from the community to earn the honour in past 83 years. The Damehood is in recognition of her services to the deprived areas of the West Midlands as Principal of West Nottinghamshire College for last 8 years. A. JOSEPH PAULRAJ: Indian origin Professor of technology at Stanford University, USA, has been awarded the 2014 Marconi Prize, a Nobel equivalent for technology pioneers, for his work that is at the heart of the current high speed Wi-Fi and 4G mobile systems. RAKESH KHURANA: Indian-American professor of Sociology has been appointed Dean of the prestigious Harvard College, at Harvard University, USA.

AITIZAZ HASAN: A 15-year-old school boy who died while trying to defend his school in Pakistan’s troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district from a suicide bomber has been hailed as a hero for saving the lives of many of his classmates. He has been decorated with the Sitara-e-Shujaat — a high civilian award for bravery. ALI LARAYEDH: Tunisia’s Islamist Prime Minister was in news as he resigned as part of a plan to end months of

political deadlock. His resignation sees the departure of Tunisia’s first democratically elected government, which came to power after veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings almost three years ago.

MYKOLA AZAROV: Ukrainian Prime Minister was in news as he resigned to counter widespread political protests in the country against harsh anti protest laws.

MARGARET THATCHER: The ‘Iron Lady’ of Britain was voted the most successful post-war British Prime Minister. She passed away on April 8, 2013.

DECEMBER 2013

DEVYANI KHOBRAGADE: Deputy Consul General in Indian consulate in New York was in news as she was arrested on visa fraud charges and humiliated unreasonably by hand cuffing and conducting body search, violating provisions of Vienna convention providing diplomatic immunity to diplomats.

JAYANT DASGUPTA: India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO in Geneva.

POPE FRANCIS: Supreme Head of Roman Catholics has been named "Person of the Year" by the Time magazine for the speed with which he succeeded in establishing the church as servant and comforter of hurt people in an often harsh world.

MIKHAIL KALASHNIKOV Designer of iconic AK-47 automatic rifle, died on Dec. 23 in Russia. The name AK-47 stands for "Kalashnikov's Automatic" and the year it was designed, 1947. Also called the "Kalashnikov", the rifle and its variants are the weapons of choice for dozens of armies and guerrilla/terrorists groups around the world.

A P P O I N T M E N T S

FEBRUARY 2014

R K TIWARI: Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes RAJESH KR. AGRAWAL: Judge, Supreme Court N V RAMANA: Judge, Supreme Court HARISH RAWAT: New Chief Minister of Uttrakhand KTS TULSI: Nominated by the President as Member of Rajya Sabha in the category of eminent persons. Justice Tulsi is a leading legal luminary. JATINDER BIR SINGH: Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab & Sindh Bank ASHOK KUMAR MATHUR: Chairman, 7th Central Pay Commission SATYA NADELLA: CEO of Microsoft Inc., USA SUSHIL KOIRALA: Prime Minister of Nepal ABDUL BASIT: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India MATTEO RENZI: Prime Minister of Italy MEHDI JOMAA: Prime Minister of Tunisia IBRAHIM MAHLAB: Prime Minister, Egypt OLEKSANDR TURCHYNOV: Acting President of Ukraine ARSENIY YATSENYUK: Prime Minister of Ukraine


JANUARY 2014 SUBODH AGGARWAL: President of the South Asian Federation of Accountants. R. CHANDRASHEKHAR: President of NASSCOM ARUP RAHA: Air Chief Marshal, Indian Air Force VINOD KUMAR DUGGAL: Governor of Manipur JANET YELLEN– First lady Governor of the US Federal Reserve (US equivalent of RBI) SHEIKH HASINA: Awami League leader of Bangladesh who was sworn-in as Prime Minister for the third time. LAIMDOTA STRAUJUMA: 1st woman PM of Latvia HERY RAJAONARIMAMPIANINA: President of Madagascar

DECEMBER 2013 J N CHOUDHURY: Director General, National Security Guard (NSG) ARVIND RANJAN: Director General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). SUSHMA SINGH: Chief Information Commissioner at Central Information Commission SUMIT BOSE: Union Finance Secretary S. JAISHANKAR: India’s new Ambassador to USA VK DUGGAL: Governor of Manipur C. V. R. RAJENDRAN: Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Bank MOHAN V TANKSALE: Chief Executive, Indian Banks' Association (IBA)

5 NEW CHIEF MINISTERS

ARVIND KEJRIWAL: New Delhi VASUNDHARA RAJE: Rajasthan SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN: Madhya Pradesh DR. RAMAN SINGH: Chhattisgarh PU LALTHANHAWLA: Mizoram

AWARDS & HONOURS

FEBRUARY 2014 VYAS SAMMAN 2013: Vishwanath Tripathi, noted Hindi writer for his memoir ‘Vyomkesh

RAMANUJAN MATHEMATICS AWARD: Anand Kumar, founder of Super 30 classes in Patna.

E&Y ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2013: Uday Kotak, executive vice-chairman, Kotak Mahindra Bank

E&Y LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Dr Yusuf K Hamied, Chairman, Cipla.

AMAZING INDIAN AWARD: Arunima Sinha for scaling Mount Everest despite being physically challenged. She lost her right leg in 2011 after being thrown off a moving train. Zayed's international prize in environment won by Indian environment expert Ashok Khosla, awarded by UAE with prize money of $300,000 for scientific achievement.

67TH BAFTA AWARDS Best Picture: 12 Years A Slave by Steve McQueen Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave Best Actress: Kate Blanchet, Blue Jasmine Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron for ‘Gravity’ CRYSTAL BEAR AWARD: won by Marathi film 'Killa', directed by Avinash Arun at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. INTERNATIONAL GANDHI AWARD-2013: Dr. Vijay Kumar Dongre and Prof. Guocheng Zhang for making outstanding contributions in the field of leprosy treatment. 'ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP'- a prestigious civil award of Russia, conferred on A Sivathanu Pillai, Chief of BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russia joint venture to produce supersonic BrahMos missiles.

JANUARY 2014 PADMA AWARDS - 2014

PADMA VIBHUSHAN – 2 Only Name Field State Dr. Raghunath A

Mashelkar Science &

Engineering Maharashtra

B. K. S Iyengar Yoga Maharashtra

PADMA BHUSHAN – TOTAL 24 Kamala Haasan, Art-Cinema, Tamil Nadu

Justice Dalveer Bhandari

Public Affairs, Judge in ICJ

Delhi

Anita Desai Literature and Education, Novelist

Delhi

Ruskin Bond Literature and Education, Novelist

Uttarakhand

Pullela Gopichand Sports-Badminton Andhra Pradesh

Leander Paes Sports-Tennis Maharashtra Late Justice J S

Verma Public Affairs Uttar Pradesh

Prof Anisuzzaman Literature and Education, writer

Bangladesh

Prof Lloyd I Rudolph

Literature and Education

USA

Prof Susanne H Rudolph

Literature and Education

USA

PADMA SHRI - TOTAL 101

Yuvraj Singh Sports, Cricketer Haryana Bansi Kaul Art-Theatre J & K

Sudarsan Pattnaik Art-Sand artist Odisha Paresh Rawal Art-Cinema Maharashtra Santosh Sivan Art- Cinema Tamil Nadu Vidya Balan Art-Cinema Maharashtra

Ashok Chakradhar Lit. and Education Delhi Anjum Chopra Sports- Cricket Delhi Sunil Dabas Sports- Kabbadi Haryana

Mamta Sodha Sports- Mountaineering

Haryana


59th FILMFARE AWARDS 2014

Best Actor: Farhan Akhtar for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Best Actress: Deepika Padukone (Goliyon Ki Raslila Ram

Leela) Best Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Bhaag Milkha

Bhaag) Best Film: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag THE HINDU PRIZE for Best Fiction 2013: Anees Salim for his novel Vanity Bagh

DSC PRIZE for South Asian literature-2014: Cyrus Mistry for his book Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer

71ST GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

These awards are given annually by Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in California, USA for recognizing the excellence in the field of cinema and TV. Best film-Drama: 12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen Best Comedy Film: American Hustle by David O. Russell Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club Best Actress: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Mexico) for his spectacular 3D space drama – Gravity.

56TH GRAMMY AWARDS-2014

(At Los Angeles, California, USA) Record of the Year: Get Lucky by French musical group-Daft Punk featuring singer Pharrell Williams Album of the Year: Random Access Memories by Daft Punk Song of the Year: Royals by Joel Little and Lorde

Best Pop Solo Performance: Royals by Lorde

Best World Music Album: shared by - Live: Singing for Peace Around the World by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Savor Flamenco by Gypsy Kings.

MARCONI PRIZE-2014: A. Joseph Paulraj, USA, for his work in developing high speed WiFi and 4G mobile systems.

FIFA Ballon d'Or: Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (best footballer of the year in world)

DECEMBER 2013 BANKER OF THE YEAR-2013: Aditya Puri, Managing Director, HDFC Bank. The award is given by the financial daily Business Standard Dayawati Modi Stree Shakti Samman: Rashmi Singh, Executive Director of the National Mission for Empowerment of Women Stree Shakti Science Samman: Jata S Tyagi, professor at AIIMS MISS INTERNATIONAL 2013: Bea Rose Santiago, of Philippines, in Tokyo MISS EARTH 2013: Alyz Henrich of Venezuela in Muntinlupa, Philippines

OBITUARY

FEBRUARY 2014 AMAR KANT: Noted Hindi writer, Jnanpith Award winner BALU MAHENDRA: Noted Tamil film director and cinematographer PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN: A popular Oscar winner U S cinema actor

JANUARY 2014

SUCHITRA SEN: Legendary Bengali actor, Padmashri awardee, known for her outstanding performances in several Bengali and a few Hindi films like ‘Aandhi’, ‘Devdas’. Known as ‘Greta Garbo’ of Indian Cinema. Dr. SYEDNA MOHAMMED BURHANUDDIN: 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq (spiritual head) of the world wide Dawoodi Bohra community, a sub group within the Mustaali, Ismaili Shia branch of Islam. AKKINENI NAGESWARA RAO: Veteran actor of Telugu cinema, popular as ‘ANR’, Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner, the 91-year-old acted in more than 250 Telugu films, including a few in Tamil. SUNANDA PUSHKAR: High profile socialite and wife of Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor KARL SLYM: Managing Director of Tata Motors Ltd, died after falling from a high floor of a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. ARIEL SHARON: Former Israeli Prime Minister, one of the most influential figures in Israel’s history, a military commander and political leader. PAUL TORDAY: British novelist, famous for his debut novel "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"

DECEMBER 2013

NELSON MANDELA: South Africa’s first elected African president (1994-99) and a global anti-apartheid icon who got South Africa freed from the clutches of its European (white) rulers in 1994 through a public election. He served over 27 years (1962-1990) in prison. Was honoured with ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1990 for espousing Gandhian values and with Noble Peace Prize in 1994.

FAROOQ SHEIKH: Veteran actor of Hindi Cinema

SIS RAM OLA: Union Labour and Employment Minister

P L A C E S I N N E W S

FEBRUARY 2014 CHANDOLI: village in Alwar district of Rajasthan was declared as India’s first Minority Cyber Gram (village).

JANUARY 2014 GORAKHPUR: village in Fatehabad district of Haryana was in news as foundation stone was laid there for a 2,800 megawatt nuclear power plant- Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna.


KARBI ANGLONG: A hilly district in Central Assam was in news as it witnessed widespread violent clashes between the ethnic insurgent Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT) and the Rengma Naga Hills Protection Force (RNHPF). As a result thousands of Karbi and Rengma tribals were forced to leave their homes and take shelter in local refugee camps. SOUTH SUDAN: The country has been hit by unrest since Dec. 15, when fighting among loyal and rebel presidential guards in the capital city Juba later spiraled across the country. Anti govt forces are being led by the former Vice-President Riek Machar and his men from Nuer tribe. Currently, battle is on for control of Bor - a major town in eastern Sudan. VOLGOGRAD: the Russian city was in news as it witnessed two ghastly terror attacks by suicide bombers, killing over thirty persons and seriously wounding several others. The surge in terror attacks comes a little over a month ahead of Winter Olympic Games to be held in Sochi in Russia.

DECEMBER 2013 ENGLAND: Gales and rain caused heavy damage in UK and disruption to transport and the power network. More than 6,000 UK homes remain without electricity - with some of those who have been cut off since Christmas Eve expressing anger at the situation.

S P O R T S W O R L D

FEBRUARY 2014 SOCHI OLYMPICS – 2014 The 22nd Winter Olympic games 2014 were held at Sochi in Russia. The official mascots for these games were named - the Leopard, the Polar Bear and the Hare. Motto of this year’s games was “Hot-Cool-Yours” Sochi. Of the 88 countries who took part in 98 events, Russia secured highest number of medals winning 13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals.

2014 Paralympic winter games to be held at Sochi, Russia from 7th to 16th March, 2014. Sourav Kothari won the National Billiard Championship title at Lucknow, beating Alok Kumar. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) lifted the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) after approving the new elections of office bearers of the IOA. N. RAMACHANDRAN: President, Indian Olympic Association N. SRINIVASAN elected as Chairman, International Cricket Council Irani cup: Karantaka defeats Rest of India to lift prestigious cricket trophy at Bangalore Mithali Raj will lead the Indian women’s cricket team in the ICC Women's World Twenty20 to be held from March 16 in Bangladesh. 35th National Masters Athletic Championship held at Coimbatore, Kerala.

Ranji Trophy: Karnataka won their seventh title after beating Maharashtra in finals held at Hyderabad. Sakshi Malik won gold at the 2014 Dave Schultz International Wrestling Tournament in Colorado Springs, USA. Kathy Cross: First woman to be inducted in the International Cricket Council‘s (ICC’s) umpires’ panel. She is from New Zealand.

JANUARY 2014 75th Senior National table tennis championships: Sanil Shetty and Ankita Das bagged the men’s and women’s titles respectively at Patna. 62nd Senior National Volleyball Championship: Tamil Nadu and Railways bagged the men's and women's titles respectively, at Moradabad, UP. Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton championship held at Lucknow, UP. Results: Men’s singles: Xue Song of China; Women’s singles: Saina Nehwal, India 6th All India Inter-university Fencing Championship: won by the Punjabi University, Patiala, at Patiala, Punjab. The 61st Senior National Kabaddi Championship held at Patna, Bihar. Evans Ruto of Kenya won the 11th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. Dinknesh Mekash of Ethiopia won the women’s race. Lusofonia Games-2014 was held at Goa from Jan. 18 to 29. It is a multinational multi sports event where sportspersons from Portuguese speaking countries participate. Aditya Joshi: Young shuttler (17) from Madhya Pradesh has become the first male junior badminton player from India to be ranked top in the world by the World Badminton Federation (WBF). Shiva Keshavan won the silver in the 16th Luge Asia Cup, held in Nagano, Japan. A Luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. Steering is done by flexing the sled's runners with the calf of each leg or exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. M S Dhoni became the first Indian wicketkeeper and the fourth in world to effect 300 dismissals in One Day Internationals when he caught a Ross Taylor nick in the opening ODI against New Zealand in Napier, New Zealand. TAX EXEMPTION TO SPORTSPERSONS Central Board of Direct Taxes-CBDT has announced that Indian sportspersons who win medals at Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games will be exempted from paying Income Tax on cash or other rewards given by the government. AUSTRALIAN OPEN Tennis Cup, Melbourne, Australia Men: Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland defeated Rafa Nadal of Spain Women: Li Na of China defeated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia; the oldest woman (31) ever to win the title.


ATP Chennai Open Tennis: Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won the title beating Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.

Malaysian Open 2014(badminton): Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia won the men’s title in, beating Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia. Women’s title was lifted by China's Li Xuerui beating teammate Wang Shixian.

Hero Hockey World League: Netherlands beats New Zealand to win the championship held at New Delhi.

Corey Anderson: New Zealand all-rounder scored the quickest century ever in international cricket, taking just 36 balls against West Indies at Queenstown, New Zealand to break the record of Pakistan's Shahid Afridi (in 1996).

Fuleco-the Armadillo, name of the official mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup to be held in Brazil in June, 2014.

DECEMBER 2013 The Indian Kabaddi players beat Pakistan to win the fourth edition of the World Cup Kabaddi tournament at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana. In Women’s category too, Indian team lifted the cup beating New Zealand

Mahesh Mangaonkar became the first Indian squash player to win the IMET Open, the PSA World Tour Challenger 5 event, in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.

Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das, Indian archers won the silver and bronze medal respectively, in the men's recurve section at the Indoor Archery World Cup in Singapore.

P V Sindhu, Indian ace shuttler won the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title beating Canada's Michelle Li in Macau.

Gaganjeet Bhullar lifted the $750,000 Indonesia Open Golf Cup held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Hosting rights for FIFA World Cup-2017 (Under-17) have been awarded to India.

TOUR de INDIA LISTED BY UCI The Tour de India 2013, the world's biggest cycling event, has been listed in the international calendar of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale). The races took place on Dec 15, 17 and 22 in Mumbai, Jaipur and Delhi, respectively. The event was won by Mohd. Nor Umardi of Malayasia

KERALA: emerges as champion in 29th Junior National Athletics Championships held in Bangalore.

57th National Shooting Championship held at New Delhi. Olympic silver medalist Vijay Kumar of Army won gold in men's 25m rapid fire pistol event. Man Singh of Punjab won the gold in the men's skeet event while Andhra Pradesh shooter Rashmi Rathore topped in women's skeet event. Samresh Jung won the ‘Champion of Champions’ title in pistol event.

Deepika Kumar and Tarundeep Rai were the top recurve archers in women and men category at the 34th Senior National Archery championship held at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

PV Sindhu and K Srikanth clinched the women's and men's titles respectively at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championships held at New Delhi.

Kapil Dev selected for the Col C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award for the year 2013 by BCCI.

Ravichandran Ashwin: Indian spinner to receive the Polly Umrigar Award from the BCCI for being India’s best international cricketer of the year 2012-13.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the ICC LG People's Choice Award – 2013 for the best cricketer.

Jacques Kallis: South African all-rounder has announced his retirement from test and first-class cricket after the second Test against India in Durban, South Africa.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

BOOK AUTHOR Water, Peace and War – Confronting the Global Water Crisis

Brahma Chellaney

Public Issues Before Parliament

Vijay Darda

From Ghalib’s Dilli to Lutyens’ New Delhi

Mushirul Hasan and Dinyaar Patel

The Islamist Challenge in West Asia

Talmiz Ahmed

Vyomkesh Darvesh Vishwanath Tripathi India at Turning Point: The Road to Good Governance

T.S.R. Subramanian

Vanity Bagh Anees Salim Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer Cyrus Mistry Insurgent Veronica Roth Wheat Belly William Davis Prophet of Love by Farrukh Dhondy

From a Minister’s Journal F S Aijazuddin

India’s Military Conflicts and Diplomacy

VP Malik

Doctor Sleep Stephen King

India at Risk: Mistakes, Misconception and Misadventures of Security Policy

Jaswant Singh

Barons of Banking: Glimpses of Indian Banking History

Bakhtiyar K Dadabhoy

Goat Days Benyamin Book of Destruction Anand (P. Sachidanandan) The Good Lord Bird James Mc Bride, Winner of

the National Book Award – 2013 USA

The Wildings Nilanjana Roy The Shadow of the Crescent Moon

Fatima Bhutto


STATE BANK OF INDIA PO - MODEL TEST PAPER

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Directions (Q. 1-10): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions. The Employees, State Insurance Act, 1948 is a social security legislation that provides complete medical care and cash benefits in the contingencies of sickness, maternity disablement, death due to employment injury, and unemployment to beneficiaries who come from the organised sector working-class families in the lower wage bracket of the society. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) runs a unique social security scheme which has the features of an insurance organisation as well as of a service provider for health-related needs of the insured persons under the scheme. The ESIC Scheme offers comprehensive medical care and cash benefits which cannot be matched by any private insurance company. This is the only scheme where there is no upper limit on medical expenditure of the beneficiaries. The corporation strives to improve the scale of benefits being provided to the beneficiaries both in quantitative terms as well as qualitative. The corporation also provides unemployment allowance under Rajiv Gandhi Sharmik Kalyan Yojana to the workers who go out of employment involuntarily for up to one year. The ESIC is also providing financial assistance in upgrading their skills with a view to getting reemployment for the unemployed workers. For overcoming the shortage of medical manpower and improving the medical services in ESI hospitals, ESIC has decided to setup medical colleges, nursing colleges, dental colleges and training schools for other para-medical staff in ESIC/ESI Hospitals. Under the dynamic leadership of AK Agarwal, Director General, ESIC has made its significant presence felt at the international forum of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) by winning awards in “ISSA Good Practice Award, ASIA and Pacific Competition-2012” held at Seoul, Republic of Korea. 1) With regard to the benefits provided by the

ESI Scheme find the incorrect statement. 1) There is no upper limit on the medical expenditure of the beneficiaries. 2) The corporation provides unemployment allowance to workers who voluntarily go out of employment for up to one year. 3) The ESIC is providing financial assistance so that the employees could be made more skilled.

4) The corporation strives to improve the standard of benefits being provided in terms of quality as well as quantity. 5) All the above are correct.

2) Which of the following is/are the chief characteristics of ESIC? a) ESIC has the characteristic of an insurance organisation because it insures the employees against the happening of any contingency mentioned in the ACT. b) It has the characteristics of a health service provider. c) It acts as a state government agency regulated by IRDA. 1) Only (A) 2) Only (B) 3) All (A), (B) and (C) 4) Both (A) and (B) 5) Both (B) and (C)

3) Which of the following is/are true on the basis of the given passage? 1) There is a shortage of medical manpower. 2) There is need to improve the medical services in ESI hospitals. 3) As per the ESIC decision, medical colleges, nursing colleges, dental colleges etc will be set up. 4) The director general, ESIC, has made its presence felt at the international forum of ISSA. 5) All the above

4) Which of the following is/are correct about the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948? 1) It is a social security legislation which provides complete medical care and cash benefits in case of any contingency mentioned in the scheme. 2) The ESI Act covers the people coming from the lower wage bracket of the society. 3) The legislation covers the employees coming from unorganised sector working class families. 4) 1) and 2) 5) 1) and 3)

5) Which of the following is correct about private insurance companies? Give your answer in the context of the passage. 1) Private insurance companies are providing better services then the nationalised insurance companies. 2) The offers of ESIC are much better than those of private insurance companies. 3) The ESIC covers only a limited number of people whereas the private insurers cover every person. 4) Private insurance companies provide insurance cover upto Rs 10 lakh whereas ESIC covers up to Rs. 25 lakh. 5) All the above

6) Which of the following is true regarding Rajeev Gandhi Sharmik Kalyan Yojana?


a) It is meant to help the workers coming especially from the unorganised sector. b) This Yojana is attached with ESIC and their common aim is to provide cash as well as medical assistance to unskilled employees. c) This Yojana lays emphasis on providing job opportunities to rural workers. 1) Only (A) 2) Only (B) 3) Both (A) and (C) 4) Both (A) and (B) 5) All the above are false

7) The usage of the phrase ‘with a view to’ in the passage can possibly mean 1) supervision 2) in accordance with 3) in order to 4) as per 5) according to

8) Which of the following is most similar in meaning to the word ‘strive’ as used in the passage? 1) impress 2) divest 3) extend 4) endeavour 5) disseminate

9) Which of the following is most similar in meaning to the word ‘contingencies’ as used in the passage? 1) possibility 2) continuity 3) prolongation 4) controversy 5) meeting

10) Which of the following is most opposite in meaning of the word ‘comprehensive’ as used in the passage? 1) detailed 2) few 3) none 4) excluding 5) covering

Directions (Q. 11-15): Which of the phrases 1), 2), 3) and 4) given below each sentence replace the phrase printed in bold in the sentence to make it grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is given and no correction is required mark 5) as the answer. 11) Ramesh believes in above and board open

discussion on every point before taking final decision. 1) above and open-board 2) open and above-board 3) board open and above 4) open-board and above 5) No correction required

12) The lathicharge on Lala Lajpat Rai proved the nail of last coffin of British rule in India. 1) the last nail of the coffin 2) the last coffin of the nail 3) the last nail in the coffin 4) the coffin made of nails 5) No correction required

13) Rajesh moved earth as well as heaven to pass the exam but he could not. 1) earth and heaven 2) both earth and heaven 3) heaven and earth 4) not only heaven but also earth 5) No correction required

14) You really have to toil and moil to get a hundred per cent marks in XII exam.

1) toil or moil 2) moil or toil 3) toil moil 4) moil toil 5) No correction required

15) Our experience says that there are many slips between the lips and the cups. 1) many who slips between cups and lips 2) many cups and lips before slips 3) many slips before the cups and the lips 4) many slips between the cup and the lips 5) No correction required

Directions (Q. 16-20): Each question below has two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Find out which option can be used to fill up the blanks in the sentence in the same sequence to make it meaningfully complete. 16) Healthy scepticism, a vital ______ for any

journalist, has given _______ to credulity, or worse, naivete. 1) factor, up 2) role, them 3) attribute, way 4) thing, away 5) task, chance

17) Kejriwal’s ____ about all kinds of people became more and more ______ and even if there was a grain of truth in any of them, there was just no evidence. 1) statements, attacking 2) ideas, scathing 3) pronouncements, outdated 4) allegations, outlandish 5) defamations, severe

18) Every time Vidya Balan went about repeating “Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment!” audiences at awards nights went into _____ as if Voltaire had ___ from his grave. 1) raptures, quipped 2) dark, came 3) silence, grown 4) hallucination, risen 5) enjoy, awaken

19) Whether one believes it or not, there are still some people ____ us who could have become powerful _________ in strength and in financial means. 1) about, either 2) surrounding, neither 3) above, here 4) over, there 5) around, both

20) When politicians become ______ and the bureaucracy ______ it is to the media that people turn for some guidance. 1) corrupt, helpful 2) venal, unresponsive 3) dishonest, strong 4) careless, dictator 5) powerful, autocrat

Directions (Q. 21-35): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions. With government budgets under strain the world over and the widening wealth gap becoming a hot topic of debate, the rich form an increasingly tempting target for the tax collector. In France, the government wants to tax the super-rich at a 75% rate and the US just passed a law raising taxes on those earning more than $400000 a year. In India,


too, influential voices are asking if the wealthy must be asked to cough up more. Two proposals are being debated now in the run-up to the Budget. One is to have an inheritance tax and the other a higher tax rate for the super-rich. Both are unsound. Remember, estate duty flopped in India. Introduced in 1953, the law was complex and riddled with exemptions. It was scraped in 1985. Curiously, the government recently offered reasons for its abolition, in response to a question in Parliament. One, the levy yielded small change despite a progressive rate schedule. Two, administrative and compliance costs were high. Three, wealth tax and estate duty were imposed on the same property: one was levied before the owner’s death and the other, after. Naturally, taxpayers were unhappy with the huge burden. Nevertheless, a few months ago, finance minister P Chidambaram called for debate on inheritance tax. Its pros and cons are well-chronicled. Votaries say estate tax brings about inter-generational equity – so that children of the rich enjoy attenuated advantage in life compared to their peers who are not so privileged. But it penalises savings and investment and discourages capital formation. Worse, it encourages tax avoidance through the creation of trusts and shell companies to which the assets can be transferred. Studies in the US showed that inheritance tax was not only an inefficient levy, but also created a large wasteful estate planning and avoidance industry. We should not let the same happen in India. On the contrary, it is quite possible that India can, if it stays clear of estate duty, attract tax tourists from high-estate-tax countries provided the government fixes many things like the creaky infrastructure and makes the legal framework sound. That’s another story. Alternatively, can’t the government raise the tax rate for the super-rich? “Why can’t we think of having a rate of tax higher than the current peak of 30% on substantially higher incomes?” C Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council, asked. Technically, it is possible to have a new slab or a surcharge on incomes above a certain level. But multiple tax rates distort the tax structure. It goes against the grain of reform. In the past, many wealthy Indian are said to have stashed their undisclosed wealth in Swiss banks and other tax havens to escape high taxes here. Clearly, we should not fuel the black economy by increasing tax rates. High income-tax rates on the wealthy can also discourage work and investment. Recently, French actor Gerard Depardieu took up citizenship in Russia to escape high taxes in his homeland. It would be imprudent for India to take a page from France or the US. Also, how do we define the super-rich? In the US, it covers individuals earning more than $400,000 and couples earning more than $450,000 a year. That’s 2% of the wealthiest Americans, Contrast this with India. Less than 3% of population filed income-tax returns last year. Only 14.6 lakh people declared income over Rs 10 lakh a year. That’s appealing Clearly, announcing a special tax rate for the super-rich will not make more of them comply with the tax. Burdening honest taxpayers more is both unjust and undesirable. The point is to use the tax information network (TIN) properly to increase compliance so that all those who should be paying tax actually do.

The government must expand the tax base to raise tax revenue as a proportion of GDP. An ideal tax system, also an important piece of reform to fight to fight black money, is the goods and services tax (GST). Implementing GST would give the government a handle to raise more direct tax revenues. How is this possible? Well, there is built-in incentive with GST to pay tax because only then producers can get credit for the taxes they pay on inputs. It will generate and automatic audit trail of value addition and income across the production chain, creating a unified base of tax potential that can be tapped. GST will widen the tax base and improve compliance. 21) What has been the experience of the USA

regarding the inheritance tax? 1) The inheritance tax could help collect a huge amount of money, which in turn helped build a prosperous America. 2) This tax created avoidance industry and useless estate planning. 3) This tax could not prove as efficient as perceived. 4) Only 2) and 3) 5) Only 1) and 2)

22) Which of the following facts is incorrect with respects to estate duty in India? 1) It was introduced in 1953. 2) This tax law was full of confusing and complex exemptions. 3) This law could not last long and was finally abrogated in 1985. 4) Despite some ambiguous clauses, estate duty was a huge success. 5) All the above are correct.

23) What alternative has been suggested by the author if India wants to stay clear of estate duty? 1) It should impose a uniform lenient tax on small traders retail shopkeepers and vendors. 2) It should attract tax tourists from high-estate tax countries by providing them attractive offers. 3) It should strengthen the income-tax department by providing it some more teeth. 4) It should make provisions for stringent action against those who stash away black money in foreign bank accounts. 5) None of these.

