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General Awareness Updates (December 2014)

GA Updates (December 2014) Page : 1

NEWS UPDATES FOR BANKING

Kisan Vikas Patra: a re-launch with very few justifications

Despite some criticism and misgivings in certain quarters, the government has decided to re-introduce the Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP), a savings instrument that was discontinued three years ago. Positioned as a savings instrument in line with other continuing ‘small savings schemes’ such as the Public Provident Fund (PPF) and the National Savings Certificates (NSCs), the new KVP, like its predecessor, has certain advantages as well as disadvantages over these.

Ranbaxy launches arthritis drug Infimab

Ranbaxy Laboratories launched the first biosimilar version of Johnson and Johnson’s Remicade, a drug used for treating various conditions including rheumatoid arthritis. Infimab has been introduced in the domestic market through a licensing partnership with Epirus Biopharmaceuticals.

Vijay Mallya quits MCFL board

UB group Chairman Vijay Mallya has resigned from the board of directors of Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (MCFL) with immediate effect.

Assam tops in pulses production

Assam has been selected as the “Best Performing State” in production of pulses. It was chosen for the Krishi Karman award for 2013-14. This was the third consecutive year that Assam has been selected for Krishi Karman award of the Government of India for its achievement in production of pulses.

IOC is India's biggest company: Fortune 500 list

State-run Indian Oil Corporation is the country's largest company in terms of revenue, followed by Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum in the second and third place respectively, according to the Fortune 500 list of Indian companies for 2014. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) tops the chart with an annual revenue of ` 5,00,973 crore, while Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) full-year revenue is ` 4,44,021 crore. Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) is at the third spot with a revenue of ` 2,67,718 crore. Hindustan Petroleum's (HPCL) ` 2,36,797 crore revenue earned the fourth place in the Fortune 500 list.

Arunachal Pradesh signs pact with Russian power company

Arunachal Pradesh has roped in RusHydro International, a company partly owned by the Russian government, to explore collaboration prospects in creating manpower for the several hydro-electric projects coming up in the state.

RTGS business hours increased to 12 hours on weekdays

To promote electronic payments, the Reserve Bank of India has increased the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) business hours to 12 hours from 8 am to 8 pm on weekdays which will come into effect from December 29, 2014. The RBI in a circular said that the RTGS system of online fund transfer will be open on Saturdays from 8 am to 3.30 pm. The existing business hours are 9 am to 4.30 pm on weekdays and till 2 pm on Saturdays. To keep enhancing the systems and procedures to meet the growing needs of

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markets/customers and to cater to the expanding volume and to provide liquidity, the RBI launched the new RTGS system in October 2013.

Cooptex launches e-commerce portal

Hoping to tap the growing e-commerce business potential, Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society 'Co-optex' has launched its online shopping portal offering a range of silk and cotton saris. Cooptex markets handloom fabrics produced in Tamil Nadu. The State run organisation has a network of 203 showrooms spread all over India with an annual turnover of around 1000 Crore rupees.

RBI imposes penalty on ICICI bank, Bank of Baroda

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed monetary penalty on ICICI bank and Bank of Baroda for violation of its instructions regarding norms on KYC-know your customer and AML-anti money laundering etc. RBI press release informed that ` 5 million and ` 2.50 million were imposed on the respective banks.

Cabinet approves GST Constitutional Amendment Bill

The Union Cabinet has approved the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Goods & Services Tax (GST), inching closer to the rollout of an ambitious indirect tax reform expected to raise revenues and boost growth. The government aims to implement GST by April 1, 2016 and has been working overtime to get states on board.

Swiss National Bank imposes negative interest rates

The Swiss National Bank said it would impose negative interest rates on cash held by other banks at the central bank, seeking to discourage safe-haven buying by investors anxious about the crisis in Russia and oil’s slide. The SNB said it would impose an interest rate of -0.25 per cent on sight deposit account balances of over 10 million Swiss francs and expand its three-month Libor target range to -0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent. The measures will take effect from January 22, 2015. The franc, the most liquid safe-haven currency after the Japanese yen, has stuck close to the 1.20 limit as fears of a full-blown crisis in Russia and economic weakness globally prompted investors to seek safety.

