gyanm general awareness issue september 2014

GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2014 1

GENERAL AWARENESS

SEPTEMBER 2014 Year: 2014 Vol. 3, Issue 03

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

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

CONTENTS

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY TO JULY 2014 1-19

BUDGET SPECIAL 22-22

ISRAEL GAZA CONFLICT 23

BULLET NEWS Feb 2014 to April 2014 24-33

BRICS BANK 34

600 SBI CLERK MCQs 35-63

IBPS PO MODEL TEST PAPER 64-80

LATEST GK BYTES 81-96

FIGURES TO REMEMBER

REPO RATE 8.00%

REVERSE REPO RATE 7.00%

MARGINAL STANDING FACILITY RATE

9.00%

STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO

22.5%

CASH RESERVE RATIO 4.00% BANK RATE 9.00%

BASE RATE(s) (of various banks)

9.80% – 10.25 %

INDIA’S RANK IN

Human Development Index 135th

Global Innovation Index 66th

Economic Confidence Index 01st

Choice for FDI 4th

Global Peace Index 143rd

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

NATIONAL NEWS

JULY 2014 FOREST COVER CROSSES 24 PER CENT As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 the total forest and tree cover of the country is 87.92 million hectare, 24.01 percent of the geographical area of India. Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover of 77522 square kilometer, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, 67321 square kilometer. In terms of percentage, Mizoram has highest cover at 90.38 percent, followed by Lakshadweep-84.56 percent. Punjab retains the ‘distinction’ of having the lowest area under Forest cover with only 3.52% of its area under forest cover while Haryana is a little better with 3.59% of its area under forest cover. AREA

( MILLION HA) AREA

(IN %) Forest Cover 69.79 21.23 Tree Cover 9.13 2.78 Total 78.92 24.01 INDO–CHINA ENCYLOPEDIA RELEASED India and China have jointly released the first encyclopedia on their age-old cultural contacts, tracing back their history to over 2,000 years, starting from the visit of Chinese scholar Huen Tsang to India in the 7th century to bring Buddhist scriptures to China. INDIA RATIFIES MARRAKESH TREATY India has become the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled. The Treaty was adopted by 79 member countries of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in June 27, 2013 at Marrakesh, Morocco. INDIA RANKED 66th IN INNOVATION India has slipped two places in the Global Innovation Index 2013 to the 66th rank. Switzerland topped the 142-nation list. The index ranks countries on innovation, based on a survey done by INSEAD, Cornell University and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). ULTRA RICH GROW FAST IN POOR INDIA The number of ultra-high networth individuals (UHNIs) in Indiahaving an investible surplus of over Rs 25 crore rose 16 per cent to 1.17 lakh last fiscal, and this is estimated to triple to 3.43 lakh in the next three years, says a wealth report by the Kotak group and Ernst & Young.


DELHI 2nd MOST POPULOUS CITY IN WORLD A recent UN study “World Urbanization Prospects” by U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) has ranked Tokyo as the world’s most populous city with 38 million inhabitants, followed by Delhi with 25 million inhabitants. The study has projected rapid urban growth in India, China and Nigeria. INDIA RANKS 135TH IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT India’s ranking in the Human Development Index (HDI) remained unchanged at 135 in 2013, reflecting little improvement in the living standard of its people. The report is topped by Norway, followed by Australia and Switzerland. Countries at the bottom of index are Niger, Congo and Central African Republic. The HDI reflects long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human lives - a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. It covers 187 countries and is published annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). DILIP’S HOUSE IS NATIONAL HERITAGE SITE Legendary actor Dilip Kumar’s ancestral home at Mohalla Khudadad in Peshawar, Pakistan has been declared as a national heritage monument by the Pak government. After acquiring the house, the government is plans to convert it into a museum.

World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim visits India.

JUNE 2014 PANJAB UNIVERSITY BEST IN INDIA Panjab University, Chandigarh, is the highest ranked Indian higher educational institution in the globally recognized Times Higher Education’s Asia rankings. Placed 32nd in Asia’s top 100 institutions, PU has outperformed IITs on all ranking parameters. University of Tokyo tops the list. INDIA SIGNS ‘WASHINGTON ACCORD’ Indian students with accredited technical education degrees will now find it easy to get academic recognition and jobs in 17 major nations across the world, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and Russia as India has become a permanent signatory to the Washington Accord (WA), a global agreement that covers mutual recognition in respect of tertiary-level engineering qualifications among the signatory countries. INDIA HOUSE TO 1.56 LAKH MILLIONAIRES According to the World Wealth Report 2014, released by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management, there were 1,56,000 high net worth individuals in India in 2013, up from 1,53,000 in 2012. India has been ranked 16th in the list of countries with highest number of HNWI population, the US topping the chart with 40,06,000 millionaires, followed by Japan (23,27,000).

U N AWARD FOR ‘MOBILE SEVA’ 'Mobile Seva', an initiative conceptualised by Indian government’s Department of Electronics and Information Technology for delivery of public services electronically through the mobile platform has been awarded a United Nations Public Service Award. INDIA NO 1 IN ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE In a 25 nation-list compiled by global research firm Ipsos, India has been placed at number one rank in terms of economic confidence of citizens. As many as 60 per cent Indians surveyed have predicted that domestic economy would be stronger in the next six months, making it the most confident nation. INDIA 4th CHOICE OF MNCs FOR INVESTMENT Unctad's annual World Investment Report 2014 shows that China remained the first choice of MNCs, followed by the US. But, Indonesia has overtaken India as the third most preferred destination for 2014-16. A series of policy flip-flops and harsh tax measures commonly referred to as "tax terrorism", have dented India's image. P M VISITS BHUTAN ON FIRST FOREIGN TRIP Prime Minister Mr. Modi made his first overseas trip by visiting Bhutan. He inaugurated the new Supreme Court building at Thimpu, constructed with Indian assistance. He also laid the foundation for a 600 megawatt hydroelectric power station as part of an energy cooperation plan. PROJECT ‘MAUSAM’ FOR INDIAN OCEAN Union Ministry of Culture has launched the Project Mausam at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Doha, Qatar. The Project aims to explore the diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean region. AIR INDIA JOINS STAR ALLIANCE

National carrier Air India has joined Star Alliance - a group of 26 (now 27) carriers with as many as 4,338 aircraft flying to 1,328 destinations across 195 countries. It is an agreement between member airlines to use each other’s existing routes and facilities. For an Air India passenger it means simpler transit through single booking across multiple airlines to places where the national carrier does not operate.


ANSARI VISITS CHINA Vice-President Hamid Ansari visited China to meet President Xi Jinping and Vice-President Li Yuanchao. He unveiled the first jointly compiled two - volume encyclopaedia, chronicling a 2,000-year history of cultural exchanges between India and China. TELANGANA, THE 29th STATE OF INDIA June 2, 2014 witnessed the birth of 29th state of India – Telangana. Formed by carving out 10 districts of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the new state will have an area of 1.14 lakh sq kms and a population of over 3.5 crore. Telugu and Urdu are the main languages in the region. City of Hyderabad will continue to remain the joint capital of both – Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for next ten years. Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) is the new Chief Minister of the state. INDIA 143RD IN TERMS OF PEACE Global Peace Index (GPI) 2014 released by the Institute for Economics and Peace released in London has placed India at 143rd place in list of 162 countries. Syria is the least peaceful nation while Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh on her first solo overseas visit.

The Narmada Control Authority gave its nod to Gujarat for raising the height of the Narmada dam to a level of 138.72 metres from the present 121.92 metres.

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.

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 story 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 $ 1 billion 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.


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.

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.

NEWS FROM STATES

JULY 2014 AMITABH BACHCHAN: The Indian Megastar was appointed as Brand Ambassador of Maharashtra for promoting horticulture sector of the state.

SANIA MIRZA: International tennis star was appointed Brand Ambassador of the Telangana State

JUNE 2014 U K AWARD FOR BENGAL’s GIRL SCHEME Kanyashree Prakalpa, a West Bengal government scheme that provides scholarship to girls from economically-backward backgrounds, has been given international recognition jointly by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and UNICEF. ‘GAURAVI’ TO HELP WOMEN IN STRESS India’s first One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) named Gauravi was launched in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on 16 June 2014. It was launched by the Bollywood actor Amir Khan. The centre is first of its kind in India for women who are victims of violence. It will provide help and assistance to rape survivors and victims of dowry harassment, domestic violence and other atrocities on women, all under one roof.

MUMBAI BECOMES 4TH CITY TO GET METRO

Mumbai became the fourth city in the country to have Metro rail operations, besides Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore. The 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar section, connecting western suburbs with eastern suburbs, will carry around 11 lakh passengers every day. $100 MN WORLD BANK LOAN FOR HIMACHAL World Bank will provide $ 100 million to Himachal Pradesh for promoting development of sustainable hydropower, adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change and empower local communities to conserve their watersheds. SIKKIM TO GIVE JOBS TO BPL CANDIDATES Sikkim government has announced 12 per cent reservation in all state government jobs and posts in public sector undertakings for candidates of Sikkimese origin living below poverty line, with immediate effect.

Gujarat has become the first state in India to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the police force, across all cadres.

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.

GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES

JULY 2014 WEBSITE LAUNCHED FOR PUBLIC GOVERNANCE Prime Minister has launched a website, mygov.nic.in to help people contribute in governance of the country by giving their views on important issues. Initially three suggested topics include–

Creative engagement with govt. departments Suggest ideas to boost girl child education Suggest a roadmap to clean the Ganga

FDI IN INSURANCE HIKED TO 49% The Union Cabinet has hiked FDI cap in insurance sector from 26 to 49 per cent, liberalizing foreign investments, a move that will cheer foreign investors and facilitate funds’ flow. It will provide a boost for the pension sector also as the FDI cap in pension has been linked to insurance. GOVT TO LAUNCH 4 NEW VACCINES Four new vaccines will be introduced in India as part of the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by next year and meet global polio eradication targets. With these new vaccines added, government will be providing free vaccines against 13 life threatening diseases to 27 million children annually. Vaccines against rotavirus, rubella and polio (injectable) will collectively expedite India’s progress to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by the year 2015. Rs. 7060 CRORE FOR URBAN MODERNISATION Government proposes an allocation of Rs 7,060 crore in this financial year for developing 100 ‘smart cities' in the country as satellite towns of larger cities and for modernising the existing mid-sized cities. The new cities need to be developed to accommodate the burgeoning number of people, otherwise, the existing cities would soon become unliveable.

PRADHAN MANTRI KRISHI SINCHAYEE YOJANA The government plans to launch a nationwide rural irrigation scheme to insulate farmers from excessive dependence on monsoon. Rs 1,000 crore will be spent on creating infrastructure for the ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’ to provide assured water to farmers. ‘SOIL HEALTH CARD’ LAUNCHED FOR FARMERS Govt plans to provide 'Soil Health Card' to all farmers for optimum utilization of resources and right selection of crops. The Card will give crop-wise recommendations of nutrients/fertilizers required for a particular village to help the farmers improve productivity by wise use of inputs. ‘KISAN TV’ FOR AGIRCULTURISTS Government to launch ‘Kisan TV' dedicated to the interests of agriculturists and allied sectors and has allocated Rs 100 crore for this purpose. The channel will provide real time information on farming techniques, water conservation and on new technologies to help the farmers. SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR 50 CRORE BY 2022 Government has set a target to develop skills of 50 crore people by 2022 under the National Policy on Skill Development (NPSD). This target will be distributed among 20 ministries and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Government has set up a National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) to coordinate and harmonise the skill development efforts of the government and the private sector. VALIDITY OF INDUSTRIAL LICENCES EXTENDED The Government has extended the validity period of an industrial licence to three years from present two years, with a provision for further extension by two years. The licence will, however, lapse automatically after five years, in the absence of commencement of commercial production PLAN TO MERGE 3 SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES The Ministry of Labour and Employment plans to launch a pilot in 20 districts from January 1, 2015 to enable unorganised workers to avail benefits of the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY), Aam Aadmi Bima Yojan (AABY) and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) via one single smart card. The pilot project would be funded from the National Social Security Fund. GOVT TO SET UP 660 NIRBHAYA CENTRES Women and Child Development Ministry has advised that at least 660 rape crisis centres will be established across the country and named as Nirbhaya centres, as a tribute to the victim of December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape case. The Nirbhaya Centres will act as one stop centre for women victims of molestation, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and provide them medical assistance, police assistance, psycho-social support and counselling, legal aid and temporary shelter.

To protect investors, the Cabinet has cleared the SEBI Bill, to empower SEBI to initiate action against ponzi schemes and investment frauds.


JUNE 2014

NO TRANSFERS FOR PARENTS OF DISABLED Central government has decided that all the government employees who have differently abled children to take care of will be exempted from routine transfers and they will not be asked to take voluntary retirement on refusing such postings. GOMs AND EGOMs SCRAPPED With a view to improve accountability and responsibility, govt has decided to abolish, with immediate effect, all the Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoMs) set up by the previous UPA-II govt.

FOOD BUDGET RAISED FOR POWER SPORTS Govt has decided to increase the daily food supplement budget from Rs 280 to Rs 750 for the power games which include boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo and boxing. The decision was taken keeping in mind the Commonwealth Games & Asian Games this year and Rio Olympics in 2016. 12000 LABOUR CHARGES TO POOR FOR HOUSE

The Centre has decided to give Rs 12,000 per household as labour charges to the poor for building their homes under Indira Awaas Yojna-IAY. Govt. provides Rs. 75,000 for construction of a house under IAY in hilly areas and Rs 70,000 in plains, of which 20% is the labour component.

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 new Union Cabinet. 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.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

JULY 2014 NOMURA PREDICTS 6% GROWTH FOR INDIA According to the Japanese brokerage firm Nomura, India is set to be Asia's biggest turnaround story and the country's GDP growth is expected to rise to over 6 per cent in FY 2015 and over 7 per cent in FY 2016. The Indian economy is starting to turn around as inflation is abating, the current account deficit is narrowing, forex reserves are accumulating and growth is just starting to rise. ADB PUT INDIA’S GROWTH AT 5.5 % Asian Development Bank has upgraded India’s economic growth forecast to 6.3 per cent in 2015-16 on hopes of speedy reform process. However, it has retained forecast of 5.5 per cent growth for the current year. FITCH PROJECTS 5.5 % GROWTH FOR INDIA International rating agency Fitch has improved India's economic growth forecast to 5.5 per cent this financial year and 6.5 per cent in FY16 due to the clear mandate received by the pro-reform Narendra Modi government. The agency said there will be significant risks to growth if the monsoon turns out to be much weaker than expected. IIP JUMPS TO 4.7 PER CENT The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of May came in at 4.7 percent. The factory output in May is at a 19-month high – highest since October 2012. Electricity sector growth came in at 6.3 percent while manufacturing sector growth jumped to 4.8 percent. CORE SECTOR GROWTH SLIPS TO 2.3% The core sector growth of eight core industries slowed to 2.3 per cent in May, from 5.9 per cent in May last year. During the month, crude oil output shrank 0.3 per cent, natural gas output declined by 2.2 per cent, refinery products were down 2.3 per cent and steel production was 2 per cent lower. TRADE DEFICIT JUMPS TO $11.76 BILLION Taking benefit of improvement in global markets, India's exports grew by 10.22 per cent to $26.4 billion in June this year while imports stood at $38.24 billion, up by 8.33 per cent, leaving a trade deficit of $11.76 billion, boosted by a 65 per cent annual rise in gold imports.

India's foreign exchange reserves have risen by $813 million for week ended June 18 to reach $317.85 bn.

JUNE 2014 GDP GROWS @ 4.7% IN 2013-14 Latest data released by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) has estimated value of India’s GDP at current market prices at Rs. 113.55 lakh crore, achieving a growth rate of 4.7 percent in 2013-14 as against 4.5 percent achieved in 2012-13. This is the first time in 26 years after 1987-88 that GDP has grown at sub 5% in two successive years. The per capita income at current prices during 2013-14 is estimated to have attained a level of Rs.74,380.


RBI PUTS GROWTH RATE AT 5-6 PER CENT In its Second Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement, the Reserve Bank has stated that economic growth is expected to be between 5 and 6 per cent in 2014-15 even as uncertainty over the monsoon clouds the forecast for agriculture. India's economic growth stayed below 5 per cent for the second year in a row at 4.7 per cent in 2013-14, mainly due to a decline in manufacturing and mining output.

INDIA TO GROW @ 5.5% - WORLD BANK The World Bank has projected a 5.5% growth for India in 2014-15, estimating that this will accelerate to 6.3% in 2015-16 and 6.6% in 2016-17.

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.

ECONOMY

JULY 2014 RANGARAJAN PANEL REPORT ON POVERTY

As per Dr. C Rangarajan panel estimates, a person spending less than Rs 1,407 a month (Rs 47/day) in urban areas and Rs 972 a month (Rs 32/day) in rural areas would be considered Below Poverty Line. The number of poor in India stood at 36.3 crore (29.5%) in 2011-12, down from 45.4 crore (38.2%) in 2009-10, as per the Rangarajan panel norms. As per Tendulkar Committee, these figures were fixed at Rs 1,000 a month (Rs 33/day) in cities and Rs 816 a month (Rs 27/day) in villages.

INDIA HAS WORK FORCE OF OVER 47 CRORE As per NSSO survey result for 2011-12, the estimated workforce in India is 47.41 crore persons of which 82.7 per cent is in unorganised sector and 17.3 percent is in organised sector. DISINVESTMENT TARGET - RS. 58,425 CRORE The government has set a target of mopping Rs 43,425 crore from stake sale in PSU firms and an additional Rs 15,000 crore from sale in other entities such as SUUTI (Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India). The bulk of the Rs 15,000 crore would be from offloading shares in Axis Bank

MSP FOR KHARIF CROPS 2014-15 CROP MSP PER QUINTAL PADDY 1360 JOWAR 1530 BAJRA 1250 MAIZE 1310

GROUNDNUT 4000 TUAR AND URAD DAL 4350

MOONG 4600 SUNFLOWER 3750

SAHOO PANEL PROPOSES ‘BhDRs’ A government panel led by M S Sahoo has proposed a new class of securities, 'Bharat Depository Receipts (BhDRs)', for foreign firms to raise money in India, to provide more choice to domestic investors. A BhDR would be a rupee denominated instrument issued by domestic depository against listed equities of a foreign company. FDI IN DEFENCE, INSURANCE RAISED TO 49% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing has been hiked from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. The ownership of such joint ventures will stay with Indian companies. FDI in insurance sector has also been hiked to 49 per cent from 26 per cent. W B LOAN FOR ROAD CONNECTIVITY World Bank has sanctioned $500 million loan for India’s National Highways Inter-connectivity Improvement Project (NHIIP) to improve the national highway network connectivity to less-developed states. INDIA SIGNS FATCA WITH USA India and the US have agreed to implement Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a US law that targets tax non-compliance by US taxpayers with foreign accounts. As per FATCA, it is compulsory for US taxpayers to report about their offshore assets and accounts. Similarly, foreign financial institutions are required to report about accounts held by US taxpayers. INDUSTRIAL MoU SIGNED WITH CHINA India and China have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that allows Chinese companies to invest in industrial parks and zones in India. This way Indian firms will get the benefit of learning economies of scale and inventory management from the Chinese firms.


TCS REACHES MARKET CAP OF 5 TRILLION Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has become first Indian company to achieve a market capitalization of Rs. 5 lakh crore rupees. TCS is followed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at 3.5 lakh crore rupees and Reliance Industries at 3.3 lakh crore rupees.

World Bank to provide $153 million (Rs 920 crore) loan for the Odisha Disaster Recovery Project to restore and improve housing and public services in Odisha.

The ADB has approved a multi-tranche loan facility of $300 million to help Assam continue its drive to eliminate power sector inefficiencies.

Britain has granted one billion pound ($1.68 billion) credit line for investment in Indian infrastructure projects.

The government has granted Navratna status to Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR).

JUNE 2014 SOLO EVENTS NOT PART OF CSR The Corporate Affairs Ministry has clarified that one-off events such as marathons / awards / charitable contribution /advertisement / sponsorships of TV programmes etc would not be qualified as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure. Activities like housing for Economically Weaker Sections, slum clearance, disaster management, rural development, road safety, skill development of agriculture labour can be considered under the CSR.

CSR rules are applicable to companies having at least Rs 5 crore net profit, or Rs 1,000 crore turnover or Rs 500 crore net worth. As per CSR rules, such companies are required to shell out at least two per cent of their three-year annual average net profit towards CSR activities.

BAN ON MILK PRODUCTS FROM CHINA The government has extended the ban on imports of milk and its products from China for one more year till June 2015. The ban was first imposed in September 2008 due to presence of melamine in milk products, a chemical used for making plastics and fertilisers.

F I OF 10% TO BE TREATED AS FDI Foreign investment of 10 per cent or more in a listed company will now be treated as foreign direct investment (FDI) as the government has accepted the Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram committee’s recommendations on rationalising definitions of FDI and FII.

NEW SEBI NORMS FOR DEBT SECURITIES SEBI has issued new norms for public issuance of debt securities (debentures, bonds etc.) under which such offers will have to be of minimum Rs 100 crore and the companies will have to attain at least 75 per cent subscription. ISRAEL TO HELP IN AGRICULTURE Israel is planning to open two centres of excellence at Nalanda and Vaishali in Bihar in the field of vegetables and mango respectively to help cultivators increase their produc-tivity. In these centres, Israeli agricultural experts along

with local farm scientists would impart knowhow of the latest technology to growers to help them raise the production level. PSUs TO HAVE 25% PUBLIC HOLDING SEBI has said that public sector undertakings listed on stock exchanges to have should also adhere to the mandatory 25% public shareholding norms that are applicable to private companies. At present, private sector companies are compulsorily required to have at least 25% public shareholding, while for government-owned companies, minimum threshold level is only 10%. India has overtaken Germany and Italy to emerge as

the world's second largest textile exporter. But it lags China, whose exports are nearly seven times higher.

The World Bank has approved funding of USD 107 million (nearly Rs 650 crore) for a road project in Mizoram, connecting Myanmar and Bangladesh.

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.


BANKING & FINANCE

JULY 2014 RBI ALLOWS PAYMENT BANK AND SMALL BANK The Reserve Bank has issued guidelines for setting up of Payment Bank and Small Banks. A minimum paid-up capital of Rs.100 crore will be required for setting up of these banks. Both the banks will have to comply with the CRR and SLR requirements. Payment Banks will be allowed only acceptance of demand deposits and payments and remittances services to migrant labour workforce, low-income households, small businesses and other unorganised entities. They will not be allowed to undertake lending activities. Small Bank shall primarily undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to small farmers, small businesses, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities. The area of operations of the small bank will be restricted to contiguous districts in a homogenous cluster of States

REVISED KYC NORMS FROM RBI RBI has revised its "know your customer" guidelines where a main change is that it has now specified "officially valid documents" to be the Aadhaar card, voter ID card, permanent account number (PAN) card, driving licence, passport, or the NREGA card. The Ration Card has been dropped from the list. Now, Banks are no more authorized to accept any other document as proof of identity.

Rs. 5000 OD FOR NEW BANK ACCOUNT To promote financial inclusion, govt proposes to sanction an overdraft (OD) facility of Rs 5,000 by the bank to individuals who open an account with them. But there is a caveat for those availing of the OD: customers should be willing to take financial literacy lessons from lenders. A Rs 1,000-crore credit guarantee fund will be set up by NABARD for this purpose. The OD offer is part of 'Sampoorn Viteeyea Samveshan' (SVS) or Comprehensive Financial Inclusion to ensure that every earning citizen opens a bank account.

Rs. 5000 CR LYING IN UNCLAIMED ACCOUNTS Parliament has been advised that Banks had Rs 5,124 crore in unclaimed deposits (accounts with no operations for 10 years) lying with them as of December 31, 2013. This amount will be transferred to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund to be utilized for promotion of depositors' interests. The Reserve Bank has from time to time advised banks to play a more pro-active role in finding the whereabouts of the people whose accounts have remained inoperative. Banks are required to transfer the unclaimed amount to Reserve Bank of India every month.

RBI TO IDENTIFY ‘LARGE’ BANKS The Reserve Bank has said that Banks having size equal to or more than 2 per cent of GDP will be designated as domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) and they will be subject to higher capital requirements. Additionally, five largest foreign banks, based on their size, will also be added to the sample for identification of D-SIBs.

D-SIBs are perceived as banks that are ‘Too Big To Fail (TBTF)’. This perception of TBTF creates an expectation of government support for these banks at the time of distress. Due to this perception, these banks enjoy certain advantages in the funding markets. PSBs TO ISSUE RUPAY CARDS Govt has urged public sector banks to issue RuPay cards to all existing customers who do not have debit cards as well as to new clients. Banks have also been told to "encourage" merchant establishments to install point of sale terminals for RuPay cards. Already, 20 million cards have been issued. GOVT PLANS UBI’s MERGER WITH IDBI The government has asked IDBI Bank and Kolkata based United Bank of India to prepare a consolidation plan in view of poor performance of UBI. Govt also plans to approve the merger plan of SBI and State Bank of Patiala. SIX NEW DRTs TO BE SET UP To expedite the process to recover bad bank loans, govt proposes to set up six new Debt Recovery Tribunals. The Government of India had constituted 33 Debts Recovery Tribunals and five Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunals across the country. These six additional tribunals will make total number of tribunals to 39. NO 60% CUT OFF FOR EDUCATION LOANS The Madras High Court has ruled that banks cannot fix 60% cut off of minimum marks in Plus Two as condition for extending education loan to students joining engineering courses. Once a candidate has been admitted in a course, banks should consider his request for loan on genuine grounds of need and not on basis of marks obtained at plus two level. RBI TO SWAP GOLD RBI plans to swap some of the old gold lying in its Nagpur vault since pre-Independence times — and whose quality is not exactly top grade — with purer gold. The operation would "standardise the gold available with RBI in India with respect to international standards" and the gold acquired would be delivered to its overseas custodian, the Bank of England. MFIs CAN NOT CHARGE MORE THAN 27.75% RBI has advised that the lending rate ceiling for micro finance companies will continue at their present level - at 27.75% for the July to September quarter. This is the highest rate MFIs can charge to their borrowers in the next quarter. They may have to charge less if their cost of funds is lower than 17.75%. The Non Banking Finance Companies engaged in Micro Finance are required to be registered with RBI as NBFC-MFIs and have to follow the guidelines for maximum rate of interest they can charge on loans.


BANK CREDIT GROWTH MORE THAN DEPOSITS Bank deposits grew 13.24 per cent year-on-year to Rs 79,96,060 crore during the fortnight ended July 11 and credit growth was 13.67 per cent reaching Rs 61,21,418 crore during the same period.

The RBI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Monetary Authority of Hong Kong for exchange of supervisory information of banking.

The Reserve Bank will soon put to circulation Rs 10 denominated coins on the occasion of diamond jubilee of Coir Board.

RBI has allowed Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to accept e-KYC service to verify identity and address proof of customers to reduce risk of fraud.

JUNE 2014

RBI CUTS SLR DOWN TO 22.5 % RBI in its second bimonthly policy statement reduced statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to 22.5% from 23%, freeing almost Rs 40,000 crore of resources. Interest rates on home and auto loans are unlikely to fall soon, but they could gradually ease as the banks may lend more to companies and individuals rather than buy government securities. SLR is the mandatory provision for banks to block a certain prescribed percent of their total deposits in government securities.

INTEREST ON ‘UNCLAIMED’ DEPOSITS RBI has advised that Interest on unclaimed deposits transferred to a newly set up fund for educating depositors shall be payable only from the date of their transfer to the fund. Banks will transfer the accounts to the fund after applying up-to-date accrued interest.

PROOF OF LOCAL ADDRESS NOT REQUIRED RBI has advised that for opening of bank accounts, in case the proof of address furnished by the customer is not the local address or address where the customer is currently residing, the bank may take a declaration of the local address on which all correspondence will be made by the bank with the customer. No proof is required for this local address.

ECR REDUCED TO 32 PER CENT The Reserve Bank has reduced the availability of funds under the export credit refinance (ECR) window from 50 per cent of export credit outstanding to 32 per cent with immediate effect. To compensate for the resulting reduction in liquidity, RBI has introduced a special term repo facility up to 0.25 per cent of their net demand and time liabilities- NDTL (total deposits).

RBI ALLOWS ENGAGING NBFCs AS BC The Reserve Bank has permitted non-banking finance companies -NBFCs to act as business correspondents (BCs) of banks, allowing them to offer limited services with the aim of spreading financial inclusion. The RBI said the existing guidelines on the appointment of BCs were reviewed taking into account recommendations of the Nachiket Mor Committee.

LIMIT RAISED TO CARRY CURRENCY ABROAD The Reserve Bank has permitted residents and non-residents, except Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, to carry up to Rs 25,000 in Indian currency notes while leaving the country as against Rs 10,000 earlier. Till now, foreigners were not allowed to carry Indian currency while leaving the country.

IndusInd Bank has launched ‘video branch’ - a unique service allowing customers to interact face-to-face with their bank branch using desktop, tablet or smartphone.

Reserve Bank has raised the annual overseas investment ceiling for individuals to $ 125,000 from present $ 75,000.

The Reserve Bank has asked banks to disclose sector wise loans in their financial statements from 2014/15 onwards.

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 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.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE

& TECHNOLOGY

JULY 2014 INS KOLKATA JOINS INDIAN NAVY The Indian Navy‘s largest ever destroyer – INS Kolkata was inducted in to service on 10th July. It is India’s first domestically built guided missile destroyer to feature a Western-style air search radar and stealth technology.

ADVANCED BRAHMOS TEST FIRED An advanced version of the 290-km range Brahmos supersonic cruise missile was successfully tested off the coast of Odisha, giving the country the capability to hit enemy targets hidden behind mountains or in a cluster of buildings with “pinpoint accuracy”. The missile travelled its full strike range of 290 km in 500 seconds.

INDIA LAUNCHES FIVE FOREIGN SATELLITES India successfully launched five foreign satellites from four countries on board PSLV-C23 rocket on June 30. The five satellites, launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, included two from Germany, and one each from France, Canada and Singapore.

PSLV: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

HIGH SPEED DATA TRANSFER BY LI-FI A Mexican software company has managed to transmit audio, video and Internet data across the spectrum of light emitted by LED lamps — at a data transfer rate of 10 gigabytes per second. The technology called Li-Fi or light fidelity can illuminate a large work space, such as an office, while providing full mobile Internet to every device that comes into the range of the light spectrum. OBJECTS SPOTTED BEYOND PLUTO Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered two new objects beyond Pluto for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to visit. New Horizons spacecraft, launched in 2006, is on track to become the first probe to visit Pluto in July 2015, some 4.7 billion miles from Earth in the Kuiper Belt. CARBON GEL – WORLD’s LIGHTEST MATERIAL The world's lightest solid material - carbon aerogel - created by Chinese scientists has fetched a staggering $1.6 million at an auction. With a density of just 0.16 milligrams per cubic centimeter, a sixth of air's density, the carbon aerogel was developed by scientists at Zhejiang University last year. NASA SATELLITE TO TRACK CO2 American space agency NASA has successfully launched a satellite -Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), designed to track atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, a leading human-produced greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.

Warships, submarines, aircrafts and helicopters of India, US and Japan participated in the trilateral Malabar naval exercise from 24th July in North Western Pacific Ocean.


JUNE 2014 INS KAMORTA TO JOIN INDIAN NAVY India’s first indige-nously - built anti submarine warfare corvette INS Kamorta will be commissioned into the Indian Navy next month. Built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata, it will be the first warship armed with an indigenous rocket launcher for anti submarine warfare. BRAHMOS MISSILE TEST FIRED Indian-Russian joint venture Brahmos Aerospace test-fired its 290-km range supersonic missile from the stealth destroyer INS Kolkata off India's west coast near Karnataka. GARUDA-V: AIR EXERCISE WITH FRANCE The fifth Indo-French bilateral air exercise — Garuda-V was held at the Jodhpur Air Base. It is aimed at enhancing operational cooperation and validating capabilities. During the war games, both the Air Forces will practice aerial warfare, including manoeuvres to carry out surgical strikes. NASA TO BUILD WORLD’s LARGEST TELESCOPE NASA plans to build world’s most powerful telescope - Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) to analyse the environment of other planets and ability to track existence of aliens life. It will be able to track life which is as far as thirty light years away. EARTH’s LARGEST WATER RESERVOIR FOUND Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico believe they have found the Earth's largest water reservoir around 643 km underneath North America, inside mantle rock. Though not in the familiar liquid form - the ingredients for water are bound up in rock deep in the Earth's mantle. ‘KEPLER 10 C’ – NEW GIANT PLANET A huge Earth-like planet found by US astronomers has changed the perception of planet formation. The newly discovered Kepler-10c planet has been dubbed ‘Mega-Earth’ thanks to its diameter of 29,000 kilometers and an estimated weight 17 times greater than Earth, which has a diameter of 12,742 kilometers. This makes Kepler-10c the biggest rocky planet ever discovered.