24) What different opinions emerged during the debate on inheritance tax? A) As estate tax brings about inter-generational equity, the children of poor will enjoy more advantages in life compared to their rich counterpart. B) It discourages capital formation, savings and investment. C) It discourages tax avoidance. 1) Only (A) 2) Both (A) and (C) 3) Both (A) and (B) 4) Only (B) 5) All (A), (B) and (C)

25) What were the reasons for the abrogation of estate duty in India? 1) Despite a progressive rate schedule, the levy yielded small change. 2) Estate duty and wealth tax were imposed on the same property. 3) Compliance and administrative costs were high.


4) Wealth tax was levied during the life-time of the owners and estate duty was imposed after their deaths. 5) All the above

26) Which of the following proposals regarding imposition of tax, in the run-up to the Budget, is the most viable? A) Inheritance tax should be introduced. B) There should be higher tax rate for the super-rich. 1) Only (A) 2) Only (B) 3) Either (A) or (B) 4) Neither (A) nor (B) 5) Both (A) and (B)

27) Why is the author against raising the current peak of 30% tax for the super-rich? 1) He fears that the super-rich will start stashing their black money in Swiss banks and other tax heavens to escape high tax in India. 2) Multiple tax rates give birth to a complex and troublesome tax structure. 3) If the government raises the tax rate it will defeat the very purpose of tax reforms. 4) The tax for the super-rich will fuel the black economy. 5) All the above

28) Which of the following is incorrect in the context of the passage? A) In the US just two per cent of the wealthiest Americans are considered as super-rich. B) Approximately fifteen lakh people in India declared their annual income more than rupees ten lakh. C) The govt data shows that at least three per cent of the population filed income-tax returns last year. 1) Only (A) 2) Only (B) 3) Only (C) 4) Both (A) and (B) 5) Both (B) and (C)

29) According to the author, which of the following is correct? 1) The govt should use tax information network properly to increase tax compliance. 2) Taking into consideration the downgrading Indian economy, it is just and desirable to burden even honest tax payers. 3) The govt should not burden those who earn very little. 4) The govt must expand the tax base to raise tax revenues by fixing a certain percentage of income to all and sundry. 5) None of these

30) Which of the following is correct about Goods and Services Tax (GST)? 1) If implemented, GST will help the govt. raise more direct tax revenues. 2) GST can solve the problem of black money. 3) GST will widen the tax base. 4) Only (2) and (3) 5) All (1), (2) and (3)

Directions (Q.31-33): Choose the word/group of words which is MOST SIMILAR in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage. 31) Cough up

1) to make a sudden unpleasant noise

2) to spit here and there 3) to give money unwillingly 4) an act or a harsh sound of coughing 5) an illness or infection that makes you cough often

32) Pros and Cons 1) ins and outs 2) for and against 3) prima facie 4) cross-check 5) topsy-turvy

33) Imprudent 1) unwise 2) impulsive 3) discourteous 4) perfect 5) proper

Directions (Q. 34-35): Choose the word/group of words which is MOST OPPOSITE in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage. 34) Attenuated

1) ineffective 2) little 3) a few 4) more 5) mitigated

35) Comply 1) follow 2) admit 3) accept 4) exempt 5) evade

Directions (Q.36-40): Rearrange the following six sentence (A), (B), (C), (D), (E) and (F) in the proper sequence to form a meaningful paragraph and then answer the questions given below. (A) Knowledge has given him enough power (B) Man is a rational animal. (C) Due to their knowledge philosophers and religious

preachers have exercised tremendous influence on the minds of gullible people.

(D) He has the power of reasoning, critical judgement and analysis.

(E) Thus, in spite of being physically weak, he has succeeded in establishing his supremacy over the animal kingdom.

(F) In fact, knowledge helps a man vanquish even a physically stronger being who is ignorant.

36) Which of the following should be the FIRST

sentence after rearrangement? 1) A 2) F 3) E 4) D 5) B

37) Which of the following should be the THIRD sentence after rearrangement? 1) B 2) A 3) D 4) E 5) C

38) Which of the following should be the SECOND sentence after rearrangement? 1) C 2) B 3) A 4) F 5) D

39) Which of the following should be the FIFTH sentence after rearrangement? 1) A 2) F 3) B 4) C 5) E


40) Which of the following should be the SIXTH (LAST) sentence after rearrangement? 1) E 2) D 3) C 4) B 5) A

Directions (Q. 41 – 50): Find out the appropriate words for the blanks in the paragraph. Although John Wisdom’s writings in philosophy show clearly the influence of Wittgenstein, they nevertheless also display a …(41)… originality. Despite the …(42)… and difficulty of his style, a careful reading of Wisdom is seldom …(43)… . He is a unique kind of genius in philosophy. This essay is an excellent example of Wisdom’s repeated attempts to …(44)… the ultimate bases of philosophical perplexity. A great deal of the time Wisdom is …(45)… interested in finding out why metaphysicians feel …(46)… to utter such strange sentences. (e.g. “Time is unreal”; “There are no material things”, etc.) According to Wisdom such sentences are both false (and perhaps meaningless) and yet …(47)… . Even more than Wittgenstein, Wisdom has stressed the ‘therapeutic’ conception of philosophy, a view that comes out clearly in this essay where he emphasises the analogy between philosophical and neurotic distress …(48)… them with other kinds of problems. The reader who is interested in gaining a fuller…(49)… with Wisdom’s thought is referred to his famous article “Gods” in philosophy and Psycho-analysis. Other Minds is Wisdom’s most …(50)… discussion of a single topic and in many ways his finest work. 41) 1) concise 2) virtual

3) marked 4) limited 5) relative

42) 1) individuality 2) novelty 3) originality 4) complexity 5) creativity

43) 1) unprofitable 2) useful 3) advantageous 4) unreliable 5) durable

44. 1) jettison 2) delimit 3) augment 4) fortify 5) explore

45. 1) admirably 2) primarily 3) advertently 4) reluctantly 5) happily

46. 1) depressed 2) confined 3) alluded 4) compelled 5) adapted

47. 1) illuminating 2) damaging 3) confusing 4) critical 5) unreliable

48. 1) compelling 2) associating 3) contrasting 4) describing

5) advocating 49. 1) comparison 2) analysis

3) agreement 4) elaboration 5) acquaintance

50. 1) projected 2) sustained 3) prolonged 4) prolific 5) attributed

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Directions (Q.51-55): The following table shows the population of six different cities, ratio of males to females among them, percentage of adult males and adult females (population is given in lakh):

City Population (in lakh)

Males: Females

% adult Males

% adult Females

A 7.8 7 : 6 62% 65% B 3.6 5 : 4 70% 72% C 4.5 2 : 3 68% 64% D 6.8 9 : 8 72% 70% E 7.2 4 : 5 65% 72% F 5.4 2 : 1 75% 64% 51) What is the difference between total adult

males and total adult females in City A? 1) 22500 2) 24800 3) 25200 4) 26400 5) 27900 52) What is the average number of adult males

taking all six cities together? 1) 1.88 lakh 2) 2.1 lakh 3) 2.32 lakh 4) 2.69 lakh 5) 3.1 lakh

53) The total number of minor females in City C is approximately what percentage more or less than the total number of minor males in City F? 1) 8% 2) 9% 3) 10% 4) 11% 5) 12%

54) The total number of minor males in City E is approximately what percentage of the total number of adult males in City B? 1) 60% 2) 70% 3) 80% 4) 90% 5) 110%

55) What is the difference between adult females and minor males in City C? 1) 1.124 lakh 2) 1.228 lakh 3) 1.152 lakh 4) 1.682 lakh 5) None of these

A C h i l d W i t h o u t Education, is Like a Bird Without Wings!!


Directions (Q.56-60): The following graph shows the percentage profit by two companies A and B during 2007-2012.

56) If the expenditure of Company A in the year

2009 was Rs. 77.5 lakh what was its income (in Rs) in that year? 1) 98 lakh 2) 104.4 lakh 3) 108.5 lakh 4) 114.5 lakh 5) None of these

57) If the income of Company B in the year 2012 was Rs 125.4 lakh what was its expenditure (in Rs.) in that year? 1) 98 lakh 2) 102 lakh 3) 106 lakh 4) 114 lakh 5) 118 lakh

58) If the expenditure of Company A in the year 2008 and the income of Company B in the year 2011 were equal to 85 lakh what was the difference between the profits of Company A in the year 2008 and the profit of Company B in the year 2011? 1) 10.2 lakh 2) 12.4 lakh 3) 12.8 lakh 4) 9 lakh 5) 16.5 lakh

59) If the incomes of two Companies in the year 2010 were equal what was the ratio of their expenditure? 1) 5 : 4 2) 5 : 6 3) 5 : 3 4) 5 :2 5) None of these

60) If the income of Company A in the year 2010 and the expenditure of Company B in the year 2012 were equal and they were Rs. 171 lakh each, what was the difference between the income of Company B in the year 2012 and the expenditure of Company A in the year 2010? 1) 41.4 lakh 2) 42.6 lakh 3) 43.8 lakh 4) 44.3 lakh 5) 45.6 lakh

Directions (Q. 61-65): A total of 39 thousand students appeared in an entrance examination from six cities, in which the number of boys was 12000. The following pie-charts show the distribution of the total students and of the total boys from these cities who appeared in the exam.

Total Students = 39000

A, 17%

B, 13.50%

C, 15%D, 20%

E, 8.50%

F, 26%

Values in degree, Boys = 12000

A, 82.8

B, 72

C, 61.2

D, 36

E, 75.6

F, 32.4

61) What is the total number of girls who

appeared from City A? 1) 3310 2) 3840 3) 3550 4) 3870

5) 3100 62) What is the difference between the total

number of boys and the total number of girls who appeared in the exam from City E? 1) 1725 2) 1745 3) 1765 4) 1795 5) 1815

63) The total number of girls who appeared from City C is approximately what percent of the total number of students who appeared from City D? 1) 47% 2) 49% 3) 51% 4) 53% 5) 59%

64) What is the difference between the total numbers of boys who appeared from City A and that from City B? 1) 310 2) 320 3) 350 4) 380 5) 360

65) The number of girls who appeared from City F is approximately what percent of the total number of girls who appeared from all six cities together? 1) 31.5% 2) 32.5% 3) 33.5% 4) 34.5% 5) 35.5%

Directions (Q. 66-70): Following line graph shows the ratio of import to export of three companies over the period of 2007-2012.

2532

40

20

3530

4045

30

50

25

10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

% p

rofit

Year

Company A Company B


66) If the import of Company A in the year 2007

was Rs23.58 lakh what was its export (in Rs) in that year? 1) 70.74 lakh 2) 78.24 lakh 3) 70.8 lakh 4) 78.60 lakh 5) 86.5 lakh

67) The ratio of import to export of Company A in the year 2012 is approximately what per cent of the ratio of import to export of Company C in the year 2011? 1) 49.5% 2) 59% 3) 62.5% 4) 71.2% 5) 140%

68) If the export of Company A in the year 2012 and the import of Company C in the year 2009 were equal to Rs 64 lakh each then the import of Company A in the year 2012 was approximately what per cent of the export of Company C in the year 2009? 1) 30% 2) 45% 3) 60% 4) 75% 5) 90%

69) If the import of Company A and Company B in the year 2009 were Rs 36 lakh and Rs 27 lakh respectively what was the ratio of their exports in that year? 1) 1 : 3 2) 2 : 3 3) 7: 9 4) 8 : 9 5) 7 : 2

70) If the imports of Company C in year 2008 and 2012 were equal then the export of Company C in year 2008 was approximately what per cent of its export in year 2012? 1) 80% 2) 90% 3) 100% 4) 110% 5) 120%

Directions (Q. 71-75): The following bar graph shows the productions of cycle (in thousand) by two companies A and B over the period 2008-2012 and the line-graph shows the percentage sale of these companies.

71) What is the total sale (in thousand) of Company A during 2008-2012?

1) 185 2) 192 3) 197 4) 202 5) 217

72) The sale of Company B in year 2010 is approximately what per cent of the sale of Company B in the year 2008? 1) 85% 2) 95% 3) 110% 4) 117% 5) 173%

73) What is the average number of sale of Company B over the period 2008-2012? 1) 31400 2) 32200 3) 36070 4) 32500 5) 33000

74) In which of the following years, the percentage rise/fall in the production of Company B is the highest on comparison to its previous year? 1) 2008 2) 2009 3) 2010 4) 2011 5) 2012

75) The sale of Company A in the year 2009 is approximately what per cent more or less than the sale of Company B in the year 2011? 1) 20% 2) 30% 3) 33.33% 4) 40% 5) 50%

Directions (Q. 76-80): The following table shows the percentage of marks scored by six students in six different subjects. Stud-ents

Physics (80)

Chemis-try (80)

Biology (80)

Hindi (100)

Eng-lish

(120)

Maths (150)

A 58.75% 55% 62.5% 67% 55% 84% B 77.5% 60% 60% 72% 60% 72% C 80% 71.25% 81.25% 65% 75% 66% D 68.75% 78.75% 72.5% 55% 80% 60% E 75% 70% 65% 48% 65% 78% F 67.5% 87.5% 50% 75% 50% 70%

76) What is the total marks scored by Student D in all six subjects together? 1) 411 2) 413 3) 415 4) 417 5) 419

0.3

0.8

0.50.6

0.4

0.75

0.5

0.7

0.25

0.9

0.6

0.4

0.75

0.5

0.8

1

1.2

0.6

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Impo

rt/E

xpor

tCompany A Company B Company C

56 60

8070

96

72

48

7590

5050

25

60

40

70

4540

75

5055

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Production of Company A Production of Company B

% Sale of Company A % Sale of Company B


77) What is the average marks scored by Students in Physics? 1) 51 2) 54 3) 57 4) 60 5) 63

78) The marks scored by Student B in Maths is approximately what per cent of marks scored by Student E in Physics? 1) 55.55% 2) 80% 3) 120% 4) 150% 5) 180%

79) What is the ratio of marks scored by Student B in English to marks scored by Student A in Maths? 1) 3 : 5 2) 4 : 7 3) 5 : 9 4) 3 : 4 5) 4 : 5

80) The marks scored by Student F in Maths is approximately what per cent more or less than the marks scored by Student E in Chemistry? 1) 75% 2) 77.5% 3) 82.5% 4) 85% 5) 87.5%

Directions (Q.181-183): What will come in place of question mark (?) in the following number series? 81) 53 74 123 100 145 ?

1) 196 2) 172 3) 136 4) 96 5) 78

82) 145 180 395 444 813 ? 1) 900 2) 948 3) 975 4) 1015 5) 1125

83) 12 24 84 112 220 ? 1) 248 2) 264 3) 278 4) 284 5) 296

Directions (Q. 84-85): What should come in place of question mark (?) in the following questions?

84) ?656121971064831

3

41

31

1) 484 2) 676 3) 576 4) 324 5) 784

85) {9801 14641 } ?25.72 6 1) 3681 2) 4131 3) 4335 4) 4563 5) None of these

86) A box contains 3 red, 4 black and 5 green balls. If 3 balls are drawn at random, then what is the probability that they are of the same colour?

1) 413

2)

4138

3) 443

4)

4441

5) None of these 87) In how many different ways can the letters of

the word DISPLAY be arranged so that the vowels always come together? 1) 1440 2) 720

3) 5040 4) 2520 5) None of these

88) A man can row 8 kmh-1 in still water. If the river is running at 6 kmh-1 it takes 30 hours more to go upstream than to go downstream for the distance. What is the distance? 1) 35 km 2) 50 km 3) 64 km 4) 70 km 5) 80 km

89) A person sold 31 of a commodity at 20%

profit, 51 at 30% profit and the rest at 10%

profit. If the total profit earned by him is Rs 156 then find the cost price of the commodity. 1) Rs. 750 2) Rs. 810 3) Rs. 850 4) Rs. 900 5) Rs. 940

90) There is sufficient food for 360 men for 38 days. After 8 days, 90 men left the place. For how many days will the remaining food last for the rest of the men? 1) 36 days 2) 40 days 3) 45 days 4) 48 days 5) None of these

Directions (Q. 91-95): Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below. From a school 500 students appeared in all in an examination consisting of three papers P1, P2 and P3, 52.6% students passed in P1, 57% in P2 and 50.4% in P3. 18% of students passed only in P1 and P2, 10.2% passed only in p1 and P3 and 8.4% passed in all three papers. The number of girls passed in Paper P1 only is 60% of the number of boys who passed only in paper P1. The ratio of the number of boys to the number of girls who passed only in Paper P2 is 7:6. The number of girls who passed in Paper P3 only is 6% of the total number of students who appeared in the examination. Answer the following questions based on the above information. 91) How many students are there who passed in

Paper P2 and P3, but failed in P1? 1) 65 2) 75 3) 85 4) 90 5) 125

92) What is the difference between the number of boys and the number of girls who passed in Paper P1 only? 1) 10 2) 20 3) 30 4) 40 5) 50

93) What percentage of students passed only in Paper P2? 1) 14.2% 2) 15% 3) 15.6% 4) 17% 5) 18.4%

94) What is the ratio of the number of students who passed only in Paper P1 and P2 to the number of boys who passed only in Paper P3? 1) 5 : 2 2) 7 : 3 3) 15 : 14 4) 9 :4 5) 8 : 5


95) What is the percentage of students who failed in any two papers? 1) 48.4% 2) 51.6% 3) 53% 4) 54.5% 5) 59%

Directions (Q. 96-100): Total population of six countries (A, B, C, D, E and F) together is 90 crore. The following pie-chart shows the parentage distribution of population among these countries and the table shows the percentage of population who are below poverty line.

Country % Below Poverty Line

A 64% B 70% C 60% D 72% E 50% F 56%

96) What is the population of Country A above

poverty line? 1) 4.856 crore 2) 5.994 crore 3) 6.145 crore 4) 6.834 crore 5) None of these

97) What is the difference between the population of country D, below poverty line and that above poverty line? 1) 7.15 crore 2) 6.45 crore 3) 6.05 crore 4) 5.45 crore 5) 4.95 crore

98) What is the total population of all six countries together below poverty line. (Answer in crore) 1) 48.712 2) 50.64 3) 52.312 4) 54.162 5) 56.864

99) What is the ratio of the population of Country C above poverty line to the population of Country D below poverty line? 1) 4 : 5 2) 3 : 4 3) 2 : 3 4) 1 : 2 5) 3 : 5

100) The population of Country B above the poverty line is approximately what percentage of the population of Country E below the poverty line? 1) 28% 2) 30% 3) 32% 4) 34% 5) 35%

REASONING ABILITY 101) In a certain code language, ‘TULIP’ is written

as ‘WVORK’. How will ‘LOTUS’ be written in that code language? 1) QNGUW 2) QNSUW 3) QUSUW 4) WUGNQ 5) NQAUW

102) How many meaningful, English words can be formed by using the letters E, D, R and A exactly once? If only word can be formed, mark P as your answer. If no such word can be formed, mark Q as your answer. If only two such words can be formed mark R as your answer. If only three such words can be formed, mark S as your answer. And if more than three such words can be formed, mark T as your answer. 1) P 2) Q 3) R 4) S 5) T

103) Rashmi started from her home and went 50m towards north and then took a left turn and went 20m. Then she took a right turn and travelled another 10m to reach Rajni’s home. What is the distance between Rajni’s and Rashmi’s home? 1) m102 2) 80 m

3) m1020 4) m220 5) None of these

104) In a certain code language, ‘FRANCE’ is coded as ‘*%$@’ and ‘ROME’ is coded as ‘+&’. How will ‘MANNER’ be written in that code language? 1) &%$$ 2) &%$$ 3) %&$$ 4) $&%$$ 5) &$$%

105) How many pairs of letters are there in the word ‘BANKING’, each of which has as many letters between them as in the English alphabet? (if counted in both forward and backward direction) 1) One 2) Two 3) Three 4) Four 5) None of these

106) If ‘+’ means ‘x’, ‘’ means ‘+’, ‘x’ means ‘’ and ‘’ means ‘’, then what will be the value of 15 + 5 – 4 x 2 10 1) 12 2) 65 3) 67 4) Zero 5) 10

107) In a row of boys, Anil is fifteenth from the left end and his brother Sunil is eighteenth from the right end. If both of them interchange their places, Anil becomes twenty-ninth from the left end. How many boys are there in the row? 1) 47 2) 48 3) 46 4) None of these 5) Can’t be determined

A, 18.5%

B, 8.0%

C, 15.0%

D, 12.5%

E, 17.0%

F, 29.0%


108) If the given expression ‘A > B = C D < E < F = G’ is true, which of the following expressions is/are definitely false? 1) A > D 2) B D 3) G > E 4) All are false 5) None of these

109) Four of the following five are alike in a certain way and hence form a group. Which is the one that does not belong to that group? 1) Book 2) Newspaper 3) Scribe 4) Article 5) Journal

110) Consider the following expression: ‘P < Q ? R > S > T ? V’ Which of the following symbols can be put in place of question mark in order to make ‘P < R ‘ and ‘V < S’ definitely true? 1) 2) 30 > 4) < 5) =

Directions (Q. 111-116): In each question below are given two/three statements followed by two conclusions numbered I and II. You have to take the given statements to be true even if they seem to be at variance with commonly known facts. Read all the conclusions and then decide which of the given conclusion logically follows from the given statements, disregarding commonly known facts. Give answer 1) If only conclusion I follows 2) If only conclusion II follows 3) If either conclusion I or II follows 4) If neither conclusion I nor II follows 5) If both conclusions I and II follow (111-116) 111) Statements: All boats are berries. No brake is a belt. All belts are boats. Conclusions: I. No brake is a boat.

II. Some berries are belts. 112) Conclusions: I. All berries being belts is a

possibility. II. All boats being brakes is a possibility.

113) Statements: Some teas are tasty. Some toasters are toys. Some tables are not toys. Conclusions: I. Some toasters are tables. II. All tea being toasters is a

possibility. 114) Statements: All coffee is cold. Some cold are cups. Conclusions: I. Some cups being coffee is a

possibility. II. All cups being cold is a

possibility.

115) Statements: No rack is a rod. Some rats are red. All red are racks. Conclusions: I. Some red are not rods. II. All rats are racks. 116) Statements: Some parrots are pigeons. Some pigeons are penguins. No parrot is pink. Conclusions: I. No pigeon is pink. II. Some pink are pigeons. Directions (Q. 117-120): Read the following information carefully and answer the questions that follow. There are seven friends – Anita, Binod, Chandni, David, Ejaj, Fazal and Gauri. All of them are working in an organisation and have different mobile phones – Nokia, Samsung, Spice, Blackberry, Motorola, Micromax and Videocon – but not necessarily in the same order. Moreover, they are also using the services of different service providers – Aircel, Vodafone, Reliance, Idea, Tata, Uninor and Airtel. Further, some more information is also given.

David, a spice user, does not use Aircel. The one who uses Micromax is a subscriber to Tata.

Anita does not use Vodafone while Binod, who is a Samsung user, is a subscriber to Idea. Ejaj and Fajal do not use Micromax.

Ejaj, a Reliance user, has Videocon mobile, while the person who uses Blackberry is subscribed to Vodafone.

Chandni is a Uninor subscriber, while Gauri, who does not use Nokia,is an Aircel user.

117) Who among the following uses Blackberry? 1) Gauri 2) Fazal 3) Chandni 4) Ejaj 5) None of these 118) Which of the following services is used by

Anita? 1) Airtel 2) Aircel 3) Reliance 4) Tata 5) None of these 119) Which of the following statements is/are

definitely false with respect to the above information?

1) Fazal uses Videocon mobile. 2) Anita is an Airtel subscriber. 3) David is a Reliance subscriber. 4) All are true. 5) None of these 120) Who among the following uses Motorola

mobile phones? 1) Anita 2) Gauri 3) Ejaj 4) Fazal 5) Chandni Directions (Q. 121-124): A word and number arrangement machine when given an input line of words and numbers rearranges them following a particular rule in each step. The following is an illustration of input and rearrangement. (All the numbers are two-digit numbers.)


Input: 36 always fine 47 below 83 ever shall 56 13 ice 74 Step I: always 36 fine 47 below 83 ever shall 56 ice 74 13 Step II: always ever 36 fine below 83 shall 56 ice 74 13 47 Step III: always ever ice 36 fine below shall 56 74 13 47 83 Step IV: always ever ice below fine shall 56 74 13 47 83 36 Step V: always ever ice below fine shall 74 13 47 83 36 56 Step VI: always ever ice below fine shall 13 47 83 36 56 74 Step VI is the last step of the above input. As per the rules followed in the above steps, find out in each of the following questions the steps for the input given below. Input: 98 above 87 plant new 19 78 of 12 grapes attack 55 121) Which of the following will be the last step of

the rearrangement? 1) IV 2) V 3) VI 4) VII 5) None of these 122) Which of the following elements will be the 7th

element from right in step V? 1) plant 2) 19 3) new 4) 98 5) None of these 123) Which step number would be the following

output? Above attack of 98 plant new 78 12 grapes 19 55 87 1) II 2) III 3) IV 4) V 5) There will be no such step 124) In step V of rearrangement, if ‘attack’ is

related to ‘grapes’ in a certain way and ‘98’ is related to ‘19’ in the same way, which of the following would ‘above’ be related to following the same way?

1) attack 2) of 3) grapes 4) 12 5) 78 Directions (Q. 125-127): Read the following information carefully and answer the questions that follow. There are five friends – A, B, C, D and E – living on five different floors of an apartment with the lowermost floor as floor 1 and so on. Further, some more information is also given: C cannot live on an odd-numbered floor and B cannot

live on an even-numbered floor. E lives on the floor which if immediately above the floor

on which D lives. There is only one person who lives on the floor

between D’s and A’s floor. A lives neither at the bottom nor on the top floor.

125) Who among the following lives on the fifth floor?

1) A 2) E 3) D 4) B 5) Can’t be determined 126) A lives on which of the following floors? 1) Second 2) Third 3) Fourth 4) Fifth 5) None of these 127) How many floors are there between the floor

on which B and E live? 1) Four 2) Three 3) Two 4) One 5) None of these Directions (Q. 128-133): Read the following information carefully and answer the questions that follow: There are eight members of a family – A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. All of them are sitting around a circular table facing the centre. They belong to three different generations and there are three married couples among them. Also, four of them are males and four of them are of the opposite gender (though not necessarily in the same order.) Further, some more information is also given. The son-in-law and grandson of H are immediate

neighbours. G cannot be an immediate neighbour of her sister-in-law.

B, a spinster, is sitting two places to the right of her grandfather E. A and his sibling D can’t sit together.

There are only three persons sitting between B an her aunt D. C, a married male, cannot be an immediate neighbour of either E or B.

F and B are not siblings. There is only one person sitting between C and his brother-in-law.

128) What is the relationship of C with E? 1) Father-in-law 2) Son 3) Son-in-law 4) Brother-in-law 5) Can’t be determined 129) What is the position of H with respect to her

granddaughter? 1) Second to the left 2) Third to the left 3) Fourth to the right 4) Third to the right 5) None of these 130) Who among the following is definitely the

group of females? 1) H G F B 2) G D B A 3) B H D C 4) G D B H 5) G D C H 131) Who among the following is sitting exactly

between G’s daughter and C’s son? 1) A’s father 2) D’s son 3) H’s husband 4) B’s father 5) Can’t be determined 132) How many persons are sitting between G and

her brother-in-law? 1) One 2) Two 3) Three 4) Four 5) Can’t be determined 133) If all the eight persons are seated in the

English alphabetical order starting with A, the position of how many of them will remain


unchanged (excluding A), if counted in anticlockwise direction starting from A?

1) One 2) Two 3) Three 4) Four 5) None of these Directions (Q. 134-138): Study the following information carefully to answer the questions given below. Following are the conditions for selecting Probationary Officers – Scale II in a bank. The candidate must (i) be a graduate with at least 60 per cent marks. (ii) have a work experience of at least two years after

completion of graduation. (iii) not be more than 35 years of age as on 01.02.2013. (iv) have scored at least 40 per cent marks in the

personal interview. (v) have scored at least 55 per cent marks in the written

examination. In the case of a candidate who satisfies all the above conditions except. (a) (ii) above, but has a work experience of at least one

year, his/her case is to be referred to the Chairman – Recruitment.

(b) (iii) above, but is less than 40 years of age, his/her case is to be referred to the President – Recruitment.

In each of the questions below are given the details of each candidate. You have to take one of the following courses of action based on the information provided and the conditions and sub-conditions given above and mark the number of that course of action as your answer. You are not supposed to assume anything other than the information provided in each question. All these cases are given to you as on 01.02.2013. Mark answer 1) If the candidate is to be selected 2) If the candidate is not to be selected 3) If the data provided are inadequate to take a decision. 4) If the case is to be referred to the Chairman -Recruitment 5) If the case is to be referred to the President – Recruitment. 134) Nilesh Wadekar, who completed his graduation

with 63% marks, has been working for last 3 years. He got 57% marks in the written examination and 43% marks in the interview.

135) Abhijit Sharma, a Computer Science graduate, has scored 74% marks in both graduation and written examination. His date of birth is 7th August 1988. He scored only 45% marks in the interview and has been working for last eighteen months.

136) Sweta Sinha, whose date of birth is 15th January 1983, is B Tech (Mechanical) with 61% marks. She has been working for last 3 years. She got 61 marks in the interview and 56% marks in the written examination.

137) Priya Rai, a commerce graduate with 62% marks, has been working for last 5 years. She was born on 31st March 1986. She scored 81% marks in the written examination and 35% marks in the interview.

138) Vijay Chauhan was born on 8th February 1990. He got 68% and 51% in the written examination and the interview respectively. He has been working for last twenty five months and is a first-class graduate.

Directions (Q. 139-141): In each questions given below is a statement Followed by three courses of action numbered I, II and III. A course of action is a step or administrative action is regard to the problem, policy etc. On the basis of information given in the statement, you have to assume everything in the statement to be true, then decide which of the suggested courses of action logically follow(s) for pursuing. 139) Statement: There has been a considerable increase

in the number of persons affected by water-borne diseases during monsoon period.

Courses of action: I. The question should be raised in the legislative assembly. II. All the hospitals in the city should be equipped properly for the treatment of patients during monsoon period. III. The government should provide adequate information to the people about water-borne diseases and how to prevent them.

1) Only I follows 2) Only II follows 3) Both II and III follows 4) Both I and III follows 5) None of these 140) Statement: Besides looks and appearances, it is

also important to develop oneself from within. Courses of action: I. One should not pay attention to fashion. II. One should pay attention to fashion.

III. Self-development programmes should be initiated.

1) Only I follows 2) Only II follows 3) Only I and III follows 4) Only III follows 5) All I, II and III follows 141) Statement: The meteorological department has

reported that a severe storm is likely to the hit the city during the next forty-eight hours.

