General Awareness - 2012

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Bank Lending rates

(As on 21st May 2012 ) Bank Rate : 9.00% : Bank rate is the rate at which RBI lends long term loans to commercial banks. Repo Rate : 8.00% : Repo rate is the rate at which RBI provides short term loans to commercial banks. : In April 2012, repo rate was reduced to 8.00% from 8.50% Reverse Repo Rate : 7.00% : Reverse Repo Rate is the rate of interest RBI provides to the commercial banks for keeping their excess fund with RBI. : In April 2012, reverse repo rate was reduced to 7.00% from 7.50% Cash Reserve Ratio : 4.75% : It is the amount the commercial banks must keep as reserve with RBI. : In March 2012 CRR was reduced to 4.75% from 5.50% Statutory Liquidity Ratio : 24% : SLR - It is the amount banks are required to maintain as liquid assets in the form of gold, cash and approved securities. : SLR was reduced to 24% from 25% in December 2010. Prime Lending Rate (PLR) : Prime Lending Rate is the interest rate charged by banks to their most secure, trustworthy customers on short term loans.PLR is also known as BenchC.R. Rajeeve 1

mark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR). RBI replaced PLR with Base Rate with effect from 1 April 2011.PLR is only applicable to loans existed before this date.For all new loans applicable interest rate is base rate : Why PLR was replaced with Base Rate? To bring transparency in interest regime.Under PLR banks had the right to provide their prime customers loan at a rate lower than PLR.This practice has been stopped with the replacement.Under Base Rate no bank can lend below base rate SBI Base Rate : 10% : Base rate The rate of interest used by commercial banks as a basis for their lending rates.Banks have the right to fix their Base Rate but they cannot lend below Base Rate. : 10% is the base rate of SBI with effect from 23-4-2012 Marginal Standing Facility: 9.00% Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) is a new scheme announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Monetary Policy (201112). It came into effect from 9th May 2011. MSF scheme is provided by RBI where the banks can borrow overnight upto 1 per cent of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) i.e. 1 per cent of the aggregate deposits and other liabilities of the banks. The rate of interest for the amount accessed through this facility is fixed at 100 basis points (i.e. 1 per cent) above the repo rate for all scheduled commercial banks.
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17th SAARC Summit : Addu, Maldives was held in Nov. 2011 : South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation has 8 members - India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan : SAARC Secretariat is at Kathmandu, Nepal. India Economic Summit 2011 : India Economic Summit of World Economic Forum was held at Mumbai in November 2011. : Union Minister of Industries: Anand Sharma Shanghai Co-operation : Organisation Heads of Government Meeting was held in St. Petersburg, Russia in November 2011. : The Union Minister of Power Sushil Kumar Shinde represented India in the Meeting 2010-20 is observed as the Decade of Innovation by India : NIC: National Innovation Council. : Sam Pitroda is the Chairman of NIC. : Govt. provided 100 crore as seed money for setting up India Inclusive Innovation Fund. John Key: Re-elected as the New Zealand Prime Minister for a second term in November 2011. : Wellington is the capital of New Zealand Non Stop India: A book by Mark Tully, the former BBC correspondent in India : No Full Stop in India, Heart of India are his other books. APEC Summit: Honolulu, USA was held in November 2011. There was disagreement between USA and China on trade policy and human right issues. : APEC - Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation. Himachal Pradesh has become the first
