Current Affairs June - II 2010

1.      The economy is likely to grow around 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal if the country gets a normal monsoon, Prime Minister's economic advisory council chairman C Rangarajan.

2.      Indians are the most eco-friendly people while Americans the least, according to a 17-nation survey on consumers' progress towards environmentally sustainable consumption patterns. India toped the Consumer Greendex, compiled by National Geographic which studied 17,000 consumers in 17 countries. The rankings are Indians, Brazilians, Chinese, Mexicans, Argentineans, Russians, Hungarians, South Koreans, Swedes, Spanish, Australian, German, Japanese, British, French, Canadians and Americans.(June CA Part-1)

3.      The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) announced its huge dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which could be the world's largest-ever initial public offering, says a media report. ABC, the biggest bank in China by customers, plans to sell as many as 22.24 billion A shares in its IPO in Shanghai and another 25.4 billion shares in Hong Kong.

4.      Israel will set up three centres of excellence to enhance productivity of fruits in Maharashtra. The west Asian nation is also mulling setting-up a post-harvest college.

5.      Tamil Nadu Government launched an eco tourism policy which would facilitate conservation and preservation of the state's natural resources.

6.      Justice Rao takes charge as chairperson of National Commission for Backward Classes.

7.      Yogesh Aggarwal Chairman & Managing Director of IDBI Bank has resigned following his appointment as the Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

8.      Former Infosys co-chair Nandan Nilekani will head a committee that will recommend to the finance ministry on how best to tap information technology for an effective tax administration and financial governance system.

9.      Russia said it will share the enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology with India for production of nuclear fuel for atomic power plants in the country.

10. An Indian American science teacher is among the pedagogues nominated by US President Barack Obama as a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Radhika Plakkot is among 103 Maths and Science teachers who have been selected for this prestigious award from across the country.

11. India's growth is expected to rise to nine percent in 2011 with South Asia poised to become the second-fastest growing region after East Asia & Pacific, says the latest World Bank update.

12. India has slipped to a low of 128 in the Global Peace Index ranking with the country along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka experiencing more incidents of internal conflicts, terrorism and human rights abuses. The only study to quantify global peacefulness, the GPI is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

13. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the government is in the process of setting up 8 more income tax overseas units, including in the US and Britain, to facilitate exchange of tax related information. At present, the government has one such unit (ITOUs) each at the Indian mission in Singapore and Mauritius.

14. The French government says it's selling off 1,700 properties including chateaux, barracks and Parisian mansions, in part to cut the country's heavy debt.

15. The government has a cash balance of around Rs 48,000 crore with the Reserve Bank currently and will spend it gradually rather than at one go, three sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters.

16. Surging prices notwithstanding, the government has hiked the minimum support price of pulses by up to Rs 700 to a maximum of Rs 3,170 a quintal but support for paddy has been increased by a meager Rs 50 a quintal. 

17. India win gold medal in World Cup archery. The Indian trio of Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar clinched the men's team recurve gold medal with a 218-214 win over the US in the final of the World Cup archery (Stage II) in Antalya, Turkey.

18. Russian Grandmaster Dmitry Kokarev drew his final match to emerge as the winner in the Mumbai Mayor's Cup International Open Chess tournament.

19. A British environmentalist (Roz Savage) has become the first woman to row alone across the Pacific Ocean, receiving a rock star welcome in Papua New Guinea after finishing a nearly 13,000-kilometre journey.

20. The US is home to about 1.6 million Indian origin people, making them the third-largest immigrant group in the country after Mexicans and Filipino, a Washington-based think tank has said.

21. The Cabinet approved the mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-12), which scaled down the average growth target of the economy to 8.1 per cent from 9 per cent. The MTA will now be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), the highest policy making body in the country headed by the Prime Minister.

22. A global effort to ban cluster bombs has gained the signatures of 106 countries, but 70 more have yet to sign on with only weeks to go before the ban goes into effect on Aug 1. The United States is among those refusing to sign. The Pentagon considers cluster bombs to be a key part of its defence strategy.

23. China is to impose new age limits on mountaineers seeking to climb in Tibet, authorities said, after an American 13-year-old became the youngest person ever to scale Mount Everest.

24. Justice Rekha Manharlal Doshit and Justice M Yusuf Eqbal were appointed as Chief Justices of the Patna High Court and the Madras High Court respectively.

June Current Affairs - 2010

·        India is expected to be the world's fastest growing economy by 2018, according to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of the Economist magazine.

·        Encouraged by faster growth in trade between India and South Africa, industry body CII forecast a $12-billion business by 2012 between the two nations.

·        Currency notes are used for the bulk of transactions in the country, despite the growing use of instruments like credit cards and electronic payments, RBI Regional Director Surekha Marandi said.

