gyanm general awareness january 2015 issue

GYANM’S GENERAL AWARENESS – JANUARY 2015 1

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GENERAL AWARENESS – JANUARY 2015 2

GENERAL AWARENESS

JANUARY 2015 Vol. 3, Issue 07

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

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

CONTENTS

CURRENT AFFAIRS SEPT TO NOV 2014 2-28

BULLET NEWS JUNE TO AUG 2014 30-40

GK MCQs – NOV 2014 42-50

INTERVIEW SPECIAL 51-54

INSURANCE PAPER 55-68

SPL MCQs ON POLITY 70-75

LATEST GK BULLETS 76-99

FIGURES TO REMEMBER

REPO RATE 8.00%

REVERSE REPO RATE 7.00%

MARGINAL STANDING FACILITY RATE

9.00%

STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO 22%

CASH RESERVE RATIO 4.00% BANK RATE 9.00%

BASE RATE(s) (of various banks)

9.80% – 10.25 %

INDIA’S RANK IN

Global Terrorism Index 2014 6th

Global Slavery Index 2014 1st

Gender Gap Index 114th

Ease of Doing Business (World Bank) 142nd

Global Hunger Index 2013 55th

Global Competitiveness 71st

Human Development Index 135th Global Innovation Index 76th

Economic Confidence Index 01st

Choice for FDI 143rd

Press Freedom Index 2014 78th

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

NATIONAL NEWS

NOVEMBER 2014 PM VISITS MYANMAR, AUSTRALIA AND FIJI On Nov 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi left India for a ten day foreign visit, starting from Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar where he attended the ASEAN-India Summit on 12th Nov. He attended the 7th East Asian Summit there on Nov 13.

On the sidelines of the summits, he met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev, Thai PM Gen Prayut Chan-o-Cha. He also met Myanmar’s opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

ASEAN is a group of 10 countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Brunei with headquarters at Jakarta, Indonesia. Next ASEAN summit is to be held in Cambodia, March, 2015. East Asia Summit is an extended version of ASEAN in which eight more countries are members – India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, USA and South Korea.

NOV 14: Modi reached Brisbane, Australia to attend Heads of Nations meet of G-20 nations on 15th-16th Nov.

NOV 17: Modi addressed Indian diaspora at Allphones Arena, Sydney. Mr. Modi assured life time visa to PIO and OCI card holders. PIO – Persons of Indian Origin OCI – Overseas Citizens of India

NOV 18: Modi addressed the Australian Parliament at Canberra, first Indian Prime Minister to do so. Later in day he visited Melbourne where Australian PM hosted a dinner for him at the 116 year old Melbourne Cricket Ground.

India and Australia signed five pacts on social security, transfer of sentenced prisoners, combating narcotics trade, tourism, and arts and culture.

Prime Minister: Tony Abbott Capital: Canberra Monarch: Queen Elizabeth Nick name: Aussie, Oz

NOV 19: Modi arrives in Fiji. He addressed their Parliament, becoming first foreign dignitary to do so. He announced a $75 million line of credit for a power plant and upgrading the sugar industry.

Fiji Prime Minister: Frank Bainimarama Capital: Suva NOV 20: Narendra Modi flied back to India.


MODI WOOS SAARC NATIONS The two-day 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit was held at Kathmandu from 26th Nov to 27th Nov, with an agenda to improve connectivity among member states for boosting trade, collectively fighting the poverty and illiteracy. The eight members signed the SAARC Framework on Energy (Electricity) Cooperation to facilitate inter country trading of electricity.

Theme: 'Deeper Regional Integration for Peace and Prosperity'

New Chairman of SAARC: Mr. Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal

FIVE PROPOSALS BY INDIA AT SAARC: 1. SAARC Business traveller card for all member countries 2. Easy visa for medical treatment visits 3. Online courses and e library for South Asian students 4. To provide five – in – one vaccine for children and support for polio free all countries 5. To provide funds for TB-HIV laboratory

The SAARC has eight members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with permanent headquarters at Kathmandu, Nepal. The 19th SAARC summit will be held in 2016 in Islamabad, Pakistan.

RUSSIAN DEPUTY PM VISITS INDIA Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia visited India to attend 20th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation at New Delhi. SAINTHOOD FOR TWO NATIVE INDIANS In a canonisation ceremony presided over by Pope Francis II in the Vatican on Nov 23, Sainthood was granted to two Indians - Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara, popularly known as Chavara Achen, and Sister Euphrasia, popularly known as Evuprasiamma. Both of them hail from the Syro Malabar Catholic Church, Kerala. The only other native Indian to get sainthood - Sister Alphonsa (2008) is also from this church. NGOs TO WORK AGAINST OPEN DEFECATION Three global organisations on 24 November 2014 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end open defecation in India. The agreement is for three years. These three organisations are the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), WASTE and the Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health (FINISH). INDIA 6TH WORST HIT BY TERRORISM Institute for Economics and Peace, Sydney released Global Terrorism Index 2014. The Index provides ranks for 162 countries in terms of impact of terrorism. Iraq continues to be worst affected where 6362 lives were lost in 2013 due to terrorism. India is 6th worst affected nation.

INDIA TOPS IN HUMAN SLAVERY NUMBERS With over 14.2 million in India being involved in forced labour and being victims of trafficking-for sexual exploitation and forced marriage, the country is home to the largest number – about 40 per cent of the people trapped in modern slavery. As per the Global Slavery Index 2014, published by the Walk Free Foundation in Perth, Australia, around 35.8 million people are enslaved across the world. President Pranab Mukherjee visited Bhutan on a

two-day visit - 7-8 Nov. He is the first Indian head of state to visit to the country in 26 years.

6th World Ayurveda Congress held in New Delhi from 6 to 9 November 2014. This year’s theme was “Health Challenges and Ayurveda”.

A latest UN report says that, India has the world’s largest youth population with 356 million 10-24-year-olds, followed by China.

Public Service Broadcasting Day observed on 12th Nov to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's first and only visit to All India Radio.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) and US Export-Import (Exim) Bank signed an MoU for cooperation on clean energy investment.

The 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) began in Goa on November 20. China is the focus country of this festival.

Children's Film Society of India organised the first edition of the National Children's Film Festival from 14 to 16 Nov at New Delhi.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) hosted the India Economic Summit in New Delhi from Nov 4 to 6.

Prasar Bharti announced to re-launch DD National with new tagline Doordarshan National – Desh Ka Apna Channel.

India and Bhutan signed an MoU on 7th Nov. for the establishment of Nalanda University in Bihar to develop the institution as an international centre of excellence.

Sushma Swaraj: External Affairs Minister visits Dubai on Nov. 10.

India and Republic of Korea signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate technical cooperation in Railway sector between the two countries.

First Commonwealth Science Congress was held in Bengaluru on 25th November.

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OCTOBER 2014 PRESIDENT VISITS NORWAY, FINLAND President Pranab Mukherjee became the first ever Indian head of state to visit Norway. Over a dozen pacts were signed with Norway to step up cooperation in defence, science and technology, education and other sectors. President visited the village of Santa Claus and crossed the Arctic Circle. India has a station ‘Himadri’, located in the middle of North Pole and Norway. In Finland, the two countries signed an agreement for nuclear cooperation. VIETNAM PM VISITS INDIA Nguyen Tan Dung, Vietnam Prime Minister came on a two-day visit to India. The two countries agreed to have sister city ties between Ho Chi Minh City and Mumbai. Agreement was also signed for extending India’s role in oil exploration in South China Sea. INDIA MOVES UP ON HUNGER INDEX Although still behind neighbouring Nepal and Sri Lanka, India made some progress in reducing poverty level though its status remains classified as "serious" on the Global Hunger Index 2014. India ranks 55th on GHI, (up from 63rd

in 2013) better than Pakistan and Bangladesh (ranked 57), but trails behind Nepal (44) and Sri Lanka (39). Compiled by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the GHI ranks 120 countries on three equally weighted indicators the proportion of people who are under-nourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the mortality rate of children under five.

100 YEARS OF ‘KOMAGATA MARU’ INCIDENT commemoration of the historic Komagata Maru incident on 29th September. A set of commemorative coins of denominations of Rs 100 and Rs 5 was released to mark the occasion. ‘Komagata Maru’ was the name of the steamer that carried 376 passengers, mostly immigrants from Punjab, from Southeast Asia to Canada. The ship was denied docking in Vancouver owing to discriminatory immigration laws of Canada. The steamer returned to India and docked at Budge Budge, Kolkata on September 27, 1914. Local British guards denied the entry to immigrants led by Baba Gurdit Singh, following which a riot took place in which 19 Indians were killed. WORK BEGINS ON 'STATUE OF UNITY' The work order for 'Statue of Unity' — the world's tallest statue (182 mts) of India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel has been issued by the Gujarat Government to leading engineering company Larsen and Toubro (L&T). INDIA SIGNS MINAMATA CONVENTION India has signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury to control and reduce emissions from the power plants. The convention is named after the Japanese city Minamata that has become synonymous with deadly mercury contamination since 1950.

BIRTH CENTENARY OF BEGUM AKHTAR Union Ministry of Culture launched a year – long birth centenary celebrations of Ghazal and Thumri singer Begum Akhtar (07-10-1914). Her original name was Akhtar Bai Faizabadi. A set of commemorative coins of 100 rupees and 5 rupees was released on the occasion.

US TO PROMOTE SMART CITIES IN INDIA In a boost to India's 100 smart city programme, the US govt has assured its support for developing three such cities - Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam. Govt has allocated a sum of Rs 7,060 crore for this purpose in the Union Budget.

AUSTRALIA TO SUPPORT INDIAN PROJECTS Australia announced 13 innovative projects with India that would support new cutting-edge collaborative research partnerships between universities, professional bodies and private sector organisations of the two countries.

HUDHUD LASHES OUT VISAKHAPATNAM Areas around Visakhapatnam on Andhra coast were severely lashed by the super cyclone Hudhud, causing widespread destruction. The Cyclone developed due to a deep depression over north Andaman Sea and moved towards Andhra Pradesh, striking the coast around Visakhapatnam with strong winds blowing at speed of around 200 kmph. Prime Minister announced a relief package of Rs. 1,000 crore for the cyclone hit area. Hudhud is the Arabic name of Hoopoe bird, which is the national bird of Israel. The name was suggested by Oman.

INDIA FARES WORST IN PENSION INDEX

The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index – 2014 has ranked India’s retirement system lowest among the 25 countries surveyed, as less than 6% of the working population in the country is covered under private pension plans. The list is topped by Denmark.

INDIA RANKS LOW ON GENDER GAP INDEX India has performed poorly in removing gender-based disparities, ranking 114 out of 142 countries in World Economic Forum's 2014 Gender Gap Index, scoring low on parameters like economic participation, education, health and survival. Iceland tops the list with the most equitable sharing of resources among men and women, followed by Finland, Norway.

‘DOING BUSINESS’ STILL NOT EASY IN INDIA India has been placed at 142nd rank among 189 countries in the latest World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report. The latest ranking, however, does not take into account the latest slew of measures taken by Modi Government to make India a business friendly destination. Singapore tops the list 88.27 points, followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong.


NO INDIAN UNIVERSITY IN TOP 200 None of India’s 600 plus universities finds a place in the global top 200 Times Higher Education Rankings powered by Thomson Reuters. Panjab University, Chandigarh, retains its position as the highest ranked Indian university at 226 place. In the institutions, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, stands at 276-300 bracket. Cyclone Nilofar, a very severe cyclonic storm hit

Gujarat coast. The name Nilofar was given by Pakistan. John Baird, Canada's Foreign Minister has said that

Canada has agreed to sign commercial contracts for supply of uranium for Indian nuclear reactors.

India signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Culture Cooperation with UK for next five years

A commemorative postage stamp on Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and writer Anagarika Dharmapala was released by the President.

Government decides to commemorate Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary (October 31) as “National Integration Day”- Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.

India and Mexico signed a MoU for cooperation in space and working together in the areas of remote sensing

and satellite communication. India and Nepal have signed a Power Trade Agreement

to promote cooperation in the field of production and transmission of electricity.

India Heritage Research Foundation, Rishikesh has released the ‘Encyclopedia of Hinduism’ consisting of 11 volumes and approximately 7000 entries.

India will contribute $4 million in the $5.4 billion aid pool formed by the global donors for rebuilding the Gaza Strip destroyed in the conflict with Israel.

Prime Minister addressed the nation on Oct 3 for the first time over radio in the programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ to reach out to maximum audience.

SEPTEMBER 2014

MODI MAKES HISTORY AT MSG, NEW YORK Billed as one of the largest receptions ever held for a foreign head of state in the USA, PM Modi addressed a istorical public gathering of over 18,000 persons at the USA’s most prestigious venue – Madison Square Garden in New York on 28th September. Pitching his 3D mantra for assured progress, Modi said, "We have democracy (peoples government), demographic dividend (young generation) and demand (huge market of over 125 crore Indians) on our side." India is the youngest nation in the world with 65% of its population below 35 years of age. He made four promises to NRI community:

Life time visas for persons of Indian origin (PIO) cardholders

PIO and Overseas Indian Citizen (OCI) cards to be merged in to one common card

Those who come to India for long stay will not have to report periodically at police stations as is the present requirement

US nationals to get long term visas and visa on arrival following electronic travel authorization

Recognising the importance of Modi’s visit to USA, the US Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating September 30 as 'US-India Partnership Day'. President: Barack Obama P M: No Position Capital: Washington DC Currency: U S Dollar Parliament: Congress CHINESE PRESIDENT VISITS INDIA

During recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China signed 12 pacts to commit investment of $20 billion in India in the next five years besides allowing greater market access to Indian companies in sectors like pharmaceutical and farm-products. Highlights of the pacts are: China to help in modernization of Indian railways,

including setting up of a Railway University and adding to the speed of trains, beginning with Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore corridor for trains 160 kmph speed.

Three MoUs signed for Gujarat -- making Guangzhou and Ahmedabad as sister cities, setting up of industrial

parks in Gujarat. Making the Guangdong province and the Gujarat

partners in cultural and social ties. To provide support for setting up automotive industrial

park near Pune, Maharashtra. Agreed to opening of a new route to Kailash

Mansarovar via Nathu La in Sikkim. To observe year 2015 as “Visit India” year in China, and

2016 as “Visit China” in India. China’s Premier (Prime Minister): Li Keqiang Capital: Beijing Currency: Renminbi (Yuan) China’s Parliament: National People's Assembly

JAPAN TO INVEST $35 BILLION IN INDIA During recent Japan visit of our Prime Minister, Japan pledged to invest Rs. 2.1 lakh crore ($35.5 billion) in a wide spectrum of projects in India over five years. These in clued infrastructure, clean energy and skill development. Japan will also provide all possible support to introduce the Shinkansen, or bullet train, along the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route.

Japan’s Emperor: Akihito Prime Minister: Shinzo Abe Capital: Tokyo Currency: Yen Parliament: Diet


KASHI TO LEARN FROM KYOTO India and Japan have signed a partner city affiliation agreement between Varanasi (Kashi) and Kyoto, which will see cooperation in the fields of heritage conservation, city modernisation and culture. Kyoto is also known as ‘city of thousand shrines.’

GOOD NEWS FOR UNDERTRIALS In a historic landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has directed that all under-trial prisoners who have been in the prison for a period more than half of the jail term prescribed for the offences they had been arrested should be released on bail immediately. The Court asked trial court judges to visit jails under their jurisdiction every week starting from October 1 and order the release of such under trial prisoners in the jail itself.

PRESIDENT VISITS VIETNAM President Pranab Mukherjee made a four-day state visit to Vietnam and met his counterpart Truong Tan Sang. The two countries signed seven pacts to further strengthen their strategic partnership in key sectors including Oil Exploration, Agriculture and Air Connectivity between the two countries.

President: Trương Tan Sang P M:Nguyen Tan Dung Capital: Hanoi Currency: Dong Parliament: National Assembly

NUCLEAR DEAL INKED WITH AUSTRALIA Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott came to India on a two day visit. India signed a landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Australia on 5th

September at New Delhi. The deal will ensure regular supply of Uranium for peaceful purposes. Back in 2012, Australia reversed its policy on nuclear sales to India as the latter refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

POSTAL STAMP ON GREAT MUSICIANS President released a set of eight commemorative postage stamps on great Indian musicians - Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, D.K. Pattammal, Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, Gangubai Hangal, Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Ustad Vilayat Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

INDIA 71ST IN GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS India has slipped to 71st position (from 60th in 2013) in an annual global competitiveness list released by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland remains on top, followed by Singapore and United States.

GATES FOUNDATION TO SUPPORT TOILETS Union Urban Development Ministry and international organisation Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation have agreed on a partnership to promote user friendly toilets to improve sanitation system in India under Swachchh Bharat Mission. The mission aims at providing toilet facility in every household in the country by 2019.

INDIA’s FIRST CORAL GARDEN In an attempt to conserve several coral species at one place and to boost tourism in the state, the country's first 'Coral garden' will be set up at Mithapur coastal region of Devbhoomi-Dwarka district in Gujarat. DOORDARSHAN COMPLETES 55 YEARS Public service broadcaster Doordarshan is celebrating 55 years of its service. Doordarshan made a modest beginning in India on 15th September 1959, when the first experimental centre at Delhi with a small transmitter was inaugurated by the then President Rajendra Prasad. NALANDA UNIVERSITY IN ‘NEW AVATAR’ The ancient Nalanda University (NU), which attracted students from the world over in 6th century A D, started functioning once again after almost 800 years at its newly established campus at Rajgir, Bihar. The university was inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The NU came into existence by the Nalanda University Act passed by Parliament. Economist Amartya Sen is the Chairman of the Governing Body of the university that has received financial support from a number of countries – China, Australia, Singapore and Thailand. The idea of resurrecting the ancient seat of learning was mooted by former President APJ Abdul Kalam. INDIA RANKS 3RD IN IT SECURITY According to the I T security firm Trend Micro, India ranks third after Japan and the US in the tally of countries most affected by online banking malware during the April-June quarter of 2014. NATIONAL NUTRITION WEEK This week is celebrated every year from 1st September to the 7th September to make people aware about important tips of their health and well-being. The theme for this week is ‘Poshak Ahaar, Desh Ka Adhaar’. India has signed an agreement with Germany for

cooperation in the field of skill development, solid waste management and cleaning of rivers.

Liar’s Dice, a Hindi film directed by Geetu Mohandas has been selected as India’s entry for the Oscar Awards in the foreign film category.

India and Bangladesh have reached a decision on ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) and to ensure zero border killings.

India and Bangladesh signed a MoU on cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy.

Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister visits Afghanistan to meet President & to review key projects.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 64 on 17th

September.


NEWS FROM STATES NOVEMBER 2014

FIR KIOSKS SET UP AT BENGALURU The Bengaluru City Police has set up a kiosk that lets anyone file an FIR at any time, irrespective of where an incident such as theft or accident may have occurred. The kiosk, equipped with HD audio-video and a touch screen, will enable citizens to speak to a police officer and also sign, print and scan documents.

LUCKNOW - AGRA EXPRESSWAY The proposed 302 km long Lucknow - Agra Expressway in UP would be the country’s longest access controlled six lane expressway. It would be 110 meters wide and would cut down travel time from Lucknow to Agra from existing eight hours to less than four hours.

Madhya Pradesh has been chosen for union government’s Best State Award for Empowerment of Disabled for year 2014.

The Karnataka Government aims at construction of 10 lakh toilets by 2018 and make the state completely free from open defecation.

Assam State Zoo in Guwahati has become the first zoo in the world to house the critically endangered pig Pygmy Hog.

Kerala has decided to cull about 2,00,000 poultry birds as a precautionary measure against the H5NI avian influenza virus.

OCTOBER 2014 ANDHRA TO WAIVE FARMERS LOANS Andhra Pradesh government has launched the Rythu Saadhikara Samstha (Farmers Empowerment Corporation) to provide agricultural debt redemption to farmers and also to act as a 'one-stop-shop' for farmer development, welfare and empowerment activities. All farmers who availed crop loans of up to Rs 1.5 lakh would be benefitted.

KERALA TO PROTECT OLD TREES To protect grand old trees in public places, Kerala Forest Research Institute plans to mark them with a "health-card" that will show its strength condition, risk factors and details of damage etc. Union government plans to set up a mega handicraft

cluster in Kachch, Gujarat to promote handcraft items and craft based textiles.

Madhya Pradesh tops iin the field of organic farming producing about five lakh metric ton of farm products,

about 40% of the country’s total organic produce. The Kerala Government will provide free treatment to

every cancer patient in the state under the project ‘Sukrutham’ at major government hospitals.

Kerala would become the first state in India to have high-speed internet connecting all the panchayats in

the state by March next year. Union Govt launches Jammu Kashmir Arogya Gram

Yojna to promote cultivation of scientifically tested and commercially beneficial aromatic and medicinal plants.

SEPTEMBER 2014 UNPRECEDENTED FLOOD HAVOC IN J&K First week of September saw all the major rivers of Jammu Kashmir state, particularly Jhelum River over flowing much above the danger mark, flooding a large part of the state, including main city Srinagar, causing unprecedented havoc all around. The situation was declared a “national-level disaster” by Prime Minister. Hundreds of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) personnel worked round the clock to rescue thousands of marooned persons. Indian Army launched “Operation Megh Rahat” – a rescue operation to save and provide relief to the flood victims. Central govt announced a flood relief package of Rs. 1,000 crore for the state.

MADHYA PRADESH TOPS IN GDP GROWTH According to recent data from CSO, Madhya Pradesh outpaced all the major states to top the economic growth charts with a scorching 11 per cent growth in 2013-14 — a year when India recorded only 4.7 per cent growth. Madhya Pradesh is followed by new comer Uttrakhand, pushing Bihar to number three spot.

BIHAR TO RESTORE GLORY OF ‘ORWELL’ Bihar govt has launched the renovation and beautification work of the birthplace of famous author, journalist and critic George Orwell at Motihari in East Champaran district of Bihar, around 165 km from Patna. Orwell, the author of novels like Animal Farm and Ninteen Eighty-Four, was born at Motihari on 25th June 1903.

‘SWAVALAMBAN ABHIYAN': A set of 11 new propoor initiatives of the Gujarat government aimed at promoting dignity and self-sufficiency of the poor, launched at Gandhinagar by the Prime Minister on his birthday – 17th

September.

General elections declared in Haryana and Maharashtra for October 15 for electing Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has announced that Vijayawada will be the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Uttarakhand Government has declared 9 September as Himalaya Diwas to spread the message of conservation of the Himalayan ecosystems.

Lucknow joins the elite club of metro cities to have Metro rail service as the work started on the project on 27th September.

Railway starts conversion of the 201 km long Silchar- Lumding meter-gauge rail route in Barack valley in Assam into broad-gauge.

3rd Ladakh Marathon at Leh in J&K was held on 16th

September. This is world’s highest/toughest marathon held at 3,524 meter (11,562 feet) altitude.

Kerala will host a Global Agro meet and an exhibition on hi-tech agriculture and food processing at Kochi on 6th and 7th of November.


GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

NOVEMBER 2014 NEW SCHEMES ON NATIONAL EDUCATION DAY National Education Day was observed on Nov 11 on the 125th birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister. The HRD Ministry launched new initiatives to promote the education system of the country.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan launched to enable higher

educational institutions like IITs and NITs to work with the people of rural India by evolving appropriate solutions for accelerating sustainable growth.

‘Know Your College’ portal launched to enable students view details of courses, labs, faculty, library, hostels available etc. of all the colleges, for selecting the right college for their higher education.

Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational Advancement of Youth (SAMVAY) launched to facilitate students to switch between education and jobs. It will help such students to resume studies who left formal education for a job.

Two scholarship schemes launched for technical education, Saksham for specially-abled needy and meritorious students and Pragati for girls pursuing technical education at college level.

GOVT TO SET UP 'SWACHH BHARAT KOSH' The government has launched a fund that will be utilised to build toilets in schools, rural and urban areas to achieve the objective of cleanliness across the country. The Kosh will be set up by the Ministry of Finance and will be managed by a Governing Council headed by Expenditure Secretary. ‘MANAS’ LAUNCHED FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT Union Ministry of Minorities Affairs launched the Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS) on 125th birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad to impart training to youths in health and security sector. NEW CITIZENSHIP NORMS FOR REFUGEES Govt has relaxed Indian citizenship norms for Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Refugees, who have entered India prior to 31 December 2009, can now apply for the Indian citizenship. BSNL LAUNCHES MOBILE SECURITY SERVICES The BSNL has launched mobile security value added service that will allow its customers to track location of their lost mobile phones. Through this application, the user will also be able to remotely lock device, erase data in the lost mobile.

Govt. launched National Bal Swachhta Mission as part of ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ in New Delhi on Nov 15 to improve over all cleanliness amongst school children.

Udaan programme launched to assist girl students in preparing them for the IIT-JEE while studying in classes XI and XII.

Govt approves "Integrated Power Development Scheme" for strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution network of electricity in the urban areas.

India has launched the tourist visa on arrival facility enabled by electronic travel authorization for 43 countries for boosting the tourist inflow.

Govt has decided to lay an exclusive submarine cable network for Andaman & Nicobar Islands from Chennai to facilitate high speed internet/browsing in the islands.

The Central Government has allocated five thousand crore rupees under AYUSH Mission for promoting traditional methods of treatment in the country.

The Delhi Transport Corporation has started a Delhi-Kathmandu bus service from Nov. 26.

OCTOBER 2014

‘SHRAMEV JAYATE’ KARYAKRAM LAUNCHED

Prime Minister launched Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram organised by the labour ministry on October 16. The project aims at creating a conducive environment for industrial development and doing business with ease. The programme has five focus areas as under: Every one of the six to seven lakh industrial units in the

country will get a unique Labour Identification Number - LIN (Shram Pehchan Sankhya) for

simplifying business regulations and securing transparency and accountability in labour inspections

“Shram Suvidha" – a Unified Labour Portal launched to facilitate "Labour Inspection Scheme," which aims at ending arbitrariness in the inspection mechanism. Labour inspectors will now get auto-generated lists telling them where to go for inspection. It will also replace current 16 forms with one online form

Universal Account Number (UAN) for Employees' Provident Fund members that will be portable throughout the working careers of members and can be used anywhere in India.

Under Apprentice Protsahan Yojana govt will reimburse 50 per cent of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training.

Revamped smart card based Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, the government has introduced a smart card for the workers in the unorganised sector.


SWACHH BHARAT MISSION LAUNCHED On October 2, Prime Minister launched the country’s biggest-ever cleanliness drive from New Delhi by actually sweeping the pavements in Valmikli Basti near Mandir Marg. The urban component of the Mission is proposed to be implemented over 5 years starting from October 2, 2014 in all 4,041 statutory towns. The total expected cost of the programme is Rs. 62,009 crore, out of which the proposed central assistance will be of Rs. 14,623 crore. Govt has decided to merge the ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’, a campaign for rural sanitation with Swachh Bharat Mission.

SANSAD ADARSH GRAM YOJANA Prime Minister launched Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana on 11th October, on the occasion of birth anniversary of Jai Prakash Narayan. Every one of about 800 MPs, including Prime Minister, is expected to take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in one village by 2016 and two more by 2019.

Adarsh Gram aims to ensure 100 per cent access to health, education, sanitation, schools, toilets, libraries and smart schools. The selected village should have a population of 3000-5000 in plain areas and 1000-3000 in hilly, tribal and difficult areas.

SWACHHTA UDYAMI YOJANA National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation has launched “Swachhta Udyami Yojana - Swachhta Se Sampannta Ki Aur” to provide financial assistance to Safai Karamcharis and identified manual scavengers for construction, operation and maintenance of community toilets in public private partnership (PPP) mode and for purchase of sanitation related vehicles.

VARISHTHA PENSION BIMA YOJANA Govt has reintroduced the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana- a single premium pension policy for senior citizens, for a limited period of one year, from 15-08-2014 to 14-08-2015. The beneficiaries can avail pension ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 per month by depositing a lumpsum amount of Rs. 66,665 to Rs. 6,66,665 respectively.

ONLINE ATTENDANCE FOR GOVT EMPLOYEES Government has launched an Adhaar based Biometric Attendance System (BAS) for government employees. Named attendance.gov.in, it will keep a track on the attendance records of employees.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH ASSURANCE MISSION The government plans to roll out its ambitious Universal Health Assurance Mission (UHAM) by the end of this year, aimed at bringing all Indians under health insurance cover. The UHAM will provide 50 essential drugs with a package of diagnostics and about 30 AYUSH drugs to all citizens at govt. hospitals and health centres across the country.

NATIONAL AIR QUALITY INDEX The government has launched a new methodology — National Air Quality Index (AQI) — to create awareness about the quality of air and its likely health impact. Using the “One Number-One Colour-One Description”, the AQI proposes six categories — good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor and severe, beginning from green and ending in dark red, respectively. DIESEL PRICES DECONTROLLED Union Cabinet has decided to completely deregulate the diesel prices and henceforth the price will be linked to the market. Petrol and diesel are now market linked and the government does not have to pay subsidy. LPG prices will be revised on half yearly basis, on April 1 and October 1, every year. 85% WARNING SPACE ON CIGARETTES PACKS The government has made it mandatory for tobacco companies to carry health warnings covering at least 85% of the surface of cigarette packets, making India the world leader in implementing plain packaging of tobacco products as advocated by the World Health Organisation. SUBRAMANIAN COMMITTEE ON GREEN LAWS The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has constituted a four-member committee under chairmanship of former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian to review the laws related to protection of environment including the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and suggest amendments that could make them more effective. FIRST MENTAL HEALTH POLICY LAUNCHED The Union Health Ministry launched the country’s first ever Mental Health Policy to provide access to good quality treatment to mentally ill people with the focus on those living in poverty. INDIA’S 1ST OFFSHORE WIND POWER PROJECT Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 1st

October 2014 for setting up a Joint Venture Company to undertake the first-ever Offshore Wind Power Project in India along Gujarat coast. Govt plans to start “Sardar Patel Urban Housing

Mission” to ensure housing for all by 2022 and a ‘slum free India’. Union Government has decided to sell LED bulbs to

households at 10 rupees against the market price of 400 rupees.

From November, 2014 all replies given under RTI by ministries will be posted online, available for access to all and not just to persons seeking the information.

Central govt has advised all states, union territories and Central Armed Police Forces to recruit 33 per cent women in their ranks.

T.K. Vishwanathan Committee setup to review Bankruptcy laws.


SEPTEMBER 2014 ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for making India a manufacturing destination at the launch of his ambitious “Make in India” campaign in the presence of some 3000 business leaders from around the world gathered at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The key elements of the project are as under: 25 Thrust Sectors: Government has identified 25 sectors where India can become world leader. These include automobiles, chemicals, IT, pharma, textiles, ports, aviation, leather, tourism and hospitality and railways.

Single Point Interaction For Investors: Invest India will be first reference point to guide foreign investors. It will provide help on regulatory and policy issues and assist in obtaining regulatory clearances

www.makeinindia.com: Visitors registered on the website or raising queries will be followed up with relevant information and a newsletter Global Launch Make in India will be launched at national and state levels and missions abroad will take it forward

Who And Where: The portal will track visitors for their geographical location, interest and real time user behaviour. Subsequent visits will be customised for the visitor based on this information.

Domestic Focus: Government will identify select domestic companies having leadership in innovation and new technology. The idea is to turn these into global champions to promote green and advanced manufacturing and help them to integrate into global value chain Regulatory Regime Overhaul: Review of all regulatory processes to make them simple and reduce complications. Proactive Approach: Investor facilitation cell to assist foreign investors from the time of their arrival in the country to the time of their departure. All Stakeholders on Board: State governments, business chambers, prominent corporates and foreign companies will be made part of the project.

DEEN DAYAL ANTYODAYA YOJANA To impart skills to rural and urban poor, the Government has launched Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana, which would work towards empowering the population through enhancement of livelihood opportunities. Rs. 1,000 crore has been allocated for this purpose during 2014-15, out of which Rs. 500 crore will be spent on skill development of over five lac urban poor. Further, September 25 will be celebrated as Antyodaya Diwas every year to mark the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL YOUTH The Aajeevika Skills Development Programme has been renamed as “Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana” with reeduction in the minimum entry age to 15 years from 18 years. Besides, skills imparted under the programme will now be benchmarked against international standards by roping in private players so that rural youths are provided with certificates recognised overseas. The programme aims to train 10 lakh rural youths by the end of the 12th five year plan (2012-17).

TARGET SET FOR CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS Government has set a target of constructing 30-kilometre roads per day. Further, CCTVs are being introduced at all toll plazas during the current year and all road toll points would be connected with e-governance system. Govt also plans to start cashless treatment of road accident victims during critical golden hour.

HEAVY FINES FOR TRAFFIC OFFENCES The new Road Safety and Transport Bill, 2014 proposes a steep hike in penalties for traffic violations, up to Rs 3 lakh along with a minimum 7 – years imprisonment for death of a child in certain circumstances. It also proposes a fine of Rs 5 lakh per vehicle as well as imprisonment for faulty manufacturing design, besides cancellation of licences for rash and negligent driving.

COUNTRY’S FIRST ‘CBDR’ IN SPITI, HP The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has sanctioned Rs 5.12 crore for the country’s first 'Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve' (CDBR) in the Spiti region of the tribal Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. The project aims at conserving medicinal plants, rare wildlife species and natural water bodies found in the cold desert.

RVCs PLANNED FOR TAMING INFLATION Govt has launched the Reefer Vehicle Call-in-Centre (RVC) for smooth transportation of perishable goods. The RVC will identify bottlenecks faced in transportation of goods on the national highways and find ways to overcome them so as to control inflation in prices of perishable goods. RVC is a joint initiative of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, National Centre for Cold-chain Development and Mahindra Logistics.

ANTI T B SURVEY LAUNCHED The first anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey of India for the year 2014-15 was launched on September 6 supported by the World Health Organization (WHO). The survey aims to improve our preparedness to fight T B, particularly the Multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

DEVRAJ COMMITTEE ON UNIVERSITIES A high-powered committee headed by H Devraj, set up at the behest of the Supreme Court to look into the working of 'C' category deemed universities has found that out of 41 such universities hardly 10 fulfill the criteria needed to become deemed university. Rest of them may be allowed to exist as educational institutions affiliated to universities.

All India Radio has started free SMS service to provide news in Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Dogri and Nepali.

A National Sports University will be set up in Manipur to promote excellence in sports studies.

Textiles Ministry has approved setting up of 13 textile parks entailing investment of at least 100 crore rupees in each park.

India Newborn Action Plan launched in New Delhi to achieve the single digit neonatal mortality and stillbirth rate by 2030.

The Supreme Court has directed Central Government to ensure 3 percent quota for disabled persons in all government jobs, including IAS and promotions.


ECONOMIC INDICATORS NOVEMBER 2014

NCAER LOWERS GDP GROWTH RATE TO 5 % Country’s economic think-tank-The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has lowered India's GDP growth forecast to 5 per cent in 2014-15 on weak economical fundamentals and uncertainties in growth prospects. In its earlier projection it had suggested a growth rate of 5.7 per cent in 2014-15. OECD PUTS GROWTH RATE @ 5.4% Paris-based think tank Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD has projected 5.4 percent growth for the Indian economy this year as global recovery continues at a moderate pace. INDIA MAY GROW BY 5.6% - FITCH According to international rating agency Fitch, India's economic growth is expected to pick up to 5.6 per cent in the current fiscal on account of structural reforms being rolled-out by the government. TRADE DEFICIT JUMPS TO $13.36 BILLION Exports took a beating in October slipping down to $26.09 billion after a fall of 5.04%. However due to a jump in gold imports, trade deficit increased to $13.36 billion as imports reached a level of $39.45 billion. IIP MOVES UP BY 2.5% Showing signs of recovery, industrial production as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew at three-month high of 2.5% in September, mainly on account of better mining and manufacturing output and larger offtake of capital goods. CORE SECTOR SLIPS BELOW 2% The growth of the eight core industries in September plummeted to 1.9%, the slowest pace in eight months, against 9% in the same month last year, due to a fall in output of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products and fertilizers.

OCTOBER 2014 INDIA MAY GROW BY 5.6 % - WORLD BANK A World Bank report says that India’s GDP is likely to expand by 5.6 per cent this fiscal as reforms gain momentum. It says that the growth is expected to accelerate as proposed measures such as GST are likely to give a boost to manufacturing sector.

SEPTEMBER 2014 S&P UPGRADES INDIA’s RATING TO ‘STABLE’ Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has raised the outlook on India’s sovereign rating from negative to stable and said the new government has the willingness and capacity to deliver on reforms and restore high growth. The agency said that there has been a considerable improvement in sentiment and macro indicators with the new government taking over.

ADB UPS INDIA’S GROWTH RATE TO 6.3% Asian Development Bank has revised India's GDP growth upwards by 0.3 per cent to 6.3 per cent for 2015, saying that the India’s economy shows a new promise of turnaround after elections brought a stable govt. in May. PPI TO TRACK INFLATION IN SERVICES The government has set up a committee headed by Prof. B N Goldar to develop a new inflation index - the Producer Price Index which may replace the Wholesale Price Index. The most important part of PPI will be inclusion of services, as currently there is no index tracking inflation in this sector that contributes about 55% to India's GDP.

ECONOMY NOVEMBER 2014

KISAN VIKAS PATRA RE-LAUNCHED The Government re-launched Kisan Vikas Patra scheme on Nov 18 to encourage the habit of small savings among the citizens. The KVPs will be available in denominations of Rs. 1000, 5000, 10,000 and 50,000 with no upper limit for investment and the invested amount will become double in 100 months.

MSP FOR RABI CROPS FOR 2014-15 SEASON CROP Rs./Qtl CROP Rs./Qtl Wheat 1450 Gram 3175 Barley 1150 Rapeseed/ Musturd 3100 Masur dal 3075 Safflower 3050 FDI NORMS RELAXED FOR CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

The Union Government has decided on 29th October, to relax FDI norms in the construction sector, allowing 100 per cent of foreign funds in building projects. The minimum floor area requirement has been reduced

to 20,000 sq mts from the earlier 50,000 sq mts The minimum capital requirement has been cut down

to $5 million from earlier $10 million. BSE MARKET CAP HITS 100 TRILLION MARK The market capitaliastion of all listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Asia's oldest stock exchange, hit a record Rs 100 trillion (lakh crore) mark on Nov 28. This is good news for investors because the doubling of market cap in five years has also led to doubling of investors' wealth during the period.


NEW SEBI NORMS ON ‘INSIDER TRAINING’ SEBI has approved new insider trading rules to replace the two-decade old law seen as inadequate to curb trading violations. The term “insider” will now include persons connected on the basis of being in any contractual, fiduciary or employment relationship that allows such people access to unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI). SHELL INDIA WINS 18,000 CRORE TAX CASE The Bombay High Court quashed the IT department’s Rs 18,000-crore rupees tax order against oil major Shell India. Shell India had issued 870 million shares to its parent company Shell Gas BV, Netherlands in March 2009 at Rs 10 per share. However, the Income Tax department contended that the shares were grossly undervalued and it valued them at Rs 180 per share. The difference was added to the income of the company.

BIS MARK FOR 15 ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS To curb the inflow of sub-standard items in the country, the government has come out with a notification which lays down the mandatory standards (BIS marks) for 15 electronic products, including mobile phones, power banks and LED lamps.

TIEA SIGNED WITH St. KITTS & NEVIS To help in its efforts to crack down on suspected black money stashed abroad, India signed Tax Information Exchange Agreement – TIEA with Saint Kitts & Nevis, a two-island Carribean country, perceived as a safe haven for offshore funds.

Exporters and SEZ units asked to realise and repatriate overseas sales proceeds in nine months, as against 12-month earlier, from the date of shipment.

Suzlon Energy installed the world’s tallest 120 meters high hybrid wind generator turbine in Asia’s biggest wind energy park in Kutch, Gujarat.

India signs a USD 200 million loan agreement with the World Bank to finance the setting up of technology centres to help MSMEs enhance their productivity.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $350-million loan assistance for upgradation of district roads in Madhya Pradesh.

OCTOBER 2014 INDIA TO BECOME $2 TRILLION ECONOMY According to IMF's latest World Economic Outlook report, India is poised to become a USD two trillion economy this year and may cross $ three trillion by 2019. United States would remain the world's largest economy with a size of USD 17.42 trillion, followed by China at USD 10.35 trillion. BIG OIL FIND NEAR AHMADABAD A significant crude oil discovery has been made in the Kharenti-A well near Ahmadabad in the Cambay basin by a private oil company, making it the biggest find this year. Cambay basin extends from Surat in the south to Sanchor in the north, covering an area of about 59,000 sq km with a hydrocarbon resource of more than 15 billion barrels.

INDIA ZOOMS ON E-COMMERCE According to research firm Gartner, India is emerging as the fastest-growing e-commerce market in the world with the revenue expected to reach $6 billion in 2015, a 70% increase over 2014 revenue of $3.5 billion.