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. 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 two navies. 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.

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 to carry out testing of its under-development 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.


INTERNATIONAL

JULY 2014

6TH BRICS SUMMIT HELD AT FORTALEZA, BRAZIL Prime Minister Mr. Modi visited Fortaleza, Brazil to attend the 6th BRICS Summit. The five countries decided to establish the New Development Bank with an initial authorised capital of USD 50 billion which will be equally shared by the founding members to prevent domination by any one member. The Bank will work for funding infrastructure and “sustainable development” projects in the BRICS countries. India will have the first Presidency of the NDB for six years with headquarters in China Agreement was also reached on establishing a Contingency Reserve Arrangement with an initial size of USD 100 billion to provide additional liquidity protection to member-nations during balance of payments problems. Funding of CRA is 41 per cent by China, 18 per cent each from Brazil, India, and Russia, and 5 per cent from South Africa. The 7th BRICS Summit will be held in the Russian city of Ufa.

ISRAEL OPENS WAR WITH GAZA Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched “Operation Protective Edge” against Hamas militants in Gaza strip for their alleged kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers. In over a month long conflict, Israeli forces have killed over one thousand persons in Gaza strip through attack by ground and air strikes. (See the specil)

MALAYSIAN PLANE SHOT DOWN, KILLING 298 A Malaysian aircraft, flight MH 17 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by terrorist using a Russian Buk missile when it was flying above 33,000 feet over eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 295 people aboard. The disaster is clouded in mystery as both Russia and Ukraine claim that their forces have not shot the plane.

UKRAINE MOVES TOWARDS EUROPEAN UNION Ukraine signed a landmark economic trade pact with the European Union June 27. The Association Agreement is expected to boost Ukraine’s exports to the European Union but has attracted strong negative reaction from the Russia. It was a refusal to sign this pact last year by Mr Poroshenko’s predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, which triggered popular protests in Ukraine, leading to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula

India will host the 7th IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) summit in 2015.

JUNE 2014 ISIS LAUNCHES FIERCE ATTACK IN IRAQ Sunni militants, led by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have since the beginning of June, killed thousands of civilians and army personnel in Iraq in their bid to dethrone the present Shia government led by Premier Nouri al-Malikii. They have been successful in gaining control of some major cities like Tikrit and Mosul. ISIS militants are supporters of Saddam Hussein, ex president of Iraq who was sentenced to death in 2012. The rift between the two major Islamic communities – Sunnis and Shias, runs like a tectonic fault-line. The division between Sunni and Shia Muslims is the oldest in the Middle East — and yet it is one which seems increasingly to be shaping the destiny of this troubled region. The rift goes right back to the beginning — and a row over who should succeed the Prophet Mohamed as leader of the emerging Islamic community when he died in the early 7th century. The majority of his followers thought his closest associate, Abu Bakr, should take over. They became the ‘Sunnis’. But a minority thought the Prophet’s closest relative, his son-in-law and nephew Ali, should succeed. This minority came to be known as ‘Shias’. Word Shia is an abbreviation of Shiat Ali “the party of Ali”. Intrigues and violence followed. Eventually Ali was killed, as was his son Hussein, and persecution and martyrdom became ingrained in the Shia psyche. The two sides agreed on the Quran but had different views on hadith, the traditions recorded by the Prophet’s followers about what he had said and done in his life. From time to time, however, violence has flared in which the Shia, in the main, have been brutally and even genocidally persecuted. There are around one and a half billion Muslims in the world. Of these, somewhere between 10 and 20 per cent — estimates vary considerably — are Shia. In most countries Shias are minority in a Sunni homeland. But in Iraq, Iran, Bahrain and Azerbaijan, Shias are in majority. For past several years, Shia majority of Iraq was ruled by Sunni warlord – Saddam Hussein, until the invasion of Iraq by US forces that ended with hanging of Saddam in 2012. Afterwards, when elections took place, Shias came in to power. Since then, Sunni supporters of Saddam have been waging a war against the elected govt. They got together to form the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – ISIS with the sole objective of regaining the lost power.


USA FIRST CHOICE FOR FDI A survey by global consulting firm A T Kearney has shown that the USA is the top destination in the world for foreign direct investment. India has slipped to its lowest position; seventh, in over a decade. China plans to shut down over 2,000 small coal mines

by next year to eliminate outdated capacity and improve work safety and address pollution concerns.

G7 meet of industrialized nations held at Brussels, Belgium

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 EU 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 (EEU) 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 of China. 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.


PERSONS IN NEWS

JULY 2014 ARSENIY YATSENYUK: Ukraine’s Prime Minister was in news as he resigned in a shock move to protest the disbanding of the ruling parliamentary coalition, plunging the strife-torn nation into political uncertainty. AKHOURI SINHA: In a rare honour, the USA has named a mountain in Antarctica after this eminent Indian-American scientist whose pioneering biological research expedition to Antarctica has provided vital data about animal populations in that area. NEYMAR: Ace striker of Brazil’s football team was in news as he suffered a back bone fracture after being hit by the Colombian defender Juan Zuniga. Brazil’s bid to win a sixth World Cup suffered a devastating blow as Neymar was ruled out of the rest of the tournament.

JUNE 2014 ARUNADHATI BHATTACHARYA: Chairperson of State Bank of India has been ranked as most powerful women in India by the Forbes Magazine. She stood at 36th rank. KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAW: India's biotechnology queen, Chairperson of Biocon Industries, has been awarded the coveted Global Economy Prize for business by the Kiel Institute in Germany during its centenary celebrations. The annual prize is awarded to three individuals - a high-ranking policy maker, a renowned economist and an outstanding entrepreneur. IROM SHARMILA CHANU: A local court in Imphal, Manipur has ruled that there is prima facie evidence of attempt to commit suicide against Manipur social activist who has been on fast for the past 13 years demanding withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the State. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER: 45 year old German Formula One champion was in news as he emerged out of coma after almost five and a half months, following his devastating ski accident in December, 2013. ANGELA MERKEL: Chancellor of Germany, she has been declared as most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine. BOWE BERGDAHL: An US sergeant was in news as he was released by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan on May 31 to American forces in exchange for five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison in USA. JUAN CARLOS: Spain's King, who led Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy, was in news as he announced his abdication in favour of his son, Prince Felipe, making way for a "new generation”.

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.

APPOINTMENTS

JULY 2014 NEW GOVERNORS APPOINTED

Ram Naik Uttar Pradesh. Kesri Nath Tripathi West Bengal Om Prakash Kohli Gujarat Balramji Dass Tandon Chhattisgarh. Padmanabha Acharya Nagaland. Kaptan Singh Solanki Haryana Margaret Alva Goa (Add. Charge)

PINKY ANAND: Additional Solicitor-General

FUAD MASUM: President of Iraq

JOKO WIDODO (JOKOWI): President of Indonesia

JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER: President of the European Commission

JUNE 2014 RANJIT KUMAR: Solicitor General of India

Dr. AJIT KUMAR DOVAL: National Security Adviser, Govt of India

ARUN JAITLEY: The Union Finance Minister has been appointed as India's Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank.

MADHURI DIXIT: The Bollywood celebrity has been appointed as UNICEF's 'celebrity advocate for child rights'.

VISHAL SIKKA: Chief Executive Officer, Infosys

SUMITRA MAHAJAN: Speaker, Lok Sabha

DR. SUDHIR KUMAR MISHRA: CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace Corporation

Arun Mishra, Adarsh Kumar Goel and Rohinton Nariman: Judge in Supreme Court


N. SRINIVASAN: First Chairman of International Cricket Council, Dubai

JUSTICE VK RAJAH: Attorney General of Singapore, he is an Indian-origin judge.

ALEXANDER STUBB: Prime Minister of Finland

REUVEN RIVLIN: President of Israel, from Likud party

BASHAR AL-ASSAD: Elected as President of Syria, for the third time successively.

PRINCE FELIPE: New King of Spain

ABDUL FATTAH AL-SISI: President of Egypt

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

AWARDS & HONOURS

JULY 2014 PREM BHATIA AWARD for Journalism: SMITA GUPTA, Associate Editor with The Hindu, for political reporting. NITIN SETHI, Associate Editor, Business Standard, for excellence in environmental and development reporting

JUNE 2014 49TH JNANPITH AWARD – 2013: Noted Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh. The award includes Rs 11 lakh as cash.

27TH MOORTIDEVI AWARD – 2013: Renowned scientist-turned- Malyalam writer C Radhakrishna for his book 'Theekkadal Katanhu Thirumadhuram'

Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction: Eimear McBride for her first novel ‘A girl is a Half-Formed Thing’

'LEGION OF FRANCE': Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan for his contribution to Cinema. It is one of its highest civilian awards conferred by France.

TANG PRIZE 2014 DECLARED Dr. Samuel Yin, a business tycoon from Taiwan established the Tang Prizes in December 2012 in four major fields of Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science,

Sinology, Rule of Law to encourage research in these fields. They are given once in two years.

FIELD NAME CONTRIBUTION

Sinology Yu Ying-shih Research in Chinese cultural, intellectual and political history

Sustainable Development

Gro Harlem Brundtland, Ex. PM of Norway.

innovation, leadership and implementation of sustainable development

Rule of Law Albie Sachs fight against apartheid

Bio-pharmaceutical science

Dr. Tasuku Honjo & James Allison

fight against cancer

WORLD FOOD PRIZE: won by Sanjaya Rajaram, India born veteran plant scientist from Mexico, for his contribution in increasing the wheat production in world. The Prize, carrying a cash prize of $ 250,000, would be presented during the U.N. World Food Day on October 16.

DAG HAMMARSKJOLD Medal: Gallantry award given by UNO to eight Indian soldiers on 29th May - International Day of UN peacekeepers.

Two Indian-Americans Sriram J Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe jointly won the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee at National Harbour, Maryland (USA).

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 won by Turkey’s Winter Sleep directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan National Florence Nightingale Awards 2014 conferred on 35 nursing personnel by President of India for their meritorious services.


BOOKS & AUTHORS

JULY 2014 The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee Finding Neema by Juliet Reynolds Half a Rupee Stories by Gulzar The Substance and The Shadow by Udaya Tara Nayar, a biography of veteran actor Dilip Kumar Innovation in India by Shyama V. Ramani

JUNE 2014 Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. The Obamas by Edward Klein Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah Hannah Kent – Burial Rites Audrey Magee – The Undertaking Eimear McBride – A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch

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.

OBITUARY

JULY 2014 ZOHRA SEHGAL: Legendary actress from Hindi theatre and cinema, aged over 102 years.

NADINE GORDIMER: South African Nobel Prize-winning author, one of the most powerful voices against the injustice of apartheid

JUNE 2014 SULTAN AZLAN SHAH: Known as the 'Father of Malaysian Hockey' for his colossal contribution to the international hockey for over 41 years -- both as a player and as an administrator. He was Sultan of Perak, Malaysia.

GOPINATH MUNDE: Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Prominent BJP leader from Maharashtra.

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.

PLACES IN NEWS

JULY 2014 NEOGURI: Name of powerful typhoon that lashed Japan's southern Okinawa islands on 8th July, forcing over half a million people to seek shelter, as the typhoon damaged buildings, downed trees and brought air/sea traffic to a halt.

JUNE 2014 INDIRA GANDHI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: The airport in Delhi was declared second best in service quality in world and sixth best airport in the world. MEHRANGIR: Name of the bungalow of Late J. J. Bhabha, a pioneer nuclear scientist, at Malabar Hills, Mumbai that was auctioned for a record price of Rs. 372 crore. Sh. Bhabha wanted that auction money may be used for the development and the upkeep of the National Centre for the Performing Arts- NCPA, a non-profit organization. However, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has appealed to the govt to acquire the property and to maintain it as a monument. RANI-KI-VAV, PATAN: The 11th century step well at district Patan of Gujarat has been approved as a World Heritage site by UNESCO, describing it as an “exceptional example of technological development” in utilising ground water resources. Rani-ki-Vav (queen’s step well) is a particularly large and complex example of a stepwell with seven storeys of ornamented panels and relief representing the height of the Maru-Gurjara style. GHNP, KULLU: The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh has been accorded the UNESCO World Heritage Site status for its “exceptional natural beauty and conservation of biological diversity.” Some other Indian World Heritage Sites (WHS) include the Taj Mahal, Ellora Caves, Kaziranga National Park, Keoladeo National Park, Manas National Park, Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve and the Sunderbans. THALOT/ LARJI: place about 40 km from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh was in news as 24 engineering students, including six girls, were washed away in River Beas due to sudden release of water from the reservoir of Larji hydropower project on river Beas, some five kilometers away from the accident site. The students were from a Hyderabad engineering college on an educational trip. The accident took place when they were taking photographs on the bank of the river. GARIPHEMA: Village in Nagaland was in news as it has been declared the country’s first tobacco-free village on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day on May 31.


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. 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.

SPORTS WORLD JULY 2014

20TH C’WEALTH GAMES START IN GLASGOW The 2014 Commonwealth Games (officially the 20th Commonwealth Games) will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from 23 July to 3 August 2014. Mascot for the games has been named ‘Clyde’ after the famous Clyde river of Scotland. It is in the shape of a thistle plant, not an animal. Shooter Vijay Kumar led Indian Contingent as flag bearer.

INDIA’S GOLD MEDAL WINNER AT COMMONWEALTH GAMES (UPTO 30TH JULY)

SR. NO. SPORTS PERSON SPORTS

1 K Sanjita Chanu Weight lifting

2 Sukhen Dev Weight lifting

3 Satish Sivalingam Weight lifting

4 Abhinav Bindra Shooting, 10 m rifle

5 Apurvi Chandela Shooting, 10 m rifle

6 Jitu Rai Shooting, 50 m pistol

7 Rahi Sanorbat Shooting, 25 m pistol

8 Sushil Kumar Wrestling

9 Amit Kumar Wrestling

10 Vinesh Phogat Wrestling

*For more news on medals won, please check latest news SAINA NEHWAL: Indian shuttler lifted her first Super Series title in two years, clinching the $ 750,000 Star Australian Open after outplaying Spain's Carolina Marin at Sydney, Australia.

PANKAJ ADVANI won his 9th world title beating Poland’s Kacper Flilpiak in the IBSF World 6-Red snooker championship at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Ritu Rani to captain India’s women hockey team for the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow.

GERMANY LIFTS FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 Mario Gotze scored the winning goal for Germany in the 22nd minute of extra time as Germany became the football world champions when they beat Argentina 1-0 in the final at Rio-de Janeiro. Germany, who had made the final for the fourth time in a row, won their first title after 1990.

AWARDS FOR FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 GOLDEN BALL Player of the Tournament- Lionel Messi, Argentina GOLDEN BOOT Highest Goal Scorer (6) –: James Rodriguez, Colombia GOLDEN GLOVE Best Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer, Germany The Indian men's football team has been ranked 151th in the FIFA world rankings, which is topped by recently-crowned world champions Germany. Wimbledon Tennis Open, London: Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the Men’s title defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Women’s title was won by Petra Kvitova of Czechslovakia by defeating Eugenie Bouchard of Canada VINCENZO NIBALI of Italy won the world famous three week cycling marathon - Tour de France. SIM BHULLAR has become the first player of Indian origin to be a part of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in USA after joining the Sacramento Kings team. The 21-year-old is 7.5 feet tall and hails from Kapurthala in Punjab. India clinched their first Test win against England at the historic Lord's ground in London in nearly three decades.

JUNE 2014 Jitu Rai became first Indian shooter to win three medals in successive ISSF Shooting World Cup. Also, by winning his first-ever Gold medal and one Silver at the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia, he became the first Indian shooter to win two medals at the same World Cup. Abhishek Verma has become the first Indian archer to win three gold medals in a single international tournament after a silver medal he won last year was converted to gold. Abhishek won a silver in the compound men’s event at the Asian Archery Championship in Chinese Taipei in October-November last year. Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil won the gold medal and silver medal respectively, in wrestling in International Competition in Sassari city, Italy.

Indian Premier League – 7: Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL title beating Kings Eleven Punjab at the final played at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Viswanathan Anand won the bronze medal at the World Rapid Chess Championship held at Dubai.


National Games: The 35th edition of these will be held in Kerala in Jan– Feb, 2015. Sachin Tendulkar has been appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for these games. FRENCH OPEN TENNIS at Roland Garros, Paris Rafael Nadal of Spain won the men’s title for the ninth time, and the fifth time in a row, beating Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Women’s title was won by Maria Sharapova of Russia, defeating Romania's Simona Halep. Hockey World Cup (men) Australia defeated The Netherlands to win the cup at The Hague, Netherland. Women’s cup was lifted by The Netherland defeating Australia 16th Asian Junior Athletics Championship: India won 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 5 Bronze medals to finish 5th in final medal tally at Taipei City, China from 12 June to 15 June 2014.

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 to retain 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.

DAYS & DATES

AUGUST

World Breast – Feeding Week August 1-07 Friendship Day August 05 Hiroshima Day August 06 August Kranti Divas August 09 Nagasaki Day August 09 Dengue Prevention Day August 10 International Youth Day August 12 National Independence Day August 15 World Photography Day August 19 Sanskrit Day August 24 Women’s Equality Day August 26 National Sports Day August 29

JULY

Architecture day, Doctor’s 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 World Refugee Day June 20 International Olympic Day June 23 International Widows Day June 23 International Anti-Drugs day June 26 World Diabetes Day June 27

THE SECRET IN EDUCATION LIES IN RESPECTING THE

STUDENT

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


BUDGET 2014-15 : HIGHLIGHTS

INCOME TAX SAVINGS Individual taxpayers Income Rate Savings Up to Rs. 250000 Nil Rs. 5000 Rs. 250001 to Rs. 500000 10% Rs. 5000 Rs. 500001 to Rs. 1000000 20% Rs. 5000 Above Rs. 1000000 30% Rs. 5000 For senior citizens Income Rate Savings UP to Rs. 300000 Nil Rs. 5000 Rs. 300001 to Rs. 500000 10% Rs. 5000 Rs. 500001 to Rs. 1000000 20% Rs. 5000 Above Rs. 1000000 30% Rs. 5000 TAXES & INTERESTS Income tax exemption limit raised from Rs. 2 lakh

to Rs. 2.5 lakh Deduction limit under Section 80 C raised to Rs.

1.5 lakh Annual PPF ceiling hiked to Rs. 1.5 lakh No tax for income up to Rs. 3 lakh for senior

citizens Housing loan interest deduction limit raised from

Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh AIM: Big relief to a large number of

taxpayers WOMEN’S SAFETY Rs. 50 cr for ‘Safety’ for Women Rs. 150 crore for security net in large cities Crisis Management Centres to come up in Delhi Rs. 100 crore for ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao

Yojana’ AIM: To instill a sense of security amongst

women by curbing the crime against women which jumped by 26.7% in 2013.

POWER & ENERGY Rs.500 crore Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti

Yojana for providing 24 x 7 power supply to all homes in rural areas

Rs. 100 cr for “Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based Thermal Power Technology

Rs. 200 cr for power reforms in Delhi Rs. 500 cr for solar power projects Rs. 400 crore scheme for financing solar-power-

driven agricultural pump sets and water pumping stations.

AIM: For meeting ever-growing demand for electricity. Villages and rural areas to benefit most

AGRICULTURE Rs. 8 lakh crore for agriculture credit by banks Farmers to get loans at 7% interest rate Rs. 100 cr Agri- infrastructure fund Rs. 50 cr for indigenous cattle breeding Rs. 500 cr for price stabilization fund Rs. 100 cr for Kisan Television AIM: To encourage R & D in agriculture and

rationalize fertilizer prices to boost rural economy

RURAL DEVELOPMENT Rs. 14389 cr for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak

Yojana Initial sum of Rs. 100 cr for Village

Entrepreneurship Programme Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan targeting total sanitation

by 2019 AIM: To provide Self-employment

opportunities in rural areas TOURISM E-visas to be allowed at nine airports, Rs. 500 cr for 5 new tourism circuits National Heritage City Development and

Augmentation Yojana to be launched Rs.100 crore for the preservation of

archaeological sites AIM: Promotion of tourism to attract more

revenue and foreign currency. Govt aims to achieve an average annual growth of 8% per year in tourism.

INFRASTRUCTURE Rs. 37850 crore allocated for road building plan

via NHAI, including Rs. 3000 cr for the North East Rs. 11635 crore to develop existing ports &

harbrours Schemes for development of airports in tier-I and

II cities via AAI and PPP Rs. 7060 cr for 100 smart cities AIM: Clear highways sector from the maze

of clearances


MARKET & BANKING PSU banks to raise Rs. 2.40 lakh cr capital by

2018 Introduction of uniform KYC norms One single operating DMAT account Two bank accounts in each household to be

opened to promote financial inclusion AIM: To ensure Banking facilities for all

households

EDUCATION 5 new IITs and an equal number of IIMs, 4 new

AIIMS to be opened Rs. 28635 cr for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Rs. 4966 for Rasthtriya Madhyamik Shiksha

Abhiyan AIM: To check high school dropouts and

boost higher education

DEFENCE Highest ever allocation of Rs. 2.29 lakh crore, one rank one pension adopted FDI limit in defence sector raised from 26% to

49% Rs. 1000 cr for border area rail network Additional Rs. 5000 cr for the modernization of

armed forces Aim: To provide for India’s need for state-

of-the-art weapons and capability to deploy troops swiftly in border areas.

INFO TECHNOLOGY All govt depts, ministries to be integrated through

e-platform Tax benefits for IT industry restored FDI in e-commerce sector to boost to the online

retail industry Biotech clusters to be set up in Bangaluru and

Faridabad Aim: To promote new technology and

integration of technology across sectors

CUSTOMS & EXCISE Colour picture tubes exempted from basic

customs duty Basic customs duty on LCD, LED panels below 19

inches reduced More proposals to cut excise on food processing

and footwear Cigarettes, tobacco products, aerated water

containing sugar to become expensive AIM: To curb use of tobacco products as

smoking results in 1 million deaths every year and 20% of the total deaths in the country.

KEY BUDGET FIGURES – 2014-15 BUDGET HEAD Rs in Cr

1 Revenue Receipts (2+3) 1189763

2 Tax Revenue (net to centre) 977258

3 Non-Tax Revenue 212505

4 Capital Receipts (5+6+7) 605129

5 Recoveries of Loans 10527

6 Other Receipts 63425

7 Borrowings and other liabilities 531177

8 Total Receipts (1+4) $ 1794892

9 Non-Plan Expenditure (10+12) 1219892

10 On Revenue Account - of which, 1114609

11 Interest Payments 427011

12 On Capital Account 105283

13 Plan Expenditure (14+15) 575000

14 On Revenue Account 453503


16 Total Expenditure (9+13)(Budget Size) 1794892

17 Revenue Expenditure (10+14) 1568111

18 Of Which, Grants for creation of

Capital Assets 168104

19 Capital Expenditure (12+15) 226781

20 Revenue Deficit (17-1) 2.9% of GDP 378348

21 Effective Revenue Deficit (20-18) 1.6% of GDP

210244

22 Fiscal Deficit {16-(1+5+6)} 4.1% of GDP*

531177

23 Primary Deficit (22-11) 0.8% of GDP* 104166

*–GDP for 2014-2015 has been projected at ` 128.77 trillion

GOVT HOUSE KEEPING (In %)

Rupee Comes From Rupee Goes To Borrowings 24 Central Plan Outlay 11 Corporate Tax 21 Plan Asst. to State / UTs 15

Income Tax 13 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 03 Subsidies 12

Total 100 Total 100


ECONOMIC SURVEY 2014 – 15

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on 9 July 2014 presented Economic Survey of India 2013-14 in the Lok Sabha. The Economic Survey is presented every year, just before the Union Budget and after the Railway Budget. It is an annual document of the Union Ministry of Finance, Government of India and it reviews the developments in the Indian economy of previous 12 months (fiscal year). It summarizes the performance on major development programmes, and highlights the policy initiatives of the government and the prospects of the economy in the short to medium term.

HIGHLIGHTS Economy to grow in the range of 5.4 – 5.9 per cent in

2014-15 overcoming sub-5 percent growth. Aided by favourable monsoons, agricultural and allied

sector registered a growth of 4.7 per cent in 2013-14. RBI has indentified five sectors -- infrastructure, iron

and steel, textiles, aviation and mining as the stressed sectors.

Public sector banks (PSBs) have high exposures to the ‘industry’ sector in general and to such ‘stressed’ sectors in particular.

The India’s balance-of-payments position improved dramatically in 2013-14 with current account deficit at US $ 32.4 billion as against US$ 88.2 billion in 2012-13.

India’s foreign exchange reserves increased from US$ 292.0 billion at end March 2013 to US$ 304.2 billion at end march 2014.

In 2013-14, FDI inflows to the services sector (top five sectors including construction) declined sharply by 37.6 per cent to US$ 6.4 billion compared to an overall growth in FDI inflows at 6.1 per cent resulting in the share of the top five services in total FDI falling to nearly one-sixth.

Record food grains and oilseeds production of 264.4 million tonnes (mt) and 32.4 mt is estimated in 2013-14.

Horticulture production estimated at 265 mt in 2012-13 has exceeded the production of foodgrains and oilseeds for the first time.

Industry grew by just 1.0 per cent in 2012-13 and slowed further in 2013-14 to just 0.4 per cent. India has the second fastest growing services sector

with its CAGR at 9.0 per cent and ranked 12th in world. The NHAI constructed 2844 km length in 2012-13, its highest ever annual achievement. During 2013-14 a total of 1901 km of road construction was completed.

The cumulative costs of India’s low carbon strategies have been estimated at around USD 834 billion at 2011 prices, between 2010 and 2030.

According to Human Development Report 2013, India has slipped down in HDI to 136th rank as against 134 in 2012. It is still in the medium human development category.

The poverty ratio (based on the MPCE of 816 for rural areas and 1000 for urban areas in 2011-12 at all India level), has declined from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12.

During 2004-05 to 2011-12, employment growth was only 0.5 per cent, compared to 2.8 per cent during 1999-2000 to 2004-05 as per usual status.

RAILWAY BUDGET 2014 – 15

HIGHLIGHTS No new increase in passenger fares and freight

charges. Bullet train to start on Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector. Diamond quadrilateral to be developed for high speed

trains connecting the four metros. Plan to hike speed of trains to 160-200 km/hr in 9

sectors. Online booking to support 7,200 tickets/minute; to

allow 1.2 lakh users log in simultaneously. Seat reservation system to be revamped, ticket-booking

through mobile phones, post offices to be popularized. Platform and unreserved tickets to be available online Tourist trains to connect pilgrim centres. Combo parking-cum-platform tickets at stations. Women RPF Constables to escort ladies coaches; 4,000

women constables to be inducted. Retiring room facility to be extended to all stations. Feedback services through IVRS on quality of food. Battery operated cars for differently abled and senior

citizens at major stations. Food can be ordered through SMS, phone; Food courts

at major stations. Cleanliness budget up by 40 per cent over last year. CCTVs to be used at stations for monitoring cleanliness. RO drinking water at stations and trains. Provision of automatic door closing in mainline and sub-

urban coaches.

FDI to be allowed in railway projects but not in operations.


ISRAEL GAZA CONFLICT

For past two months Israeli forces have been pounding the areas in Gaza strip controlled by Hamas militants, killing hundreds of innocent Palestinians in retaliation to the sporadic rocket attacks by the Hamas militants. This is not the first time that armed conflict has erupted between Israel and Palestine. The conflict between Arabs led by Palestinians and Israel has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th century. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: After the First World War, the Britain took the control of the then Palestine, comprising of present day area of Gaza, West bank, Jordan and the Israel. In 1930s, Britain captured Syria also leading to protests by Arabs. This conflict continues till date. Later, during the Second World War when German Nazi forces committed genocide of Jews to punish them for support to Britishers, demand for a separate homeland for Jews grew strong. BIRTH OF ISRAEL: On November 29, 1947, the U N General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the partition of the then Palestine into an Arab state called Palestine and a Jewish state called Israel and UN controlled Jerusalem. The state of Palestine had two geographically separate parts - West Bank and Gaza strip. The Israel was declared an independent country on 14th May 1948. Palestinians, obviously, protested partition of their homeland and vowed to get the area evicted of the ‘illegal occupants’ (Israelis). Israel on its part never accepted Palestine as independent country and demanded that Gaza Strip and West Bank should be merged with adjoining Egypt and Jordan, respectively. The attempts by Palestinians supported by Arabs of Egypt, Syria and Jordan to evict Israel from Palestine led to four wars between them: 1948 War of Independence 1956 Sinai War 1967 Six Day War 1973 Yom Kippur War In all these wars, the Arabs were defeated by the Israelis backed as they were by US, Britain and France. PEACE PROCESS In 1978, USA and its allies attempted to brokerage peace between Israel and Egypt, one of the main player in the region. Known as Camp David Accord, it was the first such agreement between Israel and any Arab country. They agreed to recognize existence of each other. However, no peace could be brought between the two warring sides and

frequent armed conflict continued, killing numerous people on both sides. Another major breakthrough came in the shape of the Oslo Accord 1993 and 1995 when Israel recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation led by Yasser Arafat. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS However, peace could never be achieved in reality and armed skirmishes continue till date. The area in West Bank is presently controlled by militant group called Al-Fateh and the Gaza Strip is controlled by another militant group called Hamas. Israel controls borders of Gaza and has put it under a under a military siege. CURRENT PROVOCATIONIN GAZA The present strife is result of alleged killing of three Israeli youth by Palestinians. Israel has retaliated by firing its own rockets and air strikes killing hundreds of Gaza inhabitants. FUTURE PROSPECTS There does not seem to be any solution in sight as Hamas refuses to accept Israel and Israel refuses to accept the existence of Palestine.


(February 2014– April 2014) For details please visit our website: www.gyanm.in

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

APRIL 2014 The Supreme Court has said that Aadhaar card is not

mandatory for citizens to avail government services. India has slid down to 83rd spot among 148

economies in terms of leveraging information and communications technologies for growth and well being.

The India Public Policy Report 2014 has ranked India’s smallest states — Sikkim, Mizoram, Goa, Punjab and Delhi — best in policy effectiveness.

The Social Progress Index 2014 compiled by US-based non-profit group Social Progress Imperative ranks India102nd among the 132 countries.

India and Bhutan have signed an agreement on development of four hydropower projects for producing 2120 MW of electricity.

Supreme Court has recognised eunuchs as third category of gender and directed Centre and states to take steps to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes.

MARCH 2014 The largest Solar Power Plant of India, producing 130

MW of power, was launched at Bhagwanpur in Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh on 26 February 2014.

India has offered Bangladesh a $1 billion soft loan for infrastructure development.

Travellers from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria, Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria and Pakistan will have to receive mandatory oral polio vaccine (OPV) before visiting India.

India continues to be the largest buyer of arms in the world, much ahead of China and Pakistan.

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

Global Ayurveda Festival held at Kochi, Kerala.

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.

NEWS FROM STATES

APRIL 2014

The Arunachal Pradesh was put on the country’s railway map on April 7 at Naharlagun, near state capital Itanagar, starting from Dekargaon, Assam.

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 First phase of the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial

Corridor project started in Maharashtra. Nagaland and Assam became the first two states to

be issued with Plastic Photo Identity Card for elections in India.

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).

GOVT INITIATIVES

APRIL 2014

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.

MARCH 2014 'Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme' launched for health

check up minority students in the age group of 5-14 years

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.


ECONOMIC INDICATORS

APRIL 2014 According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF),

growth of India’s GDP could recover to 5.4% in 2014-15 from 4.4% expected in 2013-14

The Asian Development Bank has cut India's growth for 2014-15 to 5.5% against 5.7% estimated earlier, on account of weaker industrial growth.

MARCH 2014 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.

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.

ECONOMY

APRIL 2014 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.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has approved a loan of about Rs 674 crore for a forest project in Uttarakhand.

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.

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.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has acquired Ranbaxy Laboratories for USD 3.2 billion to become the largest pharmaceutical company in India.

Cadbury India has changed its name to Mondelez India Foods Limited to fall in line with its parent company - Mondelez International.

MARCH 2014 The government has launched an exchange-traded

fund of central public sector enterprises, to raise 3,000 crore rupees for its disinvestment plan.

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.

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


13 Plan Expenditure (14+15) 555322

14 On Revenue Account 442273


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.

BANKING

APRIL 2014

RBI has granted bank licences to two applicants - Infrastructure Development Finance Company and microfinance lender Bandhan Financial Services Ltd.

The Reserve Bank has adopted the new Consumer Price Index (combined) as the key measure of inflation on recommendations of Urjit R. Patel panel.

RBI has asked banks not to levy penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance in ordinary savings bank account and inoperative accounts.

State Bank of India has launched its operations through the Twitter to connect better with the tech-savvy young generation.

RBI has fixed cap of Rs. 50,000 for issuance of pre-paid payment instruments to make all issuers comply with the strict money laundering laws.

