2010 December Current Affairs Part -II

·        India signed an agreement to import natural gas from Turkmenistan through an ADB-funded $7.6-billion gas pipeline passing through Pakistan and Afghanistan. Oil Minister Murli Deora signed the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) and the Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

·        Sri Lanka has scrapped the Tamil version of its national anthem at official and state functions, a move likely to further alienate the ethnic Tamils in the country. Now the national anthem can only be rendered in the majority Sinhala language at official functions.

·        Kaziranga in Assam has highest tiger density in the world.

·        Iconic Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's record-breaking ODI double century has found a place in the Time magazine's top 10 sports moments of the year.

·        In order to prove its commitment to expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age, US will host UNESCO's 'World Press Freedom Day' event in May 2011. UNESCO is the only UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and its corollary, freedom of the press. The theme for next year's commemoration will be "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers”.

·        Former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar will be conferred with the prestigious Homi Bhabha Lifetime Achievement Award at the 21st Annual Conference of the Indian Nuclear Society.

·        The Philippines has become the call centre capital of the world, overtaking India as the number one player in the global business outsourcing market, according to industry data and the government.

·        China which spent about 580. 21 billion yuan (USD 87.25 billion) in 2009 for research and development is ranked fourth in the world after the U.S, Japan and Germany.

·        Automaker Tata Motors Limited, Lucknow unit, has bagged the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award for 2009 in the "Best of All" category. The award is instituted by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

·        Despite the country's robust economic growth, the number of people living in slums is likely to cross 93 million by 2011, marking an increase of around 23 per cent since 2001. A committee set up by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has projected this figure.

·        Russia has successfully completed the creation of the world's first international nuclear fuel bank under an agreement with the IAEA.

·        A leading NRI entrepreneur, John Athwal  has been chosen for the Asian of the Year 2010 Award for his outstanding success in making a Christmas decorations business into a multi-million pounds industry.

·        India and Taiwan are expected to double bilateral trade to USD 10 billion by 2015 through food processing, information and communication technology and electrical engineering tie-ups.

General Socio-Economic and Banking Awareness Quiz 2010

1.      The basis of determining dearness allowance to employees in India is ____?
(A) National Income
(B) Consumer Price Index(Ans)
(C) Standard of Living
(D) Per Capita Income

(E) None

2.      NABARD is _____?
(A) A bank
(B) A board
(C) A block
(D) A department

(E) None

3.      Out of one Rupee expenditure, how much paise have been allotted for subsidy in 2010-11 Union budget proposals?
(A) 12 paise
(B) 10 paise
(C) 9 paise
(D) 7 paise

(E) None

4.      The most densely populated country in South Asia is ___?
(A) Bangladesh
(B) India
(C) Maldives
(D) Sri Lanka

(E) None

5.      Interest Rate Policy is a part of ____?
(A) Fiscal Policy
(B) Industrial Policy
(C) Monetary Policy
(D) Credit Policy

(E) None of these

6.      Indian Green Revolution is the most successful in ____?
(A) Wheat and Potato
(B) Jowar and Oil Seeds
(C) Wheat and Rice
(D) Tea and Coffee

(E) All of these

7.       ‘Public Sector’ means ____?
(A) Government ownership on commerce and trade
(B) Capitalist ownership on commerce and trade
(C) Private ownership on trade
(D) Government ownership on banks

(E) None of these

8.      The largest source of National Income in India is _____?
(A) Service Sector
(B) Agriculture
(C) Industrial Sector
(D) Trade Sector

(E) None

9.      Inside Trading is related to _____?
(A) Share Market
(B) Horse racing
(C) Taxation
(D) Public Expenditure

(E) None

10. The main objective of TRYSEM was ______?
(A) To train rural youth for self employment
(B) To train urban youth for self employment
(C) Both of the above
(D) To Provide subsidy to Rural People on purchasing goods

 (E) None

11. Which bank in India performs duties of Central Bank?
(A) Central Bank of India
(B) State Bank of India
(C) Reserve Bank of India
(D) Above (A) and (B)

(E) None of these

12. . Which of the following is a better measure of economic development?
(A) Employment
(B) Size of exports
(C) Rural consumption
(D) National Income

(E) None

13. The cause of deflation is ____?
(A) Lack of goods and services as compared to money supply
(B) Lack of imports as compared to exports
(C) Lack of money supply as compared to supply of goods and services
(D) All the above

(E) None of these

14. The Present Service Tax rate is ___?
(A) 8%
(B) 15%
(C) 10%
(D) 12%

(E) None

15. The working of SEBI includes ___?
(A) To regulate the dealings of share market
(B) To check the foul dealings in share market
(C) To control the inside trading of shares
(D) All of these

(E) None of these

16. CAPART is related with ___?
(A) Assisting and evaluating rural welfare programmes
(B) Computer hardware
(C) Consultant service of export promotion
(D) Controlling pollution in big industries