REAL ESTATE GIANT DLF BARRED FOR 3 YEARS Stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred India's largest real estate company DLF and its top officials, including chairman KP Singh, from accessing or dealing in stock markets for three years. The company and six of its top officials were found guilty of suppressing material information in its offer document at the time of its public issue in 2007.

FUTURE GROUP JOINS HANDS WITH AMAZON World's largest online retailer Amazon.com and India's largest listed retailer Future Group, promoters of ‘Big Bazaar’ retail chain, have signed a deal to jointly sell goods over the Internet amid growing friction between online and offline retailers over heavy discounting. Amazon plans to invest $ 2 billion in India.

Delhi Metro has been ranked second among 18 international Metro systems in terms of overall customer satisfaction in an online customer survey.

Maruti Suzuki launched ‘Ciaz’ - its first sedan car in past 7 years, to meet competition from Honda City and Hyundai Verna.

Government has decided to import potatoes for the first time to augment domestic availability and to check its rising prices.

Country’s first olive oil refinery has been started in Lunkaransar area of Bikaner, Rajasthan. The project was started by taking assistance from Israel.

IndiGo, India’s largest domestic airline by market share, has signed a deal to buy 250 latest Airbus A-320 neo aircrafts worth $26 billion or Rs 1.55 lakh crore.

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on Phenol imported from the U.S. and China’s Taipei to safeguard the interest of domestic manufacturers.

SEPTEMBER 2014 214 COAL BLOCKS ALLOCATION CANCELLED In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on 24th

September cancelled 214 coal block allocations made since 1993, except four blocks — one belonging to NTPC and SAIL each and two allocated to Sasan ultra mega power projects. The Court granted six months breathing time to mining companies to wind up their operations in the coal blocks.

The allocation of coal block licenses has been the subject of a CBI investigation that is being monitored by the Supreme Court. It became a major political issue when CAG Vinod Rai in his 2012 report stated that around Rs. 1.83 lakh crore has been lost because coal blocks were not auctioned openly.


GOVT PLANS 45,000 CRORE DISINVESTMENT The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the sale of stakes in Coal India Limited (CIL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). The Finance Ministry proposes to sell 10, 5 and 11.36 per cent holding in CIL, ONGC and NHPC respectively. Govt expects to mop up around Rs. 45,000 crore through this sale. MNREGA TO FOCUS ON DRAUGHT RELIEF With a view to mitigating drought and drought-like situation in many parts of the country, govt has directed that 50 per cent of all the works taken up at the district level under MNREGA scheme should only be for water conservation. NETHERLAND TO HELP INDIA IN AGRICULTURE

The Netherlands is working with India to set up 10 centres of excellence across the country with an aim to raise agriculture output and introduce modern farm technologies and techniques. Three such centres are already working in Kerala, Maharashtra, and Punjab. MUKESH IS THE RICHEST – 8th TIME Reliance Industries Chairman, Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes list of billionaires in India for the eighth consecutive year with a net worth of $23.6 billion, followed by Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma at $18 billion. 100 BILLIONAIRES IN INDIA According to the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2014, India ranks sixth in terms of number of billionaires, having 100 such people, collectively having $175 billion in networth, while globally the number of uber-rich has reached a record high of 2,325 persons. The ADB to give $63.3 million loan to improve urban

municipal services in Karnataka and $150 million for development of renewable energy in Rajasthan.

India's foodgrain production is projected to drop by 7 per cent to about 120 million tonnes this year due to poor monsoon.

Union government has decided to close down India’s sole and oldest (1961) public sector watch company - HMT Watches in a phased manner.

India has signed the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services and investments with 10 ASEAN countries. ASEAN: Association of South East Asian Nations

ADB to give $150 million loan to help build transmission lines for renewable energy development in Rajasthan.

BANKING & FINANCE

NOVEMBER 2014 GUIDELINES FOR PAYMENT/ SMALL BANKS The Reserve Bank on Nov 27 released the guidelines for ‘payment banks’ and ‘small banks’. Payments banks can receive deposits and remittances, but cannot lend; focusing on migrant labour and low income households. Small banks will lend to “unserved and under-served sections”, including small business units, small and marginal farmers, and micro and small industries.

PAYMENTS BANKS SMALL FINANCE BANKS OBJECTIVE

Provide small savings accounts and payments / remittance services to migrant labour workforce and low-income households

Financial inclusion and supply of credit to small business units and farmers through high-technology and low-cost operations

ELIGIBLE PROMOTERS Individuals or professionals with necessary experience and eligibility, existing NBFCs, corporate banking correspondents, mobile companies, supermarket chains, real estate co-ops and corporate entities

Resident individuals or professionals with 10 years of experience in banking and finance, companies and societies owned and controlled by residents, existing NBFSc, microfinance institutions and local area banks owned and controlled by residents

SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES Accept deposits but customer balance should not exceed Rs. 1 lakh

Basic services of accepting deposits and lending

Cannot give loans, Can issue ATM/debit card but no credit cards

No restriction on the area of operations

Can distribute non-risk simple financial products such as mutual funds and insurance products

At least 50% of its loan portfolio should constitute loans and advances of up to Rs. 25 lakh

NRIs will not be allowed to open accounts

Capital Requirement and Promoter’s contribution Minimum paid-up equity capital of Rs. 100 crore / initially 40%; to be gradually brought down to 26% within 12 years from date of commencement 10 CR ACCOUNTS UNDER PMJDY BY 26-01-15 Govt has revised the target for opening of accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, PMJDY, to 10 crore accounts by 26th January, 2015. The earlier target was pegged at 7.5 crore accounts.


NEW RULES FOR MINIMUM BALANCE The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to inform their customers about fall in the minimum balance well in advance, and said that penal charges should be levied only to the extent of shortfall in such balances by way of a percentage of the shortfall. The guidelines will come into effect from April 1st, 2015. ING VYSYA MERGES WITH KOTAK MAHINDRA

In an all stock amalgamation, ING Vysya Bank decided to merge itself with Kotak Mahindra Bank, creating the fourth largest private sector bank in the country. After the merger, all Vysya Bank branches and employees will become Kotak branches and employees. NEW NOF NORMS FOR NBFCs RBI has notified new norms for NBFCs that manage funds worth Rs 500 crore and accept public deposits. The net own funds – NOF requirements for NBFCs has been raised from Rs.25 lakh at present to Rs.1 crore by March, 2016, and to further to Rs.2 crore by 2017. KERALA & GOA ACHIEVE PMJDY TARGETS Kerala and Goa have become the first states in the country to have bank accounts for all households in the state under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY). Further, the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Puducherry and Lakshadweep have also aceived the target. SMS ALERTS FOR CHEQUE TRANSACTIONS RBI has made it mandatory for banks to send SMS alerts to both payer and drawer in cheque transactions as soon as the cheque is received for clearing. This has been done to curb the cheque-related fraud cases. SEBI ALLOWS SHARIA FUNDS The SEBI has allowed the State Bank of India and three mutual funds to launch Sharia funds. Sharia-compliant funds invest in companies that follow Islamic rules. Charging and receiving interest is considered usury and is not allowed under Islamic law known as Sharia. India's stock exchanges have between 600 and 700 companies that are Sharia-compliant.

RBI BANS FOREIGN FUNDING Reserve Bank has banned domestic firms from raising foreign funds above the permitted levels and from extending guarantees for them to meet domestic funding needs. Violators will face penal action under the Foreign Exchange Management Act -FEMA.

BANKS ASKED TO FINANCE JLGs RBI has asked banks to give liberal loans to landless farmers to meet the govt’s target of financing five lakh Joint Liability Groups- JLGs in 2014-15. The banks would also have to provide regular progress reports to NABARD in this regard.

The foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) has allowed HDFC Bank to increase foreign investment in the bank to 74 per cent.

Country's oldest and largest foreign bank, Standard Chartered Bank, opened its 100th branch in Nakatia, Bareily (UP)

Bank deposits grew by 12.3% to Rs 81.14 trillion in the quarter ending Sep 30, and the credit grew at 9.4% to Rs 61.57 trillion during the same period.

OCTOBER 2014 KYC COMPLIANCE ‘MUST’ FOR ALL ACCOUNTS The RBI has made it mandatory for all bank customers, including low risk ones, to be KYC-compliant. Credits would be allowed in such accounts, but debits won't be allowed if the customers are not KYC compliant. However, the account-holder will have the option to

close the account and withdraw the money. To facilitate compliance of KYC norms, banks have been

asked to allow self-certification of documents and accept a certified copy of the document even by mail/post for account opening.

KYC norms were introduced in 2001, after the 9/11 attacks in New York, America.

TWO MORE TRANSACTIONS FOR METRO ATMs The Reserve Bank has said that the number of free transactions in a month at non-home ATMs would remain three in six identified metros but customers of these centres can use their card without cost two more times in non-metro centres.

SBI LAUNCHES ONLINE PASSBOOK APP State Bank of India has launched a facility called ‘mPassBook’ on its ‘State Bank Anywhere’ mobile application, for its retail banking users. It is an electronic application of a physical passbook for savings bank and current accounts. The facility empowers users to view their transaction history on their smart phone and maintain an entire year’s historical data on it.

INSTANT BANK PAYMENTS FOR FB USERS Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched an instant bank payment product – KayPay for Facebook users to send money to each other in an instant. The system will enable over 25 crore Indian bank account holders to transfer funds to each other instantly by just choosing recipients from their Facebook friends list.

Federal Bank has won the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence award for 2013-14 in four out of total five

categories in the mid-sized lenders segment. The Reserve Bank has signed a pact with Central Bank

of Kenya for exchange of information and supervisory cooperation.


SEPTEMBER 2014

KINGFISHER DECLARED ‘WILFUL DEFAULTER’ The public sector United Bank of India (UBI) has slapped wilful defaulter notice on Kingfisher Airline, its promoter Vijay Mallya and its directors. Kingfisher Airlines had taken a loan of Rs 350 crore from the bank. The Airlines owes around Rs.7,500 crore to a consortium of 17 banks led by the State Bank of India. BENEFITS UNDER ‘PMJDY’ ARE FOR ALL Government has decided that benefits under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) would be extended to existing bank account holders provided they apply for it. The idea of universal bank accounts was originally proposed by Nachiket Mor committee formed by the RBI to improve financial inclusion. Universal financial access aims to improve financial savings, reduce leakages through direct benefit transfer and bring down use of cash. RBI CLARIFIES ON INOPERATIVE ACCOUNTS The Reserve Bank has said that the savings bank accounts in which even if dividend cheque has been credited in it in the previous two years, the account may not be treated as inoperative. A bank account becomes inoperative or dormant if no credit or debit transaction has been conducted for a period of two years or more. SBI, ICICI TOP IN MOBILE TRANSACTIONS State Bank of India accounted for half of the total number of banking transactions done through mobile phone in June, 2014, while ICICI Bank became the first bank to surpass the Rs 1,000-crore mark in terms of amount of transactions done through mobile phones. AXIS BANK/ICICI BANK TO COLLECT TOLL TAX NHAI-promoted Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) has inked a pact with Axis Bank and ICICI Bank for services related to electronic toll collection. Considering the complexities and geographical spread, the nationwide electronic toll collection (ETC) would be first of its kind in the whole world. COMMITTEE ON CAPACITY BUILDING RBI formed G Gopalakrishna Committee to give recommendations on capacity building in banks and nonbanks, streamlining training intervention and suggesting changes thereto in view of ever increasing challenges in banking and non-banking sectors. RBI released committee’s recommendations on 23rd September for inviting suggestions from the stakeholders. SBI STARTS ACCOUNTS FOR MINORS State Bank of India has introduced personalised savings accounts for anyone below 18-year age. Account named 'Pehli Udaan' is a singly operated savings bank account for a minor aged 10 years and above and who can sign uniformly, while account 'Pehla Kadam is a savings bank account for minor of any age operated jointly with his/her parent or guardian.

CARDLESS WITHDRAWAL FROM ICICI BANK ICICI Bank has introduced a Cardless Cash Withdrawal facility which allows customers to transfer money from their account to anyone in India with a mobile number. The recipient, even if he does not have a bank account, can withdraw money round the clock without using a debit card from over 10,000 ATMs of ICICI Bank. RBI NOT TO PRINT RUPEE ONE NOTE The Law Ministry has clarified that the Government of India has all the powers to print rupee one currency notes under the Coinage Act, 2011and the Reserve Bank has the authority to issue bank notes of denominational values of Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000. The Govt. of India also has the sole right to mint coins of denominations up to Rs. 1000. H R KHAN COMMITTEE The government has set-up a Committee headed by the Deputy Governor H R Khan of Reserve Bank of India to take stock of unclaimed deposits in the Public Provident Fund (PPF) and post office saving schemes and suggest how these funds can be utilised for the benefit of senior citizens BANKS TO FIX TIMELINE FOR LOANS RBI has said that Banks should clearly delineate the procedure for disposal of loan proposals, with appropriate timelines, and institute a suitable monitoring mechanism for reviewing applications pending beyond the specified period. NABARD PUTS COOP BANKS ON CBS A total of 201 state and district level Central Cooperative Banks with 6914 branches from 16 states and three union territories of the country have joined the 'NABARD initiated Project on Core Banking Solutions in Co-operative Banks.

RBI has advised that if a company fails to repay its bank dues, its other group units may also be termed wilful defaulters.

RBI has fixed 70 years as the upper age limit for Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers and other whole-time director of banks in the private sector.

Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank Corp.signed MoU with SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to facilitate trade between the two countries.

GYANM COLLEGE OF COMPETITIONS Opens a Centre in

FEROZEPUR MALWAL ROAD 09779702668

Gyanm – Guiding you all the way


DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NOVEMBER 2014 PRITHVI-II / DHANUSH TESTED UCCESSFULLY The Strategic Forces Command of the Army test-fired the Prithvi-II missile on 14th Nov from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha. Naval version of this missile – Dhanush was also tested. Having a range of 350 kms, this was the first missile developed by the DRDO, inducted in Indian army in 2003.

ISRAEL TESTS LR-SAM FOR INDIA The long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) system with a range of 70 kms, being developed jointly by DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), was tested successfully for the first time in Israel on 10th Nov. It is capable of tracking and destroying incoming hostile aircrafts, drones and missiles. ARMY WINS ‘CAMBRIAN PATROL’ IN UK The Indian Army’s team of eight Garhwalis won the rigorous endurance competition – Cambrain Patrol held in Wales, UK. It was forty-eight hours without rest patrol across marshy lands, swamps and rivers in biting cold, conducted from October 23-25 where 119 international teams participated.

DRDO successfully test-fired on Nov 9 its nuclear capable ballistic missile – Agni-II having a strike range of 2,000 km and beyond.

Tejas (PV-6): India’s first indigenous Light Combat Aircraft’s two-seater trainer jet version made its maiden flight on Nov 8.

Indian Air force tested its medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile Akash with a strike range of 25 km.

In a freak accident, a Torpedo Recovery Vessel of Indian Navy sunk off the Visakhapatnam coast during a naval exercise due to a probable split in its base.

Mithra Shakthi: Three week Joint military exercise between Indian and Sri Lankan military forces in Sri Lanka in Nov 2014

Hand in Hand 2014: 4th Joint anti terrorism military exercise by Indian and Chinese forces held in Pune at Aundh Military Station from Nov – 17.

FIRST EVER MAN MADE LANDING ON COMET Rosetta – the spacecraft of European Space Agency secured a place in history on 12th Nov when it succeeded in landing its mechanical device called the Philae probe on a comet named- 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, some 500 million kms away from Earth.

Comets hold vital clues about the original materials that went into building the solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago. If the mission is successful, it will provide an opportunity to sample and study a comet directly.

ALTERNATIVE TO ANTIBIOTIC DEVELOPED Scientists for the first time have developed antibiotic-free drug named Staphefekt as an alternative to antibiotics to fight against the antibiotics-resistant superbugs such as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

India’s Mars mission Mangalyaan, developed by ISRO, has been listed among the 25 best innovations of 2014 by the Time magazine.

A study by the Internet & Mobile Association of India shows that Mumbai has the largest number -(16.4 million, of internet users in India, followed by Delhi.

OCTOBER 2014 ‘NIRBHAY’ TEST FIRED SUCCESSFULLY India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable cruise missile 'Nirbhay' from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, Odisha. Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Nirbhay (fearless in Hindi) is very manoeuvrable and can fly at tree-top level, making it difficult to detect on radar, and can strike targets more than 700 km away.

Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni, Nirbhay has a wing and pronounced tail fins. It launches like a missile and in early flight the small wings get deployed. It then flies like an aircraft and can even hover near the target, striking at will from any direction.

GOVT CLEARS 80,000 CRORE FOR DEFENCE The Defence Acquisition Council has cleared military equipment purchase proposals worth Rs 80,000 crore that include purchase of over 8,000 Israeli anti-tank missiles, 362 infantry carrying vehicles, 12 upgraded Dornier surveillance aircraft and two midget subs for special operations. The Council also gave green signal for construction of six submarines indigenously. India and China to set up hotlines between their army

headquarters and establish new border meeting posts to amicably address incidents of incursions on border.

China has test fired a new variant of its 10,000 km range missile - Dongfeng-31B, capable of targeting Europe and the West Coast of the United States.

IRNSS 1C LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY Scripting another success in India's space programme, ISRO launched its third navigation satellite IRNSS 1C on board its PSLV-C26 rocket from Sriharikota on October 16. IRNSS 1C is a part of the series of seven satellites that ISRO plans to launch to put in place the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System- IRNSS – our own navigation system on par with the GPS of the US. URANUS LIKE PLANET DISCOVERED Astronomers have spotted a turbulent planet, 25,000 lightyears away, that is four times as massive as Uranus. The exo-planet is part of a double-star (binary) system known as OGLE-2008-BLG-092L, near the constellation Sagittarius.


SEPTEMBER 2014 JOINT ARMY EXERCISE HELD WITH US ARMY A joint 14 days military exercise between the armed forces of America and India was held at Ranikhet in Almora district of Uttrakhand. The exercise included 250 personnel of the US army and a similar strength of a Mountain Brigade of the Indian Army. INS SUMITRA JOINS INDIAN NAVY The new generation Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel (NOPV), INS Sumitra, built by Goa Shipyard Limited for the Indian Navy, was formally commissioned by Chief of Naval Staff on 4th September 2014 at Chennai. Pakistan conducted a successful test of its surface to

surface missile Hatf IX (NASR), having a range of 60 kilometers

Iran unveiled a new surface-to-air missile - Talash-3 (“Endeavor-3”), claimed to be capable to shoot down hostile target at high altitude.

INDIA CONQUERS MARS IN FIRST ATTEMPT India scripted history on September 24, early in the morning when it became the first country to place its Mars Orbiter Spacecraft (MOS) in the orbit in very first attempt. Scientists have warned that millions of lives could be at

risk because of the threat to food crops posed by conflict in the Middle East.

Researchers at Drexel University in the US have claimed to have discovered in Argentina remains of an enormous Dinosaur weighing nearly 60 tons.

China launched two satellites - Yaogan-21 and Tiantuo- 1 to relay information on natural resources, disaster management and smart satellite experiments.

DRDO successfully test-fired Agni-I - nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile with a striking range of 700 to 1250 km.

INTERNATIONAL

NOVEMBER 2014

WTO APPROVES TFA AND INDIA’s STAND Ending months-long deadlock, the WTO has approved a trade facilitation agreement (TFA) while agreeing to India's demand for continuing the peace clause till a permanent solution is found to the food stockpiling issue, crucial for continuing food security scheme. The decision was taken at Geneva meet of WTO's General Council on Nov 27. WTO also accepted India's demand for extending the peace clause till a permanent solution is found for its food stockpiling issue.

Under the peace clause, a WTO member gets immunity against penalty for breaching the food subsidy cap. As per the WTO norms, a developing nation can provide food subsidy of upto 10 percent of the total farm output.

WORLD BANK REPORT ON GLOBAL WARMING

The World Bank on 23 November 2014 released a report on the impact of global warming titled “Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal.” The report focuses on the specific regional impacts of warming.

WORLD LONGEST TRAIN JOURNEY An 82-wagon cargo train started on Nov 25 from the Chinese city of Yiwu for Madrid, Spain on the world’s longest rail journey, covering 10,000 kms, following the ancient Silk Route. It will cover five other countries — Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France — before completing its mammoth 21-day journey in the Spanish capital.

UN RESOLUTION ON CHILD MARRIAGES The United Nations has adopted the first-ever resolution calling on governments to stop child marriages. About 15 million girls worldwide become child brides each year and more than 700 mn women are married before the age–18.

IMMIGRATION REFORMS IN USA In a landmark decision that could benefit around 2.5 lakh Indians seeking the Green Card, US President has announced sweeping immigration reforms that will save almost five million illegal immigrants from deportation, particularly those who hold H-1B visa.

OVER $9 BN PLEDGED FOR CLIMATE FUND Thirty nations met on 20th Nov in Berlin has pledged $9.3 billion for a fund to help developing countries cut emissions and prepare for climate change to avoid global warming. The South Korea-based Green Climate Fund (GCF) aims to help developing nations invest in clean energy and green technology and build up defences against rising seas and worsening storms, floods and droughts.

UN WORLD TOILET DAY – NOV 19 The United Nations has dedicated November 19th for promoting World Toilet Day to bring into limelight the plight of all those people who do not have access to a toilet - despite this being their basic right. The theme for this year's UN World Toilet Day is "Equality, Dignity and the Link Between Gender-Based Violence and Sanitation".

G20 TO ACT ON TAX THEFT /CLIMATE CHANGE Leaders from the G20 group of nations resolved to boost flagging global growth, tackle climate change and crack down on tax avoidance. The group leaders promised to modernise global tax rules and begin automatic exchange of tax information by 2018-end. USA committed $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund. Japan also pledged $1.5 Billion for the same.

Turkey will host 2015 G20 summit and the 2016 summit will be hosted by China.


US AGREES TO INDIAN FOOD STOCKING India has reached an agreement with the United States on public stockpiling of food in terms of Bali Package, paving the way for the implementation of a global Trade Facilitation Agreement that has been stalled for months.

India had asked WTO to amend the norms for calculating agri subsidies so that the country could continue to procure foodgrains from farmers at minimum support price and sell them to poor at cheaper rates without violating the WTO norms. CHINA USA AGREE TO CUT EMISSIONS

China and the United States have agreed on a timetable to limit emission of greenhouse gases — ending a 20-year discord between them on how to combat climate change. The U.S. agreed to reduce by 2025 its emission of greenhouse gases by 26 per cent to 28 per cent below its 2005 level. China agreed to raise the share of non-fossil fuels to 20 per cent by 2030. The two countries are the largest producers of CO2 gasses in the world. IMF DECLARES CHINA AS NO 1 ECONOMY As per recent reports from IMF, in October 2014, China overtook the US to become the world’s largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). China’s GDP stood at $ 17.6 trillion, 16.48 percent of the World GDP, followed by USA at $ 17.4 trillion. India stood at the third place with $ 7.3 trillion size. ‘VAPE’ IS THE WORD OF 2014 'Vape' - the act of smoking from an electronic cigarette - has been chosen by Oxford Dictionaries as its international word of the year for 2014 after use of the term more than doubled over the last year.

Thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens to hold a nationwide strike to protest against the government’s austerity drive involving job cuts.

Japan's economy shrank for the second consecutive quarter, marking a technical recession in the world's third largest economy.

Sweden has become the first European Union (EU) country to officially recognise the State of Palestine.

WHO released first ever ‘Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality - Household Fuel Combustion’ to promote use of clean fuels at household level.

22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit was held in Beijing, China from 9th November 2014 to 11th November 2014.

Czech Republic celebrated the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Velvet Revolution that toppled communism and led to dawn of democracy in 1989.

General council meeting of WTO held at GENEVA on 27th November, 2014

International Buddhist Conference held in Lumbini, Nepal, Nov 15-16.

OCTOBER 2014 PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS IN HONG KONG Hong Kong, an otherwise peaceful territory, witnessed widespread clashes between pro-democracy activists and counter-protesters (pro-Beijing) who have violently tried to drive the mainly young, student-led demonstrators from the occupied streets. The movement has been named as “occupy central” and also given the name ‘umbrella revolution’ due to extensive use of umbrellas by the demonstrators. The protesters are seeking guarantees that Hong Kong citizens can freely vote for their leaders in 2017 from an unrestricted list of candidates, as Beijing promised when Britain handed over the territory in 1997. EBOLA CLAIMS OVER 5,000 LIVES The World Health Organization has advised that by October 25, the number of Ebola cases has exceeded the 10,000 mark, holding with about a 50 percent mortality rate. The number could be higher since a lack of beds in Ebola treatment centers means some victims are forced to stay at home - and those deaths could remain unreported.

NIGERIA CONQUERS ‘EBOLA’ Nigeria was declared free of the deadly Ebola virus on October 20 by WHO after a determined doctor and thousands of officials and volunteers helped end an outbreak still ravaging other parts of West Africa and threatening the United States and Spain. UNO TO WORK FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION UNO observed the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17th October. The theme for the day for 2014 was “Leave no one behind: think, decide and act together against extreme poverty”. UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said that more than 1.2 billion people are living on less than $1.25 a day and 2.4 billion are living on less than $2 a day.

BRITAIN EXITS FROM AFGHANISTAN The United Kingdom finally called it a day to its presence in Afghanistan when it handed over its last base there in Helmand province to the Afghan forces, marking an official end to the 13-year-long combat operations that claimed over 450 British lives in the war-torn country.

SECURITY COUNCIL GETS 5 NEW MEMBERS Five countries - Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Spain were elected by the UN General Assembly as the new non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two years term beginning from Jan 1, 2015. These five countries will replace retiring members Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda.


4 INDIANS IN FORTUNE TOP 40 UNDER 40 Four Indians have been named by Fortune in its 2014 list of the 40 most powerful, influential and important people in business under the age of 40. The list has been topped by ridesharing service company Uber’s 38-year-old co- founder Travis Kalanick and community-driven hospitality company Airbnb’s 33-year-old CEO Brian Chesky. The Indians on the list are Economics professor at Harvard Raj Chetty-16, Micromax co-founder and CEO Rahul Sharma-21, Snapdeal Co-Founder and CEO Kunal Bahl-25 and Twitter’s General Counsel and the only woman on the company’s executive team Vijaya Gadde-28. JAFFNA – COLOMBO RAIL LINK OPENED A nearly 400-km long Jaffna-Colombo railway line, reconstructed with Indian assistance in Sri Lanka's former war zone, was inaugurated on 13th October, 24 years after it was shut down during the civil war. CHINA PLANS INTERNATIONAL DEV BANK China and 20 other countries plan to set up an Asian infrastructure Bank seen as a counterweight to West backed international development banks. The group agreed to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing with an expected initial capital of 50 billion US dollars.

25th ASEAN Summit to be held on Nov 12-13 at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

Google closed the social networking site Orkut on 30 September 2014. The site was started in 2004 by Orkut Buyukkokten, a Google employee.

Severe typhoon – Vongfong slammed into Japan on 13th Oct. at Makurazaki on Kyushu Island with winds of

up to 180 kmph, causing widespread destruction. Strong typhoon Phanfone slammed into Japan on 5th

Oct. with winds of up to 180 kmph lashing the shore, bringing heavy rain and chaos in areas around Tokyo.

SEPTEMBER 2014 MODI ADDRESSES UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY The Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 69th session of United Nations General Assembly, UNGA in New York. The theme of the speech was ‘delivering and implementing the Post-2015 development agenda’.

BAMIYAN, DHAKA TO BE CULTURAL CAPITAL SAARC Culture Ministers Conference was held at New Delhi on 25 September. The meet named Bamiyan, the Afghan town which shot into prominence when the Taliban blew up two ancient statues of the Buddha in 2001, to be the SAARC cultural capital for a year beginning April 2015 and Dhaka for 2016-17. The year 2016-17 was also declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.

FRANCE ATTEMPTS TO REDUCE SMOKING In a bid to reduce high smoking rates among the teenagers, France plans to introduce plain cigarette packaging and ban electronic cigarettes in certain public places. The new cigarette packets would be “the same shape, same size, same colour, same typeset” to make smoking less attractive to young smokers.

U N CLIMATE SUMMIT HELD IN NEW YORK UN Climate Change Summit 2014 held at UN headquarters in New York on 23 September 2014. The purpose of the Summit was to raise political momentum for a meaningful universal climate agreement in Paris in 2015. SCOTLAND TO STAY WITH UK Scotland has rejected indepen-dence and decided to stay with United Kingdom. In a referendum that threatened to break up 307 years union between them, 55 percent. Scottish people polled NO vote and 45 percent YES vote to a simple question – “Should Scotland be an independent country?” United Kingdom comprises of four countries – England, Scotland, North Ireland and Wales.

UKRAINE MOVES AWAY FROM RUSSIA Ukraine's Parliament has ratified a landmark European Union pact that decisively steers the former Soviet state towards Europe and away from Russian influence. The legislation grants greater autonomy to the separatist regions in the east of the country, as well as amnesty for most of those involved in recent fighting with government forces.

NATO ADOPTS ‘WALES RESOLUTION’ The NATO summit was held in Wales, UK on 4 to 5 September 2014. Leaders from around 60 countries including USA and France attended the summit. The resolutions adopted in the summit were named ‘Wales Resolution’. PAKISTAN REELS UNDER FLOOD FURY At least 280 people have been killed and over two million affected in massive flooding triggered by heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan, mainly in Punjab province and in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK). Most havoc was caused by overflowing of major rivers like Chenab and Jhelum.

NO INDIAN UNIVERSITY IN WORLD’s TOP 220 The QS World University Ranking 2014 ranks Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA at number one, followed by the University of Cambridge, Imperial College, London, Harvard University and University of Oxford. Highest rank secured by an Indian university is 222 secured by IIT, Bombay, followed by IIT Delhi-235.

ONE MILLION BABIES DIE IN FIRST 24 HOURS A report released by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) states that one million babies each year died within 24 hours of birth from mostly preventable causes. Further, almost 2.8 million babies die each year within the first 28 days. The Report showed that many of these deaths could be easily prevented with simple, cost-effective interventions before, during and immediately after birth.


6th meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation for Home Ministers held on September 19 at Kathmandu, attended by Rajnath Singh.

West Asia’s largest consumer IT and electronics retail show- GITEX Shopper held at World Trade Center in Dubai

London will host its first-ever Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (RPBD) next month from October 16 to 18.

The seventh round of nuclear talks between Iran and six major world powers- US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany were held in New York.

PERSONS IN NEWS

NOVEMBER 2014 NARENDRA MODI: joined the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people at 15th rank. The list is topped by the Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by Barack Obama. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani scored 36th rank. ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA: The Chairperson of country's largest bank- SBI, was named as the most-powerful business woman in India by Fortune Magazine. She was followed by ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank. E. SREEDHARAN: Ministry of Railways has appointed Father of Delhi Metro – ‘Metroman’ head of the committee to suggest a "proper system and procedure to ensure proper accountability and transparency" at General Manager level and other functionaries level for taking all commercial decisions.

GEN. DALBIR SINGH SUHAG: Indian Army Chief was

conferred the title of honorary rank of General of Nepal Army by the Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav.

FARHAN AKHTAR: Bollywood actor-director became the

first man in the history of “UN Women” to be appointed as its Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. He will advocate for gender equality and women's empowerment.

REUBEN PAUL: An eight-year old Indian-origin child prodigy was in news as he delivered the keynote address at the Ground Zero Summit on cyber security held in New Delhi.

NIKKI HALEY: Governor of South Caorlina state, USA, the youngest of current US Governors (42) was in news as she visited Punjab and promised South Carolina’s support to Punjab in setting up aerospace, pharma, tourism and agro-processing industries. MALALA YOUSAFZAI: Pakistani teenage rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner was in news for donating $50,000 to help rebuild UN schools in Gaza that have been damaged during the recent fight with Israel.

CHUCK HAGEL: U.S. Defense Secretary was in news as he resigned from his post. BARACK OBAMA: US President will be the Chief Guest at India's 2015 Republic Day celebrations. This will be the first time a US President will attend the function. VLADIMIR PUTIN: Russian President was in news as he walked out of the G20 summit in Australia, after he faced scorn and scepticism from Western leaders over Russia’s interference in Ukraine. ROBERT O’NEILL: An ex-Navy SEAL was in news as he has been unmasked as the man who pumped three shots to the head of elusive Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden during a top-secret raid on May 2, 2011 at his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. SAIRA BLAIR: Eighteen-year-old girl from West Virginia University was in news as she secured a landslide victory by securing 63 percent votes for a seat in the state legislature house of West Virginia, USA, becoming the youngest person ever to achieve this feat.

OCTOBER 2014 RAGHURAM RAJAN: Reserve Bank of India Governor has received the Euromoney’s “Central Bank Governor of the Year Award 2014” in Washington on October 10 for his excellent performance. Euromoney is a reputed international financial magazine of UK. SARITA DEVI: Indian boxer was in news as the International Boxing Association provisionally suspended her for protesting against a controversial verdict, at 2014 Incheon Asian Games. She declined to accept the bronze medal awarded to her as she expected to win the silver medal.

SHAKTI DEVI: An Indian police inspector has been named recipient of the prestigious International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014 by the UN's police division for her "exceptional achievements" in her duty with the UN mission in Afghanistan, including her efforts towards helping victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

HARSHIT SAUMITRA: A five-year-old Indian boy has become the youngest person to reach the Everest Base Camp (EBC). A class 1 student from New Delhi, Harshit took 10 days to cover the distance of 62km trek. He also climbed the nearby Kalapathar (5550 m) peak

LEELA SAMSON: Eminent Bharatnatyam dancer and Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) was in news as she resigned from the post of Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi.

THOMAS KAILATH: Indian-American professor from USA is one of the nine scientists selected for the prestigious National Medal of Science, the highest honour for achievement in the fields of science and engineering in USA.


JOSHUA WONG: He has just completed 18 years but he is one of the fieriest political activists in Hong Kong. He is the founder of students organisation “Scholarism” which is leading the pro democracy youth movement in Hong Kong. JEFFREY P. BEZOS: The Chief Executive of the world’s largest e-tailer –Amazon.com, called on Modi and committed $2 billion investment in the country. MARK ZUCKERBERG: Founder and CEO of Facebook, called on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. ALAN EUSTACE: A senior Google vice-president (57) created a new world record for highest free-fall parachute jump. He went up hanging with a Helium balloon and jumped in a specially designed space suit from an altitude of 135908 foot (41.4kms) reaching a max speed of 1300 kmph

SEPTEMBER 2014 R A MASHELKAR: Eminent scientist and former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has been named to head an expert panel to recommend best technologies for the "Swachh Bharat" national sanitation campaign with an emphasis on areas like potable water and sanitation. AKKINENI NAGESWARA RAO (ANR): Legendary Telugu actor, who passed away in January 2014, became the first Indian actor to be honoured with a postage stamp by the U.S. Post Service (USPS). CHITRESH TATHA: 12-year-old, a sailor of ‘Optimist’ dinghy category is the youngest sailor to represent India at the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon, South Korea. TN SURESH KUMAR: A senior ISRO scientist has become the first Indian to visit the stratosphere, the second layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. He travelled to an altitude of 17,100 metres in 48 minutes in a MIG-29 reaching a maximum speed of 1850 km per hour from Sokol Airbase near Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. J. JAYALALITHAA: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister was in news as she and three others were sentenced to four years in jail by a special court in Bangalore in a 66.65 crore rupees Disproportionate Assets case on 27th September. She was also fined Rs. 100 crore. ALOK SHETTY: The 28 year old Indian architect has been named ‘Young Leader of Tomorrow’ by Time magazine for his pioneering work in designing affordable flood-proof houses for slum dwellers. KRITTIKA BISWAS: 21 year old daughter of an Indian diplomat in New York consulate was in news as she won a significant legal victory from the local court which awarded $225,000 settlement for her wrongful arrest and jail for a day in 2011. JACK MA: Chinese founder and promoter of world’s largest online shopping portal – Alibaba was in news as the firm successfully launched world’s largest IPO, amassing around $25 billion from the investors.

CONNIE HEDEGAARD, Commissioner for Climate Action, European Commission visited India to mobilize opinion in favour of acceptance of Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) resolution in an realistic manner.

TOM THABANE: Prime Minister of Lesotho, a tiny hilly kingdom in South Africa, was in news as he fled in fear of his life after soldiers seized power in a coup.

USAIN BOLT: Sprint king from Jamaica was in news as he visited Bangalore for a day to take part in a cricket match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as part of promotional activity for a footwear company.

APPOINTMENTS NOVEMBER 2014

LIST OF CABINET MINISTERS AS ON 30.11.2014 Person Name Position 1 NARENDRA

MODI Head of the Government

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

2 Rajnath Singh Home Affairs 3 Sushma Swaraj External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs 4 Arun Jaitley Finance, Corporate Affairs, Information &

Broadcasting 5 Manohar

Parrikar Defence

6 Radha Mohan Singh

Agriculture

7 J.P. Nadda Health and Family Welfare 8 M. Venkaiah

Naidu Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs

9 Nitin Jairam Gadkari

Road Transport and Highways, Shipping

10 Suresh Prabhu Railways 11 Uma Bharati Water Resources, River Development and Ganga

Rejuvenation 12 Dr. Najma A.

Heptulla Minority Affairs

13 Chaudhary Birender Singh

Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation

14 Ramvilas Paswan

Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

15 Kalraj Mishra Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises 16 Maneka Sanjay

Gandhi Women and Child Development

17 Ananthkumar Chemicals and Fertilizers 18 Ravi Shankar

Prasad Communications and Information Technology

19 AG Raju Pusapati

Civil Aviation

20 Anant Geete Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises 21 Harsimrat Kaur

Badal Food Processing Industries

22 Narendra Singh Tomar

Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment

23 Jual Oram Tribal Affairs 24 Sadananda

Gowda Law and Justice

25 Thaawar Chand Gehlot

Social Justice and Empowerment

26 Smriti Zubin Irani

Human Resource Development

27 Dr. Harsh Vardhan

Science & Technology / Earth Science


DEEPAK GUPTA: Chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

JUSTICE C K PRASAD: Chairman of the Press Council of India

HASMUKH ADHIA: Union Financial Services Secretary

G S SANDHU: Chairman of National Chemical Weapon Convention.

LAXMIKANT PARSEKAR: Chief Minister, Goa

ANITA KAPUR:Chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

KLAUS WARREN LOHANNIS: President of Romania, first non Romanian (German) to become President

OCTOBER 2014 MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR: New Chief Minister of Haryana

DEVENDRA FADNAVIS: New Chief Minister of Maharashtra

ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN: Chief Economic Adviser to the Union Government. He is the former IMF economist

RAJIV MEHRISHI: Union Finance Secretary

Dr. A SURYA PRAKASH: Chairman, Prasaar Bharati Board

HEMANT CONTRACTOR: Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

DILMA ROUSSEFF: Re-elected as the President of Brazil, second term leading her Workers Party

KHALED BAHAH: Prime Minister of Yemen

JENS STOLTENBERG: Secretary-General of NATO

India has been re-elected as member of the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the period of 2015-17

SEPTEMBER 2014 R A MASHELKAR: Technology Head of the "Swachh Bharat Mission".

LALITHA KUMARAMANGALAM: Chairperson of the National Commission for Women.

P. SATHASIVAM: Governor of Kerala, he is former Chief Justice of India

HARDEEP SINGH PURI: Secretary General of Independent Commission on Multilateralism

O PANNEERSELVAM: Elected as new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in place of Jayalalitha

ADIL ZAINULBHAI: Former McKinsey India Chief has been appointed Chairman, Quality Council of India.

JUSTICE H.L. DATTU: 42nd Chief Justice of India.

ASHRAF GHANI: President of Afghanistan

VOREQE BAINIMARAMA: Fiji's new Prime Minister

JOHN KEY: Prime Minister of New Zealand

LE YUCHENG: China's new Ambassador to India.

RICHARD RAHUL VERMA: Next US ambassador to India.

AWARDS & HONOURS

NOVEMBER 2014 INDIRA GANDHI PRIZE for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014: Indian Space Research Organisation – ISRO for its contribution in strengthening international cooperation in peaceful use of outer space.

GANDHIAN PHILOSOPHY and Public Service Broadcasting Award 2014: Won by Radio Kashmir, Jammu for its programme Jeevan Rekha.

CENTENARY AWARD for Indian Film Personality of the Year: Rajinikanth, super star of south cinema was conferred this honour at the 45th International Film Festival of India, in Goa.

Sumitra Charat Ram Award 2014: Pandit Jasraj, veteran classical vocalist for Lifetime Achievement.

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S PEACE PRIZE: Neha Gupta (18), an Indian-American from Philadelphia, won the prestigious prize for her work to help orphans in India and other vulnerable children. She became the first ever American to be awarded the prize in The Hague, Netherlands.

IIM- JRD TATA AWARD for Excellence in Corporate leadership: C S Verma, Chairman, SAIL

THE IPI INDIA AWARD for Excellence in Journalism, 2014, awarded jointly to Hindustan Times and The Week for “outstanding journalistic work” during 2013.