Umesh Bellur panel has suggested modalities for setting up a system for GIRO - Government Internal Revenue Order for centralised bills payment system in the country.

MARCH 2014 RBI 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.

State Bank of India has launched a payment intermediary christened as 'SBI ePay', which will facilitate e-commerce or m-commerce transactions among merchants and customers.

SWIFT India, the domestic arm of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has tied up with nine domestic banks to provide local operations.

RBI guidelines issued for forming Joint Lenders’ Forum (JLF) and adoption of Corrective Action Plan (CAP) for handling high value NPAs.

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 to announce the Monetary Policy at bi-monthly intervals from 1st April, 2014 onwards.

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.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

APRIL 2014 India successfully launched its second navigational

satellite IRNSS 1B onboard PSLV-C24 from Sriharikota on Andhra coast.

From April 8, Microsoft has stopped technical support for its most popular operating system (OS) Windows XP globally.

The Navy has sold the iconic air craft carrier INS Vikrant to a ship-breaking company for Rs. 63.2 crore. The ship was decommissioned in 1997.

India and France conducted a 10-day joint Air exercise 'Garuda-5 in Rajasthan's Jodhpur airbase in Rajasthan.

The government has approved recruitment of young women as 'combat officers' in Sashastra Seema Bal.

India successfully conducted first night test of its nuclear-capable surface to surface ballistic missile – Agni-I, with strike range of 700 km

The Indian missile frigate INS Shivalik 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 surface-to-air missile Aakash from the Integrated Test Range near Chandipur, District Balasore in Odisha.

MARCH 2014 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.

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.

Indian Air Force lost a C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft that crashed 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.

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.

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

APRIL 2014 Finance Ministers from G20 nations met at Washington,

USA, to discuss ways to boost investment in infrastructure.

The European Union has banned the import of Alphonso mangoes and four other vegetables from India due to the alleged presence of pests in them.

Latest WTO report projects global trade to recover and grow by 4.7% in 2014, more than double of what was achieved in 2013.

MARCH 2014 Crimea 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 Group of 8 has expelled Russia from the Group to punish for its lightning annexation of Crimea.

No traces found of Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines, having 239 passengers aboard that went missing over the South China Sea on March 7.

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

Air pollution claimed seven million lives around the world in 2012, according to figures released by the World Health Organization.

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

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

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'.

PERSONS IN NEWS

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. 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.

MARCH 2014

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

AWARDS & HONOURS

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 GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE: Indian environment activist Ramesh Agrawal has won the prestigious award ‘Green Nobel’ that honours heroic grassroot environmentalists around the world. 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

PULITZER PRIZE (POETRY): India-born poet Vijay Seshadri, for his 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.

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.

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.

OBITUARY

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’.

NANDA: Veteran film actress of Hindi Cinema

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 US cinema actor

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

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. 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 digging of a well.

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.

FEBRUARY 2014

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


S P O R T S W O R L D

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 Bhopal, MP Railway Haryana

Senior Women National

Championship 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 (Men’s)

New Delhi Tamil Nadu Punjab

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.


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.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS BOOK AUTHOR ‘An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election’

S. Y. Quraishi

Story of A Death Foretold Oscar Guardiola-Rivera

Good Governance: Never On India's Radar

Madhav Godbole

The Hindus: An Alternative History

Wendy Doniger

India at Risk Jaswant Singh

My Way by Derek O’Brien, Rajya Sabha member

In Pursuit of a Lesser Offence Sujata Parashar

Be Careful What You Wish For

Jeffrey Archer

The Country Without a Post Office

Agha Shahid Ali

Dhool Paudho Par Govind Mishra

The Political Economy of Energy and Growth

Najeeb Jung, Lt. Governor of Delhi

The Triple Package: What Really Determines Success

Jed Rubenfeld, Amy Chua

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


NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK

NEED FOR A ‘NEW’ WORLD BANK The World Bank and the IMF were established with the purpose to foster economic cooperation and development that would lead to a more stable and prosperous global economy. However, the working of these Institutions, also known as Bretton Woods institutions, has disappointed developing countries as these institutions provided provided aid with ‘conditions attached’. Frustration With The Existing System The developing countries have been demanding changes in working of these organizations and more say in their administration. Faced with an imminent crisis in 2008, the developed countries agreed to certain changes and even some progress was made in the G-20 negotiations providing more leeway and voting rights to developing countries led by China, India and Russia. However USA has failed to ratify the 2010 agreement giving more say to these emerging economies in the IMF. Further, though World Bank and IMF have 188 members, but by an unwritten rule, the World Bank is headed by an American and the IMF by a European. In IMF, no decision can be taken without the consent of USA, as its voting power gives it the ‘veto power’. Last year, USA once again foisted Jim Yong Kim, an American as head of World Bank over the demand of developing countries for a person of their choice. This has prompted the BRICS countries to think of a new bank called New Development Bank, an idea which was conceived at 2012 meet at Delhi summit and agreed to at Durban in 2013. ROLE OF BRICS IN WORLD ECONOMY BRICS nations account for 20% of global output, have combined foreign-currency reserves of $4.4 trillion and account for 43 percent of the world’s population. According to the available data, trade within the group has surged to $282 billion last year from $27 billion in 2002 and may reach $500 billion by 2015. As per United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Foreign Direct Investment into BRICS nations reached $263 billion last year, accounting for 20 percent of global FDI flows.

NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK On July 15, 2014, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) have launched a $100 billion development bank, dubbed New Development Bank to be Head Quartered at Shanghai. The first CEO will hail from India. The term of CEO will be for a period of five years and the next CEO will be from Brazil and Russia respectively. This bank will primarily invest in infrastructure and will have more empathy for the developing countries as opposed to the World Bank which carry a bias for western countries. The creation of the NDB will surely create competition for both the World Bank and other similar regional funds. CAPITAL OF NDB The New Development Bank will have the capital of $100 Billion. However, initially, it will start with the capital of $50 Billion, with each member country contributing $ 10Billion. The bank can accept membership of other countries as well. CONTINGENCY RESERVE ARRANGEMENT Apart from ‘New Development Bank’, these countries also agreed to create a ‘Contingency Reserve Arrangement’ with a corpus of $100 Billion. However, unlike the NDB, this CRA will not require immediate contribution, nor equal contribution. This fund will be an equivalent of IMF providing cash aid to BRICS countries faced with short term Balance of Payment problems. The contribution to CRA will be as follows:

COUNTRY CONTRIBUTION CHINA 41 ( Billion $) BRAZIL 18 ( Billion $) INDIA 18 ( Billion $)

RUSSIA 18 ( Billion $)

SOUTH AFRICA 5 ( Billion $)

The establishment of NDB and CRA may not pose a direct and immediate threat to World Bank and the IMF, but will provide them a challenge and definitely prompt them to induce reforms in their working.

–––––––– 0 ––––––––


600 MCQS FOR SBI CLERICAL

MARKETING 1) The aim of successful marketing is

a) To increase the sale b) To increase the profit c) To increase the output of sellers d) All of the above e) None of the above

2) Buying and selling in the marketing functions are categorized as a) exchange functions b) facilitating functions c) distribution functions d) All of the above e) None of the above

3) Which among the following come under ‘facilitating’ category of marketing functions? a) Standardising and grading b) Standardising and grading, financing and risk

taking c) Standardising and grading, financing, risk taking, securing market information d) All of the above e) None of the above

4) A lead means a) a prospect who is more likely to avail of the

bank’s product b) A political leader c) A religious leader

d) a bank chairman e) None of the above 5) Which among the following is called like

blood of business? a) Marketing b) Product c) Finance d) All of these e) None of these

6) Which of the following is/are objective of marketing? a) Satisfying customer b) Increasing demand c) Creating goodwill for the organization d) Providing better quality products e) All of the above

7) The sole aim of marketing is to a) Improve the balance sheet figures

b) increase recruitment c) Increase profits d) increase production

e) increase branch network 8) The traditional marketing style involves

a) Door-to-door campaigns b) Sending e-mails c) Tele-marketing d) SMS campaigns e) Virtual marketing 9) Marketing has taken a prominent position

during the last decade due to a) Increased competition

b) Better literacy rate c) Foreign compulsions d) Government instructions

e) There is no monopoly 10) The task of marketing involves

a) opening new branches b) buying a company c) selling a company

d) selling products and services of company e) mergers

11) Warehousing is synonymous to a) transportation b) storage c) selling

d) production e) None of these 12) The term ‘Marketing Myopia’ was given by

a) Prof Theordore Levitt b) Philip Kotler c) Bartles

d) Palmer e) None of these 13) The marketing concept is a way of thinking

or a management philosophy that affects a) only marketing activities b) only the effects of sale personnel

c) most efforts of the organization d) only customer relationships

e) None of the above 14) Nature of marketing environment includes

a) Changes as per environment b) Communication c) Challenges

d) Wide market e) All of the above 15) Consumer of a bank comes under which of

the following environment a) External environment b) Internal environment c) Indirect environment d) All of the above e) None of the above

16) Which of the following represents the most important reason why firms monitor their demographic environment? a) To explain historical trends b) To predict political change c) To predict the size of market segments

d) To predict business cycles e) All of the above

17) Tax structure includes a) traditional b) custom tax c) brand

d) price e) All of these 18) Full form of R and D is

a) Rate and Division b) Research and Development

c) Research and Department d) gathering records e) All of the above 19) Occupation is an element of

a) demographic environment b) Socio-cultural environment

c) economic environment d) All of the above

e) None of the above 20) In SWOT analysis, ‘S’ stands for

a) Strengths b) Strategies c) Smart Card d) All of the above

e) None of the above 21) Micro environment includes

a) market demand b) consumer


c) competition d) All of the these e) None of these

22) Element of natural environment is a) climate b) ecology

c) natural resources d) All of these e) None of the above

23) The part of political environment is/are a) Social organization b) religious organization

c) media d) form of government e) All of the above

24) Which of the following factor determine the social class? a) Income b) Occupation

c) Location of residence of members d) All of the above e) None of the above 25) Which of the following is an internal factor?

a) Strengths b) Threats c) Opportunities d) All of these e) None of these 26) For many marketers, political forces can be

a) easily ignore b) easily influenced c) easily recognized d) beyond any control e) None of the above 27) Which of the following is not a controllable

factor of the marketing environment? a) Firm’s policy b) Government factor

c) Marketing policy d) All of the above e) None of the above 28) The business legislation of the legal

environment can be classified on which of the following base? a) Corporate affairs b) Consumer protection

c) Employee protection d) Sectoral protection e) All of the above 29) Situational analysis is useful for

a) SWOT analysis b) analysis of sales person’s performances c) analysis of capital markets

d) All of the above e) None of the above 30) Good competition helps in

a) better technology b) more market share c) rise in profits

d) bigger branch network e) improved customer service

31) Marketing opportunities means a) scope for marketing b) proper and effective training

c) market planning d) availability e) market data of sales outlets

32) Market space means a) place where good are sold b) trade fairs and melas c) road shows

d) scope available for selling e) competition

33) Capital good market deals with a) non-durable goods b) goods

c) products d) durable goods e) All of these

34) What are the different types of market ? a) Commodity market b) Industrial market

c) Services market d) All of these e) None of these

35) Service market is related with a) tangible b) intangible

c) Both (a) and (b) d) All of these e) None of the above

36) Personal selling is a part of a) Promotion b) place c) price d) product e) All of these

37) Which of the following is intangible features of product ? a) After sale services b) performance of product

c) Goodwill of product d) All of these e) None of the above

38) Product line means a) Product technology b) expansion of product mix

c) pricing d) All of the above e) None of the above

39) DSA of a bank is a sub-element of a) Price mix b) distribution mix

c) promotion mix d) All of these e) None of these

40) Promotion in marketing means a) passing an examination b) elevation from one grade to another

c) selling the products through various means d) selling the products in specific areas

e) none of the above 41) Which among the following can be an

example of non-profit marketing ? a) Disney setting up a park in Hong Kong b) Setting up an Ayurvedic massage centre

c) AIDS awareness campaign d) All of the above

e) None of the above 42) The correct 4Ps of marketing are

a) product, place, promotion, profit b) product, price, place, promotion c) product, promotion, price, place

d) All of the above e) None of the above 43) Who among the following is not a part of the

marketing mix? a) Wholesalers b) Retailers c) Customers d) All of these e) None of these

44) Which of the following is the crux of marketing process ? a) Marketing planning b) Marketing mix c) Marketing research d) Marketing expansion e) Marketing scanning

45) Which of the following comes under the decisions concerning the products? a) Product attributes b) Branding and packaging c) Product mix d) All of the above e) None of the above

46) A product represents an market’s offering as it is perceived by ? a) Present customers b) Potential customers c) Company d) All of these e) None of these


47) Which of the following is/are tangible product ? a) House and TV b) Car or scooter c) Furniture d) All of these e) None of these

48) ………..is a raw material for a sugar industry. a) Machine b) Paper c) Coal d) Sugarcane e) None of these

49) ……..is bundle of utilities consisting of various products features and containing services . a) Cost b) Risk c) Plan d) Product

50) In case of prestige goods, the demand is a) Price sensitive b) not price sensitive c) not price sensitive till a level

d) All of the above e) None of the above 51) If you are a marketing manager of a firm you

would prefer the customers who are a) less price sensitive b) more Price sensitive c) depends upon the marketing mix

d) All of the above e) None of the above 52) Of the following pricing strategies…..is not

ideal for new products. a) Skimming pricing b) discriminatory pricing c) promotional pricing d) All of the above

e) None of the above 53) The best promotional tool in any marketing

is a) e-promotiion b) public relations c) viral marketing d) word of mouth publicity e) advertisements

54) One of the following is not included in the 4Ps of marketing. Find the same a) Product b) Price c) Production d) promotion

e) None of these 55) The best promotional tool in any marketing

is a) pamphlets b) newsletters c) word of mouth publicity

d) regional advertisements e) viral marketing 56) Direct marketing means

a) seminars and conferences b) face-to-face selling c) banners

d) cold call e) sales presentations 57) Push marketing style requires

a) collective effort b) good pushing strength c) lengthy talks d) ability to identify the leads

e) aggressive marketing 58) The importance of product life cycle includes

a) help in promotional decision b) help in product control c) facilitates sales forecasting

d) All of the above e) None of the above 59) According to whom ‘A product’s life cycle is

very much similar to human life-cycle” ? a) Arch paton b) Philip Kotler c) Stonton d) Bartle

e) None of these 60) Which of the following is not a stage in

product life cycle ? a) Introduction b) Peak c) Growth d) Maturity

e) None of these 61) Which of the following is/are major steps in

the development of new product ? a) Test marketing b) Business analysis c) Idea generation d) Screening

e) All of the above 62) Buyer resistance means

a) buyer’s interest in the product being sold b) buyer’s fighting with the seller c) buyer’s hesitation in buying the product

d) buyer becoming a seller e) buyer buying the product 63) Buyer resistance can be overcome by

a) cordial relation between buyer and seller b) good negotiation c) persuasive communication

d) good of the sales service e) All of the above 64) Customer’s relationship with the Bank is

influenced by a) customers attitudes b) attitudes of bank staff c) interest rates of the bank

d) attitude of sales persons e) All of the above 65) Buyer Resistance can be overcome by

a) good friendship between buyer and seller b) good after sales service c) good arguments

d) persuasive communication 66) Market segmentation is

a) method b) the strategy of dividing markets in order to conquer them c) the allocation of product

d) the allocation of service 67) The basis for consumer market segmentation

includes a) age of consumer b) location of consumer c) income of consumer d) sex of consumer

e) All of the above 68) Buying allowance is given to the a) Manufacturer b) Consumer c) Middleman c) Staff e) None of the above 69) Which is benefit of market segmentation?

a) In allocation of marketing budget b) In effective marketing programme c) In meeting the competition effectively

d) All of the above 70) Homogeneous group is related with

a) promotion b) sales planning and control c) market segmentation

d) cost e) wages 71) Who may be prospects for a bank?

a) Student


b) Manager of other bank c) Administrator of government department d) All of these e) None of the these

72) Who may be customer of a bank? a) Teacher b) professor c) Advocate d) Retired person from army

e) All of the above 73) Which is the basis of psychographic

segmentation ? a) Personality b) value in life c) Life style of the customer

d) All of the above e) None of the above 74) Which of the following comes under

demographic factors ? a) Age b) Sex c) Family size d) Religion

e) All of these 75) Re-positioning of product involves

a) placing the product in shop b) making the products available to the customers c) Changing identity of the product

d) developing the new product e) None of the above 76) Market segmentation means

a) segmentation of sales team b) distribution of territory c) sales network

d) division of market according to the requirement e) market share 77) Target market of education loan is a) all school students b) all college students c) all colleges d) all schools e)all hospitals 78) Target group means

a) all buyers b) all sales persons c) prospective buyers d) all customers

e) delivery persons 79) Which one of the following is not a target

group for saving bank account? a) salaried persons b) loss incurring companies c) doctors d) government servants

e) insurance agent 80) Target market for housing loans will be

a) existing clients b) persons who do not own a house

c) person who own more than one house d) builders e) NRI’s 81) The target group for personal loans is

a) all private limited companies b) all businessmen c) all salaried persons

d) minor children e) newborn infants 82) Vending machine is

a) a pricing system b) distribution channel c) cost planning d) management system

e) all of the above 83) Which is the type of distribution channel in

the bank? a) Bank- customer b) Bank-DSA-customer

c) Head office of bank-branch-customer d) All of the above e) None of the above 84) A channel of distribution for a product is the

route taken by the title of the good as they move from the producer to the a) ultimate consumer or industrial user b) Company c) producer

d) staff e) cash 85) Which is the latest distribution system

a) Telephonic distribution b) E-commerce c) E-mail d) Mobile

e) All of the above 86) The internet marketing can serve which of

the following purpose ? a) Actual sales of product b) Promotion c) Customer service d) Market research

e) All of the above 87) ‘DSA’ means

a) Delivery staff Agency b) Direct selling Agent c) Direct supplier Agent d) Distribution and supply Agent

e) Driving sales Ahead 88) Marketing channels means

a) Delivery period b) Delivery time c) Delivery outlets d) Delivery place

e) All of these 89) A good and effective DSA should

a) copy the competitor company b) Criticize the competitor company c) join the competitor company d) be passive e) be more effective than the competitor company

90) Delivery channels other than bank counters are

a) ATM’s b) Internet banking c) Mobile banking d) Tele banking

e) All of these 91) A DSA’s main function is

a) to boost customer contacts b) to boost e-mails c) to boost telemarketing

d) All of these e) None of the above 92) ATM means

a) Any time Marketing b) Any time money c) Any time machine d) Automated Teller Machine e) None of these

93) Marketing channel means a) Outlets from where sales take place b) Channel financing c) focusing sales on one single group

d) home delivery e) courier service 94) Delivery channels means a) Place from where the products are sold b) courier service c) distribution agencies d) delivery time e) offsite banking 95) A DSA’s (Direct selling Agent’s) main job is a) to design products b) to sell to the target group c) to do market survey d) to distribute profits e) to earn incentives


96) Which is the type of distribution channel in the Bank?

a) Head office of bank-Branch-Customer b) Bank- DSA-Customer c) Bank-Customer d) All of the above e) None of the above 97) Retailing is a) Super market b) bank c) Wholesaler d) All of these e) None of the above 98) Web marketing involves a) Selling web cameras b) web advertisements c) e-mail chatting d) browsing the web e) door to door canvassing 99) For ‘On line’ marketing……is the most

suitable product a) Saving accounts b) credit cards c) housing loans d) NRI deposits e) business accounts 100) Object of digital marketing are a) online marketing b) cold calling c) web designing d) anticipating the market e) outdoor marketing 101) Tele marketing means a) selling telephones b) sending SMS messages c) chatting on the phone d) marketing through phone calls e) marketing in person 102) Online marketing is

a) same as face to face marketing b) easier than traditional marketing c) boring as customers are not visible d) voluminous task e) None of the above

103) Telemarketing involves a) good communication skills b) high level of motivation c) door to door management d) event management e) All of the above

104) One of the following is not a function of retail banking a) accepting fixed deposits b) giving home loans c) giving education loans

d) joint ventures e) None of the above 105) Retail banking means

a) retail shopkeepers b) banks financing to retail traders c) same as universal banking

d) giving loans to corporates e) giving consumer loans to various public 106) Direct marketing is necessary for

a) having a focused approach to marketing b) boosting sales c) better customer contacts

d) All of the above e) None of the above 107) Telemarketing campaigns are resorted to

a) avoid face-to-face interactions b) avoid buyer resistance c) reach a larger clientele d) increase cold calls

e) reduce profits

108) Indirect marketing is same as a) onsite selling b) using a smart phone c) viral marketing d) advertisements e) online marketing

109) A cold call means a) a futile exercise b) call made in odd countries c) sales talk

d) old product with new wrapping e) calls made without prior appointments 110) Marketing communication mix involves

a) personal selling and advertising b) sales promotion c) public relation

d) publicity e) All of the above 111) Sales promotion has grown out of its step

child status and today is treated as an equal partner with a) advertising and selling b) production technique c) fashion d) style

e) tax 112) Contest promotion device is available for

a) staff b) bank c) worker d) consumer of the product

e) All of the above 113) Sales promotion may be effective, where

techniques are used a) advertising and salesmenship b) pricing c) BEP

d) EOQ e) All of the above 114) Which is/are tools of sales promotion?

a) Bonus b) Coupon c) Premium

d) Additional commission or purchase allowance e) All of the above 115) The sales promotion can be directed at

a) customer b) sales staff c) distribution channel members

d) All of the above e) none of the above 116) Value added services means

a) additional cost b) additional production c) additional staff d) additional services

e) All of the above 117) Sales promotion involves find the incorrect

option it a) building product awareness b) creating interest c) providing information

d) designing new products e) none of the above 118) A presentation means

a) display of products b) explaining the utility of products c) a gift d) display of communication skills

e) All of the above 119) In a selling process in today’s world

a) only standard products are sold b) no customization is required c) the seller need not have product knowledge

d) the seller should aim at customer satisfaction e) only quantum of sales matters


120) Effective selling skills depend on a) good dress sense b) territory allocation c) sales call planning d) good- eye- contact

e) pat performance 121) The performance of sales person depends on

a) ability and willingness of the salesperson b) incentive paid c) size of the sales team

d) team leader’s attitude e) his aggressive nature 122) Online advertising uses

a) Internet b) world wide web c) Both ‘1’ and ‘2’ d) radio

e) TV 123) When a product or brand is embedded in

entertainment and media then it is known as a) Internet b) world wide web c) Both ‘1’ and ‘2’ d) radio

e) TV 124) Advertising is a major promotion mix

ingredient that is a a) non-paid form of non-personal communication b) non-paid form of personal communication c) paid form of personal communication d) paid form of non-personal communication

e) none of the above 125) Which of the following is the means of bank

advertising a) newspaper of magazine b) poster c) Internet c) television d) All of the above

126) Which is the best means of bank advertising? a) circular b) sky advertising c) satisfied bank customer c) Bank employee or their manager

d) All of the above 127) Advertisements is a type of

a) direct marketing b) service marketing c) indirect marketing c) internet banking

d) internal banking 128) Advertisements are required for

a) boosting the production levels c) motivating the employees c) boosting the sales d) All of the above

e) None of the above 129) Digital marketing is the same is the same as

a) online marketing c) cross selling c) road-show d) website designing

e) door- to-door marketing 130) Which of the following includes the stage of

personal selling? a) prospecting c) Marking first contact c) sales call d) objection handling

e) All of these 131) The last stage of personal selling is

a) making the first contact c) closing the sale c) prospecting

d) sales call e) None of the above 132) In order to qualify the prospects, one needs

to

a) plan a sales approach c) determine the products meeting the need c) rank the above

d) All of the above e) None of the above 133) Making the first contact can be done

through a) e-mail c) telephone c) letter d) All of these

e) None of these 134) personal selling facilitates the process of

a) production c) distribution c) consumption d) All of these

e) None of these 135) Personal selling is a ………. Communication.

a) one way c) two way c) single way d) many to one way

e) None of above 136) Which of the following is the quality of a

good salesperson ? a) Impressive personality b) Good behavior c) persistence d) sound health

e) All of the above 137) In sales conversion means

a) design new product b) convert buyer into a seller c) convert seller into a buyer

d) convert a prospective to a buyer e) religious conversion 138) Meaning of cross selling is

a) city-city selling b) selling with cross face c) sales with crossed fingers

d) selling to existing customers e) cold calling 139) The sales process begins with

a) customer identification b) lead generation c) sales presentation

d) sales closure e) sales meet 140) Lead generation can be resorted to by

browsing a) telephone directories b) Yellow pages c) internet sites

d) list of existing customers e) All of the above 141) Effective selling skills depend on

a) effective lead generation b) sales call planning c) territory allocation

d) effective communication skills e) All of the above 142) Cross selling is useful for canvassing

a) current accounts b) fixed deposit accounts

c) student loans d) car loans e) All of the above

143) Selling is a) different from marketing b) a sub-function of marketing

c) same as marketing d) more than marketing e) None of the above 144) Good selling skills involve

a) patience b) perseverance


c) empathy d) knowledge e) All of the above 145) ‘Conversion’ in sales language mean

a) converting a buyer into a seller b) converting a seller into a buyer

c) converting a prospect into a client d) All of the above e) All of the above 146) The performance of a sales person can

enhanced be a) increasing the sales incentives b) increasing the number of products to be sold

c) appropriate training d) all the above e) none of the above 147) Closing the sales means

a) close down marketing functions b) stop selling c) successful completion of a call

d) All of the above e) None of the above 148) A god sales man should be

a) aggressive b) pushy c) fiercel d) polite but firm e) Talkative 149) Efficient marketing style requires

a) proper planning b) good debating skills c) arrogant staff d) Knowledge of many languages e) ignorant customers 150) The most essential quality of a good sales

person is a) questioning skills b) good appearance

c) Production skills d) good communication skills e) Curiosity 151) Communication skills in the case of DSA

means a) Giving lengthy speeches b) Sending good SMS messages

c) being talkative d) ability to continue the customer with the right choice of words

e) Being multi linguistic 152) The process of branding covers

a) giving on identify to a product b) designing a brand mark

c) establishing the product d) popularizing the product

e) All of the above 153) Which of the following confers the right to

use of technical invention? a) copy right b) Patent

c) brand d) trade e) None of the above 154) Which of the following confers the right to

use of technical invention ? a) copyright b) patent

c) Brand d) Trade e) None of these 155) A …………..provides written information

about the product. a) branding b) packaging

c) label d) costing e) None of these

156) A brand can be helpful for the manufactures in a) leading to large selling b) reducing the price flexibility

c) reducing the cost of distribution d) costing the selling process e) All of the above

157) Labeling is important for three reasons, first is promotional and second is legal. What is the third reason? a) Informational b) Branding

c) Strategic d) Marketing e) None of these 158) The type of sales forecasting include

a) micro forecasting b) macro forecasting c) both (a) and (b) d) minor forecasting

e) major forecasting 159) The first stage in creating the sales

forecasting if to estimate a) market demand b) profit

c) wealth d) prospect e) None of these 160) …….translates the marketing plan into

marketing performance. a) Marketing management b) Accounting management

c) Finance management d) sales management e) None of the above

161) Sales forecasting involves a) sale planning b) sales pricing

c) distribution channels d) consumer tastes e) All of the above 162) ‘Banchmark’ means

a) sales performance measurement b) marks given to salespersons

c) appraisal d) standard value for comparison

e) autantion 163) Market share can be increased by increasing

a) raw material cost b) the staff strength c) the sales d) the sales staff e) competition 164) Market size also means

a) market planning b) market pricing c) market space d) market distribution e) market channel 165) A fall in the market share implies

a) sales have gone up b) profit has gone up c) prices are eratic d) competition has increased e) business is wound up 166) Consumer protection means

a) safeguarding interest of consumers b) safeguarding right of consumers

c) protection against unethical malpractices d) All of the above

e) None of the above 167) The most common business malpractice

leading to consumer exploitation include a) sales duplicate goods b) sales of sub-standard goods

c) hoarding and black marketing


d) charging more than MRP e) All of the above 168) Which of the following day is celebrated as

world consumer right day? a) 15 March b) 20 March

c) 15 April d) 20 April e) None of the above 169) Under which of the following rights the

consumer must be provided the quality detail of product? a) Right to safety b) Right to be information

c) Right to choose d) Right to education e) None of the above 170) PIL stands for

a) Public interest litigation b) Public Information Law

c) Primary Insurance law d) Patient of International Law

e) None of the above 171) MRTP stands for

a) Market Research Technique Process b) Monopolies and Restrictive Trade practices

c) Member of Restrictive Trade practices d) Measurement and Research of Testing process

e) None of the above 172) CPA stands for

a) consumer prevention Act b) Customer prevention Act

c) Consumer precaution Act d) Consumer protection Act

e) None of the above 173) Which of the following is the apex body in

the three-tier judicial machinery set up by the government for the redressal of consumer grievances ? a) National commission b) Planning commission

c) Central commission d) Advisory commission e) None of the above 174) Good under CPA, 1986 covers

a) all movable property b) stocks and shares c) growing crops d) All of the above e) None of the above 175) Consumer protection Act came into existence

in a) 1946 b) 1966

c) 1976 d) 1986 e) 1996 176) Which of the following is not include in the

term person under consumer protection Act, 1986? a) Hindu undivided family b) A co-operative society

c) Firm d) All of the above e) None of the above 177) Under the consumer protection Act, 1986

‘Goods’ means ? a) every kind of movable property only b) every kind of immovable property only

c) every kind of services and products d) All of the above e) None of the above

178) A marketing plan does not have to be

a) simple b) clear c) complex d) lengthy e) both (c) and (d) 179) The marketing planning process includes

a) goal setting b) analyzing the current situation

c) creating the marketing strategy d) allocating marketing resources and monitoring

e) All of the above 180) Analyzing current situation includes

a) marketing audit b) SWOT analysis c) marketing assumption d) all of the above

e) none of the above 181) A target marketing is

a) entire country b) entire city c) entire globe

d) that which consists of customers who need to the identified product e) All of the above

182) Marketing information means a) Knowledge level of marketing staff b) information about marketing staff

c) information regarding share market d) Knowledge of related markets

e) All of the above 183) Market research is necessary for

a) making proper marketing decisions b) choosing the right products

c) selecting the right sales persons d) All of the above e) None of the above 184) Market plan is a

a) Selling process b) year-end-budget c) calendar

d) business document for marketing strategies e) All of the above 185) A marketing plan is necessary for

a) having a focused approach to marketing b) to decide marketing strategies c) to decide product strategies

d) to decide advertising strategies e) All of the above 186) Marketing plans are used for

a) doing research by marketing students b) planning department c) purchase of consumable items from retail outlets

d) All of the above e) None of the above 187) Good marketing strategy envisages good and

proper a) product distribution b) networking of branches c) high pricing

d) placement of counter staff e) relationship management

188) What is the full form of 'PIN'? a) personal identification number b) pull-in-Net c) push-in-net d) All of the above

189) Which is the online services of bank? a) Imobile b) Mobile Banking funds Transfer c) Shopping d) WOW shopping

e) All of the above


190) Which of the following is not a channel for bank marketing? a) Telemarketing b) Internet banking c) Mobile Banking d) None of the above

191) Online marketing is mostly useful for marketing of a) saving accounts b) credit cards c) home loans d) NRI deposits e) business accounts

192) What is the USP of saving account? a) High rate of interest b) Easy operation c) Risk transactions d) Expensive transactions

e) Back office facility 193) Bancassurance means

a) assurance of bank for quality service b) assurance for sanction of loans

c) selling of insurance products by bank d) selling credit cards e) selling debit cards

194) Bank sell insurance for a) increasing deposits b) increasing loans

c) increasing clients d) earning more profits e) taking over insurance companies 195) Mutual fund business from existing

customers can be canvassed by a) coercion b) cross-selling

c) internal marketing d) outdoor marketing e) road-shows 196) Marketing in banks has been necessitated

due to a) globalization b) excess staff

c) nationalization of bank d) complacency among the staff

e) poor customer service 197) Saving Accounts with zero balance can be

opened for a) persons below BPL b) under financial inclusion scheme

c) students d) as per bank’s policies e) None of the above 198) Financial Inclusion means

a) opening accounts of finance companies b) financial Analysis of balance sheet figures

c) opening accounts of HNIs d) opening accounts NRIs

e) opening accounts of under privileged persons 199) NPA stands for

a) Not performing Asset b) Non performing Asset c) Net performing Asset d) Net profit Against e) Non pure Asset

200) Credit card is issued by a) respective bank or any credit authority b) customer c) anybody d) All of these e) None of these

MARKETING ANSWER KEY

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

1 E 2 A 3 C 4 A 5 C

6 E 7 C 8 A 9 A 10 D

11 B 12 A 13 C 14 E 15 A

16 C 17 B 18 B 19 A 20 A

21 D 22 D 23 E 24 D 25 A

26 D 27 B 28 E 29 D 30 E

31 A 32 D 33 D 34 D 35 B

36 A 37 D 38 B 39 B 40 C

41 C 42 B 43 C 44 B 45 D

46 B 47 D 48 D 49 D 50 E

51 A 52 B 53 E 54 C 55 C

56 D 57 A 58 C 59 A 60 B

61 E 62 C 63 E 64 D 65 D

66 B 67 E 68 E 69 D 70 C

71 E 72 E 73 D 74 E 75 C

76 B 77 B 78 C 79 B 80 B

81 C 82 B 83 D 84 A 85 E

86 E 87 B 88 E 89 E 90 A

91 A 92 D 93 A 94 C 95 B

96 D 97 A 98 B 99 B 100 A

101 D 102 B 103 A 104 B 105 B

106 D 107 A 108 D 109 E 110 E

111 A 112 D 113 A 114 E 115 D

116 D 117 C 118 B 119 D 120 D

121 A 122 C 123 C 124 D 125 D

126 C 127 C 128 C 129 A 130 E

131 C 132 D 133 D 134 D 135 C

136 E 137 D 138 D 139 A 140 E

141 E 142 B 143 B 144 E 145 A

146 D 147 C 148 D 149 B 150 D

151 D 152 E 153 B 154 B 155 C

156 E 157 A 158 C 159 A 160 D

161 A 162 D 163 C 164 D 165 D

166 D 167 E 168 A 169 B 170 A

171 B 172 D 173 A 174 D 175 D

176 E 177 C 178 E 179 E 180 D 181 D 182 E 183 A 184 D 185 A 186 D 187 E 188 A 189 E 190 D 191 C 192 B 193 C 194 D 195 B 196 A 197 A 198 E 199 B 200 A


PART – II COMPUTERS

1) All of the following are examples of real security and privacy risks EXCEPT: A. hackers. B. spam. C. viruses. D. identity theft. 2) A process known as ____________ is used by large retailers to study trends. A. data mining B. data selection C. POS D. data conversion 3) ____________terminals (formerly known as cash registers) are often connected to complex inventory and sales computer systems. A. Data B. Point-of-sale (POS) C. Sales D. Query 4) A(n) ____________ system is a small, wireless handheld computer that scans an item tag and pulls up the current price (and any special offers) as you shop. A. PSS B. POS C. inventory D. data mining 5) The ability to recover and read deleted or damaged files from a criminal computer is an example of a law enforcement specialty called: A. robotics. B. simulation. C. computer forensics. D. animation. 6) Which of the following is NOT one of the four major data processing functions of a computer? A. gathering data B. processing data into information C. analyzing the data or information D. storing the data or information 7) ____________ tags, when placed on an animal, can be used to record and track in a database all of the animal movements. A. POS B. RFID C. PPS D. GPS 8) Surgeons can perform delicate operations by manipulating devices through computers instead of manually. This technology is known as: A. robotics. B. computer forensics. C. simulation. D. forecasting. 9) Technology no longer protected by copyright, available to everyone, is considered to be: A. proprietary. B. open. C. experimental. D. in the public domain. 10) ____________ is the study of molecules and structures whose size ranges from 1 to 100 nanometers. A. Nanoscience B. Microelectrodes C. Computer forensics D. Artificial intelligence 11) ____________ is the science that attempts to produce machines that display the same type of intelligence that humans do.