Courses of action: I. The administration should advise all the business and educational establishments to close down for two days. II. The administration should not make the information public as it could create panic among the residents of the city. III. The administration should activate its disaster management programme to tackle any possible emergency situation.

1) Only I and II follows 2) Only III follows 3) Only II and III follow 4) Only I and III follow 5) None of these Directions (Q. 142-145): Read the following paragraph carefully and answer the questions that follow. After rising for several months, gold prices are likely to see a gradual decline in the short term on the back of strong global cues. With the US economy showing signs of


recovery, domestic gold prices are expected to settle at under Rs. 30000 per 10 grams by March, although the decline may not be as steep as international prices. (A). Gold prices are determined by international market prices. (B) Prices of gold in local market are on a continuous decline. (C) Soaring price of gold is not a positive sign for an economy. (D) The US economy is very speculative. (E) There are strong signs of decline in the price as it was in the case of petroleum and crude oil five years ago. Later, the market did decline. 142) Which of the following statements (A), (B), (C), (D)

and (E) can be a conclusion from the above paragraph?

1) Only A 2) Only B 3) Both A and B 4) Both C and D 5) None of these 143) Which of the following statements (A), (B), (C), (D)

and (E) would weaken the argument of the author? 1) Only A 2) Only B 3) Only D 4) Both B and C 5) Both A and E 144) Which of the following can be an assumption in the

above paragraph? 1) Only B 2) Only C 3) Only D 4) Both A and D 5) None of these 145) Which of the following, if true, would strengthen

the argument of the author? 1) Only C 2) Only E 3) Both A and C 4) Both B and C 5) None of these Directions (Q. 146-150): Each of the questions below consists of questions and two statements numbered I and II given below it. You have to decide whether the data provided in the statements are sufficient to answer the question. Read both the statements and Give answer (1): If the data is statements I alone are sufficient to answer the questions, while the data in statement II alone are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer (2): If the data in statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question, while the data in statement I alone are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer (3): If the data either in statement I alone or in statement II alone are sufficient II alone are sufficient to answer the question. Give answer (4): If the data given in both the statements I and II together are not sufficient to answer the question; and Give answer (5): If the data in both the statements I and II together are necessary to answer the question. 146) Who among M, N, P, T and R is the youngest?

I) N and T are younger than P. II) M is older than R and P.

147) How many children are there in the row? I) Manoj is twelfth from the left end and fourth to the left of Hari in that row. II) Hari is eighth from the left and right end of that row.

148) How is ‘red’ written in a code language? I) ‘red and blue’ is written as ‘ho po da’ in that code language. II) ‘spread red carpet’ is written as ‘na da ka’ in that code language.

149) Village R is towards which direction of Village M? I) Village M is to the West of Village T, which is to the South of Village R. II) Village M is to South of Village B, which is to the West of Village R.

150) How many sisters does D have? I) D’s mother has four children. II) K and T are brothers of E.

GK / COMPUTER / MARKETING

151) Reserve Bank of India has proposed an

electronic GIRO based bill payment system in India. What is the full form of GIRO? 1) Government Interlinked Recurring Order 2) Government Internal Revenue Order 3) General Internal Revenue Order 4) General Instant Recurring Order 5) None of these

152) Which is the Shariah Compliant Index launched by Bombay Stock Exchange? 1) Islamic Shariah Index 2) BSE TASIS Shariah Index 3) BSE Islamic Index 4) BSE Nijamudin Index 5) None of these

153) Which film was given the best picture award at the international Indian film academy (IIFA) awards 2014? 1) Jolly LLB 2) Ship of Theseus 3) Bhag Milkha Bhag 4) Chennai Express 5) None of these

154) The book title ‘Water’ Peace and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis’ has been authored by who among the following? 1) G. Parthasarthy 2) Brahma Challany 3) K R Kamath 4) Sudha Murty 5) None of these

155) Name the surface to air missile indigenously developed by DRDO as part of integrated guided missile development programme? 1) Prithvi – I 2) Agni – VI 3) Akash 4) Trishul 5) None of these

156) What is the name of pilot less target aircraft developed by India? 1) Nirbhay 2) Dhruv 3) Lakshya 4) Trishul 5) None of these

157) Mr. Anil Kumar Browne has been appointed as the India’s next ambassador to Norway. Which position did he hold in the Indian services previously? 1) He was chief of Army


2) He was chief of Air Staff 3) He was Chief Secretary in Ministry of Defence 4) He was a Cabinet Secretary 5) None of these

158) Nabam Tuki was sworn in as the Chief Minister of which of the following states? 1) Tripura 2) Mizoram 3) Arunachal Pradesh 4) Sikkim 5) None of these

159) With which game is Manavjit Singh Sandhu an Indian player associated with 1) Cricket 2) Squash 3) Shooting 4) Athletics 5) None of these

160) Which women player from India has won the Senior Title in World Snooker Championship? 1) Chitra Magimairaj 2) Saina Nehwal 3) P.V. Sindhu 4) Mithali Raj 5) None of these

161) Which country has decided not to host 18th Asian Games to be held in the year 2019 due to lake of preparedness and concerns that holding the event would not be financially viable? 1) Vietnam 2) Turkey 3) Philippines 4) South Korea 5) None of these

162) Sebastian Vettel the winner of Men’s Laureus World Sports Award for the year 2014 associated with which game? 1) Car Racing 2) Football 3) Swimming 4) MotoGP 5) None of these

163) Some Indian companies are said to be in the process of issuing FCCB to raise foreign currency funds. What is the full form of FCCB? 1) Foreign Currency Convertible Bond 2) Foreign Currency Creditable Bond 3) Foreign Convertible Cashless Bond 4) Fixed Currency Convertible Bond 5) None of these

164) BSE Sensex is a barometer Indian capital markets issued by Bombay Stock Exchange representing basket of large, liquid and representative companies. How many companies are represented in S & P BSE Sensex? 1) 30 2) 35 3) 40 4) 50 5) None of these

165) Which of the following companies are authorized to issue Initial Public Offer or Follow on public offer? 1) Private Ltd. Company 2) Public Ltd. Company 3) Limited Liability Partnership 4) Both 1 and 2 5) None of these

166) Which law governance the functioning of stock exchanges? 1) Indian Contract Act 2) Forward Contract Act 3) Securities Contract Regulation Act 4) Stock Exchange Regulation Act 5) None of these

167) Normally become across the term capital market. Which of the following statement about capital market is true? 1) These are financial markets for buying and selling of long term debt and or shares 2) Sale and purchase of shares through Bombay Stock Exchange or National Stock Exchange 3) Issue of shares by the company for the first time 4) Sale of shares by a govt. owned company 5) None of these

168) The term Banking is defined in which Act: 1) Banking Regulation Act 2) RBI Act 3) Negotiable Instrument Act 4) Indian Contract Act 5) None of these

169) Capital of Reserve Banks of India is held by: 1) Central Government 2) Central and State Government Jointly 3) Ministry of Finance 4) By all the commercial banks jointly

5) None of these 170) Shares of a public limited company are

required to be listed on the stock exchange. What is the meaning of listing? 1) Listing implies that the shares are now available for trading in the secondary market 2) It means that SEBI has granted permission to the company to issue shares to the public 3) Listing means that the shares are included either in SENSEX or NIFTY 4) That the shares are being traded at the face value 5) None of these

171) Which Film has been selected four national award for best Hindi film? 1) Bhag Milkha Bhag 2) Jolly LLB 3) Chennai Express 4) Aashiqui 2 5) None of these

172) The book title ‘An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election’ has been authored by who among the following? 1) Amy Chua 2) Dinyaar Patel 3) Vishwanath Tripathi 4) Brahama Challany 5) S. Y. Quraishi

173) What is the range of Brahmos missile developed by India in collaboration with Russia? 1) 1000 km 2) 300-500 km 3) 2000 km 4) 3000-5000 km 5) None of these

174) The book title ‘Story of A Death Foretold’ has been authored by who among the following? 1) Oscar Guardiolo-Rivera 2) Wendy Donger 3) Amy Chua 4) Govind Mishra 5) None of these

175) The book title ‘An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election’ has been authored by who among the following? 1) Amy Chua 2) Dinyaar Patel 3) Vishwanath Tripathi 4) Brahama Challany 5) S. Y. Quraishi

176) The primarily take(s) care of the behind-the-scenes details and manage(s) the hardware.


1) operating system 2) application software 3) peripheral devices 4) hard disk 5) None of these

177) A _____ is a professionally designed ‘empty’ document that can be adapted to the user’s needs 1) file 2) guide

3) template 4) user guide file 5) None of these 178) A group of 8 bits is known as a –

1) byte 2) kilobyte 3) binary digit 4) megabit

5) None of these 179) The hardware device commonly referred to as

the “brain” of the computer is the – 1) RAM Chip 2) data input

3) CPU 4) secondary storage 5) None of these

180) What is the intersection of a column and a row on a worksheet called? 1) Column 2) Value 3) Address 4) Cell 5) None of these

181) _____ are often delivered to a PC through an email attachment and are often designed to do harm. 1) Viruses 2) Value 3) Address 4) Cell 5) None of these

182) What is the storage area for email messages called? 1) A folder 2) A directory 3) A mailbox 4) The hard disk 5) None of these

183) A desktop computer is also known as a – 1) Palm Pilot 2) PC 3) Laptop 4) mainframe 5) None of these

184) When a file contains instructions that can be carried out by the computer, it is often called a(n) _____ file. 1) data 2) information

3) executable 4) application 5) None of these

185) Documents converted to _____ can e published to the Web. 1) a .doc file 2) http 3) Machine Language 4) HTML 5) None of these

186) If a user needs information instantly available to the CPU, it should be stored – 1) on a CD 2) in secondary storage 3) in the CPU 4) in RAM 5) None of these

187) To what temporary area can you store text and other data, and later paste them to another location? 1) The clipboard 2) ROM

3) CD-ROM 4) The hard disk 5) None of these

188) In a spreadsheet, a ____ is a number you will use in a calculation. 1) label 2) cell

3) field 4) value 5) None of these 189) Click _____ check box of transition in a slide

group of an animation tab if you want to move a slide automatically after stipulated time. 1) Transition timer 2) Automatically after 3) Transition after 4) Automatic timer 5) None of these

190) All of the following are included in removable media Except – 1) CD-ROMs 2) Diskette 3) DVDs 4) Hard Disk Drive 5) None of these

191) Efficiency in selling skills is determined by – 1) Number of leads generated

2) Number of prospects met 3) Number of conversions made

4) All of these 5) None of these 192) Push style of selling is effective because – 1) Push is the only style of selling 2) It motivates the sales person 3) It pushes the customers to buy the products 4) It helps in quicker conversion 5) Push style can never be effective 193) Sales forecasting involves study of – 1) Sales planning

2) Proper selling price 3) Distribution outlets

4) Consumer needs and demands 5) All of these

194) Benchmark connotes – 1) Bank counters 2) ATMs 3) Standard value for comparison 4) Evaluation 5) All of these 195) USP in marketing language means – 1) Unique selling plan

2) Unique selling proposition 3) Unique selling person 4) Unique selling procedure 5) None of these

196) The USP of a savings bank account is : 1) Low EMI 2) Low rate of interest 3) Liquidity 4) High yield 5) There is no USP for SB ‘accounts 197) The USP of a current deposit account is – 1) Flexi operations 2) High rate of interest 3) Liquidity 4) Restricted balances 5) None of these 198) The USP of a personal loan is –

1) Available only to businessmen 2) Available only to salaried persons 3) Available to all professions 4) Easy EMIs 5) None of these

199) Marketing channels means – 1) Delivery time 2) Delivery Place 3) Delivery period 4) Purchase Outlets 5) None of these 200) Marketing channels for banks are – 1) Bank branches and ATMs

2) Bank branches and back office set ups 3) ATMs and back –office set ups 4) Only A and B 5) Only A and


ANSWER KEY

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.

1 2 2 4 3 5 4 4 5 2

6 5 7 3 8 4 9 1 10 2

11 2 12 3 13 3 14 5 15 4

16 3 17 4 18 1 19 5 20 2

21 4 22 4 23 2 24 3 25 5

26 4 27 5 28 3 29 1 30 5

31 3 32 2 33 1 34 4 35 5

36 5 37 2 38 5 39 2 40 1

41 4 42 4 43 5 44 1 45 2

46 2 47 5 48 4 49 1 50 2

51 4 52 2 53 1 54 3 55 3

56 3 57 4 58 1 59 1 60 5

61 4 62 1 63 2 64 5 65 3

66 4 67 3 68 3 69 2 70 5

71 3 72 5 73 3 74 3 75 3

76 4 77 3 78 5 79 2 80 5

81 5 82 1 83 2 84 1 85 2

86 3 87 1 88 4 89 4 90 2

91 2 92 2 93 3 94 3 95 1

96 2 97 5 98 4 99 3 100 1

101 1 102 4 103 3 104 2 105 2

106 3 107 3 108 5 109 3 110 5

111 2 112 1 113 2 114 5 115 1

116 3 117 2 118 4 119 5 120 2

121 3 122 4 123 2 124 2 125 4

126 2 127 3 128 3 129 2 130 4

131 4 132 3 133 3 134 3 135 4

136 1 137 2 138 1 139 3 140 4

141 4 142 1 143 3 144 5 145 2

146 4 147 2 148 5 149 3 150 4

151 2 152 2 153 3 154 2 155 3

156 3 157 2 158 3 159 3 160 1

161 1 162 1 163 1 164 1 165 2

166 3 167 1 168 1 169 1 170 1

171 2 172 5 173 2 174 1 175 5

176 1 177 3 178 1 179 3 180 4

181 1 182 3 183 2 184 3 185 4

186 2 187 1 188 4 189 2 190 4

191 4 192 3 193 1 194 3 195 2

196 3 197 1 198 4 199 5 200 2

EXPLANATIONS

51) 2640010065

136

10062

137

780000

52) 26040010062

137780000

14000010070

9536000

12240010068

52450000

25920010072

179680000

27000010075

3254000

5

270000259200122400140000260400

= 210400

53) Minor females = 9720010036

53450000

Minor male = 9000010025

32540000

%810090000

9000097200

54) %80100

10070

95360000

10036

94720000

55) lac152.110032

52

10064

53

450000

56) E = I – P Or I = E + P E = 100% Expenditure = 100% = 77.5 lac % income = 100% + 40 = 140%

Income = lac5.108140100

5.77

57) Income = 100% + 10 = 110% 110% = 1125.4

Expenditure = 114100110

4.125 lakh

58) A’s expenditure (2008) B expenditure (2011) 100% = 100% = 85 lakh P = 32% 25% (difference = 71%)

lakh95.5100785


59) A’s income = B’s income 120% = 150% Ratio = 5 : 4 60) A’s income (2010) = B’s expenditure (2012) 120% = 100% = 171

lakh6.45100120171110

100171

61) 3870360

8.82120001001739000

62) Girls = 795360

6.75120001008539000

Boys = 2520360

6.7512000

2520 – 795 = 1725

63) %47100

1002039000

3602.61

1200010015

39000

64) 360360

728.8212000

65) %5.331001200039000

3604.3212000

1002639000

66) I : E (company A) 3 : 10

lakh60.7810358.23

67) 5.621005.175.0

68) Export of A (2012) = Import of C (2009) = 64 lakh I : E I : E 3 : 4 4 : 5

lakh483464

lakh805464

69) Company A Company B I : E I : E 1 : 2 1 : 4

)E(Lakh722136

)E(1084127

72 : 108 2 : 3

71) 1007096

1004070

1006080

1002560

1005056

= 197

72) %173

1004572

1007575

73) 1005550

1005090

1007575

1004048

1004572

= 36070 74) from the graph it is can be c seen the max % age rise in 2010

75) B = 450001005090

A = 150001002560

%20010015

1545

76) 100

50.7280100

75.7880100

75.6880

41710060150

10080120

10055100

77) 576100

5.677575.68805.7775.5880

78) %180100

1007580

10072

150

79) B (English) A (Maths)

10060120 :

10084150

4 : 7

80) (Maths) F = 10510070150

5.8256

5605.1

(Chem) E = 56

86) 443

CCCC

312

15

14

13

87) DISPLAY = 6! X 2! 88) Boat speed in still water = 8 km/hr Water speed = 6 km/hr US = 8 – 6 = 2 km/hr DS = 8 + 6 = 14 km/hr Distance = x

x / 2 – x / 14 = 30 hrs


x = 70 (Distance)

89) 10010

x51

31

110030

x51

10020

x31

= 156 100% = 900

90) days40x)90360(83601

38360

91-95)

96) cr994.510036

1005.1890

97) 95.410028

10072

1005.12

90

98)

..............10070

8100

645.1890

= 54.162

99) 10072

1005.1290:

10040

1001590

2 : 3

100) )approx(%28

10050

1001790

10030

1008

90

101) T U L I P +2 +2 +2 +2 W V O R K Middle letter is opposite to each other L O T U S +2 +2 +2 +2 Q N G U W Middle letter is opposite to each other 102) DARE READ DEAR ADER

103)

X2 = 602 +202 X = 4000

X = 2010 105) B A N K I N G 2 1 14 11 9 14 7 106) 15 x 5 + 4 ÷ 2 – 10 75 + 2 – 10 67 107) 15L 18R A S S A (29L) 18 + 29 – 1 = 46 111) X i) false ii) true

112) i) true ii) false

113)

N

S

E W 40

20

10 50

Berriers Boats

Be

Break

Teas Tasty

Toaster Toys

Table


i) False ii) True 114) i) True ii) True 115) i) True ii) False 116) i) False ii) False 117-120) MOBILE SERVICE Anita Micromax Tata Binod Samsung Idea Chandini Nokia Uninor David Spice Airtel Ejaj Videocon Reliance Fazal Blackberry Vodafone Gauri Motorola Aircel 121-124)

98 above 87 plant new 19 73 of 12 grapes attack 55 i) above 98 87 plant new 19 73 of grapes attack 55 12 ii) above attack 98 87 plant new 73 of grapes 55 12 19 iii) above attack of 98 87 plant new 73 grapes 12 19 55 iv) above attack of grapes 98 87 plant new 12 19 55 73 v) above attack of grapes new 98 plant 12 19 55 73 87 vi) above attack of grapes new plant 12 19 55 73 87 98 125-127)

5 B 4 C 3 A 2 E 1 D

128-133) H (–) = E (+) G (–) A (+) D (+) = C (–) B (–) F(+)

146-150) P > N, T M > R, P 148) Red and Blue ho po da Spread Red Carpet na do ka

For complete advertisement visit: www.sbi.co.in

FOR EXCELLENT CLASSROOM COACHING CONTACT:

Cup

Cold

Coffee

Rat Red Rack

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EXAM DATE: JULY/AUGUST, 2014 LAST DATE: 14-06-14

ELIGIBILITY: GRADUATION AGE: 20-28

SEC 34 A: 9257211740 SANGRUR: 9041934134 SEC 15 C: 9646159977 BARNALA: 9646988377 SEC 17D: 9878222772 SOLAN: 9418073535


Multiple Choice Questions on

BANKING – MARKETING – COMPUTER

BANKING 1) Reserve Bank of India has proposed an

electronic GIRO based bill payment system in India. What is the full form of GIRO? 1) Government Interlinked Recurring Order 2) Government Internal Revenue Order 3) General Internal Revenue Order 4) General Instant Recurring Order 5) None of these

2) Name the committee setup by Reserve Bank of India to study the feasibility of implementation of GIRO based payment system in India. 1) G Padmanabhan Committee 2) HR Khan Committee 3) KC Chakrabarty Committee 4) Anand Sinha Committee 5) None of these

3) Which of the following is not recommendation of the G Padmanabhan Committee with respect to implementation of GIRO based payment system in India? 1) Development of electronic bill payment system for payment of dues of essential services 2) Payment of insurance premium 3) Payment of Taxes 4) University fees, examinations fees, School fees etc. 5) None of these

4) Reserve Bank of India constituted an advisory group to look into the GIRO based mechanism and structure of nationwide bill payment service. Who was appointed as the chairman of the GIRO Advisory Group? 1) Prof. Umesh Bellur 2) Raghuram Ranjan 3) Anand Sinha 4) P Chidambaram 5) None of these

5) The GIRO Based Advisory Group has recommended setting up of a body called BBPS to handle bill payment system. What is full form of BBPS? 1) Bharat Bijli Payment System 2) Bharat Bill Payment System 3) Bharat Bill Payment Structure 4) Bhartiya Bijli-pani Payment Service 5) None of these

6) Which is the Shariah Compliant Index launched by Bombay Stock Exchange? 1) Islamic Shariah Index 2) BSE TASIS Shariah Index 3) BSE Islamic Index 4) BSE Nijamudin Index 5) None of these

7) Which is the dollar linked version of S&P BSE Sensex? 1) S&P Bombay Dollar Index-50 2) S&P BSE Dollex-30 3) S&P American Dollar Index-45 4) S&P Indian Rupee Index-50 5) None of these

8) The sensitive price index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) is known as CNX Nifty. The value of NIFTY is calculated on the basis of market price of large, liquid stocks of how many companies? 1) 50 2) 40 3) 30 4) 35 5) None of these

9) Issuance of shares to the public for the first time by the any company is known as: 1) Initial Public Offer 2) Intermediate Public Offering 3) International Public Offer 4) Indian Public Offer 5) None of these

10) If a company goes for a issue of shares to the public a second time, such an offer is known as: 1) Follow on Public Offer 2) Funded Public Offer 3) Funded Placement Offer 4) Follow on Placement Offer 5) None of these

11) Some Indian companies are said to be in the process of issuing FCCB to raise foreign currency funds. What is the full form of FCCB? 1) Foreign Currency Convertible Bond 2) Foreign Currency Credit Bond 3) Foreign Convertible Cashless Bond 4) Fixed Currency Convertible Bond 5) None of these

12) Some Indian companies are said to be in the process of issuing Foreign Currency Convertible Bond (FCCB) to raise foreign currency funds. What is FCCB? 1) It is a type of convertible bond issued in a currency different from the Indian currency 2) It is a bond issued to a foreign investor in Indian currency 3) It is a share issued in Indian currency to a foreign investor 4) It is a share issued in foreign currency to a Indian investor 5) None of these

13) Indian companies like Infosys Ltd. Are said to have issued ADR. What is the full form of ADR? 1) American Depository Receipt 2) American Demand Receipt 3) Associated Demand Receipt


4) Average Deposit Receipt 5) None of these

14) Indian companies like Infosys Ltd. are said to have issued ADR at which stock exchange are these ADR listed? 1) New York Stock Exchange 2) Singapore Stock Exchange 3) Bombay Stock Exchange 4) FTSE 5) None of these

15) Depositary Receipts which are negotiable certificates and represent ownership of shares in companies of foreign countries are known as ________________. 1) American Depositary Receipt (ADR) 2) Global Depositary Receipt (GDR) 3) Indian Depositary Receipt (IDR) 4) Both 1 and 2 5) All 1, 2 and 3

16) BSE Sensex is a barometer Indian capital markets issued by Bombay Stock Exchange representing basket of large, liquid and representative companies. How many companies are represented in S & P BSE Sensex? 1) 30 2) 35 3) 40 4) 50 5) None of these

17) S&P BSE Sensex is said to be the barometer of Indian capital markets and is issued by Bombay Stock Exchange. What does S&P stands for? 1) Standard & Poor 2) Secure & Profitable 3) Systems & Procedures 4) Standard & Perfect 5) None of these

18) What is the base year of S&P BSE Sensex? 1) 1966-67 2) 1978-79 3) 1986-87 4) 1997-98 5) None of these

19) What is the date of launch of S&P BSE Sensex? 1) 1st Jan 1986 2) 1st Jan 1993 3) 1st Feb 1986 4) 1st March 1993 5) None of these

20) What is the base index value of S&P BSE Sensex? 1) 150 2) 50 3) 100 4) 175 5) None of these

21) Which of the following companies are authorized to issue Initial Public Offer or Follow on public offer? 1) Private Ltd. Company 2) Public Ltd. Company 3) Limited Liability Partnership 4) Both 1 and 2 5) None of these

22) All companies register under companies Act are required to use the word “Limited” in their name. What is the meaning of word Limited in the context of Indian Companies Act? 1) The company can raise “Limited” capital for its business

2) The company can undertake only “Limited” activities mentioned in the companies Act 3) The liability of the shareholders is “Limited” to the extent of their investment 4) The promoters have a “Limited” interest in the running of the business 5) None of these

23) SEBI has prescribed that the share of public in a public limited company should not be less than 25% of the issued capital. What are the reasons for these directions? 1) To ensure liquidity in the market for discovery of fair price of the share 2) To ensure availability of sufficient floating stock 3) To control the market price of the shares 4) Both 1 and 2 5) All 1, 2 and 3

24) The promoters of a company are required to register their company under which Act? 1) Indian Company Act 2) Registration Act 3) Indian Partnership Act 4) Both 1 and 2 5) 1, 2 and 3

25) The maximum amount that a company can raise for its business is known as 1) Paid Up Capital 2) Issued Capital 3) Subscribed Capital 4) Authorised Capital 5) None of these

26) Which law governs the functioning of stock exchanges? 1) Indian Contract Act 2) Forward Contract Act 3) Securities Contract Regulation Act 4) Stock Exchange Regulation Act 5) None of these

27) Which body has been constituted in law to protect the interest of bank depositors? 1) Reserve Bank of India 2) Securities Exchange Board of India 3) Insurance Regulatory Development Authority 4) Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority 5) None of these

28) Which body has been constituted in law to protect the interest of stock investors? 1) Reserve Bank of India 2) Securities Exchange Board of India 3) Insurance Regulatory Development Authority 4) Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority 5) None of these

29) Which body has been constituted in law to protect the interest of Insured? 1) Reserve Bank of India 2) Securities Exchange Board of India 3) Insurance Regulatory Development Authority 4) Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority 5) None of these

30) Which body has been constituted to coordinate the activities of various financial regulators? 1) Finance Stability and Development Council 2) Reserve Bank of India 3) Securities Exchange Board of India 4) Financial Action Task Force 5) None of these


31) Normally we come across the term capital market. Which of the following statement about capital market is true? 1) These are financial markets for buying and selling of long term debt and or shares 2) Sale and purchase of shares at Bombay Stock Exchange or National Stock Exchange only 3) Issue of shares by the company for the first time 4) Sale of shares by a govt. owned company 5) None of these

32) Generally, we come across the term capital market. Which of the following statement about capital market is true? 1) Both primary market and secondary market constitute capital market 2) Only secondary market constitute capital market 3) Only primary market constitute capital market 4) Only money market 5) None of these

33) If a company intends to issue shares to the public, it will require prior permission from which of the following organizations? 1) Forward Market Commission 2) Securities Exchange Board of India 3) Shares Issue Authority of India 4) Ministry of Finance 5) None of these

34) The functioning of commodities market is regulated by _________? 1) Govt. of India 2) Forward Market Commission 3) Securities Exchange Board of India 4) Commodities market of India 5) None of these

35) Which of the following statement regarding commodity market is true? 1) They trade in primary products like wheat, sugar 2) They trade in mine products like gold and silver 3) They trade in shares of public limited companies 4) Only 1 and 2 5) All 1, 2 and 3

36) The term Banking is defined in which Act: 1) Banking Regulation Act 2) RBI Act 3) Negotiable Instrument Act 4) Indian Contract Act 5) None of these

37) As per Banking Regulation Act, 1949, important functions of a bank are: 1) Discounting of bills 2) Collection of cheques and bills 3) Remittances 4) Safe custody of articles 5) All of these

38) The main activity of commercial banks is 1) Acceptance of deposits 2) Lending money 3) Making Investments 4) All of these 5) Only 1 & 2 39) Some of the ‘other activities’ undertaken by

the central banks are 1) Lending of money for infrastructure

2) Creation of currency chests at various places 3) Maintaining electronic funds transfer systems 4) Only 2 and 3 5) Only 1 and 2 40) Which of the following statement regarding

commercial banking is true? 1) The commercial banks do not grant loan for infrastructure purposes 2) One commercial bank can give loan to other commercial bank

3) They can give term loans only 4) They can accept demand deposits only 5) They under take remittance of funds 41) Capital of Reserve Banks of India is held by: 1) Central Government 2) Central and State Government Jointly 3) Ministry of Finance 4) By all the commercial banks jointly 5) None of these 42) Reserve Bank can issue notes of different

denominations from: 1) Rs. 1 to Rs. 5000 2) Rs. 2 to Rs. 5000 3) Rs. 2 to Rs. 10,000 4) Rs 1 to Rs.1000 5) None of these 43) Reserve Bank is the banker to:

1) Central Government, State Governments and Commercial Banks

2) Central Government State Government only 3) Commercial Bank only

4) Central Government, State Government and Public Sector Enterprises only 5) None of these

44) Which of the following currency is not issued by Reserve Bank of India?