CBDT signs first bilateral Advance Pricing Agreement

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed a bilateral Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) with a Japanese company. This is India’s first bilateral APA. The APA is for five years. APAs will improve the investment climate in the country, it said, adding the APA has been finalised in a period of about one-and-a-half years, which is shorter than time normally taken in finalising APAs internationally. The scheme has been introduced to bring about certainty and uniformity in transfer pricing matters of multinational companies and reducing litigation.

India’s uranium production dips 15%

At a time when India is trying to ramp up its uranium import, domestic production of the yellow cake has declined by 10-15% after operations in the country's oldest and richest uranium mine in Jaduguda, Jharkhand, were stopped by the state government. The department of atomic energy sources said it has taken steps to increase production from other mines to maintain supply, but low quality of ore from other mines has led to a rise in production cost. The Jaduguda mine was in uninterrupted operation since 1968. Of its daily production

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of 5000 tonnes, UCIL mined 700 tonnes of ore. The Jharkhand government stopped mining of uranium from Jaduguda on September 6, 2014 as UCIL's lease had expired.

Deutsche becomes India’s top dealmaker

Deutsche Bank has emerged as India's top dealmaker by fees earned during 2014. The European giant grossed $31 million in investment banking revenue, moving up from the fifth position it held in the previous calendar. Wall Street biggie Citigroup retained the second position collecting $27 million in a year when i-banking fees declined nearly 13% from $398 million to $347 million. Standard Chartered Bank, with $25 million and 7.3% share, came third — up from sixth place last time. Credit Suisse and JP Morgan were neck and neck, clocking $20 million in fees with 5.7% share each, while Axis Bank came in sixth with 4.5% share.

RBI extends deadline for withdrawal of pre-2005 currency notes

The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including 500 and 1,000 rupees, has been extended by another six months till June 30, 2015. The RBI said that all such notes will continue to remain legal tender, adding that they can be exchanged for their full value. The central bank said that currency notes issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side. In notes issued post 2005, the year of printing is visible at the bottom on the reverse. The RBI said, post-2005 notes have added security features and help in curbing the menace of fake currency.

S. Bhattacharya appointed Coal India CMD

Senior IAS officer S. Bhattacharya has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Ltd. (CIL). The coal major was without a full time chief for the past six months. The Public Enterprises Selection Board had recommended the name of Mr. S. Bhattacharya, a 1985 batch IAS officer, for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of CIL. Mr. Bhattacharya takes over the charge from Additional Secretary (Coal) A. K. Dubey, who was given the additional charge as CMD of CIL from June 26. Mr. Bhattacharya is currently the CMD of Singareni Collieries Company.

LPG cash transfers world’s largest social benefit drive

Pahal, or Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG (DBTL), has already surpassed Brazil's famous Bolsa Familia programme, the centrepiece of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's social policy, and a similar project in China in terms of the number of beneficiaries. Some 2.3 crore LPG consumers were added and 1.8 crore, or 75%, of them brought under the scheme's ambit since it was re-launched in 54 districts with a simplified mechanism on November 15. About ` 549 crore subsidy was transferred. A total of 5.38 crore of the 15.38 crore consumers have their bank accounts or Aadhaar numbers linked for directly receiving cash subsidy. In comparison, Bolsa Familia is estimated to cover about 12 lakh and the Chinese programme 18 lakh.

Trevor Bull, CEO of Aviva Life

Aviva Life Insurance said it has appointed Trevor Bull as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for its operations in India. Mr. Bull is replacing T. R. Ramachandran, who led Aviva India since October 2008.