IPI – International Press Institute, Vienna (Austria)

WORLD’S CHILDREN PRIZE: Malala Yousafzai in Sweden

THE GRAND CORDON of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers: One of Japan’s top national awards, conferred on Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his contribution to Indo-Japan ties. He is first Indian to receive this honour.

SYDNEY PEACE PRIZE 2014: Julian Burnside, Human rights advocate and barrister from Australia.

SAKHAROV PRIZE for Human Rights: Denis Mukwege from Congo for treating victims of gang rape

OCTOBER 2014 NATIONAL RAIL AWARD: Harish Kanwar, Deputy Director in Railway Board for his contribution in completion of the Pirpanjal rail tunnel in J&K. NATIONAL KISHORE KUMAR AWARD: Noted Bollywood lyricist Sameer

LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI NATIONAL AWARD – 2014 for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management: Dr. A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace.

WORLD MEDIA SUMMIT Global Awards for Excellence, 2014: P. Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor at The Hindu got the Public Welfare Award. He is one of the five other media entities honoured with these awards.


2014 Nobel Prizes Declared BEL PRIZE WINNERS

PRIZE FIELD PRIZE DECIDED BY WINNER OF 2014 SELECTED WORK

Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm

John O’Keefe of the USA, May-Britt & Edward Moser of Norway

For discovering brain’s internal positioning system, helping humans find their ways and giving clues to how strokes and Alzheimer affect the brain.

Physics The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano from Japan and U.S. citizen Shuji Nakamura

For inventing blue light-emitting diodes, a breakthrough that has spurred the development of LED technology to light up homes, computer screens and smartphones worldwide.

Chemistry The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Eric Betzig and William Moerner from the USA; Stefan Hell from Germany

For finding ways to make microscopes more powerful than previously thought possible, allowing scientists to see how diseases develop inside the tiniest cells.

Literature The Swedish Academy Patrick Modiano, France For his moody, terse and occasionally dreamlike novels, often set during the Nazi occupation of France

Peace The Norwegian Nobel Committee

Indian child right activist Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai (See details below)

For their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of education for all children.

Economics The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Jean Tirole, France

For research on market power and regulation that has helped policy-makers understand how to deal with industries dominated by a few dominant companies

ILDSCREEN PANDA AWARD: The coveted wildlife photography award in best newcomer category was won by Ashwika Kapur for her film, Sirocco - how a dud became a stud at the annual Wildscreen Film Festival held at Bristol, UK. CULTURAL MEDALLION 2014 (Singapore): KTM Iqbal, an Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer was named for this highest cultural award of Singapore. WORLD FOOD PRIZE 2014: Dr Sanjaya Rajaram for his scientific research that led to a bumper growth in world wheat production. MAN BOOKER PRIZE: The Australian novelist Richard Flanagan for book “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.”

The book tells the harrowing story of an Australian surgeon who is held in a Japanese P.O.W. camp and is forced to work on the Thailand-Burma Railway. The prize given annually for the best published literary work in English carries a cash award of British Pounds 50,000.

WAISLITZ GLOBAL CITIZEN AWARD: Anoop Jain for his work in founding Humanure Power in Bihar in 2011 that builds community sanitation facilities in rural India. GLOBAL DIVERSITY AWARD 2014: Shah Rukh Khan has been honoured with this award by British Parliament for his contribution to cinema.

SEPTEMBER 2014 SARASWATI SAMMAN: Noted Hindi novelist Govind Mishra for his novel ‘Dhool Paudhon Par’. The prize is given annually by the K K Birla Foundation in recognition of outstanding literary work in any one of the Indian languages listed in Schedule VIII of the constitution of India. The prize carries a cash award of Rs. Ten lakh.

SHANTI SWARUP BHATNAGAR AWARD: 10 scientists selected for the annual award conferred for their outstanding works in the field of science and technology. It consists of a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a citation and a plaque. SAAKSHAR BHARAT AWARDS are given on International Literacy Day – Sep 8 by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for the best performance in the field of adult education. BHARTENDU HARISHCHANDRA AWARDS: Given by Union Ministry for Information & Broadcasting for original writing in Hindi by Indian authors on subjects like Journalism and Mass Communication, National Integration, Women’s Issues and Children’s Literature. MIDORI PRIZE IN BIODIVERSITY – 2014: Kamal Bawa, Indian scientist and ecologist for his research on climate change in the Himalayas. The prize given by a Japanese foundation, honours three individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. GOLDEN LION: Award for best film at the Venice Film Festival was bagged by the Swedish film, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch While Reflecting on Existence directed by Roy Anderson. LION OF THE FUTURE: Award for best debut feature film at the Venice Film Festival won by the film Court by Indian writer-director Chaitanya Tamhane.

SUCCESS DEPENDS ONLY ON THE SECOND

LETTER–U...!!


BOOKS & AUTHORS

NOVEMBER 2014

Your Dreams are Mine Now by Ravinder Singh

7 Secretes of the Goddess by Dev Dutt Pattnaik

The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years by Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

The Scatter Here is Too Great by Bilal Tanweer of Lahore won the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize.

Truth Always Prevails by Sadruddin Hashwani

The Rich by John Kampfner

OCTOBER 2014 Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar by Dilip D’Souza

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

A Man and A Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power by Bette Dam

Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace by Leon Panetta, and Jim Newton

Sons of Brahama by Dhruba Hazarika

The divided Island by Samanth Subramanian

SEPTEMBER 2014 And then One Day: A Memoir – Autobiography of noted film artist Naseeruddin Shah

The Highlights by Frank Keating

Odyssey of My Life: Autobiography of former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil

Playing It My Way — My Autobiography by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar

Gods of Antarctica by Yashwardhan Shukla, a 13 year old school boy from Delhi

The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, Kolkata-born British author. The book has been shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize 2014

OBITUARY

NOVEMBER 2014 RAVI CHOPRA: Veteran film director from Bollywood,

famous for his tele serial – Mahabharat and movie – Baghban.

SADASHIV AMRAPURKAR: Mumbai Cinema actor, winner of two Filmfare awards.

MURLI DEORA: Eminent Congress leader from Maharashtra and former Union Petroleum Minister

SITARA DEVI: Eminent Kathak danseuse, Padma sri awardee. Kathak is a prominent classical dance form of Uttar Pradesh.

P D JAMES: Noted English crime thriller novelist from UK. Popular as “Queen of Crime” and known for the fictitious character of poet-cum-detective - Adam Dalgliesh created by her.

PHILLIP HUGHES: Australian star batsman was in news as he suffered a fatal hit on his neck by a short-pitched bouncer thrown by Sean Abbott, in a domestic match in Sydney, leading to his death after three days, on Nov 27.

KEN TAKAKURA: Noted Japanese film actor WARREN ANDERSON: Former Union Carbide chief, wanted in India in connection with the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, died at 92 in New York – Sep 29.

OCTOBER 2014 M.V. KAMATH: Veteran journalist and former Prasar Bharati Chairman, Padmasri awardee from Karnataka.

JAGDISH SHARAN PANDE: Noted freedom fighter from Almora, Uttarakhand.

MARTIN PERL: Nobel Prize-winning physicist from USA, known for discovery of a subatomic particle known as the Tau Lepton.

SEPTEMBER 2014 BIPAN CHANDRA: Padma Bhushan awardee historian, authority on economic and political history of India.

BAPU (Sathiraju Lakshminarayana): Veteran Telugu film director, artist and cartoonist, Padma Sri awardee

G.E. VAHANVATI: The former Attorney-General of India

BALRAJ PURI: Veteran journalist, Padma Bhushan awardee, author of over 40 books

MANDOLIN U. SHRINIVAS: Eminent Carnatic music exponent from Andhra Pradesh, Padmasri awardee, known for his expert use of mandolin, a western instrument, in Carnatic music. He passed away at an early age of 45.

KIREET JOSHI: Eminent educationist and former education adviser to the Union government

FIROZA BEGUM: Prominent Bangladeshi Nazrul Sangeet singer


JOAN RIVERS: 81-year-old noted lady comedian and TV host from USA NORMAN GORDON: South African fast bowler, oldest surviving Test cricketer passed away at 103 years.

PLACES IN NEWS NOVEMBER 2014

JAYAPUR: A village near Varanasi was in news as it was adopted for development by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi under ‘Sansad Gram Yojna’. HAMPI: Place in Karnataka was in news as some 20 drawings of the Harappan (Sindhu) era in Gondi dialect were discovered there at a nearby hilltop. PENDARI: A village on the outskirts of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh was in news as over 14 women died due to faulty sterlisation operations performed on them at a government medical camp organised there. LIPULEKH PASS: The mountain pass in Dharchula, Uttrakhand was in news as border trade worth over Rs 3 crore took place between India and China this year through this pass. WAGAH: The small town on Indo-Pak border, famous for its ceremonial beating retreat, was in news as a horrific suicide attack took place there on Nov 2, killing over 61 persons and injuring another around 100 persons, who had come there for attending the flag lowering ceremony. FERGUSON: A small town in Missouri State of USA was in news as it suffered violent racial riots. The riots sparked after a grand jury cleared a white police officer in the fatal August 9 shooting of an unarmed black teenager. Protests were also staged in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland, California, and Washington DC on this issue. BERLIN WALL: Massive public celebrations were held in Germany to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing the communist East. Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War. CATALONIA: A small but prosperous region in north eastern Spain was in news as it voted in a symbolic ballot on Nov 9 on the issue – “whether to break away from Spain or not” to emerge as an independent state. WORLD TRADE CENTER, NY: The 104-story, $3.9 billion skyscraper at Manhattan, New York, the tallest in America, was inaugurated on Nov 03, almost thirteen years after the 9/11 terrorist attack that destroyed the original towers. US publishing giant Conde Nast became the first commercial tenant.

OCTOBER 2014 VISAKHAPATNAM: A major coastal city of Andhra Pradesh suffered wide spread destruction under the impact of severe super cyclone ‘Hudhud’

NALIYA: Small town on coast of Kutchh, Gujarat was in news as it was struck by super cyclone Nilofer.

SEPTEMBER 2014 GOA: The city was declared as the permanent venue for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The 45th IFFI will be held here from 20 to 30 November, 2014.

VIJAYAWADA: City of Andhra Pradesh was in news as it was declared to be the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.

CHABAD HOUSE: The Jewish centre, also called Nariman House, in Mumbai was reopened on 26 August 2014, nearly six years after the 26/11 terror attack in November 2008. The Centre is a sacred synagogue of Jews.

OMARI MOSQUE, Jabaliya: The centuries old mosque in Gaza was in news recently due to its destruction in ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.

MOUNT ONTAKE: The volcano 200 km west of Tokyo was in news as it erupted suddenly, belching out clouds of rock and ash, catching hundreds of hikers unawares and killing over 36 persons.

SPORTS WORLD

NOVEMBER 2014

ROHIT SHARMA made history by scoring the highest individual score of 264 runs (173b, 33x4, 9x6) in the world history of ODIs, playing against Sri Lanka in Kolkata’s Eden Garden Stadium on Nov 13. He became the only batsman in world to score two

double centuries in ODI format. His previous best of 209 was against Australia in 2013

in Bengaluru. He also created a world record for most fours-33 in a

single innings. M S Dhoni was named as the captain of ICC ODI Team of

the Year 2014.

C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for 2014: Former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar. The Award is given by BCCI.

Polly Umrigar Award 2013-14: Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for being India’s best international cricketer of the year, given by BCCI.

ICC’s LG People's Choice Award 2014: Indian fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar

VIRAT KOHLI: Star batsman became the quickest cricketer to reach 6,000 runs in ODIs, beating legendary West Indian Vivian Richards’ record. He scored this feat during India’s third ODI against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad.


Abhinav Bindra: India’s ace shooter became the first Indian to be elected as Chairman of International Shooting Sport Federation's (ISSF) Athletes Committee.

Sachin Tendulkar was inducted into the Bradman Hall of Fame on 5th October at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia.

Ms Deborah, a tribal girl from Andaman and Nicobar Islands has created history in National Level by winning four Gold Medals in the Track Asia Cup Cycling Championship 2014 held at New Delhi.

54th National Open Athletics Championships held at New Delhi. Tintu Luka was adjudged the best female athlete and Ankit Sharma was named the best male athlete.

South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship: India wins beating Nepal in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Indian cricket team won 5-match ODI series in a whitewash against Sri Lanka, winning all the five matches.

Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth clinched the women's and men's singles title (Badminton) of the China Open Super Series Premier in Fuzhou, China, on 15th Nov.

Duleep Trophy: Central Zone lifts the cricket cup after beating South Zone at New Delhi.

43rd Handball National Championship (women’s): Punjab beats Haryana to win the tournament at Mastuana Sahib, Punjab.

127th Durand Cup: Salgaocar FC won the prestigious Football championship in Goa, defeating Pune FC.

World Kabaddi League: United Singhs won the finals beating Khalsa Warriors at Mohali, Punjab.

68th Sr National Aquatic Championship held at Kolkata. Terry Walsh quits as the Head Coach of the National Hockey team.

Mitchell Johnson: Australia’s fast bowler won the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the Cricketer of the Year award for 2014.

AB de Villiers: South Africa’s batsman was voted the ODI player of 2014.

Sarah Taylor: England’s wicketkeeper was named women’s player of 2014.

Lionel Messi: FC Barcelona superstar became the all-time highest scorer in La Liga history by scoring 253 goals, playing against Sevilla in Spain.

Lewis Hamilton of UK won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as well as the Formula 1 racing championship title of the year becoming the first British double world champion since Jackie Stewart in 1971.

Magnus Carlsen of Norway has retained his World Chess Championship title defeating five-time champion Viswanathan Anand in the 11th game at Sochi, Russia on Nov 23.

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) won the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Nov 16 at London.

Switzerland won their first ever Davis Cup Tennis title at Lille, France, beating France.

World Women's Boxing Championships held in Jiju, South Korea. S Sarjubala and Saweety won the silver medals for India.

World Tour Golf Championship held at Jumeirah Golf states in Dubai is won by Henrik Stenson from Sweden.

2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships to be hosted by Doha, Qatar. 2015 and 2017 games will be hosted by Beijing and London, respectively.

Africa Cup of Nations 2015 - The 16 nation Football tournament will be hosted by Equatorial Guinea.

Seaways IBSF World Snooker Championship held at Bengaluru.

Lee Chong Wei: World number one in Badminton has been suspended by The Badminton World Federation due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation.

OCTOBER 2014 CURTAINS DOWN FOR 17TH ASIAN GAMES The 17th Asian Games came to an end at Incheon on 4th

October. The 16-day sporting extravaganza saw intense action among 45 countries with 9,500 sports persons. As many as 14 world records were registered and more than 28 Games records were broken in this duration.

China topped with 342 medals (151 gold, 108 silver and 83 bronze) followed by South Korea (234) and Japan (200). India was placed at 8th rank, securing 57 medals - 11 Gold, 10 Silver and 36 Bronze. In the last Asian Games at Guangzhou, India stood sixth.

Kosuke Hagino, the Japanese swimmer, was named as the “Most Valuable Player” of the 17th Asian Games.

MC Mary Kom, gold medal winner boxer was chosen as the ‘Most Valuable Player of India’ at the recent Incheon Asian Games. The 18th Asian Games will be held in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

INDIAN HIGHLIGHTS

Yogeshwar Dutt ended a 28-year gold drought for India in wrestling after winning Gold by beating Zalimkhan Yusupov of Tajikistan in men’s 65kg freestyle category.

Jitu Rai, shooter won India's 1st gold in the 50m event.

MC Mary Kom became the first Indian woman boxer to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Games after beating Kazakhstan's Zhaina Shekerbekova in the flyweight (48-51kg) category.

India won the Hockey gold medal beating Pakistan

Indian Kabaddi Teams, both men and women, beat Iran’s teams to win the Gold.


Varsha Gautam and Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan made history by becoming the first Indian women to win a sailing medal – Bronze in Dinghy event at the Asian Games.

Khushbir Kaur won the country’s first-ever silver in the women’s 20 kms race walk in Asiad.

GOLD MEDALS FOR INDIA – 11 NAMES SPORT CATEGORY 1 Jitu Rai Shooting Men's 50 metre

pistol 2 Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar,

Abhishek Verma Archery Men's team

compound 3 Saurav Ghosal, Mahesh

Mangaonkar, Harinder Pal Sandhu, Kush Kumar

Squash Men’s team

4 Yogeshwar Dutt Wrestling Men's freestyle 65 kg

5 Seema Punia Athletics Women's discus throw

6 Sania Mirza, Saketh Myneni Tennis Mixed doubles 7 Mary Kom Boxing Women's 51 kg 8 Men’s hockey team Hockey Men 9 Women's kabaddi team Kabaddi Women 10 Men's kabaddi team Kabaddi Men 11 Priyanka Pawar, Tintu Luka,

Mandeep Kaur, M R Poovamma Athletics Women's 4x400

metres relay

SILVER MEDALS – 10

NAMES SPORTS CATEGORY 1 Saurav Ghosal Squash Men’s 2 Pemba Tamang, Vijay Kumar

and Gurpreet Singh Shooting 25 cm Center

Pistol Fire 3 Abishek Verma Archery Men’s 4 Dipika Pallikal, Anaka

Alankamony and Joshana Chinappa

Squash Women’s

5 Khushbir Kaur 20km walk Women’s 6 Bajrang Wrestling Free style 61

kg 7 Sanam Singh and Saketh

Myneni Tennis Men’s Doubles

8 Vikas Gowda Discus throw

Men’s

9 Tintu Luka Athletics Women’s 800 ms

10 Manju Bala Athletics Hammer throw

TARGET OLYMPIC PODIUM SCHEME - TOPS With an aim to increase India`s medal tally in 2016 and 2020 Olympics, the Sports Ministry has decided to start a "Target Olympic Podium Scheme" (TOPS)and an elite athletes identification committee, which will include sporting greats like Rahul Dravid and Abhinav Bindra, among others.

INDIAN SUPER LEAGUE BEGINS AT KOLKATA The Indian Super League (ISL) heralded a new dawn for football in India on 12 October, at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. For the first time in India, football matches will be played on commercial lines including international players. The inaugural match was played between Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai City FC. Final match will be played on December 20.

Sharath Gayakwad, the para-swimmer made history at the Asian Para-Games in Incheon, South Korea, by winning six medals to go past sprint legend PT Usha's record of most medals by an Indian in a multi-discipline event.

Anirban Lahiri won the Venetian Macau Open Golf Cup.

Pankaj Advani: Indian cueist won World Billiards Point Format Championship at Leeds, United Kingdom, beating Peter Gilchrist of Singapore. He also won the World title in time format beating Robin Wilson of UK.

World junior Chess title 2014: Lu Shanglei of China defeated Aleksander Indjic of Serbia to win the title in Pune, Maharashtra.

35th Senior National Archery Championship held in New Delhi, won by Punjab.

Champions League Twenty 20: Chennai Super Kings won the trophy by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

The multi-sport Paralympic Games 2015 will be held in India in February 2015.

4th Sultan of Johor Cup (hockey) for under 21 won by India beating Great Britain at Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

James Tull: A club cricketer in Australia created history by scoring a triple ton – 341 runs - for Mater Hill in a Queensland Warehouse Cricket Association competition. Tull’s innings was studded with 25 sixes and 34 fours in a match that was reduced to 44 overs for each side.

Shanghai Rolex Masters (Tennis) – 2014 won by Roger Federer (Switzerland) beating Gilles Simon (France) in Shanghai, China.

KOHEI UCHIMURA: Japan’s gymnast won his fifth straight all-around world title at the Gymnastics World Championships in Nanning, China. He is the only gymnast to win more than three World all-around titles.

ATP CHINA OPEN Tennis Cup 2014, Beijing

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beats Tomas Berdych (Czech) to win men’s singles title.

Maria Sharapova (Russia) beats Petra Kvitova(Czech) to win women’s singles title

Serena Williams (USA) beat Simona Halep (Romania) to lift the WTA Finals cup at Singapore.

Sania Mirza and Cara Black (Zimbabwe) won the WTA finals women's doubles tennis title at Singapore.

SEPTEMBER 2014 17TH ASIAN GAMES OPEN IN INCHEON The Asian Games, the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics, begin in Incheon, South Korea on 19th

September. Around 9,500 athletes from 45 nations will compete in the next 15 days in 439 events spread across 36 sports and disciplines. 516 Indian athletes will be seen vying for top honours in 28 sports.


Sardara Singh, Captain of Indian Hockey team was the flag bearer of the Indian contingent.

Viswanathan Anand won the Bilbao Chess Masters Finals at Bilbao, Spain, defeating Levon Aronian of Armenia.

Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold: Young Indian shuttler H S Prannoy won the badminton championship beating Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia at Palembang, Indonesia.

51st Shooting World Championship: Indian shooter Pradeep bagged a bronze medal at Granada, Spain.

Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black won the women’s doubles title at the WTA Toray Pacific Open at Tokyo, Japan.

Davis Cup Commitment Award: Ace Tennis player Rohan Bopanna. It is given to players who have competed in at least 20 ties.

Pankaj Advani, noted snooker and billiards champion has announced his retirement from the professional snooker. However, he will continue to participate in Billiards.

MANOJ KUMAR: A 2010 CWG boxing gold-medalist was in news as he was selected for Arjuna Award after a directive from the Delhi High Court where he had filed a case challenging his non selection for the award.

DHONI SCORES RECORD 91 ODI WINS India thrashed England by nine wickets in the fourth ODI played at Edgbaston to take 3-0 lead in the five-match series. The victory also made Dhoni the most successful Indian ODI captain with 91 wins.

60th National School Games in six sporting disciplines will be held in November in Punjab.

20th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships held at Mumbai. India’s first National Academy of Athletics established at Kariavattom near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

International Boxing Association (AIBA) has permitted Indian boxers (pugilists) to take part in the 17th Asian Games 2014 under the Indian flag as it gave provisional recognition to Boxing India.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has allowed players to wear religious head coverings, such as hijabs or turbans by Sikhs, on a trial basis.

U S OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP, NEW YORK

Marin Cilic (Croatia) beats Japan's Kei Nishikori to win men’s singles title

Serena Williams of USA beats Caroline Wozniazki of Denmark to win Women’s singles title

Sania Mirza with Brazil's Bruno Soares won the mixed doubles title

ICC World Cricket League Division 3 will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 23 to 30 October, 2014.

Summer Youth Olympic Games 2014 held at Nanjing, China.

BWF WORLD BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIP COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

Chen Long of China won the men’s singles beating world no. one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia Carolina Marin of Spain become Spain's first-ever World champion in badminton history, beating world no 1 Li Xuerui of China. P V Sindhu won the bronze medal in women’s singles.

FIBA Basketball World Cup: USA lifts the cup by defeating Serbia at Madrid, Spain.

FILA Senior World Wrestling Championship held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Li Na, China's ace tennis star and only Grand Slam winner announced her retirement at the age of 32.

Marvan Atapattu appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is the former captain of their national team.

DAYS AND DATES

National Youth Day ( B’day of Swami Vivekanand) JANUARY 12 Army Day JANUARY 15 Desh Prem Divas (B’day of Neta ji Subash Chandra Bose)

JANUARY 23

National Girl Child Day ( Day Indira Gandhi became PM of India )

JANUARY 24

National Voters Day ( Establishment of Election Commission)

JANUARY 25

International Customs Day JANUARY 26 Martyrs' Day ( Death of Mahatma Gandhi) JANUARY 30 BSF Raising Day, World AIDS Day DECEMBER 01 International Day for Abolition of Slavery (UNO) DECEMBER 02 International Day of Disabled Persons, World Conservation Day DECEMBER 03

Armed Forces Day DECEMBER 06 International Civil Aviation Day DECEMBER 07 National Immunization Day DECEMBER 09 Human Rights Day DECEMBER 10 UNICEF Day DECEMBER 11 National Energy Conservation Day DECEMBER 14 Vijay Divas DECEMBER 16 Mathematics Day DECEMBER 22 Kisan Day (Birthday of Ch. Charan Singh) DECEMBER 23 National Consumer Day DECEMBER 24 X-Mas Day DECEMBER 25 International Day for Biological Diversity DECEMBER 29 Infant Protection Day, World Cancer Awareness Day NOVEMBER 07 International Radiology Day NOVEMBER 08 World Legel Service Day NOVEMBER 09 Transport Day NOVEMBER 10 National Children Day, World Diabetes Day NOVEMBER 14 World Fisheries Day NOVEMBER 21 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women NOVEMBER 25

National Law Day NOVEMBER 26 National Flag Day NOVEMBER 30

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


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

AUGUST 2014 Prime Minister Mr. Modi visited Kathmandu, Nepal and

addressed the Constituent Assembly. India to provide Nepal $ 1 billion concessional line of

credit for various development purposes. A report by ICDS says that about 2.3 crore children in

India, up to 6 years of age, are suffering from malnourishment and are under-weight.

Indian domain names will now make their debut with the extension .Bharat which will be in Devanagari script.

Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister of UK visited India. Northeast Frontier Railway to construct a bridge with

highest pillars in the world, in Manipur, with height of pillars upto 141 metres.

Prime Minister announced Central assistance of Rs. 8,000 crore for four major road projects connecting J&K with rest of the country.

“Pinkathon Delhi 2014” - a run for cause was organised in Delhi with the slogan "Each One Kheench One"

Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister visited Vietnam on August 24

India's first Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) inaugurated at Shibpur, Howrah in

West Bengal 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)

Foreign Ministers meeting held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

India to construct a pipeline for supply of petroleum products from Raxual, Bihar to Amlekhganj, Nepal

JULY 2014 As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 the

total forest and tree cover of the country is 78.92 million hectare, 24.01 percent of the geographical area of India.

Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover of 77522 sq kms, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, 67321 sq kms.

In terms of percentage, Mizoram has highest cover at 90.38 percent, followed by Lakshadweep-84.56 percent.

Punjab has the lowest area under Forest cover - 3.52%, followed by Haryana - 3.59%.

India and China have jointly released the first encyclopedia on their age-old cultural contacts, tracing back their history to over 2,000 years

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.

India has slipped ten places in the Global Innovation Index 2014 to the 76th rank. Switzerland topped the 142-nation list.

A recent UN study has ranked Tokyo as the world’s most populous city with 38 million inhabitants, followed by Delhi with 25 million inhabitants.

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.

Legendary actor Dilip Kumar’s ancestral home at Mohalla Khudadad in Peshawar, Pakistan has been declared as a national heritage monument by Pakistan.

World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim visits India.

JUNE 2014

Panjab University, Chandigarh, is the highest ranked Indian higher educational institution in the globally recognized Times Higher Education’s Asia rankings.

India has signed the Washington Accord to provide Indian students with accredited technical education degrees recognised by 17 major nations.

'Mobile Seva' by govt for delivery of public services electronically through the mobile platform has been awarded a United Nations Public Service Award.

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.

Unctad's annual World Investment Report 2014 shows that China remained the first choice of MNCs, followed by the USA, Indonesia and India.


Prime Minister Mr. Modi made his first overseas trip by visiting Bhutan. He inaugurated the new Supreme Court building at Thimpu.

Govt has launched Project Mausam at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Doha, Qatar.

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.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari visited China. He unveiled an encyclopaedia of 2,000-year old history of cultural exchanges between India and China.

June 2, 2014 witnessed the birth of 29th state of India – Telangana, formed by carving out 10 districts of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

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.

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.

NEWS FROM STATES

AUGUST 2014 FOUR NEW GOVERNORS APPOINTED

Kalyan Singh Rajasthan Vajubhai Vala Karanatka C Vidyasagar Rao Maharashtra Mridula Sinha Goa Sheila Dikshit Resigned as Governor of Kerala K Sankaranarayanan quits as Governor (Maharashtra) Kamala Beniwal sacked as Mizoram Governor V K Duggal resigned as Manipur Governor The 20-day Nanda Devi Raj Jat yatra, also called the

‘Himalayan Kumbh,’ began from Nauti village in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand on 18th August.

Sikkim has become the first choice of foreign tourists in the north-eastern states of the country,

JULY 2014 Amitabh Bachchan appointed 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

Kanyashree Prakalpa, a West Bengal govt scheme for scholarship to poor girls has been given international recognition by UK and UNICEF.

Mumbai became the fourth city in the country to have Metro rail operations, besides Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore.

World Bank will provide $ 100 million to Himachal Pradesh for promoting development of sustainable hydropower.

Sikkim govt. to give 12% reservation in state govt. jobs for candidates of Sikkimese origin living below poverty line.

India’s first One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) named Gauravi was launched in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on 16 June 2014.

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

GOVT INITIATIVES

AUGUST 2014 Lok Sabha passed the National Judicial Appointments

Commission Bill, 2014 to scrap the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court and High Court judges.

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for raising FDI limit in Defence from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

Govt allows up to 100 per cent FDI in infrastructure projects such as high-speed train systems

Union Textiles Ministry has signed a MoU with Flipkart to provide online marketing platform to handloom weavers all over India

Union Cabinet has approved the Digital India Programme to transform the Indian economy into a digitally empowered knowledge economy.

Govt has launched Rashtriya Gokul Mission to promote conservation and development of indigenous breeds of cows

Govt has set up the Expenditure Management Commission headed by former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan.

Govt. has set up R. Ramanujam committee to identify obsolete laws which hamper governance by creating avoidable confusion.

JULY 2014 A website mygov.nic.in has been launched to help

people contribute in governance of the country by giving their views on important issues.

Union Cabinet has hiked FDI cap in insurance sector from 26 to 49 per cent,

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.

The 4 vaccines are against rotavirus, rubella, polio (injectable) and an adult vaccine against Japanese encephalitis

Govt plans to allocate Rs 7,060 crore in this financial year for developing 100 ‘smart cities' in the country


Govt plans to provide 'Soil Health Card' to all farmers for optimum utilization of resources and right selection of crops.

Government to launch ‘Kisan TV' dedicated to the interests of agriculturists and allied sectors

Government has set a target to develop skills of 50 crore people by 2022 under the National Policy on Skill Development (NPSD).

‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’ launched to provide assured irrigation water to farmers

The Government has extended the validity period of an industrial license to three years from present two years.

Govt to set up 660 rape crisis centres named as Nirbhaya centres, as a tribute to the victim of December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape case.

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

JUNE 2014

Central govt to exempt from transfers all its employees who have differently abled children to take care of.

Govt has decided to abolish all the Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoMs) set up by the previous UPA-II govt.

Govt. has increased the daily food supplement budget from Rs 280 to Rs 750 for the power games such as wrestling, weightlifting, judo and boxing.

The Centre has decided to give Rs 12,000 per household as labour charges to the poor for building their homes under Indira Awaas Yojana-IAY.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS AUGUST 2014

Data from CSO shows that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 5.7 per cent during April-June, the highest in past 10 quarters.

RBI puts GDP growth rate at 5.5%, has projected that gdp growth in the current fiscal may rise up to 5.5% from 4.7% in the last financial year.

UN report puts India’s growth at 5.5%, a report from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) says that India’s economy is expected to record stronger growth momentum of 5.5 per cent in the current fiscal.

Global rating agency Moody’s has projected a better growth outlook for India saying that the country’s GDP would grow by 5% this year.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ECONOMY

AUGUST 2014 SEBI has asked listed companies to intimate decisions

on dividends, bonus, buyback etc. within 15 minutes of closure of the board meetings to curb insider trading.

Retirement fund body EPFO’s trustees have decided to retain interest payment on provident fund deposits for 2014-15 at 8.75 per cent.

‘Vistara’: Brand name of the new joint venture airline of the Tata Sons-Singapore Airlines.

Country’s first seaplane service was launched on Mumbai-Lonavla short route from the Juhu aerodrome on 25th August.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased by 0.49 per cent over May 2014 to 942.95 million at the end of June, 2014.

JULY 2014 As per Rangarajan report, a person spending less than

Rs 1,407 a month (Rs 47/day) in urban areas and Rs 972 a month (Rs32/day) in rural areas would be considered Below Poverty Line.


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

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.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence manufacturing has been hiked from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.

World Bank has sanctioned $500 million loan for India’s National Highways Inter-connectivity Improvement Project

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

India and China have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that allows Chinese companies to invest in industrial parks and zones in India.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has become first Indian company to achieve a market capitalization of Rs. 5 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 The govt has extended the ban on imports of milk and

its products from China for one more year till June 2015.

Foreign investment of 10 per cent or more in a listed company will now be treated as foreign direct investment.

Israel to open centres of excellence at Nalanda and Vaishali in Bihar in the field of vegetables and mango respectively.

SEBI has asked listed public sector undertakings to adhere to the mandatory 25% public shareholding norms that are applicable to private companies.

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.

BANKING

AUGUST 2014 Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna announced to provide a

bank account to every family in the country The government has set a target of 15 crore new accounts by 2018, ensuring at least two bank accounts per family.

The scheme will be launched in two phases – first from 15.8.14 to 15.8.15 and second from 16.8.15 to 15.8.18,

Each phase targeting opening of 7.5 crore bank accounts.

The accounts will be opened with zero balance with no minimum balance condition.

Every account holder will get a accidental insurance cover of Rs. One lac.

Persons opening account upto 26th January, 2015 will also get a health insurance cover of Rs. 30,000.

All account holders will be issued Rupay debit card to facilitate ATM withdrawals.

All account holders will get mobile banking facility for easy money transfer.

Accounts runs satisfactorily for 6 months will be allowed to have over draft facility of Rs. 5000.

A Rs 1,000-crore credit guarantee fund will be set up by NABARD for this purpose.

RBI has reduced the SLR by 50 basis points from 22.5 per cent to 22.0 per cent with effect from the fortnight beginning 9th August, 2014

Banks have been advised to provide their savings bank account holders with at least five free transactions per month at their own ATMs.

Banks may decide to levy transaction charges (not exceeding Rs 20) beyond 5 free ATM transactions

The number of free transactions on ATMs set up by other banks in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, reduced to three per month.

Reserve Bank proposes to set up an "anytime anywhere" bill payment system by the name ‘Bharat Bill Payment System’.

The Reserve Bank has approved the transfer of surplus (profit) amounting to Rs 526.79 billion for the year ended June 30, 2014 to the Government of India.

India Post announced the launch of over 1000 ATMs in the near feature.

JULY 2014 The Reserve Bank has issued guidelines for setting up

of Payment Bank and Small Banks with a minimum paid-up capital of Rs.100 core


Payment Banks will accept only demand deposits and payments and remittances and will not be allowed to undertake lending activities Small Banks will do only basic banking activities on a small scale in a restricted local area, the way RRBs do in rural areas.

As per revised KYC norms only the Aadhaar card, voter card, PAN card, driving licence, passport, NREGA card are valid for KYC. The Ration Card has been dropped.

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)

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.

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.

To expedite the process to recover bad bank loans, govt proposes to set up six new Debt Recovery Tribunals making total number of tribunals 39.

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

RBI plans to swap some of the old gold lying in its Nagpur vault whose quality is not exactly top grade—with purer gold.

The gold acquired by RBI would be placed at its overseas custodian, Bank of England.

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.

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 reduced statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to 22.5%

from 23%, freeing almost Rs 40,000 crore of resources.

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) b 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.

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.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

AUGUST 2014 India and Russia conducted their first-ever joint Air

Force exercise “Avia Indra-2014” in Astrakhan region located north of the Caspian Sea.

China unveiled next generation Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Dongfeng – 41 (DF-41) with a range of 12 -15000 kms.

Country’s first multi-sensor moored observatory IndARC was successfully deployed in Kongsfjorden Fjord of the Arctic region, near the North Pole

Rosetta- space vehicle by European Space Agency made history on August 6 after travelling 6.4 billion kilometers to reach the comet — 67P/Churyumov – Gerasimenko

NASA scientists have developed Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite that can predict the severity of droughts to help farmers maximize the crop yield.

JULY 2014

The Indian Navy‘s largest ever destroyer, indigenously built INS Kolkata was inducted in to service on 10th July.

An advanced version of the 290-km range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully tested off the coast of Odisha

India successfully launched five foreign satellites from four countries on board PSLV-C23 rocket on June 30.

The five satellites, launched included two from Germany, and one each from France, Canada and Singapore.

Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered two new objects beyond Pluto.


NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft launched in 2006 is to become the first probe to visit Pluto in July 2015, some 4.7 billion miles from Earth.

Carbon Aerogel, with a density of just 0.16 mg per cubic centimetre, a sixth of air's density, is the lightest material in world, developed by Chinese scientists.

NASA has successfully launched a satellite -Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), designed to track atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

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

JUNE 2014 India’s first indigenously - built anti submarine warfare

corvette INS Kamorta commissioned into the Indian Navy.

Indian-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace test-fired its 290-km range supersonic missile from the stealth destroyer INS Kolkata.

The fifth Indo-French bilateral air exercise — Garuda-V was held at the Jodhpur Air Base.

NASA plans to build world’s most powerful telescope - Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) to analyse the environment of other planets.

US astronomers have found a huge Earth-like planet - Kepler-10c or ‘Mega-Earth’ having diameter of 29,000 kilometers and weighing 17 times more than Earth.

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

AUGUST 2014 Three West Africa nations - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra

Leone, are struggling to control an outbreak of Ebola viral

fever that has claimed thousands of lives The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources

and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to enter into force from12th October 2014

Bangladesh has decided to join the newly formed BRICS Bank, an initiative of the world's five emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Britain observed Lights Out Project on 4 August 2014 to commemorate 100 years of First World War (WW-1

The "Ice Bucket Challenge" encourages participants to dump bucket of freezing water on their head to raise awareness for the ‘amyotrophic lateral sclerosis’ (ALS)

The World Health Organization has asked for a ban on the use of e-cigarettes indoors and its sale to children.

JULY 2014 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

BRICS to form a Contingency Reserve Arrangement fund of USD 100 billion to support member-nations during balance of payments problems.

The 7th BRICS Summit will be held in the Russian city of Ufa.

Israel Defence Forces launched “Operation Protective Edge” against Hamas militants in Gaza strip for their alleged kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers

A Malaysian aircraft, flight MH 17 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by terrorist using a Russian BUK missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17

Ukraine signed the Association Agreement with the European Union to boost Ukraine’s exports to the European Union

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

JUNE 2014 Sunni militants, led by jihadists from the Islamic State

of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have killed thousands of civilians and army personnel in Iraq and Syria.

China plans to shut down over 2,000 small coal mines to eliminate outdated capacity and improve work safety and address pollution concerns.

G7 meet of industrialized nations held at Brussels, Belgium

PERSONS IN NEWS

AUGUST 2014 IROM SHARMILA CHANU: The human rights activist was in news as an Imphal Sessions Court ordered her release, accepting her plea that she did not attempt suicide by fasting unto death. SHAH RUKH KHAN: Indian superstar has been roped in as an ambassador for Inter-pol’s “Turn Back Crime” campaign to promote awareness of how everyone can play a role in preventing crime. KAMLA BENIWAL: Governor of Mizoram was sacked by a Presidential order for certain irregularities committed by her during her Gujarat tenure.

NIKHIL CHANDWANI: First Indian to win the prestigious Author of the Year award from the American Literary Forum Society for his novel 'Coded Conspiracy’. JOHN KERRY: US Secretary of State (Foreign Minister) visited in India to hold 5th Indo-US Strategic Dialogue CHUCK HAGEL: U.S. Defence Secretary (Defence Minister) visited India to lay the groundwork for the revival of Indo- U.S. defence ties.


GENERAL PRAYUTH CHAN-OCHA: Thailand's coup leader was in news as he was appointed Prime Minister by a legislature that was formed by him only.

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: Chairperson of Biocon Industries, has been awarded the Global Economy Prize for business by the Kiel Institute in Germany.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER: German Formula1 champion was in news as he emerged out of coma after almost 5 months, following his ski accident in Dec. 2013. ANGELA MERKEL: Chancellor of Germany, declared as most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine. JUAN CARLOS: Spain's King, was in news as he announced his abdication in favour of his son, Prince Felipe, making way for a "new generation”.

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

AUGUST 2014 FOUR NEW GOVERNORS APPOINTED Kalyan Singh Rajasthan Vajubhai Vala Karanatka C Vidyasagar Rao Maharashtra Mridula Sinha Goa

K.V. THOMAS: Congress MP appointed Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.

S S MUNDRA: Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for three year term. He is ex CMD of Bank of Baroda.

T M BHASIN: Chairman of the Indian Banks Association – IBA for 2014-15. He is CMD of Indian Bank.

M. THAMBIDURAI: Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha

K. V. Chowdary: Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

AHMET DAVUTOGLU: New Prime Minister of Turkey

HAIDAR AL-ABADI: Prime Minister of Iraq

GEN. PRAYUTH CHAN-OCHA: Prime Minister of Thailand

JULY 2014 SIX 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

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: Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank.