1) Rs. 1 2) Rs. 5 3) Rs. 10 4) Rs. 20 5) None of these 45) Under whose signature is Rs. 1 currency note

issued? 1) Finance Secretary 2) Prime Minister of India 3) President of India 4) Governor Reserve Bank of India 5) Any one of these 46) In newspapers sometimes we come across a

term ‘bridge loans’. What is the meaning of bridge loan? 1) Loan given by commercial banks to construct a bridge 2) Loan given by Govt. of India through Reserve Bank of India 3) A short term loan given to the company until it secures permanent financing 4) Advance granted by World Bank to meet and bridge the balance of payment requirement of the country 5) None of these

47) Shares of a public limited company are required to be listed on the stock exchange. What is the meaning of listing? 1) Listing implies that the shares are now available for trading in the secondary market 2) It means that SEBI has granted permission to the company to issue shares to the public


3) Listing means that the shares are included either in SENSEX or NIFTY 4) That the shares are being traded at the face value 5) None of these

48) After how many days of finalization of a public issue the process of listing has to be completed? 1) 12 days 2) 7 days 3) 21 days 4) 9 days 5) None of these

49) Promoters of a company generally enter into an agreement with ‘underwriters’, which is known by the name of underwriting. What is underwriting? 1) Underwriting is the process by which the underwriters assist the promoters of a company to list shares on the stock market 2) Underwriters undertake to maintain the price of share at the stock market at a minimum prescribed rate 3) Underwriters enter into an agreement with company issuing shares to buy that part of shares which are not subscribed to by the public thus reducing the risk of the promoters 4) Underwriters enter into an agreement with the company to buy shares of the company at the specific price 5) None of these

50) In capital market we come across the term BEARS and BULLS. Which of the following statement regarding BEARS and BULLS is true? a) BEARS are those persons who think that the share prices will rise in near future b) BEARS are those persons who think that the share prices are likely to fall in near future c) BULLS are those persons who think that the share prices will rise in near future d) BULLS are those persons who think that the share prices are likely to fall in near future 1) Only a and c 2) Only b and c 3) Only a and d 4) Only b and d 5) None of these

51) As per companies act which of the following business entities are authorized to raise money from public for investment in their business? 1) Private Ltd Companies 2) Public Ltd Companies 3) Sole Proprietorship Concerns 4) Partnership Firms 5) Limited Liability Partnerships

52) Generally we come across in the newspaper that the company intends to raise money by issuing shares. It is part of __________? 1) Secondary market 2) Money market 3) Primary market 4) Share market 5) None of these

53) Generally we come across in the newspaper that the company intends to raise money by issuing shares. What do you mean by “Share”? 1) It is a unit into which capital is equally divided 2) It is share of the investor in the business concern

3) Share is a unit of Mutual fund 4) Share represents the amount of loan given by the bank to the company 5) None of these

54) Which of the following statement regarding “shares” issued by a public limited company is true? 1) These can be freely sold and purchased in the primary market 2) These can be freely sold and purchased in the secondary market 3) These can be sold and purchased in the money market 4) These can be sold and purchased with prior permission from SEBI 5) None of these

55) Which of the following statement regarding equity shares holders in public limited companies is true? 1) They do not have voting rights but are entitled to get dividend 2) They have the voting rights but are not entitled to the dividend 3) They have neither voting rights nor are entitled to dividend but are entitled to the bonus shares 4) Equity share holders are not entitled to bonus shares 5) None of these

56) Which of the following is considered as the most risk prone advance? 1) Housing Loan 2) Education Loan 3) Loan against Property 4) Clean Loan 5) None of these

57) Which of the following is considered as the most risk prone advance? 1) Conveyance Loan 2) Loan against Machinery 3) Cash Credit 4) Credit Card 5) None of these

58) Which of the following statement regarding advances is true? a) The advances given by banks are part of their assets b) The advances are part of liability of the banks c) The advances are also called risk weighted assets d) The advances are always fully secure 1) Only a and c 2) Only a, c and d 3) Only b, c and d 4) Only b and d 5) None of these

59) The advances granted by the banks can be broadly categorized into performing advances and non performing advances. Which is the first stage of non performing advances? 1) Doubtful 2) Substandard 3) Non Profitable Advances 4) Likely bad advances 5) None of these

60) After how many days of non receipt of installment in a term loan account is an advance categorized as Non Performing Account (NPA)? 1) 90 days 2) 30 days 3) 60 days 4) 120 days 5) None of these


61) Ways and Means advances are provided by Reserve Bank only to:

1) Central Government 2) State Government 3) Commercial Banks 4) Both 1 and 2 5) None of these 62) What is ‘Ways and Means advances’ provided

by Reserve Bank? 1) They are temporary advances to government to meet immediate needs of the Governments 2) They are long term advances to Governments for building infrastructure. 3) They are short term advances to Commercial banks

4) Both 1 and 2 5) None of these 63) Which of the following is NOT the function of

Reserve Bank of India? 1) Providing credit facility to big industries 2) Banker to the central/state governments 3) Manage Foreign Exchange Reserve of the country 4) Frame Monetary and Credit Policy 5) All are RBI’s functions

64) Which of the following statement regarding open market operations undertaken by Reserve Bank of India is true? 1) Reserve Bank of India sells foreign exchange in the open market to stabilize the value of Indian Currency 2) Open market operations refer to sale and purchase of govt. securities with the objective to maintain adequate rupee liquidity in the market 3) OMO is facility extended by RBI to scheduled commercial banks to avail liquidity in case of requirements or to park excess fund with RBI on an overnight basis 4) OMOs refer to providing the central govt. with temporary advances to meet their immediate needs 5) None of these

65) Which of the following statement regarding Reserve Bank of India is false? 1) Reserve Bank of India is Banker to the Central and State Govt. 2) Reserve Bank of India is the custodian of foreign exchange reserves of the country 3) Reserve Bank of India represents India at World Bank and IMF 4) Reserve Bank of India represents India at World Trade Organization Summits 5) None of these

66) Recently a new type of instrument called STRIPS have been introduced. What is the full form of STRIPS? 1) Secure Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities 2) Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities 3) Secure Trading of Registered Investment and Purchase of Securities 4) Substantial Trading Registered Investment and Purchase of Securities 5) None of these

67) Which of the following statement regarding money market is true?

a) It provides investment revenues of short term tenor upto one year b) Money market is classified into overnight market, notice money market and term money market c) It caters to invest with a long term investment horizon 1) Only a and b 2) Only a and c 3) Only a 4) Only b 5) All of these

68) In each repo / reverse repo transaction there is an agreement to borrow / land funds by selling / buying securities to repurchase the same at a mutually agreed future date. This duration is known as 1) Call Period 2) Notice Period 3) Repo Period 4) LAF period 5) None of these

69) The difference between the repo rate and the reverse repo rate is also known as 1) LAF corridor 2) Repo corridor 3) LAF rate 4) Bank rate 5) None of these

70) Money market in India is regulated by which organization? 1) Securities Exchange Board of India 2) Ministry of finance 3) Reserve Bank of India 4) Financial Stability & Development Council 5) None of these

71) Which of the following statement regarding Call Money Market is not true? 1) It is market for uncollateralized (unsecured) borrowing and lending of funds by scheduled commercial banks 2) It is market for collateralized (unsecured) borrowing and lending of funds by scheduled commercial banks 3) This market is involves overnight borrowing / lending of funds 4) Only scheduled commercial banks and primary dealers can participate in call money market 5) None of these

72) What is liquidity adjustment facility? a) The facility extended by Reserve Bank of India to scheduled commercial banks to avail liquidity in case of requirement b) The facility extended by Reserve Bank of India to scheduled commercial banks to park excess funds with RBI c) It refers to sale and purchase of govt. securities by Reserve Bank of India from the market d) It refers to grant of loan by Reserve Bank of India to commercial banks against collateral of Govt. securities 1) Only a, b and d 2) Only a, b and c 3) Only a and b 4) All of the above 5) None of these

73) The stance of RBI’s monetary policy is: 1) inflation control with adequate liquidity for growth 2) improving credit quality of Banks 3) strengthening Bank managements


4) supporting government policies 5) None of these

74) Which of the following is /are the measure(s) taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease the liquidity crunch in the country? 1. Cut in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) 2. Issue of more currency 3. Sale of govt. securities in the open market operations 1) Only 1 2) Only 2 3) Only 3 4) All 1, 2 and 3 5) None of these

75) What is Repo Rate? 1) It is a rate at which RBI sells Government securities to public 2) It is a rate at which RBI provides short term liquidity to banks against government securities 3) It is a rate at which RBI allows small loans to commercial banks 4) It is a rate which is offered by banks to their most valued customers or prime customers 5) None of these

76) Which of the following organizations has the privilege of issuing Bank-Notes (Currency) in India? 1) State Bank of India 2) Reserve Bank of India 3) Govt. of India 4) Note Printing Press in India 5) None of these

77) Who amongst the following appoints Banking Ombudsman? 1) Governor of RBI in consultation with the Prime Minister of India 2) Registrar of Companies 3) The President of India 4) The Reserve Bank of India 5) None of these

78) The Foreign Exchange reserves of India are kept in the custody of: 1) World Bank 2) Ministry of Finance 3) Reserve Bank of India 4) Central Govt. Treasury 5) None of these

79) Which of the following is considered an informal method of getting credit / finance? 1) Internet Banking 2) Commercial Bank 3) Telebanking 4) Moneylenders 5) All of these

80) Which of the following statement regarding basic saving bank account is true? a) KYC guidelines are required to be complied b) Maximum withdrawals are restricted to four per month c) Maximum balance in the account can be Rs. 50,000/-at any point of time d) Maximum withdrawals per month is restricted to Rs. 10,000 per month 1) Only a and b 2) Only b 3) Only a and c 4) All of these true

5) None of these 81) Mrs. Sujata is a house wife and she says some

amount regularly every month. What type of deposit account she should open with a bank?

1) Savings Bank Account 2) Small Account 3) Recurring Deposit Account 4) Basic Savings Account 5) Regular Deposit Account

82) The term Plastic Money applies to: 1) Aadhar Based Payment Card 2) Currency notes impregnated with plastic thread 3) Currency notes printed on plastic coated paper 4) Credit / Debit cards issued by the banks 5) None of these

83) RBI has laid stress on the need for financial inclusion of the under-privileged sections through Opening of ‘Small Account’ by banks. Which of the following statement regarding Small Account is true? a) Maximum balance in the account can be Rs. 1 lac. b) The maximum amount that can be deposited in this account in one year is one lac only. c) The number of withdrawals in the account is limited to four in a month. d) Only Ten thousand rupees can be withdrawn from the account in a month 1) Only a and d 2) Only a and c 3) Only a, b and c 4) Only b and d 5) All of these

84) Which of the following benefits are available to credit card customers? a) They need not carry cash or cheque and can use the card in a large number of approved outlets for purchases. b) Interest-free credit between 15 days to 51 days is available. c) They get discounts on the purchases made through credit cards d) Cash can be drawn from the bank branches/ATMs up to a specified limit 1) Only a and d 2) Only a and c

3) Only a, b and d 4) Only b and d 5) Only a and d

85) According to Reserve Bank of India, banks can open a Savings Bank Account in the name of a minor to be operated by him independently. What is the minimum age prescribed for opening of such accounts? 1) 8 years 2) 16 3) 12 years 4) 10 years 5) None of these

86) Which of the following accounts can be opened and operated by minors independently? a) Savings Bank Account b) Fixed Deposit Accounts c) Recurring Deposit Accounts d) Current Accounts 1) Only a and b 2) Only a 3) Only b & c 4) All of these 5) Only a & d

87) Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines regarding loan accounts. Which of the following statement regarding these instructions is true?


1) banks will not be permitted to charge foreclosure charges/ pre-payment penalties on all floating rate term loans sanctioned to individual borrowers. 2) banks will not be permitted to charge foreclosure charges/ pre-payment penalties on all floating rate term loans sanctioned to commercial borrowers. 3) banks will not be permitted to charge foreclosure charges/ pre-payment penalties on all fixed rate term loans sanctioned to individual borrowers. 4) banks will not be permitted to charge foreclosure charges/ pre-payment penalties on all fixed rate term loans sanctioned to commercial borrowers. 5) banks will not be permitted to charge foreclosure charges/ pre-payment penalties on all loans whether sanctioned to individual borrowers or commercial borrowers

88) To facilitate the distribution of banknotes and rupee coins, the Reserve Bank has authorised select branches of scheduled banks to establish actually storehouses where banknotes and rupee coins are stocked on behalf of the Reserve Bank. These storehouses are known as : 1) Note Chest 2) Currency Storehouses 3) Coins and Currency Stores 4) RBI Centres for Currency Distribution 5) Currency Chest

89) Issue of currency notes of denomination upto _____ amount has been stopped by Reserve Bank of India? 1) Rs.2 2) Rs.10 3) Rs.5 4) Rs. 1 5) All of these

90) Which of the following are the objectives of establishing Currency Chest? a) The currency chest branches are expected to distribute banknotes and rupee coins to other bank branches in their area of operation. b) These are storehouses of bank notes on behalf of Government of India. c) These are actually storehouses where banknotes and rupee coins are stocked on behalf of the Reserve Bank. d) The amount of currency held by currency chest is property of the concerned bank maintaining the same. 1) Only a 2) Only b 3) Only a and c 4) Only a, b and c 5) Only b, c and d

91) A Current Account can be opened in the name of: 1) Company 2) Individual 3) Partnership firm 4) All of these 5) None of these

92) Bank deposits that can be withdrawn without prior notice are called: 1) Account payee deposits 2) Fixed deposits 3) Variable deposits 4) Demand deposits 5) None of these

93) Which of the following is an international forum to discuss and implement supervisory norms for banks of the world?

1) Basel Committee 2) UN Charter on Commercial Laws 3) World Trade Organisation 4) International Board of Banks and Finance 5) None of these

94) As per Section 45ZA of the Banking Regulation Act, bank depositors can nominate a person as his nominee to receive the amount after his death. Which of the following statement is true in respect of nominee? 1) Nominee will have to approach the court to receive the payment in the account after the death of the depositor 2) Nominee is authorized to receive the amount without intervention of court after the death of the depositor 3) Nominee is the right full owner of the amount 4) Legal heirs of the depositor do not have any claim on the amount in case of nomination 5) Nominee can withdraw money even before death of the account holder

95) As per Reserve Bank of India, the amount lying in unclaimed accounts for a period more than 10 years is required to be transferred to an account called 1) Depositor Education and Awareness Fund 2) Public Education Fund 3) Banker Awareness Fund 4) Depositors Information Fund 5) Bank Customers Information Fund

96) What is the full form of CRAR? 1) Capital Risk Area Reduction 2) Capital to Risk-weighted Asset Ratio 3) Current Ratio Asset Recognition 4) Currency Risk Asset Ratio 5) None of these

97) Format of the cheque has been given in which of the following Acts: 1) Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 2) Banking Regulation Act, 1949 3) Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 4) CTS 2010 sstandard 5) Right to Information Act 2005

98) If any change is made in the amount, date of the cheque or the name of the beneficiary, such a change in the cheque is known as

1) Material Alteration 2) Special Alteration 3) Inadvertent Alteration

4) Technical Alteration 5) None of these

99) The repayment of a term loan is fixed through EMI. What is the full form of EMI? 1) Equated Monthly Installment 2) Equal Monthly Installment 3) Equity Monthly Installment 4) Ensured Monthly Installment 5) None of these 100) The reverse mortgage scheme is launched to

give benefit to which of the following section of society?

1) Govt. Employees 2) Married People 3) Senior Citizen 4) Businessman 5) None of these


MARKETING 1) A prospect means

1) any customer who walks into the bank 2) an employee of the bank 3) a customer who is likely to be interested in bank's product or service 4) a depositor of the bank' 5) a borrower of the bank

2) A lead means 1) a prospect who is more likely to avail of the Bank's product 2) a political leader 3) a religious leader 4) a bank chairman 5) None of these

3) Innovation means 1) Compensation 2) inspiration 3) additional perquisites 4) implementing new ideas or new methods 5) None of these

4) A Call means 1) calling on friends 2) calling on bank employees 3) calling on prospective customers 4) to make telephone calls 5) calling on relatives

5) In a Selling Process in today's world? 1) Only standard products are sold

2) No customization required 3) The seller need not have product knowledge 4) The seller should aim at customer satisfaction 5) Only quantum of sales matters

6) Cross Selling means 1) Identifying customer needs 2) matching the products to customer needs 3) Selling another product to an existing customer 4) responding to questions and objections of customers 5) all of these

7) Product differentiation is an important characterstic of 1) perfect market 2) imperfect market 3) monopolysitc competition

8) A market is a group of ___ 1) Sellers 2) Buyers

3) Sellers and buyers 4) Person 5) Machine

9) Sampling is based on the ___ 1) Law of statistical regularity 2) Law of contract 3) Law of deviation 4) Law of average 5) None of these 10) The marketing environment consists __ 1) Social Scenario 2) Economic Scenario 3) Legal Scenario 4) All of these 5) None of these 11) The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Approach

includes__ 1) Question Marks 2) Stars 3) Cash Cows 4) Dogs

5) All of these 12) New Product Development includes --- 1) Sales promotion 2) Idea screening 3) Costing based activity 4) Business 5) All of these 13) OTC stands for __ 1) Over the Counter 2) On-the Counter 3) On-the Cost 4) On-the Costing 5) None of these 14) Marketing mix involves – 1) Product mix 2) Promotional mix 3) Service mix 4) All of these 5) None of these 15) TQM stands for ___ 1) Test Quantity Money 2) Total Quality Money 3)Total Quality Management 4) Total Quantity Management

5) None of these 16) Bancassurance is a relationship between— 1) Bank and Insurance Company 2) Bank and Government 3) Bank and RBI 4) RBI and Bank 5) None of these 17) CRM may be used for --- 1) Target Marketing 2) Costing 3) Support 4) Technical Problem 5) Pricing 18) Who is the prime target customer of a Bank? 1)Student 2) Housewife 3)Businessmen 4)Company 5)None of these 19) Which techniques may be used for studying

buyer behavior? 1) Projective techniques

2)Interview techniques 3)Questionnaire techniques

4)Experience technique 5) All of these 20) Which of the following activities involve under

physical distribution? 1) Outward transportation 2)Packaging 3) Distribution planning 4) All of these 5) None of these 21) A DSA helps in --- 1) Boosting Direct Sales 2) Costing 3) Pricing 4) Production 5) Finance 22) The USP of a Current Account is _______ 1) High minimum balance

2) No restrictions on transactions 3) No interest payable

4) Restricted deposits 5) Any number of accounts

23) Market share means - 1) Share market

2) Sensex 3) Market price of shares

4) Market fluctuations 5) Share of business among peers

24) The USP of a personal loan is – 1) Available only to businessmen 2) Available only to salaried persons 3) Available to all professions


4) Easy EMIs 5) None of these

25) Good customer service helps to boost – 1) Customer retention

2) Better image 3) Consumer loyalty 4) Higher sales

5) All of these 26) The additional P’s of marketing are — 1) People, Physical evidence, Package

2) People, Physical evidence, Process 3) People, Process, Packaging 4) Physical evidence, Process, Packaging

27) Pricing is one of the essential components of — 1) Promotion mix 2) Marketing mix 3) Product mix 4) STP strategy

28) All activities involved in selling goods or services for the purpose of resale or business use is termed as — 1) Wholesaling 2) Retailing 3) Direct marketing 4) Direct sale

29) The accurate meaning of “International Marketing” is - 1) Marketing goods to developed countries 2) Marketing products worldwide 3) Selling global products in domestic market 4) Marketing using World Wide Web

30) Which of the following indicates a sales territory? 1) particular retail outlet 2) particular geographical location 3) specific market segment 4) specific sales journey

31) The marketing technique that uses social networking sites on the internet for promotion or advertising is called as ___________. 1) Networking 2) Viral Marketing 3) Online marketing 4) Internet advertising

32) Advertising is a part of ________ function — 1) Distribution 2) Selling 3) Promotion 4) Pricing

33) Example for an augmented product — 1) Exchange offers 2) Guarantee period

3) Maintenance checks 4) Quality standards 34) The 4 P’s of Marketing represent one of the

following — 1) 4 phases 2) 4 personalities 3) 4 components 4) 4 philosophies

35) The most traditional method used in direct marketing is ______________. 1) Catalogue marketing 2) Direct mail 3) Online marketing 4) Viral marketing

36) The process of dividing the potential market into sub-markets with common needs and features is called — 1) Segmentation 2) Target marketing 3) Positioning 4) Market coverage

37) Following is a Macro environmental force EXCEPT—

1) Monetary policies 2) Organisational culture 3) Inflation 4) Demographics

38) The objective of Test marketing is to — 1) Test the market with consumers 2) Introduce product in open market 3) Predict product’s performance and its future 4) Test consumers with the product

39) One of the disadvantages of branding is — 1) It is negative 2) It is competitive

3) It is costly 4) It is risky 40) A marketing philosophy summarized by the

phrase 'a stronger focus on social and ethical concerns in marketing' is characteristic of the _________ period.

1) production 2) sales 3) marketing 4) societal marketing

41) In relationship marketing firms focus on __________ relationships with __________. 1) short-term; customers and suppliers 2) long-term; customers and suppliers 3) short-term; customers 4) long-term; customers

42) Which of the following is not an element of the marketing mix?

1) Distribution 2) Product 3) Target market 4) Pricing

43) The quadrant of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix that represents both a high market share and a high rate of market growth includes the: 1) cash cows 2) question marks 3) stars 4) dogs

44) Which of the following is not one of the service processes?

1) People processing 2) Possession processing 3) Information processing 4) Physical evidence

45) This is a term used to refer to the process when a successful brand is used to launch a new product into a new market: 1) Brand leader 2) Brand follower 3) Brand equity 4) Brand extension

46) This is the process by which two established brands work together, either on one product or service: 1) Brand awareness 2) Co-branding 3) Parent brand 4) Child-brand

47) A process by which manufacturers and retailers help customers to differentiate between various offerings in a market. This is called: 1) diffusion 2) innovation 3) market testing 4) branding

48) This is a hierarchy of effects or sequential model used to explain how advertising works: 1) ADD 2) AIDA 3) PESTLE 4) SWOT

49) AIDA stands for awareness, ________, desire and _________. 1) interest; action 2) intensity; appeal 3) involvement; action 4) Involvement; appeal


50) This is part of the communication process and refers to the responses offered by receivers: 1) Encoding 2) Decoding 3) Transfer 4) Feedback

51) McDonald's and KFC are good examples of: 1) Distributors 2) Franchising 3) Merchant 4) Retailers

COMPUTER 1) When you save to this, your data will remain

intact even when the computer is turned off- 1) RAM 2) Motherboard 3) Secondary storage device 4) Primary storage device 5) None of these

2) A central computer that holds collections of data and programs for many PCs, workstations, and other computers is a (n)- 1) supercomputer 2) minicomputer 3) laptop 4) server 5) None of these

3) Grouping and processing all of a firm's transactions at one time is called- 1) a database management system 2) batch processing 3) a real-time system 4) an on-line system 5) None of these

4) The _____ enables you to simultaneously keep multiple Web pages open in one browser window. 1) tab box 2) pop-up helper 3) tab row 4) address bar 5) Esc key

5) What displays the contents of the active cell in Excel? 1) Name box 2) Row Headings 3) Formula bar 4) Task pane 5) None of these

6) The piece of hardware that converts your computer's digital signal to an analog signal that can travel over telephone lines is called a- 1) red wire 2) blue cord 3) tower 4) modem 5) None of these

7) Computer uses the _____ number system to store data and perform calculations. 1) binary 2) octal 3) decimal 4) hexadecimal 5) None of these

8) A disk's content that is recorded at the time of manufacture and that cannot be changed or erased by the user is- 1) Memory-only 2) Write-only 3) Once-only 4) Run-only 5) Read-only

9) Which of the following can be used to select the entire document? 1) CTRL+A 2) ALT+F5 3) SHIFT +A 4) CTRL+K 5) CTRL+H

10) _____ are attempts by individuals to obtain confidential information from you by falsifying their identity. 1) Phishing 2) Computer viruses 3) Spyware scams 4) Viruses 5) None of the above

11) A Web site's main page is called its- 1) Home Page 2) Browser Page 3) Search Page 4) Bookmark 5) None of these

12) The simultaneous processing of two or more programs by multiple processors is- 1) multiprogramming 2) multitasking 3) time-sharing 4) multiprocessing 5) None of these

13) Codes consisting of lines of varying widths or lengths that are computer-readable are known as- 1) an ASCII code 2) a magnetic tape 3) an OCR scanner 4) a bar code 5) None of these

14) To instruct Word to fit the width of a column to the contents of a table automatically, click the _____ button and then point to AutoFit Contents. 1) Fit to Form 2) Format 3) Autosize 4) Contents 5) AutoFit

15) Hackers 1) all have the same motive 2) are people who maintain computers 3) may legally break into computers as long as they do not do any damage 4) are people who are allergic to computers 5) break into other people's computers

16) Junk e-mail is also called 1) spam 2) spoof 3) cookie crumb 4) sniffer script 5) spill

17) What is MP3? 1) A Mouse 2) A Printer 3) A Sound format 4) A Scanner 5) A Mobile Phone

18) One megabyte equals approximately 1) 1,000 bits 2) 1,000 bytes 3) 1 million bytes 4) 1 million bits 5) 2,000 bytes

19) Data going into the computer is called? 1) Output 2) Algorithm 3) Input 4) Calculations 5) Flowchart

20) When you are working on a document on PC, where is the document temporarily stored? 1) RAM 2) ROM 3) The CPU 4) Flash memory 5) The CD-Rom

21) Information travels between components on the mother board through- 1) Flash memory 2) CMOS 3) Bays 4) Buses 5) Peripherals

22) Which of the following is true?


1) Byte is a single digit in a binary number 2) Bit represents a grouping of digital numbers 3) Eight-digit binary number is called a byte 4) Eight-digit binary number is called a bit 5) None of these

23) .....is collection of web pages and ......is the very first page that we see on opening of a web-site 1) Home-page, Web-page 2) Web-site, Home-page 3) Web-page, Home-page 4) Web-page, Web-site 5) None of these

24) When the pointer is positioned on a _____ it is shaped like a hand. 1) Grammar error 2) Hyperlink 3) Screen tip 4) Spelling error 5) Formatting error

25) The _____ of a system includes the programs or instructions. 1) Hardware 2) Icon 3) Information 4) Software 5) None of these

26) The most important or powerful computer in a typical network is _____ 1) Desktop 2) Network client 3) Network server 4) Network station 5) None of these

27) Which of the following is an example of connectivity? 1) Internet 2) Floppy disk 3) Power cord 4) Data 5) None of these

28) The ability to find an individual item in a file immediately _____ is used. 1) File allocation table 2) Directory 3) Sequential access 4) Direct access 5) None of these

29) The primary purpose of software is to turn data into _____ 1) Web sites 2) Information 3) Programs 4) Objects 5) None of these

30) To what temporary area can you store text and other data, and later paste them to another location? 1) The clipboard 2) ROM 3) CD-ROM 4) The hard disk 5) None of these

31) _____is the science that attempts to produce machines that display the same type of intelligence that humans do. 1) Nano science 2) Nanotechnology 3) Simulation 4) Artificial intelligence (AI) 5) None of these

32) Changing an existing document is called _____ the document. 1) Creating 2) Editing 3) Modifying 4) Adjusting 5) None of these

33) Which of the following is the largest unit of storage?

1) GB 2) KB 3) MB 4) TB 5) None of these

34) Computers process data into information by working exclusively with: 1) multimedia 2) words 3) characters 4) numbers 5) None of these

35) The purpose of the primary key in a database is to : 1) unlock the database 2) provide a map of the data 3) uniquely identify a record 4) establish constraints on database operations 5) None of these

36) The design of the network is called the network 1) architecture 2) server 3) transmission 4) type 5) None of these

37) Personal logs or journal entries posted on the Web are known as: 1) list serves 2) Webcasts 3) blogs 4) subject directories 5) None of these

38) Linux is a(n) ........ operating system 1) open-source 2) Microsoft 3) Windows 4) Mac2 5) None of these

39) The errors that can be pointed out by the compiler are : 1) Syntax error 2) Semantic error 3) Logical error 4) Internal error 5) None of these

40) The move to the bottom of a document, press ........ 1) Auto summarize 2) Home key 3) Ctrl + Home key 4) End key 5) Ctrl + End key

41) By default, your documents print in ..... mode 1) Landscape 2) Portrait 3) Page setup 4) Print preview 5) None of these

42) Select the odd one out : 1) Interpreter 2) Operating system 3) Compiler 4) Assembler 5) Programmer

43) For viewing video CDs, you would use ...... 1) CD Player 2) Windows Media Player 3) WIndows Video Player 4) WIndows Movie Player 5) None of these

44) What's the name for the program or service that lets you view e-mail messages? 1) Web browser 2) E-mail clients 3) E-mail ID 4) Internet 5) None of these

45) What does the SMTP in an SMTP server stand for? 1) Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 2) Serve Message Text Process 3) Short Messaging Text Process


4) Short Messaging Transfer Protocol 5) None of these

46) What's considered the 'backbone' of the World Wide Web? 1) Uniform resource locator (URL) 2) Hypertext mark-up language (HTML) 3) Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) 4) File transfer protocol (FTP) 5) None of these

47) A complete electronic circuit with transistors and other electronic components on a small silicon chip is called a(n)...... 1) Workstation 2) CPU 3) Magnetic disk 4) Integrated circuit 5) None of these

48) A saved document is referred to as a..... 1) File 2) word 3) folder 4) project 5) None of these

49) What is output? 1) What the processor takes from the user 2) What the user gives to the processor 3) What the processor gets from the user 4) What the processor gives to the user 5) None of these

50) When you turn on the computer, the boot routine will perform this test........ 1) RAM test 2) Disk drive test 3) Memory test 4) Power - on self-test 5) None of these

51) Which of the following storage media provides sequential access only? 1) Floppy disk 2) Magnetic disk 3) Magnetic tape 4) Optical disk 5) None of these

52) The quickest and easiest way in Word, to locate a particular word or phrase in a document is to use the ....... command 1) Replace 2) Find 3) Lookup 4) Search 5) None of these

53) The term 'user interface' refers to ............ 1) What the user sees on the screen and how they can interact with it 2) How the operating system responds to user commands 3) The means by which the user interacts with the peripheral devices on the computer 4) The monitor that is available for the computer 5) None of these

54) For creating a document, you use........ Command at File Menu. 1) Open 2) Close 3) New 4) Save 5) None of these

55) The..............becomes different shapes depending on the task you are performing 1) Active tab 2) Insertion point 3) Mouse pointer 4) Ribbon 5) None of these

56) Firewalls are used to protect against....... 1) unauthorized Attacks 2) virus Attacks 3) Data Driven Attacks 4) Fire Attacks

5) None of these 57) The software tools that enable a user to

interact with a computer for specific purposes are known as....... 1) Hardware 2) Networked Software 3) Shareware 4) Applications 5) None of these

58) Which of the following mode we use to deliver e-mail 1) Postal 2) Courier 3) Computer 4) Fax

59) VIRUS stands for 1) Vital Information Recourse Under Siege 2) Vital Information Reason Under Siege 3) Vital Information Recourse Under System 4) Virus Information Recourse Under Siege

60) ------ Is known as unauthorized access into others system 1) Hacking 2) Encryption 3) Decryption 4) None of the above

61) Which combination of keys needs to be pressed to make a percent sign? 1) Shift+2 2) Shift+3 3) Shift+4 4) Shift+5

62) Difference Engine invented by 1) Charles Babbage 2) John McCarthy 3) Pascal 4) Newton

63) First generation computer systems used 1) Transistors 2) Vacuum Tubes 3) Both 1) and 2) 4) None of the above

64) Which one of the following is NOT a computer language? 1) MS-Excel 2) BASIC 3) COBOL 4) C++

65) Which of the following Command is required to reboot the computer 1) CTRL+ALT+DEL 2) CTRL+ALT+TAB 3) CTRL+ALT+SHIFT 4) CTRL+SHIFT+DEL

66) Select the ODD one 1) Operating system 2) Interpreter 3) Compiler 4) Assembler