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AP to get ` 475 crore from World Bank arm for rural project

An arm of the World Bank will lend ` 475 crore (USD 75 million) to the Andhra Pradesh Government for implementing a rural growth project. The fund from International Development Association (IDA) will be used for implementing the Rural Inclusive Growth Project (RIGP), aimed at enhancing agricultural incomes of small/marginal farmers and ensuring increased access to services related to health, nutrition, sanitation and social entitlements. RIGP will target small and marginal farmers in 5,000 villages in the state. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu recently discussed the project with a team of officials from the World Bank. It will focus on increasing economic opportunities for small and marginal farmers, especially from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and develop a network of social enterprises for food, nutrition and sanitation.

Investment proposals of about 6000 crore rupees approved under electronics manufacturing schemes

Government has approved investment proposals of about six thousand crore rupees in the past six months under electronics manufacturing schemes. In 2013, only companies present in India came up with proposals to expand their facilities but in the past six months, proposals also came from new firms. The investment came from most of the electronics segments like electronic components, telecom network equipment, consumer and automotive electronics.

India emerges as 2nd largest foreign trading partner of Dubai

India has emerged as the second largest foreign trading partner of Dubai after China in the first nine months of 2014. Figures released by Dubai Customs show that China was Dubai’s top foreign trade partner during this period, with a trade value of 34 billion dollars, up 27 per cent over the previous year. India followed next with the trade worth 21.78 billion dollar. Among the Arab nations, was at the top with trade volume worth 10 billion dollars. Dubai's non-oil foreign trade in the first nine months of 2014 was around 269 billion dollars, with imports having the biggest share at 169 billion dollars, exports at 23.41 billion and re-exports 76.23 billion dolars.

EPFO starts testing digital life certificates for pensioners

Retirement fund body EPFO has launched pilot projects that will eventually lead to a nationwide facility for pensioners to submit digital life certificates through mobile phones. The pilots have been started in Delhi and Chandigarh. Once implemented across the country, the facility will allow about 47 lakh pensioners to submit digital life certificates using their mobiles. Currently, pensioners are required to submit a life certificate every year in November. It will reveal as to how the facility works using EPFO database and applications software and whether any glitches need to be fixed before the final launch. Pensioners will need to provide their pension payment order, Aadhaar number, bank account and mobile number to the EPFO to register for the facility. EPFO's Central Provident Fund Commissioner K K Jalan had told that the facility is developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the EPFO would make changes in the application developed by the NIC according to its software.

RINL gets Sebi's nod for IPO

State-run Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) has received market regulator Sebi's approval to raise funds through an initial public offer (IPO). The steel maker had filed its draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for the proposed public offer in September. Sebi issued its final 'observations' on the draft

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red-herring prospectus (DRHP) documents. Under the proposed IPO, the government would offload 48,89,84,620 shares through an offer for sale, of which 35 per cent will be reserved for retail investors and 50 per cent for qualified institutional buyers. The issue will be managed by UBS Securities India Pvt Ltd and Deutsche Equities (India) Pvt Ltd.

RBI doubles pre-paid card limit to ` 1 lakh

Relaxing norms for Pre-paid Payment Instruments (PPIs), the Reserve Bank of India doubled the card limit to ` 1 lakh. The balance in the PPIs should not exceed ` 1 lakh at any point of time. The move would help in achieving the objective of limiting cash transactions in the system. Besides, the maximum validity of gift cards has been enhanced from one year to three years adding that other provisions of PPI guidelines with respect to gift cards will continue to be applicable. The RBI also allowed issue of multiple PPIs by banks from fully-KYC compliant bank accounts for dependent or family members. Only one card can be issued to one beneficiary.

Google launches new application for SMBs

In a move to create easier online presence for the small and medium businesses (SMBs), Google has launched a new application, Google My Business. The new product is designed to work across desktop and mobile devices, and will enable SMBs to create and update their business info on various Google products such as search, maps and Google plus from one place for free. The users can use the service in Hindi and English.