MADHURI DIXIT: 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


AWARDS & HONOURS

AUGUST 2014 OUTSTANDING PARLIAMENTARIAN AWARDS BJP leader Arun Jaitley for 2010 Congress leader Karan Singh for 2011 JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav for 2012 ASHOK CHAKRA: Major Mukund Vardarajan named for highest peace time gallantry award for showing exemplary bravery in killing two terrorists in Kashmir before he was shot dead in April this year. 22ND RAJIV GANDHI SADBHAVNA AWARD: Noted film maker Muzaffar Ali, for his outstanding contribution towards the promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill. The award carries a citation and cash award of Rs. 5 lakh. CORE BANKING SYSTEM INITIATIVE AWARD-2014: won by Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd at the Asian Banking and Finance - Retail Banking Awards, Singapore. FIELDS MEDAL: Known as the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics” won by Manjul Bhargava. Four such prizes are awarded by the International Mathematical Union. MARYAM MIRZAKHANI: Iranian-born mathematician has become the first woman to win this prize (Fields Medal). PARDO D’ORO (GOLDEN LEOPARD): Award for best film at the 67th Locarno International Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland won by “Mula sa kung ano ang noon” by Lav Diaz, Philippines

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. MOORTIDEVI AWARD,2013: C Radhakrishna for his book 'Theekkadal Katanhu Thirumadhuram' in Malyalam. 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.

TANG PRIZE 2014 DECLARED 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, for his contribution in increasing the wheat production in world.

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

OBITUARY

AUGUST 2014 B K S IYENGAR: 96 years old Padma Vibhushan awardee Yogacharya, known for his vast contribution in spreading Indian Yoga all over the world.

U.R. ANANTHAMURTHY: Jnanpith awardee and renowned Kannada novelist and story writer MADHUKAR SINGH: Eminent Hindi litterateur and novelist from Bihar PRAN KUMAR SHARMA: Eminent cartoonist, popularly known as Pran, who gave life to lovable comic characters Chacha Chaudhary and his friend Sabu. RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH: Oscar-winning British filmmaker and actor, renowned for his critically-acclaimed biopic ‘Gandhi’ on Mahatma Gandhi that won eight Oscars, died at the age of 90. ROBIN WILLIAMS: Oscar winning famous US comedy actor dies of suspected suicide.

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: 'Father of Malaysian Hockey' as he promoted the international hockey for over 41 years -- both as a player and as an administrator.


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

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

AUGUST 2014

MALIN VILLAGE: A small village in district Pune, Maharashtra was in news as it was hit by a massive mud slide, washing out almost entire village. SINDHUPALCHOK: in Nepal was in news as a massive land slide blocked the Sunkoshi River causing massive damage to local settlements, claiming at least 156 lives. MOUNT SINJAR: place in Nineveh province of northern Iraq was in news as thousands of Yezidis stranded there as they flee from nearby areas persecuted by ISIS militants. LONGTOUSHAN: A town in Ludian county of Yunnan province of China was in news as it was struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, killing over 400 persons

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. RANI-KI-VAV, PATAN: The 11th century step well at district Patan of Gujarat has been approved as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. GHNP, KULLU: The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh has been accorded the UNESCO World Heritage Site status 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 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.

S P O R T S W O R L D

AUGUST 2014 20th Commonwealth games came to an end on August 3

at Hampden Park, Scotland’s National Stadium, Scotland.

England topped the medal tally with 174 medals, including 58 golds.

India won 64 medals – 15 gold, 30 silver and 19 bronze and stood at 5th rank.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games will be held at Gold Coast, Australia

NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS 2014 These awards are announced every year on 29th August on the birthday of legendary hockey wizard Sh. Dhyan Chand, which is observed as National Sports Day. DHYAN CHAND AWARDS (For Lifetime Achievement)

Sl. No. Name Discipline

1. Shri Gurmail Singh Hockey

2. Shri K.P. Thakkar Swimming (Diving)

3. Shri Zeeshan Ali Tennis

DRONACHARYA AWARDS (For Coaches) Sl. No. Name Discipline

1. Shri Mahabir Prasad Wrestling

2. Shri N. Lingappa Athletics – Lifetime

3. Shri G. Manoharan Boxing – Lifetime

4. Shri Gurcharan

Singh Gogi

Judo – Lifetime

5. Shri Jose Jacob Rowing – Lifetime

TENZING NORGAY AWARDS 2013 Sr. No. Name Discipline 1 Subedar Jagat Singh Land Adventure 2 Shri Passang

Tenzing Sherpa

Land Adventure

3 MWO Surender Singh

Air Adventure

4 Wing Commander (Retd) Amit Chowdhury

Life Time Achievement


ARJUNA AWARDS

S. No. NAME DISCIPLINE

1. Mr. Abhishek Verma Archery

2. Ms. Tintu Luka Athletics

3. Mr. H.N. Girisha Para-Athletics

4. Mr. V. Diju Badminton

5. Ms. Geetu Anna Jose Basketball

6. Mr. Jai Bhagwan Boxing

7. Mr. R. Ashwin* Cricket

8. Mr. Anirban Lahiri Golf

9. Ms. Mamta Pujari Kabaddi

10. Mr. Saji Thomas Rowing

11. Ms. Heena Sidhu Shooting

12. Ms. Anaka Alankamony Squash

13. Mr. Tom Joseph Volleyball

14. Ms. Renu Bala Chanu Weightlifting

15. Mr. Sunil Kumar Rana Wrestling

ARCHERY WORLD CUP, Wroclaw, Poland: Indian women’s team, led by Deepika Kumari, clinched the recurve team gold.

THE WORLD KABADDI LEAGUE started in London on August 9. The league to be played across 16 international cities, will end on November 30, 2014 in India.

SABINE LISICKI of Germany created a world record of fastest serve in the women’s tennis by serving at 131 miles per hour at a match played in Stanford, USA.

FRANKIE JONES: Canadian gymnast was awarded the David Dixon Award for the best athlete of the Games. She won six medals, including one gold.

RORY MCLLROY: of Ireland became number one in Golf by winning the elite World Golf Championships held at Akron, USA.

USAIN BOLT: Jamaican sprint superstar set a new best time record of 9.98 second for the rarely run 100 meter indoors at Warsaw’s national football stadium in Poland.

DANIEL RICCIARDO of Australia won the Belgian Grand Prix F1 car race for team Red Bull. BWF WORLD BADMINTON Championship held in Copenhagen, Denmark

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.

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. 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. 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.

Abhishek Verma has become the first Indian archer to win three gold medals in a single international tournament 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 won by Netherland beating Australia 16th Asian Junior Athletics Championship: India won 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 5 Bronze to finish 5th at Taipei City, China from 12 June to 15 June.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

BOOK AUTHOR

Heaven is for Real Todd Burpo & Lynn Vincent

The Boys in the Boat Daniel James Brown

Orange is the New Black Piper Kerman

The Book of Life Deborah Harkness

The Goldfinch Donna Tartt

Half Girlfriend Chetan Bhagat

Simian Vikram Balagopal

One Life is Not Enough Natwar Singh

Not Just an Accountant Vinod Rai

Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: An Inside Job

Faraz Ahmad

Strictly Personal, Manmohan and Gursharan

Ms Daman Singh

The Lives of Others Neel Mukherjee

Finding Neema Juliet Reynolds

Half a Rupee Stories Gulzar

The Substance and The Shadow

Udaya Tara Nayar, a biography of veteran actor

Dilip Kumar

Innovation in India Shyama V. Ramani

Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. The Obamas

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

Post Haste: Quintessential India

B.G. Verghese

Hard Choices Hillary Clinton

India Junction – A Window to the Nation brought out

Public Relations Directorate, Railway Board

A Stamp is Born C. R. Pakrashi

Arctic Summer Damon Galgut

Capital in The Twenty First Century

Thomas Piketty

My Years with Rajiv and Sonia

R.D.Pradhan

Shivaji, the Real Hero: A pictorial book

the artist Brijesh Mogre, released in Parliament of

UK

‘An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election’

S. Y. Quraishi


G K MCQs NOVEMBER – 2014

1) Sydney Peace Prize is given by which organization of Australia? a) Govt. of Australia b) International Peace Foundation c) Sydney Peace Foundation d) Angles of Peace, Australia 2) ___________ is the winner of Sydney Peace Prize 2014? a) Julian Burnside b) Julian Assanje c) Clover Moore d) Marie Bashir 3) The Three weeks joint military exercise between Indian and Sri Lankan military forces in Sri Lanka in Nov 2014 was named as: a) Sagar Shakti b) Mithra Shakthi c) Setu Samundram d) Malabar 4) Hand in Hand 2014, the Joint anti terrorism military exercise by Indian and Chinese forces was held in which State in Nov 2014? a) Rajasthan b) Jammu Kashmir c) Arunachal Pradesh d) Himachal Pradesh 5) Which State plans to construct 10 lakh toilets by 2018 to make the state completely free from open defecation? a) Kerala b) Madhya Pradesh c) Sikkim d) Karnataka 6) The Union Government has relaxed FDI norms in the which sector, reducing the minimum capital requirement to $ 5million from earlier $ 10 million a) Aviation b) Oil exploration c) Retail trade d) Construction 7) The minimum support price for 2014-15 for wheat has been set at Rs. _____________ per quintal. a) Rs. 1450 b) Rs. 1500 c) Rs. 1550 d) Rs. 1600 8) Which of the major Rabi crops secures the highest MSP by the government? a) Wheat b) Barley c) Gram d) Masur 9) Name the Indian cricketer who recently was inducted into the Bradman Hall of Fame on 5th October at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia? a) Sachin Tendulkar b) Sunil Gavaskor c) Bishan Singh Bedi d) Kapil Dev 10) Warren Anderson, a noted corporate personality of USA passed away recently. He was wanted by Indian govt. in what connections? a) VVIP Helicopter Deal b) Bofors Gun case c) Bhopal Gas Tragedy d) Purulia Arms Drop Case 11) Name the India’s ace shooter who became the first Indian to be elected as Chairman of International

Shooting Sport Federation's (ISSF) Athletes Committee: a) Abhinav Bindra b) Jitu Rai c) Gagan Narang d) Vijay Kumar 12) Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teenage rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner was in news for donating $50,000 for what purposes? a) To rebuild UN schools in Gaza Strips b) To help School girls in Afghanistan c) To reconstruct schools destroyed by Taliban d) To rebuild schools destroyed by ISIS 13) The growth of the eight core industries in September plummeted to 1.9%. Which of the following is not a part of core sector? a) Coal b) Crude Oil c) Fertilizers d) Ship Building 14) The Index of Industrial Production is released on __________ intervals: a) Monthly b) Quarterly c) Fortnightly d) Weekly 15) Share of manufacturing sector in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is around _____________ percent? a) 70 b) 72 c) 75 d) 78 16) The Index of Industrial Production is released by which ministry? a) Ministry of Industries b) Ministry of Trade & Commerce c) Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation d) Ministry of Heavy Industry 17) Wagah, the small town on Indo-Pak border, famous for its ceremonial beating retreat, was in news for what reasons? a) A big suicide bomb attack b) for inauguration of new viewers gallery c) for discontinuation of border trade d) for celebration of silver jubilee of beating retreat 18) Name the Mumbai Cinema actor, winner of two Filmfare awards who passed away recently? a) Sadashiv Amarpurkar b) Amol Palekar c) Suresh Oberoi d) Govind Namdev 19) Which of the following teams won the Duleep Trophy 2014? a) Northern Zone b) Southern Zone c) Central Zone d) Eastern Zone 20) The prestigious Duleep trophy is for which sports? a) Football b) Hockey c) Cricket d) Tennis 21) 43rd Handball National Championship (women’s) was held in which State


a) Punjab b) Haryana c) Karnataka d) Odisha 22) The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers is one of the top national awards of which country? a) Japan b) China c) USA d) Australia 23) Name the Indian dignitary who was conferred with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers by Japan: a) Narendra Modi b) Sonia Gandhi c) Manmohan Singh d) Pranabh Mukherjee 24) President Pranab Mukherjee visited ____________on a two-day visit 7-8 Nov, 2014. a) Bhutan b) Sweden c) Sri Lanka d) Finland 25) In a freak accident, a ship of Indian Navy sunk off the Visakhapatnam coast during a naval exercise. What type of ship it was: a) Submarine target ship b) Torpedo Recovery Vessel c) High Speed Frigate d) Sea mine blasting ship 26) The Central Government has allocated five thousand crore rupees under AYUSH Mission for what purpose. a) To promote traditional method of Medicine b) To open yoga schools in the country c) To set up a mega ayurved Hospital d) To distribute free medicines 27) Children's Film Society of India organised the first edition of the National Children's Film Festival from 14to 16 Nov at which place: a) Hyderabad b) New Delhi c) Bangaluru d) Goa 28) Dmitry Rogozin visited India to attend 20th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation at New Delhi. Who is he? a) Deputy Prime Minister, Russia b) Deputy Prime Minister, Japan c) Foreign Minister of Russia d) Foreign Minister of Japan 29) Mr. Narendra Modi joined the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people at 15th rank. The list is topped by ______________ a) Barack Obama b) Xi Jinping c) Angela Merkel d) Vladimir Putin 30) _______________ has been appointed Chairperson of the Central Board of Director Taxes: a) Anita Kapur b) Minaxi Sharma c) Vijay Swami d) G Gopal Krishan 31) 54th National Open Athletics Championships was held at which place: a) Patna b) New Delhi c) Bengaluru d) Chennai 32) _____________ was adjudged the best female athlete at 54th National Open Athletics Championships a) Tintu Luka b) Manju Bala c) Krishna Poonia d) Manjit Kaur 33) _____________ was adjudged the best male athlete at 54th National Open Athletics Championships

a) Vikas Gowada b) Ankit Sharma c) Ranjit Maheshvari d) Abdul Najeeb 34) Name the cricketer who has won this year’s ICC’s LG People’s Choice Award: a) Virat Kohli b) Rohit Sharma c) Bhuvneshwar Kumar d) C. Pujara 35) Chief of Indian Army was recently conferred honourary rank of General of its army by which country: a) Nepal b) Bangladesh c) Sri Lanka d) Myanmar 36) Name the star who became the quickest cricketer to reach 6,000 runs in ODIs? a) Virat Kohli b) Rohit Sharma c) AB de Villiers d) MS Dhoni 37) The Indian Army’s team of eight Garhwalis won the rigorous endurance competition Cambrain Patrol held at which place: a) Wales b) Ireland c) Scotland d) England 38) Name the local region of Spain which voted in a symbolic ballot on Nov 9 on the issue – “whether to break away from Spain or not” to emerge as an independent state a) Valencia b) Aragon c) Catalonia d) Murcia 39) Name the village near Varanasi that has been adopted by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi? a) Jayapur b) Pindara c) Sevapuri d) Cholapur 40) Laxmikant Parsekar has been elected as New Chief Minister of Which State: a) Maharashtra b) Goa c) Teleangana d) Kerala 41) DRDO successfully test-fired on Nov 9 its nuclear capable ballistic missile ___________ off the Odisha coast: a) Agni – I b) Agni – II c) Agni – III d) Agni – IV 42) Name the India’s first indigenous Light Combat Aircraft’s two-seater trainer jet version made its maiden flight on Nov 8, 2014. a) Tejas b) Kiran c) Rakshak d) Garuda 43) With which country India signed a MoU on 7th Nov, 2014 for the establishment of Nalanda University in Bihar. a) Bhutan b) Nepal c) Myanmar d) Sri Lanka 44) In collaboration with which country India tested the long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) system with a range of 70 km. a) Germany b) Japan c) France d) Israel 45) Who has been name as the most powerful business woman in India by Fortune Magazine? a) Arundhati Bhattacharya b) Kiran Mazumdar Shaw c) Chanda Kochhar d) Shikha Sharma 46) RBI has made it mandatory for banks to send SMS alerts for which type of transactions? a) Cash transactions b) Cheque transactions


c) Credit transactions d) Both Cheque and Cash transactions 47) ___________ would be the country’s longest access controlled six lane expressway. a) Lucknow – Agra b) Pune – Mumbai c) Hyderabad – Bangaluru d) Mumbai – Ahmadabad 48) ___________ mountain pass in Dharchula, Uttrakhand was in news as border trade worth over Rs 3 crore took place between India and China this year through this pass: a) Zozi La Pass b) Lipulekh Pass c) Nathu La Pass d) Darang Pass 49) India has inked a USD 200 million loan agreement with which organization to finance the setting up of technology centres to help MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) Enterprises enhance their productivity. a) World Bank b) IMF c) OECD d) ADB 50) Name the three countries in the order in which they were recently visited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his recent 10 day tour? a) Myanmar, Australia, Fiji b) Australia, Myanmar, Fiji c) Fiji, Myanmar, Australia d) Myanmar, Fiji, Australia 51) The 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) began in ____________ on November 20 a) Pune b) Goa c) Mumbai d) Hyderabad 52) _______________ is the focus country for the 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)? a) China b) Japan c) Myanmar d) South Korea 53) In which State a tragic incident took place in which over 14 women died due to faulty sterlisation operations? a) Andhra Pradesh b) Chhattisgarh c) Rajasthan d) Gujarat 54) Name the film personality who has been honoured with The Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year 2014? a) Rajanikanth b) Kamal Hasan c) Amitabh Bachhan d) Jitendera 55) ____________has become the first state in the country to have bank accounts for all families in the state under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY). a) Odisha b) Kerala c) Sikkim d) Goa 56) 6th World Ayurveda Congress held in New Delhi from 6 to 9 November 2014. This year’s theme was a) Health Challenges and Ayurveda b) Health and Ayurveda c) Chellenges before Ayurveda d) Towards future with Ayurveda 57) Name the winner of this year Durand Cup football tournament: a) Pune FC b) East Bagan c) Mohan Bagan d) Salgaocar FC 58) Final match of Durand Cup football tournament was held at which place:

a) Goa b) Pune c) Kolkata d) Bengaluru 59) 125th birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, is observed as _____________ a) National Literacy Day b) National Education Day c) National Awareness Day d) National Knowledge Day 60) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the first __________ Minister of independent India? a) Health b) Education c) Home d) Rural Development 61) Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan has been launched recently for what purpose: a) To promote standard of educational institutions b) Collaboration of IITs / IIMs with villages c) To promote contribution of IITs / IIMs in industry d) To improve functioning of IITs and IIMs 62) Name the portal launched to enable students view details of courses, labs, faculty, library, hostels available etc. of all the colleges, for selecting the right college for their higher education. a) Know your Institutions b) Know Your College c) Know Your Universities d) Know your Schools 63) Government has launched Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational Advancement of Youth (SAMVAY) for what propose: a) To facilitate students to switch between education and jobs. b) To assess skill requirements of the students c) To facilitate job placement of students d) To introduce gradation of vocational training 64) Name the two scholarship schemes recently launched for technical education a) Saksham and Pragati b) Sakshar and Pratibha c) Unnati and Pragati d) Pratibha and Saksham 65) G.S. Sandhu has been appointed chairman of which National Level organization: a) National Chemical Weapon Commission b) National Chemical Weapon Convention c) National Central Chemical Commission d) National Commission for Chemical War 66) Small town of Hampi was in news as some 20 drawings of the Harappan (Sindhu) era in Gondi dialect were discovered there at a nearby hilltop. It is in which State? a) Karnataka b) Kerala c) Tamil Nadu d) Andhra 67) National Cancer Awareness Day is observed on which date: a) 4 November b) 7 November c) 5 November d) 10 November 68) Suzlon Energy installed the world’s tallest 120 meters high hybrid wind generator turbine at which place of India? a) Kutch, Gujarat b) Bidar, Karnataka c) Panji, Goa d) Kochhi, Kerala


69) As per recent reports from IMF, in October 2014, _____________ has become the world’s largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). a) China b) USA c) Japan d) Germany 70) ___________ has become the first European Union (EU) country to officially recognise the State of Palestine? a) Netherland b) Austria c) Sweden d) Portugal 71) Why is Public Service Broadcasting Day observed on 12th November? a) To commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's first and only visit to All India Radio b) To commemorate first Radio Broadcast in the country c) To commemorate first address to nation by Jawahar Lal Nehru d) To commemorate inauguration of first radio station 72) Name the world number one player of Badminton who has been suspended by The Badminton World Federation due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation. a) Chen Long b) Lee Chong Wei c) Kenichi Tago d) Tian Houwei 73) Name the spacecraft of European Space Agency that secured a place in history on 12th Nov when it succeeded in landing its mechanical device on a comet? a) Rosetta b) Philae c) Velocity d) Curiosity 74) What was the name of the mechanical probe dropped by the space craft Rosetta on the comet 67P? a) Rosetta b) Philae c) Velocity d) Curiosity 75) The recent summit of ASEAN and EAS countries was held at which place: a) Nay Pyi Taw b) Bangkok c) Jakarta d) Ipoh 76) Name the Nobel Peace Prize winner who is also the leader of opposition in Myanmar, who recently met Mr. Modi at Nay Pyi Taw. a) Aung San Suu Kyi b) Sang Aung Suu Kyi c) Suu Kyi Aaung San d) Suu Kyi San Aung 77) ASEAN is a group of 10 countries. Which of the following is not a member of ASEAN? a) Indonesia b) Malaysia c) India d) Myanmar 78) Lewis Hamilton who won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as well as the Formula 1 racing championship title of the year is from which country? a) UK b) Sweden c) France d) Germany 79) Ms Deborah, a tribal girl from Andaman and Nicobar Islands has created history by winning 4 gold medals at national level in which event? a) Cycling b) Swimming c) Archery d) Canoeing 80) Two Indian priests were recently granted Sainthood by the Pope Francis II. They hail from which State: a) Tamil Nadu b) Kerala

c) Goa d) Karnataka 81) Final match of the World Kabaddi League was played at which place in India? a) New Delhi b) Ludhiana c) Jalandhar d) Mohali 82) Nikki Haley, the youngest of current US Governors (42) recently visited Punjab. She is governor of which State? a) California b) South Carolina c) North Carolina d) Louisiana 84) Rohit Sharma made history by scoring the highest individual score of 264 runs at which stadium? a) Eden Garden b) Chinnaswamy c) Chidambaram d) Wankhede 85) Name the veteran film director from Bollywood, famous for his tele serial – Mahabharat and movie – Baghban who passed away recently? a) Ketan Chopra b) Ravi Chopra c) B.R. Chopra d) Yash Chopra 86) The East Asian Summit was recently held at Nay Pyi Taw. It is a group of __________ countries a) 15 b) 19 c) 18 d) 20 87) On his visit to Australia Prime Minister visited which Australian city first? a) Brisbane b) Sydney c) Melbourne d) Canberra 88) The G-20 summit in Australia was held at which place: a) Canberra b) Sydney c) Melbourne d) Brisbane 89) Which of the following cities is the capital of Australia? a) Canberra b) Sydney c) Melbourne d) Brisbane 90) Prime Minister recently visited Fiji. Name the capital of Fiji? a) Tuva b) Suva c) Luva d) Buva 91) Prime Minister announced a $75 million line of credit for Fiji for what purpose: a) for a power plant and upgrading the sugar industry b) for the development of fisheries c) for promotion of power generation d) for development of roads and airport 92) Government has notified new BIS marks for 15 electronic products. What is BIS? a) Bureau of Indian Standards b) British of International Standards c) Business of Indian Standards d) Bureau of India’s Standards 93) Recently which two countries agreed on a timetable to limit emission of greenhouse gases — ending a 20-year discord between them on how to combat climate change ? a) China and Japan b) China and USA c) USA and Australia d) Australia and Japan 94) The NOF requirements for NBFCs has been raised from Rs.25 lakh at present to Rs.1 crore by March, 2016. What is meant by NOF? a) Net Own Funds b) Net Operational Funds


c) National Own Funds d) National Operational Finance 95) A recent study has shown that ____________ has the largest number of Internet user in India in 2014? a) Delhi b) Chennai c) Mumbai d) Bengaluru 96) Who has been named as the captain of the ICC ODI team of the year 2014? a) MS Dhoni b) Virat Kohali c) Mitchell Johnson d) Ab De Villiers 97) World Children Prize for 2014 has been won by? a) Mukesh Agnihotari b) Malala Yousafzai c) Paula Robin d) Sara Wilbard 98) Governor of South Caorlina state, USA, the youngest of current US Governors visited India recently. What is her name? a) Nikki Haley b) Nikki Hallow c) Niekey Haley d) Nikki Hello 99) Farhan Akhtar, popular bollywood actor, director has been appointed goodwill ambassador of which UN organization? a) WHO b) FAO c) UN Women Organization d) UN Women 100) Name the Indian news paper that won, The IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism, 2014 a) The Hindu b) Hindustan Times c) Times of India d) The Tribune 101) Name the bank that has recently been merged with the Kotak Mohindra Bank? a) ING Vysya Bank b) Yes Bank c) Reco Bank d) Karnataka Bank 102) Army test-fired the Prithvi-II missile on 14th Nov from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha. What is the name of its Naval version? a) Sagarika b) Jalpoth c) Dhanush d) Varun 103) Name the cricketer who won the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the Cricketer of the Year award for 2014? a) Mitchell Johnson b) AB de Villiers c) MS Dhoni d) Virat Kohali 104) Who has been named as the ODI player of the 2014 by ICC? a) Mitchell Johnson b) AB de Villiers c) MS Dhoni d) Virat Kohali 105) Sarah Taylor who was named women’s player of 2014 by ICC is from which country? a) England b) Australia c) South Africa d) New Zealand 106) 68th Senior National Aquatic Championship held at which place? a) Chennai b) Bhopal c) Ranchi d) Kolkata 107) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) won the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Nov 16 at which place? a) London b) Paris c) Vienna d) Monte Carlo 108) ________________ has been chosen for union government’s Best State Award for Empowerment of Disabled for year 2014. a) Gujarat b) Madhya Pradesh c) Rajasthan d) Karnataka

109) The World Economic Forum (WEF) in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) hosted the India Economic Summit at which place: a) New Delhi b) Mumbai c) Kolkata d) Chennai 110) Which ministry has launched Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS)? a) Ministry of Home Affairs b) Ministry of Youth Affairs c) Ministry of Rural Development d) Ministry of Minority Affairs 111) Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills has been launched for imparting training to youths in which sector? a) Health and Security b) Business skills c) Telecommunication d) Information Technology 112) Which international organization has released first ever Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality - Household Fuel Combustion to promote use of clean fuels at household level? a) World Health Organization b) Food and Agriculture Organization c) International Fuel Institute d) UN FCCC 113) 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit was held in which city? a) Tokyo b) Manila c) Beijing d) Shanghai 114) The G-20 summit for 2015 will be hosted by which country? a) Turkey b) Japan c) Russia d) India 115) The G-20 summit for 2016 will be hosted by which country? a) Turkey b) China c) Malaysia d) Indonesia 116) Name the international agreement of WTO for which India has now agreed to sign after USA dropped its objection to food subsidy being given by the India? a) Trade Facilitation Agreement b) International Trade Agreement c) Trade Facilities Agreement d) International Trade Treaty 117) International Buddhist Conference was held in which country: a) Myanmar b) Nepal c) Thailand d) Japan 118) Name the winner of the China Open Super Series Premier Badminton Championship in women’s category? a) Sainia Nehwal b) Li Xuerui c) Wang Shixian d) Wang Yihan 119) Name the winner of the China Open Super Series Premier Badminton Championship in male’s category? a) Lee Chong Wei b) Chen Long c) Lin Dan d) K Srikanth 120) China Open Super Series Premier Badminton Championship was held at which place? a) Fuzhou b) Beijing c) Shanghai d) Guangzhou


121) Police of which city in India has introduced a kiosk where any aggrieved person can file a FIR? a) Pune b) Bengauluru c) Chandigarh d) Hyderabad 122) The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has allowed which bank to increase foreign investment in the bank to 74 per cent. a) HDFC Bank b) ICICI Bank c) Axis Bank d) Yes Bank 123) Name the prominent world leader who left the G-20 summit before time under protest? a) Vladimir Putin b) Tony Abbott c) Tony Blair d) Angela Merkel 124) Which of the following issues were focus of discussion at the recently held G-20 summit? a) Boosting the global growth b) Tackling climate change c) Action on tax avoidance d) All of these 125) The amount by which total value of imports exceeds total value of exports is called ______________? a) Trade Deficit b) Current Account Deficit c) International Trade Deficit d) National Trade Deficit 126) The term Velvet Revolution refers to which country? a) Netherlands b) Czech Republic c) Slovenia d) Sweden 127) Government has relaunched Kisan Vikas Patra scheme. What is the maturity period of KVP? a) 84 months b) 96 months c) 100 months d) 108 months 128) Which of the following is the denomination of the Kisan Vikas Patra? a) 25000 b) 50000 c) 75000 d) 100000 129) Name the country whose Economy recently suffered recession? a) Japan b) Spain c) Egypt d) Philippines 130) Klaus Warren Lohannis has been elected as President of which European country? a) France b) Germany c) Romania d) Spain 131) IIM-JRD TATA AWARD for Excellence in Corporate leadership – 2014 has been won by CS Verma. Who is he? a) Chairman, SAIL b) Chairman, ONGC c) Chairman, BHEL d) Chairman, NTPC 132) Indian cricket team won 5-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, winning all the five matches. This feature is called_________________? a) Whitewash b) Blackout c) Stump d) Googly 133) Name the programme launched by Govt. to improve over all cleanliness amongst school children? a) Clean Your School Mission b) National Bal Swachhta Mission c) National School Safai Mission d) Rashtriya School Safai Abhiyaan 134) Which programme has been launched to assist girl students in preparing them for the IIT-JEE while studying in classes XI and XII? a) Udaan b) Pragati

c) Vigyaan d) Uchhal 135) Prasar Bharti announced to re-launch DD National with which new tagline? a) Desh Ka Naya Channel b) Desh Ka Chaheta Channel c) India’s No. 1 Channel d) Desh Ka Apna Channel 136) Institute for Economics and Peace, Sydney released Global Terrorism Index 2014. As per this index which is the country worst effected by terrorism? a) Iraq b) Iran c) Syria d) Afghanistan 137) Institute for Economics and Peace, Sydney released Global Terrorism Index 2014. As per this index India has been placed at which place? a) 4th b) 5th c) 6th d) 7th 138) Name the medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile recently tested by Indian Air Force? a) Akash b) Nag c) Prahar d) Dhanush 139) Name the winner International Children’s Peace Prize - 2014? a) Alia Yusufjai b) Malala c) Neha Gupta d) Kailash Satyarthi 140) IAAF World Athletics Championship 2015 will be held at which place? a) Doha b) Qatar c) Beijing d) London 141) Terry Walsh recently resign as the Head Coach for which Indian national team? a) Hockey b) Football c) Squash d) Badminton 142) Name the cricketer who won the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for 2014? a) Kapil Dev b) Ravi Shashtri c) Dilip Vengsarkar d) Sunil Gavaskar 143) Name the cricketer who won the Polly Umrigar Award 2013-14 for being India’s best international cricketer of the year? a) Rohit Sharma b) Shikhar Dhawan c) Ravinder Jadeja d) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 144) As per a latest UN report which country has the world’s largest youth population in the age group of 10-24 year a) India b) China c) Brazil d) USA 145) Sumitra Charat Ram Award 2014 has been given to which eminent personality? a) Pandit Jasraj b) Hari Prasad Chaurasia c) Pandit Shivraj Sharma d) Shujaat Khan 146) Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) and US Export-Import (Exim) Bank signed a MoU for cooperation in which field? a) Clean Energy Investment b) Development of Solar Energy c) Improvement of Power Distribution d) Thermal Power Generation 147) Name the winner of Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014 a) DRDO b) ISRO c) ONGC d) NTPC


148) 18th SAARC Summit was held at which place: a) Kathmandu b) Jakarta c) Nay Pyi Taw d) Macau 149) World Tour Golf Championship was held at which place a) Hongkong b) Dubai c) Paris d) Doha 150) UN World Toilet Day is observed on which date? a) November 19 b) February 19 c) March 19 d) December 19 151) World Women’s Boxing Championship was held at which place: a) Beijing b) Jiju c) Tokyo d) Suva 152) Govt. has approved “Integrated Power Development Scheme” (IPDS) for what purpose? a) for establishing new hydropower stations b) for establishing new thermal power stations c) for improving distribution network in urban areas d) for generating more power in India 153) The Reserve Bank has asked banks to inform their customers in advance regarding which transaction: a) Fall in minimum balance b) Cheque Payment of over one lac c) Cash deposit of over one lac d) Maximum permissible withdrawal 154) Name the foreign dignitary who will be the Chief Guest at India's Republic Day celebrations. a) David Cameron b) Barack Obama c) Shinzo Abe d) Tony Abbott 155) Name the winner of the third South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship. a) India b) Pakistan c) Bangladesh d) Bhutan 156) The third South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship was held at which place? a) Islamabad b) Kolkata c) Colombo d) Dhaka 157) Which country has announced sweeping immigration reforms that will save almost five million illegal immigrants from deportation? a) UK b) USA c) Canada d) UAE 158) Which Indian innovation has been listed among the 25 best innovations of 2014 by the Time magazine? a) Mangalyaan b) Chandrayaan c) Tejas d) BrahMos 159) Assam State Zoo in Guwahati has become the first zoo in the world to house the critically endangered Pygmy Hog. What type of animal is this? a) Deer b) Rhino c) Pig d) Panda 160) Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide $350-million loan assistance for upgradation of district roads in which State? a) Madhya Pradesh b) Uttar Pradesh c) Andhra Pradesh d) Telangana 161) UN Climate Change Summit 2014 was held at which place? a) New York b) Geneva c) Kyoto d) Bali

162) The United Nations has adopted the first-ever resolution calling on nations to stop which social malpractice? a) Violence against women b) Female foeticide c) Child Marriage d) Child exploitation 163) Name the eminent Padma Shri awardee, Kathak danseuse who passed away recently? a) Sitara Devi b) Rukmani Devi c) Arundhatti d) Phoolan Bai 164) Name the grandmaster who won the world chess championship – 2014? a) Viswanathan Anand b) Magnus Carleson c) Veselin Topalov d) Fabiano Caruana 165) Latest world chess champion Magnus Carleson is from which country? a) Norway b) Sweden c) Britain d) Russia 166) Name the eminent Congress leader from Maharashtra and former Union Petroleum Minister who passed away recently? a) Girja Kumar b) Murli Deora c) Gopinath Munde d) Kireet Joshi 167) Name the FC Barcelona superstar who became the all-time highest scorer in La Liga history by scoring 253 goals. a) Lionel Messi b) Cristiano Ronaldo c) Luis Suarej d) James Rodriguez 168) Name the organization that has started A Delhi – Kathmandu Bus Service? a) Lucknow Transport Authority b) Delhi Transport Corporation c) Ministry of Roadways d) Kathmandu Transport Authority 169) World’s longest rail journey, covering over 10,000 kms has been started between which two countries? a) China and Spain b) China and Russia c) Spain and Russia d) Egypt and South Africa 170) World’s longest rail journey, covering over 10,000 kms has been started between which two cities? a) Yiwu and Madrid b) Beijing and Moscow c) Madrid and Moscow d) Cairo and Cape Town 171) Name the book that has been awarded 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize? a) Odyssey of My Life b) The Boys in the Boat c) The Scatter Here is Too Great d) A Man and a Motor Cycle 172) Who is the author of the book ‘Scatter Here is Too Great’? a) Frank Keating b) Bilal Tanweer c) Daniel James Brow d) Natwar Singh 173) Chuck Hagel, a top US govt. official was in news as he resigned from his post. What was his post? a) Defence Secretary b) Home Secretary c) Foreign Secretary d) Finance Secretary 174) Who has been appointed as the new Union Information and Broadcasting Minister? a) Suresh Prabhu b) Arun Jaitely c) Nitin Gatakari d) J P Nadda


175) ______________ has been appointed as the new Defence Minister of India? a) Suresh Prabhu b) J.P. Nadda c) Manohar Parrikar d) Ajit Doval 176) ______________ has been appointed as the new Railway Minister of India? a) Suresh Prabhu b) J.P. Nadda c) Ravi Shankar Prasad d) Ajit Doval 177) The SAARC summit that started in Kathmandu on 26th November is __________ in series? a) 14 b) 15 c) 16 d) 18 178) _______________ has been elected as new Chairman of SAARC? a) Sushil Koirala b) Narendra Modi c) Nawaz Sharif d) Mahinda Rajapaksa 179) The theme of the 2014 SAARC Summit was _____________. a) Deeper Regional Integration for Peace and Prosperity b) Together we fight for removal of poverty c) Prosperity and peace for all d) Fighting together for a terrorism free world 180) How many countries are members of SAARC? a) 6 b) 8 c) 10 d) 12 181) First Commonwealth Science Congress held on November 25th at which place? a) Bengaluru b) Chennai d) New Delhi d) Mumbai 182) Reserve Bank has banned domestic firms from raising _____________ above the permitted levels. a) foreign deposits b) foreign funds c) domestic deposits d) domestic loans 183) Who is the author of the book “The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi years”? a) Pranab Mukherjee b) Natwar Singh c) Anand Sharma d) M L Fotedar 184) Recently USA suffered widespread riots in its major cities. What was the reason behind riots? a) A black teenager raped by a white police officer b) Acquittal of white policeman who shot black teenager c) A church was vandalized by native Negroes d) A black priest gave provocative speeches against whites 185) For what purpose three organisations – World Toilet Organisation (WTO), WASTE and the Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health (FINISH) joined hands in India? a) To clean the schools in rural areas b) To clean the toilets in slums c) To end open defecation d) To provide toilets in all schools 186) World Fisheries day is observed on which date? a) November 21 b) January 21 c) October 21 d) December 21 187) National Milk Day is observed in India on which date? a) 22nd November b) 26th November c) 28th November d) 30th November

188) Why National Milk Day is observed on 26th November Only? a) It is the foundation of Amul b) Birth Anniversary of Verghese Kurien c) Death anniversary of Verghese Kurien d) Amul completed 50 years on this day 189) Mr. Deepak Gupta has been appointed to which national level post? a) Chairman CBDT b) Chairman CBEC c) Chairman UPSC d) Chairman PAC 190) Name the world organization that released the report title “Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal.” a) World Bank b) World Climate Organization c) UN Climate Commission d) WHO 191) Govt. has launched Swachh Bharat Kosh for what purpose? a) To fund the cleanliness across the country b) For construction of toilets in the rural area c) For construction of toilets in the urban area d) To fund the sanitation system in urban areas 192) As per the Global Slavery Index 2014, India is home to around __________ % of total world population of enslaved people. a) 50 b) 35 c) 45 d) 40 193) Which State in India has recently suffered a suspected outbreak of H5NI avian influenza virus? a) Kerala b) Karnataka c) Tamil Nadu d) Assam 194) H5NI avian influenza virus is commonly spread by _________ ? a) House flies b) Poultry birds c) Milch animals d) Sheep and goats 195) The SEBI has allowed which bank to launch Sharia funds a) State Bank of India b) Punjab National Bank c) Union Bank of India d) ICICI Bank 196) Which of the following is the country’s oldest and largest foreign bank? a) Citi Bank b) HSBC Bank c) Grindlays Bank d) Standard Chartered Bank 197) The famous international Nalanda University has been setup in which State? a) Bihar b) Uttar Pradesh c) Jharkhand d) West Bengal 198) What is the periodicity of release of WPI and CPI? a) Fortnightly b) Monthly c) Quartile d) Weekly 199) The General Council meeting of WTO to consider stock piling of food grains by India was held at which place? a) Geneva b) Zurich c) Toronto d) New York 200) On his recent visit to Kathmandu, Mr. Modi gifted a __________ helicopter to Nepal? a) Dhruva b) Cheata c) Garuda d) Tejas


ANSWER KEY

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

11 A 12 A 13 D 14 A 15 C 16 C 17 A 18 A 19 C 20 C 21 A 22 A 23 C 24 A 25 B 26 A 27 B 28 A 29 D 30 A 31 B 32 A 33 B 34 C 35 A 36 A 37 A 38 C 39 A 40 B 41 B 42 A 43 A 44 D 45 A 46 B 47 A 48 B 49 A 50 A 51 B 52 A 53 B 54 A 55 B 56 A 57 D 58 A 59 B 60 B 61 B 62 B 63 A 64 A 65 B 66 A 67 B 68 A 69 A 70 C 71 A 72 B 73 A 74 B 75 A 76 A 77 C 78 B 79 A 80 B 81 D 82 B 83 A 84 B 85 B 86 C 87 A 88 D 89 A 90 B 91 A 92 A 93 B 94 A 95 C 96 A 97 B 98 A 99 D 100 B

101 A 102 C 103 A 104 B 105 A 106 D 107 A 108 B 109 A 110 D 111 A 112 A 113 C 114 A 115 B 116 A 117 B 118 A 119 D 120 A 121 B 122 A 123 A 124 D 125 A 126 B 127 C 128 B 129 A 130 C 131 A 132 A 133 B 134 A 135 D 136 A 137 C 138 A 139 C 140 C 141 A 142 C 143 D 144 A 145 A 146 A 147 B 148 A 149 B 150 A 151 B 152 C 153 A 154 B 155 A 156 A 157 B 158 A 159 C 160 A 161 A 162 C 163 A 164 B 165 A 166 B 167 A 168 B 169 A 170 A 171 C 172 B 173 A 174 B 175 C 176 A 177 D 178 A 179 A 180 B 181 A 182 B 183 A 184 B 185 C 186 A 187 B 188 B 189 C 190 A 191 A 192 D 193 A 194 B 195 A 196 D 197 A 198 B 199 A 200 A


SUCCESS MANTRA For Interview

Interview is an interaction between two or more persons for a specific purpose. It is a face to face interpersonal role situation in which the ‘interviewer’ asks the person ‘being interviewed’ specific questions in order to assess his/her suitability for admission, recruitment or promotion. Interview “consists of dialogue between two or more persons”. MAJOR OBJECTIVES 1. Collecting additional information about the candidate 2. Assessment of qualitative facts 3. Formation of opinion about the candidate 4. Assessment of communication skills 5. Evaluation of overall personality IMPORTANCE OF INTERVIEW METHODS 1. Best method of getting first hand information 2. For securing information from persons at all levels 3. Method of Psychological Study 4. Verification of information ADVANTAGES OF INTERVIEW 1. It enables to study the personality traits of the candidate. 2. Allows to study factors like attitude, feelings, emotions

and reactions / responses 3. Allows first hand gathering of information DISADVANTAGES OF INTERVIEW 1. Interviewer may be biased 2. Too much dependence on ‘on the spot performance’ 3. Specific knowledge may not be possible always

10 MANTRAS ABOUT INTERVIEW

10 QUALITIES THAT EMPLOYER IS LOOKING FOR ● Positive attitude ● Good communication skills ● Ability to work in a team ● Flexibility ● Clarity of thought ● Good organizer ● Good/ attractive personality ● Strong work ethics ● Honesty / integrity ● Motivation level/initiative

10 COMMON QUESTION AREAS ● About your name ●All places linked with you About the organization About the post applied ● All the subjects studied ● About your area / state ● About your hobbies ● Latest current affairs ● About your interest in Banking ● Latest policy changes 10 GENERAL AWARENESS POINTS ● Recent economic developments ● Economy ● Budget ● Government Schemes ● International Events ● Sports ● States of India ● Recent Awards ● Banking Terminology ● International Persons

10 STEPS TO SUCCESS ● Dress appropriately ● Maintain proper body language ● Proper entry and sitting posture ● Proper attitude during interview ● Promptness in replies ● Leading the interviewer to the topics of your interest ● Time factor: - neither too short nor too long ● What to say when you do not know the answer ● How to handle controversial questions ● Leaving the room gracefully

10 PITFALLS TO BE AVOIDED ● Nervousness ● Improper dress up ● Poor communication skills ● Dull interview session ● Lack of knowledge ● Lack of enthusiasm ● Inability to work in a team ● Dishonesty and bluff ● Aggressive Temperament ● Casual approach

HOW TO PREPARE FOR AN INTERVIEW

1. Know what you have to offer: - i) Knowledge ii) Confidence iii) Communication skills 2. Know the employer: - i) Know about the organization ii) Be familiar with the products iii) Values and culture of the organisation iv) Study web site of the organisation 3. Know what to expect: - You should be well prepared

for the kind of questions being asked in the interview. 4. Prepare and Practice: - Put yourself in the real time

situation and practice each aspect of interview giving equal attention to body language, communication and rehearsed replies. Rehearse with mock interviews. Take the help of an experienced person to improve your interview skills. In case any experienced person is not available, take the help of any senior in the family. The key to selection is WELL DONE REHEARSALS.