A. Nanoscience B. Nanotechnology C. Simulation D. Artificial intelligence (AI) 12) ____________ is data that has been organized or presented in a meaningful fashion. A. A process B. Software C. Storage D. Information 13) The name for the way that computers manipulate data into information is called: A. programming. B. processing. C. storing. D. organizing. 14) Computers gather data, which means that they allow users to ____________ data. A. present B. input C. output D. store 15) After a picture has been taken with a digital camera and processed appropriately, the actual print of the picture is considered: A. data. B. output. C. input. D. the process. 16) Computers use the ____________ language to process data. A. processing B. kilobyte C. binary D. representational 17) Computers process data into information by working exclusively with: A. multimedia. B. words. C. characters. D. numbers. 18) In the binary language each letter of the alphabet, each number and each special character is made up of a unique combination of: A. eight bytes. B. eight kilobytes. C. eight characters. D. eight bits. 19) The term bit is short for: A. megabyte. B. binary language. C. binary digit. D. binary number. 20) A string of eight 0s and 1s is called a: A. megabyte. B. byte. C. kilobyte. D. gigabyte. 21) A ____________ is approximately one billion bytes. A. kilobyte B. bit C. gigabyte D. megabyte 22) A ____________ is approximately a million bytes. A. gigabyte B. kilobyte C. megabyte D. terabyte 23) ____________ is any part of the computer that you can physically touch. A. Hardware B. A device C. A peripheral D. An application 24) The components that process data are located in the: A. input devices. B. output devices.


C. system unit. D. storage component. 25) All of the following are examples of input devices EXCEPT a: A. scanner. B. mouse. C. keyboard. D. printer. 26) Which of the following is an example of an input device? A. scanner B. speaker C. CD D. printer 27) All of the following are examples of storage devices EXCEPT: A. hard disk drives. B. printers. C. floppy disk drives. D. CD drives. 28) The ____________, also called the brain of the computer, is responsible for processing data. A. motherboard B. memory C. RAM D. central processing unit (CPU) 29) The CPU and memory are located on the: A. expansion board. B. motherboard. C. storage device. D. output device. 30) Word processing, spreadsheet, and photo- editing are examples of: A. application software. B. system software. C. operating system software. D. platform software. 31) ____________ is a set of computer programs used on a computer to help perform tasks. A. An instruction B. Software C. Memory D. A processor 32) System software is the set of programs that enables your computerâ€™s hardware devices and ____________ software to work together. A. management B. processing C. utility D. application 33) The PC (personal computer) and the Apple Macintosh are examples of two different: A. platforms. B. applications. C. programs. D. storage devices. 34) Apple Macintoshes (Macs) and PCs use different ____________ to process data and different operating systems. A. languages B. methods C. CPUs D. storage devices 35) Servers are computers that provide resources to other computers connected to a: A. network. B. mainframe. C. supercomputer. D. client. 36) Smaller and less expensive PC-based servers are replacing ____________ in many businesses. A. supercomputers B. clients C. laptops D. mainframes 37) ____________ are specially designed computers that perform complex calculations extremely rapidly. A. Servers B. Supercomputers C. Laptops D. Mainframes 38) DSL is an example of a(n) ____________ connection.

A. network B. wireless C. slow D. broadband 39) The difference between people with access to computers and the Internet and those without this access is known as the: A. digital divide. B. Internet divide. C. Web divide. D. broadband divide. 40) ____________ is the science revolving around the use of nanostructures to build devices on an extremely small scale. A. Nanotechnology B. Micro-technology C. Computer forensics D. Artificial intelligence 41) Which of the following is the correct order of the four major functions of a computer? A. Process Ã Output Ã Input Ã Storage B. Input Ã OutputÃ Process Ã Storage C. Process Ã Storage Ã Input Ã Output D. Input Ã Process Ã Output Ã Storage 42) ____________ bits equal one byte. A. Eight B. Two C. One thousand D. One million 43) The binary language consists of ____________ digit(s). A. 8 B. 2 C. 1,000 D. 1 44) A byte can hold one ____________ of data. A. bit B. binary digit C. character D. kilobyte 45) ____________ controls the way in which the computer system functions and provides a means by which users can interact with the computer. A. The platform B. The operating system C. Application software D. The motherboard 46) The operating system is the most common type of ____________ software. A. communication B. application C. system D. word-processing software 47) ____________ are specially designed computer chips that reside inside other devices, such as your car or your electronic thermostat. A. Servers B. Embedded computers C. Robotic computers D. Mainframes 48) The steps and tasks needed to process data, such as responses to questions or clicking an icon, are called: A. instructions. B. the operating system. C. application software. D. the system unit. 49) The two broad categories of software are: A. word processing and spreadsheet. B. transaction and application. C. Windows and Mac OS. D. system and application. 50) The metal or plastic case that holds all the physical parts of the computer is the: A. system unit. B. CPU. C. mainframe. D. platform.


51) Verification of a login name and password is known as: (A) configuration (B) accessibility (C) authentication (D) logging in (E) None of these 52) Which of the following would most likely NOT be a symptom of a virus? (A) Existing program files and icons disappear. (B) The CD-ROM stops functioning. (C) The Web browser opens to an unusual home page. (D) Odd messages or images are displayed on the screen. (E) None of these 53) The ability to recover and read deleted or damaged files from a criminal’s computer is an example of a law enforcement specialty called: A. robotics. B. simulation. C. computer forensics. D. animation. 54) Which of the following is NOT one of the four major data processing functions of a computer? A. gathering data B. processing data into information C. analyzing the data or information D. storing the data or information 55) ____________ tags, when placed on an animal, can be used to record and track in a database all of the animal’s movements. A. POS B. RFID C. PPS D. GPS 56) Surgeons can perform delicate operations by manipulating devices through computers instead of manually. This technology is known as: A. robotics. B. computer forensics. C. simulation. D. forecasting. 57) ____________ is the study of molecules and structures whose size ranges from 1 to 100 nanometers. A. Nanoscience B. Microelectrodes C. Computer forensics D. Artificial intelligence 58) ____________ is the science that attempts to produce machines that display the same type of intelligence that humans do. A. Nanoscience B. Nanotechnology C. Simulation D. Artificial intelligence (AI) 59) ____________ is data that has been organized or presented in a meaningful fashion. A. A process B. Software C. Storage D. Information 60) The name for the way that computers manipulate data into information is called: A. programming. B. processing. C. storing. D. organizing. 61) Computers gather data, which means that they allow users to ____________ data. A. present B. input C. output D. store

62) Computers use the ____________ language to process data. A. processing B. kilobyte C. binary D. representational 63) Computers process data into information by working exclusively with: A. multimedia. B. words. C. characters. D. numbers. 64) ____________ is any part of the computer that you can physically touch. A. Hardware B. A device C. A peripheral D. An application 65) The ____________, also called the “brains” of the computer, is responsible for processing data. A. motherboard B. memory C. RAM D. central processing unit (CPU) 66) The CPU and memory are located on the: A. expansion board. B. motherboard. C. storage device. D. output device. 67) ____________ is a set of computer programs used on a computer to help perform tasks. A. An instruction B. Software C. Memory D. A processor 68) System software is the set of programs that enables your computer’s hardware devices and ____________ software to work together. A. management B. processing C. utility D. application 69) The PC (personal computer) and the Apple Macintosh are examples of two different: A. platforms. B. applications. C. programs. D. storage devices. 70) Servers are computers that provide resources to other computers connected to a: A. network. B. mainframe. C. supercomputer. D. client. 71) ____________ are specially designed computers that perform complex calculations extremely rapidly. A. Servers B. Supercomputers C. Laptops D. Mainframes 72) DSL is an example of a(n) ____________ connection. A. network B. wireless C. slow D. broadband 73) ____________ is the science revolving around the use of nanostructures to build devices on an extremely small scale. A. Nanotechnology B. Micro-technology C. Computer forensics D. Artificial intelligence 74) ____________ controls the way in which the computer system functions and provides a means by which users can interact with the computer. A. The platform B. The operating system C. Application software D. The motherboard E. None of these


75) The OSI model is divided into how many processes called layers? A. five B. six C. seven D. eight E. None of these 76) It is the set of programs that enables your computer’s hardware devices and application software to work together A. management B. processing C. utility D. System Software E. None of these 77. These are specially designed computer chips reside inside other devices, such as your car or your electronic thermostat A. Servers B. Embedded computers C. Robotic computers D. Mainframes E. None of the above 78. The following are all computing devices, except A. notebook computers B. cellular telephones C. digital scanners D. personal digital assistants E. None of the above 79) In a ring topology, the computer in possession of the --------can transmit data A. packet B. data C. access method D. token E. None of these 80) This part of operating system manages the essential peripherals, such as the key board, screen, disk drive, and parallel and serial ports A. basic input/output system B. secondary input/output system C. peripheral input/output system D. marginal input/output system E. None of the above 81) These type of viruses are often transmitted by a floppy disk left in the floppy drive A. Trojan horse B. Boot sector C. Script D. Logic bomb E. None of these 82) It controls the way in which the computer system functions and provides a way by which users can interact with the computer? A. The platform B. Application software C. Operating system D. The motherboard E. None of the above 83) Servers are computers that provide resources to other computers connected to a A. mainframe B. network C. supercomputer D. client E. None of these 84) A goal of data mining includes which of the following? A. To explain some observed event or condition B. To confirm that data exits C. To analyze data for expected relationships D. To create a new data warehouse E. None of the above

85) URL stands for A. Universal Research List B. Universal Resource List C. Uniform Resource Locator D. Uniform Research Locator E. None of the above 86) A database management system (DBMS) is a A. Hardware system used to create, maintain and provide controlled access to a database B. Hardware system used to create, maintain and provide uncontrolled access to a database C. Software system used to create, maintain and provide uncontrolled access to a database D. Software system used to create, maintain and provide controlled access to a database E. None of the above 87) Which of the following is not a goal of transaction processing system? A. Capture, process and store transactions B. Produce a variety of documents related to routine business activities C. Reduce manual effort associated with processing business tractions D. Produce standard reports used for management decision making E. None of the above 88) A Proxy server is used for which of the following? A. To provide security against unauthorized users B. To process client requests for web pages C. To process client requests for database access D. To provide TCP/IP E. None of the above 89) The purpose of the primary key in a database is to A. unlock the database B. provide a map of the data C. uniquely identify a record D. establish constraints on database operations E. None of the above 90) It contains specific rules and words that express the logical steps of an alogrithm A. programming language B. syntax C. programming structure D. logic chart E. None of these 91) It contains data descriptions and defines the name, data type, and length of each field in the database A. data dictionary B. data table C. data record D. data field E. None of these 92) Personal logs or journal entries posted on the Web are known as A. listserves B. Webcasts C. blogs D. subject directories E. None of these 93) It uses pictures (called icons) and menus displayed on the screen to send commands to the computer system A. command-based user interface


B. GUI C. system utility D. API E. None of the above 94) Which of the following is NOT a type of broadband Internet connection? A. cable B. DSL C. Dial-up D. Satellite E. None of these 95) Software such as viruses,worms and Trojan horses,that has a malicious intent,is known as A. spyware B. adware C. spam D. malware E. None of these 96) The first generation of computers was based upon? A. Transistors B. ICs C. Valves D. Conductor 97) In “MICR” “C” stands for? a) Colour b) Code c) Character d) Coding 98) __________ is a set of keywords, symbols, and system of rules for constructing statements by which humans can communicate the instructions to be executed by a computer A. A computer program B. A programming language C. An assemble D. Syntax E. None of these 99) A hard copy of a document is ______ A. Printed on the printer B. Stored on a floppy C. Stored on a CD D. Stored in the hard disk E. None of these 100) Which of the following groups consist of only input devices? A. Mouse, keyboard, monitor B. Mouse, keyboard, printer C. Mouse, keyboard, plotter D. Mouse, keyboard, scanner E. None of these 101) __________ is the process of finding errors in software code A. Compiling B. Testing C. Running D. Debugging E. None of these 102) The _________ tells the computer how to use its components A. Utility B. Network C. Operating system D. Application program E. None of these 103) A flaw in a program that causes it to produce incorrect or inappropriate results is called a _________ A. Bug B. Byte C. Attribute D. Unit problem E. None of these 104) The _________ of software contains lists of commands and options A. Title bar B. Menu bar C. Formula bar D. Tool bar

E. None of these 105) A (n) ________ is a combination of hardware and software that facilitates the sharing information between computing devices A. Network B. Peripheral C. Expansion board D. Digital device E. None of these 106) Servers are computers that provide resources to other computers connected to a _____ A. Network B. Mainframe C. Supercomputer D. Client E. None of these 107) Each cell in a Microsoft Office Excel document referred to by its cell address, which is the _________ A. Cell’s column label B. Cell’s column label and worksheet tab name C. Cell’s row label D. Column labels E. None of these 108) How can the user determine what programs are available on a computer? A. Checking the hard disk properties B. viewing the installed programs during the booting process C. checking the operating system for a list of installed programs D. checking the existing files saved on the disk E. none of these 109) Which of the following can handle most system functions that aren’t handled directly by the operating system? A. Vertical market applications B. Utilities C. Algorithms D. Integrated software E. Compilers 110) When cutting and pasting, the item cut is temporarily stored in A. ROM B. Hard drive C. Diskette D. Dashboard E. Clipboard 111) Which of the following computer languages is a mathematically oriented languages used for scientific problems? A. FORTRAN B. COBAL C. LISP D. PROLOG E. APPLE 112) Array is ________ A. Linear data structure B. Non-linear structure C. Complex data structure D. Simple data structure E. None of these 113) The process of a computer receiving information from a server on the Internet is known as A. Pulling B. Pushing C. Downloading D. Transferring E. None of these 114) Processing involves A. Inputting data into a computer system B. Transforming input into output C. Displaying output in a useful manner D. Providing relevant answers


E. None of these 115) Which is the part of a computer that one can touch and feel? A. Hardware B. Software C. Programs D. Output E. None of these 116) A collection of related information sorted and dealt with as a unit is a A. Disk B. Data C. File D. Floppy E. None of these 117) A permanent virtual circuit involves A. Connection establishment B. Data transfer C. Connection release D. All of the above E. None of these 118) Hardware includes ______ A. All devices used to input data into a computer B. Sets of instructions that a computer runs or executes C. The computer and all the devices connected to it that are used to input and output data D. All devices involved in processing information including the central processing unit, memory, and storage E. None of these 119) Storage that retains its data after the power is turned off is referred to as _________ A. Volatile memory B. Non-volatile memory C. Sequential memory D. Direct storage E. None of these 120) Which grouping do you work with when formatting text in word? A. Tables, paragraphs and indexes B. Paragraphs, Indexes and sections C. Characters, sections and paragraphs D. Indexes, characters and tables E. None of these 121) Connections to the internet using a phone line and a modem are called ________ connections A. Digital B. Dial-up C. Broadband D. Dish E. None of these 122) The _______ performs simple mathematics for the CPU A. ALU B. DIMM C. BUS D. Register E. None of these 123) Reusable optical storage will typically have the acronym A. CD B. DVD C. ROM D. RW E. None of these 124) Which of the following is the largest unit of storage? A. GB B. KB C. MB D. TB E. None of these 125) ________ is the process of finding errors in software code

A. Compiling B. Testing C. Running D. Debugging E. None of these 126) The name a user assigns to a document is called a (n) A. File name B. Program C. Record D. Data E. None of these 127) _________ is the process of carrying out commands A. Fetching B. Storing C. Executing D. Decoding E. None of these 128) Storage area of a variable is known as A. Mouse B. Address C. Data Type D. Password 129) Brain of Computer is A.CPU B.Moniter C.RAM D.Keyboard 130) In which form data is stored in the computer A. Binary B. Decimal C.Octal D. HexaDecimal 131) OSI model consists of how many layers? A. six B. seven C. eight D. nine 132) HTTP Stands for ______ A. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol B. Hyper Transfer Text Package C. Hyper Text Transfer Package D. Hyper Transfer Text Protocol 133) Internet Banking is an example of A. MTA (Message Transfer Agent) B. Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) C. MHS (Message Handling System) D. Electronic Data Processing (EDP) 134) Structured Query Language (SQL) is used in the following? A. Create Databases B. Create & Modify Databases C. Create, Modify & Query Databases D. None of these 135) You can keep your personal files/folders in – A. My folder B. My Documents C. My Files D. My Text E. None of these 136) The primary purpose of software is to turn data into— A. Web sites B. Information C. Programs D. Objects E. None of these 137) A directory within a directory is called --- A. Mini Directory B. Junior Directory C. Part Directory D. Sub Directory E. None of these 138) A compiler translates a program written in a high-level language into – A. Machine language B. An algorithm C. A debugged program D. Java E. None of these 139) When you turn on the computer, the boot routine will perform this test— A. RAM test B. Disk drive test


C. Memory test D. Power-on self-test E. None of these 140) A …….. is unique name that you give to a file of a information. A. device letter B. folder C. filename D. filename extension E. None of these 141) Hardware includes— A. all devices used to input data into a computer B. sets of instructions that a computer runs or executes C. the computer and all the devices connected to it that are used to input and output data D. all devices involved in processing information including the central processing unit, memory and storage E. None of these 142) A ……… contains specific rules and words that express the logical steps of an algorithm. A. programming language B. syntax C. programming structure D. logic chart E. None of these 143) All the deleted files go to ---- A. Recycle Bin B. Task Bar C. Tool Bar D. My Computer E. None of these 144) The simultaneous processing of two or more programs by multiple processor is ---- A. Multiprogramming B. Multitasking C. Time-sharing D. Multiprocessing E. None of these 145) The secret code that restricts entry to some programs— A. Password B. Passport C. Entry-code D. Access-code E. None of these 146) Computers use the …………. number system to store data and perform calculations. A. binary B. octal C. decimal D. hexadecimal E. None of these 147) The main function of the ALU is to--- A. Perform arithmetic and logic operations B. Store data and information for future use C. Control computer output, such as printing D. Monitor all computer activities E. None of these 148) …….. is the process of carrying out commands. A. Fetching B. Storing C. Executing D. Decoding E. None of these 149) Softcopy is the intangible output, so then what is hardcopy? A. The physical parts of the computer B. The printed parts of the computer C. The printed output D. The physical output devices E. None of these 150) A(n) …………. is a program that makes the computer easier to use.

A. utility B. application C. operating system D. network E. None of these 151) A complete electronic circuit with transistors and other electronic components on a small silicon chip is called a(n)— A. Workstation B. CPU C. Magnetic disk D. Integrated circuit E. None of these 152) Computer systems are comprised of— A. Hardware, programs, processors, procedures and people B. Hardware, programs, information, people and procedures C. Hardware, programs, information, people and networks D. Hardware, software, procedure, networks and people E. None of these 153) An error in a computer program— A. Crash B. Power Failure C. Bug D. Virus E. None of these 154) What is output? A. What the processor takes from the user B. What the user gives to the processor C. What the processor gets from the user D. What the processor gives to the user E. None of these 155) The person who writes and tests computer programs is called a— A. programmer B. computer scientist C. software engineer D. project developer E. None of these 156) A set of instructions telling the computer what to do is called--- A. mentor B. instructor C. compiler D. program E. None of these 157) What menu is selected to print? A. Edit B. Special C. File D. Tools E. None of these 158) What is backup? A. Additing more components to your network B. Protecting data by copying it from the original source to a different destination C. Filtering old data from the new data D. Accessing data on tape E. None of these 159) The term bit is short for— A. Megabyte B. Binary language C. Binary digit D. Binary number E. None of these 160) A saved document is referred to as a --- A. file B. word C. folder D. project E. None of these 161) Specialized programs that assist users in locating information on the Web are called--- A. Information engines B. Search engines C. Web browsers D. Resource locators


E. None of these 162) An application program has which one of the following functions? A. It specifies the information- processing procedures required by a particular information- processing job B. It controls the input/output and storage functions of the computer system C. It provides various support services for the computer system D. It supervises the operations of the CPU E. None of these 163) In page preview mode— A. You can see all pages of your document B. You can only see the page you are currently working C. You can only see pages that do not contain graphics D. You can only see the title page of your document E. None of these 164) An operating system that can do multitasking means that- A. The operating system can divide up work between several CPUs B. Several programs can be operated concurrently C. Multiple people can use the computer concurrently D. All of the above E. None of these 165) The quickest and easiest way in Word, to locate a particular word or phrase in a document is to use the ……… command. A. Replace B. Find C. Lookup D. Search E. None of these 166) What is the default file extension for all Word documents? A. WRD B. TXT C. DOC D. FIL E. None of these 167) With a CD you can— A. Read B. Write C. Read and Write D. Either Read or Write E. None of these 168) A collection of interrelated records is called a-- A. Utility file B. Management information system C. Database D. Spreadsheet E. None of these 169) To move to the beginning of a line of text, press the …….. key. A. PageUp B. A C. Home D. Enter E. None of these 170) The term ‘user interface’ refers to— A. What the user sees on the screen and how they can interact with it B. How the operating system responds to user commands C. the means by which the user interacts with the peripheral devices on the computer D. The monitor that is available for the computer E. None of these 171) The background of any Word document—

A. Is always white colour B. Is the colour you preset under the Options menu C. Is always the same for the entire document D. Can have any colour you choose E. None of these 172) Reusable optical storage will typically have the acronym--- A. CD B. DVD C. ROM D. RW E. None of these 173) For creating a document, you use …….. command at File Menu. A. Open B. Close C. New D. Save E. None of these 174) The contents of ……… are lost when the computer turns off. A. storage B. input C. output D. memory E. None of these 175) When you save to this, your data will remain intact even when the computer is turned off- A. RAM B. Motherboard C. Secondary storage device D. Primary storage device E. None of these 176) A central computer that holds collections of data and programs for many PCs, workstations, and other computers is a (n)- A. supercomputer B. minicomputer C. laptop D. server E. None of these 177) Grouping and processing all of a firm's transactions at one time is called- A. a database management system B. batch processing C. a real-time system D. an on-line system E. None of these 178) The _____ enables you to simultaneously keep multiple Web pages open in one browser window. A. tab box B. pop-up helper C. tab row D. address bar E. Esc key 179) What displays the contents of the active cell in Excel? A. Name box B. Row Headings C. Formula bar D. Task pane E. None of these 180) The piece of hardware that converts your computer's digital signal to an analog signal that can travel over telephone lines is called a- A. red wire B. blue cord C. tower D. modem E. None of these 181) Computer uses the _____ number system to store data and perform calculations. A. binary B. octal C. decimal D. hexadecimal E. None of these 182) A disk's content that is recorded at the time of manufacture and that cannot be changed or erased by the user is-


A. Memory-only B. Write-only C. Once-only D. Run-only E. Read-only 183) Which of the following can be used to select the entire document? A. CTRL+A B. ALT+F5 C. SHIFT +A D. CTRL+K E. CTRL+H 184) _____ are attempts by individuals to obtain confidential information from you by falsifying their identity. A. Phishing B. Computer viruses C. Spyware scams D. Viruses E. None of the above 185) A Web site's main page is called its- A. Home Page B. Browser Page C. Search Page D. Bookmark E. None of these 186) The simultaneous processing of two or more programs by multiple processors is- A. multiprogramming B. multitasking C. time-sharing D. multiprocessing E. None of these 187) Codes consisting of lines of varying widths or lengths that are computer-readable are known as- A. an ASCII code B. a magnetic tape C. an OCR scanner D. a bar code E. None of these 188) 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. A. Fit to Form B. Format C. Autosize D. Contents E. AutoFit 189) Hackers A. all have the same motive B. are people who maintain computers C. may legally break into computers as long as they do not do any damage D. are people who are allergic to computers E. break into other people's computers 190) Junk e-mail is also called A. spam B. spoof C. cookie crumb D. sniffer script E. spill 191) What is MP3? A. A Mouse B. A Printer C. A Sound format D. A Scanner E. A Mobile Phone 192) One megabyte equals approximately A. 1,000 bits B. 1,000 bytes C. 1 million bytes D. 1 million bits E. 2,000 bytes 193) Data going into the computer is called? A. Output B. Algorithm C. Input D. Calculations E. Flowchart 194) When you are working on a document on PC, where is the document temporarily stored? A. RAM B. ROM

C. The CPU D. Flash memory E. The CD-Rom 195) Information travels between components on the mother board through- A. Flash memory B. CMOS C. Bays D. Buses E. Peripherals 196) Which of the following is true? A. Byte is a single digit in a binary number B. Bit represents a grouping of digital numbers C. Eight-digit binary number is called a byte D. Eight-digit binary number is called a bit E. None of these 197) .....is collection of web pages and ......is the very first page that we see on opening of a web-site A. Home-page, Web-page B. Web-site, Home-page C. Web-page, Home-page D. Web-page, Web-site E. None of these 198) When the pointer is positioned on a _____ it is shaped like a hand. A. Grammar error B. Hyperlink C. Screen tip D. Spelling error E. Formatting error 199) The _____ of a system includes the programs or instructions. A. Hardware B. Icon C. Information D. Software E. None of these 200) The most important or powerful computer in a typical network is _____ A. Desktop B. Network client C. Network server D. Network station E. None of these

FACTS ABOUT COMPUTER

Inventor of Computer Charles Babbage First Modern Computer in the World

ENIAC

First Commercial Computer Univac First Programmable Digital Computer

SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer)

ENIAC was developed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert

Inventor of Punch Cards in Computer

Hollerith

First Computer Programming Languages-

FORTRAN, LISP and COBOL

Computer Graphics was developed by

William Fetter

ARPANET was developed by DARPA First Compiler was developed by Dr. Grace Murray Hopper Father of Computer Animations- John Whitney First movie to use Digital Image Processing-

West World in 1973


Computer Mouse was invented by- Douglas Engel Bart Computer Keyboard was invented by-

Christopher Latham Sholes

Laptop Computer was invented by Adam Osborne First Graphical Computer Game was invented by-

A.S. Douglas

Computer BIOS was invented by Gary Kildall Inventor of Computer Bug- Dr. Grace Murray Hopper Inventors of Computer Chip (IC) Jack Kilby and Robert

Noyce Father of Computer Hard Disk- Reynold Johnson Inventor of First Data Base Dr. Edgar Frank Codd Inventor of Ethernet Computer Networking-

David Boggs, Chuck Thacker and Butler Lampson in Xerox PARC

Inventor of Computer Scanner Ray Kurzweil Inventor of Computer Speakers- Abinawan Puracchidas Inventor of MS-DOS Operating Systems-

Microsoft

Inventors of first computer Microprocessors

Faggin , Hoff & Mazor

Inventor of Spacewar computer Game

Steve Russell & MIT

UNIVAC was developed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert

Inventor of Z1 computer- Konrad Zuse Inventor of ABC computer John Atanasoff & Clifford

Berry

FOUNDERS Founder of Apple Computers Steve Jobs Founder of Artificial Intelligence John McCarthy Founder of Bluetooth Ericsson Father of Computer Charles Babbage Father of ‘C’ Language Dennis Ritchie Father of ‘C++’ language Bjarne Stroustrup Founder of Email Shiva Ayyadurai Founder of Google Larry Page and Sergey

Brin Founder of Internet Vint Cerf Father of ‘Java’- James Gosling Founder of Keyboard Christoper Latham

Sholes Founder of Linux Linus Torvalds Founder of Microsoft Bill Gates and Paul Allen Founder of Mobile Phones Martin Cooper Founder of Mouse Douglas Engelbart Founders of Oracle Ed Oates, Larry Ellison,

Bob Miner Founder of Php Rasmus Lerdorf Founder of USB Ajay V.Bhatt Founder of WWW Tim Berners-Lee Founder of Yahoo Jurry Yang and David

Filo

COMPUTER ANSWER KEY

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

1 B 2 A 3 B 4 A 5 C

6 C 7 B 8 A 9 A 10 A

11 D 12 D 13 B 14 B 15 B

16 C 17 D 18 D 19 C 20 B

21 C 22 C 23 B 24 C 25 D

26 A 27 B 28 D 29 B 30 A

31 B 32 D 33 A 34 C 35 A

36 D 37 B 38 D 39 A 40 A

41 D 42 A 43 B 44 C 45 B

46 C 47 B 48 A 49 D 50 A

51 C 52 B 53 C 54 C 55 B

56 A 57 A 58 D 59 D 60 B

61 B 62 C 63 D 64 A 65 D

66 B 67 B 68 D 69 A 70 A

71 B 72 D 73 A 74 B 75 C

76 D 77 B 78 C 79 D 80 A

81 B 82 C 83 B 84 A 85 C

86 D 87 B 88 B 89 C 90 C

91 B 92 C 93 B 94 C 95 D

96 C 97 C 98 A 99 A 100 C

101 D 102 C 103 A 104 B 105 A

106 A 107 D 108 C 109 C 110 E

111 A 112 A 113 C 114 B 115 A

116 C 117 B 118 C 119 B 120 C

121 B 122 D 123 D 124 D 125 D

126 A 127 C 128 B 129 A 130 A

131 B 132 A 133 B 134 C 135 B

136 B 137 D 138 A 139 B 140 D

141 D 142 A 143 A 144 D 145 A

146 A 147 A 148 C 149 C 150 A

151 D 152 D 153 C 154 D 155 A

156 D 157 C 158 B 159 C 160 A

161 B 162 A 163 A 164 B 165 B

166 C 167 C 168 C 169 C 170 A

171 D 172 D 173 C 174 D 175 C

176 D 177 B 178 C 179 A 180 D

181 A 182 E 183 A 184 A 185 A

186 D 187 D 188 E 189 E 190 A

191 C 192 C 193 C 194 A 195 D

196 C 197 B 198 B 199 D 200 C


PART – III CURRENT AFFAIRS R S 1) Latest data released by the Central Statistical

Office (CSO) has estimated value of India’s GDP at current market prices at Rs. 113.55 lakh crore, achieving a growth rate of _____ percent in 2013-14: a) 4.7 b) 8.5 c) 3.9 d) 5.5