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state in India to have prepared its green house gas inventory. It has calculated its total carbon emission from various sectors like energy, industry, transport and tourism. India has been elected to the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) by defeating China. Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan form Eurasian Union, an economic body designed to re-integrate the former Soviet economies Who is known as the missile woman of India ? Tessy Thomas : She is the project Director of Agni IV and Senior Scientist behind Agni V Missile.. : Agni IV range is 3000 km : Agni Vs range is 5000 km. Rahul Dravid was selected for the Polly Umrigar Award for the best Cricketer of the 2010-11 season by the BCCI. : Dravid is popularly known as the wall. Recently he announced retirement from Test Cricket. Aamir Khan: National Ambassador of UNICEF Ajit Wadekar, the former Indian Cricket Captain has been selected for Col. C.K. Nayudu Life time Achievement Trophy by BCCI IAAF Athlete of the year 2011. : Men: Usain Bolt of Jamaica (Sprint) Women: Sally Pearson of Australia (110m Hurdle) Fiscal deficit For 2011-12, the govt. had estimated a deficit of Rs. 4.12 lakh crore or 4.6% of GDP. The first Cricketer in the world to take 500 Test Catches: Mark Boucher of South Africa (on Nov. 9, 2011) Mario Monti - New Prime Minister of Italy. He was the former European Commissioner.
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Nabam Tuki (Congress) is the New Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. The Social Activist Ela Bhatt wins Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, 2011. : Ela Bhatt is the founder of SEWA (Self Employed Womens Association) UNESCO - Madanjeet Singh Prize - 2011. : MS. Anarkali Honaryar, Afghan Womens right campaigner and Mr. Khaled Abu Awwad, the Palestinian peace activist won UNESCO- Madanjeet Singh Prize 2011, jointly. Ivian Lunasol Sarcos Colmenares (Venezuela) won Miss World 2011, at London on November 2011. 9th ASEAN - India Summit was held in Bali, Indonesia on November 19, 2011. Brahmos is the cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia. Postal Savings Collection Rs. 274720 crore for 2010 - 2011 in India. A 9% growth Compared to 2009-10. Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas was held at Thimphu, Bhutan in November 2011. Kannada author S.L. Bhyrappa won Saraswathi Samman 2011, for the novel Mandra. Government notify 100% FDI in single brand retail. So far the sector allowed only 51% FDI. : Government also thought of allowing 51% FDI multi-brand retail. But due to stiff opposition, the decision was frozen. World Economic Forum Annual meeting 2012 was held at Davos, Switzerland in January 2012. The theme of the summit was The Great Transformation Shaping New Models. The European Union (EU) agreed on January 30, 2012 on tougher measures to enforce budget discipline in Euro Zone.
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Amnesty in Myanmar In a significant development Myanmar pardoned and freed a number of prominent political prisoners on January 13, 2012. : Amnesty: General Pardon World Forestry Day: March 21. Martin Schulz of Germany is the New President of European Union. India signed multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax matters. It is a multilateral agreement that promote international co-operation while respecting the rights of tax payers. : The move will help India to get information on black money stashed abroad. India eradicated polio on January 13, 2012 India reached a major milestone of completing a year without any new case of Wild Polio INS Chakra is Indias nuclear power submarine. India leased it from Russia for 10 years. Its Russian name is Nerpa. India decided to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets from France for Indian Air Force for $ 10.2 billion dollars. : Mirage fighter jets are French made : F-35 fighter jets are US made. Bhelupur is a village in Bihar, Kamla Persad Bissessar, the Prime Minister of Trinidad International Stock Exchanges Dow Jones ........................... Newyork Nikkei FTSE Kospa Dolex Simex .................................. Tokyo ................................ London ................................... Korea ................... Mumbai (India) ............................ Singapore
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Hang Seng ......................... Hong Kong Bovespa ................................... Brazil