(E) None of these

17. Kutir Jyoti scheme is associated with ___?
(A) Promoting cottage industry in villages
(B) Promoting employment among rural unemployed youth
(C) Providing electricity to rural families living below the poverty line
(D) All of these

(E) None of these

18. VAT is imposed ____?
(A) Directly on consumer
(B) On final stage of production
(C) On first stage of production
(D) On all stages between production and final sale

(E) All the above

19. What is ‘NIKKEI’?
(A) Share Price Index of Tokyo Share Market
(B) Name of Japanese Central Bank
(C) Japanese name of Country’s Planning Commission
(D) Foreign Exchange Market of Japan

(E) Both A & D

20. Minimum Support Price is decided by _______?
(A) ICAR
(B) Finance Minister

(C) Ministry of Agriculture
(D) CACP

(E) None of these

November Current Affairs 2009 - Part 2

Ø  Chandrayaan-II moon mission, which will help in analysis of mineral composition and undertake terrain mapping of the moon, will be completed by 2012-13.

Ø  India may be the world's second fastest growing economy, but when it comes to man-woman equality the country figures at the bottom of the table ranked 114th among 134 countries complied by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Ø  The Centre is targetting to add one lakh mega watt power generation capacity under the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) to meet the growing demand of electricity in India.

Ø  India and the 27-nation European Union (EU) have signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of Fusion Energy Research and agreed over the free trade treaty by next year (2010) to boost trade and investment.

Ø  India has pledged a developmental assistance of USD 1.3 billion to Afghanistan to fight against terror which is not limited to military campaign and also for social, economic and developmental activities.

Ø  Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and women's boxing world champion MC Mary Kom, received the Sahara Indian Sports Award 2008-09.

Ø  India has approved further assistance of shelter material worth over USD 2.6 million besides augmenting its demining teams for speedy resettlement of over 2.8 lakh internally displaced Tamil civilians in Wanni in northern Sri Lanka.

Ø  Spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama inaugurated Kahndo-Dowa Songma Tawang district hospital  and donated Rs 20 lakh for its building when he visited Arunachal Pradesh recently.

Ø  India will open their 2011 cricket World Cup campaign against Bangladesh in Dhaka on February 19 and the country (Bangladesh) will host its first match.

Ø  India's 1983 World Cup hero, former all-rounder Mohinder Amaranth honoured with the C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2008-09 by the BCCI.

Ø  Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi was today re-elected unopposed as the president of Asian Athletic Association (AAA) in Guangzhou, China, to serve his third consecutive term at the office.

Ø  Nepal and India have decided to boost their cooperation in the energy sector as they agreed to complete a key cross-border transmission line by May 2012.

Ø  The Centre has assured Rs 60 crore to set up a Software Technology Park on the premises of a Special Economic Zone in puducherry.

Ø  President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American Rajiv Shah to head US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Ø  In a major move to boost its air warfare capability, Pakistan is to purchase 36 J-10 fighter aircraft from China in a deal worth more than USD 1.4 billion.

Note : Go for November Current Affairs Part -1.

ICC-Awards-2009

M S Dhoni(wiki)

The LG ICC Awards were held on 1st October 2009 in Johannesburg in South Africa.International Cricket Council has been hosting ICC Awards since 2004 and now is in its sixth year. The previous ones were held in London, Sydney, Mumbai, Johannesburg and Dubai. ICC awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy to the Cricketer of the Year which is considered the most prestigious award in world cricket.

The Awards:

1. Cricketer of the Year: Mitchell Johnson (Australia)
2. Test Player of the Year: Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
3. One-Day Player of the Year: M S Dhoni (India)
4. Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Tillekratne Dilshan (SL).
5. Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar (Pakistan)
6. Spirit of Team Award: New Zealand 
7. Emerging Player of Year: Peter Siddle (Australia)
8. Associate and Affiliate Player of Year Award: William Porterfield (Ireland)
9. Women Cricketer of Year: Claire Taylor (England).

ICC World Test Team of the Year: Gautam Gambhir (India), Andrew Strauss (Eng), AB de Villiers (SA), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Thilan Samraweera (Sri Lanka), Michael Clarke (Aus), MS Dhoni (India-captain), Shakib al Hasan (Bangladesh), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Stuart Broad (Eng), Dale Steyn (SA) and Harbhajan Singh ( 12th man; India).

ICC World ODI Team of the Year: Virender Sehwag (India), Chris Gayle (West Indies), Kevin Pietersen (England), Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Yuvraj Singh (India), Martin Guptill (New Zealand), MS Dhoni (Ind; capt., wk), Andrew Flintoff (England), Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka), Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka), Umar Gul (Pakistan). 12th man: Thilan Thushara (Sri Lanka).