2) The per capita income at current prices during 2013-14 is estimated to be around Rs.________ a) Rs.74,380 b) Rs. 85,990 c) Rs. 70, 840 d) Rs. 89,050

3) Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi has been elected as President of which country: a) Afghanistan b) Egypt c) Iraq d) Belgium

4) Dag Hammarskjold Medal is by UNO for what purpose: a) Bravery b) Show of Gallantry c) Social Work d) Poverty Eradication

5) In an effort to eliminate outdated capacity and improve work safety and address pollution concerns, which country plans to shut down over 2,000 small coal mines by next year: a) India b) Japan c) China d) USA

6) YogeshwarDutt and Sushil won the gold medal and silver medal respectively, in which International Competition in Sassari city, Italy: a) Boxing b) Judo c) Karate d) Wrestling

7) Name the cricket team that won the Indian Premier League – 7: a) Chennai Super King b) Kolkata Knight Riders c) Rajasthan Royals d) Kings XI Punjab

8) The final match of IPL – 7 was played at _______ stadium in Bangalore: a) Eden garden b) M. Chinnaswamy c) Kotla d) Sarjahan

9) Sultan Azlan Shah who passed away recently, was associated with which sports: a) Hockey b) Cricket c) Football d) Archery

10) Sultan Azlan Shah who passed away recently, was from which country: a) Indonesia b) Malaysia c) Iran d) Pakistan

11) Name the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj who was killed in a road accident recently: a) GopinathMunde b) Alen Abel c) Kailash d) K. Karunakaran

12) RBI in its second bimonthly policy statement, reduced statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to ______ from 23%:

a) 25.5% b) 22.5% c) 23.5% d) 22%

13) Reduction of SLR by 50 basis points is expected to increase banks’ lendable resources by Rs. _____ crore: a) 50000 b) 30000 c) 40000 d) 45000

14) The RBI has reduced the availability of funds under the ECR window from 50 per cent of export credit outstanding to 32 per cent with immediate effect. ECR Stands for: a) Export Credit Refinance b) Export Customer Refinance c) Export Credit Release d) Export Credit Regulation

15) World No Tobacco Day is observed on which date: a) May 31 b) August 31 c) October 31 d) July 31

16) Name the first Indian archer to win three gold medals in a single international tournament: a) TarundeepRai b) AbhishekVerma c) SatyaDev Prasad d) DeepikaKumari

17) SEBI has said that public sector undertakings listed on stock exchanges to have should also adhere to the mandatory _____ public shareholding norms that are applicable to private companies: a) 35% b) 40% c) 25% d) 20%

18) Bashar Al-Assad has been elected as President of_________ for the third time successively: a) Syria b) Iraq c) Iran d) Afghanistan

19) Name the fifth Indo-French bilateral air exercise held at Jodhpur Air Base in Rajasthan: a) Garuda VI b) Garuda V c) Garuda IV d) Garuda I

20) Kepler 10 C is the name of the biggest rocky ________ ever discovered: a) Planet b) Galaxy c) Moon d) Seabed

21) Which state has announced 12 per cent reservation for BPL candidates in all the state government jobs: a) Gujarat b) Arunachal Pradesh c) Nagaland d) Sikkim

22) What is the popular name for the French Open Tennis Championship held at Paris: a) Roland Garros b) Wimbledon c) Shampoyi d) Arnloda Garros

23) Name the winner of the Men’s title at French Open Tennis Championship: a) Rafael Nadal b) Andy Murray c) Leander Paes d) Mahesh Bhupathi

24) Name the winner of the Women’s title at French Open Tennis Championship:


a) Maria Sharapova b) Azarneka Victoria c) Samantha Stosur d) Li Na

25) Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal is from which country: a) UK b) Brazil d) Australia d) Spain

26) Ace tennis player Maria Sharapova is from which country: a) Afghanistan b) Iran c) Russia d) Iraq

27) G7 meet of industrialized nations was held at which place: a) Brussels b) New York c) London d) France

28) Name the new speaker of LokSabha: a) Meira Kumar b) SumitraMahajan c) Km. Shailja d) P.A. Sangma

29) RBI has advised that for opening of bank accounts, the proof of __________ is not necessary if customer has submitted proof of his permanent address: a) Parental Address d) Employer’s Address c) Permanent Address d) Local Address

30) India recently test fired its 290-km range supersonic missile from the stealth destroyer INS Kolkata. What is its name: a) Dhruva b) Garuda c) Brahmos d) Agni – II

31) Central government has decided that all the government employees who are having ------------- child to take care of will be exempted from transfers: a) Unemployed b) differentely abled b) Girl c) divorced

32) In which river 24 engineering students, including six girls, were washed away due to sudden release of water from the reservoir: a) River Beas b) River Ganga c) River Satluj d) River Tapti

33) ReuvenRivlin has been elected ________ of Israel: a) Prime Minister b) President c) Vice President d) Chief Secretary

34) Who has been appointed as new Chief Executive Officer, Infosys: a) Vishal Sikka b) SatyaNadela c) AjimPremJi d) NaryanMurti

35) World Bank will provide $ 100 million to which State for promoting development of sustainable hydropower: a) Himachal Pradesh b) Jammu & Kashmir c) Arunachal Pradesh d) Madhya Pradesh

36) Name the Union Minister who has been appointed as India's Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank: a) Amit Shah b) SmritiIrani c) ArunJaitely d) Rajnath Singh

37) Name the Bollywood celebrity who has been appointed as UNICEF's 'celebrity advocate for child rights': a) KarishmaKapoor b) Madhuri Dixit c) Shri Devi d) Dimple Kapadia

38) Which country has overtaken Germanyand Italy to emerge as the world's second largest textile exporter: a) China b) Japan c) India d) USA

39) Name the country that is largest exporter of textiles in the world: a) India b) Australia c) USA d) China

40) The Centre has decided to give Rs. ______ per household as labour charges to the poor for building their homes under Indira AwaasYojna: a) 12000 b) 13000 c) 14000 d) 11000

41) Govt. provides Rs. _____ for construction of a house under IAY in hilly areas: a) 76000 b) 78000 c) 75000 d) 70000

42) Govt. provides Rs. _____ for construction of a house under IAY in plain areas: a) 70000 b) 80000 c) 90000 d) 60000

43) Which private sector bank has launched ‘video branch’ - a 24x7 unique innovative service allowing customers to interact face-to-face with their bank branch using desktop, tablet or smartphone: a) HFFC Bank b) Axis Bank c) IndusInd Bank d) ICICI Bank

44) Govt. has recently cleared to raise the height of which dam from present 121.92 metres to 138.72 metres: a) Bakhra Dam b) Indira Sagar Dam c) Mettur Dam d) Narmada Dam

45) Name the city which has become the fourth city in the country to have Metro rail operations: a) Bangalore b) Mumbai c) New Delhi d) Kolkata

46) For which type of sports Govt. has decided to increase the daily food supplement budget from Rs 280 to Rs 750: a) Power Games b) Fast Games c) Mind Games d) Super Games

47) As per new SEBI norms for public issuance of debt securities (debentures, bonds etc.), these offers will have to be of minimum _______ crore: a) Rs. 500 b) Rs. 100 c) Rs. 150 d) Rs. 550

48) Name the German Formula one champion who emerged out of coma after almost five and a half months, following his devastating ski accident in December, 2013: a) Michael Schumacher b) Sebastian Vettel c) Alain Prost d) Lewis Hamilton

49) 16th Asian Junior Athletics Championship was held at which place: a) New York b) France c) Taipei City d) Delhi

50) Name the India’s first One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) launched in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: a) Nirbhaya b) Gauravi c) Nirbala d) Abla


51) World Food Day is observed on which date: a) October 14 b) October 16 c) September 14 d) September 16

52) Name the historical monument of Gujarat that has been approved as world heritage site by UNESCO: a) Rani-Ki-Vav b) Raja Ki Vav c) BadshahkiVav d) Begum Ki Vav

53) Foreign investment of ______ per cent or more in a listed company will now be treated as foreign direct investment (FDI): a) 10 b) 8 c) 9 d) 11

54) RohintonNariman, the noted advocate has been appointed to which important post: a) Judge in Supreme Court b) Judge in High Court c) Judge in Labour Court d) Judge in District Court

55) Name the IT initiative of the govt. for delivery of public services through the mobile platform has been awarded a United Nations Public Service Award: a) KarSeva b) Mobile Seva c) Online Seva d) Ambulance Seva

56) Where is the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) that has been accorded the UNESCO World Heritage Site status for its “exceptional natural beauty and conservation of biological diversity.”: a) Kullu b) Shimla c) Mandi d) Manali

57) ISIS militants have been waging a fierce civil battle against the democratically elected govt. of which country: a) Iran b) Iraq c) Afghanistan d) Syria

58) Which country won the Men’s title in hockey world cup: a) Australia b) India c) Pakistan d) Germany

59) Which country won the Women’s title in hockey world cup: a) The Netherland b) Ireland c) Switzerland d) Scotland

60) Which Indian university has been named as the best higher educational institution in India by the Times Higher Education’s Asia rankings: a) Panjab University b) Delhi University c) Sikkim University c) Hyderabad University d) Hindu Banaras University

61) ViswanathanAnand won the _______ medal at the World Rapid Chess Championship held at Dubai: a) Brass b) Silver c) Gold d) Bronze

62) Name the India's biotechnology queen, Chairperson of Biocon Industries who has been awarded the coveted Global Economy Prize for business: a) KiranMazumdar-Shaw b) IndraNooyi c) Arundati Bhattacharya d) ChandanaKoccher

63) India’s first indigenously-built anti submarine warfare corvette __________ is to be commissioned into the Indian Navy next month:

a) INS Vikramaditya b) INS Vikrant c) INS Kamorta d) INS Virat

64) National carrier Air India has joined ___________ a group of 26 (now 27) carriers with as many as 4,338 aircraft flying to 1,328 destinations across 195 countries: a) Air Alliance b) Star Alliance c) Sky Alliance d) Global Alliance

65) In a 25 nation-list compiled by global research firm Ipsos, India has been placed at ______ rank in terms of economic confidence of citizens: a) First b) Second c) Third d) Fourth

66) RBI has permitted which new entities to act as business correspondents (BCs) of banks, allowing them to offer limited services: a) Insurance Companies b) Mutual Funds Companies c) Non-banking finance companies –NBFCs d) Chit Fund Companies

67) RBI has permitted residents and non-residents, except Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, to carry up to ________ in Indian currency notes while leaving the country: a) Rs. 25000 b) Rs. 30000 c) Rs. 150000 d) Rs. 20000

68) The Corporate Affairs Ministry has recently notified new CSR expenditure rules for the companies. What is CSR: a) Cooperative Social Reasonability b) Corporate Social Responsibility c) Commercial Social Responsibility d) Corporate Society Responsibility

69) The 35th edition of the National Games will be held in _______ in Jan– Feb, 2015: a) Kerala b) Goa c) Manipur d) Tamil Nadu

70) _______ has been appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for national games: a) MS Dhoni b) ViratKohali c) VarinderSehwag d) Sachin Tendulkar

71) The World Bank has approved funding of USD 107 million (nearly Rs 650 crore) for a road project in which state: a) Mizoram b) Meghalaya c) Nagaland d) Arunachal

72) The government has extended the ban on imports of milk and its products from which country: a) Pakistan b) China c) Bangladesh d) Nepal

73) Which country plans to open two centres of excellence at Nalanda and Vaishali in Bihar in the field of vegetables and mango respectively to help cultivators increase their productivity: a) Israel b) Syria c) Iran d) Namibia

74) Which state has become the first state in India to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the police force, across all cadres: a) Haryana b) Gujarat c) Himachal Pradesh d) Rajasthan


75) Prime Minister Mr. Modi made his first overseas trip by visiting which country: a) Bhutan b) Nepal c) China d) Russia

76) Bhutan is major partner with India in production of __________: a) Nuclear Power b) Hydroelectric Power c) Thermal Power d) Electric Nutrition Power

77) India’s External Affairs Minister made a goodwill visit to which country as her first solo overseas visit: a) Nepal b) Bangladesh c) Sri Lanka d) Bhutan

78) Name the Indian statesman who recently visited China: a) Hamid Ansari b) Dr. Manmohan Singh c) APJ Abdul Kalam d) ArunJaitely

79) Who has been elected as the First Chairman of International Cricket Council, Dubai: a) N. Srinivasan b) Sunil Gavaskar c) Anil Kumble d) Sachin Tendulkar

80) International Widows Day is observed on which date: a) 22nd June b) 25th May c) 23rd June d) 15th May

81) Name the first Indian shooter to win three medals in successive ISSF Shooting World Cup: a) JituRai b) AbhinavBindra c) DeepikaKumari d) Mohan Raj

82) 49thJnanpith award – 2013 has been awarded to which noted Hindi poet: a) Sanjay Baru b) JaswantSinha c) Dr. Kumar Vishvas d) Kedarnath Singh

83) The 2013 Moortidevi Award winner, C. Radharkrishna writes in which language: a) Malayalam b) Telugu c) Bhojpuri d) Urdu

84) World Refugee Day is observed on which date: a) June 15 b) June 20 c) June 23 d) June 30

85) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, _________ has been declared as the most peaceful country: a) Iceland b) Ireland c) Switzerland d) India

86) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, _________ has been declared as the most unpeaceful country: a) Pakistan b) Iraq c) Syria d) Iran

87) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, India has been placed at which rank: a) 143rd b) 140th c) 128th d) 158th

88) The book titled The Goldfinch has been authored by whom: a) Tashshan b) Donna Tartt c) John Morrison d) J.K. Rowling

89) Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014 has been won by __________ for her first novel ‘A girl is a Half-Formed Thing’: a) Eimear McBride b) Sandra Cisneros

c) Helence Cixos d) Claudia Emerson 90) Which Indian Airport was declared second best in

service quality in world and sixth best airport in the world: a) Rajiv Gandhi International Airport b) Indira Gandhi International Airport c) ChattarpatiShivaji International Airport d) Sardar Patel International Airport

91) Name the lady who has been declared as most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine: a) Janet Yellen b) Melinda Gates c) Angela Merkel d) DilmaRousseff

92) Angela Merkel has been declared as most powerful women in the world. Who is she: a) Chancellor of Germany b) Foreign Secretary of USA c) Chancellor of USA d) Foreign Secretary of Germany

93) Who has been declared as most powerful women in India by the Forbes magazine: a) Vinita Bali b) ArunadhatiBhattarcharya c) RenukaRamnath d) VanithaNaryan

94) Which Indian actor has been conferred with ‘Legion of France’ recently: a) Shahrukh Khan b) Amitabh Bachhan c) Amir Khan d) Dilip Kumar

95) As per are recently World Bank report, India emerged as the world's _________largest economy in 2011, from being the 10th largest in 2005: a) Third b) Fourth c) Fifth d) Second

96) Which country has the largest economy in the world: a) USA b) China c) Japan d) India

97) India and China have decided to conduct a joint military exercise at which place in India: a) Jaislmar, Rajasthan b) Bathinda, Punjab c) Kuchh, Gujarat d) Ladhakh , J&K

98) World’s highest train tunnel at an altitude of 3,067.4 metres passes through mountain Qilian Mountain. Which is in: a) China b) India c) South Africa d) Nepal

99) 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: a) Bay of Bengal b) Tropical Pacific Ocean c) Indian Ocean d) Black Sea

100) Which state has lifted the four years ban on SMS on prepaid mobile phones: a) Jammu & Kashmir b) Himachal Pradesh c) Mizoram d) Assam

101) Ahmed Maiteeq has been elected as Prime Minister of which country: a) Iraq b) Libya c) Jamaica d) Sweden

102) Prime Minister of which country was removed from office by a Constitutional Court:


a) Thailand b) New Zealand c) Ireland d) Sweden

103) Which country has decided to introduce Islamic banking: a) Pakistan b) Afghanistan c) Turky d) Iran

104) What is the brand name of the football that will be used in the Brazil FIFA World Cup: a) Brazuca b) Brazilka c) Brafifa d) Brazufa

105) What is the range of India’s air to air Astra missile: a) 60 kms b) 50 kms c) 75 km d) 55 kms

106) Name the Pakistan’s surface-to-surface ballistic missile test fired recently: a) Hataf – II b) Hataf – I c) Hataf-III d) Hataf - IV

107) WHO has identified which city having worst air quality in the world: a) Delhi b) New York c) Tokyo d) Hamilton

108) What is the name of the recent book released by Hillary Clinton: a) Tough Choices b) Hard Choices c) Rough Choices d) Tuf Choices

109) In which country’s parliament a pictorial book on India’s war hero Shivaji, was released a) UK b) USA c) China d) Russia

110) In which country Islamist militant group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 school girls: a) Nigeria b) Syria c) Algeria d) Libya

111) Name the Indian Cricket player was ranked no 1 in the latest ICC list of One Day International (ODI) rankings: a) ViratKohli b) M.S.Dhoni c)VirenderSehvag d) GautamGambheer 112) Noted cueist Mark Selby of England recently won world championship in which game: a) Snooker b) Chess c) Squash d) Billiards 113) SaniaMirza of India and Cara Black of Zimbabwe won women’s doubles tennis title in which tournament: a) Portugal Open 2014 b) French Open c) US Open d) Australian Open 114) In terms of consumer confidence India has been ranked _______ most optimistic country: a) 2nd b) 1st c) 3rd d) 4th 115) Saudi Arabia has decided to ban the import of Indian ____ due to presence of high pesticide residues: a) Chilies b) Milk Powder c) Vegetables d) Mangoes 116) India and ________ have inked a pact to enhance security cooperation in combating the key

issues of insurgency, arms smuggling and human trafficking: a) Myanmar b) Bangla Desh d) Bhutan d) Nepal 117) Which of the following countries has announced a one billion Euros credit line over the next three years to India to take initiates in the climate control area recently? a) UK b) Germany c) Switzerland d) France e) None of these 118) The ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report is compiled by which of the following organisations? a) IMF b) World Bank c) UN d) ADB e) None of these 119) Who among the following is the chairman of the seven-member advisory panel set up by the Union Power Ministry for integrated development of sector recently? a) Partha S Bhattacharyya b) Suresh Prabhu c) Anil Baijal d) Pratyush Sinha e) None of these 120) According to the latest data released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the US National Security Agency (NSA) received official permission to covertly spy upon which of the following political parties in India? a) Indian National Congress (INS) b) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) c) Samajwadi Party (SP) d) All the above e) None of these 121) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has backed the life ban imposed on batsman Lou Vincent who has confessed to match-fixing charges. He belongs to which of the following teams? a) New Zealand b) Australia c) England d) West Indies e) None of these 122) Name the general insurer which has introduced an "insurance on wheels" concept for faster renewal of policies recently. a) National Insurance Company b) ICICI Lombard c) Bajaj Allianz d) Oriental Insurance Company e) None of these 123) Bor Wildlife Sanctuary will be the country's 47th Tiger Reserve as the Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar approved the proposal for the same recently. The wildlife sanctuary is located in which of the following states? a) Odisha b) Gujarat c) Maharashtra d) Madhya Pradesh e) None of these 124) Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies that seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation. Which of the following countries is NOT a member of APEC as of now? a) China b) Japan c) Australia d) India


e) None of these 125) The United States has named a mountain in Antarctia in honour of an eminent Indian-American scientist related to biological research recently. Name the scientist. a) Ashok Gadgil b) EC George Sudarshan c) Akhouri Sinha d) Narendra Karmarkar e) None of these 126) As per a recent UNESCO report, though India has managed to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the past decade, yet more than __________ children were out of school in 2011. a) 1 million b) 2 million c) 3 million d) 5 million e) None of these 127) The world’s largest multination naval exercise, 24th Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, was conducted with 22 nations and six observer nations recently. Which of the following nations was NOT a participant in this year’s exercise? a) Japan b) Indonesia c) India d) China e) None of these 128) Internet giant Google announced its ‘Android One’ programme recently. This programme is aimed at which of the following? a) Driver-less cars b) Operating system for PCs c) An e-commerce application d) Low-cost devices e) None of these 129) In which of the following states, the govt has launched ‘Amma Pharmacy’ to sell medicines at a fair price recently? a) Karnataka b) Tamil Nadu c) Kerala d) Andhra Pradesh e) None of these 130) Recently two PSUs have been conferred the coveted Navratna status, recently, which would give these firms more financial and operational autonomy? a) Engineers India Limited (EIL) b) National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) c) Antrix Corporation Limited d) Only a) and b) e) Only a) and c) 131) VK Rajah, an Indian-origin judge Justic;has been appointed as the new attorney general of which of the following countries recently? a) Singapore b) Malaysia c) Indonesia d) US e) None of these 132) General Bikram Singh visited which of the following countries, recently? This is the first official visit by an Indian Army Chief to this country in nine years. a) Myanmar b) China c) Japan d) Brazil e) None of these 133) Sheryl Sandberg, who visited India, recently, is the present Chief Operating Officer of which of the following social media firms?

a) Twitter b) LinkedIn c) Yahoo d) Facebook e) None of these 134) NASA launched first of its kind OCO-2 satellite, recently, which is dedicated to studying a) atmospheric carbon dioxide b) depletion of ozone layer c) extent of pollution due to jet exhaust d) presence of harmful bacteria in outer space e) None of these 135) Which of the following Indian cricketers has been honoured with exclusive gold coin worth 12,000 pound sterling issued by Britain’s premium luxury goods brand East India Company? a) Sunil Gavaskar b) Kapil Dev c) Sachin Tendulkar d) Mahendra Singh Dhoni e) None of these 136) Google's ‘Project Loon,’ which completed its one- year anniversary, recently, is associated with which of the following? a) Bringing internet access through balloons b) Transporting people to moon c) Transporting people to mars d) Real time mobile tracking system e) None of these 137) The World Vitiligo Day is celebrated every year on which of the following dates? a) Jun 20 b) Jun 21 c) Jun 23 d) Jun 25 e) None of these 138) Which of the following state govts has announced a 33 per cent reservation for women in state police force recently? a) Tamil Nadu b) Rajasthan c) Gujarat d) West Bengal e) None of these 139) The first nuclear power plant in the world was commissioned in Obninsk city in which of the following countries? The plant completed sixty years recently. a) US b) Germany c) Japan d) Russia e) None of these 140) Salar Jung Museum celebrated the 125th birth anniversary of the founder collector Salar Jung III recently. The museum that holds the coveted crown of being one of the largest one- man collections of the World, is located in a) Chennai b) Mangalore c) Hyderabad d) Guntur e) None of these 141) Four new vaccines as part of the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) have been introduced by Govt. Of India, which of the following is NOT one of them? a) Rotavirus vaccine b) Rubella vaccine c) Polio (injectable) vaccine d) An adult vaccine against Japanese encephalitis


e) None of these 142) The govt has re-appointed who among the following RBI Deputy Governors for a further period of two years with effect from Jul 4 2014 recently? a) HR Khan b) R Gandhi c) Anand Sinha d) Urjit R Patel e) None of these 143) As per Railways Budget 2014 it has been proposed to start Bullet train in which of the following sectors? a) Delhi-Chandigarh b) Mumbai-Ahmedabad c) Jaynagar-Mumbai d) Delhi-Agra e) None of these 144) The Indian veteran Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek lost their men's doubles semi-final in Wimbledon against which of the following pairs recently? a) Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut b) Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock c) Mike and Bob Bryan d) Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin e) None of these 145) The Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 240-Megawatt Uri-II Hydro Electric Project (HEP) located in which of the following states recently? a) Uttarakhand b) Himachal Pradesh c) Jammu & Kashmir d) Gujarat e) None of these 146) Vishal Sikka has become the highest paid professional CEO of an Indian company with Rs 30- cr pay package. He is the current CEO of a) Wipro b) Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) c) Infosys d) Tech Mahindra e) None of these 147) Dadi Balsara, who died recently, was associated with which of the following leading packaged mineral water brands? a) Himalayan b) Kinley c) Bisleri d) Aquafina e) None of these 148) Magnus Carlsen became the first man to hold the Chess Triple Crown by holding the World Blitz, Rapid, and Classic titles consecutively. Who among the following was the first chess player in the world to hold all three world titles in a row? a) Susan Polgar b) Antoaneta Stefanova c) Alexandra Kosteniuk d) Judit Polgar e) None of these 149) The Govt accepted Mayaram panel report on definitions of FDI, FII recently. Now, a foreign investment of ________ or more in a listed company will be treated as FDI. a) 10 per cent b) 15 per cent c) 20 per cent d) 25 per cent e) None of these

150) The World Refugee Day is observed across the globe on which of the following dates? a) Jun 14 b) Jun 16 c) Jun 18 d) Jun 20 e) None of these

G.K. ANSWER KEY Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.

1 A 2 A 3 B 4 B 5 C

6 D 7 B 8 B 9 A 10 B

11 A 12 B 13 C 14 A 15 A

16 B 17 C 18 A 19 B 20 A

21 D 22 A 23 A 24 A 25 D

26 C 27 A 28 B 29 D 30 C

31 B 32 A 33 B 34 A 35 A

36 C 37 B 38 C 39 D 40 A

41 C 42 C 43 C 44 D 45 B

46 A 47 B 48 A 49 C 50 B

51 B 52 A 53 A 54 A 55 B

56 A 57 B 58 A 59 A 60 A

61 D 62 A 63 C 64 B 65 A

66 C 67 A 68 B 69 A 70 D

71 A 72 B 73 A 74 B 75 A

76 B 77 B 78 A 79 A 80 C

81 A 82 D 83 A 84 B 85 A

86 C 87 A 88 B 89 A 90 B

91 C 92 A 93 B 94 A 95 A

96 A 97 B 98 A 99 B 100 A

101 B 102 A 103 B 104 A 105 A

106 C 107 A 108 B 109 A 110 A

111 A 112 A 113 A 114 B 115 A

116 A 117 D 118 B 119 B 120 B

121 A 122 A 123 C 124 D 125 C

126 A 127 E 128 D 129 B 130 D

131 A 132 B 133 D 134 A 135 C

136 A 137 D 138 C 139 D 140 C

141 E 142 A 143 B 144 B 145 C

146 C 147 A 148 A 149 D 150 D


RECO L L ECT ED MCQS – SBI CL ER K 2014

1) Which of the following committee is for financial inclusion? 1) Dr. C. Rangarajan 2) Suresh Tendulkar 3) Dr. Nachiket Mor 4) YH Malegham 5) None of these 2) Which of the following missile is launched by DRDO, recently having range of about 150 km? 1) Agni – I 2) Agni – II 3) Prithvi 4) Astra 5) None of these 3) World Tourism Day is celebrated on which date: 1) 27th September 2) 28th August 3) 1st June 4) 4th July 5) None of these 4) World Press Freedom Day is celebrated on which date: 1) 5th May 2) 3rd May 3) 1st August 4) 10th April 5) None of these 5) RBI was established in which year? 1) 1934 2) 1949 3) 1935 4) 1933 5) None of these 6) Who inaugurated Bhartiya Mahila Bank? 1) Dr. Manmohan Singh 2) A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 3) Hamid Ansari 4) Narendra Modi 5) None of these 7) What is the full form of CSO? 1) Central Strategy Organization 2) Central Statistical Office 3) Central Strategy Office 4) Central Supreme Office 5) None of these 8) CBS stands for: 1) Core Bank System 2) Core Banking Solution 3) Core Banking System 4) Core Bank Solutions 5) None of these 9) Name the branch of science which deals with kidney deceases? 1) Neurology 2) Nanotechnology 3) Nephrology 4) Cardiology 5) None of these 10) Headquarter of CRISIL? 1) Pune 2) Mumbai

3) Bangalore 4) Chennai 5) None of these 11) The Caparo Group has won the international Business of the year award 2014 at the Asian Business Awards Midlands in Birmingham. The group is founded by leading NRI industrial____________ 1) S.P Singh Oberoi 2) Snchand Hinduja 3) Gopichand Hinduja 4) Lord Swraj Paul 5) Lakshmi Mittal 12) Which of the following is a part of the Core Sector? 1) Textile 2) Chemicals 3) Real Estate 4) Machine Manufacturing 5) Food Processing 13) National institute of Bank Management is the institution meant for________ 1) All those given as options 2) providing management personnel to the Banks 3) training of bank employees in Banking 4) providing consultancy on best practices in Bank management 5) recruitment of Bank employees at all levels 14) Recently India has decided to introduce plastic currency note. A number of other countries are already using plastic notes, but the pioneer in this field is____ 1) Sweden 2) England 3) France 4) USA 5) Australia 15) As per the rankings released by the UNCTAD in its World Investment Report 2014 in respect of most favoured destinations for investment by transnational corporation, India stands at the _________ 1) Fifth position 2) Third position 3) Seventh Position 4) Fourth Position 5) Sixth Position 16) A bond issued at a price less than its face value and payable on its due date at its face value bearing no ROI (Rate of interest) is called_____________ 1) Preference Bond 2) Zero Coupon Bond 3) Convertible Bond 4) Perpetual Bond 5) Sovereign Bond 17) Axis Bank was formerly known as___________ 1) Yes Bank 2) UTI Bank 3) City Union Bank 4) HDFC Bank 5) Centurian Bank


18) In which of the following States there is no Regional Rural Bank? 1) Karnataka 2) Goa 3) Uttarakhand 4) Himachal 5) Punjab 19) The company ‘Assocaited Journals Ltd.’ (AJL) is the publisher of now defunct daily newspaper________. 1) Young India 2) The independent 3) Amrit Bazaar Patrika 4) National Herald 5) Bombay Chronicle 20) One rupee note bears the signature of ________ 1) President of India 2) Vice President of India 3) Finance Secretary 4) Finance Minister 5) Commerce Minister 21) Liquidity is injected by the RBI in the economy through which of the following mechanisms? 1) Change in Bank Rate 2) REPO 3) Increase in SLR 4) Through Liquidity Adjustment Facility 5) Increase in CRR 22) Legendary stock investor Warren Buffet calls the futures and options segment of the investment market as weapons of __________________ 1) Mass financial inclusion 2) Mass financial destruction 3) Mass financial education 4) Mass financial investment 5) Mass financial involvement 23) Latest addition in providing institutional financial assistance to Woman Entrepreneurs is _______ 1) Rural Woman Self Help Group 2) National Credit Fund for Women 3) Bharatiya Mahila Bank 4) All those given as options 5) Mahila Samridhi Kosh 24) The national capital of the Sweden is ________ 1) Belfast 2) Rome 3) Berne 4) Stockholm 5) Kingstown 25) Which of the following is one of the main functions of the Reserve Bank of India? 1) Regulation of the Stock Markets 2) Regulation of Life Insurance 3) Regulation of General Insurance 4) Regulation of Mutual Funds in India 5) Banker’s Bank

26) The international day of Older Persons is observed every year on _____________ 1) 31st October 2) 21st October 3) 1st October 4) 11th October 5) 19th September 27) Which of the following authorities is responsible for maintaining accounts, deposits and cash management of the Government through issue of Bonds and Treasury Bills? 1) SEBI 2) IBA 3) IRDA 4) SBI 5) RBI 28) The Oscar winning music composer AR Rahman has a street named after him ________ 1) Spain 2) Canada 3) USA 4) France 5) Germany 29) Which of the following alternatives is done by a nonprofit or government organization to father a cause? 1) Brand marketing 2) Casual Marketing 3) Social marketing 4) Issue marketing 5) Non-profit marketing 30) What is the aim of successful marketing? 1) To increase the profit 2) To increase the scale 3) To increase the output of sellers 4) All of the given options 5) To increase customer base 31) What does the acronym BIOS stands for? 1) Basic input/output System 2) Basic internal /Output System 3) Basic inner / output System 4) Basic input /output Systemisation 5) Basic input/Output Synthetic 32) The process of making changes to an existing document is referred to as ______ it. 1) eliciting 2) changing 3) modifying 4) creating 5) adjusting 33) Which of the following refers to the means by which an OS or any other program interacts with the user? 1) program front – end 2) programming interface 3) user login 4) user interface 5) user compatibility 34) SWOT analysis refers to an analysis of a company’s ______ 1) Systems; weaknesses; operations; threats 2) Strengths; weaknesses; opportunities; threats


3) System; weakness; operations, technology 4)Strategic units; workers; opportunities; technology 5) Strengths; weaknesses; opportunities; technology 35) The ____________ format reduces an audio file to about one – tenth of its original size, while preserving much of the original quality of the sound 1) DOC 2) PNG 3) GIF 4) MP3 5) VMEG 36) The ____________, which contains billion of documents called Web pages, is one of the more popular services on the internet. 1) Web server 2) Telnet 3) Collection 4) Newsnet 37) Which of the following terms is associated with internet / email? 1) Plotter 2) Slide Presentation 3) Bookmark 4) Pie Chart 5) Microsoft Excel 38) Increasing the effort to “think global” and “act local” is __________ 1) empowering 2) globalizing 3) flattening 4) focusing 5) benchmarking 39) What is linux? 1) Input Device 2) Storage Device 3) Operating System 4) Output Device 5) Processor 40) A company selling in a national market often organizes its sales force along __________ lines. 1) product lines 2) territory 3) psychographic profiles 4) geographic 5) conveniences 41) Which of the following is a small microprocessor-based computer designed to be used by one person at a time _________ 1) netbook 2) supercomputer 3) all-in-one 4) notebook 5) personal computer 42) Which concept holds that consumers will favor those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features? 1) Product 2) selling 3) holistic marketing 4) production 5) marketing 43) Delivery channel means _______________ 1) Service centres 2) other than those given in options 3) handing over the products to the buyers 4) product manufacturing

5) Places where product s are made available to the buyers 44) Market survey means 1) Marketing Strategies 2) All of the given options 3) Market monitoring 4) Market Planning 5) Market Research 45) Which of the following term is associated with networks? 1) MS Excel 2) Mouse 3) MS Word 4) Connectivity 5) Plotter 46) The Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) has been setup with _____________ 1) Public Sector Banks 2) Indian Banks’ Association 3) State Bank of India 4) Reserve Bank of India 5) Government of India 47) The operating system is the most common type of _______ software. 1) application 2) antivirus 3) communication 4) system 5) word-processing software 48) __________is a written description of a computer program’s functions. 1) Explanatory instructions 2) Graphical user interface 3) Plug and play 4) README files 5) Documentation 49) The term pre-shipment finance’ relates to_____ 1) Export Credit 2) Farm Credit 3) Consumer Credit 4) Investment Credit 5) Industrial Credit 50) Which of the following keys is used to delete characters to the left of the cursor? 1) Alt + Delete 2) Shift 3) Esc 4) Delete 5) Backspace

ANSWER KEY

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 3 2 3 3 1 4 2 5 1 6 1 7 2 8 2 9 3 10 2

11 4 12 4 13 3 14 5 15 2 16 2 17 2 18 2 19 4 20 3 21 2 22 2 23 4 24 4 25 5 26 3 27 5 28 2 29 3 30 4 31 1 32 3 33 4 34 2 35 4 36 1 37 2 38 3 39 3 40 4 41 5 42 3 43 5 44 5 45 4 46 1 47 4 48 4 49 1 50 5


IBPS PO MODEL TEST PAPER

GENERAL AWARENESS 1) Who among the following has won the

women’s singles title of the Wimbledon tennis tournament recently?