·        The UN Security Council has decided to pull out 2,000 troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this year and fully withdraw its contingent in June 2011.

·        China will soon launch its fourth orbiter into space as part of its indigenous satellite navigation and positioning network known as 'Beidou'.

·        Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government will invest Rs 36,000 crore in programmes for providing basic services to urban poor and development of slums.

·        Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra will be honoured by the organisers of the Indian Film Festival of London (IFFL) for his contribution to cinema during the event which will be held in August.

·        India and Seychelles signed an agreement to promote and protect each other's investments on reciprocal basis to enhance bilateral economic ties.

·        The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has granted $5 million to the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) to strengthen the National Tobacco Control Programme in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, over a three-year period.

·        China is entering into a new and powerful form of relationship with Pakistan. It has decided to allow Pakistan to participate in cross-border trade using the Chinese Yuan as the base currency in dealing with the western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

·        The World Bank approved two projects worth USD 407 million to India, consisting of a USD 300-million credit/loan for scaling up the Sustainable and Responsible Microfinance Project and a USD 107-million loan to strengthen statistical data base.

·        The MCD(Municipal Corporation of Delhi) claimed that it has become the first civic body in the country to win carbon credit through its municipal solid waste compost plant in Okhla area of south Delhi.

·        China has emerged as the world's second biggest arms spender for the second consecutive year after the US, splurging a whopping $100 billion despite the global financial crisis, according to a Swedish think-tank. Latest figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), also estimated that some 8,100 nuclear warheads were in operation worldwide in the US, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and Israel. SIPRI said that around 2,000 nuclear warheads were still on "high alert" or ready to be launched within minutes.

·        Prominent taxonomists V Jayachandran Nair and Ramakrishna have bagged the Environment Ministry's prestigious E K Janki Ammal award for plant and animal taxonomy.

·        The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) announced its huge dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which could be the world's largest-ever initial public offering, says a media report. ABC, the biggest bank in China by customers, plans to sell as many as 22.24 billion A shares in its IPO in Shanghai and another 25.4 billion shares in Hong Kong.

·        Former President and distinguished scientist Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said, India would be a developed country by 2020 with the support of science.

March Current Affairs II - 2010

·        Sikkim has emerged as topper in utilizing maximum funds in tourism infrastructure in the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Sikkim is followed by Jammu and Kashmir which has spent Rs 141.70 crores for the development of tourism in the state.(Go for Part -I)

·        China, the most populous country in the world, said it would continue with its over three-decade-old one-child policy to maintain low birth rate and pledged to intensity its "strategic research" on coping with an ageing population.

·        Veteran actor-filmmaker Chandrashekhar will be honoured with the Legend Award by the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy at it's annual function on April 30, the birth anniversary of the founder of Indian cinema.

·        United States has provided an assistance of USD 5 million to Nepal to supply 3,500 tons of staple food to country's poorest.

·        Japan has pledged to provide a financial aid of USD 11 million to Nepal to improve community access and strengthen infrastructure in the rural areas.

·        India pledged USD five million support to Chile for relief and rehabilitation work.

·        The Uranium Corporation of India (UCI) has proposed new uranium mines and processing plants at two sites in Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya.

·        Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, is among 19 members chosen by UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing tasked with mobilising funds pledged during the Copenhagen meet to tackle global warming.

·        UNDP chief Helen Clarke visited India to review important of areas of cooperation between the UN body and India, including programmes under the NREGA and capacity building of women panchayat representatives.

·        ADAG-promoted Reliance Capital was ranked the top-most retirement fund manager overall by the EPFO for providing good returns and investing money in quality assets, while the state-owned SBI finished at the bottom. HSBC AMC and ICICI Pru AMC, which are the two other retirement fund managers, have been ranked second and third.

·        A/c to a World Bank study, India is the largest user of groundwater in the world, with an estimated use of 230 cubic kilometers of groundwater every year.

·        A nano satellite "Jugnu" built by students and faculty of IIT Kanpur, handed over to the Indian Space Research Organisation.

·        China and Pakistan will conduct a joint anti-terrorism military exercise in China this summer, the third such operation between the two countries. Top military officials of the two countries have already started discussions for the anti-terror exercise code-named "Friendship-2010,"

·        India ranks first in the world in exporting generic medicines. Orissa was the fifth state in the country and first in eastern India to have launched 'Jan Ausadhi Abhiyan', the national campaign to ensure universal reach of generic medicines. To provide cheaper medicinal drugs to the poor, the government will soon open 626 Jan Aushadhi outlets in state-run hospitals in all district headquarters of the country.

