Quiz on General Knowledge 74 - 2010

1.      Omar al-Bashir, the only world leader facing an international arrest warrant, was sworn in as _______________?

a)President of Egypt      b)Prime Minister of Sudan      c)Prime Minister of Egypt    d)President of Sudan    e)none

2.      From which country India is buying C-17 Globemaster III strategic-lift aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in a deal worth $5.8 billion?

a)US      b)Israel     c)Russia     d)France     e)none

3.      Which of the following country has played the most number of One-day International (ODI) matches?

a)Australia      b)India     c)England     d)West Indies     e)none

4.      Which of the following ministry has announced a financial assistance of Rs 95 lakh for about 19,000 rubber growers in the country during the current financial year?

a)Ministry of Commerce and Industry

b)Ministry of Agriculture

c)Ministry of Finance

d)Ministry of External Affairs

e)none

5.      Who won the 2010 Abel Prize(often been described as the "mathematician's Nobel" prize) presented annually by the King of Norway for his vast and lasting impact on the theory of numbers?

a)Mikhail Gromov     b)Jacques Tits     c)John Tate     d)Jean-Pierre Serre     e)none

6.      Which Country is planning to work with Rajasthan in cooperation with the local authorities on issues like water quality and agriculture?

a)Israel      b)UK     c)Russia     d)US    e)none

7.      Who has been appointed as the next head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?

a)Yvo de boer     b)R K Pachauri       c)Christiana Figueres     d)Kofi Annan    e)none

8.      Fiscal deficit pegged at ____ percent of GDP during 2009-10?

a)6.0%      b)6.6%      c)6.9%      d)6.3%     e)none

9.      According to the Worldwide Quality of Living survey 2010, which of the following city placed best among Indian cities in the global list at 140th rank?

a)Delhi      b)Mysore      c)Bangalore      d)Mumbai    e)none

10. Who has been sworn in as President of Germany?

a)Angela Merkel     b)Horst Kohler     c)Johannes Rau    d)Christian Wulff    e)none

11. Which of the following state has come under President’s rule recently?

a)Uttarakhand     b)Chhattisgarh     c)Meghalaya    d)Jharkhand     e)none

12. Who is the Chairman of the committee formed by RBI to review the services rendered to retail and small customers by banks and their Ombudsman scheme for addressing grievances?

a)M Damodaran        )M V Nair      c)M S Sundar Rajan     d)O P Bhatt    e)none

13. Which state will host the International Literature festival?

a)Kerala      b)Gujarat     c)Rajasthan     d)Andhra Pradesh     e)none

14. Which Country is the World’s largest consumer of oil?

a)China      b)India     c)Russia     d)Japan    e)US

15. Who is the new chairman of the Indian Banks Association (IBA)?

a)M V Nair     b)C S Reddy      c)O P Bhatt     d)Y V Reddy     e)none

16. Mahinda Rajapaksa visited India and signed seven pacts to boost bilateral cooperation across a range of areas, including security, power, railways and cultural exchange. He was the _________?

a)Prime Minister of Srilanka

b)President of Maldives

c)Prime Minister of Malyasia

d)President of Srilanka

e)none

17. Who is the author of the book ‘Grandmother’s Tale’?

a)R K Laxman     b)Salman Rushdie      c)Arundhati Roy     d)Shashi Tharoor     e)R K Narayan

18. Which state will provide free Education and books to students of classes I-VII in government schools?

a)Tamilnadu     b)Rajasthan     c)Andhra Pradesh    d)Gujarat    e)none

19. Which of the following is the World’s biggest bank in terms of market capital and brand value, compiled by brand directory?

a)Bank of America      b)Citi Bank     c)HSBC     d)J P Morgan    e)SBI

20. Which of the following term is not related to banking and finance?

a)Private Equity    b)broker     c)mortgage     d)Annuity     e)All are related 

Bilateral Agreements

1.       The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announces to provide about Rs.800 crore more for the Hogenekkal Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation Project.

2.      United States based Satellier - Scream point International a leading digital city solutions provider globally, brings its latest “5D Digital City” solutions and technology services to India.

3.      Under a multimillion dollar long-term nuclear fuel supply deal between Moscow and New Delhi, Russia delivers the first batch of 30 tonnes of uranium pellets to India.

4.      Tata Communications has announced its participations in the $600 million new West African Cable System (WACS) – the submarine fibre optic cable that will link countries in Southern Africa, Western Africa and Europe, with at least 3.84 terabits a second of international bandwidth.

