G.K. eBOOK
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§ RBI released its monetary policy statement in which left the short-term lending rate and the cash reserve ratios were unchanged. What was an important aspect associated with announcement of this policy statement? – This was RBI’s first bimonthly monetary policy statement
§ Which communication satellite of India expired recently after being in the orbit for around ten-and-a-half years? -INSAT-3E
§ Which country was forbidden from whale-hunting and grant of further whaling permits by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its judgment? – Japan
§ Nancy Powell, who resigned as the Ambassador of the United States to India, was appointed Ambassador in which year? – In 2012
§ Which government department of India was chosen for UN Environment Programmes (UNEP’s) prestigious ‘ECA Ozone Protection Award for Customs & Enforcement Officers’? - Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
§ Who was appointed as the third arbitrator in the dispute between Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and the petroleum ministry by the Supreme Court - James Spigelman
§ What is the name of the 14-year old Indian-American student who came to limelight after he suggested to the US government that it could save $136 million a year by simply switching fonts from Times New Roman to Garamondin government printing? - Suvir Mirchandani
§ Who took over as the new Chairman of Tata group firm Trent Ltd - Noel N Tata
§ The Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle approval of bank licences to which two entitites – IDFC Limited and Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited
§ The Finance Ministry released a draft of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) which focuses on raising more revenue from high net worth individuals, while leaving the slabs unchanged for others. In this draft high slab of income-tax has been proposed for individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) belonging to ‘super- rich’ category. What is the criterion of income for this ‘super-rich’ category? – Annual income above Rs.10 crore
§ What is the proposed tax slab for super-rich individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) inthe draft of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) – 35%
§ What is the proposed additional tax on those earning over Rs 1 crore through dividend income in the draft of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) – 10%
§ According to the latest Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) findings for 2011-12, which state of India had the maximum number of factories –Tamil Nadu
§ Oil Ministry recently rejected British energy major BP plc’s application for which category of fuel market, for which the company had submitted its application through BP Explorer (Alpha) Ltd during December 2013 – Aviation Fuel market or Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) market
§ What is the approximate number of US citizens who signed up for President Barack Obama’s highly ambitious health care programme? 7.1 million
§ Which countries highest court gave official recognition to a third category of sex other than male or female?– Australia
§ Which firm became the first Indian retail e-commerce to file for an initial public offering (IPO) on NASDAQ and to be listed on this US stock exchange? – HomeShop18
§ Who was appointed as the new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)? – R. Gandhi
§ The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) stated that the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has reached a new milestone mark. The UNHCR also called it a devastating milestone for the tiny Arab country with depleted resources and an explosive sectarian mix of its own. What milestone is this?– 1 million
§ Which international drug manufacturer took Indian firm Biocon to court for allegedly infringing the patent on one of its diabetes drug? –Novartis AG
§ Union Minister K. Sambasiva Rao, who tendered his resignation to the Prime Minister, was holding which portfolio? – Union Textiles Minister
§ Which internationally-renowned tracking system made its debut in Indian badminton circuit at the on-going India Open Super Series in New Delhi? – Hawk-Eye technology
§ Who is heading the 5-member committee constituted to recommend a site for the capital of successor state of Andhra Pradesh following the formation of Telangana? –K. Sivaramakrishnan
§ An Indian rocket carrying the country’s second navigation satellite, IRNSS-1B, successfully placed this satellite in earth’s orbit. What is the name of the ISRO rocket which took IRNSS-1B into space? – PSLV-C24
§ What is the name of the Indian-American who was nominated by US President Barack Obama to a key administration post as the US Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)? –Sunil Sabharwal
§ What is the name of the CEO and co-founder of Mozilla (which makes the popular Firefox web-browser), who resigned recently following protests over his support of a gay marriage ban in California? – Brendan Eich
§ A vast liquid ocean was found on which moon of Saturn by NASA’s Cassini probe as published by ‘Science’ magazine? –‘Enceladus’
§ What is the name of the Prime Minister of Hungary who was declared victorious in the Hungarian parliamentary election? - Viktor Orban