5. Practice in front of a Mirror: The best way to prepare is to practice before a mirror. You can observe yourself and find out the areas where you need to improve, particularly about your posture and body language.

6. Record your voice: These days cell phones have the facility to record voice as well as videos. Record the mock interview and check your performance in the interview for the desired voice qualities, tone, repetition of words etc.


SOME Qs WHICH RANKLE YOU

1. HOW TO TACKLE VENUE PHOBIA The first time job seekers are generally scared of the place of interview. For one, they are not exposed to the corporate culture and are overawed by the big rooms and the office culture etc. This causes a lot of nervousness among them but it must be overcome. Visit the venue at least a day before the interview or even earlier to overcome any anxiety about the venue. It will also help you to know as to how to reach the venue. One must reach the venue at least half an hour in advance and should make arrangements to make up for any accidental delay in reaching the venue. 2. HOW TO DRESS FOR INTERVIEW? You should be very careful about your dress. It must reflect your personality and be appropriate to your physique. Generally the boys / men should wear light colored shirt with dark trousers. The hair should be properly trimmed. Beard, if kept, must be properly trimmed or properly tied (for Sikhs). The turban should be properly matched and should gel with the colour of the dress. For ladies, they should not be dressed flashily. You may wear a suit or even a sari, if you are comfortable in it. One can wear a shirt and trouser as well, but ensure that it is buttoned properly and is not low neck. Neither the top should be short nor the trouser be low waist. 3. WHAT DOCUMENTS ARE REQUIRED? Carry all original certificates from 10th standard onwards with you when you go for an interview. Also carry one set of their attested copies. You should also carry other certificate/s, pertaining to your extra-curricular activities. All the documents / certificates should be neatly filed in chronological order so that you do not fumble during the interview. 4. HOW TO SIT IN THE INTERVIEW? You must not slouch in the chair. Your back should be straight and firmly touch back of the chair. Your legs should not be wide open or crossed abnormally. Take control of your hand movements. You may clasp your hands or keep them on your thighs. If you are carrying a file with you, keep it in your lap. Never lean over the table. Generally there is a table between the interviewers and the interviewee. But you should also be prepared for a situation where there may not be any table. 5. HOW TO HANDLE CONTROVERSIAL Qs? Sometimes questions about controversial issues are asked not only to know the views of the candidate but also to find out whether the candidate has a balanced approach or not. You should be very careful while answering questions about which you may have very strong views. You should give balanced and mature answers, not allowing your preferences to prejudice your reply. 6. WHAT TO DO WHEN ANSWER IS NOT KNOWN? If you do not know the answer to a question, instead of giving a wrong reply, the best way to tell the interviewer is, “Sorry Sir, I do not know the answer to this question”.

However, if you have a vague idea, then instead of telling the interviewer that you do not know the answer, you can say, “Sir, I am not sure but I think the answer is _____”. By giving a wrong reply you are under estimating the interviewer. Never ever do that. 7. HOW TO HANDLE INTERRUPTIONS? If the interviewer feels that you know the answer, he may interrupt you and move on to a new question. Similarly the interviewer may feel that you are on a wrong track he may not like to continue with the question and may like to check your knowledge or information in some other areas. 8. HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I TAKE? There should not be a long pause between the question and your reply. Think for a while and understand the question properly before answering it. As long as you do not maintain silence for a long time the interviewer is not going to mind. In case you do not know the answer, you should be straight forward and reply as already mentioned above. 9. HOW LONG SHOULD BE THE REPLY? Your replies must not be in monosyllables like ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, etc. But your replies should not be very lengthy as well. Though the length of the reply is determined by the question, yet, your reply should be short and simple. Normally, any reply should not stretch beyond two minutes and should not be less than 20 seconds. But you can always find out if the interviewer is asking for more information. If you are not satisfied with your details, you may ask “Do you want me to expand more on this?” 10. WHAT SIGNALS THE END OF THE INTERVIEW When the interviewer says “Thank you Mr……. ” or “Wish you all the best”, it is a signal that the interview is over. Sometimes the interviewer may ask you whether you want to ask any question. This also is indication of the end of the interview. If you have any question to ask and you have been specifically asked as above, you can always put forward your question. But you should be very sure that your questions are sensible, and are about the organization you are to join. The question should not expose your ignorance but should express your inquisitiveness. So make sure that you have gone through the website of the organization and have already searched for the information you intend to seek. Never ask a question like, “What are my chances of selection?” or “How many marks did I score in the interview or in the written examination”. This kind of questions may go against you.

REMEMBER! EACH QUESTION IS AN OPPORTUNITY Every person has unique knowledge and interests. Each question, gives you an opportunity to lead the interviewer to an area of your knowledge and interest. The idea is to talk about your strength and lead the interview to issues and areas of your interest. But do not try to ‘Gate crash and mould your answers so as to steer the interviewer’. (Steer the interview not the interviewer). If you are not comfortable with any question, you may frankly tell the interviewer about


your inability. But do not keep doing the same for every other question.

BE HONEST IN ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS? The question of being honest or dishonest comes into picture only when you are talking about, answering opinion-based questions or personality-related questions. If you have an considered opinion about some issue and believe in that, then there is nothing wrong in expressing it frankly. If you have an opinion about some issue and think that it may not be appreciated by the interviewer, first ask yourself as to why you opine so. Think over that objectively. If you still hold the same view, go ahead and express it freely. If you can change your mind and opine differently, express that changed version.

SOME TYPICAL INTERVIEW Qs

Here are a few questions that are normally asked during interview. You should rehearse the answers to these questions. 1. QUESTIONS ABOUT YOURSELF Generally, most of the interviews start with the question – ‘Tell me something about yourself’. This is to make you comfortable and to allow you to settle down. Thus it is very important that one must prepare very well the answer for this most likely question as the answer is going to set the tone of your interview. Your answer should cover your educational background, briefly about your family, your interest / hobbies. You may also talk about your achievements in academics and / or extra curricular activities. You need not go into your family history but restrict yourself to the areas which should be of interest to the organisation / interviewer. Keep in mind that interviewer may frame his questions based on your response to his questions. The response to the question ‘about yourself’ will depend on the response of the interviewer. If the interviewer is interested to know more about the family, you may be required to dwell on the issue and so on. 2. MEANING OF YOUR NAME You must know the meaning of your name. In case it is related to some mythological character, try to understand the background of the word including the meaning of the words that form your name. Generally an uncommon name attracts the attention of the interviewer. 3. PERSONALITY RELATED QUESTIONS Sometimes the interviewee is asked to mention his/her “Strength & Weaknesses”. You should be very careful and be well prepared to answer this question. Keep a note of your achievements and the details thereof. Identify the qualities that helped you achieve the goal. You should mention these qualities without mentioning those moments. If the interviewer asks you more about it, then you can mention the moment when you achieved the goal with the help of these qualities. Normally the strengths mentioned are:-

i) Discipline ii) Punctuality iii) Goal oriented approach iv) Hardworking nature v) Team player vi) Ability to convince

Regarding weaknesses, never give a reply like, “I do not have any weakness”. Again recollect the moments when you failed in any venture and look for the reasons within. . You should also mention what extra efforts you have made to overcome this weakness.

The key to answering this question is the same as the last: Turn a negative into a positive. Don't try to come up with a character flaw or personal weakness. Instead, rephrase the question for yourself: "How do I want to improve to become better in my career?" Identify areas in which you want more training or guidance.

4. QUESTIONS ABOUT SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE You must be well prepared to answer the questions about your educational background and the subjects of your study. If you are a student of History you should know about Indian Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History. If you are a student of Engineering or Science you should know the basic concepts you have learned during the course. 5. QUESTIONS ON HOBBIES Generally you are required to fill bio-data form where in complete information regarding your educational background, your extracurricular activities and hobbies is provided by you. Therefore, you should be very particular about giving information in the bio-data form, because in the interview you are likely to be questioned on that information and you have no option to twist or mis-represent any relevant information. Remember that whenever you express any activity that you say is your hobby then either you should be personally participating in it or may be interested in it. If neither is the case, then you should not mention it as your hobby. If you say chess is your hobby, then either you should be playing it or should have a keen interest in the game, know about the present and the past players, theoretical aspects of the game, etc. If you mention reading as your hobby the probable question will be, name of the authors or the name of the books, you have read in the recent past, the main characters of the book and analysis of the character etc. For the newspaper that you read daily, you should know the place from where it is published and its editor, etc. You can also be asked, how a particular hobby has helped you in achieving your goals. In case you do not have any particular interest or extra-curricular activity, do not give the answer like, “I do not do anything”. Or “I just while away my time, watching television”. Instead you may list out areas of your interest like listening to music, making friends etc. 6. QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE Apart from your personality and your subject knowledge, the interviewer is more interested to know about your attitude towards the job you are about to join. So he may ask you inconvenient questions like, why do you want to join the bank. This question assumes more importance if you have back ground other than commerce. You should be ready with the answer and should not be found wanting for the suitable reply.


7. WHY DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE BANK? You should be well prepared to answer such a question specially if you are not from commerce or economics background. Never give a answer like, “It’s a government job”, or “Being a government job, it ensures job security” or “It pays well”, or “My parents want me to join a Bank”. You should be very clear about your professional goal and convince him how your study is going to be relevant to Banking. If you are making a Midcourse change you must backup with solid reasons. It is not uncommon to change a line from science to commerce, engineering to banking. You should be ready with examples where persons from diverse backgrounds have made it to the top in Banking. 8. WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN CAREER IN BANKING? You should have a clear idea about the scope for future promotion and career in the Bank you plan to join. You must know the hierarchy in the Banking and where do you see yourself five years down the line. Normally, a person joins the Bank at clerical level or as a Probationary Officer. Clerical level constitutes the front desk employees and Probationary Officers are at first rung in the officer cadre, part of management. 9. WHY DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THIS INSTITUTE? This is a common question asked in the most of the interviews. This is a very delegate question and to answer it you should study the other institutes other organizations working in the same field. Gather information about their activities and results and compare them with the results of this organization. This information will be very helpful in answering such a question.

SOME COMMON INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Introduction Introduce yourself in one minute. Define yourself in one word. Describe yourself briefly. Meaning of your name, who named you and why? Do you have any namesake? What is your father and his job profile? What is your family background? Where do you come from? Tell me about your native place/city/state and it is

famous for what? What are your hobbies and interest? If you do not succeed this time, what will you do? What is your educational background? Tell me something about your achievements? Any extra-curricular activity pursued by you? Why do you want to join Banking sector? What qualities should one possess to be a Bank P.O.?

Do you think you have these qualities? Who is the founder of this bank? When was this bank nationalized? What is the current financial position of bank? Name the person who inspired you the most? How is your subject helpful in banking sector? Why is there a gap in your studies?

What are your strong and weak points? As a student of Science/Art/Commerce, why didn’t you

go for higher studies? Newspapers and magazines that you normally read?

Name the Editor of Newspaper? Why should we select you? Why do you want to be a P.O.? What is your idea of life? What is the importance of hobby in our life? Have you cleared any exam earlier? What will you do if you don’t get selected,? What does your mother do or whether she is a house

wife or in a job? Where did you spend you childhood? Why don’t you join your family business? Educational Background You passed B.Sc./B.Com/B.A. in the year 2007, what

were you doing till now? There is a gap in between graduation and PG. Why? Why is there a great variation in marks between class

10th, 12th & graduation? What is the use of your subject in this sector? What is the use of your subject in life? How do you correlate your subjects with Banking? Why didn’t you continue your studies? Your subjects are related with IAS, PCS. Then why are

you here? From which college/university have you completed your

graduation? What are the specialties of the schools/colleges from

where you have acquired education? Why have you switched to Arts stream from Science

stream or vice versa? These days the use of computer is increasing in the

banking industry. Since you don’t have the knowledge of computers, how will you perform your job satisfactorily?

You have done MCA then why don’t you go for technical post?

What is the motto of your college / university? You have written in your bio data “N.A”. What is this?

FINALLY, 10 STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW

Always arrive on time. Introduce yourself in a courteous manner. Collect information about the bank / company Listen carefully before answering. Use body language to show interest. Maintain good posture Maintain good eye contact Smile, nod, give nonverbal feedback to the interviewer. Show energy and enthusiasm. Thank the interviewer.


United India Insurance Co. MODEL TEST PAPER

REASONING ABILITY

Qs. 1-7): Study the following information and answer the questions given below: J, K, L, M, N, O, P and R are sitting around a circular table facing the centre. Each of them was born in a different year – 1971, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 and 1990, not necessarily in the same order. M is sitting second to the right of K. L is sitting third to the right of J. L and J were born before 1980. Only the one born in 1984 is sitting exactly between J and K. N who is the eldest is not an immediate neighbor of J and M. R is older than only M. R is sitting second to the left of P. P is not an immediate neighbor of N. J is younger than L. K was born before O. 1) Who is the second eldest in the group? 1) J 2) L 3) K 4) P 5) None of these 2) Who is sitting third to the right of O? 1) The one born in 1979 2) The one born in 1980 3) The one born in 1985 4) The one born in 1984 5) None of these 3) In which year was R born? 1) 1979 2) 1975 3) 1980 4) 1985 5) None of these 4) Which of the following statements is true regarding K? 1) K is sitting fourth to the right of R 2) The one who was born in 1975 is to the immediate left of K 3) K is younger than R 4) There are four people sitting between N and K 5) None is true Qs. 5-6): Four of the following five are alike in a certain way based on their seating positions in the above arrangement and so form a group. Which one does not belong to the group? 5) 1) OR 2) MK 3) JL 4) RP 5) KJ 6) 1) MPJL 2) OKPM 3) NLKO 4) KNPO 5) RMLN 7) If all the people are asked to sit in a alphabetical order starting from J in an anti

clockwise direction, the positions of how many will remain unchanged (excluding J)? 1) One 2) Two 3) Three 4) More than three 5) None Qs. 8-13): In each of the questions below, three statements are given followed by conclusions / group of conclusions numbered I and II. You have to assume all the statements to be true even if they seem to be at variance from the commonly known facts and then decide which of the given two conclusions logically follows from the information given in the statements. Give answer (1) if only conclusion I follows. Give answer (2) if only conclusion II follows. Give answer (3) if either conclusion I or conclusion II follows. Give answer (4) if neither conclusion I nor conclusion II follows. Give answer (5) if both conclusions I and II follow. 8-9): Statements: All pens are books. Some books are pages. All pages are papers. 8) Conclusions: I) No paper is a pen. II) At least some pages are pens. 9) Conclusions: I) All books are papers II) Some books are papers. 10-11): Statements: Some Ds are Gs. All Gs are Ks. All Ks are Ls. 10) Conclusions: I) Atleast some Ds are Ls. II) All Gs are Ls. 11) Conclusions: I) Atleast some Ks are Ds II) All Ds are Ls. 12-13): Statements: Some files are folders. All folders are pockets. No pocket is a bag. 12) Conclusions: I) All pockets are files. II) All files are bags. 13) Conclusions: I) Atleast some bags are folders II) All folders are files. Qs. 14-19): Study the following information and answer the questions given below:


Twelve people are standing in two parallel rows each row having 6 people, P, Q, R, S, T and U are standing in row 1 facing south while A, B,C, D, E and F are standing in row 2 facing north. They are standing in each a way that there is an equal distance between two adjacent persons. Thus each person from row 1 is facing another person from row 2. D is standing third to the right of E. C is standing third to the right of A. A and E are not immediate neighbours. U is facing the one who is to the immediate right of C. T is standing fourth to the left of S. B is not facing U. R is standing third to the left of P. 14) Who is facing E? 1) R 2) S 3) Q 4) P 5) None of these 15) Which of the following pairs represents persons standing at the end of the rows? 1) TB 2) PC 3) PF 4) DS 5) None of these 16) What is F’s position with respect to R? 1) F is facing the one who is second to the right of R. 2) F is second to the left of the person facing R. 3) F is facing the one who is second to the right of R 4) F is second to the left of the person facing R 5) None of these Qs. 17-18): Four of the following five are alike in a certain way based on their positions in the above arrangement and so form a group. Which one does not belong to the group? 17) 1) PQE 2) BCR 3) TRC 4) FEQ 5) QUD 18) 1) PSBA 2) CEQR 3) BEQS 4) UTDF 5) RUCF 19) How many persons are standing between B and D? 1) One 2) Two 3) Three 4) Four 5) None Qs. 20-25): Each of the questions below consists of a question and two statements numbered I and II given below it. You have to decide whether the data given in the statements are sufficient to answer the questions. Read both the statements and – Give answer (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 Give answer (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. Give answer (3) If the data either in statement I alone or statement II alone are sufficient to answer the questions.

Give answer (4) If the data even in both statements I and II together are not sufficient to answer the questions. Give answer (5) If the data in both statements I and II together are necessary to answer the questions. 20) D, E, F, G and H are sitting in a circle. Are all of them facing the centre? I) D is sitting second to the left of G. H is facing the centre and is not an immediate neighbor of G. II) F is sitting second to the right of E. E is sitting second to the left of D. 21) How many floors are there in the building (including the ground floor)? I) The area in which the building stands has a rule that no building can have more than six floors (including the ground floor) II) Three families reside in the building. No two families live immediately above or below each other. 22) Which direction is Sunny facing? 1) If sunny turns 90 to his left, he will be facing North West. 2) If sunny turns 45 to his right he will be facing a direction that is exactly opposite to that of Sunil. 23) How is B related to E? I) R is the mother of B and E is the husband of R. II) R has only one daughter who is J. 24) Among J, K, L, M and N each of a different age, who is the youngest? I) J is younger than N but elder to K. II) L is younger than M but elder to K. 25) In which of the year was the exam held? I) Suzan correctly remembers that the exam was held before July but after March. II) Gita correctly remembers that the exam was held after February but before June. Qs. 26-33): Study the following information and answer the questions given: When a word arrangement machine is given an input line of words, it arranges them following a particular rule. The following is an illustration of input and rearrangement. Input: grow after seen craft preach help Step I: grow seen craft preach help after Step II: grow seen preach help after craft Step III: seen preach help after craft grow Step IV: seen preach after craft grow help Step V: seen after craft grow help preach Step VI: after craft grow help preach seen Step VI is the last step of the above arrangement as the intended arrangement is obtained. As per the rules followed in the above steps, find out in each of the following questions the appropriate steps for the given input.

Qs. 26-29): Input: dare a beach null wrap steel

26) How many steps will be required to reach the intended arrangement for the given input? 1) V 2) VII 3) VI 4) IV 5) None of these


27) Which one of the following will be step II for the given input? 1) dare null wrap steel beach a 2) dare null wrap steel a beach 3) dare null steel wrap a beach 4) a beach dare null wrap steel 5) None of these 28) Which of the following will be second from the left end of step V? 1) beach 2) steel 3) a 4) wrap 5) None of these 29) Which of the following will be fourth from the right end of step III? 1) wrap 2) a 3) beach 4) steel 5) None of these Qs. 30-31): Four of the following five are alike in a certain way and so form a group. Which one does not belong to the group? 30) 1) Stem 2) Branch 3) Leaf 4) Web 5) Fruit 31) 1) Clone 2) Replica 3) Duplicate 4) Copy 5) Fake Qs. 32-35): Read the information/Statement given in each question carefully and answer the questions. 32) Which of the following expressions will be true if the expression ‘H G = K > F’ is definitely true? 1) K H 2) G = F 3) H F 4) F G 5) None of these 33) Which of the following expression will not be true if the expression ‘P Q < R = S’ is definitely true? 1) S > P 2) P < R 3) S > Q 4) P > S 5) None of these 34) In which of the following expressions does the expression ‘W < Z’ hold true? 1) W > Y < X Z 2) Z > X Y W 3) Z Y > X W 4) Z > Y = X < W 5) Z X > Y W 35) In which of the following expressions will the expression ‘L < R’ be definitely true? 1) L M > N = R 2) L = M < N > R 3) L < M N R 4) R M = N < L 5) None of these Qs. 36-40): 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. 36) In which class does R study? 1) V 2) III 3) IV 4) Data inadequate 5) None of these 37) Which colour does R like? 1) Black 2) Yellow 3) Green 4) Blue 5) None of these 38) Which colour does P like? 1) Green 2) Yellow 3) Red 4) Data inadequate 5) None of these 39) Which of the following combinations is correct? 1) P-II-Yellow 2) Q-III-Green 3) S-I-Black 4) T-V- Yellow 5) None of these 40) In which class does M study? 1) IV 2) III 3) II 4) V 5) None of these Directions (41-45): Answer these questions referring to the symbol-letter-number sequence given below: G Z 9 C $ R J 8 K 3 L * 6 M 2 P Q @ 1 S F 5 B 4 R £ 7 41) How many numbers in the sequence either immediately precede a letter or immediately follow a symbol? 1) 8 2) 4 3) 10 4) 5 5) None of these 42) What is the total number of ‘the symbols immediately preceded by a letter belonging to the second half of the English alphabet’ and ‘the letter immediately preceded by a number’ in the above sequence? 1) 9 2) 4 3) 2 4) 10 5) None of these 43) If the symbols and the numbers are interchanged with the first symbol from the right with first number from the right, second symbol with the second number, and so on then what is true about * ? 1) * will be replaced by 6 in the new series 2) * will come after 1 in the new series


3) * will be between 2 and M in the new series 4) * will be fifteenth from the right end 5) None of these 44) What will be the position of 2 in the new series formed in Q. 4? 1) It is between and P 2) It is between M and * 3) It is between L and 4) It is between and L 5) None of these 45) What will be the position of @ in the new series? 1) @ will be between and B 2) @ will be between 4 and 3) @ will be between 4 and B 4) @ will be between Q and 5) None of these Qs. 46–50): Study the following information and answer the questions following it. Tom, Joy, Ricky, Smith, Nickot, Moorie and Megan and seven friends who left for seven different destinations Australia, England, South Africa, Ireland, Canada, Holand, and Zimbabwe – each one on a different day of the week. Ricky left for Zimbabwe on Monday. On the last day of the week, the person left for Ireland. Nickole left on the next day of Tom, who left for Holand on the next day of Megan. Smith left for Canada on Friday. Joy for left neither for South Africa nor for Ireland and Megan left for Australia. 46) On which day of the week did Joy leave? 1) Sunday 2) Saturday 3) Wednesday 4) Data inadequate 4) None of these 47) Who left for Ireland? 1) Nickole 2) Tom 3) Moorie 4) Data inadequate 5) None of these 48) On which day of the did Nicole leave? 1) Tuesday 2) Thursday 3) Sunday 4) Wednesday 5) None of these 49) Which of the following combination of person – place is not correct? 1) Ricky – Zimnbabwe 2) Tom – Holand 3) Nickole – SA 4) Moorie – Ireland 5) All correct 50) Who left on Tuesday? 1) Tom 2) Megan 3) Joy 4) Moorie 5) None of these

EDUCATIONAL IS LEARNING WHAT DIDN’T EVEN KNOW

YOU DIDN’T KNOW

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE

Qs. 51-55): What will come in place of the question mark (?) in the following questions? 51) 764 – 5145 ÷ 147 = ? x 36 1) 21 2) 20.25 3) 21.25 4) 20 5) None of these

52) 3211

731?

911

31

1) 3635

2) 3126

1

3) 212619

4) 46311

5) None of these 53) (0.064) ÷ (0.16)3 x (0.0256) = (0.4)?+1 1) 0 2) 1 3) -1 4) -2 5) None of these 54) 54.5% of 600 + 30.5% of 1800 = (?)2 + 147 1) 36 2) 18 3) -81 4) 81 5) None of these

55) 10 + (15)2 + 6 x 72 = ? 1) 23 2) (519)1/2 3) 519 4) 529 5) None of these Qs. 56-60): What approximate value will come in place of question mark (?) in the following questions? (You are not expected to calculate the exact value.) 56) 17001 ÷ 81 x 19 = ? x 29 1) 100 2) 110 3) 140 4) 170 5) 130

57) ?301101

120121

51901

1) 320 2) 350 3) 400 4) 410 5) 430 58) (9.99)3 + (30.01)2 – (17.01)2 = ? 1) 1610 2) 1630 3) 1580 4) 1540 5) 1510 59) 3444 x 2121 ÷ 1111 x 10 = ? 1) 720 2) 740 3) 810 4) 840 5) 760


60) 79% of 801 – 259.99 = ? – 66% of 499 1) 800 2) 700 3) 500 4) 650 5) 550 Qs. 61-65): What will come in place of question mark (?) in the following number series? 61) 325 314 288 247 191 ? 1) 126 2) 116 3) 130 4) 120 5) None of these 62) 45 46 70 141 ? 1061.5 1) 353 2) 353.5 3) 352.5 4) 352 5) None of these 63) 620 632 608 644 596 ? 1) 536 2) 556 3) 656 4) 646 5) None of these 64) 15 25 40 65 ? 195 1) 115 2) 90 3) 105 4) 120 5) None of these 65) 120 320 ? 2070 5195 13007.5 1) 800 2) 920 3) 850 4) 900 5) None of these Qs. 66-70): In the following questions two equations numbered I and II are given. You have to solve both the equations and – ) Give answer if

1) x > y 2) x y 3) x < y 4) x y 5) x = y or the relationship cannot be established

66) I. 7X2 + 16X – 4 = 20X – 8X2 II. 5Y2 + 12Y + 4 = 0 67) I. 12X2 – 356 = 1372 II. 8y + 83 -676 = 4y – 545

68) I. X4X7X

13

II. Y4 + 05 2/9

Y

69) I. x64 + 484 = 150

II. y784 + 112 = 700

70) I. XXX

51829

II. Y

YY 15

35

5

71) The radius of a circle is twice the side of a square of area 196 sq. cm. Length of a rectangle is twice diameter of the circle. What is the perimeter of the rectangle if its breadth is half the length of the rectangle? 1) 244cm 2) 168cm 3) 336cm 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 72) Cost of 4 fans and 3 blowers is Rs. 16,500/. Also cost of 2 fans, 2 tables and 2 blowers is Rs. 12,000/- .Cost of one table is Rs. 1,000. What is the cost of 3 fans and one blower? 1) Rs. 8000 2) Rs. 7500 3) Rs. 8500 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 73) Train – A crosses a pole in 33 seconds and another Train –B crosses a pole in 55 seconds. Length of Train-A is three-fourth of Train-B. What is the respective ratio between the speed of Train –A and Train – B? 1) 5 : 11 2) 5 : 4 3) 11 : 3 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 74) The smallest side of a right angled triangle is 6 cm. and second largest side is 8 cm. Side of a square is thrice the largest side of the triangle. What is the diagonal of the square? 1) 302 cm. 2) 602 cm 3) 30 cm. 4) Cannot be determined 5) None of these 75) Sunil scored 54 percent marks in a test. Ravi scored 450 marks in same test which is 300 less than Sonu. Sunil’s score is 60 more marks than Sonu. If Ram scored 900 marks in the test. What is Ram’s percentage? 1) 80 2) 65 3) 75 4) 60 5) None of these 76) The angles of quadrilateral are in ratio of 3:5:9:7. The second largest angle of the quadrilateral is equal to the largest angle of a triangle. One of the angles of the triangle is 25. What is the value of second largest angle of the triangle? 1) 60 2) 50 3) 40 4) 20 5) None of these 77) Ravi and Kumar are working on an assignment. Ravi takes 6 hours to type 32 pages on a computer, while Kumar takes 5 hours to type 40 pages. How much time will they take, working together on two different computers to type an assignment of 110 pages? 1) 7 hours 30 minutes 2) 8 hours 3) 8 hours 15 minutes 4) 8 hours 25 minutes 78) The sum of seven consecutive even numbers of a set is 532. What is the average of first four consecutive even numbers of the same set?


1) 76 2) 75 3) 74 4) 73 5) None of these 79) In a school there are 800 students out of whom 45 percent are girls. Monthly fee of each boy is Rs. 600 and monthly fee of each girl is 30 percent less than each boy. What is the total monthly fee of girls and boys together? 1) Rs. 425400/- 2) Rs. 414600/- 3) Rs. 419600/- 4) 423400/- 5) None of these 80) The simple interest accrued on a sum of certain capital principal is Rs. 6400/- in four years at the rate of 8 p.c.p.a. what would be the compound interest accrued on that principal at the rate of 2 p.c.p.a. in 2 years? 1) Rs.800 2) Rs. 808/- 3) Rs. 704/- 4) Rs. 700/- 5) None of these Qs. 81-85): Study the given information carefully and answer the questions that follows: An urn contains 3 red, 6 blue, 2 green and 4 yellow marbles 81) If two marbles are picked at random, what is the probably that both are green?

1) 152

2) 151

3) 72

4) 1

5) None 82) If three marbles are picked at random, what is the probability that two are blue and one is yellow?

1) 152

2) 916

3) 9112

4) 153

5) None of these 83) If four marbles are picked any random, what is the probability that at least one is yellow?

1) 12391

2) 9169

3) 143125

4) 41

5) None of these 84) It two marbles are picked at random, what is the probability that either both are red or both are green?

1) 53

2) 105

4

3) 72

4) 915

5) None of these

85) If four marbles are picked at random, what is the probability that one is green, two are blue and one is red?

1) 154

2) 28017

3) 916

4) 1511

5) None of these Qs. 86-90) Study the table carefully to answer the questions that follow: Number of students appeared and passed in an examination

held in four different schools in five years School/

Year P Q R S

Appeared

Passed

Appeared

Passed

Appeared

Passed

Appeared

Passed

2005 1232 512 2565 811 1234 340 4221 2265 2006 1343 433 3385 1223 1434 521 5336 2421 2007 874 134 2556 990 2542 1155 4364 1376 2008 2345 1108 2332 1238 1554 622 5202 2212 2009 4220 2143 4555 2335 3682 912 6645 3283

86) In which year and from which school the number of students appeared in the exam were maximum? 1) In year 2008 from School-S 2) In year 2009 from School-S 3) In year 2009 from School-Q 4) In year 2008 from School – Q 5) None of these 87) In which year was the difference between the appeared students and passed students second lowest in School R? 1) 2005 2) 2006 3) 2007 4) 2008 5) 2009 88) What was the average number of students passed from School-P over all the years together? 1) 856 2) 832 3) 842 4) 866 5) None of these 89) Number of students passing from School-S in the year 2008 was approximately what percentage of the number of students appeared in the examination from School-Q in the year 2005? 1) 72 2) 78 3) 82 4) 76 5) 86 90) If 25 percent of the number of students passed in the exam from School-P in the year 2005 were disqualified due to some reason, what was the number of qualified students? 1) 442 2) 384 3) 432 4) 364 5) None of these


Qs. 91-95): Study the following graph carefully to answer the questions that follow: Number of trains cancelled from three different states in five

different months

0

10

20

30

40

50

November

December

January

February

Marc

h

State A State B State C

91) What is the total number of trains cancelled from state –B over all the months together? 1) 134 2) 136 3) 128 4) 126 5) None of these 92) What is the respective ratio between the number of trains cancelled from State –A in the month of December and the number of trains cancelled from State –C in the month of March? 1) 9:5 2) 4 : 9 3) 5 : 9 4) 2 : 7 5) None of these 93) Number of trains cancelled from state C in the month of February was approximately what percent of the number of the trains cancelled from state B in the month of January? 1) 82 2) 86 3) 90 4) 78 5) 94 94) What is the difference between the total number of trains cancelled from all the three states together in the month of November and the number of trains cancelled from State-B in the month of March? 1) 34 2) 42 3) 24 4) 12 5) 44 95) In which month was the total number of trains cancelled from all the three states together second highest? 1) January 2) February 3) March 4) November 5) December

Qs. 96-100) Study the following table carefully and answer the questions that follow: Monthly expenditure (in thousands rupees) by five persons on rent, food, children’s education, clothes and travelling

EXPENDITURE

PERSON RENT FOOD CHILDREN’S EDUCATION CLOTHES TRAVELLING

A 12.4 4.8 7.5 5.4 4.5 B 6.0 7.8 12.4 12.6 5.8 C 5.6 6.4 14.6 6.4 5.3 D 13.6 7.8 12.5 16.4 9.5 E 14.4 8.4 13.2 7.5 7.4

96) What is the average expenditure of person-C on all the five commodities together? 1) Rs. 6560/- 2) Rs. 7,660/- 3) Rs. 7560/- 4) 7440 5) None of these 97) Expenditure of which person on all the five commodities together is second highest? 1) A 2) B 3) C 4) D 5) E 98) What is the respective ratio between the expenditure of Person –A on food and the expenditure of person-E on clothes? 1) 16 :25 2) 17 : 25 3) 25 : 17 4) 14 : 25 5) None of these 99) Total expenditure on rent by all the persons together is what percent of expenditure of D on children’s education? 1) 430 2) 425 3) 410 4) 416 5) 420 100) What is difference between the expenditure of person B on travelling and the expenditure of person-A on food? 1) Rs. 1,000/- 2) Rs. 1,200/- 3) Rs. 1,500 4) Rs. 1,600/- 5) None of these


ENGLISH LNAGUAGE Qs. 101-106): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words / phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions. Health insurance policies were first introduced in 1986 at a time when the Indian insurance industry was nationalized. The policies on offer were complicated to read and offered limited cover. There were no third party administrators operating in India, and there was no direct settlement of claims between health insurer and hospital. There were therefore issues concerning claims servicing. Which involved an insured following cumbersome procedures to get claims authenticated and paid. The business was not profitable for the nationalized insurers, and not popular with the public at large. The original ‘mediclaim policy’, however, developed and in many cases has provided the base model for the health care insurance policies that were introduced immediately after liberelisation of the general insurance sector at the turn of the millennium. Health insurance, however, saw no specialist players until relatively recently. This is because there was a general expectation that the insurance industry regulator the IRDA would set a smaller capitalization requirement for health insurers and / or amend the rules for foreign equity ownership in Indian insures in recognition of the fact that health insurances loss ratios were not good, and therefore finding an Indian partner to invest 76% in a health insurer would be a difficult task. The IRDA did not, however, relax either the capitalization requirements or foreign investments caps. Initially, therefore, the health insurance market did not grow as quickly as may have been expected. Growth in policyholder numbers, more effective third party administration and an affective network of hospitals is expected to see the numbers improve. Other changes have been effected to encourage growth in this sector. Life insurers have been allowed to sell health insurance. Initially, life insurers were only allowed to sell certain types of health covers as a supplement to a life policy. However, the IRDA has allowed life insurers to sell pure health insurances products subject to products specific approvals. The standard mediclaim policy has undergone several revisions and modifications. In recent years, private health insurers have been offering fresh products with increased covers and sum insured. Private hospital rates are still low compared to the rates charge in more developed countries, high when compared to average Indian earnings. It is no longer uncommon for Indian employees to now expect that health care will be part of an employment package. With the opening up of the market to private competition, the claims process has become much less cumbersome. Support for a health insurance market has also come from some less obvious sources. Indian states have started relying on insurance policies to meet some of their legal obligations to provide health care to their citizens. The central government has also proposed the introduction of free health care insurance for the poor. This plan is meant to cover every poor family for INR 30,000 per annum. The central government will pay 75% of the

premium, leaving the remaining 25% to be covered by state governments. The IRDA has also encouraged Micro-insurance as a means of extending the availability of health insurance to areas of the market that, geographically and economically, may not have been at the forefront of insurers business plans. At the same time as the market grows, the IRDA is stepping in to create a more consumer friendly playing field, particularly as regards the treatment of senior citizens; the operation of the preexisting diseases exclusion, and the reluctance to insurers to renew policies where the claims experience has been bad. Senior citizens had been complaining about the reluctance of insurers to issue policies to them and the inclusion of disadvantageous terms when policies were offered – such as hefty increases in premium rates, added exclusions and conditions etc. In May 2007, IRDA set up a committee on Health insurance for senior citizens to make recommendations. The committee reported in November 2007 and made the following main recommendations. senior citizens should have some assurance that their policies will be renewed; the industry should adopt standards terms and conditions, such as for the definition of pre-existing diseases. The committee also said that policy wordings should be simpler for the lay person to follow, suggesting that uniform terminology be used by all insurers to lessen confusion in the public mind. 101) Which of the following is/are the reasons because of which the health insurance industry has witnessed growth? A) The format of the policy has been improvised since its inception. B) Organizations provide health insurance cover to their employees as part of the remuneration process. C) The process of settlement of claims has become less troublesome as compared to the time when it was first introduced. 1) Only B 2) Only A and C 3) Only C 4) Only B and C 5) All A, B and C 102) What step has the central government taken in terms of insurance for the poor? 1) The poor will have access to free health care insurance, the payment of premium for which will be shouldered by the central and state government in the ratio of 3 : 1 respectively. 2) The poor people belonging to a particular region will get group health care insurance cover of INR 30,000/- per annum. 3) The poor will be insured for a sum of INR 45,000/- per annum. 4) The government has devised special health care insurance policies for the poor wherein no premium needs to be paid either by the individual or by the government. 5) None of these 103) Which of the following is/are the reason/s that health insurance policies were not popular in the beginning? A) The process for settlement of claims was lengthy and tiresome.


B) The clauses in the policy were very difficult to understand. C) There were no direct claim settlements with the hospitals. 1) Only B 2) Only A and C 3) Only C 4) Only B and C 5) All A, B and C 104) Which of the following is/are true in the context of the passage? A) Private hospital fees can be easily afforded by the general public now as their earnings are significantly higher. B) More people are now buying insurance policies as compared to almost two decades ago. C) Insurance agencies initially allowed to independently sell life insurance policies only can also sell health insurance policies independently now. 1) Only B 2) Only A and C 3) Only C 4) Only B and C 5) All, A, B and C 105) Which of the following is possibly the most appropriate title for the passage? 1) The Indian health insurance industry – the gradual change 2) IRDA and its functioning 3) Health insurance Vs life insurance 4) Challenges faced by the IRDA 5) The downfall of the health insurance industry in India 106) What was the plight of senior citizens with respect to buying insurance cover prior to IRDA intervention? A) Insurance agencies were unwilling to sell policies to them. B) Clauses disadvantageous to senior citizens were included in the policies. C) They had to pay higher premiums. 1) Only A and C 2) Only A and B 3) Only A 4) Only B and C 5) All A, B and C Qs. 107-108): Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.