1) Petra Kvitova 2) Eugenie Bouchard 3) Simona Halep 4) Svetlana Kuznetsova 5) None of these 2) 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 3) With a stable and reform-oriented govt at the

Centre, overseas investors have pumped in a staggering over ________into the Indian market in the first half of 2014.

1) USD 18 bn 2) USD 20 bn 3) USD 25 bn 4) USD 32 bn 5) None of these 4) The headquarter of Association of South East

Asian Nations is at: 1) Jakarta 2) Dubai 3) New York 4) New Delhi 5) None of these 5) Leading online retailer Flipkart merged which

of the following online fashion retailers recently? The combined entity is eyeing 65 per cent market share in India in the online fashion segment.

1) Jabong 2) Myntra 3) Yep Me 4) Junglee 5) None of these 6) 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 7) The autobiography of who among the

following titled ‘Substance and Shadow’ was released recently?

1) Javed Akhtar 2) Dilip Kumar 3) Madhuri Dixit 4) Aamir Khan

5) None of these 8) 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 9) Reuven Rivlin has been elected 10th President

of which of the following countries recently? 1) Canada 2) Israel 3) Spain 4) Sweden 5) None of these 10) 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 11) Which of the following space agencies has

built world's first flying observatory fitted with an infrared telescope called “Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy” (SOFIA)? This mobile observatory can stay airborne for over 12 hours.

1) DLR (Germany) 2) CNES (France) 3) NASA (US) 4) ISRO (India) 5) None of these 12) 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 13) The National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI)

succeeded in cloning another female buffalo calf named Lalima recently. NDRI is situated in which of the following cities?

1) Lucknow 2) Ahmedabad 3) Karnal 4) Hyderabad 5) None of these 14) 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 15) Uber cup is related to: 1) Badminton 2) Cricket 3) Boxing 4) Archery 5) None of these 16) Who among the following has topped the

Forbes list of the world's 100 most powerful women released recently?

1) Dilma Rousseff 2) Melinda Gates 3) Janet Yellen 4) Angela Merkel 5) None of these 17) 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 in the

market 4) It is a rate which is offered by banks to their most

valued customers or prime customers 5) None of these 18) As per the recommendations of the Arvind

Mayaram committee, an overseas investment equal to 10 per cent and above in a listed firm will be treated as FDI and the investments below 10 per cent will be treated as

1) Foreign Public Investment 2) Foreign Qualified Investment 3) Foreign Preliminary Investment 4) Foreign Portfolio Investment 5) None of these 19) Which bank in India performs duties of Central

Bank? 1) Central Bank of India 2) State Bank of India 3) both ‘1’ and ‘2’ 4) Reserve Bank of India 5) None of these 20) The C Rangarajan panel presented new

formula to estimate poverty in India recently. As per the panel who among the following have been defined as poor?

1) Anyone spending below Rs 47 per day in cities and Rs 32 in villages




5) None of these 21) What is the full form of NBFC as used in the

financial sector? 1) Non Banking Finance Company

2) National Banking and Finance Corporation 3) New Business Finance and Credit 4) New Business Fund Company 5) None of these 22) Three new judges assumed charge as Supreme

Court judges recently taking its strength to 27. What is the sanctioned strength of judges in the apex court, including the Chief Justice?

1) 27 2) 29 3) 31 4) 33 5) None of these 23) Which one of the following is NOT a function of

Reserve Bank of India? 1) Credit Control 2) Supervisor of Scheduled Commercial Banks 3) Formation of Monetary Policy 4) Credit Creation 5) None of these 24) The first bill of the new BJP govt, the National

Institute of Design Bill 2013, was passed in the Rajya Sabha recently. Now, declared an institution of national importance, the National Institute of Design is situated at

1) Bhopal 2) Pune 3) Ahmedabad 4) Lucknow 5) None of these 25) In the banking system the data is stored in the

digital form and is accessible anywhere, anytime. This computerized environment is called:

1) Correct Banking Solution 2) Core Banking Solution 3) Central Banking Solution 4) Net Banking Solution 5) None of these 26) As mentioned by the Union Railways Minister

Sadananda Gowda in the recent Railway Budget, what is the operating surplus of the Indian Railways as of now?

1) 5 per cent 2) 6 per cent 3) 8 per cent 4) 11 per cent 5) None of these 27) The advantage of a universal bank is 1) Bank can cross-sell its products 2) Bank earns both fee based and non-fee based

income 3) Saves valuable time/travel to the customer 4) Speedy delivery of products to the customer 5) All of these 28) India has now formally become the 19th

permanent member of the UN renewable agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This agency is based in

1) Doha 2) Manila 3) Kuala Lumpur 4) Abu Dhabi


5) None of these 29) A cheque cannot be paid by the bank before

the date mentioned on it. If it is presented for payment before this date, it is not payable as it is treated as ______ cheque.

1) Pre dated cheque 2) Past Dated cheque 3) Post Dated cheque 4) Promissory note 5) None of these 30) As per the recent notification issued by the

telecom sector regulator Trai, the minimum broadband speed has been raised from the earlier 256 kbps to

1) 512 kbps 2) 768 kbps 3) 1024 kbps 4) 1280 kbps 5) None of these 31) Which is the principal place of sitting of the

National Green Tribunal Act, 2010? 1) Bangalor 2) Shimla 3) New Delhi 4) Surat 5) None of these 32) Who among the following has won the

Afghanistan's presidential election as per the preliminary results released recently?

1) Abdul Qayum Karzai 2) Daud Sultanzoy 3) Abdullah Abdullah 4) Ashraf Ghani 5) None of these 33) Under DRI scheme loans are sanctioned to the

poorest section of the society by the banks at simple rate of interest of 4% per annum. What is the full form of DRI?

1) Differential Rate of Interest 2) Discounted Rate of Interest 3) Directed Rate of Interest 4) Decreed Rate of Interest 5) None of these 34) What minimum pension has been approved by

the govt. under Employees Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) run by the EPFO recently?

1) Rs 1,000 2) Rs 1,500 3) Rs 2,000 4) Rs 2,500 5) None of these 35) In the business news we come across that

companies have raised money through ECB. ECB stands for

1) Eternal Commercial Borrowing 2) Eternal Commercial Banking 3) Extra Commercial Borrowing 4) External Commercial Borrowing 5) None of these 36) The 6th BRICS summit was held in Brazil on

15-16 Jul. Which of the following countries is NOT a member of the BRICS group?

1) South Africa 2) China 3) Russia 4) Indonesia 5) None of these

37) India attained Dominion Status on- 1) 15th January, 1947 2) 15th August, 1947 3) 15th August, 1950 4) 15th October, 1947 5) None of these 38) As per the Companies Act-2013, the maximum

number of persons permitted to form a private limited company raised (from 50 at present) to___?

1) 200 persons 2) 150 persons 3) 250 persons 4) 100 persons 5) None of these 39) In the FRBM Act, 2003, FRBM stands

for______. 1) Fiscal Revolution and Budget Management 2) Fixed Responsibility and Binary Management 3) Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management 4) Fiscal Revolution and Binary Management 5) None of these 40) The Speaker of the Lok Sabha has to address

his/her letter of resignation to- 1) Prime Minister of India 2) President of India 3) Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha 4) Minister of Parliamentary Affairs 5) None of these

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE

Directions (Q. 41-45): What will come in place of the question mark (?) in the following questions? 41) 2.8 x 1.5 + 8% of 250 = ? 1) 24.2 2) 24.02 3) 242.2 4) 2.42 5) None of these

42) 1312?

711

1411

1412

723

1) 711 2)

721

3) 71

4) 73

5) None of these

43) ?73032

54

83

ofofof

1) 86 2) 146 3) 156 4) 93 5) None of these


44) 87 x 26 82.4 = 8? 1) 10.6 2) 9.6 3) 8.6 4) 6.6 5) None of these 45) 160% of 250 + ? = 120% of 400 1) 160 2) 40 3) 80 4) 120 5) None of these Direction (Q. 46-50): What will come in place of the question mark (?) in each of the following number series? 46) 2 8 26 ? 242 1) 78 2) 72 3) 82 4) 84 5) None of these 47) 3 4 12 ? 103 1) 45 2) 40 3) 41 4) 39 5) None of these 48) 9 17 ? 65 129 1) 32 2) 24 3) 35 4) 33 5) None of these 49) 7 13 ? 49 97 1) 27 2) 25 3) 23 4) 29 5) None of these 50) 5 3 4 ? 17 1) 15 2) 15.5 3) 7.5 4) 17 5) None of these

51) Out of 5 women and 4 men, a committee of three members is to be formed in such a way that at least one member is a woman. In how many different ways can this be done? 1) 80 2) 84 3) 76 4) 96 5) None of these 52) The present ages of Amit and his father are in the ratio of 2 : 5 respectively. Four years hence the ratio of their ages will becomes 5 : 11 respectively. What was the father’s age five years ago? 1) 40 years 2) 45 years 3) 30 years 4) 35 years 5) None of these 53) Twice the square of a number is six times the other number. What is the ratio of the first number to the second? 1) 1 : 4 2) 2 : 5 3) 1 : 3

4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 54) Manoj sold an article for Rs 15,000. Had he offered a discount of 10% on the selling price, he would have earned a profit of 8%. What is the cost price? 1) Rs 12500 2) Rs 13500 3) Rs 12250 4) Rs 13250 5) None of these 55) The cost of 8 pens and 4 pencils is Rs 176 and the cost of 2 pens and 2 pencils is Rs 48. What is the cost of one pen? 1) Rs 16 2) Rs 14 3) Rs 12 4) Rs 18 5) None of these 56) In how many different ways can the letters of the word TOTAL be arranged? 1) 120 2) 60 3) 48 4) 72 5) None of these 57) If the area of a circle is 616 cm2, what is its perimeter? 1) 76 cm 2) 84 cm 3) 96 cm 4) 80 cm 5) None of these 58) B and C together can complete a work in 8 days, A and B together can complete the same work in 12 days, and A and C together can complete the same work in 16 days. In, how many days can A, B and C together complete the same work?

1) 1393 2)

1357

3) 1257 4)

1253

5) None of these 59) What will be the compound interest accrued on an amount of Rs 10,000 @ 20 p.c.p.a. in two years if the interest is compounded half- yearly? 1) Rs 4400 2) Rs 4600 3) Rs 4641 4) Rs 4680 5) None of these 60) The income of A is 150% of the income of B and the income of C is 120% of the income of A. If the total income of A, B and C together is Rs. 86,000, what is C’s income? 1) Rs 30000 2) Rs 32000 3) Rs 20000 4) Rs 36000 5) None of these Directions (Q. 61-65): What approximately value will come in place of the question mark (?) in the following questions? (You are not expected to calculate the exact value.)


61) 7999.99 + 72 x 49.99 = ? 1) 12000 2) 12600 3) 12500 4) 11600 5) 11000 62) (25.01)2 – (15.99)2 = ? 1) 361 2) 381 3) 369 4) 375 5) 356 63) 380 x 12.25 – 365 15 =? 1) 4500 2) 4550 3) 4800 4) 4850 5) 4650 64) 180% of 255.01 + 50% of 28999 =? 1) 62400 2) 64000 3) 60400 4) 64200 5) 61600 65) 171.995 x 14.995 25 =? 1) 103 2) 115 3) 110 4) 125 5) 120

Directions (Q. 66-70): Each of the questions below consists of a question and two statements numbered I and II are given below it. You have to decide whether the data provided in the statements are sufficient to answer the questions. Read both the statements and answer the questions. Give answer 1) if the data in Statement I alone are sufficient to answer the question, 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 in Statement I alone or in Statement II alone are sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 4) if the data in both the Statement I and II are not sufficient to answer the question. Give answer 5) if the data in both the Statements I and II together are necessary to answer the question. Caution: Do not mark your answer unless you consider both the statements carefully. 66) What is Nikita’s share in the profit of Rs 50,000 earned in the business run by her in partnership with Sharmila? I. Nikita invested an amount 150% of the amount invested by Sharmila. II. The amount invested by Sharmila is two-thirds of the amount invested by Nikita. 67) What is a two-digit number? I. The sum of the digits is 6.

II. The digit in the ten’s place is double the digit in the unit’s place. 68) What is the rate of interest p.c.p.a.? I. The amount doubles itself in 10 years. II. The simple interest accrued in 5 years is Rs 5000. 69) In how many days can B alone complete the work? I. B and C together can complete the work in 8 days. II. A and B together can complete the work in 12 days. 70) What is the mother’s present age? I. The present ages of mother and child are in the ratio of 5:1 respectively. II. Four years hence the ratio of the ages of mother and child will be 17 : 5 respectively. Directions (Q. 71- 75): Study the following table carefully to answer these questions.

Table Showing Number (In Lakhs) Of Instruments Manufactured By Six Companies Over The Years

Company

Year A B C D E F

2002 45 35 48 42 50 49

2003 40 32 52 46 48 45

2004 48 36 50 43 56 48

2005 49 37 45 48 52 44

2006 46 30 55 50 54 50

2007 52 38 47 40 41 52

71) What is the average number of instruments manufactured by Company C for all the given years? 1) 49,00,000 2) 49,50,000 3) 48,50,000 4) 48,00,000 5) None of these 72) The no. of instruments manufactured by Company E in 2004 is approximately what per cent of the total no. of instruments manufactured by all the companies together in 2004? 1) 23 2) 25 3) 20 4) 16 5) 18


73) The total number of instruments manufactured by Company A is approximately what per cent of the total no. of instruments manufactured by Company F for all the given years together? 1) 97 2) 87 3) 92 4) 90 5) 85 74) The no. of instruments manufactured by Company B in 2005 is approximately what per cent of the total no. of instruments manufactured by Company B in all the years together? 1) 20 2) 16 3) 14 4) 18 5) 22 75) What is the ratio of the total no. of instruments manufactured by all the companies together in 2007 to that in 2006? 1) 56:57 2) 57 : 56 3) 29 : 28 4) 28 : 29 5) None of these Directions (Q. 76-80): Study the following graph carefully to answer these questions.

Population of two states (in lakhs) over the years

40 4560

50

70 6580

5040

7080

90100

60

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Year

Popu

latio

n (in

lakh

s)

State A State B

76) The population of State B in 2002 is what per cent of the total population of State B in all the years together? (Rounded off of two digits after decimal) 1) 8.26 2) 7.26 3) 8.32 4) 7.82 5) None of these 77) What is the ratio of the total population of State A for the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 together to the total population of State B for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 together? 1) 27:53 2) 54:29 3) 29:54 4) 53:27 5) None of these

78) For which State and in which year was the per cent rise in population from the previous year was the highest? 1) State B-2003 2) State B-2002 3) State A-2004 4) State A-2005 5) None of these 79) What is the per cent rise in the population of State B from 2003 to 2004?

1) 3116 2)

3216

3) 3218 4)

3118

5) None of these 80) Approximately what is the average population of State A for all the given years? 1) 65 lakhs 2) 50 lakhs 3) 48 lakhs 4) 58 lakhs 5) 52 lakhs

Directions (Q. 81-85): Study the following information carefully to answer these questions. Percentage of employees in various departments of

an organization and the male-female ratio Total No. of Employees = 2500

Logistics , 11%

Operations , 18%

IT, 14%

Marketing, 15%

HR, 16%

Accounts, 8%

Adiminstration, 12%

Printing, 6%

Male : Female Ratio

Department Male : Female

Administration 7 : 5

Accounts 2 : 3

HR 5 : 3

Marketing 7 : 8

IT 3 : 4

Operations 5 : 4

Logistics 6 : 5

Printing 2 : 1


81) What is the ratio of male employees in Administration to those in Printing Department? 1) 7:4 2) 4:7 3) 3:4 4) 7:3 5) None of these 82) What is the difference between the total number of employees in IT and that in Operations Department? 1) 75 2) 150 3) 100 4) 50 5) None of these 83) What is the ratio of the total number of males in HR and Marketing to the total number of females in these two departments? 1) 13:15 2) 15:13 3) 13:17 4) 17:14 5) None of these 84) How many female employees are there in the HR Department? 1) 250 2) 120 3) 125 4) 150 5) None of these 85) What is the difference between the numbers of male and female employees in Logistics Department? 1) 50 2) 25 3) 75 4) 100 5) None of these Directions (Q. 86-90): Study the following table carefully to answer these questions.

Percentage of marks obtained by six students in

different subjects

Subject

History

Geography

Maths

Science

Economics

English

Max Marks

50 50 100 75 100 120

A 86 82 77 72 69 66

B 80 74 73 66 76 84

C 68 92 89 78 75 72

D 76 84 83 81 59 60

E 72 66 82 87 62 78

F 84 64 93 63 81 54

86) What is the average marks obtained by all students in Geography? 1) 41.5 2) 42.5 3) 38.5 4) 39.5

5) None of these 87) Marks obtained by E in Economics is approximately what per cent of the total marks obtained by him in all subjects together? 1) 12 2) 8 3) 10 4) 22 5) 17 88) What is the overall percentage of marks obtained by all the students in English? 1) 83 2) 69 3) 71 4) 81 5) None of these 89) What is the total marks obtained by D in History, Mathematics, Science and English together? 1) 256.25 2) 275.55 3) 235.75 4) 253.75 5) None of these 90) What is the total marks obtained by B in all subjects together? 1) 376.3 2) 373.6 3) 376.6 4) 373.3 5) None of these

ENGLISH LANGUAGE Directions (Q. 91-98): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions. Capitalism is a great slave, but a pathetic master. This truth unfortunately gets lost in our chase for that elusive dream….especially in the West, the land that has been marketed as the land of dreams – the great Western dream. It's the dream of being independent masters of our lives of making big bucks and of being happy—even if that happiness is being bought by money which all of them chase out there. No doubt, the West, on its part, has been fairly successful in creating material comforts aplenty. It has improved the living standard of its average citizen. However, it has been achieved as a result of more than 200 years of unbridled growth and exploitation. And that is what has made the rest of the world mindlessly chase Westernism, not necessarily happiness or an ideal form of society. All because the shop window looks very impressive and it has been marketed very well. But a deep look inside the shop tells a different tale. A different world lies behind, a world that is not quite visible to the starry eyed millions - for whom the Western way of life seems to be the ultimate dream. Thus, we have Indians dreaming to become or to get married to an NRI and Indian middle class fathers dreaming of their sons reaching the Bay area and landing tech jobs, unmindful of the second-class life they end up leading in the


West. What goes unseen and almost unheard is that the West also happens to be the land that is right amongst the top in terms of the number of divorces per thousand, the number of single parent families per thousand, the number of old people in old-age homes, the number of suicides, homicides, and of course, the number of college/school shootouts. And why not! After all, such societies are constantly driven towards higher profits and materialism. Expectedly, this materialism comes at a cost that the world is paying today. This is the reason why we have millions dying of curable diseases in Africa and other underdeveloped countries, while the rich grow richer. Their growth will be reduced, if they were to start thinking of the poor. So what do they do to justify their greed for more? They most shrewdly propagate and market a ridiculously primitive law of the jungle for our 21st-century civilization, ‘the Law of Survival of the Fittest'! The interesting thing about material things is that they only give an illusion of happiness; however, such happiness is always momentary in nature. Ergo, at this juncture, you feel you are the happiest person in the world, after buying your new car or flat-screen TV, and just a few days later, these are the very possessions that cease to make you happy. While you chase the bigger cat and spend that extra bit of the wealth, you intercept someone's share of the daily bread and also sacrifice those who have the maximum power to make you happy - family, emotions and love. Prolonged abstinence in feeling emotions finally destroys bliss; and you don't even realise when you've become a dry-eyed cripple... and then you land up in a sermon workshop to find out the real meaning of life - or whatever these workshops are capable of explaining. The truth is that such workshops are also driven by merchants who cash in on the dejected state of the people, a state created by their own fictional dreams. But by then it’s really too late. By then, you have made profits out of arms, and engineered wars to keep that industry alive. You've sold guns across counters at supermarkets and made more profits. You've lobbied that guns should be made accessible to the common man, and all for the sake of profits. This makes you realise one day that they are your own children who are in the line of fire against the school goer who opens fire at his schoolmates. This is the society that finally creates an emotionless monster, who gets satisfaction in killing innocent adults and children alike for no cause, no reason, and for none but himself. It is the utter destruction of spiritualism and the total focus on endless self-gratification. Where so many single-parent families and divorces exist, it is impossible to bring up children or influence the killers any better.

91) Who does the author hold responsible for the shooting spree in schools and colleges? (A) Lack of love and emotion in the society in general (B) Increased focus on self-gratification even when it comes at the cost of innocent lives

(C) Deteriorating social structure leading to break- up of families resulting in lack of moral development in children 1) Only A 2) Only C 3) Only Band C 4) All of these 5) None of these 92) Why does the author refer to the law of survival of the fittest as ridiculous? 1) This law is primitive and does not hold good for developed nations. 2) The law is often used to justify the accumulation of wealth by a selected few. 3) People from developing countries use it to rationalize then- immigration to the Western countries. 4) It does not lead to any material profits and material wealth. 5) None of these 93) According to the passage, which of the following is a reason for poverty and hunger in underdeveloped countries? (A) Mindlessly chasing the Western way of living (B) They have fallen prey to the idea of happiness through material comforts rather than love and emotional bond. (C) They do not have marketing techniques as good as the western countries. 1) Only B 2) Only C 3) Only A 4) Only B and C 5) Not mentioned in the passage 94) Why do the 'starry-eyed millions' harbour a wish to become NRI? (A) They are driven towards higher profits and materialism. (B) They appreciate the western way of life as it appears to them. (C) They have become emotionless and lost any attachment to the motherland. 1) Only A 2) Only B 3) Only A and B 4) Only C 5) All A, B and C 95) Why does the author disregard the Western way of living even though an average citizen in the West enjoys better living standards? 1) Many Indians want to ape their lifestyle, leading to a cultural dilution of their own traditions. 2) The West has failed to market their lifestyle in an appropriate way. 3) According to him, the law of' survival of the fittest' is now obsolete. 4) It only looks forward to material comfort rather than happiness within. 5) None of these 96) What does the author mean by 'intercepting someone's share of daily bread'?


1) Hindering the process of marketing in underdeveloped countries by the developed countries 2) Denying material comfort to the Western world 3) Affecting the social life of those working towards material comforts only 4) Excess of wealth in western world while people in poorer nations struggle for survival 5) None of these 97) What does the author mean by 'shop window of the West' when he suggests to look inside the shop? (A) The sprawling supermarkets have been making profits out of inhuman activities. (B) To look closely at the existing societal structure rather than superficially appreciating the delusive dazzle (C) To study then: marketing techniques closely 1) Only A 2) Only B 3) Only A and B 4) Only B and C 5) Only C 98) The author's main objective in writing the passage is 1) to explain that consumerist societies have then- own drawbacks, which are overlooked by those who are blinded by their material glare 2) to explain how too many material comforts have improved the living standard of common man in the West 3) that young children should not be given access to guns and other ammunitions 4) All NRIs are leading unmindful, second-class lives abroad 5) None of these Directions (Q. 99-100): Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage. 99) Shrewdly 1) Roughly 2) Rightly 3) Rudely 4) Courteously 5) Astutely 100) Chase 1) Follow 2) Capture 3) Run 4) Catch 5) Conquer Directions (Q. 101-102): Choose the word/phrase which is most opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage. 101) Dejected 1) Apologetic 2) Anxious

3) Accepted 4) Elated 5) Enlightened 102) Unbridled 1) Enthusiastic 2) Controlled 3) Rebellious 4) Considerate 5) Approved Directions (Q. 103-110): Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number of that part will be the answer. If there is no error, mark 5) as the answer. (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any.) 103) The recent election campaign 1)/ has been one of2)/ the most noisiest campaigns 3)/ in the last decade. 4)/ No error 5) 104) Wholesome strategic planning 1)/ was the focus as 2)/ the firm manage through a difficult period 3)/ a couple of years ago 4). No error 5) 105) In spite of the best governmental efforts, 1) / emission of greenhouse gases 2)/ and noxious chemicals 3)/ remain a cause of worry 4). No error 5) 106) The rate of metabolism of 1)/ a body is comparatively lowest when 2)/ it is at rest and is 3)/ thus optimum for examination 4). No error 5) 107) The opposition leader tried 1)/ to bolster his position 2)/ with the voters by pressing 3)/ corruption charges against rivals 4). No error 5) 108) The recently imposed dress code 1)/ in the university has enraged 2)/ the students who will be going 3)/ on strike since tomorrow 4). No error 5) 109) Ever since he took over 1)/ as the chief minister of the state, 2)/ rate for unemployment 3)/ has drastically increased.4) No error 5) 110) Changed social setting 1)/ demands the schools to teach 2)/ moral and social values 3)/ among with the academic skills 4). No error 5) Directions (Q. 111-115): Rearrange the following sentences (A), (B), (C), (D), (E) and (F) to make a meaningful paragraph and then answer the questions which follow (A) Had it been not for them, Indian banks would have had their hands tied down.


(B) Today, almost all the countries are facing the heat of recession. (C) One of these is the strict RBI and SEBI rules which regulated banking sector very efficiently. (D) This could have led to massive losses to them, which could have percolated to other sectors as well. (E) However, there are a few things which help India in bouncing back from the state of recession. (F) Like others, India too has not remained immune to the epidemic. 111) Which of the following sentences should be the THIRD after rearrangement? 1) A 2) E 3) D 4) F 5) C 112) Which of the following sentences should be the FIRST after rearrangement? 1) A 2) B 3) C 4) D 5) E 113) Which of the following sentences should be the SECOND after rearrangement? 1) A 2) B 3) D 4) E 5) F 114) Which of the following sentences should be the SIXTH (LAST) after rearrangement? 1) A 2) E 3) D 4) B 5) F 115) Which of the following sentences should be the FIFTH after rearrangement? 1) B 2) C 3) A 4) E 5) F Directions (Q. 116-120): Each question below has two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole. 116) The organization_______to popularize Indian classical music among the youth which has lost_______with its cultural roots. 1) endeavours, touch 2 ) wishes, interest 3) efforts, experience 4) exerts, intrigue 5) need, relation 117) One of the major critiques of the examination system is that it______ to a spirit of_______competition among the students. 1) results, defective 2) noticed, peculiar 3) develops, intense 4) takes, severe 5) leads, unhealthy

118) Auroras are natural light displays in the sky, usually ________at night, _______in the Polar regions. 1) watch, upward 2) accompanies, adequate 3) observed, only 4) found, most 5) follows, mainly 119) After the board examinations, students are _____up for the various entrance examinations_______for next month. 1) ready, timed 2) gearing, scheduled 3) prepared, programmed 4) set, duration 5) geared, kept 120) The governmental_______spurred dramatic improvements in the way waste management is_______out in many hospitals. 1) rule, thrown 2) plans, conduct 3) crusade, one 4) efforts, carried 5) venture, disposed

Directions (Q. 121-130): In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words/phrases are suggested, one of which best fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word/phrase in case.

Today, it is (121) recognized that the 21st century will be driven by knowledge. To (122) the challenges of this century, India needs to usher in a knowledge revolution that (123) to bring about systemic changes in education. While our economy has made significant strides, the education system has not kept (124) with the aspirations of the youth. The vast disparity in the country today is a result of skewed (125) to knowledge. To address this, we need a substantial expansion in educational opportunities, with a special (126) on inclusion of the underprivileged. At the bottom of the pyramid, steps must be taken to (127) access to quality education. While the government has taken steps to ensure education to all, where it lacks in its efforts is the quality perspective. Being a spirally upward drive, education can not be (128) to improve at the higher level unless it improves at the very grassroots level. The top of the pyramid, i.e. higher education, is also uneven. Students struggle to compete in the exams which (129) a sound knowledge of English. While candidates are expected to travel several kilometres to reach school to obtain any education, the higher education organisations often (130) candidates from vernacular media through State-sponsored exams and proudly affirm them as 'unbiased'.

121) 1) thickly 2) widely 3) ample 4) partly 5) considered 122) 1) adhere to 2) gather 3) cover 4) contact 5) meet


123) 1) sought 2) wanted 3) seeks 4) attempt 5) determined 124) 1) adequate 2) sufficient 3) influence 4) pace 5) ahead 125) 1) access 2) approaching 3) rights 4) infiltration 5) excess 126) 1) aspiration 2) intensity 3) important 4) place 5) emphasis 127) 1) enjoy 2) help 3) provide 4) diminish 5) deepen 128) 1) awaited 2) judged 3) thought 4) expected 5) said 129) 1) demand 2) has 3) consume 4) expects 5) wants 130) 1) discourages 2) disobey 3) contest 4) assume 5) reject

COMPUTER LANGUAGE 131) ____________ is the study of molecules and structures whose size ranges from 1 to 100 nanometers. 1) Nanoscience 2) Microelectrodes 3) Computer forensics 4) Artificial intelligence 5) None of these 132) ____________ is the science that attempts to produce machines that display the same type of intelligence that humans do. 1) Nanoscience 2) Nanotechnology 3) Simulation 4) Artificial intelligence (AI) 5) None of these 133) ____________ is data that has been organized or presented in a meaningful fashion. 1) A process 2) Software 3) Storage 4) Information 5) None of these 134) The name for the way that computers manipulate data into information is called: 1) programming. 2) processing. 3) storing. 4) organizing. 5) None of these 135) Computers gather data, which means that they allow users to ____________ data.