·        India ranked 56^th in Global Innovation Index, report launched by INSEAD in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Iceland tops the list. Sweden, Hongkong, Switzerland, Denmark as the second, third, fourth and fifth respectively. India rank 36^th in Company Spending on R&D. India ranks 41^st in Public Spending on R&D.

·        India ranked 123^rd position in environmental performance as indicated in 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), report by from Yale University and Columbia University.

·        China has become the second largest industrial manufacturer in the world, says a United Nations Industrial Development Organization report. According to the report 'International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2010', two more developing countries - India and Brazil - figure in the list of top 10 industrial manufacturers globally at the ninth and tenth positions. Germany ranks fourth, followed by France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Russia. With this development, China unseats Japan(3) and is trailing behind the United States(1).

·        Uttar Pradesh tops the list of States and Union Territories with the highest number of 900 child rape cases in 2008 followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

·        On 8^th March 2010, World celebrated 100^th International Women Day.

February Current Affairs II - 2010

·         India has offered foodgrains and a soft loan of USD 250 million to Nepal when Ram Baran Yadav visited India, and the two countries signed four pacts, including one on opening up air traffic and another on building of railway infrastructure at five border points.

·         Documentary filmmaker M V Krishnawamy has been selected for V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award.(Go for Part1)

·         India has retained its position as world's largest gold consumer overtaking China, the World Gold Council (WGC) has said.

·         Bharti Airtel said it has offered USD 10.7 billion (nearly Rs 50,000 crore) to buy Kuwait-based Zain telecom's mobile operations in Africa, in a deal that would catapult India's largest private telecom firm in the league of world's top 10 operators.

·         Delhi will host the next South Asian Games in 2012.

·         UK court allows Hindu-style funeral pyres. In a landmark judgement, Davender Ghai, an Indian-origin social and religious leader won his bid for the right to be cremated on a traditional open-air funeral pyre according to Hindu rituals.

·         Shane Watson beat Michael Clarke by a comfortable 15-vote margin to bag the Allan Border Medal besides being named Australia's ODI Player of the Year.

·         India plans to progressively base six surface-to-air Akash missile squadrons in the North-East to counter the threat posed by Chinese fighters, helicopters and drones in the region. 

·         Taiwan has eased its laws to allow visa-free entry to those Indians who hold valid visas of several countries including the US, the UK and Schengen states.

·         Noted litterateur C Raghavan, credited with bringing out the first authentic book on Tulu language passed away.

·         India and Maldives agreed to step up cooperation to meet the twin challenges of terrorism and radicalization.

·         France has agreed to sell Russia the 23,000-tonne Mistral class warship. It would be the first arms deal of its kind between Russia and a NATO member.

·         In most parts of the world, including India, women are way behind men in ownership of farm land, says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The FAO report says out of the total 119 lakh farm land holders in the country, only 9.21 per cent are women.

·         The Hyderabad international airport has been named amongst the world's top five in the annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passenger. The survey, conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), an autonomous body representing world airports. The top five awards in the worldwide category go to Seoul Incheon International Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport respectively.

·         External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has been awarded with this year's Global Alumini Award by his alma mater Southern Methodist University of the United States for his distinguished career and accomplishments.

·         Parambikkulam wildlife sanctuary in central Kerala declared the country's 38th Tiger reserve as part of efforts to protect the big cat.

·         Against the backdrop of the two-month long agitation by teachers demanding payment of arrears, the Uttar Pradesh government announced a six-month long ban on strikes in all 12 state universities and 460 government-aided degree colleges in the state.

·         China tops among the leading countries emitting green house gas. China, which contributes 19.5 per cent of green house gas emission, is followed by the US (19.2 per cent), India (5.3 per cent), Russia (5.1 per cent), Japan (3.6 per cent) and Germany (2.6 per cent).

·         India has topped the list of export markets for Dubai for the second consecutive year with a share of 40.6 per cent at 21.3 billion dirhams (Rs 268.348 billion).

·         The Asian Development Bank will be providing up to USD 300 million to help India to develop and expand its micro, small and medium enterprises.

SBI Associates PO Gk Paper 2010

1.      FCRA – Foreign Contribution Regulation Act

2.      APEC – Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

3.      NPA – Non Performing assets

4.      Which country will ban cheque from 2018 – UK.

5.      Cryogenic engines are used in – Space Shuttle

6.      Which Country supplied JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan - China

7.      Women’s Hockey Asia cup won by – China.

8.      India signed a nuclear deal with ______ in Trinidad – Canada

9.      A/c to Suresh Tendulkar Committee __ percent of Indians live in BPL – 37.

10. NREGA was renamed as – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

11. Herman Van Rompuy’s is the first President of EU, he was the former PM of – Belgium.

12. Term not used in Banking & Finance – Double Fault.

13. Which country to build ten more nuclear reactors – Iran

14. Author of the book  The Rediscovery of India  - Meghnath Desai

15. Book written by V S Naipaul – A House for Mr Biswas

16. Aim to achieve financial Inclusion by the year – 2012.
17. Aim not in the 11th Five year Plan - Global warming.

Note: Questions are incomplete. If you know more post in a comment box. In GA, computer & Marketing section, 20 questions are from GA, 15 from computer, 15 from marketing.