107) EFFECTED 1) hampered 2) brought about 3) concerned 4) troubled 5) asked for 108) SUBJECT TO 1) Conditional on 2) Matter for 3) issue to 4) topic of 5) question on 109-110): Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.

109) HEFTY 1) thin 2) uniform 3) small 4) bulky 5) fragile

110) RELUCTANCE 1) intensity 2) unwillingness 3) fanaticism 4) keenness 5) devotion Qs. 111-120): Reach 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 is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is 5) that is No error (ignore errors of punctuation, if any) 111) The power of the mind1)/ over the body2)/ has became a very significant subject 3)/ of research in recent years 4)/ No error. 5) 112) She was held to guilt 1)/ practicing witchcraft and misdemeanors 2)/ such as cutting her hair short 3)/ and dressing up like a man 4)/ No errors. 5) 113) Researches at the university of Nottingham 1)/ have discovered that 2)/ putting tobacco outside of sight in shops 3)/ can change the attitude of young people towards smoking 4)/ No errors. 5) 114) The young sales manager 1/ is about to resign 2/ despite of his success 3/ in the organization 4)/ No error. 5) 115) More and more people 1)/ are using different colour schemes 2)/ in their homes 3)/ that reflecting their personalities 4)/ No errors. 5) 116) Because art is so subjective, 1)/ No form of art 2)/ can be most effective3)/ than the other 4)/ No errors. 5) 117) A 2007 study of Hurricane Katrina survivors 1)/found that those whom scored high 2) / on two measures of creativity-originality and flexibility3)/coped with the crisis better. 4)/ No errors.5) 118) Ken Follett has made a career 1) /out of keeping readers at 2)/ the edge of their seats 3)/ engrossed in his suspense thrillers 4) No errors.5) 119) In the moment1/ there is no conclusive evidence 2/ that the virus can spread 3/from one human to another 4/ No error. 5/ 120) The newspaper reported a moving story 1)/ of how one woman channelled 2)/ her own bitterness into good by making 3)/ a commitment to help other people’s kids4)/ No errors. 5) Qs. 121-125): Each question below has two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank which best fits the meaning of the sentence/s as a whole. 121) In his latest book, the author gives a real ______________ into the sufferings of individuals who have experienced the loss of a loved one ________________ to a physical illness. 1) testimony, owning 2) account, attribute 3) praise, following 4) insight, owing 5) knowledge, new


122) Everybody has had the flu at some point of time, with its _____________ symptoms; aches, chills, fatigue and cough. So why is the “bird flue”_________so many headlines? 1) familiar, making 2) knowing, hitting 3) same, targeting 4) similar, cause 5) drastic, topping 123) Bollywood actors may have set the stage on fire __________ the rock stars from the Indian music industry ______ the house down during the gala night. 1) as, bring 2) yet, sang 3) for, took 4) and, had 5) but, brought 124) In his latest book and documentary, the world renowned author explains that if we continue to __________what we are doing to our planet, we risk _____________ the very future of our civilization. 1) do, appreciating 2) ignore, destroying 3) secure, losing 4) establish, maintenance 5) probe, questioning 125) Although carbon dioxide levels are ____________ all over the world, the ______________ are most obvious at the North and South poles. 1) booming, explosion 2) exploding, scene 3) rising, effects 4) firing, consequences 5) spilling, disaster Qs. 126-130) Rearrange the following six sentences/ group of sentences A, B, C, D, E and F in the proper sequence to form a meaningful paragraph; then answer the questions given below them. A) “It makes me happy that people are beginning to change their views on the environment and make changes in their lifestyle”, he said after receipt of the award. B) For him, vindication would be when we stop polluting the earth and turn the corner C) As part of his campaigns, he turned a lecture on global warming and climate change into a well known documentary titled “An Inconvenient Truth” by which he encouraged millions of people worldwide to make earth-friendly changes in their lives. D) Though many people are doing their part by being sensitive to the environment, Al Gore expressed a serious concern of the world being still at risk due to global warming. E) Al Gore, former vice president of America is well known for his campaigns on climate change. F) Because of this documentary and his tireless efforts to educate the world about global warming he was awarded the Nobel peace prize on climate change in 2007. 126) Which of the following will be the first sentence after rearrangement? 1) E 2) B 3) C 4) D 5) A

127) Which of the following will be the second sentence after rearrangement? 1) D 2) B 3) C 4) F 5) A 128) Which of the following will be the third sentence after rearrangement? 1) D 2) F 3) B 4) C 5) A 129) Which of the following will be the FIFTH sentence after rearrangement? 1) A 2) B 3) C 4) D 5) E 130) Which of the following will be the SIXTH (LAST) sentence after rearrangement? 1) D 2) B 3) C 4) F 5) E Qs. 131-140): 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 fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word/phrase in each case.

The insurance industry is (131) myriad challenges arising from intense competition, rising regulatory compliance and growing payouts (132) to fraud and natural disasters. It is (133) that competitive pressures will make off shoring of information technology (IT) and business processes a growing imperative in the insurance industry. (134) to mainstream banking and financial services, where the early adoption of automation and IT helped facilitate outsourcing, first in IT services and later in BPO, the insurance industry has lagged (135) this is one reason why insurance have been more conservative in their attitude to business process outsourcing and (136) to offshoring. With expected cost savings of 30% to 40% and other (137) such as focusing on core competencies and (138) to skilled labour, it is (139) that the insurance offshoring industry is (140) for significant growth in the next three to four years. 131) 1) looking 2) pressing 3) watching 4) facing 5) focusing 132) 1) reason 2) due 3) owed 4) lent 5) made 133) 1) featured 2) proof 3) wanted 4) thought 5) expected 134) 1) compared 2) similar 3) unlike 4) balanced 5) alike 135) 1) in 2) back 3) up 4) behind 5) slow


136) 1) especially 2) important 3) precise 4) main 5) regularly 137) 1) benefit 2) advantages 3) measure 4) losses 5) detriments 138) 1) excess 2) open 3) availability 4) gain 5) access 139) 1) deem 2) timed 3) believed 4) idea 5) doubted 140) 1) available 2) assured 3) poised 4) gear 5) concentrated

GENERAL & FINANCIAL AWARENESS

141) The amount payable to the policy holder in case of premature payment of policy is known as: 1) Surrender Value 2) Insurance Value 3) Pre-Mature Value 4) Mid Term Value 5) None of these 142) A policy which is terminated due to nonpayment of premium is called ____________ policy? 1) failed policy 2) lost policy 3) lapsed policy 4) short policy 5) None of these 143) The Union Ministry of Culture is observing the year-long centenary commemoration of the historic Komagata Maru incident. What / who was Komagata Maru: 1) Name of Steamer Ship 2) Name of Place in Canada 3) Name of Rebel Leader 4) Name of Sikh Leader 5) None of these 144) Which body has been constituted to coordinate the activities of various financial regulators? 1) Finance Stability and Development Council 2) Reserve Bank of India 3) Securities Exchange Board of India 4) Financial Action Task Force 5) None of these 145) The US govt. has assured its support for developing_________ smart cities in India: 1) Two 2) Three 3) Four 4) Five 5) None of these 146) ____________ is the name of the sub-sonic cruise missile recently test fired by India. 1) BrahMos 2) Nirbhay 3) Danush 4) Akash 5) None of these 147) What is the name of the world’s tallest statue being built in Gujarat? 1) Statue of Peace 2) Statue of Freedom

3) Statue of Integrity 4) Statue of Unity 5) None of these 148) Hemant Contractor has been appointed as new Chairman of which important organization? 1) PFRDA 2) NABARD 3) IRDA 4) SEBI 5) None of these 149) RBI has directed banks to disallow _________ in the accounts where customers have not fulfilled KYC norms: 1) Deposits 2) Credits 3) Debits 4) Summations 5) None of these 150) What is logo for Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan? 1) A hand with broom 2) A broom and dustbin 3) Sketch of Gandhi 4) Specs of Gandhi 5) None of these 151) 11th ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be hosted by which country? 1) Australia 2) New Zealand 3) England & Australia 4) Australia & New Zealand 5) None of these 152) Name the national security advisor of India? 1) Ajit Doval 2) Mukul Rohatgi 3) Ranjit Kumar 4) Pradeep Kumar 5) None of these 153) Jens Stoltenberg has been named as the new Secretary General of which organization: 1) NATO 2) OECD 3) European Union 4) WEF 5) None of these 154) ATP China open tennis cup 2014 was held at which place: 1) Shanghai 2) Beijing 3) Guangzhou 4) Taipei 5) None of these 155) If a company intends to issue shares to the public, it will require prior permission from which of the following organizations? 1) Forward Market Commission 2) Securities Exchange Board of India 3) Shares Issue Authority of India 4) Ministry of Finance 5) None of these 156) _________ won the Men’s singles trophy at ATP China open tennis cup 2014: 1) Novak Djokovic 2) Roger Federer 3) Rafael Nadal 4) Stan Wawrinka 5) None of these 157) At which place in the world, students are leading a prodemocracy protest by the name “occupy central” / “umbrella revolution”? 1) Singapore 2) Hong Kong 3) North Korea 4) Spain 5) None of these 158) As per the provisions of which Act bankers have been empowered to take possession of the assets charged to them, without intervention of court? 1) Banking Regulation Act, 1949 2) Bankers Recovery of Loans Act, 1971 3) SARFAESI Act, 2002 4) Debt Recovery Tribunal Act, 1993 5) No such provision


159) Which country secured highest number of medals in 17th Asian Games: 1) China 2) Japan 3) South Korea 4) Philippines 5) None of these 160) India was placed at _____________rank in the 17th Asian Games, securing 57 medals: 1) 5th 2) 4th 3) 8th 4) 7th 5) None of these 161) Golden Globe Awards are given for excellence in which field? 1) Cinema 2) Literature 3) Climate 4) Environment 5) None of these 162) Skeet and Double trap are the terms used in which field? 1) Share Market 2) Crime Investigation 3) National Security 4) Shooting 5) None of these 163) Share of agriculture in the GDP of India is less than _______ per cent. 1) 14 2) 13 3) 12 4) 11 5) 10 164) Name the Indian film celebrity who was honoured with Global Diversity Award 2014: 1) Shah Rukh Khan 2) Amir Khan 3) Salman Khan 4) Amitabh Bachhan 5) None of these 165) Name the proposed central govt. programme that aims at bringing all Indians under health insurance cover: 1) National Health Mission 2) Universal Health Assurance Mission 3) Rashtriya Swasthya Karyakaram 4) Universal Health for All Mission 5) None of these 166) The tax imposed on imports is known as: 1) Income tax 2) Trade tax 3) Custom duty 4) Excise duty 5) None of these 167) Country’s first olive oil refinery has been started in which State: 1) Rajasthan 2) Karantaka 3) Kerala 4) Meghalaya 5) None of these 168) Which one of the following is NOT a tool of Fiscal Policy? 1) Taxation 2) Pubic Expenditure 3) Interest Rate 4) Pubic Debt 5) None of these 169) What was the name of the first address of the Prime Minister over radio broadcasted recently: 1) Atma Ki Baat 2) Dil Ki Baat 3) Desh Ki Baat 4) Mann Ki Baat 5) None of these 170) M.V. Kamath, former Prasar Bharati Chairman, Padmasri awardee from Karnataka, passed away recently. He was from which field: 1) Journalism 2) Literature 3) Politician 4) Cinema

5) None of these 171) Which of the following can be called part of service sector? 1) Textile Mills 2) Banking 3) Coal Mines 4) Agriculture 5) None of these 172) John O’Keefe of USA, May-Britt & Edward Moser of Norway won the Nobel Prize 2014 for which field: 1) Physics 2) Medicine 3) Chemistry 4) Economics 5) None of these 173) Name the super cyclone that caused wide spread devastation in the coastal part of Andhra Pradesh: 1) Khudmud 2) Hudmud 3) Hudhud 4) Hudbud 5) None of these 174) What is the objective of the recently launched “Swachhta Udyami Yojana - Swachhta Se Sampannta Ki Aur”: 1) To provide financial assistance to Safai Karamcharis 2) To open public toilets in the rural areas 3) To open public toilets in the urban areas 4) To provide employment to Safai Karamchairs 5) None of these 175) Which of the following type of account is known as Demat Account? 1) Accounts which are Zero Balance Accounts 2) Accounts opened for repayment of a loan 3) Accounts to keep record of sale / purchase of shares 4) Accounts opened for salary transactions 5) None of these 176) Name the single premium pension policy for senior citizens launched for a limited period of one year, from 15-08-2014 to 14-08-2015: 1) Varishtha Bima Yojana 2) Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 3) Vridh Pension Bima Yojana 4) Varishtha Pension Yojana 5) None of these 177) Which of the following is an Escrow account? 1) Account for making payments to the borrower 2) Account for receiving banks interest 3) Account for disbursing the loan amount 4) Account for receiving all the receipts of the borrower 5) None of these 178) What does the letter M depict in the term SME as used in the financial world? 1) Maximum 2) Medium 3) Mercantile 4) Mutual 5) Micro 179) A person professionally trained in the technical aspects of insurance and related fields is called______________? 1) Actuary 2) Factuary 3) Insurer 4) Insuara 5) None of these


180) The short period available to the buyer of a policy within which he can return the policy is called? 1) Return period 2) Free period 3) Free look period 4) Return free time 5) None of these

COMPUTER AWARENESS

181) It contains data descriptions and defines the name, data type, and length of each field in the database

1) data dictionary 2) data table 3) data record 4) data field 5) None of these 182) Personal logs or journal entries posted on the

Web are known as 1) listserves 2) Webcasts 3) blogs 4) subject directories 5) None of these 183) It uses pictures (called icons) and menus

displayed on the screen to send commands to the computer system

1) command-based user interface 2) GUI 3) system utility 4) API 5) None of the above 184) Which of the following is NOT a type of

broadband Internet connection? 1) cable 2) DSL 3) Dial-up 4) Satellite 5) None of these 185) Software such as viruses,worms and Trojan

horses,that has a malicious intent,is known as 1) spyware 2) adware 3) spam 4) malware 5) None of these 186) The first generation of computers was based

upon? 1) Transistors 2) ICs 3) Valves 4) Conductor 187) In “MICR” “C” stands for? a) Colour b) Code c) Character d) Coding 188) __________ 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

1) A computer program 2) A programming language 3) An assemble 4) Syntax 5) None of these

189) A hard copy of a document is ______ 1) Printed on the printer 2) Stored on a floppy 3) Stored on a CD 4) Stored in the hard disk 5) None of these 190) Which of the following groups consist of only

input devices? 1) Mouse, keyboard, monitor 2) Mouse, keyboard, printer 3) Mouse, keyboard, plotter 4) Mouse, keyboard, scanner 5) None of these 191) __________ is the process of finding errors in

software code 1) Compiling 2) Testing 3) Running 4) Debugging 5) None of these 192) The _________ tells the computer how to use

its components 1) Utility 2) Network 3) Operating system 4) Application program 5) None of these 193) A flaw in a program that causes it to produce

incorrect or inappropriate results is called a ________

1) Bug 2) Byte 3) Attribute 4) Unit problem 5) None of these 194) The _________ of software contains lists of

commands and options 1) Title bar 2) Menu bar 3) Formula bar 4) Tool bar 5) None of these 195) A (n) ________ is a combination of hardware

and software that facilitates the sharing information between computing devices

1) Network 2) Peripheral 3) Expansion board 4) Digital device 5) None of these 196) Servers are computers that provide resources

to other computers connected to a _____ 1) Network 2) Mainframe 3) Supercomputer 4) Client 5) None of these 197) Each cell in a Microsoft Office Excel document

referred to by its cell address, which is the _________

1) Cell’s column label 2) Cell’s column label and worksheet tab name 3) Cell’s row label 4) Column labels 5) None of these 198) How can the user determine what programs

are available on a computer?


1) Checking the hard disk properties 2) viewing the installed programs during the booting

process 3) checking the operating system for a list of

installed programs 4) checking the existing files saved on the disk 5) none of these 199) Which of the following can handle most

system functions that aren’t handled directly by the operating system?

1) Vertical market applications 2) Utilities 3) Algorithms 4) Integrated software 5) Compilers 200) When cutting and pasting, the item cut is

temporarily stored in 1) ROM 2) Hard drive 3) Diskette 4) Dashboard 5) Clipboard

ANSWER KEY

REASONING ABILITY

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

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

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 51 2 52 5 53 1 54 5 55 5 56 3 57 2 58 1 59 3 60 2 61 4 62 2 63 3 64 5 65 5 66 2 67 4 68 1 69 3 70 3 71 3 72 1 73 2 74 1 75 4 76 2 77 3 78 4 79 5 80 2 81 5 82 3 83 2 84 2 85 3 86 2 87 3 88 4 89 3 90 2 91 5 92 2 93 2 94 1 95 2 96 5 97 5 98 1 99 4 100 1

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 101 5 102 1 103 5 104 4 105 1 106 5 107 2 108 1 109 3 110 4 111 3 112 1 113 3 114 3 115 4 116 3 117 2 118 2 119 1 120 5 121 4 122 1 123 5 124 2 125 3 126 1 127 3 128 2 129 4 130 2 131 4 132 2 133 5 134 1 135 4 136 3 137 1 138 5 139 3 140 3

GENERAL AWARENESS

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

141 1 142 3 143 1 144 1 145 2 146 2 147 4 148 1 149 3 150 4 151 4 152 1 153 1 154 2 155 2 156 1 157 2 158 3 159 1 160 3 161 1 162 4 163 1 164 1 165 2 166 3 167 1 168 3 169 4 170 1 171 2 172 2 173 3 174 1 175 3 176 2 177 4 178 2 179 1 180 3

COMPUTER LANGUAGE

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 181 2 182 3 183 2 184 3 185 4

186 3 187 3 188 1 189 1 190 3

191 4 192 3 193 1 194 2 195 1

196 1 197 4 198 3 199 3 200 5


SPECIAL MCQS ON INDIAN POLITY

1) Constitution is generally defined as: a) Law of the land. b) Fundamental law of the land. c) Administrative law of the land. d) Constitutional law of the land. 2) Which of the following has been considered supreme as a source of power? a) Supreme Court of India. b) Parliament of India. c) President of India. d) Constitution of India. 3) What is the chief source of political power in India? a) The people. b) The Constitution. c) The Parliament. d) The Parliament and State Legislatures. 4) Who is the source of legal authority or sovereignty in India? a) People of India. b) Constitution of India. c) Parliament of India. d) President of India. 5) Ultimate sovereignty lies in: a) Parliament. b) President. c) Supreme Court. d) People. 6) On which date Constitution of India was adopted and enacted by the Constituent Assembly? a) August 15, 1947. b) January 26, 1950. c) November 26, 1949. d) January 30, 1948. 7) Indian Constitution came into force on: a) 26 Jan 1949. b) 26 Jan 1950. c) 15 Nov 1950. d) 15 Aug 1947. 8) The members of the Constituent Assembly were a) directly elected by the people. b) nominated by the Indian National Congress. c) nominated by the rulers of the Indian States. d) elected by the Provincial Assemblies. 9) Provincial Constitution Committee of the Constituent Assembly had been chaired by: a) Jawahar Lal Nehru. b) Sardar Patel. c) Bishwanath Das. d) None of these. 10) Who of the following was the Permanent Chairman of the Constituent Assembly?

a) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar b) Dr. Rajendra Prasad. c) Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. d) Sardal Patel 11) The Indian Constitution is I. an unwritten Constitution II. a written Constitution. III. largely based on the Government of India Act, 1935. IV. a gift of British Parliament. Of these statements: a) II and IV are correct. b) II and III are correct. c) I and IV are correct. d) I and III are correct. 12) Among the following provisions, which one come into force soon after adoption of the Constitution on 26th November, 1949? a) Provisions relating to citizenship. b) Elections. c) Provisional Parliament d) All of the above 13) The salient features of the Indian Constitution provide for I. single citizenship for the whole of India. II. strictly federal form of Government. III. unique blend of rigidity and flexibility. Of the above statements: a) I, II and III are correct. b) I and II are correct. c) II and III are correct. d) I and III are correct. 14) Which one of the following is not a salient feature of the Constitutions of India? a) Written Constitution and supremacy of the Constitution b) Quasi-federal structure. c) Committed judiciary. d) Distribution of powers. 15) The Constitution of India is: a) Partly rigid and partly flexible. b) Rigid c) Flexible. d) Very rigid. 16) The President of India has the same Constitutional authority as the: a) British Monarch b) President of U.S.A. c) President of Egypt. d) President of Russia. 17) In a Parliamentary system the Executive is responsible: a) Directly to the people. b) To legislature.


c) To judiciary. d) None of the above. 18) India has Parliamentary Democracy because: a) Of distribution of power between the Centre and the States. b) The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Legislature. c) The Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by the public. d) Of a single constitutional framework. 19) Which one of the following determines that the Indian Constitution is Federal? a) A written and rigid Constitution. b) An independent Judiciary. c) Vesting of residuary powers with the Centre. d) Distribution of powers between the Centre and the States. 20) Which one of the following is the mandatory minimum requirement for a functional federation? a) States should be represented in the Upper House of the National Legislature. b) Judicial Review. c) Distribution of legislative and administrative powers between the two sets of Governments, National and State, so as to ensure the Independence of the Governments within their respective spheres. d) Distribution of legislative and administrative power between the two sets of Governments, National and State, to ensure independent but coordinated exercise of powers of the Government. 21) The structure of the Indian Constitution is a) federal in form and unitary in spirit. b) unitary. c) unitary in form and federal in spirit. d) purely federal. 22) The Constitution of India has created: a) A very weak centre. b) A very strong centre. c) A centre which is weak in normal times but very strong during emergencies. d) None of these. 23) At the time of Emergency, the Indian State become …… from …… a) Federal, Unitary. b) Unitary, Federal. c) Unitary, Unitary. d) Unitary, Quasi-federal. 24) ‘The Constitution establishes a System of Government which is almost quasi-federal’. This was a statement of: a) Sir Jennings. b) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. c) Prof. K.C. Wheare. d) Dr. Rajendra Prasad. 25) The Constitution of India describes India as: a) A federation. b) Quasi-federal. c) A Union of States. d) None of these.

26) Our Constitution provides for the Constitution of the: a) Union. b) Union and all the States. c) Union and all the States except Jammu & Kashmir. d) Organs of Governments of Union and the States. 27) Article 1 of the Constitution of India declares India a Union of States. The territory of this Union of States comprises: a) Union and States. b) Union territories and States. c) States, Union territories, and States which may join the Union. d) States, Union territories and Territories which may be acquired. 28) In which year, Sikkim was associated in the Indian Union? a) 1947. b) 1975. c) 1985. d) 1871. 29) Dealing with the Chapter of Citizenship under the Constitution, the Supreme Court has held that Sonia Gandhi, the President of Congress (I) is not an Italian citizen, but is an Indian citizen because she is governed by: a) Article 10. b) Article 11. c) The Citizenship Act, 1955. d) None of the above. 30) The concept of Panchayati Raj has been introduced in our Constitution by the insertion of: a) Article 123. b) Article 300A. c) Article 243. d) None of the above. 31) The Panchayati Raj Administration is primarily aimed: a) To increase agricultural production. b) To ensure real development. c) To work for the upliftment of Harijans. d) To arouse in the people of each area intensive and continuous interest in the community development programme. 32) Panchayati Raj System was adopted to: a) Make people aware of politics. b) Decentralize the power of democracy. c) Educate the peasants. d) To introduce a form of local self-government at the village, block and district levels. 33) Panchayati Raj, as introduced in 1959, operates at: a) Samiti and Block Levels. b) Block and District Levels. c) Samiti and District Levels. d) Village, Block and District Levels. 34) Panchayati Raj System was introduced in the two States; one was Rajasthan, the other was: a) Maharashtra. b) Gujarat. c) Andhra Pradesh. d) Tamil Nadu.


35) The 73rd Constitution Amendment Act, 1992 refers to the: a) Generation of gainful employment for the unemployed and the under-employed men and women in rural area. b) Generation of employment for the able bodied adults who are in need and desirous of work during the lean agricultural season. c) Laying the foundation for strong and vibrant Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country. d) Guarantee of right to life, liberty and security of person, equality before law and equal protection without discrimination. 36) In whose time period, the Panchayats were given the constitutional status? a) Rajiv Gandhi. b) Chandrashekhar. c) V.P. Singh. d) P.V. Narsimha Rao. 37) The 73rd Amendment provides a __ tier system of Panchayats: a) Three. b) Four. c) Two. d) One. 38) How Many seats are reserved in all Panchayats at all levels for women? a) One-fourth. b) One-third. c) One-half. d) None of the above. 39) The tenure of all Panchayats at all levels is: a) One year. b) Two years. c) Four years. d) Five years. 40) If a new State of the Indian Union is to be created, which one of the following Scheduled of the Constitution must be amended? a) First. b) Second. c) Third. d) Fifth. 41) Which one of the following statements correctly describes the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of India? a) It lists the distribution of powers between the Union and the States. b) It contains the languages listed in the Constitution. c) It contains the provisions regarding the administration of tribal areas. d) It allocates seats in the Council of States. 42) The Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution contains the: a) Fundamental Rights. b) Directive Principles. c) A list of languages recognized by the Constitution. d) Number of States and Union Territories. 43) Which one of the following Schedules of the Constitution of India contains provisions regarding Anti-Defection Act? a) Second Schedule. b) Fifth Schedule. c) Eighth Schedule. d) Tenth Schedule. 44) When Constitution was framed, the number of Schedules were: a) Eight. b) Ten.

c) Twelve. d) Eleven. 45) Match List I and List II and select the correct answer by using the codes given below the lists: List-I List-II (Features of the Indian Constitution) (Borrowed from) I. Fundamental Rights. A. UK. II. Parliamentary System of Government. B. USA. III. Emergency provisions. C. Ireland. IV. Directive Principles of State Policy. D. German Reich. E. Canada. a) I-B, II-D, III-E, IV-A. b) I-E, II-A, III-D, IV-C. c) I-B, II-A, III-D, IV-C. d) I-A, II-B, III-D, IV-C. 46) The Constitution of India borrowed the scheme of Indian Federation from the Constitution of: a) USA. b) Canada. c) USSR. d) UK. 47) The framers of the Constitution borrowed the idea of judicial review from the Constitution of: a) France. b) USA. c) United Kingdom. d) None of the above. 48) Which one of the following feature was not borrowed by the Indian Constitution from the British Constitution? a) Parliamentary system of Government. b) Rule of Law. c) Election provisions. d) None of the above. 49) Which part of the Constitution of India talks about the Municipalities? a) Part IX. b) Part IX (A).

c) Part X. d) Part X (A). 50) It is often said that the key to the minds of the makers of our Constitution lies in the: a) Preamble. b) Fundamental Rights. c) Fundamental Duties. d) Directive Principles of State Policy. 51) The aims and objectives of the Constitution have been enshrined in a) the Preamble. b) the Chapter of Fundamental Rights. c) the Chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy. d) all of the above. 52) Preamble to the Constitution of India a) is not a part of the Constitution. b) indicates the objectives to be achieved. c) indicates the source from which the Constitution derives its authority. d) is a source of authority of the Constitution of India. 53) The Preamble to the Indian Constitution is


a) not a part of the Constitution. b) a part of the Constitution; but it neither confers any powers not impose any duties not can it be of any use in interpreting other provisions of the Constitution. c) a part of the Constitution and can be of use in interpreting other provisions of the Constitution in cases of ambiguity. d) a part of the Constitution and it confers powers and imposes duties as any other provision of the Constitution. 54) The source of “we the people” in the Preamble is: a) United States. b) United Kingdom. c) United Nations. d) None. 55) The following are enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution of India: 1. Equality of status and opportunity. 2. Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. 3. Justice-social, economic and political. 4. Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual. 5. Unity and integrity of the Nation Which one of the following is the correct order in which they appear in the preamble? a) 5 – 1 – 2 – 4 – 3. b) 3 – 2 – 1 – 4 – 5. c) 3 – 1 – 2 – 5 – 4. d) 1 – 2 – 4 – 3 – 5. 56) Which one of the following is in correct order in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution? a) Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic. b) Sovereign, Secular, Socialist, Democratic, Republic. c) Sovereign, Secular, Democratic, Secular, Republic. d) Sovereign, Secular, Democratic, Socialist, Republic. 57) The text of the preamble of the Constitution of India aims to secure a) fundamental rights to all individuals. b) fundamental duties of citizens of India. c) dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation. d) security of service to government servants. 58) Which amendment of the Constitution has added the words, ‘Secular’ and ‘Integrity’ in the Preamble to the Constitution? a) 1st Amendment Act. b) 24th Amendment Act. c) 42nd Amendment Act. d) 44th Amendment Act. 59) How many times has the Preamble of the Constitution of India been amended so far? a) Twice. b) Thrice. c) Once. d) Never. 60) The word ‘secular’ denotes: a) Keeping away from all religions. b) Freedom of religion and worship to all citizens.

c) Belief in one God. d) Practising different religions. 61) The term “socialist” used in the Preamble means a State whose basic policy is to a) prohibit concentration of wealth. b) distribute equitably the natural resources. c) prohibit concentration of wealth and uplift the living standards of people. d) prohibit concentration of wealth and distribute equitably the natural resources. 62) The term “Social Justice” used in the Preamble to the Constitution of India means: a) Removal of economic inequality. b) Provision for decent standard of living and removal of social inequality. c) Removal of inequality, raising standard of living and protection of interests of weaker sections. d) Protection of interests of weaker sections and removal of economic inequality. 63) The word ‘Sovereign’ in the Preamble of the Constitution of India emphasizes that India is: a) A democratic and republic country. b) No more dependent upon any outside authority. c) Internally empowered to rule within the State territory. d) Not bound by external commands and the Government of India is equipped with the power to rule within India. 64) ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’ is a slogan associated with a) American war of Independence. b) Chinese Revolution. c) French Revolution. d) Russian Revolution. 65) The Preamble to the Constitution of India secures Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity to a) all persons. b) those who reside within the territory of India. c) all citizens. d) those citizens who reside within the territory of India. 66) Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched? a) Republic: Head of the State is hereditary monarch. b) Sovereign: Constitution rests on the people’s will. c) Democratic: Constitution does not recognize legal supremacy of another country. d) Secular: State is without any religion of its own. 67) Who described the Part III of the Indian Constitution as “most criticized part of the Constitution?” a) Jawahar Lal Nehru. b) B.R. Ambedkar. c) Dr. Rajender Prasad. d) B.N. Rau.


68) The original Constitution classified Fundamental Rights into seven categories, but now a) there are six. b) there are five. c) there are eight. d) they have been regrouped in three categories- social, economic and political. 69) Right to Property in India is: a) Fundamental Right. b) Legal Right. c) Constitutional Right. d) None of the above 70) ‘Right to property’ has been taken away from Fundamental rights a placed in Article 300 A through: a) 24th Amendment. b) 42nd Amendment. c) 39th Amendment. d) 44th Amendment. 71) Which one of the following has been wrongly listed as a special feature of Fundamental Rights in India? a) Fundamental Rights are subject to reasonable restrictions. b) Fundamental Rights are more sacrosanct than rights granted by ordinary laws. c) Fundamental Rights are justiciable and can be enforced through Supreme Court. d) Fundamental Rights can be waived by a person. 72) Fundamental rights are based on the: a) Bill of Rights (U.S.A). b) Bill of Rights (U.S.A.) with in-built limitations. c) Bill of Rights (U.K.). d) Bill of Rights (Canada). 73) Fundamental Rights secured to the citizen/individuals is protected against: a) State action. b) State as well as private action. c) Against individual. d) All of the above. 74) Fundamental Rights are: a) Negative rights. b) Restrictive rights. c) Limited rights. d) All of the above. 75) Who enjoys the right to impose reasonable restrictions on the Fundamental Rights of Indian citizens? a) The Supreme Court. b) The Parliament. c) The President. d) None of these. 76) Whether judiciary is the part of the ‘other authority’ in Art. 12 of the Constitution? a) Yes. b) No. c) Both depend upon circumstances. d) None of the above. 77) When an enactment is of such a nature that no separation is possible between inconsistent and consistent part: a) Whole Act will be operative. b) Whole Act will be inoperative. c) The Act will neither be operative nor inoperative. d) None of the above.

78) A law, which abridges Fundamental Rights, is not a nullity but remains inoperative till the shadow of Fundamental Rights falls over such rights. This is known as the doctrine of: a) Pleasure. b) Pith and substance. c) Eclipse. d) Severability. 79) Under the Constitution the Doctrine of eclipse applies a) only to the pre-constitutional laws but only in respect of non-citizens. b) to the post-constitutional laws but only in respect of non-citizens. c) to the post-constitutional laws in respect of citizens only. d) to all laws, pre-constitutional and post- constitutional. 80) “Legal equality” under the Constitution of India implies that a) there should be equality amongst equals and inequality among inequals. b) everybody is equal before law. c) the State cannot enact different laws for different groups of people. d) there should be no special law for any category of people. 81) The right to ‘equality before the law’ contained in Article 14 of the Constitution of India is available to: a) Natural persons only. b) Legal persons only. c) Citizens of India. d) All persons whether natural or legal. 82) Who is exception to equality before law (Article 14)? a) President. b) Governors. c) Both. d) None. 83) Indian Constitution permits discrimination on the basis of: a) Sex only. b) Caste and sex only. c) Caste, sex and place of birth. d) Not on any ground. 84) Reservation of seats in educational institutions in favour of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is governed by: a) Article 15(4) of the constitution. b) Article 16(4) of the constitution. c) Article 29(2) of the constitution. d) Article 14 of the constitution. 85) Article 15 prohibits discrimination on grounds only of: a) Religion, Race, Caste, Sex, Place of birth, Residence or any of them. b) Religion, Race, Caste, Sex, Place of birth. c) Religion, Race, Caste, Sex, Place of birth or any of them. d) None of the above.


86) Prohibition against discrimination under Article 15 is for: a) Persons. b) Citizens. c) Citizens as well as non-citizens. d) Persons except aliens. 87) For which of the following, can special provisions be made under Article 15 of the Constitution of India? 1) Women and children. 2) Scheduled Tribes. 3) Economically backward classes. 4) Socially backward classes. Select the correct answer using the code given below: a) 1, 2 and 4. b) 1 and 3. c) 2, 3 and 4. d) 1, 2, 3 and 4 88) Through which of the following provisions, does the Constitution of India explicitly prohibit racial discrimination in India: a) Article 14 and 17. b) Article 17 and 23. c) Article 15 and 16. d) Article 17 only. 89) Article 16 provides equally of opportunity in matters of public employment for: a) All citizens. b) All persons. c) All persons except aliens. d) Citizen as well as non-citizens. 90) Under Article 16(4) State is empowered to make provisions for reservations of appointments and posts for: a) Backward class of citizens. b) SCs/STs. c) Economically backward classes. d) Socially and educationally backward class of citizens. 91) After the judgement of the Supreme Court in Mandal case, it has been observed that “The poisonous weed of casteism has been replanted where it will trouble us a thousand years. Each age will have to consider it.” This was observed by: a) Prof. Upendra Baxi. b) N.A. Palkhiwala. c) Ram Jethmalani. d) Justice P.N. Bhagwati. 92) Which of the following sections of citizens should be excluded from the benefits of reservations according to the principle of ‘Creamy Layer’ as propounded by the Supreme Court in the Mandal Commission judgement? 1. Advanced sections among the Other Backward Classes. 2. Advanced sections among the Scheduled Castes. 3. Advanced sections among the Scheduled Tribes. 4. Advanced sections among the economically backward classes.

Select the correct answer using the code given below: a) 1 only. b) 1 and 2. c) 1 and 4. d) 2 and 3. 93) Tamil Nadu Reservation Act providing 69% reservation has been placed in which Schedule of the Constitutions? a) Sixth. b) Seventh. c) Eighth. d) Ninth. 94) Under which of the following the ‘Untouchability’ has been declared abolished in India? a) Protection of Civil Rights Act. b) Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. c) Constitution of India. d) By all the above three 95) Which of the following is included in Art, 19 (1)(a): a) Right to know. b) Right to reply. c) Right to silence. d) All of the above.