Mid Dax ............................. Frankfurt

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and Tobago visited this place in search of her roots. Her ancestors belonged here. Rajasthan retains Ranji Trophy Cricket 2012 defeating Tamil Nadu in January 2012. What is CRIS? Comparative Rating Index of Sovereigns (CRIS) was unaveiled by Chief Economist Kaushik Basu on the basis of sovereign rating of various countries compiled through rating data of Moodys and GDP data of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). In terms of CRIS Indias rank moved up from 61st position in 2007 to 55th in 2011. International Womens Day: March 8 Vikramjit Singh Sahney of the Sun Group elected as the new President of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI). The Director General of Indian Cost Guard: M.P. Muralidharan. Lakshya : Indias pilotless Target Aircraft. World Consumer Rights Day:March 15. Ma Ying Jeou has been re-elected the President of Taiwan. Rafeeque Ahmed is the New President of The Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO). Daniel Ortega re-elected President of Nicaragua for the third term. : Managua is the Capital of Nicaragua, a Central American Country. Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister of Bangladesh visited Tripura to address the India - Bangladesh Business meet organised in January 2012. Lionel Messi of Argentina and Barcelona player won FIFA Ballon d2012. He is winning the award three times in a row. David Cameron : British Prime Minister The Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council Projects an ambitious growth rate
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of 7.5% to 8% for 2012-13 fiscal. PMEAC Chairman Dr. C. Rangarajan said that the growth rate in 2011-12 was likely to be 7.1% which is marginally higher than the 6.9% growth rate projected by Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). : In 2010-11 GDP growth was 8.4% Indian hockey team qualifies for London Olympics 2012 by defeating France by 8-1 in New Delhi on February 26, 2012. Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine won the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavy weight title by defeating Dereck Chistora of UK. It is his 10th successive victory. Mohammed Waheed Hassan is the new President of Maldives. New Chief of Army Staff: General Bikram Singh. BMD : Ballistic Missile Defence : India succeeded in developing interceptor missile to destroy enemy missiles. MI-17 V5 are Russian helicopters inducted to Indian Air Force. Torpedo Advanced Light (TAL) It is an indigenously built advanced light weight torpedo handed over to Indian Navy for its use. Akash missile has been inducted to Indian Air Force for its use $ 293.44 billion is Indias foreign exchange reserve on February 24, 2012. India is the 19th most exposed nation globally to external risks. The data is released by Frontline risk analysis company Maple croft in February 2012 on the list of 178 countries, Somalia tops the list. : High corruption, terrorism political violence are some of the most prevalent risk in India. RBI hikes bank rate to 9.5% : RBI on February 13, 2012 increased the bank rate from 6% by 3.50 points to 9.5%. The hike was made after the
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bank rate remained static for nearly nine years. White Label ATMs (WLA) RBI has decided to Permit non-banks to set up ATMs. They will be known as White Label ATMs. They would provide ATM Service to customers of all banks. International Literacy Day: March 8 World Water Day : March 22 Jawhar Sircar is the new CEO of Prasar Bharati. In the Name of People : K.R. Narayan 44th session of Indian Labour Congress was held at New Delhi on February 14, 2012. Japan tops in aid to India: Among the foreign countries which give aid to India, Japan is on the top by giving India $ 22 billion every year. India gets $ 5 billion from Germany, $ 4.6 billion from UK, $ 10 billion from U.S.A and $ 2.6 billion from Russia. Sauli Niinisto is the New President of Finland. Amartya Sen was conferred the Prestigious National Medals of Arts and Humanities award by US President Barack Obama in February 2012. Shahrukh Khan is West Bengals brand ambassador. May 24 : Commonwealth Day River of Smoke : Amitav Ghosh. Aakash -2 Project aims to distribute 50 lakh tablet personal computers to students in 2012-13 at the cost of Rs. 1700 crore. Rahul Dravid on March 9, 2012 Retired from Test Cricket. He has scored 13, 288 runs in 164 Tests and he has made 36 centuries. International Nurses Day: May 12 Saina Nehwal retain Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold Trophy (Badminton) 2012. She is now World No 5 in Badminton. Pakistan win Asia Cup 2012 (Cricket) defeating Bangladesh at Dhakha.
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India women won Khabaddi world cup 2012 by beating Iran in the final in Patna, Bihar on March 4, 2012. Leung Chun Ying has been elected Chief Executive of Hong Kong in March 2012. Sachin Tendulkar Scored 100 hundreds in Cricket when he scored 114 against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup One Day International. He became the First cricketer to score 100 centuries. 51 test centuries and 49 one day International centuries. May 31: Anti-Tobacco Day Nuclear Security Summit 2012 was held in Seoul, South Korea. Encyclopaedia Britanica goes digital. After 244 years in print, it no longer going to make new physical copies. 32 volume valued $ 1400 edition put out in 2010 was its last. Kashmir clone its Pashmina goat in March 9, 2012. : This is Indias second cloned animal. The first was a cloned buffallo calf Garima at Karnal, Haryana in 2009. India External debt $ 334.9 billion : Indias total external debt at the end of December 2011 stood at $ 334.9 billion. Rates on small savings schemes increased. : Centre on March 26, 2012 hiked the rate of interest on post office small savings plan for 2012-13. Interest on Saving deposit is kept unchanged at 4.00%. But term deposit for one year and two year increased to basis each to 8.2% and 8.3% respectively. Share of Agriculture in GDP down to 13.9% in 2011-12. : The share of agriculture and allied sector in India is gross domestic product (GDP) declined to 13.9% in 2011-12 from 14.5% in 2010-11. Agriculture and allied sectors achieved a growth rate of 2.5% in the 2011-12.