§ Approximately how much amount worth of tax evasions was detected during fiscal-year 2013- 14 by the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI)? – Rs. 8,000 crore
§ India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves soared by $5.03 billion to $303.67 billion for the week ended 28 march 2014. What was the last time when the reserves were over the $300 billion mark? – December 2011
§ Who was crowned as the new Miss India in the 51st Femina Miss India contest, which culminated in April 2014 at Mumbai? - Koyal Rana Jaipur
§ Which country won the ICC T-20 Women’s World Cup 2014, final of which was played in April 2014? .Australia
§ Which company will acquire Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited for $3.2 billion, as announced by the two companies? –Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited
§ Who gave Sahara Force India team its second podium finish by coming third in the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2014? - Sergio Perez of Mexico
§ Who won the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2014 title? - Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) for Mercedes Team
§ What is the name of the biblical epic movie which was banned by Malaysia and Indonesia for its visual depiction of the prophet? – ‘Noah’
§ Which two international cement companies announced their merger, which would now create world’s largest cement manufacturing company? – Holcim of Switzerland and Lafarge of France
§ In an important decision, the Union Govt. decided to allow use of bulls in south India’s famous ‘Jallikattu’ festivals by amending the list of animals prohibited from being trained for performances. While allowing the use of bulls in Jallikattu, the govt. emphasized on the historic, cultural and religious significance of the event. Jallikattu festival is held in which South-Indian state? – Tamil Nadu
§ Indian Navy during April 2014 sold its now decommissioned first aircraft carrier ship to a ship-breaking company of Mumbai for Rs. 63.2 crore. What is the name of this iconic ship which was commissioned into the India Navy in 1961 and was decommissioned in 1997? – INS Vikrant
§ What is the name of the Venezuelan daredevil who during April 2014 set a new Guinness record for skydiving 14,000 feet with world’s smallest parachute? Ernesto Gainza
§ Who won the men’s singles title of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Badminton 2014? – Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia
§ What is the name of a new tool launched by Internet giant Google as part of its elections portal offering which will give citizens access to relevant information about political candidates contesting from their constituency and their incumbent Member of Parliament? –‘Know your candidate’
§ Who took over as the new Chairman of software industry association NASSCOM? – R Chandrasekaran
§ Which North-eastern state capital became the second in the region to have rail-connectivity? –Itanagar
§ Which English Premier League club was denied the permission to change its name by the Football Association Council (FAC)? – Hull City
§ Which Indian brand was the only Indian retail brand to be listed in the 30 Best Retail Brands in Asia Pacific of the prestigious Inter brand’s Best Retail Brands list for 2013? – Tanishq
§ What is the name of the famous character featured in the iconic Archie Comics, whose character will end in the forthcoming issue of this comic as announced? – Archie Andrews
§ Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha appointed as the next Chief Justice of India, who will succeed Justice Sathasivam, will be …………….Chief Justice of India? – 41st
§ How much amount was collected by India’s largest banking group the State Bank of India (SBI) recently in overseas debt sale through a dual tranche bond programme, which make it the largest ever offering from a domestic issuer? - $1.25 billion
§ What is the name of the deadly virus for which the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT- In) issued an advisory to all Internet users in the country? ‘Heartbleed’
§ Which leading banking luminary was appointed as the special advisor of the interim President of BCCI-IPL Sunil Gavaskar? – Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC
§ British telecom major Vodafone Group took full control of its Indian unit by buying the remaining 10.97% stake in the unit. This stake was acquired from which enterprise? - Piramal Enterprises
§ Which international financial institution completed its first global rupee bond programme worth $ 1 billion? -International Finance Corporation (IFC)
§ Renowned poet-lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar was selected for the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award for 2013. He would be 45th recipient of this award. What is the real name of Gulzar? – Sampooran Singh Kalra
§ India retained the top spot in the world in foreign exchange remittances from its migratory workforce during 2013. How much remittance was received by India during the year? – $70 billion (India was followed by China ($60 billion), Philippines ($25 billion)
§ According to a series of papers published recently in the ‘Lancet Oncology’ journal, what is the reason for 40% of all types of cancers in India? – Tobacco use