RBI issues new norms for MSME trading platform

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued guidelines for setting up and operating the trade receivables discounting system in the country, called TReDS, with a minimum paid-up equity capital of ` 25 crore. It will not be allowed to assume any credit risk. The central bank will accept applications to set up TReDS, till the close of business on February 13, 2015. The scheme for setting up and operating the institutional mechanism for facilitating the financing of trade receivables of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from corporate and other buyers, including government departments and public sector undertakings, through multiple financiers will be known as TReDS. The central bank said that MSMEs, despite the important role played by them in the economic fabric of the country, faced constraints in obtaining adequate finance, particularly in terms of their ability to convert their trade receivables into liquid funds. The RBI expects this issue would be resolved through an institutional mechanism to fund trade receivables.

ONGC to acquire stake in two Siberian oilfields

Oil and Natural Gas Corp will sign a deal to acquire stake in two Siberian oilfields, including the strategic Vankor. ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), the overseas arm of the state explorer, will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for acquiring the stake in Vankor and Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye fields. The MoU is part of Mr. Putin’s energy engagement as he seeks to expand trade links with Asian nations to counter sanctions from the U.S. and its allies.

PSU bank ATMs will be able to print in Hindi

ATMs installed by state-owned banks will soon have the facility for issuing the transaction receipt in Hindi. "The government has instructed public sector banks (PSBs) to install those ATM machines which can produce receipts in both Hindi and English languages. PSBs have been advised to ensure that all ATM machines have

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facility of doing transactions/printing in Hindi as well as in English. However, no time frame has been prescribed for installation of such ATM machines,. Most ATMs have a bilingual option on their home screens

SBI launches first homegrown economic indicator

The country now has another monthly economic index, with the State Bank launching a tool that will primarily track manufacturing activity to offer a forward-looking economic trends. The SBI Composite Index rivals the existing data point from British lender HSBC.

Cadila launches first cheaper copy of world’s top-selling drug

Cadila Healthcare launched the first biosimilar version of anti-inflammatory medicine adalimumab, the world’s top-selling drug, at a fifth of its U.S. price. The drug’s branded version is sold under the name Humira by U.S. firm AbbVie Inc, and costs $1,000 for a vial in the United States. Humira had sales of $3.26 billion in the quarter ended September, accounting for 65 per cent of AbbVie’s total revenue.

CURRENT AFFAIR QUESTIONS

1. Recently, the United Kingdom (UK) has signed an agreement to establish a permanent naval base at

Mina Salman Port. This port is located in (1) Qatar (2) Oman (3) Bahrain (4) Saudi Arabia (5) UAE

2. First World Soil Day was observed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on

which of the following dates? (1) 4th December (2) 5th December (2) 6th December

(3) 7th December (4) First Wednesday of December 3. India sent humanitarian assistance to which country to help resolve the water crisis? (1) Pakistan (2) Afghanistan (3) Myanmar (4) Bangladesh (5) Maldives 4. International Criminal Court (ICC) withdrew the case against Uhuru Kenyatta. He is

(1) the Human Rights Commissioner of Sri Lanka (2) the President of Kenya (3) the President of north Sudan (4) the President of South Sudan (5) the chief of the Army of Uganda

5. Mahaparinirwan Diwas was observed across India on 6th December 2014. This day is celebrated to pay

tribute to (1) Kanshi Ram (2) Mahatma Jyotiba Fule (3) Dr. B R Ambedkar (4) Periyar

(5) Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj 6. United Nations General Assembly has declared to celebrate 2015 as (1) the International Year of Tigers (2) the International Year of Clouds

(3) the International Year of Nuclear Energy (4) the International Year of Renewable Energy

(5) the International Year of Soils

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7. A former Queen Fabiola died in this week. She was the former Queen of (1) The Netherlands (2) Spain (3) Belgium

(4) Unted Kingdom (5) Switzerland 8. International Volunteer Day was celebrated on

(1) 3rd December (2) 4th December (3) 5th December (4) 6th December (5) 7th December 9. Who among the following has been nominated as the next defence secretary of US Department of

Defence? (1) Chuck Hagel (2) Ashton Carter (3) James Forrestal (4) John Carey (4) William Howard

10. The current government has decided to celebrate the birthday of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee on the 25 December as (1) National Leadership Day (2) National Solidarity Day