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Food grain production during 2011-12 has been estimated at 250.42 million tonne. PF rate of Interest brought down to 8.25% for 2011-12. The rate was 9.5% in 2010-11. RBI reduced the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 75 basis point from 5.5% to 4.75% with effect from March 10, 2012. This reduction would inject around Rs. 48000 crore of primary liquidity into the banking system. Lok Sabha approves judicial Accountability Bill on March 30, 2012 which provides a mechanism for investigation against judges. Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) Hyderabad successfully manufactured critical tubes required for steam generations of nuclear plant. Only 3 companies in the world produce nuclear tubes. NFC has become 4th Company in the World. India has been ranked 9th in the global list of bird wealth. The list was compiled by Bird Life International, the global partnership of conservation organisations that endeavours to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity. PMAGY: Pradhan Manthri Adarsh Gram Yojana : Planning Commission has cleared the transfer of PMAGY to the Ministry of Rural Development from the Ministers of Social Justice and Empowerment. The Programme aims for integrated development of all village with more than 50% scheduled cast population. The govt aims to cover 44000 villages during the 12th Five Year Plan. May 8 : World Red Cross Day May 11 : National Technology Day. Union Budget 2012-13 was presented in the Parliament on March 16, 2012. Usually it is presented on the last working day in February. But due to assembly elections in various states, it got delayed.
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The Centre has identified seven mega water projects and corridors all over the country for private sector investment in the 12th Five Year Plan Period. The outlay of the Programme is Rs. 12000 crore. India Biggest Arms Importer in the world 2007-11 report. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on March 19, 2012, India was the Worlds largest Arms Importer between 20072011. India account for 10% of Global arms import during 2007-11. Other large importers are South Korea (6%) Pakistan (5%) China (5%) and Singapore (5%) : India import nearly 70% its defence requirements. Iran allows IAEA to inspect Parchin Military facility. : In a significant development Iran announced on March 6, 2012 that it was ready to open its Parchin Military facility for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). : Denial of Access to Parchin was one of the biggest problem in the recent talk between the IAEA and the Iranians. India votes against Sri Lanka. On March 22, 2012 India voted for a United Nation sponsored resolution at the United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) censuring Sri Lanka for its alleged rights violations during the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The resolution was passed with 24 votes for and 15 against. The Wealth Report 2012 has forecast that India, surpassing China will become worlds largest economy by 2050. China
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will surpass USA by 2020 to become the largest economy in the world. : Indian economy has been estimated to reach $ 85.97 trillion size in terms of purchasing power parity by 2050 while Chineese GDP is estimated to be $ 80.02 trillion. More than Rs. 31000 crore has been received as foreign contribution by 65500 Indian NGOs from 2007 to 2010 in India. : NGO - Non Governmental Organisations. Aadhaar: Project to provide identity to all Indian undertaken by UIDAI Kudamkulam Nuclear Project is in Tamil Nadu. It is being built with Russian help. Haft II Missile belong to Pakistan. Putin is the new Russian President. He was the Prime Minister of Russia. And Dmitry Medvedev who was the Russian President became Russian Prime Minister. Both the Russian President and Prime Minister exchanged their positions. The fiscal deficit in the country has crossed Budget Estimate for 2011-12. The government had expected the deficit to be 4.6%. It is expected to rise to 5.9% of the GDP for 2011-12. Tech - Mahindra & Mahindra Satyam merge together on March 21, 2012. The government has given its approval for the central public sector Enterprises to go for buy back of shares. The disinvestment target for 2011-12 was Rs. 40000 crore but govt could collect only RS. 14144.50 crore. Economic Survey 2011-12 Highlights Indias economic growth estimated at 6.9% in 2011-12. GDP expected to grow 7.6% in 2012-13 and 8.6% in 2013-14.
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Service Sector grows by 9.4% and its share in GDP goes upto 59%. Industrial growth in 2011-12 4% to 5% Agriculture growth forecast 2.5%. Centre spending on Social Services goes up to 18.5% in 2011-12 from 13.4% in 2006-07. Union Budget 2012-13 Highlights Fiscal deficit at 5.9% of GDP in 2011-12. Disinvestment target in 2012-13 is 300 billion rupees. Service tax raised from 10% to 12%. Subsidies to be kept under 2% of GDP in 2012-13 and under 1.7% of GDP in the next three years. NCTC - National Counter Terrorism Centre.