ANSWER KEY

Q A Q A Q A Q A Q A 1 B 2 D 3 A 4 B 5 D 6 C 7 B 8 D 9 B 10 B

11 B 12 D 13 D 14 C 15 A 16 A 17 B 18 B 19 D 20 C 21 A 22 B 23 D 24 C 25 C 26 C 27 D 28 B 29 C 30 C 31 D 32 D 33 D 34 C 35 C 36 D 37 A 38 B 39 D 40 A 41 D 42 C 43 D 44 A 45 C 46 B 47 B 48 C 49 B 50 A 51 A 52 C 53 C 54 C 55 B 56 A 57 C 58 C 59 C 60 B 61 D 62 B 63 D 64 C 65 C 66 B 67 B 68 A 69 B 70 D 71 D 72 B 73 A 74 D 75 B 76 A 77 B 78 C 79 D 80 A 81 D 82 C 83 D 84 A 85 C 86 B 87 A 88 C 89 A 90 D 91 B 92 A 93 D 94 C 95 D


Latest G.K . Bullets

NOVEMBER – 2014 1) Julian Burnside, Human rights advocate and

barrister from Australia was honoured recently with which international prize: Sydney Peace Prize 2014

2) Sydney Peace Prize is awarded by which organization: Sydney University

3) Mithra Shakthi, the three weeks Joint military exercise was conducted between India and which other country: Sri Lanka

4) Mithra Shakthi military exercise was held at which place: Sri Lanka

5) What was the name of the 4th Joint anti terrorism military exercise held by Indian and Chinese forces: Hand in Hand 2014

6) The 4th Hand in Hand 2014 joint exercise of Indian and Chinese forces was held at which place: Pune

7) Which state aims at construction of 10 lakh toilets by 2018 to make the state completely free from open defecation: Karnataka

8) The Union Government has decided on 29th October, to relax FDI norms in the ____________sector, allowing 100 per cent of foreign funds in building projects: Constructions

9) Govt has fixed rupees _______ per quintal as the Minimum Support Price for wheat for 2014-15 season: 1450

10) Name the Indian cricketer who was inducted into the Bradman Hall of Fame on 5th October at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia: Sachin Tendulkar

11) Name the former Union Carbide chief, wanted in India in connection with the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, who passed away recently: Warren Anderson

12) Name the India’s ace shooter who became the first Indian to be elected as Chairman of International Shooting Sport Federation's (ISSF) Athletes Committee: Abhinav Bindra

13) Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teenage rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner was in news for donating $50,000 for what purpose: To help rebuild UN schools in Gaza

14) Name the Mumbai Cinema actor, winner of two Filmfare awards who passed away in November: Sadashiv Amrapurkar

15) Duleep Trophy 2014 was won by which zone: Central Zone

16) Duleep Trophy is for which sports: Cricket 17) 43rd Handball National Championship (women’s) was

held at which place: Mastuana Sahib, Punjab 18) The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia

Flowers is the high level national civilian award of which country: Japan

19) Name the Indian dignitary who was honoured with The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers: Manmohan Singh

20) World Trade Center, New York was in news recently for what reasons: It has been re-constructed and restarted

21) President Pranab Mukherjee recently visited which neighbouring country of India: Bhutan

22) Recently a warship of Indian Navy sunk off the Visakhapatnam coast during a naval exercise. What type of ship it was: Torpedo Recovery Vessel

23) The Central Government has allocated five thousand crore rupees under AYUSH Mission for what purpose: For promoting traditional methods of treatment in the country

24) Children's Film Society of India organised the first edition of the National Children's Film Festival from 14 to 16 Nov at which place: New Delhi

25) Paris-based think tank, OECD has projected 5.4 percent growth for the Indian economy this year. What is the full form of OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

26) Who is Dmitry Rogozin, who visited India to attend 20th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission: Deputy Prime Minister of Russia

27) In the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people for 2014, Mr. Modi has been placed at which rank: 15th

28) As per the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people for 2014, who has been placed at the top of the list: Vladimir Putin

29) Who has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes: Anita Kapur

30) 54th National Open Athletics Championships held at which place: New Delhi

31) Who was adjudged the best female athlete in the 54th National Open Athletics Championships: Tintu Luka

32) Who was adjudged the best male athlete in the 54th National Open Athletics Championships: Ankit Sharma

33) Tintu Luka, winner of the best national athlete (female) is from which sport: Racing

34) Ankit Sharma, winner of the best national athlete (male) is from which sports: Long Jump

35) Name the India’s fast bowler who has won this year's ICC’s LG People's Choice Award: Bhuvneshwar Kumar


36) Name the batsman who became the quickest cricketer to reach 6,000 runs in ODIs: Virat Kohli

37) Virat Kohli achieved the landmark of 6,000 runs in ODIs playing against which country: Sri Lanka

38) The Indian Army’s team of eight Garhwalis won the rigorous endurance competition Cambrain Patrol in which country: Wales, UK

39) Name the region of Spain which is agitating for its separation from Spain: Catalonia

40) Name the village near Varanasi that has been adopted for development by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi under ‘Sansad Gram Yojna’: Jayapur

41) Laxmikant Parsekar has been appointed as the new Chief Minister of which state: Goa

42) What is the strike range of recently test fired ballistic missile Agni – II: 2,000 kms

43) Name the India’s first indigenous Light Combat Aircraft’s two-seater trainer jet: Tejas

44) Recently Germany observed silver jubilee of demolition of which historical monument: Berlin Wall

45) With which country India signed a MoU for promoting the Nalanda University in Bihar: Bhutan

46) In collaboration with which country India has developed the long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) system with a range of 70 kms: Israel

47) Who has been named as the most-powerful business woman in India by Fortune Magazine: Arundhati Bhattacharya

48) RBI has made it mandatory for banks to send SMS alerts for which type of transactions: Cheque Transactions

49) Where in India country’s longest access controlled six lane expressway is being developed: Uttar Pradesh

50) Country’s longest access controlled six lane expressway shall be connecting which two cities: Lucknow–Agra

51) Lipulekh Pass through which border trade worth over Rs 3 crore took place between India and China this year lies in which state: Uttarakhand

52) India has inked a USD 200 million loan agreement with the World Bank to finance the setting up of technology centres to help MSMEs enhance their productivity. What is full form of MSMEs: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

53) The 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was held at which place: Goa

54) Which was the focus country for this year’s International Film Festival of India: China

55) Which Cine Star was honoured with Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the 45th IFFI: Rajnikanth

56) Which two States have opened the bank accounts for all households in the state under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY): Kerala and Goa

57) 6th World Ayurveda Congress was held in which place: New Delhi

58) Durand Cup is related with which sports: Football

59) The 127th Durand Cup Championship was held at which place: Goa

60) National Education Day is observed on which date: November 11

61) Name the India’s first Education Minister in whose honour National Education Day is observed on November 11: Maulana Abul Kalam

62) Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan has been launched for what purpose: To promote role of IITs/NITs in rural development

63) Name the portal launched to enable students for selecting the right college for their higher education: Know Your College

64) Govt. has launched SAMVAY to facilitate students to switch between education and jobs. The acronym SAMVAY stands for: Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational Advancement of Youth

65) Name the two scholarship schemes launched for girls pursuing technical education at college level: Saksham and Pragati

66) ________ has been appointed Chairman of National Chemical Weapon Convention: G.S. Sandhu

67) National Cancer Awareness Day observed on which date: 7 November

68) At which place in India Suzlon Energy company installed the world’s tallest 120 meters high hybrid wind generator turbines: Kutch, Gujarat

69) As per recent reports from IMF, in October 2014, which country became the world’s largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): China

70) Name the country who has become the first European Union (EU) country to officially recognise the State of Palestine: Sweden

71) Public Service Broadcasting Day is observed on 12th November to commemorate the first and only visit of which celebrity to All India Radio: Mahatma Gandhi

72) Gandhian Philosophy and Public Service Broadcasting Award 2014 has been won by which radio station: Radio Kashmir, Jammu

73) Name the world number one Badminton player who has been suspended due to an apparent anti-doping regulation violation: Lee Chong Wei

74) What was the name of the first ever manmade mechanical device landed on a comet: Philae Probe

75) In the 10 day foreign visit of Prime Minister Modi in November, which was the first place visited by him: Nay Pyi Taw

76) How many members are there in the ASEAN group of nations: 10

77) Summit of ASEAN group of nations in November was held at which place: Nay Pyi Taw

78) Apart from 10 ASEAN countries, how many more countries are member of East Asian Summit: 8

79) ASEAN summit 2015 will be held in which country: Cambodia

80) While visiting Australia in November, Prime Minister Modi visited which city first of all: Brisbane

81) While visiting Australia in November, which was the


last city visited by the Prime Minister Modi: Melbourne

82) What was the name of the venue in Sydney where Mr. Modi addressed Indian diaspora: Allphones Arena

83) At which place in Australia, Mr. Modi addressed the Australian Parliament: Canberra

84) Mr. Modi assured of life time visa to PIO and OCI card holders of Australia. What is the full form of PIO and OCI: Persons of Indian Origin; Overseas Citizens of India

85) Who is the constitutional head of Australia: British Monarch

86) __________ is the Prime Minister of Australia: Tony Abbott

87) __________ is the President of Myanmar: Thein Sein

88) Name the Oceanic Island country visited by Mr. Modi in November: Fiji

89) ___________ is the capital of Fiji: Suva 90) Govt. has notified BIS mark for 15 electronic

products, including mobile phones, power banks and LED lamps. BIS stands for: Bureau of Indian Standards

91) Which two countries have agreed on a timetable to limit emission of greenhouse gases — ending a 20-year discord between them: China and USA

92) The net own funds – NOF requirements for NBFCs has been raised from Rs.25 lakh at present to Rs._____ by March, 2016: One crore

93) As per a recent study, which city in India has the largest number (16.4 million) internet users: Mumbai

94) Who has been named as the captain of ICC ODI Team of the Year 2014: MS Dhoni

95) Who has been appointed as the new Union Financial Services Secretary (FSS): Hasmukh Adhia

96) Name the winner of 2014 World’s Children Prize: Malala Yousafzai

97) Name the Governor of South Caorlina state, USA who visited India recently: Nikki Haley

98) Name the Bollywood actor-director who became the first man in the history of “UN Women” to be appointed as its Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia: Farhan Akhtar

99) Rohit Sharma made history by scoring the highest individual score of 264 runs. He achieved this feet at which ground: Eden Garden Stadium, Kolkata

100) Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag, Indian Army Chief was conferred the title of honorary rank of General by which country: Nepal

101) Name the veteran film director from Bollywood, famous for his tele serial – Mahabharat and movie – Baghban, who passed away recently: Ravi Chopra

102) The IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism, 2014, was awarded jointly to which two publications: Hindustan Times and The Week

103) The Indian army recently test-fired the Prithvi-II missile. What is the name of its naval version: Dhanush

104) Name the cricketer who won the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the Cricketer of the Year award for 2014: Mitchell Johnson

105) Mitchell Johnson, winner of the Cricketer of the Year award for 2014 is from which country: Australia

106) Name the cricketer who was voted the ODI player of 2014: AB de Villiers

107) AB de Villiers is the batsman of which country: South Africa

108) 68th Senior National Aquatic Championship was held at which place: Kolkata

109) Name the tennis star who won the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Nov 16 at London: Novak Djokovic

110) Name the state that has been chosen for union government’s Best State Award for Empowerment of Disabled for year 2014: Madhya Pradesh

111) Which country will host the 16 nation Football tournament Africa Cup of Nations 2015: Equatorial Guinea

112) The India Economic Summit, sponsored by the World Economic Forum was held at which city in India: New Delhi

113) Govt of India has relaxed Indian citizenship norms for Hindu and Sikh refugees from which two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan

114) Union Ministry of Minorities Affairs launched the Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS) to impart training to youths in which sector: Health and Security Sector

115) Which UN organisation released first ever ‘Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality - Household Fuel Combustion’ to promote use of clean fuels at household level: World Health Organisation

116) 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit was held in which place: Beijing

117) The 2015 G 20 summit will be hosted by which country: Turkey

118) The 2016 G 20 summit will be hosted by which country: China

119) To help in its efforts to crack down on suspected black money stashed abroad, India signed which agreement with Saint Kitts & Nevis: Tax Information Exchange Agreement

120) With which country India has reached an agreement on public stockpiling of food in terms of Bali Package: USA

121) Which UN organisation is the coordinator for the Trade Facilitation Agreement: WTO

122) International Buddhist Conference was held in which place: Lumbini, Nepal


123) Men's singles title of the China Open Super Series Premier (Badminton) was won by: K Srikanth

124) Women’s singles title of the China Open Super Series Premier (Badminton) was won by: Saina Nehwal

125) China Open Super Series Premier (Badminton) was held in which city: Fuzhou, China

126) RBI has asked banks to give liberal loans to landless farmers to meet the govt’s target of financing five lakh JLGs in 2014-15. JLG stands for what: Joint Liability Group

127) Which city in India has set up a kiosk that lets anyone file an FIR at any time, irrespective of where an incident took place: Bengaluru

128) The foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) has allowed which bank to increase foreign investment in the bank to 74 per cent: HDFC Bank

129) Which senior global leader left the G 20 summit under protest, before its conclusion: Vladimir Putin

130) Which country celebrated the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Velvet Revolution that toppled communism in 1989: Czech Republic

131) What is the name of the small savings instrument recently re-launched by the govt: Kisan Vikas Patra

132) What is the highest denomination in which the Kisan Vikas Patra will be available: Rs 50,000

133) What is the maturity period for the Kisan Vikas Patra: 100 months

134) Which major economy of the world shrank for the second consecutive quarter, slipping it into a technical recession: Japan

135) Klaus Warren Lohannis has been elected as President of which country: Romania

136) IIM- JRD Tata Award For Excellence In Corporate Leadership for 2014 has been won by which person: C S Verma, Chairman, SAIL

137) Indian cricket team won 5-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, winning all the five matches. This achievement is termed as _____: Whitewash

138) What is the objective of the National Bal Swachhta Mission: To improve over all cleanliness amongst school children

139) Which programme has been launched to assist girl students in preparing them for the IIT-JEE while studying in classes XI and XII: Udaan

140) Prasar Bharti announced to re-launch DD National with which new tagline: Desh Ka Apna Channel

141) Which country is worst affected by the terrorism as per the Global Terrorism Index 2014: Iraq

142) As per the Global Terrorism Index 2014, India is the ______ worst affected nation: 6th

143) Indian Air force tested its medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile ______ with a strike range of 25 km: Akash

144) International Children’s Peace Prize – 2014 has been won by Neha Gupta. She is from which country: USA

145) 2015 IAAF World Athletics Championships will be hosted by which country: China

146) ______ quit as the Head Coach of the National Hockey team: Terry Walsh

147) 'Vape' has been chosen by Oxford Dictionaries as its international word of the year for 2014. What is the meaning of this word: Smoking electronic cigarette

148) Name the winner of BCCI’s C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for 2014: Dilip Vengsarkar

149) Name the winner of BCCI’s Polly Umrigar Award 2013-14 for being India’s best international cricketer of the year: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

150) A latest UN report says that, India has the world’s largest youth population-356 million. What is their age group: 10-24 years

151) The book “Truth Always Prevails” has been written by Sadruddin Hashwani. He is from which country: Pakistan

152) Sumitra Charat Ram Award is given in which field: Art and culture

153) Name the noted Japanese film actor who passed away recently: Ken Takakura

154) Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) and US Export-Import (Exim) Bank signed a MoU for what purpose: For cooperation on clean energy investment

155) Name the winner of Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014: Indian Space Research Organisation – ISRO

156) 18th SAARC Summit was held in _____ on the 26th and 27th Nov: Kathmandu

157) What is the full form of the acronym SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

158) Which major oil company in India won a Rs 18, 000 crore income tax order against it: Shell India

159) World Tour Golf Championship was held in which city: Dubai

160) UN World Toilet Day is observed on which date: Nov 19

161) World Women's Boxing Championships was held in which place: Jiju, South Korea

162) The Union Cabinet has approved "Integrated Power Development Scheme" for strengthening of distribution network of electricity in which area: Urban India

163) Name the bank that has been merged with the Kotak Mahindra Bank: ING Vysya Bank

164) Name the foreign dignitary who will be the Chief Guest at India's 2015 Republic Day celebrations: Barack Obama


165) The third South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship was held at which place: Islamabad, Pakistan

166) Name winner of the third South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship: India

167) Which Indian invention has been listed among the 25 best innovations of 2014 by the Time magazine: Mangalyaan

168) Which Indian zoo has become the first zoo in the world to house the critically endangered pig Pygmy Hog: Guwahati

169) UN Climate Change Summit 2014 was held in which city: New York

170) The United Nations has adopted the first-ever resolution calling on governments to stop which undesirable social practice: Child Marriage

171) Name the eminent Kathak danseuse, Padma sri awardee, who passed away recently: Sitara Devi

172) Name the grand master who won the World Chess Championship title defeating five-time champion Viswanathan Anand: Magnus Carlsen

173) Magnus Carlsen, world chess champion is from which country: Norway

174) Recent world chess championship was held at which place: Sochi, Russia

175) Murli Deora, the former union petroleum minister who passed away recently, was from which field: Politics

176) Name the British F1 champion who won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as well as the Formula 1 racing championship title of the year, becoming the first British to do so since 1971: Lewis Hamilton

177) Which country won the prestigious Davis Cup Tennis Title – 2014 for the first time: Switzerland

178) Name the player who won four gold medals in the Track Asia Cup Cycling Championship 2014 held at New Delhi: Ms Deborah

179) To Indian Christian priests were decorated with Sainthood by the Pope Francis II. This process is known as_______________: Canonisation

180) Finals of the World Kabaddi League were played in which city: Mohali, Punjab

181) Name the football player who became the all-time highest scorer in La Liga history by scoring 253 goals in first class football: Lionel Messi

182) Name the new Defence Minister of India: Manohar Parrikar

183) Who has been appointed as the new Union Railway Minister: Suresh Prabhu

184) Who is the new Information and Broadcasting Minister of India: Arun Jaitely

185) Name the football superstar who became the all-time highest scorer in La Liga history by scoring 253 goals: Lionel Messi

186) Which organisation has started a Delhi-Kathmandu bus service from Nov. 26: Delhi Transport

Corporation

187) World’s longest rail journey, covering 10,000 kms has been started between which two cities: Yiwu China and Madrid, Spain

188) Name the book that won the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize: The Scatter Here is Too Great

189) Who has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Press Council of India: Justice C. K. Prasad

190) Name the U.S. Defense Secretary who was in news as he resigned from his post: Chuck Hagel

191) The SAARC summit that started in Kathmandu on 26 Nov, was _____ in the series: 18th

192) Who has been named as the new chairman of SAARC: Sushil Koirala

193) SAARC is a group of how many countries: 8

194) What is the theme of this year’s SAARC summit: 'Deeper Regional Integration for Peace and Prosperity'

195) First Commonwealth Science Congress was held in November 2014 at which place: Bengaluru

196) Who is the author of the book titled “The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years”: Pranab Mukherjee

197) The three organisations - World Toilet Organisation (WTO), WASTE and the Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health (FINISH) have joined hands for what purpose: To end open defecation in India

198) World Fisheries Day is observed on which date: Nov 21

199) Who has been appointed as the new Chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC): Deepak Gupta

200) Which UN organisation released a report on the impact of global warming titled “Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal”: World Bank

201) Nov 25 is observed as International Day for what purpose: Elimination of Violence Against Women

202) Name the fund launched by the Central Govt to build toilets in schools, rural and urban areas: 'Swachh Bharat Kosh'

203) As per the Global Slavery Index 2014, India is home to about ___ per cent of the people trapped in modern slavery: 40

204) Which Indian state has become a recent victim of H5N1 avian influenza virus: Kerala

205) The H5NI avian influenza virus is spread by which bird: Poultry birds

206) The SEBI has allowed which Bank to launch Sharia funds in India for the first time: State Bank of India


207) Name the country's oldest and largest foreign bank that recently opened its 100th branch in India: Standard Chartered Bank

208) The recent meeting of General Council of WTO was held at which place: Geneva

209) World AIDS Day is observed on which date: December 1

210) India observes December 16 as Vijay Diwas to commemorate which event: Victory in 1971 Indo-Pak war

OCTOBER – 2014 211) Fitch has projected that India's growth is expected

to accelerate to 5.6 per cent in the year 2014-15. What type of organization is Fitch: Rating Agency

212) Core sector growth for the month of August stood at 5.8 percent. How many industries are there in core sector: Eight

213) The Union Ministry of Culture is observing the year-long centenary commemoration of the historic Komagata Maru incident. What / who was Komagata Maru: Steamer Ship

214) The Komagata Maru incidents took place at which place in India: Budge Budge Port, Kolkata

215) The US govt has assured its support for developing_________ smart cities in India: Three

216) Name the three proposed smart cities to be developed with US assistants: Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam

217) Who has been appointed as new Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA): Hemant Contractor

218) RBI has directed banks to disallow _________ in the accounts where customers have not fulfilled KYC norms: Debits

219) What is the formal name of the cleanliness drive launched by the PM across India, on Gandhi Jayanti: Swachh Bharat Mission

220) _______ has been named as new Secretary General of NATO: Jens Stoltenberg

221) In a recent global ranking of universities, ________ secured top position in Indian universities: Panjab University

222) Name the Chief Executive of the world’s largest e-tailer _________who visited India to meet our Prime Minister: Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon.com

223) India has imposed anti-dumping duty on _________imported from the U.S. and Chinese Taipei to safeguard the interest of domestic manufacturers: Phenol

224) ATP China open tennis cup 2014 was held at which place: Beijing

225) _________ won the Men’s singles trophy at ATP China open tennis cup 2014: Novak Djokovic

226) Novak Djokovic is from which country: Serbia 227) _________ won the Women’s singles trophy at ATP

China open tennis cup 2014: Maria Sharapova 228) Maria Sharapova is from which country: Russia 229) Martin Perl, Nobel Prize-winning physicist from USA

was in news for what reasons: He passed away 230) Which country has test fired a new variant of its

10,000 km range missile - Dongfeng-31B: China 231) At which place in the world, students are leading a

prodemocracy protest – “occupy central”: Hong Kong

232) In which part of the world a mass public protest is going on nick named as ‘umbrella revolution’: Hong Kong

233) Name the Indian-American professor from USA honoured with National Medal of Science: Thomas Kailath

234) Which country secured highest number of medals in 17th Asian Games: China, 342

235) India was placed at 8th rank in the 17th Asian Games, securing ________medals: 57

236) Indian sportspersons won _______ gold medals in the 17th Asian Games: 11

237) Indian sportspersons won _______ silver medals in the 17th Asian Games: 10

238) _________ , the Japanese swimmer, was named as the “Most Valuable Player” of the 17th Asian Games: Kosuke Hagino

239) The 18th Asian Games will be held in 2018 in_________, Indonesia: Jakarta

240) ___________became the first Indian woman boxer to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Games: MC Mary Kom

241) Indian won the hockey gold medal at Asian Games by beating which country: Pakistan

242) In which sports India won gold medal in both Men’s and Women’s category: Kabaddi

243) Name the Indian film celebrity who was honoured with Global Diversity Award 2014: Shah Rukh Khan

244) The Global Diversity Award is given by which organization: British Parliament

245) Name the proposed central govt. programme that aims at bringing all Indians under health insurance cover: Universal Health Assurance Mission

246) Name the winner of Champions League Twenty 20, 2014: Chennai Super Kings

247) Country’s first olive oil refinery has been started in which State: Rajasthan

248) What was the name of the first address of the Prime Minister over radio broadcasted recently: Mann Ki Baat

249) Name the social networking site that was closed recently by Google: Orkut

250) Which metro service in India has been ranked second among 18 international Metro systems: Delhi Metro

251) What is the name of the recently launched sedan car by Maruti Suzuki: Ciaz

252) Strong typhoon Phanfone slammed into which country, with winds of up to 180 kmph: Japan

253) Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award is given for excellence in which field: Public Administration, Academics and Management

254) Dr A Sivathanu Pillai, winner of this year’s Lal


Bahadur Shastri National Award is head of which national organisation: BrahMos Aerospace.

255) M.V. Kamath, former Prasar Bharati Chairman, Padmasri awardee from Karnataka, passed away recently. He was from which field: Journalism

256) _______ would become the first state in India to have high-speed internet connecting all the panchayats in the state by March next year: Kerala

257) John O’Keefe of USA, May-Britt & Edward Moser of Norway won the Nobel Prize 2014 for which field: Medicine

258) Nobel Prize 2014 for Physics has been won by three scientists from which country: Japan

259) Eric Betzig, William Moerner and Stefan Hell won the Nobel Prize 2014 in which field: Chemistry

260) Patrick Modiano, winner of Nobel Prize for literature, is from which country: France

261) Name the joint winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize: Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi

262) Name the economist who won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Economics: Jean Tirole, France

263) Union Government has decided to sell ______bulbs to households at 10 rupees against the market price of 400 rupees: LED

264) The first-ever Offshore Wind Power Project in India is to be setup at which place: Along the Gujarat coast

265) What is the objective of the proposed “Sardar Patel Urban Housing Mission”: Housing for all by 2022 and a ‘slum free India’

266) Name the Japan’s gymnast who won his fifth straight all-around world title to become the only gymnast to win more than three World all-around titles: Kohei Uchimura

267) Name the super cyclone that caused wide spread devastation in the coastal part of Andhra Pradesh: Hudhud

268) Name the city which suffered maximum damage from the super cyclone Hudhud: Visakhapatnam

269) The name Hudhud has been derived from which object: National bird of Israel

270) Waislitz Global Citizen Award 2014, won by ___________ for his work in founding Humanure Power in Bihar in 2011 that builds community sanitation facilities in rural India: Anoop Jain

271) In which athletics event Indian women’s team won gold in 17th Asian Games: 4x400 relay race

272) In which sports Seema Punia won the only gold medal in athletics for India in the 17th Asian Games: Discuss Throw

273) What is the objective of the recently launched “Swachhta Udyami Yojana - Swachhta Se Sampannta Ki Aur”: To provide financial assistance to Safai Karamcharis

274) Name the single premium pension policy for senior citizens launched for a limited period of one year, from 15-08-2014 to 14-08-2015: Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana

275) Leela Samson was in news as she resigned from the post of Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi. She

is from which field: Eminent Bharatnatyam dancer

276) Govt. has formed T S R Subramanian committee for what purpose: To review the laws related to protection of environment

277) Name the plan that has been launched to promote model villages by each and every MP: Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

278) The village selected under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana should have a population of ______in plain areas and _____in hilly, tribal and difficult areas. 3000-5000; 1000-3000

279) RBI has restricted free non-home ATM transactions to three in how many metro cities: Six

280) RBI has allowed how many free non-home ATM transactions to metro users in non-metro centres: Two

281) CEO of which international social networking site recently met Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi: Facebook

282) Shanghai Rolex Masters is related to which field of sports: Tennis

283) _________ won the Shanghai Rolex Master- 2014 championship: Roger Federer

284) Which Indian state has launched a health card scheme to protect grand old trees in public places: Kerala

285) Indian super league that was launched on 12th Oct. in Kolkata is for which sports: Football

286) Name the famous Ghazal and Thumri singer whose birth centenary is being celebrated in India: Begum Akhtar

287) President of India recently visited which two Scandinavian countries: Norway and Finland

288) Name the India’s research station located in the middle of North Pole and Norway: Himadri

289) With which country India recently signed an agreement for nuclear cooperation: Finland

290) In which country a 400 kms long railway line reconstructed with Indian assistance, was inaugurated recently: Sri Lanka

291) Khaled Bahah has been elected as ______ of Yemen: Prime Minister

292) Which state govt. has decided to provide free treatment to every cancer patient in the state: Kerala

293) As per the Global Hunger Index 2014, India has been ranked at ______ place: 55th

294) Name the India’s largest real estate company that was recently barred for three years by SEBI: DLF

295) World's largest online retailer Amazon.com has tied up with which Indian retailer giant to jointly sell goods over the Internet: Future Group

296) India’s largest listed retailer, Future Group is known for which brand name: Big Bazaar

297) The 4th Sultan Johor Cup is related to which sports: Hockey

298) The 4th Sultan Johor Cup was held in which country: Malaysia

299) Name the country which won the 4th Sultan Johor


Cup: India 300) 35th Senior National Archery Championship held in

New Delhi, was won by which state: Punjab 301) Shakti Devi, an Indian police inspector won

international Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014 for her work in which country: Afghanistan

302) 18 year old young boy from Hong Kong – Joshua Wong was in news for what reasons: He is the leader of the pro democracy youth movement in Hong Kong

303) 2014 Man Booker Prize for Literature has been won by which author: Richard Flanagan

304) Richard Flanagan, winner of Man Booker Prize is from which country: Australia

305) Name the book by Richard Flanagan that won him the Man Booker Prize: The Narrow Road to the Deep North

306) Which Indian Sports Person was chosen as the ‘Most Valuable Player’ of India at the recent Incheon Asian Games: MC Mary Com

307) Name the noted Bollywood lyricist who won the National Kishore Kumar Award: Sameer

308) Name the world famous fictitious character, very popular amongst children whom Indian President met recently in Norway: Santa Claus

309) ISRO launched its third navigation satellite named______on board its PSLV-C26 rocket from Sriharikota: IRNSS 1C

310) The government has made it mandatory for tobacco companies to carry health warnings covering at least _______ of the surface of cigarette packets: 85%

311) Name the project launched by the central govt. that aims at creating a conducive environment for industrial development and doing business with ease: Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram

312) Shramev Jayate Karyakram has been promoted by which Union Ministry: Labour Ministry

313) Govt. plans to allot Labour Identification Number - LIN to whom for simplifying business regulations and securing transparency and accountability in labour inspections: Industrial Units

314) Name the Unified Labour Portal launched to facilitate "Labour Inspection Scheme," which aims at ending arbitrariness in the inspection: Shram Suvidha

315) Under ________ Yojana govt will reimburse 50 per cent of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training: Apprentice Protsahan

316) Govt. plans to allot Universal Account Number to which category of workers: Members of Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO)

317) Name the India’s largest domestic airline by market share that has signed a deal to buy 250 latest Airbus A-320 neo aircrafts: IndiGo

318) Name the international financial magazine that awarded “Central Bank Governor of the Year Award 2014” to Mr. Raghuram Rajan: Euromoney, UK

319) Who has been appointed as the new Chief Economic

Adviser to the Union Government: Arvind Subramanian

320) Rajiv Mehrishi has been appointed to which important position: Union Finance Secretary

321) Name the Australian cricketer who created history by scoring 341 runs in limited over match: James Tull

322) Name the Indian nuclear-capable cruise missile tested successfully recently: Nirbhay

323) How many new non permanent members were elected recently to the UN Security Council: Five

324) Union government plans to set up a mega handicraft cluster in_______, Gujarat to promote handicraft items and craft based textiles: Kachch

325) ____________ has become number one state in the field of organic farming producing about five lakh metric ton of farm products: Madhya Pradesh

326) Government has decided to import ______for the first time to augment domestic availability and to check its rising prices: Potatoes

327) Which bank has won the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence award for 2013-14: Federal Bank

328) The Reserve Bank has signed a pact with Central Bank of _________ for exchange of information and supervisory cooperation: Kenya

329) Which country has agreed to sign commercial contracts for supply of uranium for Indian nuclear reactors: Canada

330) Which Bank has launched an instant bank payment product – KayPay for Facebook users to send money to each other in an instant: Kotak Mahindra Bank

331) Cricket players of which country refused to play in India due to a pay dispute with their cricket board: West Indies

332) Union Cabinet has decided to completely deregulate the prices of which product to link its prices to the market forces: Diesel

333) The government has launched a new methodology —National Air Quality Index (AQI) for what purpose: To create awareness about the quality of air and its likely health impact

334) The recently launched National Air Quality Index will categorize air quality into how many categories: Six

335) World Junior Chess title 2014 was held at which place in India: Pune

336) Central govt has advised all states, union territories and Central Armed Police Forces to recruit ___ per cent women in their ranks: 33

337) A five year old Indian boy Harshit Saumitra was in news for what achievement: For climbing up the Everest Base Camp

338) India and _____ have agreed to set up hotlines between their army headquarters: China

339) Which African country has recently been successful in controlling the spread of deadly Ebola virus: Nigeria

340) Which state has launched the Farmers Empowerment Corporation to provide agricultural debt redemption to farmers: Andhra Pradesh

341) Who has been elected as the new Chief Minister of


Haryana: Manohar Lal Khattar 342) Name the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra:

Devendra Fadnavis 343) India has been re-elected as member of which

important UN organization: UN Human Rights Council

344) The Union Government has decided to commemorate October 31 - birth anniversary of which National Leader as “National Integration Day”- Rashtriya Ekta Diwas: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

345) India and ________ signed a MoU for cooperation in space and work together in the areas of remote sensing and satellite communication: Mexico

346) Jagdish Sharan Pande who passed away recently was a noted ________ from Uttarakhand: Freedom Fighter

347) Name the Indian boxer who was suspended by the International Boxing Association for protesting against a controversial verdict at 2014 Incheon Asian Games: Sarita Devi

348) Wildscreen Panda Award is given in which field: Wildlife Photography

349) Name the Indian cueist who won World Billiards Championships in both – point and time formats at Leeds, United Kingdom: Pankaj Advani

350) Union Government launched Jammu Kashmir Arogya Gram Yojna for what purpose: To promote cultivation of the aromatic and medicinal plants

351) India and ______ have signed a Power Trade Agreement to promote cooperation in the field of production and transmission of electricity: Nepal

352) India has signed the __________Convention on Mercury to control and reduce emissions from the power plants: Minamata

353) ___________ won the WTA Finals cup of tennis at Singapore: Serena Williams

354) Name the Indian golfer who won the Venetian Macau Open Golf Cup 2014: Anirban Lahiri

355) Which country withdrew its last forces from Afghanistan, after serving there for 13 years: Britain

356) Recently a big crude oil discovery was made in the Cambay basin by a private oil company. It is in which state: Gujarat

357) Name the Prime Minister of Vietnam who recently visited India: Nguyen Tan Dung

358) 25th ASEAN Summit will be held on Nov 12-13 at_____________ Myanmar: Nay Pyi Taw

359) Dilma Rousseff has been re-elected as the President of which country: Brazil

360) What is the name of the international infrastructure development bank that China and 20 other countries plan to establishes: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

361) Which bank has launched an electronic application ‘mPassBook’ for its savings and current accounts: State Bank of India

362) A World Bank report says that India’s GDP is likely

to expand by ________per cent this fiscal as reforms gain momentum: 5.6

363) Cyclone Nilofar, a very severe cyclonic storm hit recently which part of India: Gujarat coast

364) Name the world's tallest statue (182 mts) of India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel proposed in Gujarat: Statue of Unity

365) Sharath Gayakwad, who made history at the Asian Para-Games in Incheon by winning six medals, is from which sports: Swimming

366) What is the domain name of the Adhaar based Biometric Attendance system launched by central govt. for its employees: attendance.gov.in

367) Who has been appointed as the chairman of Prasaar Bharati Board: Dr. A Surya Prakash

368) In the Gender Gap Index 2014, India has been placed at ____rank in a list of 142 countries: 114th

369) World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report places India at _______ rank among 189 countries surveyed by it: 142nd

370) ________tops the list for the most equitable sharing of resources among men and women as per Gender Gap Index 2014: Iceland

371) In terms of ‘Ease of Doing Business’, _________ stands at no. 1 in the world: Singapore

372) Which organization compiles the Gender Gap Index report annually: World Economic Form

373) In the recently released Global Innovation Index 2014, India has been placed at which rank: 76th

SEPTEMBER – 2014 374) Padma Bhushan awardee Bipan Chandra was a

authority on economic and political ______ of India: History

375) Sathiraju Lakshminarayana, Veteran Telugu film director, artist and cartoonist who passed away recently, was popularly known as ________: Bapu

376) Name the eminent jurist who has been appointed Governor of Kerala: P. Sathasivam

377) BWF World Badminton Championship was held at which place: Copenhagen, Denmark

378) Chen Long who won the men’s singles title at BWF World Badminton Championship, is from which country: China

379) Women’s singles title at BWF World Badminton Championship was won by_______: Carolina Marin

380) Name the badminton player of India who won the bronze medal in women’s single title at BWF World Badminton Championships: PV Sindhu

381) The famous international Nalanda University has been established at which place: Rajgir, Bihar

382) Who is the chairman of the governing body of the Nalanda University: Prof. Amartya Sen

383) Prof. Amartya Sen is an eminent scholar of which field: Economics

384) Nabard has initiated a project on Core Banking Solutions - CBS for which type of banks:


Cooperative Banks 385) Name the legendary Telugu actor who passed away

in January 2014: Akkineni Nageswara Rao 386) For what reasons Akkineni Nageswara Rao,

legendary Telugu actor was in news recently: U.S. Post Service has issued a stamp in his honour

387) ‘Odyssey of My Life’ is the autobiography of which prominent political figure: Shivraj Patil

388) Japan has promised to provide all possible support to introduce the bullet train, along the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route. What is its Japanese name: Shinkansen

389) With which Japanese city India has signed a partnership agreement for development of Varanasi: Kyoto

390) What is the popular nick name for the Japanese city Kyoto: City of Thousand shrines

391) Prime minister of India recently visited Japan to meet _________, Prime Minister of Japan: Shinzo Abe

392) The parliament of Japan is named as ______: Diet 393) Name the world champion iconic sprinter who

recently visited India: Usain Bolt 394) Govt has setup Prof. B. N. Goldar committee for

what purpose: To develop the Producer Price Index

395) Which committee has been setup by the govt. to develop a new inflation index- Producer Price Index to replace Wholesale Price Index: B. N. Goldar Committee

396) What is the purpose of Producer Price Index: To measure inflation

397) The proposed Producer Price Index aims to replace which existing index: Whole Sale Price Index

398) What is the most prominent feature of the proposed Producer Price Index: To cover services sector also

399) Name the former Attorney-General of India who passed away recently: G. E. Vahanvati

400) Name the new generation Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel that has joined Indian Navy recently: INS Sumitra

401) Which country has unveiled a new surface-to-air missile - Talash-3: Iran

402) What is the name of the autobiography of the Sachin Tendulkar: Playing It My Way

403) In terms of global competitiveness, India ranks ________ in world: 71st

404) ____________ is the number one country in the world in terms of global competiveness: Switzerland

405) Name the South African fast bowler, oldest surviving Test cricketer who passed away recently at the age of 103 years: Norman Gordon

406) What is the special thing about Yashwardhan Shukla, author of the book ‘Gods of Antractica’: He is 13 year old school boy

407) The Chabad House in Mumbai that reopened nearly

six years after the 26/11 terror attack in November 2008 is a sacred ___________ of the Jews: Synagogue

408) Justice H.L. Dattu is the _______Chief Justice of India: 42nd

409) The historical Omari Mosque that was destroyed in the recent Israel-Gaza conflict, was in which country: Gaza

410) With which country India has signed a Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) to ensure zero border killings: Bangladesh

411) Recently President released a set of eight commemorative postage stamps on great Indian_________: Musicians

412) National Nutrition Week is celebrated every year from ______September to the ______September: 1st, 7th

413) What is the theme of the National Nutrition Week 2014: Poshak Ahaar, Desh Ka Adhaar

414) Who is the head of the committee setup to examine the un-claimed amount in PPF, Post Office and Savings Schemes: HR Khan

415) Name the Australian Prime Minister who came to India on a two day visit: Tony Abbott

416) Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has announced that _______ will be the new capital of Andhra Pradesh: Vijayawada

417) MS Dhoni has become the most successful Indian ODI captain with ________ wins to his career: 91

418) Joan Rivers, 81-year-old noted lady comedian and TV host who passed away recently was from which country: United State of America

419) India signed a landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Australia on 5th September to ensure supply of ________ for peaceful purposes: Uranium

420) Prime Minister of which country recently returned two precious ancient idols of Hindu deities to India which were allegedly stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu: Australia

421) The Supreme Court has directed that all ________ prisoners who have been in the prison for a period more than half of the jail term prescribed for the offences they had been arrested, should be released on bail immediately: Under trial

422) According to recent data from CSO, ____________outpaced all the major states to top the economic growth charts with a scorching 11 per cent growth in 2013-14: Madhya Pradesh

423) In the recent rescue operations in J & K, hundreds of NDRF personnel worked round the clock to rescue thousands of marooned persons. What is the full form of NDRF: National Disaster Relief Force

424) Which major river of J & K caused heavy damage due to floods in the State: Jhelum

425) What is the name of the award for best film at the Venice Film Festival: Golden Lion

426) Name the Swedish film directed by Roy Anderson


that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch While Reflecting on Existence

427) Name the film directed by Indian writer-director Chaitanya Tamhane that won award for best debut feature film at the Venice Film Festival: Court

428) Name the tennis star who won men’s single titles at the US open tennis: Marin Cilic

429) Marin Cilic, winner of US open 2014 is from which country: Croatia

430) Name the first ever male Asian player to play in the finals of US Open Lawn Tennis Championship: Kei Nishnikori

431) Marin Cilic defeated Japan's ________to win men’s singles title at US open: Kei Nishikori

432) Women’s singles title at the US open tennis championship was won by_________: Serena Williams

433) Sania Mirza won which title at the US open tennis championship: Mixed doubles

434) Midori Prize in Biodiversity is given in which country: Japan

435) Midori Prize in Biodiversity is given for what purpose: For outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity

436) Which Indian scientist and ecologist has won Midori Prize in Biodiversity for his research on climate change in the Himalayas: Kamal Bawa

437) Name the author of the book ‘The Lives of Others’: Neel Mukherjee

438) The book ‘The Lives of Others’ by Neel Mukherjee was in news for what reasons: it has been shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize 2014

439) Booker prize for literature are given in which country: England

440) RBI has fixed _______years as the upper age limit for managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) and other whole-time director of banks in the private sector: 70

441) Which Union Minister recently visited Afghanistan to meet President and to review key projects there: Sushma Swaraj

442) India has signed the _________ (FTA) in services and investments with 10 ASEAN countries: Free Trade Agreement

443) Which country launched two satellites - Yaogan-21 and Tiantuo-1 to relay information on natural resources, disaster management: China

444) With which neighbouring country India signed a MoU on cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy: Bangladesh

445) China has assured cooperation for setting up a automobile manufacturing industrial park at which place in India: Pune

446) Under which Indian law, Govt. of India is the sole authority to print Rupee one currency note:

Coinage Act, 2011 447) RBI is authorized to issue currency notes upto which

highest denomination:10,000 448) Govt. of India is empowered to issue coins upto

which highest denomination: Rs. 1,000 449) Who has been appointed as head of the Expenditure

Management Commission: Bimal Jalan 450) What is the purpose of setting up of Expenditure

Management Commission: for suggesting ways to improve fiscal discipline

451) ‘Pehli Udaan’ and ‘Pehal Kadam’ are the names for which item: Savings account for minors

452) Which bank has started savings account for minors by the name ‘Pehli Udaan’ and ‘Pehal Kadam’: State Bank of India

453) Which bank has started cardless cash withdrawal facility from its ATMs: ICICI Bank

454) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the sale of stakes in how many PSUs: Three – ONGC, NHPC and CIL

455) 60th National School Games in six sporting disciplines will be held in November in which State: Punjab

456) DRDO successfully test-fired indigenously developed Agni-I - nuclear-capable missile recently. It is what type of missile: Surface-To-Surface

457) India’s first coral garden is proposed to be developed in which State: Gujarat

458) Which public sector bank has declared the Kingfisher Airlines as the ‘willful defaulter’: United Bank of India

459) Which State has launched the renovation and beautification work of the birthplace of famous author, journalist and critic George Orwell: Bihar

460) Bhartendu Harishchandra Awards are given by Union Ministry for Information & Broadcasting for what purpose: For original writing in Hindi Indian authors on subjects like Journalism and Mass Communication, National Integration, Women’s Issues and Children’s Literature

461) Govt has launched the Reefer Vehicle Call-in-Centre (RVC) for what purpose: For smooth transportation of perishable goods

462) Name the prominent Bangladeshi Nazrul Sangeet singer who passed away recently: Firoza Begum

463) Who is India’s noted snooker and billiards champion to announce his retirement from the professional snooker: Pankaj Advani

464) With which country India has signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of skill development, solid waste management and cleaning of rivers: Germany

465) Scientists have warned that millions of lives could be at risk because of the threat to food crops in ‘Fertile Crescent’. Where is this area: Middle East Asia

466) H. Devraj Committee has been setup for what purpose: To examine working of 'C' category


deemed universities 467) Which State has declared 9 September as Himalaya

Diwas to spread the message of conservation of the Himalayan ecosystems: Uttarakhand

468) Saakshar Bharat Awards are given on which date: Sep. 8 International Literacy Day

469) Saakshar Bharat Awards are given for what purpose: For the best performance in the field of adult education

470) Saakshar Bharat Awards are given by which Union Ministry: Human Resource Development

471) North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit 2014 was held in which place: Wales, U.K.