(3) National Skills Day (4) National Good Governance Day (5) National Integration Day

11. International Business Machine (IBM) has signed a ten-year, multi-billion dollar deal with (1) RBS (2) ABN Amro (3) Barclays (4) Citibank (5) Bank of China 12. Who among the following has been appointed the new CBI Director? (1) Y K Singh (2) M S Singhvi (3) R L Khanna (4) Syed Asif Ibrahim (5) Anil Kumar Sinha 13. Which of the following won the 119th Beighton Cup Hockey tournament? (1) Services (2) Railways (3) Indian Oil (4) Punjab & Sindh Bank (5) Air India 14. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) along with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd has launched

Hayabusa 2 for (1) Deep sea exploration (2) Space shuttles’ speed test

(3) Asteroid exploration (4) None of the above (5) All of the above 15. Of which of the following events, the thirtieth anniversary was observed on 3rd December, 2014? (1) Assassination of Indira Gandhi (2) 1984 riots

(3) India’s first man in the space (4) Operation Meghdoot launched (5) Bhopal Gas Tragedy

16. The one month motor cycle expedition named “Mission We Remember” was organized by (1) Indian Air Force (2) Indian Army

(3) The Southern Naval Command (4) National Disaster Management (5) Assam Rifles 17. India set the Guinness Record for largest human formation of a national flag in the world as around

50000 volunteers gathered at (1) Mumbai (2) Pune (3) Hyderabad (4) Chennai (5) Bengaluru

18. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index who among the following persons is the second richest

person in the world? (1) Warren buffet (2) Carlos Slim (3) Bill Gates (4) Amancio Ortega (5) None of the above

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19. Indian Blind Cricket team won the fourth edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup (BCWC) 2014 by defeating defending champions Pakistan. This World Cup was held in

(1) Sharjah, UAE (2) Cape Town, South Africa (3) Melbourne, Australia (4) Lords, England

(5) Barbados, West Indies

20. On 7th December 9, 2014, an Indian communication satellite has been launched successfully. Its name is (1) GSAT-13 (2) GSAT-14 (3) GSAT-15 (4) GSAT-16 (5) None of the above 21. Name the Miss South Africa who has been crowned Miss World 2014 (1) Marilyn Ramos (2) Rolene Strauss (3) Nicole Flint (4) Megan Coleman (5) Megan Young 22. Which country won the 2014 Champions Trophy of Hockey recently held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha? (1) Germany (2) Pakistan (3) India (4) Australia (5) Netherland 23. Who among the following Indian beauty pageants has been honoured with a special award at the Miss

World 2014 ceremony in London? (1) Yukta Mookhey (2) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (3) Priyanka Chopra (4) Reita Faria (5) Sushmita Sen 24. Which state government has declared ‘Dahi Handi’ as adventurous sport? (1) Goa (2) Gujarat (3) Maharashtra (4) Uttar Pradesh (5) Karnataka 25. Who among the following Playback singer has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the

11th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF)? (1) Kumar Sanu (2) K. J. Yesudas (3) S. P. Balasubrahmanyam (4) Hariharan (5) Asha Bhosle 26. Which among the following banks has launched India’s first transparent credit card in association with

American Express? (1) Kotak Mahindra Bank (2) ICICI Bank (3) Axis Bank (4) HDFC Bank (5) ING vyasa Bank 27. As per the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015 (WESP) report, the global economy is

expected to grow in 2015 at: (1) 3.5 percent (2) 2.6 percent (3) 3.3 percent (4) 2.5 percent (5) 3.1 percent 28. Ebola health workers have been collectively named as the Person of the Year 2014 by which of the

following famous magazines? (1) Reader’s Digest (2) National Geographic (3) TIME’s magazine (4) Game Informer (5) Cosmopolitan 29. Name the fifth batsman who completed 1000 Test runs in 2014? (1) Kumar Sangakkara (2) Angelo Mathews (3) Mahela Jayawardene (4) David Warner (5) Virat Kohli

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30. To import crude oil over ten years from Russia, Essar Group of India has signed a 10 billion US dollars contract with which among the following crude oil producers of Russia?