67) Integrated Circuits (I3) chips used in computers are made with 1) Gold 2) Silver 3) Silicon 4) Copper

68) What is the Super Computer developed in India 1) CRAY 2) PARAM 3) Both 1) and 2) 4) None of the above

69) CPU capacity can be measured in 1) BPS 2) MIPS 3) MHz 4) MPI

70) MPIS stands for 1) Million Instructions Per Second 2) Million Instructions Per Season 3) Monthly Instructions Per Second 4) Million Inputs Per Second

71) LAN speeds are measured in 1) BPS 2) KBPS 3) MBPS 4) MIPS

72) Modem speeds are measured in 1) BPS 2) KBPS 3) MBPS 4) MIPS


73) BPS stands for 1) Bits Per Second 2) Bits Per Season 3) Bytes Per Second 4) Bits Per System

74) In processing cheques which of the following I/O techniques have banks traditionally followed? 1) OCR 2) MICR 3) Barcode 4) VRT

75) The ability of an operating system to control the activities of multiple programs at the same time is called 1) multitasking 2) multi-processing 3) multi-operating 4) multi-paging 5) None of these

76) The MS-DOS operating system is a 1) graphical user interface, single-tasking operating system 2) graphical user interface, multi-tasking operating system 3) command-driven interface, single-tasking operating system 4) command-driven interface, multi-tasking operating system 5) None of these

77) The category of operating system that you most likely have running on your PDA computer is a ____________ operating system. 1) real-time 2) single-user, single-task 3) single-user, multi-task 4) multi-user, multi-task 5) None of these

78) The barcode which is used on all types of items, is read by a scanning device directly into the computer. What is the name of this scanning device? 1) Laser scanner 2) Wand 3) OCR 4) MICR 5) none of these

79) Which of the following is a database administrator's function? 1) database design 2) backing up the database 3) performance monitoring 4) user coordination 5) All of the above

80) A database management system 1) allows simultaneous access to multiple files 2) can do more than a record management system 3) is a collection of programs for managing data in a single file 4) both 1) and 2) 5) None of the above

81) Frames from one LAN can be transmitted to another LAN via a device called? 1) Router 2) Bridge 3) Repeater 4) Modem

82) Which of the following is used for modulation and demodulation? 1) Modem 2) Protocols 3) Gateway 4) Multiplexer 5) None of the above

83) The term 'duplex' refers to the ability of the data receiving stations to echo back a confirming message to the sender. In full duplex data transmission, both the sender and the receiver 1) cannot talk at once 2) can receive and send data simultaneously 3) can send or receive data one at a time 4) can do one way data transmission only 5) None of the above

84) Which of the following TCP/IP protocol is used for transferring electronic mail messages from one machine to another? 1) FTP 2) SNMP 3) SMTP 4) RPC 5) None of the above

85) The slowest transmission speeds are those of 1) twisted-pair wire 2) coaxial cable 3) fiber-optic cable 4) microwaves

86) A hard disk is divided into tracks which are further subdivided into: 1) clusters 2) sectors 3) vectors 4) heads 5) None of the above

87) Which of the following computer language is used for artificial intelligence? 1) FORTRAN 2) PROLOG 3) C 4) COBOL 5) None of the above

88) A computer program that converts assembly language to machine language is 1) Compiler 2) Interpreter 3) Assembler 4) Comparator 5) None of the above

89) Which computer has been designed to be as compact as possible? 1) Mini computer 2) Super computer 3) Micro computer 4) Mainframe computer

90) Which output device is used for translating information from a computer into pictorial form on paper. 1) Mouse 2) Plotter 3) Touch panel 4) Card punch 5) None of the above

91) The symbols used in an assembly language are 1) Codes 2) Mnemonics 3) Assembler 4) All of the above 5) None of the above

92) A technique used by codes to convert an analog signal into a digital bit stream is known as 1) Pulse code modulation 2) Pulse stretcher 3) Query processing 4) Queue management 5) None of the above

93) An optical input device that interprets pencil marks on paper media is 1) O.M.R 2) Punch card reader 3) Optical scanners 4) Magnetic tape 5) None of the above

94) A program that converts computer data into some code system other than the normal one is known as 1) Encoder 2) Simulation


3) Emulator 4) Coding 5) None of the above

95) Compilers and interpreters are themselves 1) High-level language 2) Codes 3) Programs 4) Mnemonics 5) None of the above

96) A pen shaped device which can sense light,

and is used to point at spots on a video screen. 1) Mouse 2) Light pen 3) Joystick 4) Plotter 5) None of the above

97) A stand-alone system which produces one page of printed output at a time is 1) Page printer 2) Line printer 3) Laser printer 4) Dot matrix printer 5) None of the above

98) Which printer uses a combination of laser-beam & electro photographic techniques? 1) Laser printers 2) Dot-Matrix 3) Line printer 4) Daisy wheel 5) None of the above

99) Human beings are referred to as Homosapiens, Which device is called Silico sapiens? 1) Monitor 2) Hardware 3) Robot 4) Computer 5) None of the above

100) Time during which a job is processed by the computer is 1) Delay time 2) Real time 3) Execution time 4) Down time 5) None of the above

BANKING ANSWER KEY

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 2 2 1 3 4 4 1 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 1 9 1 10 1

11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 4 16 1 17 1 18 2 19 1 20 3 21 2 22 3 23 4 24 1 25 4 26 3 27 1 28 2 29 3 30 1 31 1 32 1 33 2 34 2 35 4 36 1 37 5 38 4 39 4 40 5 41 1 42 3 43 1 44 1 45 1 46 3 47 1 48 2 49 3 50 2 51 2 52 3 53 1 54 2 55 5 56 4 57 4 58 1 59 2 60 1 61 4 62 1 63 1 64 2 65 4 66 2 67 1 68 3 69 1 70 3 71 2 72 1 73 1 74 1 75 2 76 1 77 4 78 3 79 4 80 1 81 3 82 4 83 4 84 3 85 4 86 2 87 1 88 5 89 3 90 4 91 4 92 4 93 1 94 2 95 1 96 2 97 4 98 1 99 1 100 3

MARKETING ANSWER KEY

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 3 2 1 3 4 4 3 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 2 9 1 10 4

11 5 12 2 13 1 14 4 15 3 16 1 17 1 18 3 19 5 20 4 21 1 22 2 23 5 24 3 25 5 26 2 27 2 28 1 29 2 30 2 31 2 32 3 33 3 34 3 35 2 36 1 37 2 38 3 39 3 40 4 41 2 42 3 43 3 44 3 45 4 46 2 47 4 48 2 49 1 50 4

COMPUTER ANSWER KEY Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 3 2 4 3 2 4 3 5 1 6 4 7 1 8 5 9 1 10 1

11 1 12 4 13 4 14 5 15 5 16 1 17 3 18 3 19 3 20 1 21 4 22 3 23 2 24 2 25 4 26 3 27 1 28 1 29 2 30 1 31 4 32 2 33 4 34 4 35 3 36 1 37 3 38 1 39 1 40 5 41 2 42 2 43 2 44 2 45 1 46 3 47 4 48 1 49 4 50 2 51 2 52 2 53 1 54 3 55 3 56 1 57 4 58 3 59 1 60 1 61 1 62 2 63 1 64 1 65 1 66 1 67 3 68 2 69 2 70 1 71 3 72 1 73 1 74 2 75 1 76 3 77 2 78 1 79 5 80 4 81 2 82 1 83 2 84 3 85 1 86 2 87 2 88 3 89 3 90 2 91 2 92 1 93 1 94 1 95 3 96 2 97 1 98 1 99 4 100 3


DESCRIPTIVE ENGLISH FOR SBI PO

SBI PO Examination consists of Objective Test of 200 marks and Descriptive Test of 50 marks.

The Objective Test will be online. Immediately after the online Objective Test, Descriptive Test will be administered.

Candidates will have to answer Descriptive Test on paper/Pen mode. (i) The Objective Test of English Language will be of

Grammar, Vocabulary and Comprehension etc. (ii) The Descriptive Test with 1 hour duration (50marks)

will be of “Test of English Language (comprehension, short précis, letter writing & essay)”.

The candidates are required to qualify in the Descriptive Test by securing passing marks, to be decided by the Bank.

Descriptive Test paper of only those candidates will be evaluated who have scored qualifying marks in the Objective Tests and are placed adequately high as per total marks in objective test.

ESSAY

1) WHAT IS AN ESSAY? - Any literary composition, usually in prose, that expresses the ideas of its writer is an essay. Essay means “to attempt”. The writer attempts to write down his view points in a logical order on any given topic. An essay is an exercise in composition on various subjects divided mainly under the following headings.

(a) Personal (b) Descriptive (c) Narrative (d) Reflective (e) Biographical (f) Expository

A narrative essay is the one in which the writer only narrates or tells about some event or incident. It can encompass the topics like historical events, social events, natural calamities or description of a journey.

A descriptive essay is the one which deals with only the description of a place or a thing. It can encompass the topics like describe a historical building, a city, a zoo or an exhibition etc.

An expository essay is the one in which the writer explains a subject mostly in a sequence. It can encompass the topics like expositions of a scientific process, a biological phenomenon or a literary phrase.

A reflective essay is one in which the writer reflects upon a given subject. It contains arguments debate and discussion in an abstract manner. It can encompass the topics like social or political problems, philosophical or theological issues, thought provoking subjects.

2) HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY? To write an essay one must make a rough draft in which one writes down a few important points that

one will use in the essay. For this, one must read the topic carefully and then, from the sphere of one’s knowledge, write the related points down. A writer can write an impressive essay if he has a good general knowledge. An essay has three parts. I) INTRODUCTION OF THE ESSAY A good introduction can be written if the writer is clear about the subject. The introduction is a most part of the essay as it is a reflection of whole part. The writer describe the topic given in a general sense mentioning the various points that he will dwell upon in the body of the essay. An introduction mostly contains a quotation and an overview of the subject, subtly touching the important points. II) BODY OF THE ESSAY The function of the essay's body is to fully develop the argument outlined in the introduction. Each paragraph within the body elaborates on one major point in the development of the overall argument. The writer uses a certain set of connective words that serve to establish relations between the various parts of the essay. They are an important element in developing an argument that is cohesive and flows logically through your essay. The body should be written as if the writer is ‘talking’ to the examiner and is logically presenting the ideas and describing it with examples. III) CONCLUSION OF THE ESSAY The conclusion of the essay is written to satisfy the readers with regards to the body written above. Ending an essay abruptly gives a bitter taste to the reader/examiner. One must have a conclusion that gracefully wraps up or summarizes the ideas, perhaps by using the ending words like ‘in the end…’, ‘finally…’, etc. The conclusion should be succinct and not elaborate the ideas. The writer is not done writing the essay until he has polished his language by correcting the grammar, incorporating rhythm, emphasis, adjusting the formality, giving it a level-headed tone, and making other required edits. He should reread it until it reads just how he intends it to sound. Since writing an essay can be tedious, one must be very careful regarding the repetition of points, using sloppy language, and the wrong use of grammar.

3) WHAT TO EXPECT?

The descriptive paper, generally, is an assessment of the knowledge of the writer in current, social, technical, social or scientific field. The topics that the banking sector focuses on are mostly from the banking background, or are from the current or social issues. To be able to attempt a topic asking for specific information, and use examples adeptly, one is required to have gone the books of general


knowledge, and be up to date with the issues taking place in the recent times. One must also be aware of the recurrent issues that have always been a moot point with regards to society. If one is a good reader, only then can one be a good writer.

EXAMPLES I) THREAT TO SECURITY OF WOMEN: WHAT

SHOULD BE DONE FOR THEIR SAFETY? Women in India-a better half of Indian society, today, are becoming the most vulnerable section as far as their safety and security is concerned. When we turn the pages of a newspaper, we come across many headlines reporting cases of sexual assault, molestation, sexual harassment, rapes, trafficking, ill treatment of women in houses, violence against women in remote areas etc. What does this indicate? This certainly implies that there has been an increasing trend of such sexual overdrives in present generation. Our supreme law of land i.e. our Indian Constitution has envisaged a dream of true social, economic and political democracy which guarantees the rich and moral principles of equality (of status, opportunity, law) for our citizens but this has not yet been fully realized. Still the better halves are unsafe and unsecure towards the realization of freedom and liberty. It's unbearable to imagine the plight of women who are sufferers of such crimes. It's a jolt on the confidence of the women, of society and on our judicial system. Besides it has much of cascading effects which affects her life. But do we think who is responsible for this? Is it only the lapse in legal system of our country or the police or the public where such incidence occurs or the Indian society as a whole? We generally use to play the blame game for any such incidence and hence have not succeeded to reach to the root of the problem. For a better understanding we can say that any problem has definitely two approaches of solution, the first is short term or immediate solution and the second one is long term solution. These may be visualized as preventive or curative in nature. Firstly, let us approach towards certain short term and preventive solutions. This would mean to have a multipronged strategy with the participation of multi-stakeholders of society. As good citizens, we have a fundamental duty to contribute towards bringing an order to ensure dignity and respect for women so that she can also enjoy her human rights and fundamental rights with sense of pride, freedom and confidence. To ensure this at every level the society must work together to give an edge to the solution. For e.g. women may be provided with such devices which could provide her location using GPS technology to a central control room of police or send messages of her address to nearby locations. But this requires a lot of work relating to scaling the enrollment of women bio data showing her photographs and her permanent or temporary address into a national database system. Other area of interest would be reform in police system. Allocation of women police in every area and

their continuous monitoring which also requires participatory attitudes of govt. Such interventions can also be a preventive solution. This also requires installation of CCTV cameras at strategic places, beefing up the police security systems and closely monitoring them. Also reforms in our legal system is required such as stringent punishment which are non bailable in nature. This could act as friction to those who perpetrate crime. Even though these suggestions are urgently required as proactive measures but since they require rigorous effort for implementation it may be not be practically realized. So we must have remedial or curative measures such as fast track courts especially dedicated to deal only with these offences and crimes. These can be made responsible to clear the cases on day to day basis with fair trial as its core principle. There must be allocation of woman personnel who should be dedicated to alleviate the trauma of the victimized women. As we have already discussed that these women victims not only undergo physical but also mental trauma as their confidence in the system and society is jolted up. Hence trained personnel are needed to boost up the victims confidence. All the above measures and interventions are supportive in nature i.e. they act as supportive infrastructure to ensure and protect women from being victimized. But let us also look to the other face of the coin. Since only ensuring a strict legal system may also prove to be sometime oppressive as the agencies enforcing the acts in strict sense may violate tenets of human rights, which is also not acceptable. Hence a balance is required to be kept with while implementation also. So far we have dealt with the requirement of stringer laws, legal and administrative system to deal with such sexual overdrive. But it requires further delving into the matter. We all know that India has been a land following various social customs, traditions and certain sets of religious beliefs. These customs has a deep rooted place in the core of our minds and hearts of every people of India which has defined our lifestyle, our thoughts, our expressions and our beliefs be it man or a woman. This has given to the males, the feeling of masculinity in every aspect of their acts and thoughts. Indian males have thus perceived themselves as physically, mentally superior than their counterparts. Indian women also have accepted to treat their males as superior. This can be seen as women still perform the rituals of Karwa Chauthh where they signify men as god. Other instance can be seen in parents preferring male child over female. In every aspect of the life, women are denied or given less preference over male whether it is for giving education or access to health care. They are always required to be within their limitations and the male counterparts have freedom in this regard. This system thus gives a feeling in male that they are superior and hence dominate over women. This instills in male a sense of hatred against women if they see a woman crossing their limitations.


So the problem is just not the case of one or two factors, but a sum total of a large number of factors. For this we need to plan more integrative approach to arrive at a solution. This requires a large scale and an integrated social reform whereby we need to channelize the potential of woman into the stream of development. This can be brought through measures such as real education emphasizing on the quality of education, through enhanced moral and spiritual teachings so that the seed of enmity which is sown through these customs and traditions gets deeply uprooted. Moral and spiritual inclination of education will impart impetus to curb the sexual desires of men and women and would not let them indulge in committing such heinous crimes. This solution is an ideal solution which would need a more comprehensive support of all the stakeholders of societies. Henceforth, to see India as a more flourished nation as envisaged in our Constitution, it is time we need to realize what is right and what is wrong and act in an integrated manner so that women can be channelized into mainstream of development and thus contribute to socio-economic prosperity of the nation. In other words, we need to take action not by force but by will to make our country more secure and safe for the better halves and bring up reforms in the desired direction so that women can also enjoy their freedom and rights, and feel more empowered and fearless, as entrusted by the Supreme law of the land.

II) REALITY SHOWS AND THEIR IMPACT

ON CHILDREN

Reality shows have gained increasing and enormous popularity in India now-a-days. Such shows have already started taking their toll. Viewers have witnessed participants, crying inconsolably and collapsing on the sets, judges bickering among themselves and abandoning shows, hysterical families complaining about decisions. The most to suffer are young children who, unaware of the ways of the world join the race. Be it a reality show like ‘Big Boss’ or an adventurous reality television show like ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi’, they influence children. Shows like Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa create a fierce sense of competition in the participants and this is not healthy as children should understand that competition is meant to only be healthy otherwise it’s not like a competition it’s like a feud. Children seeing this do not necessarily read the disclaimer or notice that comes before the show. Nor in India do you have a concept of rating t shows as PG-13 or A or U. this makes it incredibly sensitive for kids to view this show. If they do, what is the guarantee that they are not going to try stunts at home? What is the guarantee that they are not going to start bottle up live cockroaches like participants do in Khatron Ke Khiladi? This is why the t shows have to be viewed with discretion and if children watch a show like this, then they have to be properly explained as to how these

stunts simply cannot be tried out anywhere by them and this explanation might have to be repeated several time by an adult.

PRÉCIS

WHAT IS A PRÉCIS? The literal meaning of Précis is summarizing. You are given a passage of which you are asked to shorten the word limit without altering the sense of the passage. In a précis, one makes an intelligent summary of the given passage, but one must not confuse précis with summary. The latter is just a briefing up of needless details not arranged in a logical order, whereas the former is an intelligent summary which requires efforts in finding out the important points and arranging them in a logical order. This section checks the reading ability of the writer as to how much he understands in a passage and how efficient he is in stating these points in his own words.

HOW TO MAKE A PRÉCIS? Writing a précis is a task that needs unwavering attention, and full concentration. Therefore one must keep the following points in mind while writing a précis.

Read the passage carefully. One must be able to decipher the essence of the given passage. One should try to understand what the passage is about and what it is trying to say. For that one must not be an avid reader, but should at least have a practice of reading. In the process, one must keep marking the important points which one will use in the précis.

Make a rough sketch/ draft. After reading the passage and marking the important points, make a rough sketch. On that sketch, note down all the ideas as pointers, which can be in a random order.

Selection and arrangement of ideas. After having noted the ideas, read these pointers and select them in order. Choose the point which you want to start your précis with. Your précis need not be written in the same order as the passage, but it should not omit any important idea mentioned therein. After choosing the sequence of the points, make an outline of these ideas in the order you want your précis to be written in.

Shorten the sentences. While making an outline, try to use one word as substitutes in place of long sentences. This exercise saves time, shortens the sentences and expresses the whole idea in just a word. For example: He is so dull that he cannot understand even a

single thing. He is too dull to understand even a thing. The officer was found guilty of using an undue

influence to place his own relatives on lucrative posts, and was, therefore, removed from the service.

The officer was found guilty of nepotism, and was, therefore, sacked.

To shorten the sentences you can also use one word for the idioms or phrases if used in the passage. For example:

She greased his palms to get her work done. She bribed him to get her work done.


Omit the examples, illustrations, details and repetitive sentences in the passage. Brevity is the soul of précis-writing. Précis is only stating the important points, and need not incorporate the details or examples given in the passage. You can select the main idea for which the details or examples are provided, and do away with the unnecessary or verbose illustrations or explanations.

Adjust the word limit to one-third of the passage. Mostly, the limit to which the précis should be written is mentioned. If not, then you must try to set the word limit to approximately one-third of the length of the passage. Therefore, you must endeavor to be succinct and to the point. For example if a passage comprises 300 words, the précis should be of words ranging between 95 and 110.

Use your own language. It is one important point to follow that the précis must not be written in the same language, or word for word, as the passage. The writer must understand the ideas and write them down in his own words as if he is trying to talk to the reader. Therefore, each idea must be so placed that it follows the previous statement in a logical order.

Always use reported speech in third person. Even if the given passage is written in first person and uses a direct speech, the précis is always written from a third person point of view. So the précis will always be in the reported (indirect) speech that uses a third person voice and a past tense.

Select a suitable title. Choosing the title is an important exercise which involves a great deal of attention. The title must not be of an imaginative kind, which means that the writer cannot write a title as he wishes. Instead the title is formed in such a way that it reflects the ideas in the précis. Therefore, the title must revolve around the main and recurrent ideas in the passage. You can write about 2-3 titles in the rough draft which you think that express the ideas. Out of these, choose the one that best expresses the idea of the précis.

Compression of Words a) By vocabulary:

(i) He is one of those persons who treat people suffering from certain diseases by the manipulation of bones and muscles. He is an osteopath. ;

b) By ellipsis (leaving out words) (i) I shall buy a car if it is necessary for me to do so. I shall buy a car if necessary. (ii)You must continue typing, however tired you

maybe. However tired, you must continue typing.

c) By shorter construction: (i) As we had been exhausted by the work, we had a short rest. Exhausted by the work we had a short rest.

Compression of Ideas a) By generalization:

(i) Germans, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Scandinavians, the Dutch and the Swiss usually know at least one foreign language.

Most Europeans usually know at least one foreign language.

b) By selection and rejection: (i)The wanted man, who wore a silk necktie and gold rimmed spectacles, disappeared from view. The wanted man disappeared from view.

PRÉCIS EXAMPLES PASSAGE- I It is physically impossible for a well-educated or brave man to make money the chief object of his thoughts, just as it is for him to make his dinner the principal object of them. All healthy people like their dinners, but their dinner is not the main object of their lives. So all healthy minded people like making money—ought to like it and enjoy the sensation of winning it; it is something better than money. A good soldier, for instance, mainly wishes to do his fighting well. He is glad of his pay—very properly so, and justly grumbles when you keep him ten years without it—still his main notion of life is to win battles, not to be paid for winning them. So of clergyman’s object is essentially to baptize and preach, not to be paid for preaching. So of doctors, they like fees no doubt, -- out to like them; yet If they are b rave and well educated, the entire object of their lives is a not fee. They, on the whole, desire to cure the sick, and, if they are good doctors and the choice were fairly put to them, would rather cure their patient and lose their fee than kill him and get it. And so with all the other brave and rightly trained men; their work is first, their fee second – very important always, but still second.

(Total Words: 233) Vocabulary Grumble : Show dissatisfaction Notion : Idea, belief, opinion Clergyman : A Christian priest Baptize : To perform the Christian religious ceremony Preach : To make known (a particular religion and/or its teachings) by speaking in public) POINTS FOR PRÉCIS MAKING 1. Money making is not the chief object of the well-

educated, Intellectual, or brave men. 2. A noble soldier fights bravely; to him pay is of

secondary importance. 3. A clergyman cares more for the welfare of the

humanity Than for his pay. 4. A sincere doctor desires to cure his patient far more

than to get his fee. 5. Thus for all cultured people, their duty comes first,

their fees second. Précis: Moneymaking is not the sole object of the well-educated, intellectual, or brave men. A brave soldier’s main notion of life is to fight to win battles, not to be paid for winning them. A noble clergyman is concerned more with the welfare of the humanity than his pay. A good doctor desires far more to cure his patient than to get his fee. Thus, for all cultured people, their duty comes first, then their fee. (Total Words: 75)


Title Suggestions: 1. Duty First, Fee after wards 2. Role of Money

PASSAGE II

When I go into a stranger’s library, I wander round the book-shelves to learn what sort of a person the stranger is, and when he comes in I feel that I know the key to his mind and the range of the interests. A house without books is a characterless house, no matter how rich the Persian rugs, and how elegant the settees and the ornaments. The Persian rugs only tell you whether he has got money, but the books tell you whether he has got a mind. It is not the question of money that we don’t buy books. I repeat that books are the cheapest as well as the best part of the equipment of a house. You can form your library with the expenditure of a couple of shillings. Nearly, all the best literature in the world is at your command at two shillings a volume. For five pounds you can make a library of fifty books. Even if you don’t read them yourself, they are a priceless investment for your children. What delight is there like the revelation of book, the sudden impact of a master spirit, the sense of window flung wide open to the universe? It is the adventures of the mind, the joy of which does not pass away, that gives the adventure of life itself, beauty and fragrance. (Total Words: 228) Précis: Title: The Importance of Books A man is known by the books he reads. Books are an index to the mind and the interests of a person. A person who has no library of his own is poor, no matter how rich his furniture may be. Books are so cheap nowadays that one can have a moderate library within the small sum of five pounds. The money spent on books is never wasted. Even if the owner does not avail himself of his books, his children will read them with profit. There is no pleasure like the pleasure of enjoying good books; and what is more, one always gains in knowledge and wisdom by studying the works of great writers. (Total words: 115)

LETTER

A letter is a written information or message sent by a person to someone on a piece of paper. A letter could be a formal one or an informal one, or one writes a letter to the editor of the newspaper.

PARTS OF LETTERS A letter comprises several parts that are given below. 1. The heading consisting of writer’s address and the

date. 2. The address of the addressee to whom the letter

is being written. 3. The subject stating a brief idea of what the letter is

about. 4. The courteous greeting or salutation. 5. The communication or message – the body of the

letter.

6. The subscription, or courteous leave taking, or conclusion.

7. The signature. 8. The superscription on the envelope.

TYPES OF LETTERS Mainly letters are of four types: a) Personal or private letters: These are written to

brothers, sisters, friends, relatives etc. These include letters of invitations as well, written formally or informally.

b) Business letters: These letters are written to business houses, companies, newspapers etc. on purely business matters.

c) Official letters: These letters are written to officials. Applications of jobs fall under this category.

d) Letters to the editor: These are usually written to the editors of the newspapers concerning local problems, generally official in nature or concerning public interest.

Below are given the formats of the letter-conventional and current. Some points to remember are:-

USE OF HEADINGS: It is often regarded as a mark of unfriendliness and coldness to use heading in letters written to individuals. However, they are perfectly justified and even desirable in correspondence between and within firms, especially if it is lengthy. But remember that it is not proper to use the Latin word Re (meaning ’about the matter’) before the headings.

DEAR SIR OR DEAR SIRS? Dear sir or Dear Madam is used when the address is just one person (for example, Mr. Sharma, The Personnel Manager, Life Insurance Corporation; The secretary, Rotary club, New Delhi).

Dear Sirs is used when the addressee is the whole firm or any other group of people. But in case of letters to editors, sir alone is often used. The use of first names is best avoided in business letters, except perhaps who are very informal and of equal status. It is, however, not uncommon to address people by name (for example Dear Mr. Sharma, Dear Miss Nayyar), especially when the writer and receiver already know to each other and when they want to strike a friendly and polite note. YOURS SINCERELY OR YOURS FAITHFULLY When the salutation is Dear Sir(s) or Dear Madam the subscription is: Yours faithfully. Yours sincerely is used when someone is addressed by name for example, Dear Mr. Sharma, Dear Miss Nayyar.

MRS., MISS, MS.? If the writer is a lady the signature cannot merely be her name (for example Madhu, Rani, etc.) Mrs., Miss or Ms. (Ms. Is the title for a woman who does not wish to call herself either Mrs. or Miss) should be mentioned before or after the name so that the replies are appropriately addressed.


RULES FOR WRITING FORMAL LETTERS With the introduction of email, it is becoming less and less common to write letters, but the few letters that one will write will probably be very important ones. These are letters for job applications, covering letters for questionnaires or surveys which are part of your research, or letters of complaint to your bank manager or a letter to an editor of a well known newspaper. There are a number of conventions that should be used when writing a formal or business letter. Furthermore, one tries to write as simply and as clearly as possible, and not to make the letter longer than necessary. Remember not to use informal language like contractions or slang words in short forms. It is very important, therefore, that your letters have the desired effect on the reader. In order to achieve this, they should be: in the correct format short, succinct and to the point relevant to the topic and not deviating free of any grammatical or spelling mistakes polite and respectful, even if you’re complaining well presented NEW FORMAT Self /Address Date Address of the addressee Subject Salutation Body Subscription/Ending Signature/Your name

ADDRESSES 1) Your Address:

The return address should be written in the top left-hand corner of the letter.

2) Date:

Write the date on the left side of the letter after your address. Write the month as a word.

3) The Address of the person you are writing to:

The inside address or the address of the person you are writing to should be written on the left, below the address.

4) Salutation or greeting:

a) Dear Sir or Madam, If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, use this. It is always advisable to try to find out a name. b) Dear Mr. Sharma, If you know the name, use the title (Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms, Dr, etc.) and the surname only. If you are writing to a woman and do not know if she uses Mrs. or Miss, you can use Ms., which is for married and single woman.

5) Subject of the letter:

After the salutation, mention the subject briefly in a line. It should state the content of the letter, reflecting upon the content of the letter.

6) Body or the content of the letter:

The first paragraph should be short and state the purpose of the letter- to make an enquiry, complain, request something, etc. The paragraph or paragraphs in the middle of the letter should contain the relevant information behind the writing of the letter. Most letters in English are not very long, so keep the information to the essentials and concentrate on organizing it in a clear and logical manner rather than expanding too much. The last paragraph of a formal letter should state what action you expect the recipient to take- to refund, send you information, etc.

7) Ending a letter:

a) Yours faithfully

If you do not know the name of the person, end the letter this way.

b) Yours sincerely

If you know the name of the person, end the letter this way.

8) Your signature:

You are given a name in the questionnaire which you are to use as your name. Be careful about using that given name. You must write that name under the subscription.


EXAMPLES A) FORMAL LETTER T-15, Shivanji Colony Vadodra 15 January, 20 XX The Health officer Municipal Corporation Vadodra SUBJECT: ____________________________________ Dear Sir, We, the following signatories, wish to draw your kind attention to the pathetic insanitary condition of Shivaji Colony and its neighborhood. The domestic refuse thrown in the open presents an ugly look. One can see mounds of garbage all round the area. The garbage rots and it is an invitation to flies and mosquitoes. These breed and buzz on these mounds. Stray pigs make up deficiency, if any to make the whole scene a sore both to the eyes and the ears. There is a putrid smell coming from the place. Hardly anyone can cross the place without putting cloth on his nose. The stagnated water, dark green in colour, also emits a foul and pungent smell. It is feared that some serious epidemic is likely to break out. The attention of the sanitary inspector has been drawn to the deplorable condition of this colony, but the response has been poor. We, therefore, request you to take immediate steps and issue instructions to the concerned persons to remove the grievances of the people living in the colony.