§ Which un seeded player shocked badminton’s world number one Lee Chong Wei to win the Singapore Open title for 2014? –Simon Santoso of Indonesia
§ Indian Navy’s decommissioned submarine INS Vagli would be established as a permanent exhibit at which historic town of Tamil Nadu? Mamallapuram
§ Who became the 5th Indian-born person to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize? –Vijay Seshadri
§ In a landmark judgement the Supreme Court gave the recognition of ‘third gender’ to trans genders and asked the Centre to treat trans genders as “socially and economically backward” so as to enable them to get reservations in jobs and education. This ruling was given on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by which entity? – The National Legal Services Authority – NALSA
§ A new round of India-China Strategic Dialogue was held at Beijing between Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin. The talks aimed at maintaining the momentum of India-China relations and implementing agreements reached at the leadership level. These talks were which round of the India-ChinaStrategic Dialogue series? – 6th
§ Who was appointed the new Finance Secretary? – Arvind Mayaram
§ Which team won the National T20 title for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy? –Baroda
§ What is the title of the book written by former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh in which he claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s inability to take on vested interests led to the coal block row? – “Crusader or Conspirator: Coalgate and other truths”
§ Usha International, the leading household consumer durables company, has become the official partners of which franchisee team for the 7th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL)? –Mumbai Indians
§ Which member of the Commonwealth organisation recently announced its decision to withhold funding to the Commonwealth Secretariat, pointing to the Secretariat’s silence on alleged war crimes and rights abuse in Sri Lanka? –Canada
§ New Chief of the Indian Navy: Robin K Dhowan – 22nd
§ Which film was selected as the Best Film for 61st National Film Awards announced? – “Ship of Theseus”
§ Which noted director was the Chairman of the 11-member 61st National Film Awards selection committee which announced the winners? – Saeed Akhtar Mirza
§ Pakistan became the fourth country to publish ‘name and shame’ tax directory in a bid to embarrass tax evaders.Cash-strapped Pakistan published its first tax directory showing income tax details of all its registered taxpayers. Which are the other three countries who already follow this practice? – Sweden, Finland and Norway
§ With the implementation of new Companies Act, a majority of the top 200 listed companies will need to change their auditors over the next three years. According to the new Companies Act, it is now mandatory for the companies to change their auditors after how many years? – 10 years
§ U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law that allows Washington to deny visas to anyone (including United Nations envoys) who has engaged in terrorist acts against the United States. This law would apparently deny a visa to Iran’s designated ambassador to the New York-based United Nations. What is the name of this Iranian diplomat? – Hamid Abutalebi
§ Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel Prize winning Latin-American author, who passed away, was citizen of which Latin American country? – Colombia
§ In a surprising development Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced backing out from hosting the Asian Games of 2019. Which Vietnamese city was to host the 18th edition of Asian Games? –Hanoi
§ What is the name of Indian Navy’s Vice-Admiral, who put in his papers seeking voluntary retirement after his junior Admiral RK Dhowan superseded him to take over as Navy chief? – Shekhar Sinha
§ What is the date for providing permanent or universal account numbers (UAN) to subscribers of retirement fund body Employees. Provident Fund Organisation.s (EPFO) as stated by the body recently? 15 October 2014
§ Who won the Chinese F1 Grand Prix? – Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton
§ Noted Indian woman squash player Joshna Chinappa defeated Australia’s former world champion Rachael Grinham in the final of which inaugural tournament to win the title? –Richmond Open
§ Which international Drug Company announced a multi-billion dollar revamp plan in which it will swap assets with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and will sell some business to Eli Lilly? – Novartis AG
§ Which state has achieved the highest rate of increase in the number of electors in the country in the past five years as stated in the electoral data released early this year? –Tamil Nadu
§ Which football club recently created history by winning the I-League title in their debut season? –Bengaluru FC
§ What is the name of NASA’s Moon probe which recently crashed into the lunar surface thus closing the six- month mission? – Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer – LADEE
§ What is the new name of leading confectionary and chocolate manufacturer Cadbury India Limited which was adopted by the company recently? – Mondelez India Foods Ltd.