(1) Rosneft (2) Tochno Energy (3) Neftegaz Llc (4) RockoilInfo (5) Gazprom 31. Recently who has been appointed as the new head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response

(UNMEER)? (1) Anthony Banbury (2) Ban Ki Moon (3) Joanne Liu (4) David Nabarro (5) Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed 32. Who has been awarded the Confucius Peace Prize 2014? (1) Lien Chan (2) Yuan Longping (3) Vladimir Putin (4) Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (5) Stephen Harper 33. Which state government has launched the Farmers Debt Redemption Scheme to give debt relief to every

eligible farmer? (1) Madhya Pradesh (2) Andhra Pradesh (3) Chhattisgarh (4) Telangana (5) Uttar Pradesh 34. Which among the following sections of IPC has been removed after 20th Law Commission

recommendation to decriminalize attempt to suicide? (1) Section 309 (2) Section 307 (3) Section 302 (4) Section 305 (5) Section 306 35. Recently who has been appointed as the honorary member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

in Monaco? (1) Abhay Singh Chautala (2) Rajeev Mehta (3) Randhir Singh (4) Lalit Bhanot (5) N. Srinivasan 36. Scientists from Indian Institute of Science recently have discovered nine new species of bush frogs in: (1) the mountainous region of Western Ghats (2) the mountainous region of North- East India (3) Sunderban delta covered by mangrove forests (4) the mountainous region of Eastern Ghats (5) the mountains of the great Himalayas 37. Name the richest man of Russia, who has decided to return the Nobel Prize medal of James D Watson

which he bought for 4.8 million US dollars at auction from him (1) Mikhail Fridman (2) Viktor Vekselberg (3)Vladimir Potanin (4) Vladimir Lisin (5) Alisher Usmanov 38. Which country has become the 181st member of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA),

agency of World Bank? (1) Nepal (2) Bhutan (3) Myanmar (4) India (5) Bangladesh 39. International Anti-Corruption Day is observed on: (1) December 9 (2) December 12 (3) December 14 (4) December 10 (5) December 16 40. Which country has signed agreement with France to compensate thousands of Holocaust survivors who

were deported to concentration camps by France's rail company SNCF during Nazi occupation? (1) Italy (2) Germany (3) UK (4) Portugal (5) United States

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41. Which among the following High Courts has appointed a team of 17 lawyers to function as Commissioners of Court to help in removing the illegal hoardings?

(1) Bombay High Court (2) Allahabad High Court (3) Delhi High Court (4) Madras High Court (5) Calcutta High Court 42. Who has been awarded with the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry 2014? (1) Douglas Dunn (2) John Agard (3) Imtiaz Dharker (4) Gillian Clarke (5) D. H. Lawrence 43. Who among the following Tamil writers has been awarded Sahitya Akademi award 2014 for his epic

novel Angnaadi? (1) Joe D Cruz (2) Poomani (3) D. Selvaraj (4) Puviarasu (5) Mu. Metha 44. Who among the following has been awarded Swiss Ambassador's Award for inspirational and socially

responsible leadership? (1) Mukesh Ambani (2) Aditya Puri (3) Shiv Nadar (4) Azim Premji (5) Lakshmi Mittal 45. Which among the following High Courts has ruled that the religious conversion of girls “without their faith

and belief in Islam” and “solely for the purpose of marriage” to Muslim boys could not be held valid? (1) Calcutta High Court (2) Bombay High Court (3) Madras High Court (4) Delhi High Court (5) Allahabad High Court 46. The world’s first handcrafted herbal Holy Quran was unveiled in: (1) Jakarta (2) Dubai (3) Doha (4) Tehran (5) Mecca 47. Who won 2014 London Classic Chess title? (1) Anish Giri (2) Michael Adams (3) Viswanathan Anand (4) Hikaru Nakamura (5) Magnus Carlsen 48. Name the Indian-American who has been sworn in as the US Ambassador to India by Secretary of State