Yours faithfully, XYZ B) LETTER TO EDITORS House No. 1105 Sector 18-C Chandigarh 28th May, 2014 The Editor Times of India Chandigarh SUBJECT: ____________________________________ Dear Sir, Through the columns of your esteemed newspaper I would like to bring to the notice of all the environmental groups, the total disregard shown by the industries situated near the river towards environmental pollution. A whole range of industries from tanneries, chemicals, electronics and heavy machinery are discharge their effluents into the river water. They are ignoring the

guidelines set by the local pollution control regarding the discharge of the liquid and solid waste into the river. As a concerned citizen, I visited the local effluent treatment plant. I was shocked to discover that it was shut down due to the lack of working capital. At present discharge of liquid and solid waste into the river is killing all the fishes and other life forms. It is also turning the river into a large sewer. Perhaps these industries do not realize that a clean river will bring them goodwill and health for one and all. If some urgent steps are not taken, there is a fear of a disease epidemic breaking out. Thanking you Yours sincerely (Your Name)

C) PERSONAL LETTER Write a letter to your friend about the future of terrorism in India. New Delhi January 10, 2001 My dear Raju, I have received your letter two days ago. I perfectly agree to your view as expressed in your recent letter about the state of terrorism in our country. It appears that the roots of terrorism in our country have gone very deep. The terrorists are not confined only to the state of Punjab; they can rather strike any place in Haryana and Delhi at their will. They have developed new hideouts in the tarai region of the state of U.P. As in Punjab, so in Kashmir, there are several groups of terrorists demanding a separate land for the Kashmiri Muslims. Similarly, in Assam, the ULFA has raised a demand for a separate State. Judging from the trends, I can say with a sense of confidence that terrorism in India will never come to an end. Terrorist activities of the Tamil in Tamil Nadu are a very recent development. Thus the activities of terrorists are increasing day by day and there is no end to these activities in sight because these things are promoted and financed by foreign agencies. Hoping to see you next month. Yours ever, XYZ


COMPREHENSIONS

PASSAGE – 1 On April 4, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) marked its 25th consecutive successful mission by lofting the second spacecraft required for the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). The IRNSS will function much like America’s widely-used Global Positioning System (GPS), albeit on a regional scale. The GPS is based on a constellation of 24 satellites that transmit signals, which suitably equipped receivers pick up and utilise to establish their position with a great level of accuracy. Originally intended for the U.S. armed forces, the use of unencrypted GPS signals have spawned a wide range of civilian applications. Vehicles, aircraft and ships increasingly rely on equipment with satellite navigation capability. Smartphones and other mobile devices providing map and location-based services too take the aid of GPS signals. Russia has a similar satellite system in place, called GLONASS. Europe is in the process of establishing a navigation satellite system of its own, named Galileo. China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System began offering regional services in December 2012 and is expected to achieve global coverage by around 2020. Japan wants to create a satellite system to improve GPS coverage over that country. The IRNSS, being wholly under Indian control, serves an important security requirement — making sure that so critical a service is available at all times. Military operations have come to rely on satellite navigation and there is no guarantee that another country’s system will be accessible during a crisis situation. To keep costs down, the Indian Space Research Organisation has opted for a constellation of just seven satellites to provide accurate navigation signals over India and up to 1,500 km from its borders. The first of those satellites, IRNSS-1A, was launched in July last year. The performance of that satellite has been extensively analysed and found to be very satisfactory. The second satellite, IRNSS-1B, has now been put into orbit, and two more will follow later this year. Once the four IRNSS satellites are up and functioning, it will be possible to ascertain whether the system’s signals provide the required positional accuracy. The remaining three satellites are to be launched by the middle of next year. The option exists to extend the coverage area by adding four more satellites. ISRO is working with industry so that receivers that utilise the IRNSS signals become available. Some of these receivers will be capable of taking signals from other navigation satellite systems as well, like the GPS. The use of IRNSS must extend well beyond India’s security services, and ISRO will need to take the lead in promoting the widespread utilisation of the system. 1) What according to you makes the use of GPS so

popular? 2) What significance does IRNSS has over the widely

used GPS? 3) On the basis of the comprehension, give an account

of the contrasts between GPS & IRNSS. 4) Give an account on the popularity gained by the

navigation satellite systems in today’s world.

5) What role does IRNSS play in the technological advancement of India?

6) What role does ISO play in the development of IRNSS?

PASSAGE – 2 Incredible though it may seem, while the percentage of literacy in India has been going up, the number of illiterates has also been increasing. Thus, according to the 1966 figures, there were 353 million illiterate in the country – 20 million more than in 1961. During the same period the percentage of literacy went up from 24 to 29 per cent. The explanation for this paradox lies in the rapid growth of population which has outpaced whatever little progress has been achieved in literacy. For instance, from 1951 to 1961, literacy increased at an annual average rate of 0.7 per cent while the country’s population grew by 2.15 per cent every year. But the population explosion is not entirely responsible for the growing number of illiterate s. the apathy of most States in failing to tackle the problem of adult literacy is also partly to blame. Till now, they have shown little awareness of the magnitude of the problem. Moreover, follow-up measures to prevent neo-literates from relapsing into illiteracy are just as important as the initial adult literacy campaigns. Here too, the State Education authorities have been negligent. Not sufficient provision has been made for ‘continued education’. His can be done by setting up more rural libraries, adult schools and correspondence courses. 1) What is the paradox referred to in the passage? 2) How does the passage explain the paradox? 3) What is meant by “neo-literate”? 4) According to the passage, what does “continued

education” mean? 5) The passage is mostly likely an extract from

PASSAGE – 3 Power and possession have been the central pursuits of modern civilization for a long time. They blocked out or disorted other features of the western renaissance (revival) which promised to much for humanity. What people have been and are still being taught to prize are money, success, control over the lives of others, acquisition of more and more objects. Modern social, political and economic systems, whether capitalist, fascist or communist, reject in their working the basic principle that the free and creative unfoldment of every man, woman and child is the true measure of the worth of any society. Such unfoldment requires understanding and imagination, integrity and compassion, cooperation among people, and harmony between the human species and the rest of nature. Acquisitiveness and the pursuit of power have made the modern man an aggressor against everything that is non-human, an exploiter and oppressor of those who are poor, meek and unorganized, a pathological type which hates and distrusts the world and suffers from both acute loneliness and false pride. The need for a new renaissance is deeply felt by those sensitive and conscientious men and women who not only perceive the dimensions of the crisis of our age but who also realize that only through conscious and cooperative human effort may this crisis be met and probably even overcome.


1) According to the passage, why has modern man turned out as an enemy of everything that is non-human?

2) How can the real attainment of any society can be adjudged?

3) According to the author, how can the present crisis be should?

4) Why could not the western renaissance make total impact on today’s humanity?

5) The author appears to be advocating which of the following approaches to be adopted by the society?

SOME DESCRIPTIVE TOPICS OF PREVIOUS EXAMS

PUNJAB & SIND BANK (PO) 2011, 16TH JAN

I) Letter (15 Marks) choices:

1) Write a letter to the manager of bank for asking the higher authorities to extend the bank timings from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm for the convenience of the public.

2) Write a letter to your uncle who is pushing his son for better results in studies and stopping his son to participate in extracurricular activities and sports in which he is performing very well.

3) Your friend is preparing for Bank’s Probationary Officer Examination; write a letters for complimenting on the decision and give advices how the preparation can be done to attain success.

4) Your insurance policy on maturity gives Rs. 65000 and the insurance company receipt shows Rs. 56000 citing two ‘gaps’ on write a letter to the insurers, giving necessary proofs to prove that you paid the required amount through ERS and there are no such gaps.

II) Essay (250 words) Choices: 20 Marks

1) Impact of globalization on the Banking Sector. 2) Giving priority to the soft skills over the higher

percentages for jobs. 3) Should CRM be implemented in the Banking

Services? 4) Social responsibility of corporate houses.

III) Précis writing (Topic content was Indian Economy & Globalization) (15 marks)

1) In the last decade apart from technological

advancement, there have been changes in family system. Give your views. What are the reasons that joint families are breaking into nuclear families. Advantages and disadvantages.

2) Congestion is increasing in metropolitan cities and roads cannot be made due to lack of space.

Give your suggestions to reduce congestion in metor-cities.

3) Contract farming is a latest concept / is the most heard concept when we talk about increasing productivity with small and medium farmers. Give your views. Write in its favour and against as well.

4) No frills account for poor people is of no use without credit accessibility. Give your views.

5) How NBFCs can act as a small bank in order to achieve financial inclusion?

BANK OF INDIA (30.10.10)

1) Should income of farmers be taxed or not. Give your

views and points for it and against it? 2) Do you think there should be a legislation for

acquisition of land and rehabilitation of agricultural land.

3) Many people have a view that builders who create filthy sites resulting in malaria and other diseases should be punished.

4) Effect of terrorism on Indian economy. 5) Rain water harvesting. 6) Religious policies and communal tensions have

became prominent in past decade what are your views.

7) Do you think there is a need to make plan to tap agricultural business?

TOPIC FROM OBC EXAM HELD ON 26.12.2010

1) Boom cities as distinguished from megacities are

emerging as the fountain heads of the economy in our country. Bring out 3-4 major issues that make them the future cities to watch?

2) Vocational Education must be made compulsory from primary schooling. Do you agree?

3) Farmers are not able to produce a good amount of earnings from their lands, especially farmer those having small and marginal lands. Experts think that there farmers should give/sell away their lands to the larger corporate. So that they can use them for the development of the economy. Justify your views?

4) Whatever the condition of BPL/APL in the country, the government should distribute the food grains to BPL. Do you agree? Effects on Government of India

5) Impacts of reality shows on kids. Whether they should be banned for broadcasting on prime time. Give your suggestion for and against.

6) BSNL has given the scheme to its customer free local calls from fixed landline to landline. What is its effect?

7) How corruption and bribery can be removed from public and private sector. Give your suggestions.

8) To avoid Acquisitions modern farming and other ways should be opted. Give your suggestions.

9) India is a developing Economy. What are the features of it. Which should be implemented by planning commission for development of economy.

10) What is the impact of increasing population on Economy? Give your views to control it.


Latest G.K .Bytes

MAY – 2014 1) As per are recently World Bank report, India

emerged as the world's _________largest economy in 2011, from being the 10th largest in 2005: Third

2) Which country has the largest economy in the world: USA

3) India and China have decided to conduct a joint military exercise at which place in India: Bathinda, Punjab

4) World’s highest train tunnel at an altitude of 3,067.4 metres in China passes through which mountain: Qilian Mountain

5) World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned that there is strong possibility of an "El Nino" climate phenomenon this year. It occurs at which place in the world: Tropical Pacific Ocean

6) For what banking purpose govt. is considering establishment of exclusive Lok Adalats: For cheque bouncing cases

7) Aab Bareek, a village in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan was in news for what reasons: Its suffered a devastating mud slide

8) Which state has lifted the four years ban on SMS on prepaid mobile phones: Jammu & Kashmir

9) Ahmed Maiteeq has been elected as Prime Minister of which country: Libya

10) What is the recent guideline from RBI in contest of prepayment of all floating rate term loans: Banks not to charge penalty for prepayment

11) RBI has asked banks not to levy penalties on customers who don’t maintain a minimum balance in which type of accents: Any inoperative account

12) Prime Minister of which country was removed from office by a Constitutional Court: Thailand

13) Which country has decided to introduce Islamic banking: Afghanistan

14) United Nations has signed an agreement with which international body to use power of supports to promote piece and economic development: International Olympic Committee (IOC)

15) What is the brand name of the football that will be used in the Brazil FIFA World Cup: Brazuca

16) What is the name of the India’s first indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) air to air missile successfully test fired from a Russian-built Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet: Astra

17) What is the range of India’s air to air Astra missile: 60 kms

18) What is the recent Supreme Court ruling in contest of investigation against senior bureaucrats in corruption cases: Prior permission not required for investigation

19) Name the Pakistan’s surface-to-surface ballistic missile test fired recently: Hataf-III

20) India has been given New Frontiers Award 2014 for what achievement: for fast development of infrastructure after the June 2013 floods, landslides in Uttarakhand

21) WHO has identified which Indian city having worst air quality in the world: Delhi

22) What is the name of the recent book released by Hillary Clinton: Hard Choices

23) Arctic Summer novel has been written by which author: Damon Galgut

24) The book My Years with Rajiv and Sonia has been written by which author: R. D. Pradhan

25) In which country’s parliament a pictorial book on India’s war hero Shivaji, was released: UK

26) In which country Islamist militant group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 school girls: Nigeria

27) Gary Backer who passed away recently was a Noble Laureate in which field: Economics

28) In which country females have been allowed entry in their navy, for the first time in its 110 year history: United Kingdom

29) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited developed “Nabhratna” to carry out testing of its under-development airborne radar systems. What type of equipment it is: Light-weight Aircraft

30) As per Press Freedom Index 2014, India has been placed at _____ place on the basis of freedom of media in the country: 78th

31) The Supreme Court has reconstituted a SIT under the chairmanship of retired judge MB Shah. What is full form of SIT: Special Investigation Team


32) The Supreme Court has reconstituted a SIT under the chairmanship of retired judge MB Shah for what purpose: To monitor the probe into the black money cases

33) Which country has imported 3400 India-made Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for use in their Presidential Election: Namibia

34) Name the public sector undertaking that is responsible for manufacturing EVMs in India: Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL)

35) Name the Cricket player was ranked no 1 in the latest ICC list of One Day International (ODI) rankings: Virat Kohli

36) Noted cueist Mark Selby of England recently won world championship in which game: Snooker

37) Sania Mirza of India and Cara Black of Zimbabwe won women’s doubles tennis title in which tournament: Portugal Open 2014

38) In terms of consumer confidence India has been ranked _______ most optimistic country: 2nd

39) Saudi Arabia has decided to ban the import of Indian ____ due to presence of high pesticide residues: Chilies

40) India and ________ have inked a pact to enhance security cooperation in combating the key issues of insurgency, arms smuggling and human trafficking: Myanmar

41) Name the Indian who has been appointed President and CEO of Finnish tele- communications equipment maker Nokia: Rajeev Suri

42) The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) has been nominated for the prestigious UNESCO-approved World Heritage Site status. It is in which state: Himachal Pradesh

43) Name the Indian documentary film that won gold medal and two other medals at the 2014 New York Festivals International TV and Film Awards: Silent Screams — India’s Fight Against Rape

44) Who has been named as the world snookers ‘player of the year’: Ronnie O’Sullivan

45) The Supreme Court has prohibited use of ______in Tamil Nadu’s ‘Jallikattu’ festivals as it harmed the animals and constituted an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act: Bulls

46) In which country over 300 miners were killed in a coal mine blast: Turkey

47) Which country has decided to go wholly organic in its food production, totally avoiding usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides: Bhutan

48) P J Nayak Committee appointed by the RBI has submitted its report recently. What was the task of this committee: To review Governance of Boards of Banks in India

49) A major recommendation of PJ Nayak Committee has been objected to by bank employees unions. It is about what: Government should cut its stake in public sector banks to below 50 percent

50) Nayak committee has recommended that a __________ should be constituted to which the Government transfers its holdings in banks: Bank Investment Company

51) RBI has decided to conduct a field trial for one billion Rs. ___________ denomination plastic notes: Ten

52) The field trial for Rs. 10 plastic notes will be conducted in how many cities: 5

53) Russy Modi who passed away recently was a noted corporate figure. He was associated with which company: Tata Steel

54) Along with General Election 2014, how many states also elected their new MLAs: Five

55) Name the five states that also held state elections along with General Election 2014: Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

56) Name the Chief Minister of Sikkim state who has been elected for the record 5th time: Pawan Chamlilng

57) Who has been elected as new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh: Chandrababu Naidu

58) Who has been elected as new Chief Minister of Telangana: K Chandrasekhara Rao

59) Nabam Tuki has been elected as Chief Minister of which state: Arunachal Pradesh

60) Name the new Chief Minister of Nagaland: TR Zeliang

61) Why a new Chief Minister has been placed in Bihar when there was no state election: Current CM Nitish Kumar resigned on moral grounds for poor performance of his party

62) Who has replaced Narendra Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat: Anandiben Patel

63) A World Bank report on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ placed India at ______ rank among 189 nations: 134th

64) Which country was put under martial law recently when months of deadly anti-government protests caused political paralysis: Thailand

65) A study by UNO has forecasted global economic growth rate to be at _____ per cent in 2014: 2.8

66) In a study by Deutsche Bank, which major country has been ranked as cheapest economy in the world: India

67) Which bank has recently been declared as a ‘Scheduled Bank’ by the RBI: Bhartiya Mahila


Bank

68) Which banks are called scheduled bank: whose name appears in the 2nd schedule of the RBI Act, 1934

69) By becoming scheduled bank, a bank is entitled to avail which facility from RBI: Taking Loans

70) The 3rd Advance Estimates of crop production in the 2013-14 crop year (July-June) by the Agriculture Ministry has estimated India’s agriculture production at _______ million tonnes: 264

71) RBI has directed that all new ATMs to be installed by commercial banks from July 2014 onwards should provide __________ instructions and ________ enabled key pads: Audio, Braille

72) The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to provide long-term loans of up to a maximum tenor of _____ years to exporters to be utilised for execution of long-term supply contracts for export of goods: 10

73) Name the recently held war exercise by Indian Army in West Rajasthan: Sarvada Vijay

74) Name the international badminton championship for Men and Women held recently in New Delhi: Thomas Cup and Uber Cup, respectively

75) India started its biggest year-long cultural festival, “Glimpses of India” in which country: China

76) India’s first indigenous payment gateway, RuPay has been launched to counter rival networks such as ___________. : Visa and Mastercard

77) India’s first indigenous payment gateway, RuPay has been launched by which financial institution: National Payments Corpo-ration of India

78) Jacobzuma has been re-elected as President of which major South African Country: South Africa

79) Name the India’s oldest test cricketer who passed away recently: Madhav Mantri

80) Mr. Rajiv Mathur has been appointed as new ____ ____ Commissioner of India: Chief Information

81) Who has been appointed as 28th Chief of Army Staff: Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

82) The women’s title in National Football Championship 2014 has been which team: Manipur

83) Which football player, reportedly, is the highest paid in the world: Lionel Messi

84) In which country violent protest were held against China to protest against China’s oil exploration in South China Sea: Vietnam

85) Which country in the world suffers highest number of death of newborns: India

86) At which place office of Indian Consulate was attacked by militants: Herat, Afghanistan

87) Malavath Purna, the 13 year old school girl from

Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh was in news for what reasons: Youngest female to scale the Mount Everest

88) Which country has released two postage stamps to pay tribute to the 100 years of Indian cinema: Brazil

89) Name the country that lifted Uber Cup for women’s badminton championship: China

90) Thomas Cup (Men’s) badminton championship was won for the first time this year by which country: Japan

91) The honour ‘Palme d’Or’ is given for which achievement: Best film

92) The honour ‘Palme d’Or’ is given for Best film at which international film festival: Cannes

93) Name the film that won Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival: Winter Sleep

94) The prestigious European Cup 2014 that was won by Real Madrid is for which sports: Football

95) Petro Poroshenko has been elected as President of which country: Ukraine

96) Exim Bank has extended $ 100 million in line of credit to which country: Nigeria

97) Through which country India receives its largest inflow of FDI: Singapore

98) USA has declared that by ________ it will withdraw its troops completely from Afghanistan: 2016

99) The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to remit amount lying in deposit accounts classified as unclaimed to which account: Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF)

100) Which deposit accounts are classified as unclaimed account: Accounts in which there are no transactions for 10 years or more

101) Which financial Act provides the definition of an unclaimed deposit account: Banking Regulation Act

102) National Florence Nightingale Awards are given in which field: Excellence in Nursing

103) Which two countries exercised their veto power in UN Security Council against a draft resolution which was intended to refer the Syrian civil war to the International Criminal Court (ICC): China and Russia

104) World Turtle Day is observed on 23rd May. What is a turtle: An reptile similar to tortoise

105) SIMBEX 14 is the name of the joint naval exercise conducted by India with which country: Singapore

106) International Nurses’ Day is celebrated on which date: 12th May

107) Which two countries have signed association


agreement with European union: Moldova and Georgia

108) Men’s title in ATP World Tour Masters Tennis was won by which player: Rafael Nadal

109) Women’s title in ATP World Tour Masters Tennis was won by which player: Maria Sharapova

110) Who is the author of the book ‘Post Haste: Quintessential India’: B.G. Verghese

APRIL – 2014 111) The Social Progress Index 2014 compiled by US-

based non-profit group Social Progress Imperative ranks India _______among the 132 countries: 102nd

112) Who is Nancy Powell who resigned recently: U.S. ambassador to India

113) Viktor Orban has been elected as Prime Minister of which country: Hungary

114) Global monetary agency International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India’s GDP growth to reach ________ per cent in the current fiscal year: 5.4

115) The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has pegged India’s GDP growth rate during 2013-14 at _____ per cent: 4.9

116) RBI has issued new licences for banks to how many applicants: Two

117) Name the two applicants who have been granted licences to open new bank: Infrastructure Development Finance Company and Bandhan Financial Services Ltd.

118) As per rules notified by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, every listed company and those public firms having paid up share capital of Rs 100 crore or more should have at least ______ woman director on their board: One

119) According to an Assocham report, ______has emerged as the number one state in the country replacing Gujarat, attracting cumulative investment proposals of Rs 14,73,466 crore as on December 2013: Maharashtra

120) The Reserve Bank has fixed the upper limit to Rs. ______for issuance of pre-paid payment instruments to make all issuers comply with the strict money laundering laws: 50,000

121) Name the India’s top shooter who won the men's trap gold medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Tucson, USA: Manavjit Singh Sandhu

122) Name the bank that recently started rendering its services from the social site Twitter: SBI

123) The Reserve Bank has directed banks offering GMLs

to strengthen their credit appraisal process in the wake of frauds committed by certain unscrupulous jewelers. What is the full form of GMLs: Gold Metal Loans

124) Guljar, the veteran poet and film lyricist has been awarded 45th Dada Saheb Phalke Award for which field: No film, it is life time achievement award

125) What is the real name of the Phalke award winner Gulzar: Sampooran Singh Kalra

126) Name the Indian state that has recently witnessed its first rail line: Arunachal Pradesh

127) The pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy laboratories of India has been bought out by which Indian pharma company: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

128) The Millennium Technology Prize is given every two years for what purpose: To recognize technological innovation for improving human life

129) Name the winner of 2014 Millennium Technology Prize: Stuart Parkin

130) What is the strike range of nuclear-capable surface to surface ballistic missile – Agni-I: 700 kms

131) As per a World Bank report, which country ranked first in receiving global remittances in the year 2013 to the tune of 70 billion US dollar: India

132) What is the full name of the New Chief Justice of India: Rajendra Mal Lodha

133) Justice R M Lodha is the _______ Chief Justice of India: 41st

134) The RBI has decided to adopt which tool as the key measure of inflation: Consumer Price Index

135) Who has been appointed as Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India: R. Gandhi

136) Where in India we have Asia’s largest tulip garden - Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden: Srinagar, J&K

137) V K Murthy, winner of Dada Saheb Phalke Awrad passed away recently. He was from which field of Cinema: Cinematographer

138) Who has been elected as New Chairman of National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom): R. Chandrasekaran

139) Name the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy that has been sold off as scrap: INS Vikrant

140) Name the India-born poet who has been awarded Pulitzer Prize for his witty and philosophical collection of poems: Vijay Seshadri

141) What is the name of the Pulitzer Prize winning book written by Vijay Seshadri: 3 sections

142) Arvind Mayaram has been appointed as new Union ________ Secretary: Finance


143) The seventh South Asia Judo Championships were held at which place: Kathmandu, Nepal

144) Who has been appointed as the New Chief of the Indian Navy: Admiral Rabinder Kumar Dhowan

145) The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has approved a loan of about Rs 674 crore for a forest project in which State: Uttarakhand

146) Recently declared National Film Awards were _____ in the series: 61st

147) Name the film that won the national award for best feature film: Ship of Theseus

148) Name the film that won the national award for best Popular Film: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

149) Which film has been selected for National Award for best Hindi Film: Jolly LLB

150) Who has been selected as Femina Miss India World 2014: Koyal Rana

151) Gabriel Garcia Marquez who passed away recently was a noted story writer and novelist of which language: Spanish

152) Which country has decided to quit as hosts of the 2019 Asian Games due to lack of preparedness and concerns that holding the multi-sport event would not be financially viable: Vietnam

153) Prime Minister of which country recently resigned from his post, along with his entire cabinet: Kazakhstan

154) Prime Minister of which country was recently sacked by his President after a stinging defeat of his (PM’s) group in local elections: France

155) Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been elected as President of which African country: Algeria

156) India successfully launched its second navigational satellite IRNSS 1B recently. What is the full form of IRNSS: Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System

157) Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System is also known as _____ of India: GPS

158) In which city we have India’s 1st double-decker flyover: Mumbai

159) Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has been decorated with the British government’s highest civilian honour. Name this award: The Knight Grand Cross

160) Name the stadium in Dhaka in which final match of ICC T20 World Cup was played: Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium

161) The recently played ICC T20 world-cup was _____ in the series: 5th

162) ICC Women’s World Twenty20 trophy was won by which country: Australia

163) What is the name of the supersonic cruise missile recently tested by Indian Army: BrahMos

164) The 290-km range supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos was test a recently at which place: Pokhran, Rajasthan

165) Name the operating system launched in October 2001 for which Microsoft has stopped the technical support: Windows XP

166) Sports person Heena Sidhu has been ranked world No.1 in which game: Air Pistol Shooting

167) The government has approved recruitment of young women as 'combat officers' in which paramilitary force: Sashastra Seema Bal

168) The Supreme Court has allowed mining of _______in Goa after a gap of nearly one-and-a-half year when it was banned: Iron Ore

169) With which country India has signed an agreement on development of four hydropower projects for producing 2120 MW on a joint venture basis: Bhutan

170) RBI has appointed Umesh Bellur panel to suggest modalities for setting up a system for GIRO. What is the full form of GIRO: Government Internal Revenue Order

171) RBI has asked banks to introduce two-stage authentication to ensure security of which type of transactions: Online Transactions

172) India has slid down to ______ spot among 148 economies in terms of leveraging information and communications technologies for growth and well being: 83rd

173) Ila Patnaik, a noted economist has been appointed to which key central government post: Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance

174) The Reserve Bank has fixed the quantum of intervention through MSS at Rs 50,000 crore to manage liquidity. What is the full form of MSS: Market Stabilisation Scheme

175) What is the name of the 10 days joint air exercise conducted jointly by India and France: Garuda-5

176) Indian and French pilots conducted joint air exercise Garuda-5 from which air base: Jodhpur, Rajasthan

177) Saurav Ghosal, India's numero uno (No. 1) _______ player has been awarded the Dato Alex Lee Award for the 'Outstanding Asian Men's Player of the Year 2013': Squash

178) Chitra Magimairaj won the senior’s title at international level in which game: Snooker

179) The DRDO team recently tested its Akash Missile from Chandipur near Odisha. It is what type of missile: Surface to Air


180) Name the South Korea’s Prime Minister who resigned taking moral responsibility for the sinking of a passenger ferry that left 300 people dead or missing: Chung Hong-Won

181) Name the advanced Indian missile frigate which visited Qingdao - the eastern port city of China, to take part in exercises to mark the Chinese Navy’s 65th anniversary: INS Shivalik

182) Name the new interceptor missile system recently successfully tested by India: Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV)

183) The IIFA Awards 2014 were held at which place: Tampa Bay, Florida, USA

184) Name the artist who won IIFA 2014 best entertainer of the year award: Deepika Padukone

MARCH – 2014 185) Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme has been launched for

what purpose: For free health check-ups twice a year for the students

186) Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme is meant for which age group of students: 5-14 years

187) Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme has been formulated for students belonging to which particular category: Minority Community

188) There are how many communities in India recognized as “Minority Community”: Six

189) Name the six minority communities of India: Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains

190) Name the picture that won the OSCAR for the best picture: 12 Years a Slave

191) ICC U-19 World Cup 2014 was won by South Africa by defeating which country: Pakistan

192) Final match of ICC U-19 World Cup 2014 was played at which place: Dubai (UAE)

193) Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship was won by Roger Federer. He is from which country: Switzerland

194) India’s largest solar power plant with a capacity of 130 MW power production is located at which place: Bhagwanpur, Madhya Pradesh

195) Reserve Bank has extended the date for exchanging the pre-2005 banknotes to ___________: January 01, 2015

196) Name the politician who has authored the book India at Risk: Jaswant Singh

197) The book titled The Political Economy of Energy and Growth has been written by Sh. Najeeb Jung. Who is he: Lt. Governor of Delhi

198) Name the author of the book Be Careful What You

Wish for : Jaffrey Archer

199) Name the newly appointed governor of Kerala: Sheila Dikshit

200) As per the Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list, who has been declared as the world’s richest person: Bill Gates

201) Arvind Bhat won the Grand Prix Gold at the International German Open Championship of which sports: Badminton

202) World Wildlife Day is celebrated on which date: March 3

203) The newly formed State of Telangana is the _______ State of the Country: 29th

204) Federation Cup is linked to which popular sport: Volleyball

205) The National Football Championship is also known by which another name: Santosh Trophy

206) Santosh Trophy 2014 has been won by _______ State: Mizoram

207) Santosh Trophy 2014 final match was played at Siliguri. It is in which state: West Bengal

208) Gandhi Peace Prize is given for what purpose: For promotion of Gandhian principles for social empowerment

209) Who is the winner of Gandhi Peace Prize 2013: Chandi Prasad Bhatt

210) Chandi Prasad Bhatt, winner of Gandhi Peace Prize 2013 is from which field: Environmentalist, founder of ‘Chipko Movement’ to save forests

211) Govt has notified that ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) rules with effect from April 1, 2014 as part of which Act: Companies Act-2013

212) As per CSR norms, the big corporates are required to spend _____ per cent of their three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year, beginning 2014-15: Two

213) Uighur community of Islamic fanatics is active in which country: China

214) Name the place in Punjab that was in news on account of discovery of around 280 human skeletons of British era: Ajnala, Amritsar

215) India has made it mandatory for travellers coming to India from 7 countries to have which vaccine: Oral Polio Vaccine