§ What was the name of the naval exercise conducted by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to celebrate 65th anniversary of its Navy in which naval ships from India and Pakistan also participated? –‘Maritime Cooperation – 2014’
§ The Supreme Court set up a four-member committee for framing guidelines to prevent misuse of public funds by the government and its authorities in giving advertisements in newspapers and television to get political mileage. The court ruled that substantive guidelines are needed to regulate such advertisements at the cost of public exchequer. The order to constitute this committee was passed while the apex court heard a public interest litigation (PIL) by two NGOs. Which two NGOs are these? – Common Cause and Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL)
§ What is the name given to the newest mineral discovered recently in Australia? – ‘Putnisite’
§ Indian Air Force (IAF) has initiated a project for DNA profiling of its personnel, selecting a high-risk group of air crew that undertakes dangerous missions for the first round. Under this project the DNA samples of nearly 2,500 crew members who face potential threat to life during everyday operations are being collected. A database of the DNA records will be established at which place? – Pune
§ Sherpa guides, who assist in undertaking summit expeditions to Mt. Everest in Nepal, started the boycott of climbing season for 2014. These guides packed up their tents and left Mount Everest’s base camp. What is the reason for their boycott? To honour the death of 16 of their colleagues who were killed in the deadliest avalanche ever recorded on the mountain
§ Supreme Court constituted a 5-member committee to look after the administration of Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. With this the main trustee of the temple was asked to hand over the keys to all secret vaults to the new committee. This order was given based on a report by which famous lawyer, in which it was alleged that the trustees had failed very miserably in bringing transparency in managing the affairs of the temple? –Gopal Subramaniam
§ Who took over as the head of 5-member temple administration committee of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, Thiruvananthapuram? – K.P. Indira
§ NTT Docomo recently announced its decision to exit the Indian telecom market by selling its entire stake in its Indian joint-venture partner Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL). The two entities were operating in the Indian market with the Tata Docomo brand name. NTT Docomo is which country’s No.1 telecom company?– Japan
§ The South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won offered to resign over which issue? – After criticism of the government’s response to the ferry disaster
§ Microsoft completed the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices & Services business. The deal, which was announced in September 2013 means Nokia’s mobile business has become a subsidiary of Microsoft. What is the name of this subsidiary? – ‘Nokia Mobile’
§ Which country was rated lowest for average internet speed in the Asia Pacific region in a recently conducted study done by US firm Akamai? – India
§ Which country overtook Mauritius as the top gateway of money being brought in by overseas investors through the foreign direct investment (FDI) into Indian markets? – The United States
§ The United States signed Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement with which country, which would give American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships?–The Philippines
§ The 15th edition of IIFA was held from 24 to 26 April 2016 at – Tampa Bay, Florida
§ Which two former Popes were declared Saints by the Pope Francis at the Vatican? – John XXIII and John Paul II
§ The International Olympic Committee (IOC) entered into a historic agreement with which organisation to use the power of sports to promote peace and economic development? – The United Nations – UN
§ Which India-born business leader was appointed as the new CEO and President of Nokia? – Rejeev Suri
§ Three leading mobile operators got relief from the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) after it allowed intra-circle roaming deals for 3G services. The Department of Telecom had issued orders in March 2013 to stop 3G services in circles where these operators did not have spectrum. Which three operators are these? – Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafon
§ Which famous American bank came to news recently for miscalculating a measure of the capital on its books which reduced its capital level by $4 billion? – Bank of America
§ Approximately how many investors were lost by India’s mutual fund industry during the last financial year (2013-14)as disclosed in recently released SEBI data? – 33 lakh
§ Former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Norman Anil Kumar Browne was appointed India’s next Ambassador to which country? – Norway