John Kerry. (1) Sanjay Gupta (2) Richard Rahul Verma (3) Fareed Rafiq Zakaria (4) Neel Tushar Kashkari (5) Jamshed Barucha 49. Recently which among the following countries has become an associate member of CERN, the world’s

top particle physics lab for nuclear research? (1) China (2) Canada (3) India (4) Belgium (5) Pakistan 50. The Finance Ministry recently has approved______interest rate on Provident Fund, PF deposits for the

year 2014-15. (1) 8.50 per cent (2) 8.75 per cent (3) 8.25 per cent (4) 8.00 per cent (5) 7.75 per cent 51. Name the Indian women shooter, world champion and double Commonwealth Games gold medalist, who

won both the individual and team titles in the women's 50m rifle prone event at the 58th National Shooting Championships.

(1) Tejaswini Sawant (2) Apurvi Chandela (3) Ayonika Paul (4) Shagun Chowdhary (5) Anjali Bhagwat

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52. Name the first country which has proposed to allow embryos to be made from the DNA of three people in order to prevent mothers from passing on potentially fatal genetic diseases to their babies.

(1) New Zealand (2) Norway (3) Britain (4) Germany (5) Sweden 53. Minorities Rights Day is observed across the world on: (1) December 18 (2) December 19 (3) December 20 (4) December 21 (5) December 22 54. Who among the following Indian-American has been appointed as a federal judge in the District of

Columbia by the US Senate? (1) Manish Shah (2) Amit Priyavadan Mehta (3) Vince Chhabria (4) Padmanabhan Srikanth Srinivasan (5) Satish K. Tripathi 55. What is the name of military operation recently launched by Pakistan to flush out terrorists from the

country's tribal belt? (1) Ezra and Nehemiah (2) Chengiz Khan (3) Zarb-e- Nijat (4) Rah-e-Nijat (5) Zarb-e-azab 56. Who won BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2014 in Glasgow? (1) Andy Murray (2) Mark Cavendish (3) Bradley Wiggins (4) Lewis Hamilton (5) Christiano Ronaldo 57. Which among the following countries has developed a long-range and non-lethal Pain Beam weapon

named ‘Poly WB-1’? (1) China (2) UK (3) USA (4) Japan (5) France 58. Who among the following Indian-origin has been appointed as the chairman of Santander UK Bank? (1) Shantanu Narayen (2) Shriti Vadera (3) Anshu Jain (4) Rakesh Kapoor (5) Kavinder Verma 59. The Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics Games mascot have been named respectively as: (1) Oba and Eba (2) Tiba Tuque and Esquindim (3) Vinicius and Tom (4) Quatchi and Sumi (5) Fuleco and Armadillo 60. Which among the following banks has launched the mobile banking facility ‘Bank Aap Ki Muththi Mein’? (1) ICICI Bank (2) Kotak Mahindra Bank (3) Yes Bank (4) City Bank (5) HDFC Bank 61. Which among the following countries won the women’s title of Kabaddi World Cup 2014? (1) Pakistan (2) India (3) Australia (4) New Zealand (5) Nepal 62. What is the deadline for exchanging the pre-2005 currency notes? (1) June 30, 2015 (2) January 31, 2015 (3) March 31, 2015 (4) April 1, 2015 (5) July 31, 2015 63. Name the first exoplanet ‘super-Earth’, located 180 light-years away from Earth, which has been

discovered recently by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft. (1) Kepler 186f (2) Kapteyn c (3) HIP 116454b (4) PSR B1257+12 (5) Kepler 16 64. Who has been conferred SASTRA-Ramanujan Award 2014? (1) Peter Scholze (2) James Maynard (3) Zhiwei Yun (4) Akshay Venkatesh (5) George James

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65. What is the name of scheme to be launched by Union government for conservation of heritage and development of 12 cities across the country?