5.      India and Spain sign a trade agreement expected to boost bilateral ties in six crucial sectors of infrastructure development, renewable energy, agriculture, research and development, tourism, and cooperation in Latin America, where Spain has a sphere of influence.

6.      India-U.S.-Japan Planned Malabar-2009 Naval Exercises.Japan has joined India and the United States in trilateral naval exercises from April 26 to May 3. The exercise, named Malabar 2009, was conducted east of Okinawa islands.

7.      The professional objective was to “deepen mutual understanding and trust” among the navies of the three countries. The political aim was to “enhance friendly ties.”

8.      India-Poland pacts on healthcare and tourism.India and the European country Poland signed two agreements: one on cooperation in healthcare and medicine, and the other on tourism. This bilateral trade is $1 billion.

9.      Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement for the construction of gas pipeline which will carry natural gas from Asalouyeh and stretch over 1100 kilometres through Iran. In Pakistan, it will pass through Baluchistan and Sind which stretches 1000km. In India it runs around 600km. 150 million Cubic meters natural gas would be transported through this pipeline per day.

10. India became the first country in South Asia to own an AWACS, Airborne Early Warning and Control System, called 'an eye in the sky', with the Israeli-made Phalcon. It arrived at the Jamnagar airbase on the country's western coast.The Phalcons will be inducted into the Indian Air Force on May 28 by Defense Minister A K Antony at the Palam airbase in New Delhi.

11. India and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation in production and marketing of bio fuels in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner and in accordance with national priorities and socio economic development goals.

12. India to set up IT lab in Indonesia.India will help set up an Information Technology Lab at Indonesia’s Military Academy and participate in a defence exercise, “Garuda Shield”, for United Nations peace support operations.

13. India-ASEAN summit cancelled: The India-ASEAN summit has been delayed following anti-government demonstrations in Thailand.

14. G8, G5 leaders met in L’Aquila, Italy on economic issues and climate change .

15. India, U.S. Sign Space-defense Deals.The new Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) will cover launches involving satellites owned by U.S. government or academic institutions or by third country space agencies and universities which have U.S. equipment on board. Since the components and satellites will have to be integrated with Indian Space Research Organization's launch vehicles, the TSA will provide for monitoring by the U.S. side to ensure against diversion or misuse of equipment.

16. A second agreement was signed on a framework for "robust result-oriented cooperation" in science and technology for "collaborative research and its commercialization."

17. The signing of the end-use monitoring shall enable India to procure sophisticated U.S. defense technology and equipment.

18. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to implement Avahan, an initiative of the foundation to check the spread of HIV/AIDS in India. Avahan funds targeted HIV-prevention programmes in six Indian States and along the national trucking routes.

19. Mauritius to use AP e-procurement technology.The Government of Mauritius has signed a formal memorandum of agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Government to source e-procurement solutions. The Mauritius Government would use the Andhra Pradesh Government’s e-procurement platform in order to aggregate demand from various Government departments and ensure reduced inventory costs. Also, this would result in lower cost of procurement, transparency and help achieve effective tendering process. Andhra Pradesh, one of the front runners in implementing the e-governance initiatives, had so far concluded 61,534 tenders worth Rs 1.08 lakh crore, involving 206 departments and agencies.

20. India has signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that will include tariff cuts on an estimated 4,000 products. The FTA is expected to boost trade between the two to US$50 billion by next year. The agreement will be implemented beginning January 1, 2010 and will take out duties on about 3,200 products by December 2013, while duties on the remaining 800 products will be brought down to zero or near zero levels by December 2016.

21. India, China to set up hotline.India and China have decided to set up a hotline between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao as a confidence building measure. The decision was taken during the 13th Round of India-China Special Representatives talks on the boundary question.

22. India-Singapore Joint Venture For Tourism Promotion.According to the plan, the tourists who visit Singapore will be given an option to include a four-five day trip to India in their itinerary.

23. India, South Korea signed bilateral trade agreement.South Korea and India signed a bilateral trade agreement to cut duties on  goods as auto parts and electronics and to boost cooperation between the two Asian economic powerhouses.Both sides started negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in March, 2006, committing them to drastically lower import tariffs on cars and other manufactured items.The CEPA is similar to the free trade agreements (FTA) South Korea has signed with the U.S. and other trading partners, but phases out tariffs more slowly.

24. During the visit of Indian President, India and Tajikistan decide to cooperate in the fields of energy, food and regional security. India invested $20 million in the reconstruction of the Ayni Air Base near Dushanbe in 2008 and has made significant investments in other Tajik projects, including the reconstruction of the Varzob hydropower plant. 