RTGS : Real Time Gross Settlement.

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It is used for transferring money from one bank account to another bank account. It has no upper limit

ASSOCHAM: Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry

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Rajkumar Dhoot the President of ASSOCHAM.

Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) conferred Degree of Doctor of Science to Dr. Manmohan Singh. 45th Jnanpith Award was jointly won by Hindi Writers Amar Kant and Shrilal Shukla the latter passed away after the announcement of the award. India and Saudi Arabia have decided to set up a Joint Committee on Defence Co-operation. Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting take a major initiative to promote the Incredible India Campaign and India as a Filming Destination.
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Cinemas in India will be made a sub brand of incredible India campaign - to sell both tourism and cinemas abroad.

CMIE : Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

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ASOSAI : Association of Supreme Audit Institutions.

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CMIE has estimated India GDP growth for 2011-12 at 7%. It projected 7.7% GDP growth for 2012-13. But Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council expect the GDP growth for 2011-12 at 7.1%.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai is the new Chairman of ASOSAI. Which is a 45 nation strong Asian organisation of the Institutions of the Accountant General. ASOSAI is the largest Regional Organisation of the Govt. Auditors.

BSE - Greenex : is the first environmental Friendly Equity Index of Bombay Stock Exchange. West Indies Cricketer Runako Morton was killed in a road accident. Tata Steel is Indias most admired company. It tops in a list of 50 most admired companies in India - Fortune Magazine. The Centre roll back ban on cotton export following wide spread opposition. As per the Houselisting and Housing Census 2011, the census houses increased from 25 crore to 33 crore. There is an increase of 6 crore census houses for residential and partly residential purposes.
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The number of poor in the developing world declined to 1.29 billion during 2005-08 from 1.94 billion in 1981 --- World Bank. Larsen and Toubro has appointed K. Venkataraman as its CEO and Managing Director. India GDP will grow 7-7.5% in 2012-13 World Bank. FDI to India grows up 31% to $ 27.5 billion in 2011.
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In 2010 FDI to India was $ 21 billion. The sectors that attracted maximum FDI 2011 include service (financial and non financial) telecom, housing, real estate and construction & Power. Mauritius, Singapore, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany and UAE are the major investors in India.

58% of households have bathing facility within the premises. Around half of the houses have drainage connectivity. 47% of the households have latrine facility with in premises. 61% of households have kitchen facility with 55% within premises and 6% outside premises. Less than 1 out of 10 houses have computer/laptop with only 3% having internet facility. The Penetration of
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Andrew Symonds of Australia retired from cricket in February 2012. Maldives has been suspended from the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group due to Political turmoil. Ericsson exist Mobile handset joint venture Sony Ericssion.
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Internet is 8% in urban as compared to less than 1% in rural area.

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63% of households have telephone / mobile facility with 82% in urban and 54% rural area. The penetration of mobile phone is 59% and landline is 10%. There is an increase of 16% in television and a corresponding decline of about 15% radio. 45% households are having bicycle, 21% two wheelers and 5% four wheelers. 59% households are availing banking facilities with 68% in urban and 54% in rural areas. The rural urban difference has reduced from 19 to 13 point

18% of the household do not have any of the specified assets. BASIC: Countries are Brazil, South Africa, India and China. Basic countries Climatic talk was held in February 2012 in New Delhi. US decides to end its combat mission in Afghanistan in 2013 and is preparing for the total pull out from Afghanistan in 2014. Teledensity in India 76.80% Urban teledensity is 167.85 and rural teledensity is 37.48. (at December 2011) The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 926.53 million at the end of December 11, 2011. Gavaskar inducted to ICC Hall of Fame on February 8, 2012. Ravindra Jadeja has been paid $ 2 million dollars (RS. 9.71 crore) for selection to Chennai Super Kings for IPL Match. He is the highest paid crickete for IPL 2012. Last man in Tower. Aravind Adiga. Number of Mobile Phone users in India is 893 million in December 2011 as per TRAI. : MMT - Mobile Money Transfer.
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India and Iran solve payment for export shipment issue. The two countries agreed to accept payment in rupee terms. Govt. approved the proposal from Indian Navy to acquire nine Advanced Medium Range Maritime Reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft for $ 1 billion. This is in addition to the 12 Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft being acquired by the Navy at $ 3.1 billion. MDGs : Millennium Development Goals. : MDGs are a list of eight international development parameters that all the 193 members of the UNO have to achieve by 2015. The progress in 8 parameters is measured by 22 socio economic indicators. : Out of the 22 indicators, India has achieved 7 while it is on the track to achieve another 3. The country is lagging behind the rest. According to the Asia Pacific Regional MDG report 2011-12 compared to most of the nations in the Asia pacific, India has made very slow progress in eradicating poverty over the period of 10 years. India also lagged behind in infant mortality and maternal mortality rate. But made significant progress in primary enrollment ratio, bringing down tuberculosis prevalence rate, HIV prevalence rate and improving forest cover. But Co2 emission increased in the country over the period from 10 to 1.48 tonne per capita in 2008 from 0.8 tonne per capita in 1990 India-European Union (EU) annual summit was held in New Delhi on February 10, 2012. : The two sides made considerable progress on their Broad based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) : EU President is Herman Van Rompuy