(1) SHAHAR (2) HEART (3) NIDHI (4) RAHAT (5) HRIDAY 66. Under TRUFIXED product, the customer can avail a home loan at a fixed interest rate for the duration of

2 years to 10 years. ‘TRUFIXED’ interest rate home loan option has been launched by: (1) ICICI Bank (2) Punjab National Bank (3) State Bank of India (4) HDFC Bank (5) Union Bank of India 67. 13th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) will be held in: (1) Goa (2) Gujarat (3) Rajasthan (4) Punjab (5) Maharashtra 68. To commemorate the birth anniversary of great Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, National

Mathematics Day is observed in: (1) December 22 (2) December 23 (3) December 25 (4) December 27 (5) December 28 69. Name the Buddhists festival of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, which started to mark the

beginning of New Year in Ladakh on December 22, 2014. (1) Shashukul (2) Losar (3) Nagrang (4) Wanchuk (5) Jashin 70. Which pharmaceutical company has received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approval

to market a generic version of ViiV Healthcare’s Epivir tablets? (1) Ranbaxy (2) Cipla (3) Lupin (4) Merck & Co (5) Astalon 71. Recently Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has bagged a 16.96 million Euro contract for a thermal power

project in which of the following countries? (1) Bosnia (2) Turkey (3) Croatia (4) Yugoslavia (5) Israel 72. Who has been appointed as the ambassador of Cricket World Cup 2015 by the International Cricket

Council (ICC)? (1) Saurav Ganguli (2) Kapil Dev (3) Sunil Gavaskar (4) Rahul Dravid (5) Sachin Tendulkar 73. What is the theme of calendar launched by Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting

Ministry, for the year 2015? (1) “Clean India Green India” (2) “Bharat Nirman- Sabqa Hit Sabqa Hak” (3) “Sabqa Sath- Sabqa Vikas” (4) “Make in India” (5) “India Shining” 74. World’s first 2014-genetic mutation Ebola vaccine launched by: (1) USA (2) Japan (3) France (4) UK (5) China 75. Who has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Ltd. (CIL)? (1) A. K. Dubey (2) Aniket Patni (3) N. C. Jha (4) S Narsing Rao (5) S. Bhattacharya 76. Who among the following scientists has been named as one of the top 10 people by the Nature (journal)

that mattered in science in 2014? (1) Koppillil Radhakrishnan (2) A P J Abdul Kalam (3) Anil Kakodkar (4) C.N.R. Rao (5) Ashoke Sen

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77. Who has been honoured with the Yash Chopra Memorial Award 2014? (1) Gulzar (2) Lata Mangeshkar (3) Asha Bhosle (4) Amitabh Bachchan (5) Rishi Kapoor 78. Who has been chosen tenth Chief Minister of Jharkhand? (1) Raghubar Das (2) Hemant Soren (3) Arjun Munda (4) Madhu Koda (5) Babulal Marandi 79. Recently, AirAsia flight number QZ8501 went missing with 162 people on board en route from the

Indonesian city of Surabaya to which of the following countries? (1) Japan (2) Ukraine (3) Malaysia (4) China (5) Singapore 80. Which among the following operations has been launched by Indian Army against Bodo militants in

Assam? (1) Operation Polo (2) Operation All Out (3) Operation Pralaya (4) Operation Checkmate (5) Operation Blue Star

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Answer Key

1 3 2 2 3 5 4 2 5 3 6 5 7 3 8 3 9 2 10 4

11 2 12 5 13 3 14 3 15 5 16 3 17 4 18 1 19 2 20 4

21 2 22 1 23 2 24 3 25 5 26 2 27 5 28 3 29 4 30 1

31 5 32 4 33 2 34 1 35 3 36 1 37 5 38 2 39 1 40 5

41 1 42 3 43 2 44 4 45 5 46 2 47 3 48 2 49 5 50 2

51 1 52 3 53 1 54 2 55 5 56 4 57 1 58 2 59 3 60 5

61 2 62 1 63 3 64 2 65 5 66 4 67 2 68 1 69 2 70 3

71 2 72 5 73 1 74 5 75 5 76 1 77 4 78 1 79 5 80 2

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