25. India and Russia agreed to raise the volume of the trade between them to USD ten billion by 2010. Russia and India would cooperate in energy, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, knowledge-intensive industries, ongoing construction of Kudankulam nuclear power plant and ONGC's participation in the Sakhalin-I project. 

Source:Sakshi.

New Chairman,CEO,etc and Their Positions

1.      H S Brahma takes charge as power Secretary (Secretary in the Ministry Of Power).

2.      Ashok Chawla as the new finance secretary in the ministry of finance succeeded Arun Ramanthan.

3.      New TRAI chairman J S Sharma (TDSAT member) Succeed Nipendra Mishra.

4.      D P Agarwal is the Chairman of UPSC.

5.      Pulock Chatterji was appointed as the new executive director of world Bank.

6.      Ashok Chawla was appointed as India's Alternative governor on the world Bank Board.

7.      Justice Ashok Bhan was appointed as the new chairman of NCDRC.

8.      Venu Srinivasan is the new president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2009-10.

9.      Sharat Sabharmal is the India's new high commissioner to Pakistan.

10. Madhu Kannan is new CEO of bSE.

11. Traditionally, RBI has Four Deputy Governors of different Departments.

12. i)Punjab National Bank chairman & managing Director Kamlesh Chandra Chakrabarty is set to take over as deputy Governor of RBI in place of V Leeladhar.

13. ii)RBI Deputy Governor: Smt.Shyamala Gopinath.

14. iii)RBI Deputy Governor: Usha Thorat

15. iv)RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan is set to leave the central bank this month (June) to take up an assignment at Stand ford University.

16. Arvind Jhadav is the new chairman and managing director of national aviation Company Of India Limited(NACIL) that Operates Air India.

17. Chairman of SEBI C.B. Bhave.

18. Chairman of Planning Commission is Prime Minister.

19. Deputy Chairman of planning Commission is Montek.Singh.Ahluwalia.

20. President of NASSCOM is Som Mittal.

21. Chairman of NASSCOM is Pramod Bhasin.

22. Vice Chairman of NASSCOM is Harsh Manglik.

23. Secretary General of NATO is Jaap de Hoop Schaffer.

24. Radha Vinod Raja as appointed as the First Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA).

25. Sudhir Garg has assumed the charge as the chief general manager of SBH.

26. Suresh Kalmadi is president of Indian Olympic Association.

27. Dhanendra Kumar is the newly appointed chairman of Competition Commission of India.

28. 42nd Asian Development bank(President Harihuko kuroda) Summit held at bali,Indonesia.

29. Chairman and Managing Director Of SIDBI(Small Industries Development Bank Of India) is R M Malla.

30. Aravind Jhadav is the Chief and Managing Director(CMD) of Air India.

31. Chairman for Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister is Suresh D Tendulkar .

32. National Security Adviser for India is M K Marayan.

33. Foreign Secretary for India Nirupama Rao.

34. Nirupama Rao(India's ambassador of china) to be next Foreign Secretary to Succeed Shiv Shankar Menon who retires on July 31 2009.

35. India's new Ambassador to US is Meera Shankar.

36. Timothy Roemer is the new US envoy to India replacing David Mulford.

37. Recently President Barack Obama has nominated Vinay Thummalapally of Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the next US Ambassador to Belize.

38. N Chandrasekhar to be new CEO of TCS.

39. Air Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff has been appointed as the chief of the Indian Air Force. The present IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major retires from service on May 31, 2009.

40. Chief of Army Staff:: General Deepak Kapoor.

41. Chief of Naval Staff::Admiral Sureesh Mehta.(Vice-Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, will be the country's next Chief of Naval Staff with an affect from September 1st.)

42. Barbora is new IAF vice-chief.

43. Hardeep Singh Puri has been appointed as India's permanent representative to the United Nations.

44. Chief Of Central Information Commission(CIC) is Wajahat habibullah.

45. President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Charles Bolden as NASA Administrator.

46. K.P. Raghuvanshi is Maharashtra ATS chief.

47. John Bercow of the Britain's main opposition Conservative party has been elected as the new Speaker.

48. C P Gurnani is CEO of Mahindra Satyam and Durga Shankar the new CFO.

49. Goolam E Vahanvati is the new Attorney General of India.

50. Ashok Jha has appointed MCX-SX as Non-Executive Chief.

51. West Bengal Power Secretary Sunil Mitra will be the new disinvestment secretary.

52. The 35-member IAEA Board of Governors selected Ambassador Yukiya Amano of Japan as new IAEA Director General from November 2009 replacing Mohamed ElBaradei.

53. Nandita Das is new Chairperson of Children's Film Society.