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CBI claims that Indians have the largest deposits in banks abroad with an estimated $ 500 billion (nearly 24.5 lakh crore) in black money in tax havens. The tax havens include Mauritius, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and British Virgin Islands. Union Government gave its nod to the National Data Sharing and Accessibility policy. The policy is aimed to help effective framing of National Policies and planning. It makes inter-department sharing data mandatory. Iran has announced that it had made further development in enriching Uranium. : Western World believes that Iran is secretly building nuclear weapons though Iran claims that it is using nuclear technology for electricity production. : The West is imposing sanction on Iran and isolating it on nuclear issue. Syria is witnessing increasing public protest against its president Bashar al-Assad. : Recently Assad claimed that majority approved a new constitution in a referendum which permit him to continue office till 2028. Supreme Court cancels 122 2G Licenses. : Supreme Court on February 2, 2012 declared the allocation of 2G spectrum by UPA government illegal and cancelled all 122 telecom licenses allotted on or after January 10, 2008. : Former Telecom Minister A. Raja awarded licenses to 11 companies during his tenure. North Korea agreed on March 1, 2012 to put a freeze on its nuclear programme in exchange for food assistance from the US. The leadership also announced, it will allow inspectors from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor the Moratorium.

SAFTA : South Asian Free Trade Agreement. : It is a trade agreement among SAARC. A meeting of export group of SAFTA was held in Islamabad in February 2012 to discuss schedules of specific commitments on services to be traded in the SAARC region. Bail out package for Greece. The finance ministers of the Eurozone nations on February 21, 2012 sealed a 130 billion euro (172 billion) bail out package for Greece. The decision is expected to help Greece avert Chaotic default. Christine Lagarde : IMF Managing Director. 4th BRICS Summit 2012 4th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi, India.in March 2012 : Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are the members of BRICS. : The BRICS nations signed two agreements to provide line of credit to business community and decided to examine the possibility of setting up a BRICS Development Bank on lines of World Bank India to be the worlds largest economy by 2050 : "China will overtake the US to become the world's largest economy by 2020, which in turn will be overtaken by India in 2050," according to Wealth Report 2012 by Knight Frank & Citi Private Bank : Mumbai & New Delhi are among the top 20 fastest growing cities. Fifth edition of the World Future Energy Summit : Fifth edition of the World Future Energy Summit was held in Abu Dhabi, capital of UAE : The theme of 2012 World Future EnGeneral Awareness

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ergy Summit was - Sustainable Energy for All Nuclear Security Summit 2012 : Second Nuclear Security Summit was held in Seoul March 2012. 53 heads of state and government, as well as representatives of the United Nations (UN), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), European Union (EU) and INTERPOL, attended the 2012 summit : The first Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington in April 2010 Qatar has been ranked as the world's Wealthiest country : The second and third positions were occupied by Luxemburg and Singapore. Liberia and Congo took the last positions. Foodgrain Production in 2011-12 at 252.56 Million Tonnes : Releasing the data on Third Advanced Estimate of production the Ministry of Agriculture said the total food grain production is likely to be 252.56 million tonne in 2011-12 compared to 244.78 million tonnes in the previous year. (2010-11) India's forex reserves rise by $213.8 million : For the week ended on April 20, 2012, the countrys forex reserve had reached an all time high of $ 293.14 billion. Subbarao RBI Governor said fiscal deficit is at 5.9% GDP in 2012. The current account deficit is at 3.6% of GDP in 2012 Agriculture Growth 3.5% likely in 11th Five year plan Union Government revised Economic Growth Rate for 2010-2011 Financial Year to 8.4 percent : The Union government on 31 January

2012 revised the economic growth rate for 2010-2011 financial year to 8.4 percent in comparison to the previous estimate of 8.5 percent. : The Indian economy, Asias third-largest slowed in recent quarters due to the impact of the global slowdown, high inflation and high interest rates. Policymakers estimated growth in 2011-12 to be close to 7% : GDP growth for 2009-2010 was 8.00% FDI up 31% to $27.5 bn in 2011 : Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India went up by 31 per cent to 27.5 billion US Dollars in 2011 : FDI inflows in 2010 totalled USD 21 billion. Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2011
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Mr. Soumitra Chatterjee, iconic Bengali Actor won Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2011 : The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.Value of the award is Rs 10 Lakhs. Miss Vanya Mishra won Miss India World 2012 at the contest held in Mumbai India has emerged as the world No.1 Arms importer. : India accounts for 9% of all global arm imports. 99th Indian Science Congress 2012 : 99th Indian Science Congress was held at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University in Bhubaneswar.
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Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, inaugurated