1) present 2) input 3) output 4) store 5) None of these 136) After a picture has been taken with a digital camera and processed appropriately, the actual print of the picture is considered: 1) data. 2) output. 3) input. 4) the process. 5) None of these 137) Computers use the ____________ language to process data. 1) processing 2) kilobyte 3) binary 4) representational 5) None of these 138) Computers process data into information by working exclusively with: 1) multimedia. 2) words. 3) characters. 4) numbers. 5) None of these 139) In the binary language each letter of the alphabet, each number and each special character is made up of a unique combination of: 1) eight bytes. 2) eight kilobytes. 3) eight characters. 4) eight bits. 5) None of these 140) The term bit is short for: 1) megabyte. 2) binary language. 3) binary digit. 4) binary number. 5) None of these 141) A string of eight 0s and 1s is called a: 1) megabyte. 2) byte. 3) kilobyte. 4) gigabyte. 5) None of these 142) ____________ is a set of computer programs used on a computer to help perform tasks. 1) An instruction 2) Software 3) Memory 4) A processor 5) None of these 143) System software is the set of programs that enables your computer hardware devices and ____________ software to work together. 1) management 2) processing 3) utility 4) application 5) None of these 144) The PC (personal computer) and the Apple Macintosh are examples of two different: 1) platforms. 2) applications. 3) programs. 4) storage devices. 5) None of these


145) Apple Macintoshes (Macs) and PCs use different ____________ to process data and different operating systems. 1) languages 2) methods 3) CPUs 4) storage devices 5) None of these 146) Servers are computers that provide resources to other computers connected to a: 1) network. 2) mainframe. 3) supercomputer. 4) client. 5) None of these 147) Compilers and interpreters are themselves

1) High-level language 2) Codes 3) Programs 4) Mnemonics 5) None of the above

148) ____________ are specially designed computers that perform complex calculations extremely rapidly. 1) Servers 2) Supercomputers 3) Laptops 4) Mainframes 149) DSL is an example of a(n) ____________ connection. 1) network 2) wireless 3) slow 4) broadband 150) 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

REASONING ABILITY

151) How many such pairs of letters are there in the word STAPLER each of which has as many letters between them in the word as in the English alphabet? 1) None 2) One 3) Two 4) Three 5) More than three 152) In a certain code MODEL is written as ‘513#2’ and DEAR is written as ‘3#%8’. How is LOAD written in that code? 1) 21%3 2) 23%1 3) 25%3 4) 21#3 5) None of these Directions (Q. 153-157): In each of the questions below are given three statements followed by two conclusions numbered I & 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

conclusions logically follows from the given statements disregarding commonly known facts. Give answer 1) if only Conclusion I follows. Give answer 2) if only Conclusion II follows. Give answer 3) if either Conclusion I or II follows. Give answer 4) if neither Conclusion I nor II follows. Give answer 5) if both Conclusion I and II follow. 153) Statements: All benches are cots. No cot is lamp. Some lamps are candles Conclusions: I. Some cots are benches. II. Some candles are cots 154) Statements: Some cats are dogs. All dogs are goats. All goats are walls. Conclusions: I. Some walls are dogs II. Some walls are cats. 155) Statements: Some buildings are sofas. Some sofas are benches. Some benches are tables. Conclusions: I. Some tables are sofas. II. No table is sofa. 156) Statements: All rats are bats. Some bats are desks. All desks are chairs. Conclusions: I. Some desks are rats. II. Some chairs are rats. 157) Statements: Some roads are ponds. All ponds are stores. Some stores are bags Conclusions: I. Some bags are ponds. II. Some stores are roads.

Directions (Q. 158-162): Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below: P, Q, R, S, T and M are six students of a school, one each studies in Class I-VI. Each of them has a favourite colour from red, black, blue, yellow, pink and green, not necessarily in the same order. Q likes black and does not study in Class IV or V. The one who studies in Class IV does not like green. P studies in Class II. M likes blue and does not study in class IV. The one, who likes yellow studies in class VI. S likes pink and studies in Class I. R does not study in Class VI. 158) In which class does R study? 1) V 2) III 3) IV 4) Data inadequate 5) None of these 159) Which colour does R like? 1) Black 2) Yellow 3) Green 4) Blue 5) None of these


160) Which colour does P like? 1) Green 2) Yellow 3) Red 4) Data inadequate 5) None of these 161) In which of the following combination is correct? 1) P-II-Yellow 2) Q-III-Green 3) S-I-Black 4) T-V-Yellow 5) None of these 162) In which class does M study? 1) IV 2) III 3) II 4) V 5) None of these Directions (Q. 163-167): In the following questions, the symbols @, ©, $, % and are used with the following meanings as illustrated below: ‘P © Q’ means ‘P is not greater than Q’. ‘P % Q’ mean ‘P is not smaller than Q’. ‘P Q’ means ‘P is neither smaller than nor equal to Q’. ‘P @ Q’ means ‘P is neither greater than nor equal to Q’. ‘P $ Q’ means ‘P is neither greater than nor smaller than Q’. Now in each of the following questions, assuming the given statements to be true, find which of the two conclusions I and II given below them is/ are definitely true. Give answer 1) if only Conclusion I is true. Give answer 2) if only Conclusion II is true. Give answer 3) if either Conclusion I or II is true. Give answer 4) if neither Conclusion I nor II is true. Give answer 5) if both Conclusions I and II are true. 163) Statement: K @ V, V © N, N % F Conclusions: I. F @ V II. K @ N 164) Statements: H © W, W $ M, M @ B Conclusions: I. B H II. M % H 165) Statements: D % B, B T, T $ M Conclusions: I. T © D II. M © D 166) Statements: M T, T @ K, K © N Conclusions: I. N T II. N M 167) Statements: R $ J, J % D, D F Conclusions: I. D $ R II. D @ R Directions (Q. 168-172): Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below: Following are the conditions for selecting Personnel Manager in an organization: The candidate must (i) be a graduate with at least 50 per cent marks.

(ii) have a postgraduate degree / diploma in Personnel management / HR with at least 60 per cent marks. (iii) not be more than 35 years as on 1.6.2009. (iv) have post-qualification work experience of at least five years in the Personnel / HR Division of an organization. (v) have secured at least 45 per cent marks in the selection process. In ‘the case of a candidate who satisfies all the conditions EXCEPT – (a) at (iii) above, but has post-qualification work experience of at least ten years, the case is to be referred to the Director-Personnel. (b) at (iv) above, but has post-qualification work experience as Deputy Personnel Manager of at least three years, the case is to be referred to President-Personnel. In each question below are given details of one 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 to assume anything other than the information provided in each question. All these cases are given to you as on 1.6.2009. Mark answer 1) if the candidate is to be selected Mark answer 2) if the candidate is not to be selected. Mark answer 3) if the information provided is inadequate to take a decision. Mark answer 4) if the case is to be referred to the Director-Personnel. Mark answer 5) if the case is to be referred to the President-Personnel:

168) Meena Srivastava was born on 6th March 1978. She has been working as Deputy Personnel Manager in an organization for the past four year after completing her postgraduate diploma in HR with 68 per cent marks. She has secured 50 per cent marks in both graduation and selection process.

169) Ketan Desai was born on 5th January 1976. He has been working for he past five years in the personnel deptt of an organization after completing his postgraduate diploma in personnel management with 64 percent marks. He has secured 40 per cent marks in the selection process and 52 per cent marks in graduation. 170) Anant Joshi has been working in the personnel department of an organization for the past six years. He was born on 7th November 1977. He has secured 60 per cent marks in postgraduate degree in personnel management. He has also secured 55 per cent marks in both graduation and selection process. 171) Mohan Bajpai was born on 10th April 1975. He has secured 55 percent marks in graduation and 65 per cent marks in postgraduate diploma in personnel management. He has been working in the HR Deptt,


of an organization for the past six years after completing his postgraduate diploma. 172) Gopal Sharma has been working for the past five years in the HR Deptt. of an organization after completing his postgraduate diploma in HR with 62 per cent marks. He has secured 50 per cent marks in both graduation and selection process. He was born on 29th May 1974. Directions (Q. 173-177): Study the following information carefully and answer the given questions: 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. Input base 35 or gone 62 49 87 ahead Step I 87 base 35 or gone 62 49 ahead Step II 87 ahead base 35 or gone 62 49 Step III 87 ahead 62 base 35 or gone 49 Step IV 87 ahead 62 base 49 35 or gone Step V 87 ahead 62 base 49 gone 35 or and Step V is the last step of the rearrangement. As per the rules followed in the above steps, find out in each of the following questions the appropriate step for the given input. 173) Input: how was your stay 56 25 36 64 Which of the following will be step VI? 1) 64 how 56 was your stay 25 36 2) 64 how 56 stay 36 was 25 your 3) 64 how 56 stay 36 was your 25 4) There will be no such step 5) None of these 174) Input: power fail now 52 24 75 gate 34 Which of the following steps will be the last but one? 1) IV 2)V 3) VI 4)VII 5) None of these 175) Step III of an input is: 91 car 85 14 27 few new house Which of the following is definitely the input? 1) 85 14 91 car 27 few new house 2) car 91 85 14 27 few new house 3) car 85 14 27 few new house 91 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these

176) Step II of an input is; 75 down 16 24 farm eager 62 sky How many more steps will be required to complete the rearrangement? 1) Four 2) Five 3) Six 4) Seven 5) None of these 177) Input: 14 35 when they came 61 48 home How many steps will be required to complete the rearrangement? 1) Four 2) Five 3) Six 4) Seven 5) None of these Directions (Q. 178-180): Below in each question are given two statements (A) and (B). These statements may be either independent causes or may be effects of independent causes or a common cause. One of these statements may be the effect of the other statement Read both the statements and decide which of the following answer choices correctly depicts the relationship between these two statements. Mark answer 1) if statement (A) is the cause and statement (B) is its effect. Mark answer 2) if statement (B) is the cause and statement (A) is its effect. Mark answer 3) if both the statements (A) and (B) are independent causes. Mark answer 4) if both the statements (A) and (B) are effects of independent causes. Mark answer 5) if both the statements (A) and (B) are effects of some common cause. 178) (A) Many elderly people are continuously harassed by the youngsters in the locality. (B) Many children living in the locality play till late in the evening. 179) (A) The state govt has decided to change the syllabus of mathematics for Std IX from the next academic year. (B) Many students from the state could not secure admission to the colleges of their choice. 180) (A) Majority of the employees of the manufacturing company received a hefty bonus at the end of the current financial year. (B) The manufacturing company has made considerable profit in the current financial year. Directions (Q. 181-183): In each question below is given a statement followed by two courses of action numbered I and II. A course of action is a step or administrative decision to be taken for improvement, follow-up or further action in regard to the problem, policy, etc. On the basis of the 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. Give answer 1) if only course of action I follows. Give answer 2) if only course of action II follows. Give answer 3) if either course of action I or II follows. Give answer 4) if neither course of action I nor II follows. Give answer 5) if both courses of action I and II follow. 181) Statement: Drinking water supply to many parts of the town has been disrupted due to loss of water because of leakage in pipes supplying water. Courses of action: I. The government should order an enquiry into the matter. II. The civic body should set up a fact-finding team to assess the damage and take effective steps. 182) Statement: There is an alarming increase in the number of people suffering from malaria in many parts of the city. Courses of action: I. The municipal corporation has advised all the govt. hospitals to store adequate supply of malaria drugs. II. The municipal corporation has urged people to use mosquito repellants and keep their premises clean. 183) Statement: Many people have encroached upon govt. property and built their houses and business establishments. Courses of action: I. The government should take immediate steps to remove all unauthorised constructions on govt land. II. All the encroachers should immediately be put behind bars and also be slapped with a hefty fine.

Directions (Q. 184-188) Study the given information carefully and answer the questions that follow: i) Eleven students A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and K are sitting in the first row of the class facing the teacher. ii) A is second to the right of E, who is at one of the ends. iii) D who is to the immediate left of F is second to the right of C. iv) J is the immediate neighbour of A and B and third to the left of G. v) H is to the immediate left of D and third to the right of I. 184) Who is sitting in the middle of the row? 1) B 2) C 3) G 4) I 5) None of these 185) Which of the following groups of friends is sitting to the right of G? 1) CHDE 2) CHDF

3) IBJA 4) ICHDF 5) None of these 186) Which of the following statements is true in the context of the above sitting arrangement? 1) There are three students sitting between D and G. 2) K is between A and J. 3) B is sitting between J and I. 4) G and C are neighbours sitting to the immediate right of H. 5) None of these 187) In the above sitting arrangement, which of the given statements is superfluous? 1) (i) 2) (ii) 3) (iii) 4) (iv) 5) None is superfluous 188) If E and D, C and B, A and H, and K and F interchange their positions, which of the following pairs of students is sitting at the ends? 1) D and E 2) E and F 3) D and K 4) K and F 5) None of these Directions (Q. 189-193): Read the following information carefully and answer the questions given below: i) Jayant, Kamal, Namita, Asha and Tanmay are five members of a family. ii) they have their birth from January to May, each member in one of these months. iii) Each one likes one particular item for his/her birthday out of Bengali sweets, Chocolates, Pastries, Ice-cream and Dry fruits. iv) The one who likes Pastries is born in the month which is exactly middle in the months given. v) Asha does not like Ice-cream but brings Chocolates for Jayant in February. vi) Tanmay who is fond of Bengali sweets is born in the next month immediately after Namita. vii) Namita does not like Dry fruits or Ice-cream. 189) What is the choice of Asha? 1) Pastries 2) Dry fruits 3) Bengali sweets 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 190) Which combination of month and item is true for Jayant? 1) March- Pastries 2) February- Pastries 3) February- Ice cream 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 191) What is the choice of Kamal? 1) Ice-cream 2) Bengali sweets 3) Dry fruits 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these


192) In which month was Kamal born? 1) January 2) May 3) January or May 4) Data inadequate 5) None of these 193) Who likes Pastries? 1) Namita 2) Tanmay 3) Asha 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these Directions (Q. 194-198): Each of the questions below consists of a 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 questions. 1) if the data in statement I alone are sufficient to answer the questions, while the data in statement II alone are not sufficient to answer the questions. 2) if the data in statement II alone are sufficient to answer the questions, while the data in statement I alone are not sufficient to answer the question; 3) if the data either in statement I alone or in statement II alone are sufficient to answer the questions; 4) if the data given in both statements I and II together are not sufficient to answer the questions; and 5) if the data in both statements I and II together are necessary to answer the questions. 194) In a certain code, ‘nop al ed’ means ‘They like flowers’. Which code word means ‘flowers’? I) ‘id nim nop’ means ‘They are inncoent’. II) ‘gob ots al’ means ‘We like roses’. 195) How is Sulekha related to Nandini? I) Sulekha’s husband is the only son of Nandini’s mother. II) Sulekha’s brother and Nandini’s husband are cousins. 196) Five friends P, Q, R, S and T are standing in a row facing East. Who is standing at the extreme right end? I) Only P is between S and T. R is to the immediate right of T. II) R is between T and Q. 197) Which village is to the North-East of village A? I) Village B is to the North of village A, villages C and D are to the East and West of village B respectively. II) Village P is to the South of village A and village E is to the East of village P, village K is to the North of village P. 198) How many children are there between P and Q in a row of children? I) P is fifteenth from the left in the row. II) Q is exactly in the middle and there are ten children towards his right.

Directions (Q. 199-200): Read the following information carefully to answer the questions given below: i) ‘A × B’ means ‘A is the brother of B’. ii) ‘A ÷ B’ means ‘B is the father of A’. iii) ‘A + B’ means ‘A is the sister of B’. iv) ‘A - B’ means ‘A is the mother of B’. 199) Which of the following means ‘Q is the paternal uncle of k’? A) K × P ÷ M × Q B) K × B ÷ N × Q × D C) Q × L ÷ R × K 1) Only (a) 2) Only (B) 3) Only (C) 4) Both (A) and (B) 5) None of these 200) Which of the following statements is/are superfluous to answer the above question? 1) (i) only 2) (ii) only 3) (iii) only 4) Only (iii) and (iv) 5) None of these

ANSWER KEY

GENERAL AWARENESS Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.

1 1 2 1 3 2 4 1 5 2

6 1 7 2 8 2 9 2 10 3

11 3 12 4 13 3 14 1 15 1

16 4 17 2 18 4 19 4 20 1

21 4 22 3 23 4 24 3 25 2

26 2 27 5 28 4 29 3 30 1

31 3 32 4 33 1 34 1 35 3

36 4 37 2 38 1 39 3 40 3

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.

41 1 42 5 43 2 44 4 45 3

46 5 47 4 48 4 49 2 50 3

51 1 52 4 53 4 54 1 55 5

56 2 57 5 58 2 59 1 60 4

61 4 62 3 63 5 64 3 65 1


66 3 67 5 68 1 69 4 70 5

71 2 72 3 73 1 74 3 75 1

76 5 77 3 78 1 79 2 80 4

81 1 82 3 83 4 84 4 85 2

86 3 87 5 88 2 89 4 90 1

ENGLISH LANGUAGE Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.

91 4 92 1 93 5 94 2 95 4

96 5 97 2 98 1 99 5 100 1

101 4 102 2 103 3 104 3 105 4

106 2 107 3 108 4 109 3 110 4

111 2 112 2 113 5 114 3 115 3

116 1 117 5 118 3 119 2 120 4

121 2 122 5 123 3 124 4 125 1

126 5 127 3 128 4 129 5 130 5

COMPUTER AWARENESS Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.

131 1 132 4 133 4 134 2 135 2

136 2 137 3 138 4 139 4 140 3

141 2 142 2 143 4 144 1 145 3

146 1 147 3 148 2 149 4 150 1

REASONING ABILITY Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.

151 3 152 1 153 1 154 5 155 3

156 4 157 2 158 3 159 5 160 1

161 5 162 4 163 2 164 5 165 4

166 1 167 3 168 5 169 2 170 1

171 3 172 2 173 4 174 3 175 4

176 1 177 3 178 2 179 4 180 2

181 2 182 5 183 4 184 4 185 2

186 3 187 5 188 3 189 2 190 5

191 1 192 3 193 1 194 5 195 3

196 5 197 1 198 5 199 2 200 4

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JULY – 2014 1) Which country recently signed an Association

Agreement with the European Union: Ukraine 2) Saina Nehwal lifted her first Super Series title in last

two years. Name this championship: Star Australian Open

3) Name the Indian player who won his 9th world title in snooker: Pankaj Adavani

4) Govt. has fixed Rs. ___________ per quintal as the minimum support price for the winter paddy crop: 1360

5) Who has been elected as President of the European Commission: Jean-Claude Juncker

6) ISRO recently launched how many satellites all together onboard its launch vehicle PSLV-C23: Five

7) The recently launched five foreign satellite by ISRO were from how many countries: Four

8) Name the four countries whose satellites were recently launched by ISRO: Germany-2, France, Canada, Singapore

9) With which country India has jointly released the first encyclopedia on their age-old cultural contacts, tracing back their history to over 2,000 years: China

10) Who was the famous Chinese traveller who visited India in the seventh century to bring Buddhist scriptures to China: Huen Tsang

11) Who is Akhouri Sinha in whose honour the USA has named a mountain in Antarctica: Eminent Indian-American scientist

12) With which country India has signed and MoU to allow their companies to invest in industrial parks and zones in India: China

13) American space agency NASA has successfully launched a satellite -Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) for what purpose: To track atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

14) International rating agency Fitch has improved India's economic growth forecast to _______ per cent this financial year: 5.5

15) RBI plans to swap some of the old gold lying in its _________vault since pre-Independence times — and whose quality is not exactly top grade — with purer gold: Nagpur

16) RBI plans to swap some of the old gold lying with it and the gold acquired in lieu of this would be kept at which place: Bank of England, London

17) India and the US have agreed to implement FATCA, a US law that targets tax non-compliance by US

taxpayers with foreign accounts. What is FATCA: Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act

18) The ADB has approved a multi-tranche loan facility of $300 million to Assam for what purpose: To improve power sector

19) The govt. plans to merge two insurance scheme and one pension scheme to enable senior citizens to avail benefit of these schemes through a single smart card. Name these three schemes: The Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY), Aam Aadmi Bima Yojan (AABY) and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS)

20) RBI has advised that the lending rate ceiling for MFIs will continue at their present level - at 27.75% for the July to September quarter. MFIs stands for: Micro Finance Companies

21) With which country The Reserve Bank of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for exchange of supervisory information of banking: Hong Kong

22) Which new financial entities have been allowed by RBI to accept e-KYC service as a valid process to verify identity and address proof of customers to reduce risk of fraud and forgery: Non Banking Financial Companies

23) A government panel panel led by M S Sahoo has proposed a new class of securities for foreign firms to raise money in India. Name this security: Bharat Depository Receipts (BhDRs)

24) Bharat Depository Receipts are denominated in which currency: Rupee

25) Bharat Depository Receipts will be issued by which financial authority: Local Depositories

26) Which is the newly invented world’s lightest solid material created by Chinese scientists: Carbon Gel

27) Name the international body that has sanctioned $500 million loan for India’s National Highways Inter-connectivity Improvement Project (NHIIP): World Bank

28) India has become the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty. What is the purpose of this treaty: To facilitate access to published works for persons who are visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled

29) The city of Marrakesh located in which country: Morocco

30) The Government has extended the validity period of an industrial licence to _______ years from present two years, with a provision for further extension by two years: Three

31) Ritu Rani has been named captain India’s women


_________ team for the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow: Hockey

32) Brazil’s bid to win a sixth World Cup suffered a devastating blow as their ace striker ________ suffered a back bone fracture after being hit by the Colombian defender Juan Zuniga: Neymar

33) Name the head of the panel that has recommended new norms for fixation of poverty line: Dr. C. Rangarajan

34) As per Rangarajan panel report a person spending less than Rs 1,407 a month (Rs ______day) in urban areas will be considered Below Poverty Line (BPL): 47

35) As per Rangarajan panel report a person spending less than Rs 972 a month (Rs ______day) in rural areas will be considered Below Poverty Line (BPL): 32

36) As per Rangarajan panel report the number of poor in India stood at 36.3 crore in 2011-12 which is roughly ____ per cent of India’s population. 30

37) Which ministry plans to setup 660 rape crisis centres across the country: Women and Child Development Ministry

38) What is the proposed name for one stop centre for women victims of molestation, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence: Nirbhaya Centre

39) The Madras High Court has ruled that banks cannot fix _____ cut off of minimum marks in Plus Two as condition for extending education loan to students joining engineering courses: 60%

40) Name the only supersonic cruise missile of India: Brahmos

41) Name the Indian who has become the first player of Indian origin to be a part of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in USA after joining the Sacramento Kings team: Sim Bhullar

42) Name of powerful typhoon that lashed Japan's southern Okinawa islands on 8th July, forcing over half a million people to seek shelter: Neoguri

43) As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 the total forest and tree cover of the country is 87.92 million hectare, which is _______ percent of the geographical area of India: 24.01

44) ___________ state has the largest forest cover of 77522 square kilometer, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, 67321 square kilometer: Madhya Pradesh

45) In terms of percentage, _______ state has highest cover at 90.38 percent, followed by Lakshadweep-84.56 percent: Mizoram

46) Pinky Anand has been appointed to which important national post: Additional Solicitor General

47) What is the function of the Additional Solicitor General: Legal advisor to Central Govt.

48) Name the legendary actress from Hindi theatre and cinema who passed away recently at the age of 102 years: Zohra Sehgal

49) Name the Indian Navy‘s largest ever destroyer –

_____________that was inducted in to service on 10th July: INS Kolkata

50) The INS Kolkata is equipped with stealth technology. What is the benefit of this technology: It avoids detection of the ship by the enemy radar

51) Name the India’s first indigenously built anti-submarine corvette commissioned into service by Indian Navy: INS Kamorta

52) In which sector Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been hiked from 26 per cent to 49 per cent: Defence manufacturing

53) FDI in insurance sector has been hiked to ______ per cent from 26 per cent: 49

54) A recent UN study “World Urbanization Prospects” by U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) has ranked Delhi as second most populous city in the world with 25 million inhabitants. Which is the most populous city: Tokyo, 38 million

55) Ancestral House of which Indian film celebrity has been declared as a National heritage monument by the Pakistan Govt.: Dilip Kumar

56) World Bank has agreed to provide $153 million (Rs 920 crore) loan to Odisha for what purpose: To restore cyclone hit housing and public services

57) Mr. Ram Naik has been appointed Governor of which State: Uttar Pradesh

58) Who has been appointed as New Governor of West Bengal: K.N. Tripathi

59) Sh. Om Prakash Kohli has been appointed Governor of which State: Gujarat

60) Name the New Governor of Chhattisgarh State: Balramji Das Tandon

61) Mrs. Margret Alva has been appointed as new Governor of which State: Goa

62) Sh. Kaptan Singh Solanki has been appointed as new Governor of which State: Haryana

63) Name the new governor of Nagaland: Padmanabha Acharya

64) Name the football player who scored the winning goal for Germany in the FIFA World Cup 2014: Mario Gotze

65) Germany won FIFA World Cup 2014 by defeating which country: Argentina

66) Name the best player of the FIFA World Cup 2014 who won the Golden Ball: Lionel Messi, Argentina

67) Name the best goalkeeper of the FIFA World Cup 2014 who won the Golden Glove Award: Manuel Neuer, Germany

68) Name the best player who scored highest goals – 6, in the FIFA World Cup 2014 and won the Golden Boot award: James Rodriguez, Colombia

69) Final match of FIFA World Cup 2014 was played at which place: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

70) The Indian men's football team has been ranked


__________ in the FIFA world rankings: 151th 71) In the FIFA world rankings, which country has been

ranked as no. 1: Germany 72) Under which programme Government has set a

target to develop skills of 50 crore people by 2022: The National Policy on Skill Development (NPSD)

73) The government has set a target of mopping Rs _________ from stake sale in PSU firms: 43425 crore

74) Govt. plans to raise Rs 15,000 crore from sale in financial entities such as SUUTI. What is the full form of SUUTI: Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India

75) To expedite the process to recover bad bank loans, govt. proposes to set up six new DRTs. What is the full form of DRT: Debt Recovery Tribunal

76) How many judges are there in a Debt Recovery Tribunal: One

77) The judge in the debt recovery tribunal is named as: Presiding Officer

78) Bad Bank Loans cases of upto Rs. ____________ can be filed in DRT: No Limit

79) To promote financial inclusion, govt proposes to sanction an overdraft (OD) facility of Rs. _________by the bank to individuals who open an account with them: Rs 5,000

80) With what objective government plans to grant OD of Rs. 5000 to new bank account openers: To attract people to open bank account to promote financial inclusion

81) Name the comprehensive scheme for financial inclusion which will ensure that every earning citizen opens a bank account: 'Sampoorn Viteeyea Samveshan'

82) Which financial institution has been asked to create a Rs. 1,000-crore credit guarantee fund to finance govt’s proposed OD scheme: NABARD

83) Parliament has been advised that Banks had Rs 5,124 crore in unclaimed deposits as on December 31, 2013. What is a unclaimed deposit account: Accounts with no operations for 10 years

84) Out of the two – balance of trade and balance of payment, which item is larger: Balance of Payment

85) Government proposes an allocation of Rs 7,060 crore in this financial year for developing __________smart cities in the country as satellite towns of larger cities and for modernising the existing mid-sized cities 100

86) Which country has granted one billion pound ($1.68 billion) credit line for investment in Indian infrastructure projects: Britain

87) Name the proposed Rs. 1000 crore nationwide rural irrigation scheme to insulate farmers from excessive dependence on monsoon: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’

88) Name the proposed soil health card' that will be

issued to all farmers for optimum utilization of resources and right selection of crops: Soil Health Card

89) Government plan to launch ___________TV dedicated to the interests of agriculturists and allied sectors and has allocated Rs 100 crore for this purpose: Kisan

90) Recently held BRICS summit was ___________ in series: 6th

91) The 6th BRICS summit was held at which place: Fortaleza, Brazil

92) Name the new development bank that the BRICS nations propose to form as an alternative to the World Bank: New Development Bank

93) What is the initial authorized capital of the New Development Bank: $50 billion

94) In what proportion the BRICS countries have agreed to share the capital of New Development Bank: 20% each

95) BRICS nations have agreed to establish a $100 billion fund to provide additional liquidity protection to member-nations during balance of payments problems. What is its name: Contingency Reserve Arrangement

96) Which country has agreed to contribute largest share of 41% to the Contingency Reserve Arrangement: China

97) What will be the India’s contribution to the proposed CRA by the BRICS Nations: 18%

98) The headquarters of the proposed BRICS New Development Bank will be located in which country: China

99) Which country has been allocated the presidency of the proposed BRICS New Development Bank: India

100) The 7th BRICS Summit will be held at which place: Russian city of Ufa

101) Under which programme government plans to launch four new vaccines to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by next year: Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)

102) As per the Global Innovation Index 2014 India has been placed at which rank: 76th

103) A Mexican software company has managed to transmit audio, video and Internet data across the spectrum of light emitted by LED lamps — at a data transfer rate of 10 gigabytes per second. What is this technology called: Li Fi

104) What is the full form of the new data transferee technology Li Fi: Light Fidelity

105) The 7th IBSA summit 2015 will be held in which country: India

106) What is the full form of term IBSA: India, Brazil, South Africa

107) An civilian aircraft of which country was recently shot down by terrorist using a Russian Buk missile: Malaysia

108) Name the two new types of banks for formation of which the RBI has issued guidelines: Payment


Bank and Small Banks 109) The proposed payment banks will not be allowed

which major function of the banks: Lending 110) Prem Bhatia Award are given for excellence in which

field: Journalism 111) The area of operations of the small bank will be

restricted to which level: Contiguous districts in a homogenous cluster of States

112) Smita Gupta has been awarded the Prem Bhatia award for political reporting. She is associated with which news paper: The Hindu

113) Nitin Sethi, Associate Editor, Business Standard, has been honourd with which award for excellence in environmental and development reporting: Prem Bhatia Award

114) Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Prize-winning author, one of the most powerful voices against the injustice of apartheid, passed away recently. He was from which country: South Africa

115) Newly elected President of which country is popularly known as ‘Jokowi’: Indonesia

116) As per NSSO survey result for 2011-12, the estimated workforce in India is 47.41 crore persons. Write full form of NSSO: National Sample Survey Organization

117) The Reserve Bank has said that Banks having size equal to or more than 2 per cent of GDP will be designated as D-SIBs. Write full form of D-SIB: Domestic Systemically Important Banks

118) What is the new condition in terms of capital requirement for the purposed D-SIBs: Required to maintain higher capital requirement

119) Reserve Bank proposes to circulate special Rs. 10 coins on the occasion of diamond jubilee of which organization: Coir Board

120) In which international ground Indian Cricket Team recently won a test match after nearly three decades: Lords, London

121) As per latest RBI guidelines which popular identity document has now been declared invalid for the purpose of KYC norms: Ration Card

122) The commonwealth games that were held at Glasgow, Scotland, were which number in series: 20th

123) What is the name of the mascot for the 20th, Commonwealth Games: Clyde

124) The name of the commonwealth games mascot – Clyde has been kept after which: Famous river of Scotland

125) Name the Indian player who carried the Indian flag to lead the Indian Contingent in Commonwealth Games: Vijay Kumar (Shooter)

126) Name the sports person who won 1st gold medal for India at the 20th Commonwealth Games: Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu

127) The 1st medal in 20th Commonwealth Games was won by India in which sports: Weight Lifting

128) Name the Indian shooter who won Gold in 10 meter

rifle shooting and announced his retirement from the Commonwealth Games: Abhinav Bindra

129) Name the player who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in the women’s 10m air rifle event: Apurvi Chandela

130) Name the author of the book The Lives of Others: Neel Mukherjee

131) Name the three countries whose warships, submarines, aircrafts and helicopters participated in the trilateral Malabar naval exercise: India, US and Japan

132) The trilateral Malabar naval exercise by India and two other countries was held at which place: North Western Pacific Ocean

133) Fuad Masum has been elected as President of which country: Iraq

134) Prime Minister of which country was in news as he resigned in a shock move to protest the disbanding of the ruling parliamentary coalition: Ukraine

135) To protect investors, the Cabinet has cleared the SEBI Bill, to empower SEBI to initiate action against ponzi schemes and investment frauds. What is a ponzi scheme: Fraudulent deposit collection scheme

136) In the recently compiled Human Development Index, India has been placed at which rank: 135th

137) Name the country which enjoys the honour of being placed at the top of the Human Development Index: Norway

138) The mascot of 20th Commonwealth Games – Clyed has been derived from which animal: No animal, it is a thistle plant

139) Govt. plans to merge United Bank of India with which bigger bank: IDBI Bank

140) Which public sector undertaking has recently been granted Navratna status: Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)

141) Name the website that has been launched by the Prime Minister to help people contribute in governance of the country by giving their views on important issues: mygov.nic.in

142) Name the world famous three week cycling marathon won by Vincenzo Nibali of Italy: Tour de France

143) Kargil Vijai Diwas is celebrated on which date: 26th July

144) Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched “Operation Protective Edge” against __________ militants in Gaza strip: Hamas

145) Name the Indian corporate which became first Indian company to achieve a market capitalization of Rs. 5 lakh crore rupees: TCS (Tata Consultancy Services)

146) Which famous sports person has been appointed as Brand Ambassador of Telangana State: Sania Mirza

147) In the recently released Global Innovation Index 2013, India has been placed at which rank: 66th


148) Name the country that has topped the 142 nations list of Global Innovation Index 2013: Switzerland

149) Men’s title in Wimbledon Tennis Open was won by which sports star: Novak Djokovic

150) Novak Djokovic lifted the Wimbledon Men’s title by defeating which player: Roger Feeder

151) Women’s title in Wimbledon Tennis Open was won by which sports star: Petra Kvitova

152) Petra Kvitova lifted the Wimbledon Women’s title by defeating which player: Eugenie Bouchard

153) Maharashtra has appointed Amitabh Bachhan as its brand ambassador for what purpose: for Promoting Horticulture

154) Economic survey of India is presented in which house of Parliament: Lok Sabha

155) Who presents the economic survey report in the parliament: Finance Minister

156) India plans to start its 1st bullet train on which route: Mumbai - Ahmedabad

157) Govt. proposes to develop Diamond Quadrilateral for high speed trains connecting which main cities: The Four Metros