472) ‘Wales Resolution’ is the name given to the resolutions adopted at the recent summit of which international organization: NATO

473) Chitresh Tatha, a 12 year old boy is representing India at the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon, South Korea in which sports: Optimist Dinghy Race

474) General elections for electing Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) have been declared for how many states: Two (Haryana and Maharashtra)

475) Davis Cup Commitment Award is given for which category of Tennis player: Those who have competed in at least 20 ties

476) Name the winner of the Davis Cup Commitment award 2014: Rohan Bopanna

477) Country’s first 'Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve' (CDBR) is to be developed in which place: Spiti in Himachal Pradesh

478) President Pranab Mukherjee made a four-day state visit to Vietnam and met his counterpart __________: Truong Tan Sang

479) What is the currency of Vietnam: Dong 480) _______ is the capital of Vietnam: Hanoi 481) Which public sector organization is celebrating 55

years of its service: Doordarshan 482) First experimental centre of Doordarshan was

established at which place: Delhi 483) Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold championship is

for which sports: Badminton 484) The Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold

championship – 2014 was held at which place: Palembang, Indonesia

485) Name the winner of the Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold championship – 2014: S Prannoy, India

486) FILA Senior World Wrestling Championship held in_________, Uzbekistan: Tashkent

487) Name the eminent scientist who has been named to head an expert panel to recommend best technologies for the "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”: R A Mashelkar

488) Which country is helping India to set up 10 centres of excellence to raise agriculture output and introduce modern farm technologies: Netherlands

489) Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) has inked a pact with ___________ for services related to electronic toll collection: Axis

Bank and ICICI Bank 490) Which committee recommended idea of universal

bank accounts that is bank account for every individual: Nachiket Mor

491) Name the China’s President who recently visited India: Xi Jinping

492) On which railway corridor China has assured technological support for achieving speed of 160 kmph: Chennai – Bangalore – Mysore

493) Which Chinese city has signed a “sister city” agreement with Ahmedabad: Guangzhou

494) China has agreed to opening of a new route to Kailash Mansarovar via _________ in Sikkim: Nathu La

495) Which type of power projects are categorized as Ultra Megha Power Project: Which generate more than 4000 MW or above electricity

496) Guangdong province of China has agreed to become partner in cultural and social ties with which State of India: Gujarat

497) What is the name of currency of China: Renminbi (Yuan)

498) _______ is the capital of China: Beijing 499) The world’s highest and toughest marathon held at

3,524 meter (11,562 feet) altitude is held at which place: Leh, J & K

500) Who has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the National Commission for Women: Lalitha Kumaramangalam

501) Who has been appointed Chairman, Quality Council of India: Adil Zainulbhai

502) 6th meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for Home Ministers held on September 19 at which place: Kathmandu

503) Manoj Kumar a 2010 CWG boxing gold-medalist was in news for what reasons: He has been given Arjun Award on Delhi High Court orders

504) 51st Shooting World Championship was held at which place: Granada, Spain

505) 20th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships was held at_______ : Mumbai

506) Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (RPBD) to be held from October 16 to 18 will be hosted by which city: London

507) A joint 14 days military exercise between the armed forces of America and India was held at which place: Ranikhet in Almora district of Uttrakhand

508) What is the name given to the Joint Army Exercise between armed forces of American and India being held at Ranikhet, Uttarakhand: Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2014

509) Govt. has launched India Newborn Action Plan for what purpose: To achieve the single digit neonatal mortality and stillbirth rate by 2030

510) The 45th IFFI will be held from 20 to 30 November, 20 14 at which place: Goa

511) IFFI stands for: International Film Festival of India


512) Which city has been declared as the permanent venue for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI): Goa

513) Who has been appointed as new ambassador of China in India: Le Yucheng

514) Name the Indo-American appointed by USA as its next ambassador to India: Richard Rahul Verma

515) And then One Day: A Memoir is the autobiography of which noted film artist: Naseeruddin Shah

516) The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 was won by which country: USA

517) The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 was held at which place: Madrid, Spain

518) The Supreme Court has directed Central Government to ensure ______ percent quota for disabled persons in all government jobs, including IAS and promotions: Three

519) Players of which sports have recently been allowed to wear religious head coverings, such as hijabs or turbans by Sikhs, on a trial basis: Basketball

520) Sportspersons of which game have now been allowed to participate in Asian Games under Indian flag: Boxing

521) The Asian games been held in Incheon, South Korea are which number in series: 17th

522) Name the sports person who was the flag bearer of the Indian contingent in the Asian Games: Sardara Singh

523) Who is Sardara Singh, the flag bearer of the Indian contingent in the Asian Games: Captain of Indian Hockey Team

524) Mandolin U. Shrinivas, eminent Carnatic music exponent from Andhra Pradesh who passed away recently was famous for what reasons: His expert use of mandolin, a western instrument, in Carnatic music

525) Name the international NGO that has agreed to promote user friendly toilets to improve sanitation system in India under Swachchh Bharat Mission: Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation

526) All India Radio has started free SMS service to provide news in how many languages: Five

527) Recognising the importance of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to USA, the US Senate has designated September 30 as ________ day: US-India Partnership Day

528) Which country voted in a referendum to continue with UK: Scotland

529) The United Kingdom is a union of how many countries: Four

530) Which are the four countries comprising the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, North Ireland and Wales

531) Alok Shetty the 28 year old has been named ‘Young Leader of Tomorrow’ by Time magazine for his pioneering work in designing affordable flood-proof houses for slum dwellers. He is from which field: Architecture

532) Name the India’s pistol-shooter who won India's first gold in the 50m event at Asian Games: Jitu Rai

533) Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) and China Development Bank Corporation have signed agreements with which Indian banks to facilitate trade between the two countries: SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank

534) Name the bank which accounted for half of the total number of banking transactions done through mobile phone in June,2014: State Bank of India

535) Who is Jack Ma, whose company recently created the world record for largest IPO, amassing around $25 billion from the investors: Chinese founder and promoter of world’s largest online shopping portal – Alibaba

536) John Key has been elected as new Prime Minister of which country: New Zealand

537) Name the World Chess Championship recently won by Viswanathan Anand: Bilbao Chess Masters

538) Bilbao Chess Masters Finals were held at which place: Bilbao, Spain

539) Summer Youth Olympic Games 2014 were held at which place: Nanjing, China

540) Ashraf Ghani has been appointed new President of which country: Afghanistan

541) Sania Mirza recently won the women’s double title in which championship at Tokyo, Japan: WTA Toray Pacific Open

542) U N summit on climate change was held at which place: New York, USA

543) India’s first National Academy of Athletics has been established at which place: Kariavattom near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

544) Apart from India, how many other international space agencies have been successful in sending a spacecraft Mars: Three

545) Which Indian film has been selected as India’s entry for the Oscar Awards in the foreign film category: Liar’s Dice

546) The UN climate summit 2014 was held at which place: New York

547) RBI has formed G Gopalakrishna Committee to give recommendations on which matter: Capacity building in banks and streamlining training intervention

548) __________ appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team: Marvan Atapattu

549) Which city shall be hosting ICC World Cricket League Division 3: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

550) Noted Hindi novelist Govind Mishra has been honoured with which prize: Saraswati Samman

551) What is the title of the book by Govind Mishra for which he has been awarded Sarswati Samman: Dhool Paudhon Par

552) Which international Chinese tennis star has announced her retirement from the sports: Li Na

553) Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana has been launched for what purpose: To impart skills to rural and


urban poor 554) What is the new name for Aajeevika Skills

Programme aimed at providing skill development to Rural Youth: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gramin Kaushalya Yojana

555) Under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gramin Kaushalya Yojana the minimum entry age for imparting skill to rural youth has been reduced from 18 years to ______: 15 Years

556) What is the aim of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gramin Kaushalya Yojana: To train 10 lacs rural youth by the end of 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017)

557) What is the objective of recently launched “Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana”: For skill development of rural youth

558) India’s first National Sports University is going to be setup in which State: Manipur

559) Name the surface to surface missile recently tested by Pakistan: Hatf IX

560) _______ and _______ has been named as SAARC cultural capital for a year beginning April 2015 and 2016-17 respectively: Bamiyan and Dhaka

561) The year _________ has been declared as the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage: 2016-17

562) Which country has decided to sell cigarettes in plain packets to discourage smoking: France

563) Name the industrialist who is the 2nd richest billionaire of India: Dilip Shanghvi

564) Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has raised the outlook on India’s sovereign rating from negative to _________: Stable

565) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards are given for excellence in which field: Science & Technology

566) Name the programme launched by Govt. of India for making India as future manufacturing hub: Make in India

567) How many thrust sectors have been identified under the Make in India campaign: 25

568) The Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the _____ session of United Nations General Assembly in New York: 69th

569) The six major world powers held the 7th round of nuclear talks with which countries: Iran

570) Which state capital has recently started the work on having a metro rail service: Lucknow

571) Name the State that has recently been put under presidents rule: Maharashtra

572) Mount Ontake that erupted suddenly, killing over 36 persons is located in which country: Japan

573) Jitu Rai won India’s first Gold Medal in Asiad 2014 in which sports: Pistol Shooting

574) In which two events, Indian men’s team won the gold medal in Asiad 2014: Archery and Squash

575) Name the Indian wrestler who ended a 28-year drought for gold in wrestling by winning gold at Asiad 2014: Yogeshwar Dutt

576) _________ won the country’s first-ever silver in the women’s 20 kms race walk in Asiad: Khushbir

Kaur 577) Saurav Ghoshal won silver in individual _______

event at Asiad 2014: Squash 578) Who has been named as the new Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu: O Panneerselvam 579) Name the American venue where Prime Minister

Modi addressed a gathering of over 18,000 persons: Madison Square Garden, New York

580) _________ is the West Asia’s largest consumer IT and electronics retail show: GITEX Shopper, Dubai

581) The Prime Minister has assured merger of schemes for PIOs and OICs. What is the full form of PIOs and OICs: Persons of Indian Origin, Overseas Indian Citizens

582) Global Competiveness report is published by which organization: World Economic Forum (Switzerland)

583) Global Gender Gap Report is published by which organization: World Economic Forum (Switzerland)

584) Which committee has recommended Vijayawada as capital of Andhra Pradesh: The Sivaramakrishnan Committee

585) Name the programme launched by Indian Army to rescue thousands of maroon persons in floods of Jammu & Kashmir: Operation Megh Rahat

586) In which country the city of Bamiyan is located: Afghanistan

587) For what reasons is Bamiyan an important city: It had world’s tallest Buddha Statue which were destroyed by Taliban in 2001.

588) In which city is the Headquarter of United Nations situated: New York

589) Who is the President of United Nations General Assembly: John William Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda

590) Which day has been declared by US Senate to be designated as US-India partnership day: September 30

591) Sarasawati Samman is promoted by which foundation: K.K. Birla Foundation

592) What is the award amount for the winners of Saraswati Samman: Rs. 10 lacs

593) What is the prize money for the winners of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award: Rs. 5 lakh, a citation and a plaque

AUGUST – 2014 594) John Kerry who visited India recently is the Foreign

Minister of which country: USA 595) Foreign Minister of USA is officially designated as

___________ in USA: Secretary of State 596) Name the village near Pune, Maharashtra that was

almost swept away in a massive mud slide: Malin Village

597) Name the famous Eminent Hindi litterateur and novelist from Bihar who passed away recently:


Madhukar Singh 598) Name the exploration rover of NASA that created a

record of travelling maximum distance on Mars: Opportunity

599) Govt has launched a nationwide scheme by the name _____________to promote conservation and development of indigenous breeds of cows in a focused and scientific manner: Rashtriya Gokul Mission

600) Name the German player who created a world record of fastest serve in the women’s tennis by serving at 131 miles per hour: Sabine Lisicki

601) Recently the Nagoya Protocol was ratified by 51 countries. What is the objective of this protocol: Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits of genetic resources

602) What is the total number of total medals won by the India in 20th Commonwealth Games: 64

603) India won 64 medals at the Commonwealth Games 2014. Of this how many were gold medals: 15

604) Name the country that won highest number of medals at the Commonwealth Games 2014: England

605) England top the Commonwealth Games by capturing __________ medals: 174

606) Parupalli Kashyap became the first Indian male player in 32 years to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in which sports: Badminton

607) Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal won the doubles gold medal in Commonwealth Games in which game: Squash

608) Name the Canadian gymnast who was awarded the David Dixon Award for the best athlete of the Games: Frankie Jones

609) To whom David Dixon award is awarded: An outstanding Athlete of Common Wealth Game

610) In which year was this award instituted: 2002 Common Wealth Games in Manchester in honour of David Dixon Secretary of Common Wealth Games for 17 years

611) K.V. Chowdary has been appointed chairman of which important central govt. office: Central Board of Direct Taxes

612) Country’s first multi-sensor moored observatory IndARC was successfully deployed in Kongsfjorden Fjord in which region of the world: Arctic Region

613) 22nd Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award has been awarded to which personality: Muzaffar Ali

614) Muzaffar Ali, winner of 22nd Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award is a prominent person from which field: Cinema, Film maker

615) The deadly EBOLA virus has claimed hundreds of lives in Africa. What is the full form of EBOLA: No full form, it is the name of virus

616) Name African region where Liberia, Guinea and Siera Leone countries have been attacked by Ebola virus: West Africa

617) In which country, the Ebola virus was first

discovered nearly four decades ago: Congo 618) The book “The Boys in the boat” has been written

by which author: Daniel James Brown 619) What is the name of the Latest novel written by

Chetan Bhagat: Half Girlfriend 620) Modi suggested “HIT” formula for Nepal’s

development. Expand the acronym HIT: Highways, I-ways and Transways

621) India to construct a pipeline for supply of _______ from Raxual in Bihar to Amlekhganj in Nepal: Petroleum products

622) Name the recently appointed new Deputy Governor of the RBI: S S Mundra

623) S S Mundra, has been appointed Deputy Governor of RBI for _________ years: Three

624) Name the agreement that was objected to by India at the recent WTO meet: Trade Facilitation Agreement

625) In which State of India, world highest pillar railway bridge is being constructed: Manipur

626) “Pinkathon Delhi 2014” - a run for cause was organised in Delhi with the slogan "Each One, Kheench One" urging all men to encourage at least one special woman in their life to run for a good cause. What was this cause: Spreading awareness about breast cancer

627) RBI has reduced the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of scheduled commercial banks by 50 basis points. What is the present rate of SLR: 22%

628) Reduction of SLR by 50 basis points is expected to release Rs. _________ crore of Banks funds: 40,000

629) Name the number one ranking golfer of the world who won the elite World Golf Championships held at Akron, USA: Rory Mcllroy

630) World’s No. 1 golfer Rory Mcllroy is from which country: Ireland

631) Longtoushan, a town in Ludian county of Yunnan province of China was in news for what reasons: It was hit by a severe earthquake

632) Name the eminent Indian cartoonist famous for his popular comic characters, who passed away: Pran Kumar Sharma

633) Name the popular comic characters created by late cartoonist Pran: Chacha Chaudury and Sabu

634) Which Indian bank won the Core Banking System Imitative Award 2014 at Singapore: Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd.

635) Governor of which Indian State was recently sacked by the President for her alleged irregularities: Mizoram

636) As per recent estimates from RBI, the projected GDP growth rate for year 2014-15, is around _________ per cent: 5.5

637) The Union Cabinet has cleared a historic, all new juvenile justice law under which _________year olds who commit heinous offences such as rapes and robberies can be tried as adults: 16 to 18


638) Govt. has allowed __________ per cent FDI in defence sector: 49%

639) Nikhil Chandwani who recently won the “Author of the year” award in USA is also known for his works in which other fields: Documentary Films

640) Name the US Defence Secretary who visited India recently: Chuck Hagel

641) What is the name of the recently released controversial book by Natwar Singh: One Life is not Enough

642) The World Kabaddi League started in _________ on August 9: London

643) What is the objective of the proposed Bharat Bill Payment System: Centralised payment of various types of bills

644) 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers meeting held at which place: Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

645) The Reserve Bank has approved the transfer of surplus (profit) amounting to Rs 526.79 billion for the year ended June 30, 2014 to__________. Government of India

646) Name the space ship that created a world record of travelling longest ever distance of 6.4 billion kms since its launch in March 2004: Rosetta

647) The space ship Rosetta that created world record for longest distance covered was launched by which space agency: European Space Agency

648) What is the brand name of the new joint venture airline of the Tata Sons-Singapore Airlines: Vistara

649) UAE has become the first gulf country to install reverse vending machines. What is the purpose of these machines: To collect domestic light bulbs and batteries for recycling

650) Haider Al-Abadi has been named as Prime Minister of which country: Iraq

651) Who has been elected as Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha: M. Thambidurai

652) The recent Archery World Cup was held at Wroclaw. It is in which country: Poland

653) Indian women’s archery team led by ___________ won the gold medal in recurve category: Deepika Kumari `

654) Robin Williams who recently died of suspected suicide was a famous __________ of USA: Comedy Actor

655) For which State government announced Central assistance of Rs. 8,000 crore for four major road projects connecting it with rest of the country: Jammu & Kashmir

656) What is the name of the new bill passed by the Parliament to scrap the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court and high court judges: National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014

657) To give national judicial appointments commission a constitutional status, __________ Constitution Amendment Bill was passed: 99th

658) Which award is popularly known as Nobel Prize of Mathematics: Fields Medal

659) Name the Indian Mathematician who won the recent Filed Medal: Manjul Bhargava

660) Name the first women to win the Fields Medal award in Mathematics: Maryam Mizakhani (Iran)

661) Govt has approved the constitution of the Expenditure Management Commission to be headed by which person: Bimal Jalan

662) What is the purpose of setting up Expenditure Management Commission: To suggest ways to reduce subsidies on food, fertilizer and oil

663) Name the army officer who was decorated with Ashok Chakra – the highest peace time gallantry award of the country: Major Mukund Vardarajan

664) What is the name of the award for the best film at the famous Locarno International Film Festival: PARDO d’ORO (Golden Leopard)

665) The famous Locarno International Film Festival is held in which country: Switzerland

666) Who is the new Chairperson Union Public Service Commission: Rajni Razdan

667) What is the formal name of the scheme launched to provide a bank account to every Indian: Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna

668) Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, every new bank account opener will also get Accidental life insurance cover of __________ lakh rupees: One

669) As per new RBI guidelines, banks are required to provide their savings bank account holders with at least ________free transactions per month at their own ATMs.: Five

670) The number of free transactions on ATMs set up by other banks had been reduced to_________, from five earlier, in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad: Three

671) Name the JD(U) leader who has been selected for Outstanding Parliamentarian Award 2012: Sharad Yadav

672) Recently, a large number of countries around the world organized various functions to commemorate 100 years of which major international event: World War 1

673) World War I, also called The Great War, took place in and around Europe from July ______to November _________: 1914, 1918

674) Which place of Nepal was in news as a massive land slide near Mankha on 2 August 2014 blocked the Sunkoshi River and caused maasive damage to local settlements, claiming at least 156 lives: Sindhupalchok

675) Which country recently unveiled its next generation Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Dongfeng – 41 (DF-41): China

676) In which Indian State started the The 20-day Nanda Devi Raj Jat yatra also called the ‘Himalayan Kumbh,’: Uttarakhand

677) BKS Iyengar, 96 year old Padmavibhushan Awardee


who passed away recently was a world famous Guru in which field: Yoga

678) A Hindu temple - Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, claimed to be the world's first 'eco-temple' featuring solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system, has been opened in which place: London, UK

679) Among Northeastern States, ________ has been the first choice of foreign tourist in 2013: Sikkim

680) Name the human rights activist and former journalist of Imphal who has been protesting against AFSPA since November 2000: Irom Sharmila Chanu

681) What is the full form of AFSPA: Armed Forces Special Powers Act

682) General Prayuth Chan-ocha has been proclaimed as Prime Minister of which country: Thailand

683) Which neighbouring country of India has decided to join the newly form BRICS bank: Bangladesh

684) Who has been appointed as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament: K. V. Thomas

685) Name the CMD of Indian Bank who has been elected as Chairman of the Indian Banks Association for 2014-15: T M BHASIN

686) Youth Olympic games 2014 were held at which place: Nanjing, China

687) Name the Jnanpith awardee and renowned novelist and story writer, who passed away recently: U R Ananthamurthy

688) U R Ananthamurthy was renowned novelist and story writer of which language: Kannada

689) Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister recently visited which country to promote country’s Look East Policy: Vietnam

690) Governor of which State recently quite his office to protest his transfer to Mizoram: Maharashtra

691) Which sprint superstar set a new best time record of 9.98 second for the rarely run 100 meter indoors race: : Usain Bolt

692) The sprint superstar Usain Bolt is from which country: Jamaica

693) Which online shopping portal has signed a MoU with Union Textile Ministry to provide online marketing platform to handloom weavers all over India: Flipkart

694) Noted film maker and actor Richard Attenborough who passed away recently, hailed from which country: Britain

695) Name the super hit biopic, winner of 8 Oscars, directed by Richard Attenborough: Gandhi

696) Which animal has been selected as mascot for the forthcoming Asian Games: Harbor Seals

697) The forthcoming Asian Games are which number in series: 17th

698) Name the city that is hosting the 17th Asian Games: Incheon

699) Incheon city is located in which country: South Korea

700) Governor of Kerala, Ms. Sheila Dikshit was in news

for what reasons: She resigned from governorship

701) BJP veteran Kalyan Singh has been appointed Governor of which State: Rajasthan

702) Who has been appointed as the new governor of Maharashtra: C Vidyasagar Rao

703) Vajubhai Vala, a senior BJP leader from Gujarat has been made Governor of which State: Karnataka

704) Deputy Prime Minister of which country recently visited India to promote mutual economic and social ties: United Kingdom

705) Name the Deputy Prime Minister of UK who recently visited India: Nick Clegg

706) Who is the Prime Minister of United Kingdom: David Cameron

707) What is the official name of the currency of United Kingdom: UK Pound

708) With which country India conducted its first ever joint Air Force exercise: Russia

709) What is the name of the joint Air Force exercise conducted with Russia: Avia Indra-2014

710) Avia Indra-2014 is being conducted in ________ region located North of the Caspian Sea: Astrakhan

711) Of the total 943 million telephone users of India, roughly _____ per cent are from urban area: 60%

712) On which route India’s first sea plane service has been launched: Mumbai-Lonavala

713) What is the title of the recent book launched by Vinod Rai, former CAG of India: Not Just An Accountant

714) Ahmet Davutoglu has been appointed Prime Minister of which country: Turkey

715) India’s first Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) has been established at which place: Shibpur, West Bengal

716) Which international organization has called for a ban on the use of e-cigarettes indoors and its sale to children: World Health Organization

717) BWF World Badminton Championship was held in which country: Denmark (Copenhagen)

718) Indian domain names now can make their names with extension _______ in Devnagri Script: .Bharat

719) The 2018 Commonwealth Games will be hosted by which country: Australia

720) V K Duggal recently resigned as Governor of which State: Manipur

721) Which international organization has appointed Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador for it project “Turn Back Crime”: Interpol

722) Govt. has setup R. Ramanujam Committee for what purpose: To identify obsolete laws

723) The popular “Ice Bucket Challenge” is aimed at collected charity to fight which decease: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

724) Under Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the account holders will also be provided Rs. _________ accidental cover insurance: One lac


725) Persons opening account under PM Jan Dhan Yojana by 26th January 2015 will get Rs. _________ life insurance cover: 30,000

726) If account under PM Jan Dhan Yojana is run satisfactorily for at least six months, the account holder will be allowed to have Rs. _________ as overdraft limit: 5,000

727) Accounts holder under PM Jan Dhan Yojana will be issued which type of debit cards: Rupay

728) Govt plans to open _________ crore bank accounts under PM Jan Dhan Yojana by 26th January, 2015: 7.5

729) Govt. targets to open __________ crore bank accounts under PM Jan Dhan Yojana by 15th August, 2018: 15

JULY – 2014 730) Which country recently signed an Association

Agreement with the European Union: Ukraine 731) Saina Nehwal lifted her first Super Series title in last

two years. Name this championship: Star Australian Open

732) Name the Indian player who won his 9th world title in snooker: Pankaj Adavani

733) Govt. has fixed Rs. ___________ per quintal as the minimum support price for the winter paddy crop: 1360

734) Who has been elected as President of the European Commission: Jean-Claude Juncker

735) ISRO recently launched how many satellites all together onboard its launch vehicle PSLV-C23: Five

736) The recently launched five foreign satellite by ISRO were from how many countries: Four

737) Name the four countries whose satellites were recently launched by ISRO: Germany-2, France, Canada, Singapore

738) 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

739) Who was the famous Chinese traveller who visited India in the seventh century to bring Buddhist scriptures to China: Huen Tsang

740) Who is Akhouri Sinha in whose honour the USA has named a mountain in Antarctica: Eminent Indian-American scientist

741) With which country India has signed and MoU to allow their companies to invest in industrial parks and zones in India: China

742) American space agency NASA has successfully launched a satellite -Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) for what purpose: To track atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

743) International rating agency Fitch has improved India's economic growth forecast to _______ per cent this financial year: 5.5

744) 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 745) 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

746) 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

747) The ADB has approved a multi-tranche loan facility of $300 million to Assam for what purpose: To improve power sector

748) 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)

749) 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

750) With which country The Reserve Bank of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for exchange of supervisory information of banking: Hong Kong

751) 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

752) 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)

753) Bharat Depository Receipts are denominated in which currency: Rupee

754) Bharat Depository Receipts will be issued by which financial authority: Local Depositories

755) Which is the newly invented world’s lightest solid material created by Chinese scientists: Carbon Gel

756) Name the international body that has sanctioned $500 million loan for India’s National Highways Inter-connectivity Improvement Project (NHIIP): World Bank

757) 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

758) The city of Marrakesh located in which country: Morocco

759) 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

760) Ritu Rani has been named captain India’s women _________ team for the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow: Hockey


761) 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

762) Name the head of the panel that has recommended new norms for fixation of poverty line: Dr. C. Rangarajan

763) 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

764) 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

765) 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

766) Which ministry plans to setup 660 rape crisis centres across the country: Women and Child Development Ministry

767) What is the proposed name for one stop centre for women victims of molestation, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence: Nirbhaya Centre

768) 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%

769) Name the only supersonic cruise missile of India: Brahmos

770) 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

771) Name of powerful typhoon that lashed Japan's southern Okinawa islands on 8th July, forcing over half a million people to seek shelter: Neoguri

772) 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

773) ___________ state has the largest forest cover of 77522 square kilometer, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, 67321 square kilometer: Madhya Pradesh

774) In terms of percentage, _______ state has highest forest cover at 90.38 percent, followed by Lakshadweep-84.56 percent: Mizoram

775) Pinky Anand has been appointed to which important national post: Additional Solicitor General

776) What is the function of the Additional Solicitor General: Legal advisor to Central Govt.

777) Name the legendary actress from Hindi theatre and cinema who passed away recently at the age of 102 years: Zohra Sehgal

778) Name the Indian Navy‘s largest ever destroyer –_____________that was inducted in to service on 10th July: INS Kolkata

779) 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

780) Name the India’s first indigenously built anti-submarine corvette commissioned into service by Indian Navy: INS Kamorta

781) In which sector Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been hiked from 26 per cent to 49 per cent: Defence manufacturing

782) FDI in insurance sector has been hiked to ______ per cent from 26 per cent: 49

783) 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

784) Ancestral House of which Indian film celebrity has been declared as a National heritage monument by the Pakistan Govt.: Dilip Kumar

785) 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

786) Mr. Ram Naik has been appointed Governor of which State: Uttar Pradesh

787) Who has been appointed as New Governor of West Bengal: K.N. Tripathi

788) Sh. Om Prakash Kohli has been appointed Governor of which State: Gujarat

789) Name the New Governor of Chhattisgarh State: Balramji Das Tandon

790) Mrs. Margret Alva has been appointed as new Governor of which State: Goa

791) Sh. Kaptan Singh Solanki has been appointed as new Governor of which State: Haryana

792) Name the new governor of Nagaland: Padmanabha Acharya

793) Name the football player who scored the winning goal for Germany in the FIFA World Cup 2014: Mario Gotze

794) Germany won FIFA World Cup 2014 by defeating which country: Argentina

795) Name the best player of the FIFA World Cup 2014 who won the Golden Ball: Lionel Messi, Argentina

796) Name the best goalkeeper of the FIFA World Cup 2014 who won the Golden Glove Award: Manuel Neuer, Germany

797) Name the best player who scored highest goals – 6, in the FIFA World Cup 2014 and won the Golden Boot award: James Rodriguez, Colombia

798) Final match of FIFA World Cup 2014 was played at which place: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

799) The Indian men's football team has been ranked __________ in the FIFA world rankings: 151th

800) In the FIFA world rankings, which country has been ranked as no. 1: Germany

801) Under which programme Government has set a


target to develop skills of 50 crore people by 2022: The National Policy on Skill Development (NPSD)

802) The government has set a target of mopping Rs _________ from stake sale in PSU firms: 43425 crore

803) 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

804) 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

805) How many judges are there in a Debt Recovery Tribunal: One

806) The judge in the debt recovery tribunal is named as: Presiding Officer

807) Bad Bank Loans cases of upto Rs. ____________ can be filed in DRT: No Limit

808) 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

809) 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

810) Name the comprehensive scheme for financial inclusion which will ensure that every earning citizen opens a bank account: 'Sampoorn Viteeyea Samveshan'

811) Which financial institution has been asked to create a Rs. 1,000-crore credit guarantee fund to finance govt’s proposed OD scheme: NABARD

812) 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

813) Out of the two – balance of trade and balance of payment, which item is larger: Balance of Payment

814) 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

815) Which country has granted one billion pound ($1.68 billion) credit line for investment in Indian infrastructure projects: Britain

816) Name the proposed Rs. 1000 crore nationwide rural irrigation scheme to insulate farmers from excessive dependence on monsoon: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’

817) 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

818) Government plan to launch ___________TV dedicated to the interests of agriculturists and allied

sectors and has allocated Rs 100 crore for this purpose: Kisan

819) Recently held BRICS summit was ___________ in series: 6th

820) The 6th BRICS summit was held at which place: Fortaleza, Brazil

821) Name the new development bank that the BRICS nations propose to form as an alternative to the World Bank: New Development Bank

822) What is the initial authorized capital of the New Development Bank: $50 billion

823) In what proportion the BRICS countries have agreed to share the capital of New Development Bank: 20% each

824) 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

825) Which country has agreed to contribute largest share of 41% to the Contingency Reserve Arrangement: China

826) What will be the India’s contribution to the proposed CRA by the BRICS Nations: 18%

827) The headquarters of the proposed BRICS New Development Bank will be located in which country: China

828) Which country has been allocated the presidency of the proposed BRICS New Development Bank: India

829) The 7th BRICS Summit will be held at which place: Russian city of Ufa

830) Under which programme government plans to launch four new vaccines to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by next year: Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)

831) As per the Global Innovation Index 2014 India has been placed at which rank: 76th

832) 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

833) What is the full form of the new data transferee technology Li Fi: Light Fidelity

834) The 7th IBSA summit 2015 will be held in which country: India

835) What is the full form of term IBSA: India, Brazil, South Africa

836) An civilian aircraft of which country was recently shot down by terrorist using a Russian Buk missile: Malaysia

837) Name the two new types of banks for formation of which the RBI has issued guidelines: Payment Bank and Small Banks

838) The proposed payment banks will not be allowed which major function of the banks: Lending

839) Prem Bhatia Award are given for excellence in which field: Journalism


840) The area of operations of the small bank will be restricted to which level: Contiguous districts in a homogenous cluster of States

841) Smita Gupta has been awarded the Prem Bhatia award for political reporting. She is associated with which news paper: The Hindu

842) Nitin Sethi, Associate Editor, Business Standard, has been honourd with which award for excellence in environmental and development reporting: Prem Bhatia Award

843) 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

844) Newly elected President of which country is popularly known as ‘Jokowi’: Indonesia

845) 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

846) 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

847) What is the new condition in terms of capital requirement for the purposed D-SIBs: Required to maintain higher capital requirement

848) Reserve Bank proposes to circulate special Rs. 10 coins on the occasion of diamond jubilee of which organization: Coir Board

849) In which international ground Indian Cricket Team recently won a test match after nearly three decades: Lords, London

850) As per latest RBI guidelines which popular identity document has now been declared invalid for the purpose of KYC norms: Ration Card

851) The commonwealth games that were held at Glasgow, Scotland, were which number in series: 20th

852) What is the name of the mascot for the 20th, Commonwealth Games: Clyde

853) The name of the commonwealth games mascot – Clyde has been kept after which: Famous river of Scotland

854) Name the Indian player who carried the Indian flag to lead the Indian Contingent in Commonwealth Games: Vijay Kumar (Shooter)

855) Name the sports person who won 1st gold medal for India at the 20th Commonwealth Games: Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu

856) The 1st medal in 20th Commonwealth Games was won by India in which sports: Weight Lifting

857) Name the Indian shooter who won Gold in 10 meter rifle shooting and announced his retirement from the Commonwealth Games: Abhinav Bindra

858) Name the player who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in the women’s 10m air rifle event: Apurvi Chandela

859) Name the author of the book The Lives of Others: Neel Mukherjee

860) Name the three countries whose warships, submarines, aircrafts and helicopters participated in the trilateral Malabar naval exercise: India, US and Japan

861) The trilateral Malabar naval exercise by India and two other countries was held at which place: North Western Pacific Ocean

862) Fuad Masum has been elected as President of which country: Iraq

863) 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

864) 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

865) In the recently compiled Human Development Index, India has been placed at which rank: 135th

866) Name the country which enjoys the honour of being placed at the top of the Human Development Index: Norway

867) The mascot of 20th Commonwealth Games – Clyed has been derived from which animal: No animal, it is a thistle plant

868) Govt. plans to merge United Bank of India with which bigger bank: IDBI Bank

869) Which public sector undertaking has recently been granted Navratna status: Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR)

870) 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

871) Name the world famous three week cycling marathon won by Vincenzo Nibali of Italy: Tour de France

872) Kargil Vijai Diwas is celebrated on which date: 26th July

873) Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched “Operation Protective Edge” against __________ militants in Gaza strip: Hamas

874) Name the Indian corporate which became first Indian company to achieve a market capitalization of Rs. 5 lakh crore rupees: TCS (Tata Consultancy Services)

875) Which famous sports person has been appointed as Brand Ambassador of Telangana State: Sania Mirza

876) Name the country that has topped the 142 nations list of Global Innovation Index 2013: Switzerland

877) Men’s title in Wimbledon Tennis Open was won by which sports star: Novak Djokovic

878) Novak Djokovic lifted the Wimbledon Men’s title by defeating which player: Roger Feeder

879) Women’s title in Wimbledon Tennis Open was won


by which sports star: Petra Kvitova 880) Petra Kvitova lifted the Wimbledon Women’s title by

defeating which player: Eugenie Bouchard 881) Maharashtra has appointed Amitabh Bachhan as its

brand ambassador for what purpose: for Promoting Horticulture

882) Economic survey of India is presented in which house of Parliament: Lok Sabha

883) Who presents the economic survey report in the parliament: Finance Minister

884) India plans to start its 1st bullet train on which route: Mumbai - Ahmedabad

885) Govt. proposes to develop Diamond Quadrilateral for high speed trains connecting which main cities: The Four Metros

886) Govt. has raised deduction limit under section 80-C of Income Tax Act by what amount: Rs. 50,000

887) 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

888) Senior citizen in the age group of 60 and above are exempted from income tax upto what amount of income: Rs. 3 lac

889) Name the new welfare scheme proposed by Indian government for promoting the girl child: Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao Yojana

890) 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

891) What is the target for 2014-15 for agriculture credit by banks: Rs. 8 trillion

892) The Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan aims to achieve total sanitation in India by which year: 2019

893) 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

894) Govt. plans to setup two biotech clusters at which centres: Bangaluru and Faridabad

JUNE – 2014 895) The per capita income at current prices during 2013-

14 is estimated to be around Rs.________ Rs.74,380

896) Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi has been elected as President of which country: Egypt

897) Name the new Solicitor General of India: Ranjit Kumar

898) Dag Hammarskjold Medal is by UNO for what purpose: Show of Gallantry

899) 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

900) Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil won the gold medal and

silver medal respectively, in which International Competition in Sassari city, Italy: Wrestling

901) Name the cricket team that won the Indian Premier League – 7: Kolkata Knight Riders

902) Sultan Azlan Shah who passed away was associated with which sports: Hockey

903) Sultan Azlan Shah who passed away recently, was from which country: Malaysia

904) Who has been made the new king of Spain: Prince Felipe

905) Which village in Nagaland has been declared as the country’s first tobacco-free village: Gariphema

906) World No Tobacco Day is observed on which date: May 31

907) Name the first Indian archer to win three gold medals in a single international tournament: Abhishek Verma

908) 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%

909) Bashar Al-Assad has been elected as President of_________ for the third time successively: Syria

910) Name the fifth Indo-French bilateral air exercise held at Jodhpur Air Base in Rajasthan: Garuda-V

911) Kepler 10 C is the name of the biggest rocky ________ ever discovered: Planet

912) Which state has announced 12 per cent reservation for BPL candidates in all the state government jobs: Sikkim

913) What is the popular name for the French Open Tennis Championship held at Paris: Roland Garros

914) Name the winner of the Men’s title at French Open Tennis Championship: Rafael Nadal

915) Name the winner of the Women’s title at French Open Tennis Championship: Maria Sharapova

916) Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal is from which country: Spain

917) Ace tennis player Maria Sharapova is from which country: Russia

918) G7 meet of industrialized nations was held at which place: Brussels, Belgium

919) Name the new speaker of Lok Sabha: Sumitra Mahajan

920) 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

921) India recently test fired its 290-km range supersonic missile from the stealth destroyer INS Kolkata. What


is its name: Brahmos

922) Central government has decided that all the government employees who have differently abled children to take care of will be exempted from ___________: Transfers

923) In which river 24 engineering students, including six girls, were washed away due to sudden release of water from the reservoir: River Beas

924) Reuven Rivlin has been elected ________ of Israel: President

925) Who has been appointed as new Chief Executive Officer, Infosys: Vishal Sikka

926) Name the Union Minister who has been appointed as India's Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank: Arun Jaitely

927) Name the Bollywood celebrity who has been appointed as UNICEF's 'celebrity advocate for child rights': Madhuri Dixit

928) Which country has overtaken Germany and Italy to emerge as the world's second largest textile exporter: India

929) Name the country that is largest exporter of textiles in the world: China

930) 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

931) Govt. provides Rs. _____ for construction of a house under IAY in hilly areas: 75,000

932) Govt. provides Rs. _____ for construction of a house under IAY in plain areas: 70,000

933) 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

934) Govt. has recently cleared to raise the height of which dam from present 121.92 metres to 138.72 metres: Narmada Dam

935) Name the city which has become the fourth city the country to have Metro rail operations: Mumbai

936) India recently signed Washington Accord with a group of 17 nations for what purpose: Academic recognition of its degrees

937) For which type of sports Govt. has decided to increase the daily food supplement budget from Rs 280 to Rs 750: Power Games

938) 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

939) 16th Asian Junior Athletics Championship was held at which place: Taipei City, China

940) Name the India’s first One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC)

launched in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: Gauravi

941) 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

942) World Food Day is observed on which date: October 16

943) Name the historical monument of Gujarat that has been approved as world heritage site by UNESCO: Rani-Ki-Vav

944) Rani – Ki – Vav, a world heritage site, is what type of monument: Stepwell

945) Foreign investment of ______ per cent or more in a listed company will now be treated as foreign direct investment (FDI): 10

946) Arvind Mayaram committee has been setup for what purpose: To review definitions of FDI and FII

947) Rohinton Nariman, the noted advocate has been appointed to which important post: Judge in Supreme Court

948) 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

949) 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

950) 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

951) ISIS militants have been waging a fierce civil battle against the democratically elected govt. of which country: Iraq

952) What is the full form of ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

953) Which country won the Men’s title in hockey world cup: Australia

954) Which country won the Women’s title in hockey world cup: The Netherland

955) The World Cup Hockey Championship was held at which place: The Hague, Netherland

956) 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

957) Viswanathan Anand won the _______ medal at the World Rapid Chess Championship held at Dubai: Bronze


958) Who has been elected as the First Chairman of International Cricket Council, Dubai: N. Srinivasan

959) International Widows Day is observed on which date: 23rd June

960) Name the first Indian shooter to win three medals in successive ISSF Shooting World Cup: Jitu Rai

961) 49th Jnanpith award – 2013 has been awarded to which noted Hindi poet: Kedarnath Singh

962) The Moortidevi Award is given in which field: For a work in Indian philosophy and cultural heritage

963) Name the winner for Moortidevi Award 2013: C. Radhakrishna

964) The 2013 Moortidevi Award winner, C. Radharkrishna writes in which language: Malayalam

965) World Refugee Day is observed on which date: June 20

966) 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

967) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, _________ has been declared as the most peaceful country: Iceland

968) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, _________ has been declared as the most unpeaceful country: Syria

969) As per the Global Peace Index 2014, India has been placed at which rank: 143rd

970) The book titled The Goldfinch has been authored by whom: Donna Tartt

971) 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

972) Which Indian Airport was declared second best in service quality in world and sixth best airport in the world: Indira Gandhi International Airport

973) Name the lady who has been declared as most powerful women in the world by Forbes Magazine: Angela Merkel

974) Angela Merkel has been declared as most powerful women in the world. Who is she: Chancellor of Germany

975) Who has been declared as most powerful women in India by the Forbes magazine: Arunadhati Bhattarcharya

976) Which Indian actor has been conferred with ‘Legion of France’ recently: Shahrukh Khan

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gyanm general awareness january 2015 issue

Education

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global innovation index

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