216) The scheduled General Elections will elect how many members for the Lok Sabha: 543

217) General Election 2014 will constitute the ____ Lok Sabha of the country: 16th

218) Who is the Chief Election Commissioner of the India: V.S. Sampath

219) Which State of India has largest number – 80 of Lok


Sabha constituencies: Uttar Pradesh

220) The ____ is the 2nd largest state of India in terms of number of Lok Sabha Constituencies: Maharashtra (48)

221) Maharashtra has launched development of Shendre-Bidkin industrial city under DMIC project. What is the full form of DMIC: Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor

222) Name the country which is providing financial and technical support to India for DMIC project: Japan

223) Total deposits of the banking system in India are around Rs. ___ trillion: 76

224) Prime Minister of which country was recently ousted by its Parliament after passing a no-confidence motion against him: Libya

225) President of which country was recently ousted by its Parliament after passing a no-confidence motion against him: Ukraine

226) Name the President of Ukraine who was ousted by its Parliament: Viktor Yanukovych

227) International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards are to be held in which country from April 23-26: USA

228) Rakesh Sethi has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director of which bank: Allahabad Bank

229) Templeton Prize – 2014 has been awarded to Tomas Halik. Who is he: A priest from Czech Republic

230) Templeton Prize is given in recognition of which purpose: Promotion of Peace, Harmony and Spiritualism

231) To which neighbouring country in India has offered a $1 billion soft loan for infrastructure development: Bangladesh

232) Name the bank which is first in India to launch its own online payment intermediary: State Bank of India, SBI ePay

233) SWIFT India has tied up with nine domestic banks to provide financial messaging on transactions between banks and other financial institutions. What is the full form of SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication

234) The government has launched an ETF of central public sector enterprises, to raise 3,000 crore rupees for its disinvestment plan. What is the full form of ETF: Exchange-Traded Fund

235) R V Rahul won two gold and one silver in the 16th Asian Youth _________Championships at Bangsaen, Thailand: Weightlifting

236) National Hockey Championship (Men) 2014 has been won by__________: Air India

237) National Hockey Championship (Women) 2014 has

been won by__________: Railways

238) National Snooker Championship were held recently at which place: Lucknow, UP

239) ICC World T20 tournament, for both men and women are being played in which country: Bangladesh

240) Karnataka defeated Railways to lift the Vijay Hazare Trophy in which sports: Cricket

241) Michelle Bachelet has been elected as 1st women President of which country: Chile

242) 1st Asian Grand Prix Archery Championships were held at which place: Bangkok, Thailand

243) Name the veteran writer, historian, novelist, humorist and columnist who passed away recently: Khushwant Singh

244) Khushwant Singh was known for his popular column titled __________ that published in several newspapers: With Malice Towards One and All

245) Name the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India who was in news as he resigned three months ahead of the completion of his term: K. C. Chakrabarty

246) Name the country that has been expelled from G-8 Group of countries: Russia

247) The summit of G-8 nations that was to be held at Sochi, Russia will now be held at which place: Brussels, Belgium

248) Deodhar Trophy is linked with which sport: Cricket

249) Rakhigarhi, a place in Distt Hissar was in news recently for what reasons: Finding of vast remains of Harappan Civilizations

250) The Reserve Bank has extended the timeline for full implementation of the Basel III capital regulations by a year to which date: March 31, 2019

251) Who has been elected the President of El Salavador: Salvador Sanchez Ceren

252) Salvador Sanchez Ceren belongs to which political party: FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front

253) Name the province which has ceded from Ukraine and has now become part of Russia: Crimea

254) Name the capital of Ukraine: Kiev

255) Dr. M. Madan Babu has been awarded Protein Science Young Investigator Award by which international university: Cambridge University, UK

256) A commemorative postage stamp released in the honour of “Maulana Hasrat Mohani”. Who was he: Freedom Fighter

257) Global Ayurveda Festival was held at which place: Kochi, Kerala


258) ‘Braigo’ is the name of the _________ developed by a 12 years old Indian origin boy in USA: Braille Printer

259) ‘Venom GT’ is the name of the _______: Fastest Car

260) Ms. Laxmi has been honoured with International Women of Courage Award for what purpose: Successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on women in India

261) Name the Joint Indian and Nepal army military exercise held at Saljhandi in Rupandehi district, Nepal: Ex-Surya Kiran Drills VI

262) Name the winner for the 64th National Basketball Championship for Men: Chhattisgarh

263) Name the winner for the 64th National Basketball Championship for Women: Tamil Nadu

264) Which two States are the first to be issued with Plastic Photo Identity for elections in India: Nagaland and Assam

265) Who has been elected as the new Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC): Arjun Bahadur Thapa

266) Who has been appointed as “National Icon” by the Election Commission of India to spread awareness about the importance of voting and to urge people to cast their votes: Aamir Khan

267) The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) 2014 held at _________: The Hague, Netherlands

FEBRUARY – 2014 268) Central Statistical Office has revised growth rate for

the year 2012-13 to _______ per cent, from the earlier estimate of 5 per cent: 4.5

269) Indian Navy has started high tech Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) at INS Hansa at which place: Panaji, Goa

270) Name the country that accounts for 37% of total illiterates in the world: India

271) Mehdi Jomaa has been elected as ______ of Tunisia: Prime Minister

272) Name the new Chief Minister of Uttrakhand State: Harish Rawat

273) The final match of prestigious Ranji Trophy (2014) was played at which place: Hyderabad

274) Karnataka won the Ranji Trophy in Cricket by beating which State: Maharashtra

275) As per Environmental Performance Index 2014 released by the Yale University, USA, India has been ranked at which place: 155th

276) Which country has been ranked No. 1 in terms of its performance in various environment related

parameters: Switzerland

277) The govt. has decided to raise the quota of subsidized LPG cylinders from 9 to _____ in a year: 12

278) The govt. has decided to add about _______ castes and communities to the list of Other Backwards Castes in 13 states/UTs: 60

279) The govt. has decided to add about 60 casts and communities to the list of other backward cast in 13 states / UTs on the basis of recommendation of: National Commission for Backward Casts

280) 101st Indian Science Congress was held at _________: University of Jammu, J&K

281) Sakshi Malik won gold at the 2014 Dave Schultz International _______Tournament in Colorado Springs, USA: Wrestling

282) Name the first woman to be inducted in the International Cricket Council‘s (ICC’s) umpires’ panel: Kathy Cross

283) Kathy Cross is from which country: New Zealand

284) Name the high profile Indian technocrat who has been appointed as the CEO of Microsoft Inc., USA: Satya Nadela

285) Jatinder Bir Singh has been appointed Chairmen Managing Director of which Bank: Punjab & Sindh Bank

286) Name the Chairman of the seventh central pay commission: Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur

287) Philip Seymour Hoffman who passed away recently was a prominent ____ in USA: Film Actor

288) The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has issued an advisory to banks to ensure business continuity after Microsoft ends support for its popular _______operating system on April 8, 2014: Windows XP

289) The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to refinance existing _____loans through take-out financing: infrastructure project

290) India has signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) recently with which country: Fiji

291) India signed a preferential trade agreement with SACU. What is the full form of SACU: Southern African Customs Union

292) Joachim Gauck who recently visited India is _____ of Germany: President

293) Which country has offered support of one billion Euros to India for setting up a green energy corridor: Germany

294) In which field Ashok Khosla won Zayed’s international prize instituted by United Arab Emirates: Environment

295) Lakshmi Swaminathan has become the first Indian


to be elected as the President of the Administrative Tribunal of which International Organization: ADB (Asian Development Bank)

296) Which two countries have made arrangements for reunion of families separated by a war held between them in 1950-53: North and South Korea

297) India has decided to extend visa-on arrival to tourists of 180 nations barring_____ countries to boost tourism: Eight

298) The winter Olympic games held recently were ______ edition of the games: 22nd

299) 2014 winter Olympic games were held at which place: Sochi, Russia

300) Amongst the popular animals like Lion, Leopard, Polar Bear and the Hare, which one was not a mascot of the winter Olympics 2014: Lion

301) Name the newly elected prime minister of Nepal: Sushil Koirala

302) Name the winner of the 2014 Irani Cup: Karnataka

303) The Irani Cup is associated with which sports: Cricket

304) Per capita income for India in the year 2013-14 is likely to be in the range of _______ thousand rupees: 75

305) The country is likely to achieve record __________ million tonnes foodgrain production this year: 263

306) Agriculture in India contributes about ______ percent of total GDP: 14

307) Around _______ percent of total workforce of India is engaged in Agriculture: 53

308) As per a recent study, India has emerged as the _____largest global military power in terms of military expenditure: Ninth

309) The National Green Tribunal has banned the burning of _____ at public places: Tyres

310) Which country scored highest number of medals at Sochi Olympics-2014: Russia

311) 2014 Paralympic winter games will be held at ______ from 7th to 16th March, 2014: Sochi, Russia

312) World Islamic Tamil Conference was held at ______, Tamil Nadu: Kumbakonam

313) _____ has been elected as Chairman, International Cricket Council: N Srinivasan

314) Name the newly elected President of Indian Olympic Association: N. Ramachandran

315) ______ is a tool to measure level of industrial production at the national level: Index of Industrial Production

316) As per World Press Freedom Index, India has been ranked ________in the list of 180 countries in terms

of freedom of press: 140th

317) In terms of freedom of press, _______ is number one country in the world: Finland

318) Department of India Post released a commemorative stamp in the honour of which noted ghazal singer: Jagjit Singh

319) Name the noted Tamil film director and cinematographer who passed away recently: Balu Mahendra

320) Which wing of Indian defence forces conducted its annual war fitness exercise named TROPEX: Navy

321) Government mopped up around Rs 61,141 crore from the auction of 2G spectrum. Name the item / service sold by the government: Right to use part of radio waves spectrum

322) Government has decided to give two additional attempts to all categories of candidates of the prestigious exam conducted by Union Public Service Commission. What is the revised upper age: 32 years

323) Meeting of Finance ministers and business leaders from G20 nations was held at _______: Sydney, Australia

324) RBI has formed G Gopalakrishna committee for what purpose: To review skill upgradation in banking

325) _______has become first state to achieve more than 100 percent sanitation in rural and urban households and other public sanitary centers: Sikkim

326) RBI has directed banks to provide credit data in a revised format for all loan accounts of Rs. ____ crore or more to the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits-CRILC: Five

327) The government has set a deadline for public transport vehicles running in major cities with a population of over 10 lakh to install ____ devices by February 20, 2014: GPS (Global Positioning System)

328) Matteo Renzi has been elected as the youngest Prime Minister of which country: Italy

329) Licence for ATMs is given by Reserve Bank of India under which Act: Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007

330) _______ has been appointed as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India: Abdul Basit

331) ________ has been declared as the best State in the implementation of rural tourism projects: Sikkim

332) _______has emerged as the largest buyer of gold in the world in 2013: China

333) BAFTA award for best picture has been won by


________: 12 Years a Slave

334) Alfonso Cuaron won the BAFTA award for best Director for which movie: Gravity

335) Write the full form of BAFTA: British Academy of Film and Television Arts

336) BAFTA awards for cinema are given in which country: UK

337) Who has been named as the E & Y entrepreneur of the year 2013: Uday Kotak

338) Name the female cricketer who will lead the Indian women’s cricket team in the ICC Women's World Twenty20 to be held from March 16 in Bangladesh: Mithali Raj

339) The Union Cabinet has approved _____as the sixth classical language of India: Odia

340) Which of the following is not a classical language of India – Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam: Hindi

341) Name the capital of Ukraine that witnessed public revolt against the govt.: Kiev

342) Name the President of Ukraine who fled from his country following the public revolt against him: Viktor Yanukovych

343) The term Orange Revolution refers to which moment: Revolt in Ukraine in 2004

344) The Army successfully flight-tested Akash missile recently. It is what type of missile: Surface to Air

345) What is the name of the missile testing site of India: Integrated Test Range

346) The Integrated Test Range is located at which place: Wheeler Islands, Chandipur, Odisha

347) NABARD has developed the concept called Joint Liability Group (JLG) to provide institutional credit to which category of borrowers: Small Farmers

348) The economic growth rate during the 11th Five Years Plan (2007-12) has been recorded as __ per cent: 8

349) In terms of digital governance i.e. usage of information technology by govt., _____ has been ranked as No. 1 country: Singapore

350) Which national organization has introduced an annual rating system for states to enable them improve on their business climate: Planning Commission

351) Govt has directed that Companies and limited liability partnership firms floated by private entities should not use certain words such as _____ in their name: National, Bank, Exchange, etc.

352) The government has decided to roll out electronic toll collection on the Golden Quadrilateral route by August, 2014. Name the metros linked by Golden Quadrilateral: Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai

353) In what way persons not having proof of identity and address are allowed to enroll for Aadhaar Card: On introduction basis

354) The government has set an agriculture credit target of Rs ______ for the banks for 2014-15: 8 lakh crore

355) Sakhee, Nirbhaya, Parivar Suraksha are the names of the what type of products offered by Bhartiya Mahila Banks: Health Insurance

356) Which national level bank has launched its six basic banking transactions through toll-free numbers: HDFC Bank

357) The Rajya Sabha has passed The Whistleblowers’ Protection Bill. Who is whistleblower: Person who discloses information on corruption or wilful misuse of power by Public Servants

358) _____has been appointed as head of the eight-member search committee to select the persons for various posts of Lokpal: Justice K. T. Thomas

359) The Union government has launched an ambitious project titled ______to increase forest cover by 50 million hectares in the next 10 years: ‘Green Mission’

360) Forest cover in India covers roughly ____ per cent of total area: 21

361) The EC has added nearly ____ crore new voters to the rolls between 2009 and 2014, one of the largest-ever such increases between two elections: Ten

362) Name the Governor General of Canada who visited India recently: David Johnston

363) Indian labour force will help in construction of the 450 kms long Haramain High Speed Railway project in which country: Saudi Arabia

364) Which metropolitan city has recorded the worst Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 30 newborns dying for every 1,000 live births: New Delhi

365) Ibrahim Mahlab has been elected as new Prime Minister of which country: Egypt

366) 35th National Masters Athletic Championship held at____: Coimbatore, Kerala

367) What is the theme of this year’s World Cancer Day, observed on Feb. 4: 'Debunk the myths'

368) Ramanujan Mathematics Award-2013 has been given to ______ founder of Super 30 classes in Patna: Anand Kumar

369) What is the name of project launched by Govt. of India for cloud computing: Meghraj

370) Name the chairmen of the committee formed to examine the cause for violence and discrimination against people from the northeast: M.P. Bezbaruah


371) Vyas Samman is given for achievement in which field: Hindi Literature

372) Who has been honoured with Vyas Samman 2013: Vishwanath Tripathi

373) The book Vyomkesh Darvesh is a biography of which veteran Hindi Scholar: Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi

374) Arunima Sinha has been honoured with Amazing Indian Award for which achievement: Scaling Mount Everest despite having an amputed leg

375) With which country India has agreed to celebrate 2014 as year of friendly exchanges: China

376) In which train a Braille-embedded AC coach to facilitate visually challenged passengers has been introduced for the first time: Purushottam Express

377) Crystal Bear Award for best film is given at which international film festival: Berlin Film Festival

378) Name the Indian Film that won the Crystal Bear Award at Berlin Film Festival: Killa

379) Dr. Vijay Kumar Dongre and Prof. Guocheng Zhang have been awarded International Gandhi Award-2013 for what purpose: Making outstanding contributions in the field of leprosy treatment

380) India’s first Minority Cyber Gram (village) has been established at which place: Chandoli, Distt Alwar, Rajasthan

381) The book “Public Issues Before Parliament” has been authored by whom: Vijay Darda

382) What is the theme of the Taj Mahotsav 2014 held at Agra: Paigham-e-Mohabbat

383) Name the noted Hindi writer and Jnanpith Award winner who passed away recently: Amar Kant

384) Who has been appointed as Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes: R K Tiwari

385) Name the Indian submarine that suffered an accident on board, claiming life of two officers and injuring seven others: INS Sindhuratna

386) Name the Indian naval chief who created history by resigning on moral grounds, accepting his responsibility for recent mishaps in naval ships and submarines: Admiral D.K. Joshi

387) Name the country whose application for membership of WTO as its 160th member was approved at the Ministerial Conference held in Bali recently: Yemen

388) Govt. has agreed to pay half insurance premium for ________ to cover them under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: Auto and Taxi Drivers

389) What is the amount of coverage available under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: Rs. 30,000

390) ADB has agreed to give a loan of $300 million to which state for improvement of road network: Chhattisgarh

391) Prime Minister had gone to Myanmar to attained BIMSTEC summit. What is the full form of BIMNSTEC: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation

392) The BIMSTEC Summit was recently held at which place: Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

393) The first ATM for Post Office Saving Bank accounts was opened at which place: Thiyagaraya Nagar HPO, Chennai

394) A Sivathanu Pillai, Chief of BrahMos Aerospace has been honoured with ‘Order of Friendship’ award by which country: Russia

395) With which country India has signed a MoU for cooperation in the field of defence manufacturing: Saudi Arabia

396) With which country India signed three agreements for various security subjects: Israel

397) India is planning a multi-nation and multi modal transport corridor to connect with which Central Asian country: Russia

JANUARY – 2014 398) Paul Torday who passed away recently was a

famous ________: British Novelist

399) Which prominent educational organization of India is recently is celebrating 60 years of its completion: UGC (University Grants Commission)

400) Recently there was news headline – “US goes in for stimulus tapering”, what does it means: USA has decided to reduce purchase of long term maturity bonds

401) Name the state which won the 62nd Senior National Volleyball Championship (Men’s) held at Moradabad, UP: Tamil Nadu

402) Who has been appointed as Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC): General Bikram Singh

403) A Russian city was in news as it witnessed two ghastly terror attacks by suicide bombers, killing over thirty persons and seriously wounding several others. Name this city: Volgograd

404) The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to sanction loans of up to Rs. _______against pledge of gold ornaments and jewellery: Rs.1 lakh

405) Abdulla Gayoom has been elected as ____ of Maldives Islands: President

406) Vinod Kumar Duggal has been appointed Governor of which state: Manipur

407) Asha Khemka, a Bihar born eminent educationist has been awarded one of Britain's highest civilian


award-DAME COMMANDER of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for what purpose: For spreading education in deprived areas

408) The Mountain Strike Corps raised recently for countering China is based at which place: Ranchi (Jharkhand)

409) Corey Anderson, the New Zealand all-rounder was in news recently for what reasons: For scoring the quickest century ever in international cricket, taking just 36 balls

410) Name the MNC which has filed first proposal to enter the Indian Multi Brand retail segment: Tesco Plc, USA

411) How much FDI is permitted in multi brand retail segment: 51%

412) BCSBI has ruled that bank customers who have been victims of electronic / online fraud will have to be compensated for such loss unless the bank can prove that the fraud occurred due to negligence on part of the customer. What is the full form of BCSBI: Banking Codes and Standards Board of India

413) The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention held from 7-9 January in Delhi was ______ in series: 12th

414) Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated on which date: 9th January

415) Who was the chief guest at the 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention: G Palanivel

416) G Palanivel is from which country: Malaysia

417) Who is G Palanivel: Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia

418) 6th All India Inter-University Fencing Championship held at Patiala, Punjab was won by ___: Punjabi University Patiala

419) Margaret Thatcher was voted as the most successful post-war British Prime Minister. She is also known as _________: The ‘Iron Lady’ of Britain

420) What is the formal name of the Lokpal Bill recently approved by the President: Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013

421) What is the objective of recently launched Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programme: To address the problems of maternal and child under-nutrition in the country

422) Which country recently announced to adopt Euro as its currency: Latvia

423) Which country has been named to take over the Presidency of the European Union: Greece

424) The Index of Economic Freedom ranks India at _______ place: 120th

425) Name the country which ranks no. 1 in the Index of Economic Freedom – 2014: Hong Kong

426) The term EBID is used to indicate profits of a company. What is the full form of EBID: Earnings Before Interest and Depreciation

427) The government has approved a proposal to pay formal sector workers a minimum monthly pension of Rs ______ benefiting over 27 lakh pensioners: 1,000,

428) The Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income Households recently submitted its report. Name the chairman of this committee: Nachiket Mor

429) What was the purpose of setting up Mor committee: To propose measures for achieving better financial inclusion

430) Mor committee recommended that each Indian resident above the age of ___ with an individual Universal Electronic Bank Account (UEBA): 18 years

431) The Mor committee has recommended to form ‘payments banks’ for which category of customers: Small Businesses

432) Name the organization proposed to be formed for exploring the potential of generating power through wind energy: National Offshore Wind Energy Agency

433) Name the first lady President of South Korea who visited India recently: Park Geun-hye

434) Name the capital of South Korea: Seoul

435) 44th annual meeting of World Economic Forum – WEF was held at which place: Davos, Switzerland

436) What is the formal name of the mega literature festival held annually in Jaipur, Rajasthan: Jaipur Literature Festival

437) Name the dignitary who made the inaugural key note speech at the Jaipur Literature Festival: Dr. Amartya Sen

438) Dr. Amartya Sen is from which field: Economics

439) World Banks has approved a loan of $ 500 million to the Low Income States (Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh) for what purpose: To improve piped water supply and sanitation services

440) A news headline read, “India joins ‘Cryo Club’ with GSLV-D5”. What is meant by Cryo Club: India has joined is select group of countries having cryogenic engine technology

441) How many countries, other than India have the capability of cryogenic engine capability: Five – USA, Russia, France, Japan & China

442) In the abbreviation GSLV-D5, the letter D5 stands for what: 5th Development Flight

443) Name the satellite that was recently launched by GSLV-D5: GSAT-14


444) GSAT-14 satellite is used for what purpose: Communication

445) Jigme Wangchuck who recently visited India is ____ of Bhutan: King

446) Name the hilly district of central Assam that was in news as it witnessed widespread violent clashes between the ethnic insurgent Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT) and the Rengma Naga Hills Protection Force (RNHPF): Karbi Anglong

447) What is the name of the official mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup to be held in Brazil in June: Fuleco the Armadillo

448) Laimdota Straujuma has been elected as the first woman Prime Minister of which country: Latvia

449) India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile. What is the strike range of this missile: 350 kms

450) At which place in Haryana the foundation stone was laid for a 2800 megawatt nuclear power plant: Gorakhpur, Distt. Fatehabad (Haryana)

451) Govt. has decided to widen the scope of MGNREGS to include works relating to_______ also in it in collaboration with the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan: Rural sanitation

452) What is the objective of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan: To make India free from open defecation

453) Ali Larayedh, Islamist Prime Minister of _______ was in news as he resigned as part of a plan to end months of political deadlock. Tunisia

454) Name the country from which started the wide spread uprising of common public, called Arab Spring: Tunisia

455) Recently Posco was granted environmental clearance to build Rs 52,000 crore steel plant in Odisha. It is from which country: South Korea

456) India’s largest and most modern airport has recently been inaugurated in which city: Mumbai

457) What is the formal name of the new airport terminal started at Mumbai: Terminal – 2, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

458) World’s largest railway platform is located at which place: Gorakhpur (UP) India

459) Aitizaz Hasan, a 15 year old school boy in Pakistan was decorated with the Sitara-e-Shujaat — a high civilian award for bravery, for what purpose: He died confronting a suicide bomber to save his school

460) Ariel Sharon who passed away recently was a prominent ____: Statesman

461) Ariel Sharon was a former Prime Minister of which country: Israel

462) In the Nuclear Materials Security Index 2014

released by the US-based think-tank Nuclear Threat Initiative, India has been placed at which rank: 23rd

463) India has completed three years without reporting any case of polio. The official confirmation in this regard has to be issued by which international organization: WHO – World Health Organization

464) Name the Awami League leader of Bangladesh who was sworn-in as Prime Minister for the third time: Sheikh Hasina

465) In a list of 30 most admired persons on the planet compiled by by YouGov for The Times by surveying almost 14,000 people, India’s Sachin Tendulkar has been placed at which rank: 5th

466) Who is the most admired person in the world as per a recent survey by YouGov for The Times: Bill Gates

467) Sanil Shetty and Ankita Das bagged the men’s and women’s titles respectively at the 75th Senior National _________ championships held at Patna: Table Tennis

468) The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction 2013 has been won by ____ for his novel _______: Anees Salim, Vanity Bagh

469) The prestigious $50,000 DSC prize for South Asian literature is awarded at which event: Jaipur Literature Festival

470) The prestigious $50,000 DSC prize for South Asian literature has been won by ________ for his book ________: Cyrus Mistry, Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer

471) Govt. has agreed to provide an additional 50 days of employment beyond the stipulated 100 days under the NREGA scheme to which category of people: Scheduled Tribes (ST) households living in forest areas who have received land rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006

472) Name the Asia’s largest brackish water lake: Chilika backwater lagoon, Odisha

473) Chilika backwater lagoon is famous for______: Massive gathering of migratory birds

474) The word brackish refers to what quality of water: Excess of Salt

475) The Golden Globe Awards are given in which field: Cinema and TV

476) The Golden Globe Awards are given in which country: USA

477) Name the film that won the Golden Globe for the best film: 12 Years a Slave

478) Alfonso Cuaron of Mexico won the Golden Globe for Best Director for which film: Gravity

479) Name the index recently launched by the government to measure level of house construction


activity: Housing Start Up Index (HSUI)

480) The recently launched Housing Start Up Index is a joint initiative of which two organizations: National Building Organisation and the Reserve Bank

481) Indian railways entered a new territory recently in which part of the country: Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh

482) Govt. has recently sold its 10% stake in which mega oil company to raise around Rs. 5000 crore: Indian Oil Corporation

483) Name the legendary Bengali actress who died recently, known for her outstanding performances in several Bengali and Hindi films: Suchitra Sen

484) Late Suchitra Sen was also properly known as _____ of Indian cinema: Greta Garbo

485) Greta Garbo of Sweden was a renowned legendary _____ of Hollywood: Actress

486) Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin who passed away recently was the spiritual head of which community: Dawoodi Bohra

487) Dawoodi Bohra committee is a sub group of which religion: Islam

488) Sunanda Pushkar who passed away recently was holding which ministry in the central government: None

489) Akkineni Nageswara Rao, veteran actor of _____ cinema passed away recently. He was popularly known as _____ : Telugu, ANR

490) The famous historical cultural event - Jonbeel Mela is held in which state: Assam

491) Name the India’s nuclear-capable strategic missile, with a strike range of about 4,000 km tested successfully: Agni-IV

492) Which community has recently been granted minority status by the central government: Jains

493) What is the present number of minority communities in India: Six

494) Under which Act government grants minority status to a community: National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992

495) Name the multinational multi sports event in India where sportspersons from Portuguese speaking countries participate: Lusofonia Games

496) Lusofonia Games 2014 were held at which place: Goa

497) The 18th National Youth Festival was held at which place: Ludhiana

498) What was the theme for the 18th National Youth Festival: 'Youth For Drugs Free World'

499) The National Youth Festival is organized every year on January 12th for what reasons: It is birth

anniversary of Swami Vivekananda

500) Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to constitute a Rail Tariff Authority for what purpose: To advise the Railway Ministry on fares

501) Which is the apex authority in India authorize to fix the railway fare: Railway Board

502) Name the two districts of Haryana that have recently been included in the National Capital Region: Jind and Karnal

503) The 61st Senior National Kabaddi Championship were held at which place: Patna, Bihar

504) Government has approved setting up of the AKIC Development Corporation for what purpose: For the development of Amritsar – Kolkata Industrial Corridor

505) Name the mega infrastructure project being developed by the central government for promoting industrial townships between Delhi and Mumbai: Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)

506) What is the objective of setting up of various industrial corridors: To boost up infrastructure and manufacturing activity

507) Name the three countries that have decided to develop a joint trade corridor with India: Bangladesh, China and Myanmar

508) The multination joint trade corridor proposed to be developed will start from ____ in India and run up to ____ in SW China: Kolkata, Kunming

509) The ATP Chennai Open Tennis title was won by Stanislas Wawrinka. He is from which country: Switzerland

510) Name the programme launched recently to comprehensively address the health needs of the nearly 243 million children of the country: Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram

511) The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakaram aims to cover children in the age group of ___ to ___ yeas: 10 to 19 years

512) What is the English name of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakaram: National Adolescent Health Programme

513) The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakaram has been launched by which ministry in the central government: Health and Family Welfare

514) Name the ace badminton player who became the first male junior badminton player from India to be ranked top in the world by the World Badminton Federation (WBF): Aditya Joshi

515) Name the country which suffered recently the coldest, most dangerous blast of polar air in decades, causing wide spread extremely heavy snowfall leading to total disruption of daily life: USA

516) Name the climatic phenomena that cause wide


spread dangerous blast of polar air in USA and adjoining Canada: Polar Vortex

517) Evans Ruto of _____ won the 11th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon: Kenya

518) The Hero Hockey World League championship held at New Delhi was won by ______ beating ______: Netherlands, New Zealand

519) Name the international football player who has been declared as the best footballer of the year by FIFA: Cristiano Ronaldo

520) Cristiano Ronaldo is from which country: Portugal

521) The interest rate on EPFO has been increase to _______ percent from 8.5 percent at present: 8.75

522) Name the light weight pistol specially developed by the Indian Ordnance Factory especially for women to defend themselves from assault: Nirbheek

523) Who has been named as the captain of the Indian Women Cricket Team: Mithali Raj

524) Name the joint naval exercise undertaken by the Indian coast guard and its Japanese counterpart: ‘Sahayog- Kaijin 2014’

525) ‘Sahayog- Kaijin 2014’ - a joint naval exercise was recently held at which place: off the Kochi coast, Kerala

526) Malaysian Open 2014 tournament was held for which sports: Badminton

527) Name the winner of Men’s single title in the Malaysian Open 2014 tournament: Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia

528) Name the winner of Women’s single title in the Malaysian Open 2014 tournament: Li Xuerui, China

529) Name the cricketer who became the first Indian wicket keeper to claim 300 dismissals in One Day Internationals: M.S. Dhoni

530) Playing against which country M S Dhoni achieved the milestone of claiming 300 dismissals: New Zealand

531) At which border post India and Pakistan have agreed to liberalize various trade activities: Attari Wagah Border

532) Name the state that has been ranked No. 1 in implementation of SJSRY programme during 2012-13: Odisha

533) What is the full form of the poverty alleviation programme SJSRY: Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana

534) Which category of persons are eligible to obtain bank loan under SJSRY: BPL families in urban area