158) Govt. has raised deduction limit under section 80-C of Income Tax Act by what amount: Rs. 50,000

159) As per sanction 80-C of the Income Tax Act, what is the maximum amount of savings that are exempted from income tax: Rs. 1.5 lac

160) Senior citizen in the age group of 60 and above are exempted from income tax upto what amount of income: Rs. 3 lac

161) Name the new welfare scheme proposed by Indian government for promoting the girl child: Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao Yojana

162) Govt. proposes to start a Rs. 500 cr scheme for providing 24 x 7 power supply to all homes in rural areas. Name this scheme: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana

163) What is the target for 2014-15 for agriculture credit by banks: Rs. 8 trillion

164) The Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan aims to achieve total sanitation in India by which year: 2019

165) As per the budget announcement of the finance minister the target of financial inclusion has been set at opening at least ________________ bank account in each house hold: Two

166) Govt. plans to setup two biotech clusters at which centres: Bangaluru and Faridabad

JUNE – 2014 167) Latest data released by the Central Statistical Office

(CSO) has estimated value of India’s GDP at current market prices at Rs. 113.55 lakh crore, achieving a growth rate of _____ percent in 2013-14: 4.7

168) The per capita income at current prices during 2013-14 is estimated to be around Rs.________ Rs.74,380

169) Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi has been elected as President of which country: Egypt

170) Name the new Solicitor General of India: Ranjit Kumar

171) Who has been appointed as National Security Adviser, Govt of India: Dr. Ajit Kumar Doval

172) Dag Hammarskjold Medal is by UNO for what purpose: Show of Gallantry

173) In an effort to eliminate outdated capacity and improve work safety and address pollution concerns, which country plans to shut down over 2,000 small coal mines by next year: China

174) Why govt. has decided to abolish, with immediate effect, all the Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoMs) set up by the previous UPA-II govt.: To improve accountability and responsibility

175) Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil won the gold medal and silver medal respectively, in which International Competition in Sassari city, Italy: Wrestling

176) Name the cricket team that won the Indian Premier League – 7: Kolkata Knight Riders

177) The final match of IPL – 7 was played at _______ stadium in Bangalore: M. Chinnaswamy

178) Sultan Azlan Shah who passed away recently, was associated with which sports: Hockey

179) Sultan Azlan Shah who passed away recently, was from which country: Malaysia

180) Name the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj who was killed in a road accident recently: Gopinath Munde

181) RBI in its second bimonthly policy statement, reduced statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to ______ from 23%: 22.5%

182) Reduction of SLR by 50 basis points is expected to increase banks’ lendable resources by Rs. _____ crore: 40,000

183) The RBI has reduced the availability of funds under the ECR window from 50 per cent of export credit outstanding to 32 per cent with immediate effect. ECR Stands for: Export Credit Refinance

184) Juan Carlos, King of Spain was in news for what reasons: He abdicated his throne for his son

185) Who has been made the new king of Spain: Prince Felipe

186) Which village in Nagaland has been declared as the country’s first tobacco-free village: Gariphema

187) World No Tobacco Day is observed on which date: May 31

188) Name the first Indian archer to win three gold medals in a single international tournament:


Abhishek Verma

189) SEBI has said that public sector undertakings listed on stock exchanges to have should also adhere to the mandatory _____ public shareholding norms that are applicable to private companies: 25%

190) Bashar Al-Assad has been elected as President of_________ for the third time successively: Syria

191) Name the fifth Indo-French bilateral air exercise held at Jodhpur Air Base in Rajasthan: Garuda-V

192) Kepler 10 C is the name of the biggest rocky ________ ever discovered: Planet

193) Which state has announced 12 per cent reservation for BPL candidates in all the state government jobs: Sikkim

194) What is the popular name for the French Open Tennis Championship held at Paris: Roland Garros

195) Name the winner of the Men’s title at French Open Tennis Championship: Rafael Nadal

196) Name the winner of the Women’s title at French Open Tennis Championship: Maria Sharapova

197) Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal is from which country: Spain

198) Ace tennis player Maria Sharapova is from which country: Russia

199) G7 meet of industrialized nations was held at which place: Brussels, Belgium

200) Name the new speaker of Lok Sabha: Sumitra Mahajan

201) RBI has advised that for opening of bank accounts, the proof of __________ is not necessary if customer has submitted proof of his permanent address: Local Address

202) India recently test fired its 290-km range supersonic missile from the stealth destroyer INS Kolkata. What is its name: Brahmos

203) Central government has decided that all the government employees who have differently abled children to take care of will be exempted from ___________: Transfers

204) In which river 24 engineering students, including six girls, were washed away due to sudden release of water from the reservoir: River Beas

205) Reuven Rivlin has been elected ________ of Israel: President

206) Who has been appointed as new Chief Executive Officer, Infosys: Vishal Sikka

207) World Bank will provide $ 100 million to which State for promoting development of sustainable hydropower: Himachal Pradesh

208) Name the Union Minister who has been appointed as India's Governor on the Board of Governors of

the Asian Development Bank: Arun Jaitely

209) Name the Bollywood celebrity who has been appointed as UNICEF's 'celebrity advocate for child rights': Madhuri Dixit

210) Which country has overtaken Germany and Italy to emerge as the world's second largest textile exporter: India

211) Name the country that is largest exporter of textiles in the world: China

212) The Centre has decided to give Rs. ______ per household as labour charges to the poor for building their homes under Indira Awaas Yojna: 12,000

213) Govt. provides Rs. _____ for construction of a house under IAY in hilly areas: 75,000

214) Govt. provides Rs. _____ for construction of a house under IAY in plain areas: 70,000

215) Which private sector bank has launched ‘video branch’ - a 24x7 unique innovative service allowing customers to interact face-to-face with their bank branch using desktop, tablet or smartphone: IndusInd Bank

216) Govt. has recently cleared to raise the height of which dam from present 121.92 metres to 138.72 metres: Narmada Dam

217) Name the city which has become the fourth city the country to have Metro rail operations: Mumbai

218) India recently signed Washington Accord with a group of 17 nations for what purpose: Academic recognition of its degrees

219) For which type of sports Govt. has decided to increase the daily food supplement budget from Rs 280 to Rs 750: Power Games

220) As per new SEBI norms for public issuance of debt securities (debentures, bonds etc.), these offers will have to be of minimum _______ crore: Rs. 100

221) Name the German Formula one champion who emerged out of coma after almost five and a half months, following his devastating ski accident in December, 2013: Michael Schumacher

222) 16th Asian Junior Athletics Championship was held at which place: Taipei City, China

223) Name the India’s first One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) launched in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: Gauravi

224) Name the prize won by Sanjaya Rajaram, India born veteran plant scientist from Mexico, for his contribution in increasing the wheat production in world: World Food Prize

225) World Food Day is observed on which date: October 16

226) Name the historical monument of Gujarat that has been approved as world heritage site by UNESCO: Rani-Ki-Vav


227) Rani – Ki – Vav, a world heritage site, is what type of monument: Stepwell

228) Foreign investment of ______ per cent or more in a listed company will now be treated as foreign direct investment (FDI): 10

229) Arvind Mayaram committee has been setup for what purpose: To review definitions of FDI and FII

230) Rohinton Nariman, the noted advocate has been appointed to which important post: Judge in Supreme Court

231) Kanyashree Prakalpa, a West Bengal government scheme that has been recognized by UK and UNICEF, is for what purpose: To provide scholarship to poor girls

232) Name the IT initiative of the govt. for delivery of public services through the mobile platform has been awarded a United Nations Public Service Award: Mobile Seva

233) Where is the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) that has been accorded the UNESCO World Heritage Site status for its “exceptional natural beauty and conservation of biological diversity.”: Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh

234) ISIS militants have been waging a fierce civil battle against the democratically elected govt. of which country: Iraq

235) What is the full form of ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

236) Which country won the Men’s title in hockey world cup: Australia

237) Which country won the Women’s title in hockey world cup: The Netherland

238) The World Cup Hockey Championship was held at which place: The Hague, Netherland

239) Which Indian university has been named as the best higher educational institution in India by the Times Higher Education’s Asia rankings: Panjab University, Chandigarh

240) Viswanathan Anand won the _______ medal at the World Rapid Chess Championship held at Dubai: Bronze

241) Name the India's biotechnology queen, Chairperson of Biocon Industries who has been awarded the coveted Global Economy Prize for business: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

242) India’s first indigenously-built anti submarine warfare corvette __________ is to be commissioned into the Indian Navy next month: INS Kamorta

243) National carrier Air India has joined ___________ a group of 26 (now 27) carriers with as many as 4,338 aircraft flying to 1,328 destinations across 195 countries: Star Alliance

244) In a 25 nation-list compiled by global research firm Ipsos, India has been placed at ______ rank in terms of economic confidence of citizens: First

245) RBI has permitted which new entities to act as business correspondents (BCs) of banks, allowing them to offer limited services: Non-banking finance companies –NBFCs

246) RBI has permitted residents and non-residents, except Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, to carry up to ________ in Indian currency notes while leaving the country: Rs. 25,000

247) The Corporate Affairs Ministry has recently notified new CSR expenditure rules for the companies. What is CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility

248) The 35th edition of the National Games will be held in _______ in Jan– Feb, 2015: Kerala

249) _______ has been appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for national games: Sachin Tendulkar

250) The World Bank has approved funding of USD 107 million (nearly Rs 650 crore) for a road project in which state: Mizoram

251) The government has extended the ban on imports of milk and its products from which country: China

252) Which country plans to open two centres of excellence at Nalanda and Vaishali in Bihar in the field of vegetables and mango respectively to help cultivators increase their productivity: Israel

253) Which state has become the first state in India to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the police force, across all cadres: Gujarat

254) Prime Minister Mr. Modi made his first overseas trip by visiting which country: Bhutan

255) Bhutan is major partner with India in production of __________: Hydroelectric Power

256) India’s External Affairs Minister made a goodwill visit to which country as her first solo overseas visit: Bangladesh

257) Name the Indian statesman who recently visited China: Hamid Ansari

258) Who has been elected as the First Chairman of International Cricket Council, Dubai: N. Srinivasan

259) International Widows Day is observed on which date: 23rd June

260) Name the first Indian shooter to win three medals in successive ISSF Shooting World Cup: Jitu Rai

261) 49th Jnanpith award – 2013 has been awarded to which noted Hindi poet: Kedarnath Singh

262) The Moortidevi Award is given in which field: For a work in Indian philosophy and cultural heritage

263) Name the winner for Moortidevi Award 2013: C.


Radhakrishna

264) The 2013 Moortidevi Award winner, C. Radharkrishna writes in which language: Malayalam

265) World Refugee Day is observed on which date: June 20

266) Union Ministry of Culture has launched the Project Mausam for what purpose: To explore the diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean region

267) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, _________ has been declared as the most peaceful country: Iceland

268) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, _________ has been declared as the most unpeaceful country: Syria

269) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, India has been placed at which rank: 143rd

270) The book titled The Goldfinch has been authored by whom: Donna Tartt

271) Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction 2014 has been won by __________ for her first novel ‘A girl is a Half-Formed Thing’: Eimear McBride

272) Which Indian Airport was declared second best in service quality in world and sixth best airport in the world: Indira Gandhi International Airport

273) Name the lady who has been declared as most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine: Angela Merkel

274) Angela Merkel has been declared as most powerful women in the world. Who is she: Chancellor of Germany

275) Who has been declared as most powerful women in India by the Forbes magazine: Arunadhati Bhattarcharya

276) Which Indian actor has been conferred with ‘Legion of France’ recently: Shahrukh Khan

MAY – 2014 277) 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

278) Which country has the largest economy in the world: USA

279) India and China have decided to conduct a joint military exercise at which place in India: Bathinda, Punjab

280) World’s highest train tunnel at an altitude of 3,067.4 metres in China passes through which mountain: Qilian Mountain

281) 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

282) For what banking purpose govt. is considering establishment of exclusive Lok Adalats: For cheque bouncing cases

283) Aab Bareek, a village in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan was in news for what reasons: Its suffered a devastating mud slide

284) Which state has lifted the four years ban on SMS on prepaid mobile phones: Jammu & Kashmir

285) Ahmed Maiteeq has been elected as Prime Minister of which country: Libya

286) What is the recent guideline from RBI in contest of prepayment of all floating rate term loans: Banks not to charge penalty for prepayment

287) 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

288) Prime Minister of which country was removed from office by a Constitutional Court: Thailand

289) Which country has decided to introduce Islamic banking: Afghanistan

290) 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)

291) What is the brand name of the football that will be used in the Brazil FIFA World Cup: Brazuca

292) 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

293) What is the range of India’s air to air Astra missile: 60 kms

294) What is the recent Supreme Court ruling in context of investigation against senior bureaucrats in corruption cases: Prior permission not required for investigation

295) Name the Pakistan’s surface-to-surface ballistic missile test fired recently: Hataf-III

296) India has been given New Frontiers Award 2014 for what achievement: for fast development of infrastructure after the June 2013 floods, landslides in Uttarakhand

297) WHO has identified which Indian city having worst air quality in the world: Delhi

298) What is the name of the recent book released by Hillary Clinton: Hard Choices

299) Arctic Summer novel has been written by which author: Damon Galgut

300) The book My Years with Rajiv and Sonia has been


written by which author: R. D. Pradhan

301) In which country’s parliament a pictorial book on India’s war hero Shivaji, was released: UK

302) In which country Islamist militant group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 school girls: Nigeria

303) Gary Backer who passed away recently was a Noble Laureate in which field: Economics

304) In which country females have been allowed entry in their navy, for the first time in its 110 year history: United Kingdom

305) 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

306) As per Press Freedom Index 2014, India has been placed at _____ place on the basis of freedom of media in the country: 78th

307) The Supreme Court has reconstituted a SIT under the chairmanship of retired judge MB Shah. What is full form of SIT: Special Investigation Team

308) 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

309) Which country has imported 3400 India-made Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for use in their Presidential Election: Namibia

310) Name the public sector undertaking that is responsible for manufacturing EVMs in India: Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL)

311) Name the Cricket player was ranked no 1 in the latest ICC list of One Day International (ODI) rankings: Virat Kohli

312) Noted cueist Mark Selby of England recently won world championship in which game: Snooker

313) Sania Mirza of India and Cara Black of Zimbabwe won women’s doubles tennis title in which tournament: Portugal Open 2014

314) In terms of consumer confidence India has been ranked _______ most optimistic country: 2nd

315) Saudi Arabia has decided to ban the import of Indian ____ due to presence of high pesticide residues: Chilies

316) India and ________ have inked a pact to enhance security cooperation in combating the key issues of insurgency, arms smuggling and human trafficking: Myanmar

317) Name the Indian who has been appointed President and CEO of Finnish tele- communications equipment maker Nokia: Rajeev Suri

318) 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

319) 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

320) Who has been named as the world snookers ‘player of the year’: Ronnie O’Sullivan

321) 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

322) In which country over 300 miners were killed in a coal mine blast: Turkey

323) Which country has decided to go wholly organic in its food production, totally avoiding usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides: Bhutan

324) 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

325) 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

326) Nayak committee has recommended that a __________ should be constituted to which the Government transfers its holdings in banks: Bank Investment Company

327) RBI has decided to conduct a field trial for one billion Rs. ___________ denomination plastic notes: Ten

328) The field trial for Rs. 10 plastic notes will be conducted in how many cities: 5

329) Russy Modi who passed away recently was a noted corporate figure. He was associated with which company: Tata Steel

330) Along with General Election 2014, how many states also elected their new MLAs: Five

331) Name the five states that also held state elections along with General Election 2014: Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

332) Name the Chief Minister of Sikkim state who has been elected for the record 5th time: Pawan Chamlilng

333) Who has been elected as new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh: Chandrababu Naidu

334) Who has been elected as new Chief Minister of Telangana: K Chandrasekhara Rao

335) Nabam Tuki has been elected as Chief Minister of


which state: Arunachal Pradesh

336) Name the new Chief Minister of Nagaland: TR Zeliang

337) 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

338) Who has replaced Narendra Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat: Anandiben Patel

339) A World Bank report on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ placed India at ______ rank among 189 nations: 134th

340) Which country was put under martial law recently when months of deadly anti-government protests caused political paralysis: Thailand

341) A study by UNO has forecasted global economic growth rate to be at _____ per cent in 2014: 2.8

342) In a study by Deutsche Bank, which major country has been ranked as cheapest economy in the world: India

343) Which bank has recently been declared as a ‘Scheduled Bank’ by the RBI: Bhartiya Mahila Bank

344) Which banks are called scheduled bank: whose name appears in the 2nd schedule of the RBI Act, 1934

345) By becoming scheduled bank, a bank is entitled to avail which facility from RBI: Taking Loans

346) 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

347) 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

348) 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

349) Name the recently held war exercise by Indian Army in West Rajasthan: Sarvada Vijay

350) Name the international badminton championship for Men and Women held recently in New Delhi: Thomas Cup and Uber Cup, respectively

351) India started its biggest year-long cultural festival, “Glimpses of India” in which country: China

352) India’s first indigenous payment gateway, RuPay has been launched to counter rival networks such as ___________. : Visa and Mastercard

353) India’s first indigenous payment gateway, RuPay has been launched by which financial institution:

National Payments Corpo-ration of India

354) Jacob Zuma has been re-elected as President of which major South African Country: South Africa

355) Name the India’s oldest test cricketer who passed away recently: Madhav Mantri

356) Mr. Rajiv Mathur has been appointed as new ____ ____ Commissioner of India: Chief Information

357) Who has been appointed as 28th Chief of Army Staff: Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag

358) The women’s title in National Football Championship 2014 has been which team: Manipur

359) Which football player, reportedly, is the highest paid in the world: Lionel Messi

360) In which country violent protest were held against China to protest against China’s oil exploration in South China Sea: Vietnam

361) Which country in the world suffers highest number of death of newborns: India

362) At which place office of Indian Consulate was attacked by militants: Herat, Afghanistan

363) 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

364) Which country has released two postage stamps to pay tribute to the 100 years of Indian cinema: Brazil

365) Name the country that lifted Uber Cup for women’s badminton championship: China

366) Thomas Cup (Men’s) badminton championship was won for the first time this year by which country: Japan

367) The honour ‘Palme d’Or’ is given for which achievement: Best film

368) The honour ‘Palme d’Or’ is given for Best film at which international film festival: Cannes

369) Name the film that won Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival: Winter Sleep

370) The prestigious European Cup 2014 that was won by Real Madrid is for which sports: Football

371) Petro Poroshenko has been elected as President of which country: Ukraine

372) Exim Bank has extended $ 100 million in line of credit to which country: Nigeria

373) Through which country India receives its largest inflow of FDI: Singapore

374) USA has declared that by ________ it will withdraw its troops completely from Afghanistan: 2016

375) 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)

376) Which deposit accounts are classified as unclaimed account: Accounts in which there are no transactions for 10 years or more

377) Which financial Act provides the definition of an unclaimed deposit account: Banking Regulation Act

378) National Florence Nightingale Awards are given in which field: Excellence in Nursing

379) 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

380) World Turtle Day is observed on 23rd May. What is a turtle: An reptile similar to tortoise

381) SIMBEX 14 is the name of the joint naval exercise conducted by India with which country: Singapore

382) International Nurses’ Day is celebrated on which date: 12th May

383) Which two countries have signed association agreement with European union: Moldova and Georgia

384) Men’s title in ATP World Tour Masters Tennis was won by which player: Rafael Nadal

385) Women’s title in ATP World Tour Masters Tennis was won by which player: Maria Sharapova

386) Who is the author of the book ‘Post Haste: Quintessential India’: B.G. Verghese

APRIL – 2014 387) The Social Progress Index 2014 compiled by US-

based non-profit group Social Progress Imperative ranks India _______among the 132 countries: 102nd

388) Who is Nancy Powell who resigned recently: U.S. ambassador to India

389) Viktor Orban has been elected as Prime Minister of which country: Hungary

390) Global monetary agency International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India’s GDP growth to reach ________ per cent in the current fiscal year: 5.4

391) The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has pegged India’s GDP growth rate during 2013-14 at _____ per cent: 4.9

392) RBI has issued new licences for banks to how many applicants: Two

393) Name the two applicants who have been granted licences to open new bank: Infrastructure Development Finance Company and Bandhan

Financial Services Ltd.

394) 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

395) 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

396) 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

397) 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

398) Name the bank that recently started rendering its services from the social site Twitter: SBI

399) 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

400) 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

401) What is the real name of the Phalke award winner Gulzar: Sampooran Singh Kalra

402) Name the Indian state that has recently witnessed its first rail line: Arunachal Pradesh

403) The pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy laboratories of India has been bought out by which Indian pharma company: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

404) The Millennium Technology Prize is given every two years for what purpose: To recognize technological innovation for improving human life

405) Name the winner of 2014 Millennium Technology Prize: Stuart Parkin

406) What is the strike range of nuclear-capable surface to surface ballistic missile – Agni-I: 700 kms

407) 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

408) What is the full name of the New Chief Justice of India: Rajendra Mal Lodha

409) Justice R M Lodha is the _______ Chief Justice of India: 41st

410) The RBI has decided to adopt which tool as the key measure of inflation: Consumer Price Index


411) Who has been appointed as Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India: R. Gandhi

412) Where in India we have Asia’s largest tulip garden - Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden: Srinagar, J&K

413) V K Murthy, winner of Dada Saheb Phalke Awrad passed away recently. He was from which field of Cinema: Cinematographer

414) Who has been elected as New Chairman of National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom): R. Chandrasekaran

415) Name the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy that has been sold off as scrap: INS Vikrant

416) Name the India-born poet who has been awarded Pulitzer Prize for his witty and philosophical collection of poems: Vijay Seshadri

417) What is the name of the Pulitzer Prize winning book written by Vijay Seshadri: 3 sections

418) Arvind Mayaram has been appointed as new Union ________ Secretary: Finance

419) The seventh South Asia Judo Championships were held at which place: Kathmandu, Nepal

420) Who has been appointed as the New Chief of the Indian Navy: Admiral Rabinder Kumar Dhowan

421) The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has approved a loan of about Rs 674 crore for a forest project in which State: Uttarakhand

422) Recently declared National Film Awards were _____ in the series: 61st

423) Name the film that won the national award for best feature film: Ship of Theseus

424) Name the film that won the national award for best Popular Film: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

425) Which film has been selected for National Award for best Hindi Film: Jolly LLB

426) Who has been selected as Femina Miss India World 2014: Koyal Rana

427) Gabriel Garcia Marquez who passed away recently was a noted story writer and novelist of which language: Spanish

428) 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

429) Prime Minister of which country recently resigned from his post, along with his entire cabinet: Kazakhstan

430) Prime Minister of which country was recently sacked by his President after a stinging defeat of his (PM’s) group in local elections: France

431) Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been elected as President

of which African country: Algeria

432) India successfully launched its second navigational satellite IRNSS 1B recently. What is the full form of IRNSS: Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System

433) Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System is also known as _____ of India: GPS

434) In which city we have India’s 1st double-decker flyover: Mumbai

435) Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has been decorated with the British government’s highest civilian honour. Name this award: The Knight Grand Cross

436) Name the stadium in Dhaka in which final match of ICC T20 World Cup was played: Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium

437) The recently played ICC T20 world-cup was _____ in the series: 5th

438) ICC Women’s World Twenty20 trophy was won by which country: Australia

439) What is the name of the supersonic cruise missile recently tested by Indian Army: BrahMos

440) The 290-km range supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos was test a recently at which place: Pokhran, Rajasthan

441) Name the operating system launched in October 2001 for which Microsoft has stopped the technical support: Windows XP

442) Sports person Heena Sidhu has been ranked world No.1 in which game: Air Pistol Shooting

443) The government has approved recruitment of young women as 'combat officers' in which paramilitary force: Sashastra Seema Bal

444) 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

445) With which country India has signed an agreement on development of four hydropower projects for producing 2120 MW on a joint venture basis: Bhutan

446) 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

447) RBI has asked banks to introduce two-stage authentication to ensure security of which type of transactions: Online Transactions

448) India has slid down to ______ spot among 148 economies in terms of leveraging information and communications technologies for growth and well being: 83rd

449) Ila Patnaik, a noted economist has been appointed


to which key central government post: Principal Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance

450) 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

451) What is the name of the 10 days joint air exercise conducted jointly by India and France: Garuda-5

452) Indian and French pilots conducted joint air exercise Garuda-5 from which air base: Jodhpur, Rajasthan

453) 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

454) Chitra Magimairaj won the senior’s title at international level in which game: Snooker

455) The DRDO team recently tested its Akash Missile from Chandipur near Odisha. It is what type of missile: Surface to Air

456) 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

457) 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

458) Name the new interceptor missile system recently successfully tested by India: Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV)

459) The IIFA Awards 2014 were held at which place: Tampa Bay, Florida, USA

460) Name the artist who won IIFA 2014 best entertainer of the year award: Deepika Padukone

MARCH – 2014 461) Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme has been launched for

what purpose: For free health check-ups twice a year for the students

462) Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme is meant for which age group of students: 5-14 years

463) Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme has been formulated for students belonging to which particular category: Minority Community

464) There are how many communities in India recognized as “Minority Community”: Six

465) Name the six minority communities of India: Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains

466) Name the picture that won the OSCAR for the best picture: 12 Years a Slave

467) ICC U-19 World Cup 2014 was won by South Africa by defeating which country: Pakistan

468) Final match of ICC U-19 World Cup 2014 was played at which place: Dubai (UAE)

469) Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship was won by Roger Federer. He is from which country: Switzerland

470) India’s largest solar power plant with a capacity of 130 MW power production is located at which place: Bhagwanpur, Madhya Pradesh

471) Reserve Bank has extended the date for exchanging the pre-2005 banknotes to ___________: January 01, 2015

472) Name the politician who has authored the book India at Risk: Jaswant Singh

473) The book titled The Political Economy of Energy and Growth has been written by Sh. Najeeb Jung. Who is he: Lt. Governor of Delhi

474) Name the author of the book Be Careful What You Wish for : Jaffrey Archer

475) Name the newly appointed governor of Kerala: Sheila Dikshit

476) As per the Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list, who has been declared as the world’s richest person: Bill Gates

477) Arvind Bhat won the Grand Prix Gold at the International German Open Championship of which sports: Badminton

478) World Wildlife Day is celebrated on which date: March 3

479) The newly formed State of Telangana is the _______ State of the Country: 29th

480) Federation Cup is linked to which popular sport: Volleyball

481) The National Football Championship is also known by which another name: Santosh Trophy

482) Santosh Trophy 2014 has been won by _______ State: Mizoram

483) Santosh Trophy 2014 final match was played at Siliguri. It is in which state: West Bengal

484) Gandhi Peace Prize is given for what purpose: For promotion of Gandhian principles for social empowerment

485) Who is the winner of Gandhi Peace Prize 2013: Chandi Prasad Bhatt

486) Chandi Prasad Bhatt, winner of Gandhi Peace Prize 2013 is from which field: Environmentalist, founder of ‘Chipko Movement’ to save forests

487) Govt has notified that ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) rules with effect from April 1, 2014 as part of which Act: Companies Act-2013


488) 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

489) Uighur community of Islamic fanatics is active in which country: China

490) Name the place in Punjab that was in news on account of discovery of around 280 human skeletons of British era: Ajnala, Amritsar

491) India has made it mandatory for travellers coming to India from 7 countries to have which vaccine: Oral Polio Vaccine

492) The scheduled General Elections will elect how many members for the Lok Sabha: 543

493) General Election 2014 will constitute the ____ Lok Sabha of the country: 16th

494) Who is the Chief Election Commissioner of the India: V.S. Sampath

495) Which State of India has largest number – 80 of Lok Sabha constituencies: Uttar Pradesh

496) The ____ is the 2nd largest state of India in terms of number of Lok Sabha Constituencies: Maharashtra (48)

497) Maharashtra has launched development of Shendre-Bidkin industrial city under DMIC project. What is the full form of DMIC: Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor

498) Name the country which is providing financial and technical support to India for DMIC project: Japan

499) Prime Minister of which country was recently ousted by its Parliament after passing a no-confidence motion against him: Libya

500) President of which country was recently ousted by its Parliament after passing a no-confidence motion against him: Ukraine

501) Name the President of Ukraine who was ousted by its Parliament: Viktor Yanukovych

502) International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards are to be held in which country from April 23-26: USA

503) Rakesh Sethi has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director of which bank: Allahabad Bank

504) Templeton Prize – 2014 has been awarded to Tomas Halik. Who is he: A priest from Czech Republic

505) Templeton Prize is given in recognition of which purpose: Promotion of Peace, Harmony and Spiritualism

506) To which neighbouring country in India has offered a $1 billion soft loan for infrastructure development: Bangladesh

507) Name the bank which is first in India to launch its own online payment intermediary: State Bank of India, SBI ePay

508) 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

509) 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

510) R V Rahul won two gold and one silver in the 16th Asian Youth _________Championships at Bangsaen, Thailand: Weightlifting

511) National Hockey Championship (Men) 2014 has been won by__________: Air India

512) National Hockey Championship (Women) 2014 has been won by__________: Railways

513) National Snooker Championship were held recently at which place: Lucknow, UP

514) ICC World T20 tournament, for both men and women are being played in which country: Bangladesh

515) Karnataka defeated Railways to lift the Vijay Hazare Trophy in which sports: Cricket

516) Michelle Bachelet has been elected as 1st women President of which country: Chile

517) 1st Asian Grand Prix Archery Championships were held at which place: Bangkok, Thailand

518) Name the veteran writer, historian, novelist, humorist and columnist who passed away recently: Khushwant Singh

519) Khushwant Singh was known for his popular column titled __________ that published in several newspapers: With Malice Towards One and All

520) 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

521) Name the country that has been expelled from G-8 Group of countries: Russia

522) The summit of G-8 nations that was to be held at Sochi, Russia will now be held at which place: Brussels, Belgium

523) Deodhar Trophy is linked with which sport: Cricket

524) Rakhigarhi, a place in Distt Hissar was in news recently for what reasons: Finding of vast remains of Harappan Civilizations

525) 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


526) Who has been elected the President of El Salavador: Salvador Sanchez Ceren

527) Salvador Sanchez Ceren belongs to which political party: FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front

528) Name the province which has ceded from Ukraine and has now become part of Russia: Crimea

529) Name the capital of Ukraine: Kiev

530) Dr. M. Madan Babu has been awarded Protein Science Young Investigator Award by which international university: Cambridge University, UK

531) A commemorative postage stamp released in the honour of “Maulana Hasrat Mohani”. Who was he: Freedom Fighter

532) Global Ayurveda Festival was held at which place: Kochi, Kerala

533) ‘Braigo’ is the name of the _________ developed by a 12 years old Indian origin boy in USA: Braille Printer

534) ‘Venom GT’ is the name of the _______: Fastest Car

535) 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

536) Name the Joint Indian and Nepal army military exercise held at Saljhandi in Rupandehi district, Nepal: Ex-Surya Kiran Drills VI

537) Name the winner for the 64th National Basketball Championship for Men: Chhattisgarh

538) Name the winner for the 64th National Basketball Championship for Women: Tamil Nadu

539) Which two States are the first to be issued with Plastic Photo Identity for elections in India: Nagaland and Assam

540) Who has been elected as the new Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC): Arjun Bahadur Thapa

541) 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

542) The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) 2014 held at _________: The Hague, Netherlands

FEBRUARY – 2014 543) 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

544) Indian Navy has started high tech Shore Based Test

Facility (SBTF) at INS Hansa at which place: Panaji, Goa

545) Name the country that accounts for 37% of total illiterates in the world: India

546) Mehdi Jomaa has been elected as ______ of Tunisia: Prime Minister

547) Name the new Chief Minister of Uttrakhand State: Harish Rawat

548) The final match of prestigious Ranji Trophy (2014) was played at which place: Hyderabad

549) Karnataka won the Ranji Trophy in Cricket by beating which State: Maharashtra

550) As per Environmental Performance Index 2014 released by the Yale University, USA, India has been ranked at which place: 155th

551) Which country has been ranked No. 1 in terms of its performance in various environment related parameters: Switzerland

552) The govt. has decided to raise the quota of subsidized LPG cylinders from 9 to ___ in a year: 12

553) The govt. has decided to add about _______ castes and communities to the list of Other Backwards Castes in 13 states/UTs: 60

554) 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

555) 101st Indian Science Congress was held at _________: University of Jammu, J&K

556) Sakshi Malik won gold at the 2014 Dave Schultz International _______Tournament in Colorado Springs, USA: Wrestling

557) Name the first woman to be inducted in the International Cricket Council‘s (ICC’s) umpires’ panel: Kathy Cross

558) Kathy Cross is from which country: New Zealand

559) Name the high profile Indian technocrat who has been appointed as the CEO of Microsoft Inc., USA: Satya Nadela

560) Jatinder Bir Singh has been appointed Chairmen Managing Director of which Bank: Punjab & Sind Bank

561) Name the Chairman of the seventh central pay commission: Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur

562) 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

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