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The theme of2012 Congress is Science and Technology for Inclusive Innovation - Role of Women. Indias IIP growth stood at 4.1% in 2011-2012 : As per Index of Industrial Production (IIP) released by Central Statistical Organisation on April 2012, the overall growth of Industry was 4.1% in 2011-12. It was 7.8% in 2010-11and 10.5% in 2009-10. Republic of Yemen's new president : Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi : Its capital Sanaa Indian government has hiked interest rate on Employees provident Fund to 8.6% for current financial year 2012-13 from earlier interest rate of 8.25%. Who became Chief Minister of Punjab for record fifth time? : Parkash Singh Badal Forbes Richest List 2012 : Ist : Carlos Slim (Mexico) - $69 billion 2nd : Bill Gates (USA) : $61 billion 3rd: Warren Buffet (USA): $44 billion 19th : Mukesh Ambani : $22.3 billion 21th : Lakshmi Mittal : $20.7 billion 2012 Declared as : International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) : 'National Mathematical Year' : Year of Intensification of Routine Immunization (Health Ministry) Who is the chairman of CBDT? : M.C.Joshi : CBDT :Central Board of Direct Taxes India's 2012-13 fiscal deficit seen at 4.1% of GDP GDP growth of India for the last years as shown in Economic outlook 201112 by PMEAC.

Year 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 GDP 9.5 9.6 8.4 9.3 8.2 Year 2009-10 2010-11 GDP 8.00 * Expected growth

2008-09 6.8 8*

2011-12 2012 -13

PMEAC Projects India growth rate at 8% in 2011-12 : Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council has modified its earlier projections of economic growth at 8.6% and later from 8.2% to 8% in 2011-12. UNCTAD Project India Growth at 8.1% in 2011. : United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its report has revised its projection of India growth from 8.6% to 8.1% in 2011.
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UNCTAD projects world growth at 3.1% in 2011. Who is the Chairman of NMCC? V. Krishnamurthy NMCC is the newly reconstituted National Manufacturing Competitive ness Council. The NMCC is a 28 member body which has the Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu and the International Economic Relations Judge Isher Ahluwalia as two economists.

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Pravasi Bhartiya Divas-2012 : The 10th Pravsi Bhartiya Divas held in Jaipur,the Pink City : The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad Bissessar was the Chief Guest of the event. : The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh inaugurated the event.
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Over 1900 delegates from about 60 countries were participated this years PBD. Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) who has been appointed as the Chairman of the Panel of UN External Auditor of IAEA and WIPRO : Vinod Rai : IAEA is International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN Agency with headquarters at Vienna, Austria. : WIPRO is World Intellectual Property Organisation, a UN Agency with headquarters in Geneva. What is GNP? : Gross National Product is measured as GDP plus income of residents from investments made abroad minus income earned by foreigners in domestic market. Who is Jim Yong Kim? (South Korea) : World Bank President. 9 Indians among 50 dynamic women in Forbes Magazines inaugural list of Asias most powerful business Women to watch. : Chanda Kochchar - ICICI BANK : Vinita Bali -Britannia Industry : Shobhana Bhartia - Hindustan Times : Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Biocon : Ekta Kapoor -Film maker : Zia Mody - AZB & Partners : Shikha Sharma -Axis Bank ICONSAT - 2012 : ICONSAT - 2012 will be held Hyderabad, India. : ICONSAT : International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology Which woman Prime Minister was the Chief Guest of the Republic Day 2012 celebrations in India?

Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra (Thailand) India-EU Summit 2012 12th India-EU Summit was held in New Delhi on 10 February 2012. EU was represented by Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and Mr. Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, President of the European Commission.

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Name the Chinese President who is in India on a 2-day visit to participate in the BRICS summit 2012
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Hu Jintao

Who is appointed as the president of NASSCOM in 2011-2012?

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Rajender S. Pawar NASSCOM:National Association of Software and Services Company Vanya Mishra

Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2012

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Who will become the first Indian and also the first woman to head the crucial tax transparency unit of global finance body, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of G-20 countries and has 108 member nations?
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Monica Bhatia Ist:Li Ka Shing(Hong Kong):25.5 billion 2nd: Mukesh Ambani : $22.3 billion

Asia's Richest Man 2012

Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation 2011

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Dalai Lama

The first car of Bajaj Auto, India's leading two-wheeler manufacturer is named
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RE 60

Brand Ambassador for 2014 World Cup in Brazil ?