535) Name the poverty alleviation scheme of the central government for providing bank loans to BPL families

in rural area: Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana

536) Name the poverty alleviation scheme of the central government for providing bank loans to non BPL families in both rural and urban areas: Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme

537) RBI has advised banks that amount of loans sanctioned by them against pledge of gold jewellery should not exceed ____ per cent of the value of the gold: 75

538) The Reserve Bank has constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of _____(former Chairman of Axis Bank) to review governance of boards of banks: P. J. Nayak

539) Name the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India who recently retired from the service: Anand Sinha

540) Name the state that topped in the first ever ranking of state governments on the basis of their performance and implementation of the midday meal scheme: Karnataka

541) In which stream of studies government has decided to increase the number of seats in the country by 10,000 by upgrading existing state and central government colleges: MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery)

542) The Union Cabinet has approved a new comprehensive regulatory framework for TV rating agencies for release of TRPs. What is the full form of TRPs: Television Rating Points

543) Which international monetary organization has projected India’s growth rate for current year at 4.4%: IMF

544) RBI has decided that for the purpose of external commercial borrowings (ECB), 'Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul’ (MRO) of _______will be treated as a part of infrastructure: Aircrafts

545) Why RBI has decided that all banknotes issued prior to 2005 will be withdrawn after March 31, 2014: These have less security features compared to notes issued thereafter

546) What is the maximum amount of pre 2005 currency notes that an individual can exchange at a bank at a time: No such limit

547) Rakesh Khurana has recently been appointed dean of which prestigious international educational institution: Harvard College, at Harvard University, USA

548) Name the India’s first indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine, that is now ready for sea trials: INS Arihant

549) Name the first Indian State to adopt the provisions of the recently passed Lokpal Act: Uttarakhand

550) Which committee appointed by RBI has


recommended that retail inflation should be measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and not by the wholesale price index as being done currently: Urjit Patel Committee

551) Urjit Patel Committee has recommended to bring the retail inflation rate down at ____ per cent with a band of +/- 2 per cent: Four

552) Who has been appointed as the new President of NASSCOM: R. Chandrashekhar

553) What is the full form of NASSCOM: National Association of Software and Services Companies

554) The Jeevan Raksha Padak are given in how many categories: Three

555) Name the Supercomputer developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) that has been rated as India’s most power efficient computer system: PARAM Yuva-II

556) Which bank has became first domestic private bank to have a branch in China: Axis Bank

557) Which country India has signed a labour cooperation to cover about 28 lakh Indian expatriates working there: Saudi Arabia

558) Name the Japanese PM who was the Chief Guest at the 2014 Republic Day Parade: Shinzo Abe

559) For the expansion which major rapid transport project Japan has sanctioned a loan of $2 billion: Delhi Metro

560) Kerala tourism has won the top tourism award from UNWTO for the promotion of which back water resort: Kumarakom

561) What is the full form of abbreviation UNWTO: United Nations World Tourism Organization

562) The ambitious National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), aimed at providing adequate and efficient urban public health delivery system for the urban poor, was launched recently at which place: Bangalore

563) The National Urban Health Mission plans to cover urban poor for healthcare. Which areas will be treated as urban for this purpose: Areas with population of over 50,000

564) With which country India is working on developing a satellite designed for climate change studies: France

565) Which public sector bank has announced to increase its presence in the social media by joining Youtube and Twitter: State Bank of India

566) The government has introduced a new procedure for issuance of PAN card as per which now the applicants will have to submit a documentary proof of _______ also: Address

567) RBI has decided to establish a fund to be called

‘Depositor Education and Awareness Fund’ from which source: By taking over amount lying in unclaimed deposit accounts with banks

568) As per Banking Regulation Act, 1949, an unclaimed deposit account is one in which there is no transaction for past ___ or more years: 10

569) International Marconi Prize is given for achievements in which field: Communication Technology

570) Government has decided not to present regular budget for the year 2014 – 15 in view of upcoming general elections. It will instead present the ______ for 2014-15 in Lok Sabha: Vote on Account

571) Name the film that won 2014 Filmfare award for the best film: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

572) Name the director of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag who also won the Filmfare award for Best Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

573) Who has been declared the winner of 2014 Filmfare award for the Best actor: Farhan Akhtar for BMB

574) Deepika Padukone has won the 2014 Filmfare award for best actress for which film: Goliyon Ki Raslila Ram - Leela

575) Asia’s biggest botanical garden will come up on 153 hectares of area near the Khandwa reservoir, in Naya Raipur, in which State: Chhattisgarh

576) Men’s title in Australian Open Tennis Cup was won by which player: Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)

577) Women’s title in Australian Open Tennis Cup was won by which player: Li Na of China

578) Grammy Awards are given for achievements in which field: Music

579) Name the musical album that won the 2014 Grammy for best album of the year: Random Access Memories by Daft Punk

580) What is the maximum number (excluding posthumous awards and award to foreigners) of Padma Awards that can be given in a year: 120

581) A Padma Vibhushan awardee gets a cash reward of what amount: Nil

582) Padma Awards are announced every year on which particular date: Eve of Republic Day (25th January)

583) Dr Raghunath A Mashelkar has been awarded Padma Vibhushan in science and engineering category. He is from which field of science: Chemical Technology

584) Name the veteran Yoga maestro decorated with the Padma Vibhushan: BKS Iyengar

585) The Yoga form propagated by Padma Vibhushan awardee Sh. B K S Iyengar is known as: Iyengar


Yoga

586) Name the iconic Tamil film actor, producer who has been awarded Padma Bhushan recently: Kamala Hasan

587) Name the renowned badminton coach decorated with Padma Bhushan in 2014: Pullela Gopichand

588) What is the current assignment of Justice Dalveer Bhandari who has been awarded Padma Bhushan recently: Judge in International Court of Justice

589) Name the women cricket star who has been awarded Padma Shri recently: Anjum Chopra

590) Sudarsan Pattnaik has been awarded Padma Shri recently. He is from which field: Renowned Sand artist

591) Reserve bank has announced issuance of Inflation Indexed National Savings Certificates (IINSC) to offer an inflation savvy investment option. These ______ year Bonds will earn interest equal to the CPI inflation rate plus ____ per cent per annum: 10, 1.50

592) Which country has decided to make military service compulsory for all adult males aged between 18 and 30, but kept it optional for women: United Arab Emirates

593) Name the Russian martial art that has earned recognition of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) for inclusion in the Asian Games: Sambo

594) DRDO recently launched Dhruva-3 for promoting critical applications for defence research and development, particularly in advanced aircraft designing defence research. What is Dhruva-3: High performance computing system

595) In a recently compiled environmental performance index of 178 countries, India has been placed at ____ position: 155th

596) With what intention Reserve Bank hiked key policy interest rates by 0.25%: To tame inflation

597) What will be the impact of recent 0.25% hike in repo rate on Bank Loans: They are likely to become costly due to rise in interest rate

598) What will be the impact of recent 0.25% hike in repo rate on industrial growth: Likely to come down due to higher cost of funds

599) Name the Super Jumbo Aircraft, capable of carrying over 850 passengers at a time, that has been allowed to land in India: A-380 of Airbus

600) Central Vigilance Commission was in news recently for what reasons: Celebrating 50 years of its existence

601) Prime Minister of which country resigned recently to counter widespread political protests in the country against harsh anti protest laws: Ukraine

602) Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton championship was held at which place: Lucknow, UP

603) Govt has launched the India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF), with the initial corpus of Rs 500 crore for what purpose: To promote profitable venture that take care of social needs also

604) Which State has launched 'Ama Jangal Yojana' (AJY) to enhance forest cover in the state: Odisha

605) Name the jumbo naval exercise of 16 navies from the Indian ocean region being held in 2nd week of February: Milan 2014

606) The joint exercise of 16 navies from the Indian ocean region – Milan 2014 will be held at which place: Near Andaman & Nicobar Islands

607) To which country Exim Bank has agreed to provide a Line of Credit of $ 19.50 million: Vietnam

608) ADB has agreed to give $100 million loan to which state for boosting education and skills there: Meghalaya

609) To which category of customers RBI has allowed collection of account payee cheques even for third party accounts: Cooperative Credit Societies

610) With which country India has agreed to set up a $40 million joint fund to support technological ventures for consolidating and strengthening economic ties: Israel

611) Which national organization has decided to set up 100 innovation hubs at an outlay of Rs 99 crore, throughout the country by 2017: National Innovation Council

612) Who is the head of the National Innovation Council: Sam Pitroda

613) Which state in India has announced the highest MSP of Rs. 1560 per quintal for paddy crop: Bihar

614) J N Chaudhury has been appointed Director General of which paramilitary force: National Security Guard

615) India’s first Mono Rail has started operation in which city: Mumbai

DECEMBER – 2013 616) As per the figures released by CSO, in GDP growth

in 2nd quarter was ______ per cent: 4.8

617) Core sector is a part of index of industrial production. Its weightage in IIP is _____ per cent in IIP: 37.90

618) Gaganjeet Bhullar is top rank player of which sports: Golf

619) Name the Emperor and Empress of Japan who recently visited India: Akihito and Michiko


620) Shinzo Abe is the Prime Minister of which country: Japan

621) What is the name of the currency of Japan: Yen

622) Name the capital of Japan: Tokyo

623) India’s cricket team captain MS Dhoni has recently been honoured with which international award: ICC LG People’s Choice Award - 2013

624) Tour de India championship is organized in which sports: Cycling

625) Tour de India championship was won by Mohd. Nor Umradi. He is from which country: Malaysia

626) India has agreed to train naval officers of which country: Sri Lanka

627) Name the international event recently won by ace shuttler of India – P V Sindhu: Macau Open Grand Prix

628) 29th Junior National Athletics Championships was held in which place: Bangalore

629) Name the state which won 29th Junior National Athletics Championship: Kerala

630) Who has been named at Chief Executive of Indian Banks Association: Mohan V Tanksale

631) Are foreign banks allowed to become member of Indian Bank Association: Yes

632) Who has been named as the new Chief Information Commissioner: Sushma Singh

633) As per Right to Information Act, any person seeking information has to be provided the required information within ____ days: 30

634) In corruption ranking of countries by the international watchdog Transparency International, India has been ranked at which place: 94th

635) Nelson Mandela, the iconic statesman from South Africa passed away recently. He was called _________ out of love and affection: Madiba

636) Mandela was known for his anti-apartheid struggle. What is the meaning of apartheid: Observing racial discrimination

637) Why Mr. Mandela was honoured with India’s highest civilian award – Bharat Ratna: Because he followed Gandhian philosophy and values in his fight against apartheid

638) India has been ranked at ______ place in terms of doing business, by a survey done by Forbes magazine: 98th

639) 57th National Shooting championship was held at which place: New Delhi

640) The Sankirtana, a ritual form of singing, drumming and dancing has been included in UNESCO’s list of “intangible heritage”. It belongs to which state of India: Manipur

641) US dollar is the largest used currency in the world, having 81.08% share in international transactions. Which is the currency at the second place: Yuan-8.66% (China)

642) Yuan, the currency of China is also called ______: Renminbi

643) Name the country that has recently been elected as a non permanent member of the UN security council: Jordan

644) Name the country that has recently refused to join Security Council, despite being elected as a non permanent member: Saudi Arabia

645) Why Saudi Arabia did not accept the membership of UN Security Council: To protest the world body’s failure to end the Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts

646) Alyz Henrich has been crowned as Miss _______2013: Earth

647) Miss Earth 2013 – Alyz Henrich is from which country: Venezuela

648) Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das recently won silver and bronze medal respectively at which international sports event: Indoor Archery World Cup

649) Indoor Archery World Cup was held at which place: Singapore

650) Which country has been named as host for the FIFA World Cup-2017 (Under-17): India

651) Name the light combat air craft (LCA) that has been inducted in Indian Air Force: Tejas

652) Name the aircraft that has recently been retired from the Indian Air Force: Mig-21

653) Mr. Sumit Bose has been appointed to which important central government position: Finance Secretary

654) Who has been named as the “Person of the Year” by the international magazine Time: Pope Francis

655) Who is Pope Francis: Supreme Head of Roman Catholics

656) Gen. Bikram Singh was recently honoured with Legion of Merit by which country: USA

657) Trade deficit of India came down to less than $10 billion in Nov. 2013. What was the single most important factor for this: Reduction in import of gold

658) Asian lending agency ADB has projected India’s growth at ______ percent for the year 2013-14: 4.7%

659) In which area scientists have recently discovered the coldest place on earth: East Antarctica

660) The prestigious international Sundance Film Festival is held in which country: USA


661) Name the bank from Qatar which has become the first bank from that country to open a branch in India: Doha Bank

662) In a recent international survey on ranking of economies on the basis of their efficiency in utilization of energy, India has been placed at _____ rank: 69th

663) What is the full of the abbreviation NSSO: National Sample Survey Office

664) The Reserve Bank has estimated that India's economy would grow about ______ per cent in FY 2013-14: Five

665) As per latest census 2011 data, ______ percent Indian population has been categorized as homeless: 8.8

666) Govt. has decided to provide a monetary support of Rs. _______ to every NREGA job cardholder who plans to build a toilet in his house: 10,000

667) In what manner govt. has decided to link up two major welfare schemes – NREGA and Indira Awaas Yojana: Labour constructing their own house under IAY will get NREGA wages

668) Under Indira Awaas Yojana, a sum of Rs. ___________ is provided to BPL families in plain areas for constructing their house: 70,000

669) Under Indira Awaas Yojana, a sum of Rs. ___________ is provided to BPL families in hilly areas for constructing their house: 75,000

670) In which North-Eastern state cultivation of popular spice cardamom is picking up: Arunachal Pradesh

671) As per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill approved by the cabinet, the reservation for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) has been raised to ___ per cent from three at present: Five

672) C. V. R. Rajendran has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director of which bank: Andhra Bank

673) Name the country that succeeded in landing a lunar probe on moon recently, becoming first country to do so since 1976: China

674) Sis Ram Ola, who passed away recently, was a prominent ________: Politician, Union Labour and Employment Minister

675) Who has been elected as the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan: Vasundhara Raje

676) Pu Lalthanhawla has been elected as Chief Minister for the fourth time in which state: Mizoram

677) Name the person who has been elected as Banker of the Year 2013 by the financial daily Business Standard: Aditya Puri

678) Aditya Puri is the chief of which bank: HDFC Bank

679) 4th edition of Kabaddi World Cup was won by which

country in Men’s category: India (beating Pakistan)

680) 4th edition of Kabaddi World Cup was won by which country in Women’s category: India (beating New Zealand)

681) The finals of 4th edition of Kabaddi World Cup were played at which place: Ludhiana (Punjab)

682) Mahesh Mangaonkar has become the first Indian player to win an International Title in which game: Squash

683) Name the shooter who won the ‘Champion of Champions’ title in pistol event in the final round in the 57th National Shooting Championships at New Delhi: Samresh Jung

684) Name the international beauty title won by Bea Rose Santiago of Philippines: Miss International 2013

685) Report from UNO has lowered India’s economic growth forecast for 2013 to ______per cent from 6.1 per cent projected earlier: 4.8

686) Parliament has finally passed the Lokpal Bill. What is the objective of setting up of a Lokpal: Establishment of an anti-corruption watchdog that will have in its purview even the office of the Prime Minister

687) Recently India displayed its strong displeasure against the rough treatment met to one of its diplomat posted at US consulate. Name that diplomat: Devyani Khobragade

688) Name the international convention which guarantees diplomatic immunity to persons posted in various embassies / consulates: Vienna Convention

689) Name the veteran cricket player selected for the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award for the year 2013 by BCCI: Kapil Dev

690) Name the international financial institution that has agreed to lend $176 million to extend the first metro train line in Jaipur: Asian Development Bank

691) V. K. Duggal has been appointed as the new governor of which state: Manipur

692) Who has been appointed as the India’s new Ambassador to USA: S. Jaishankar

693) Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) is located at which place in India: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

694) India and Pakistan had a dispute on the sharing of waters of which river that was settled in favour of India by the International Court of Arbitration : Kishan Ganga

695) Kishenganga Hydro Electric Project is located in which state: Jammu & Kashmir

696) India and San Marino, a tiny country within Italy, signed the TIEA between them at Rome. Write the full form of TIEA:


Tax Information Exchange Agreement

697) With which country government has approved the enhancement of the bilateral currency swap arrangement to $ 50 billion, up from $ 15 billion at present: Japan

698) Govt. has cleared a services and investment deal with 10-member ASEAN group as part of CECA. What is the full form of CECA: Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement

699) India has signed DTAA with Macedonia, a small country north of Greece, to prevent income tax evasion by entities in both the countries. What is the full form of DTAA: Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement

700) What is the range of Agni-III missile recently test fired by India: 3000 kms

701) The missile testing site of India – Integrated Test Range is located at which place: Wheeler Island, Near Chandipur, Distt Balasore, Odisha

702) Name the organization which is responsible for developing and testing various missiles for Indian Army: DRDO – Defence Research & Development Organization

703) Who is the Head of DRDO: Shri Avinash Chander

704) Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai are the current national champions in women and men category respectively in which sport: Archery

705) 34th Senior National Archery championship were held at which place: Jamshedpur, Jharkhand

706) PV Sindhu and K Srikanth clinched the women's and men's National titles respectively in which sport: Badminton

707) 78th Senior National Badminton Championships was held at which place: New Delhi

708) In the 9th Ministerial Conference of WTO held in Bali, Indonesia, what was the major achievement for India: India will continue to support its farmers with MSP-Minimum Support Price

709) Recently govt. has launched a four day anti-Naxal operation involving close to 40,000 security personnel in which states: Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra

710) Govt has agreed to grant constitutional status to the proposed JAC for appointment and transfer of judges. What is full form of JAC: Judicial Appointments Commission

711) India’s first National Cancer Institute is to be established in which state: Haryana

712) Name the South-African all rounder cricketer who has announced is retirement from Test and First Class cricket: Jacques Kallis

713) As per recent data the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) — number of women who die of pregnancy-

related causes per 1,00,000 live births — has come down to _______ in 2010-12, from 212 in 2007-09: 178

714) In India which state has the lowest MMR of 66 per lac: Kerala

715) In India which state has the Highest MMR of 328 per lac: Assam

716) J N Chaudhury has been appointed Chief of which paramilitary force: National Security Guard

717) Who has been appointed as new Director General of Central Industrial Security Force: Arvind Ranjan

718) Who has been honoured with Polly Umrigar Award from the BCCI for being India’s best international cricketer of the year 2012-13: Ravichandran Ashwin

719) What is the official growth rate fixed by the planning commission for the 12th five year plan: 8%

720) In the first half (April-September) of the current fiscal FY2013-14, the economy grew by _______per cent: 4.6

721) India has signed a mega contract of $1.01 billion with which country for six additional C-130J "Super Hercules" jumbo military cargo aircrafts: USA

722) Farooq Sheikh who passed away recently was a prominent ___________: Film Actor

NOVEMBER – 2013 723) Rajendra Yadav who passed away recently was from

which field: Literature

724) Rajendra Yadav was a eminent short story writer and novelist of which language: Hindi

725) As per a recent study, India has been ranked ______ in terms of ‘Ease of Doing Business’: 134th

726) In terms of Ease of Doing Business _______ is no. 1 in the world: Singapore

727) The WTA Tour Championship title for 2013 was lifted by which player: Serena Williams

728) The full form of WTA in WTA Tour Championship is: Women’s Tennis Association

729) The WTA Tour Championship was held at which place: Istanbul, Turkey

730) As per Forbes magazine’s latest India Rich List, ________ has been named as India’s wealthiest person for the sixth year in a row: Mukesh Ambani

731) Mukesh Ambani is the corporate head of which industries: Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL)

732) Recently we read in the newspaper that an ATM has been launched for ‘Bitcoins’. What is the Bitcoins: It is a digital currency, popular worldwide

733) Ashok Amritraj, producer of 109 Hollywood films, for his outstanding achievements in the film industry


has been honourd with which award: Soul of India Award

734) Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award for 2013 has been given to film celebrity: Amitabh Bachchan

735) Name the new tactical surface-to-surface missile based on the Prahaar missile, with a range between 60-170 kms: Pragati Missile

736) In a recent global study of tourism, which Indian State has been named as best region to visit in 2014: Sikkim

737) The World Billiards Championship was held at ______, England: Leeds

738) Name the winner of World Billiards Championship 2013: Peter Gilchrist

739) Peter Gilchrist the world Champion of Billiards is from which country: Singapore

740) Sachin played his last match in domestic cricket at which place: Lahli, Haryana

741) In which tournament, Sachin played his last domestic test match: Ranji Trophy

742) The govt has recently approved an education promotion programme by the name RUSA. What is the full form RUSA: Rashtriya Uchchatar Siksha Abhiyan

743) What is the objective of starting the educational project RUSA: Improving quality and number of universities / colleges in country

744) With which country India has agreed to export motorcycles through the land route: Bangladesh

745) As per recent RBI guidelines banks have been allowed to pay interest on their deposit accounts at _______ intervals: Monthly / Fortnightly

746) Most of the banks recover a fixed fee from their customers for sending them SMS alerts for their transactions. What are the recent RBI guidelines in this regard: Charge to be recovered actual usage basis

747) As per Forbes ranking of The world’s most powerful people, _________ has been ranked as No. 1: Vladimir Putin

748) What position is held by Mr. Vladimir Putin: President, Russia

749) Recently first time a rail link was opened linking the two continents – Asia and Europe in which country: Turkey

750) In a list of most powerful persons of the world compiled by Forbes Magazine, ____ ____ has been named as most powerful women: Angela Markel (5th)

751) K P Saxena who passed away recently was a noted________: Hindi Satirist

752) Name the international beauty title won by Ms.

Srishti Rana: Miss Asia Pacific 2013

753) In the 'Prosperity Index' ranking of 142 countries compiled by London-based Legatum Institute, India stood at ______ position: 106th

754) Name the legendry Pakistani female folk singer who passed away recently: Reshma

755) The Hockey World Cup- 2014 will be held at which place: The Hague, Netherlands

756) The first joint retreat ceremony of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) was held which place: Petropole border in district North 24 Parganas, West Bengal

757) Name the Indian batsman who created history by scoring world’s highest ever sixes – 16 in an ODI: Rohit Sharma

758) With which country India has signed an agreement to facilitate transfer of sentenced prisoners languishing in jails in the two countries: Vietnam

759) The 13th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) was held in: Perth, Australia

760) Sebastian Vettel, the reigning Formula One world champion from Germany created history by winning _______ formula races in one year: 9

761) Name the film that won the Golden Gateway of India award for the best film at the 15th Mumbai Film Festival: La Jaula De Oro (of Mexico)

762) Geeta Chandran who has been honourd with Guru Debaprasad Award is from which filed: Bharatnatyam

763) Name the UN agency which has taken up a nationwide social media campaign against open defecation in India: UNICEF

764) Name the social media campaign launched by UNICEF against open defecation in India: Take the Poo to Loo

765) As regard to service conditions of civil servants, what was the recent ruling of Supreme Court: They should not be transferred frequently

766) Which country won the Ashihara Sabaki World Karate Championship: Romania

767) the Ashihara Sabaki World Karate Championship was held at which place: Bucharest, Romania

768) The Paris Masters Tennis tournament was won by ______ Djokovic: Novak

769) Tennis star Novak Djokovic is from which country: Serbia

770) To which country India has provided Rs. 100 crores as a grant for their Economic Stimulus Plan: Bhutan

771) World Agriculture Forum Congress 2013 and Agri-


Tech Trade Fair was held at which place: Hyderabad (AP)

772) FIDE world chess championship, was held at which place: Chennai

773) What is the full form of chess championship FIDE: World Chess Federation (Federation Internationale des Echecs)

774) What is the full form of Agricultural mission NFSM: National Food Security Mission

775) What is the name of joint naval exercise recently held by navies of Indian and USA: Malabar

776) The naval exercise Malabar by Indian and US Navy was held at which place: Off the coast of Tamil Nadu in Bay of Bengal

777) Pakistan successfully tested its ______, Hatf IX (Nasr) having a range of 60 kms: Missile

778) The maneuvering and tracking of Mangalyaan is being done by ISTRAC. Write its full form: ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network

779) The satellite tracking centre ISTRAC is located at which place: Bangalore

780) India’s first interplanetary space craft – Mangalyaan was launched from which centre: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota (AP)

781) Who is the Chief of the ISRO: Dr. K Radhakrishnan

782) Name the satellite launching vehicle that was used to launch Mangalyaan: PSLV-C25

783) The book “Gandhi A Spiritual Biography” has been written by: Arivnd Sharma

784) In which North Eastern states govt. has extended AFSPA for a further period of six months: Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.

785) What is the full form of AFSPA: Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act

786) Tarla Dalal who passed away recently, was a noted ______ expert: Cookery

787) 44th International Film Festival of India was held at which place: Goa

788) ______ was the ‘country in focus for’ for the44th International Film Festival of India: Japan

789) India’s second international standard multi-use Integrated Check Post (ICP) and the first along the Bangladesh border was opened at which place: Akhaurah, Tripura

790) India’s second international standard multi-use Integrated Check Post (ICP) has been opened at Akhaurah in Tripura. The first ICP is located at which place: Attari, Punjab

791) India successfully test-fired its nuclear weapons-capable, surface-to-surface Agni-1 missile recently.

What is its range: 700 kms

792) India’s first Bird Ringing Station has been setup at Salropa in the prestigious Great Himalayan National Park in Kullu. What is its purpose: To identify and establish species of various birds

793) Imomali Rakhmon has been elected as President of which country: Tajikistan

794) Name the lady who has been named as the most powerful businesswoman in India for the third consecutive year in the list of 50 most powerful businesswomen ranking for 2013 by Fortune magazine: Chanda Kochhar

795) What is the official position of the prominent corporate figure Ms. Chanda Kochhar: MD & CEO of ICICI Bank

796) Name the country that will host 2018 men’s Hockey World Cup: India

797) Name the super strong typhoon that caused wide spread devastation in Philippines, claiming over 12000 lives: Haiyan

798) The World Economic Forum has joined hands with ________ to jointly organise the India Economic Summit: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

799) RBI has signed cooperation agreement with central banks of which two countries: Australia and New Zealand

800) Recently RBI issued what guidelines for foreign banks in the context of domestic private sector banks: Allowed them to take over private banks

801) As per recent RBI guidelines foreign banks will not be allowed to hold more than ________ per cent equity in the private banks they may acquire: 74

802) Name the Olympian shooter who created history by becoming first Indian women to win air pistol gold in the ISSF World Cup: Heena Sidhu

803) The ISSF World Cup Shooting Championship was held at which place: Munich, Germany

804) Name the TV channel that Prasar Bharti plans to launch specially for Aruanchal Pradesh and Sikkim: Prabha

805) The Regional Pravasi Bhartiya Divas was organized at which place by the High Commission of India: Sydney, Australia

806) National Education Day is celebrated on which date: 11th November

807) The birthday of first Education Minister of Independent India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is celebrated as what day: National Educational Day

808) India has declared itself free from _______as there has been no occurrence of the disease in the last


three months: H5N1 Avian Influenza (bird flu)

809) ________won the ATP World Tour Finals in London beating Rafael Nadal: Novak Djokovic

810) South Asian Junior Athletics Championships were held at which place: Ranchi, Jharkhand

811) Name the country that secured top position in the South Asian Junior Athletics Championships: India

812) Hurun India Philanthropy List 2013 published by the China’s leading magazine mougal ‘Huran Report Inc has ranked IT tycoon ___________as the most generous Indian with a donation of Rs 8,000 crore in the year ending March 31, 2013: Azim Hashim Premji

813) Malia and Malala have been named among the 16 most influential teens of 2013 by the Time magazine. Who is Malia: Elder daughter of Barack Obama

814) Prof. C.N.R. Rao has been decorated with Bharat Ratna. He is from which field: Solid state and materials chemistry

815) What is the amount of cash reward that is given to the recipient of a Bharat Ratna: Nil

816) Recommendation for Bharat Ratna are made by which authority: Prime Minister

817) Who approves awardees for Bharat Ratna: President of India

818) Can Bharat Ratna be awarded to a non Indian also: Yes

819) What is the name of the second air craft carrier of India: INS Vikramaditya

820) The abbreviation INS stands for: Indian Naval Ship

821) What is the name of the original ship that has been transformed into INS Vikramaditya: Admiral Gorshkov

822) INS Vikramaditya has been procured by India from which country: Russia

823) INS Vikramaditya is the second aircraft of the Indian Navy. What is the name of the first (existing) aircraft carrier of India: INS Viraat

824) Name the aircraft carrier being built indigenously in India: INS Vikrant

825) Name the first aircraft carrier acquired by Indian Navy which was decommissioned on 31st Jan, 1997: INS Vikrant

826) The INS Vikramaditya will be based at which naval base: INS Kadamba at Karwar, Karnataka

827) UN’s International Day for Tolerance celebrated on which date: Nov 16

828) National think tank NCAER has lowered country's growth rate to 4.8-5.3 per cent range in the current

fiscal. Write the full form of NCAER: National Council of Applied Economic Research

829) Name the Prime Minister of UK who visited India recently for a short trip: David Cameron

830) Prime Minister of UK recently visited India only for a short time as he was on his way to _____: Colombo, Sri Lanka

831) Central govt. has increased man-days under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to 150 from existing norm of 100 days in which state: Odisha

832) Why govt. has increased man-days under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to 150 from existing norm of 100 days in Odisha: To provide relief from devastation caused by Phailin cyclone

833) World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have assured a financial assistance of $ 313 mn to Odisha government for what purpose: For restoration and rehabilitation activities in cyclone Phailin hit areas

834) Which country has promised to provide support of Rs. 1129 crore for campus development at IIT Hyderabad: Japan

835) Govt. has decided to establish National Institute of Disaster Response (NIDR) at which place: Kamptee, near Nagpur, Maharashtra

836) Telecom major Vodafone India and ICICI Bank have launched mobile money transfer and payment service _________in Assam and other North Eastern states: 'M-Pesa'

837) Name the new President of island country Maldives: Abdulla Yameen

838) Who has been named as World Athlete of the Year for 2013 in Men’s category: Usain Bolt

839) World athlete of the year Usain Bolt is from which field of athletics: 100 and 200 m sprint

840) World athlete of the year Usain Bolt is from which country: Jamaica

841) Who has been named as World Athlete of the Year for 2013 in women’s category: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

842) World athlete of the year Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is from which field of athletics: 100 and 200 m sprint

843) World athlete of the year Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is from which country: Jamaica

844) What was the theme of the 22nd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 held at Colombo, Sri Lanka: Growth with Equity; Inclusive Development

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