Questions 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15 are from this blog. Half of the questions of Computer & Marketing bits were also from this blog[Computer & Marketing questions are downloaded].

Allahabad Bank PO GK Paper 2010

1.      India signed a climate pact with – China.

2.      Sudhir Gokhran has been appointed as – Deputy Governor of RBI.

3.      K Radhakrsihna has taken over chairman as – ISRO

4.      Winner of man booker prize 2009 – Hillary Mantel

5.      Sachin created history by completing ____ runs in ODI – 17,000.

6.      Largest Steel Producer in the world – China

7.      Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sworn as president of – Tunisia

8.      East Asia Summit held in – Thailand

9.      Maximum Sugar mills are in which state – Uttar Pradesh

10. India’s GDP in 2008-09 – 6.7%.

11. H5N1 is a – Bird Flu

12. Mohammad Nasheed visited india, he was the president of – Maldives

13. Which country opposed Manmohan singh to visit Arunachal Pradesh – China

14. Ramakrihna venkatraman got nobel prize in – Chemistry

15. Genetically modified crop – Brinjal

16. ____ buyed 200 tones of gold from IMF – RBI

17. Who won the Champions trophy – Australia

18. Basel II norms – Maintaining Capital Adequate ratio

19. After the financial crisis, which affected the World crisis – Dubai crisis.

20. Chief Justice of India – K.G. Balakrishnan

21. POS – Point of sale

22. ECS – Electronic Clearing system

23. The exchange of goods between the two or more countries is known as - FTA(Free Trade Agreement).

24. Present EU President – Herman Van Rompuy

25. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards are given in the field – Science & Technology

26. Dada sahib phalke awards are give in the field – films

27. Which of the following is not a government undertaking – ICICI bank

28. Balraj puri is associated with – Journalist

29. Nobel Prize awardees will give 10 million Swedish ________ - Krones

30. Player not Associated with Lawn Tennis – Anand Pawar

31. Government is disinvesting PSU’s upto _______ percentage – 10%

32. Which of the following is not a river – Ural(Russia)

33. Atta Dal scheme launched in which state – Rajasthan

34. Book by V.S Naipaul – Half a Life

35. Orissa government want to change the name of state as – Odisha

36. Government has celebrated ____ birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi – 140^th.

37. Which of the following is not a grandslam title in Tennis – Grandmaster.

38. India Generation Gap review is discussed in – India - European Summit

39. Term not related to Economics – Handedness

40. Term not related to banking and finance – Jacksonian seizure

41. Mullaperiyar dam is constructed on the river – Periyar

42. What percentage of education used in India’s GDP – 1%.

43. India buyed Barak anti missile defence from – Israel.

44. Food and Agriculture Organisation comes under the wing – UNO

45. National Skill development is launched by – Ministry of finance

46. Derby is a term used in the sport – Football.

47. Term related to hockey – Centre Forward.

48. Dadaab camp is in news recently, it is in which country – Kenya

49. E-shakti yojana a scheme started in which state – Bihar

50. Social Audit – NREGA

51. Which of the following is not a plant crop –All are plant corps(Vanilla,kiwi,camphor,etc)

52. A/c to world report what % of water is used for agriculture purpose - 69%

53. Only Credit Rating agency in India – CRISIL

54. State Level Afforestation formed by Government – CAMPA(Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority)

55. Indo-US TPF held in Delhi. What is the fullform of TPF– Trade policy Forum.

56. India discouraged free movements of unskilled labourers from – EU.

57. Scheme launched for pregnant and Lacting women – Indira Gandhi Matritava Sahayog Yojana.

58. UNIFEM launched a project in which state – Delhi.

59. India – European trade value - $60 billion.

60. What amount is required for PSU – 25,000 crore.

61. RBI has kept Emergency Fund facility for which of the following banks –Urban Co-operative banks.

62. One Carbon Credit is equal to – one ton of CO2.

63. Which of the following terms not related to climate change – Basel norms

64. Tax which the employer will pay to employee has been abolished in Union budget – Fridge Benefit Tax.

65. India and china concerned over Payment Imbalance – China is paying in their own currency rather than dollar.

66. India is concerned about instability in which of the following countries – Afghansitan & Pakistan.

Note: Almost 35+ questions are from this blog(directly & indirectly). If you know more questions/answers post in a comment box.