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Pele
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New Chief Ministers State Chief Minister Punjab Prakash Singh Badal ( Akali Dal) Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna (Congress ) Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh (Congress) Goa Manohar Parrikar (BJP) Which game is Sebastian Vettel associated with ? : Formula One car race. Yoshihiko Noda is the new Prime Minister of Japan. What is the amount included in the job package US president Barack Obama announced recently : $ 447 Billion Sunil Mittal appointed co-chair of India Africa Business Council 59th National Film Award : Held in New Delhi : Best Picture : Deol (Marathi) and Byari (Karnataka) : Best Actor : Girish Kulkarni : Best Actress : Vidya Balan (Dirty Picture) Brazil has become the Sixth-biggest Economy in the World Jnanpith Award 2009 : Eminent Hindi authors Mr. Amar Kant and Mr. Shrilal Shukla shared the award. Jnanpith Award 2010 : Renowned Kannada writer Mr. Chandra Sekhara Kambar won it for 2010. World Food Prize 2011 : John Agyekum Kufuor, the former

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President of Ghana and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former President of Brazil won World Food Prize 2011. India, Iran look at $25 billion trade by 2015 : India and Iran plan to reach $25 billion in annual bilateral trade in the next four years : current bilateral trade is around $15billion Country's First Infrastructure Debt Fund Launched : Four banking and financial services giants ICICI Group, Life Insurance Corporation, Citicorp Finance India and Bank of Baroda on 5 March 2012 joined to launch India's first infrastructure debt fund (IDF) to be structured as a non-banking finance company (NBFC) : This was signed in the presence of Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee. : This company will have an initial equity share capital of Rs 300 crore. When is the Earth Hour 2012 will be observed? : March 31 2012 (8:30pm to 9:30pm) Saraswathi Samman 2012 Tamil Writer A.A. Manavalan Which is the newest country in the world? : Republic of South Sudan. : Salva Kiir Mayardit has been elected President of South Sudan. : Capital :Juba 2nd Term for Ban-ki-Moon: Ban-ki-Moon unanimously reelected as the Secretary General of UNO for the 2nd term in office. He belongs to South Korea. UN Secretary Generals term:5 years China has become Indias largest trade partner in South Asia
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World Bank okays $50 million credit for Assam farm project National Communal Harmony Award 2011 : Shri Khamliana (Mizoram) and Shri Md. Abdul Bari (Odisha) Brand Ambassador of BMC : Bombay Municipal Corporation : Sachin Tendulkar

New Union Railway Minister : : Mukil Roy . He succeeded Dinesh

Trivedi (both from Trinamul Congress) Important Committees Related to Banking Industry : Y.V. Reddy Committee:Reforms In Small Savings : Rangrajan Committee: Computerization of Banking Industry : Narasimham Committee:Financial System : Kamath Committee:Education Loan Scheme : A.C.Shah Committee:NBFC Food grain production India 2011-12 : 252.56 million tonne : It was 241.56 million tonnes during 2010-11. What is the percentage of FDI in multi brand retail suggested by the committee of Secretaries : 51% World Bank approved 109-million Dollar Grant for RACP : The World Bank on 28 March 2012 approved a 109-million dollar grant to fund RACP : RACP: Rajasthan Agricultural Competitiveness Project. India ranked 62nd in innovation index SEBI is Securities and Exchange Board

of India which regulate stock markets in India. : U.K. Sinha is the Chairman of SEBI. Indias largest bank is SBI and largest private bank is ICICI. Governor of RBI is Dr. D. Subbarao. Headquarters of World Bank is in Washington. Sensex is the share trading index of Mumbai Stock Exchange. : It is based on the price movement of 30 blue chip shares in Mumbai Stock Exchange. : Blue Chip shares are most attractive and high value shares. Indias large best stock exchange is National Stock Exchange (NSE). It is in Mumbai. : Dalal Street is the place where Mumbai Stock Exchange situates. Oscar Award 2012 Best Picture : The Artist Best Actor : Jean Dujardin (The Artist) Best Actress : Meryl Streep (The iron Lady) Best Director : Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) World Religious Parliament's peace ambassador : Pt. Arjun Prasad Bastola Toshiba JSW bagged Rs. 2300 Crore Order for Kudgi Project of NTPC : Japanese power equipment giant Toshiba JSW Turbine and Generator on 20 February 2012 bagged an order of Rs. 2300 crore from the NTPC Varun Berry stepped down as the CEO of PepsiCo India
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General Awareness

12th Five Year Plan : Union Cabinet on September 15, 2011 approved the approach paper for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). 12th Plan seek to raise the annual economic growth rate to 9% during the five year period. (11th Five Year Plan aimed to raise economic growth to 8.2%). : Now the approach paper will be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), the final authority to approve Five Year Plans in India. : The Chairman of both Planning Commission and National Development Council is the Prime Minister of India. What is FDI? : Foreign Direct Investment : According to figures released on August 17, 2011, India and China saw its FDI surge in the first half of 2011. : Indias FDI increased 53.8% to Rs. 75, 506 crore ($16.68 billion) during January - June 2011. : Chinas FDI increased 18.57% to $69.19 billion (Rs. 313,349 crore) in the first six months of 2011. First woman Prime Minister of Denmark : Helle Thorning Schmidt : Copenhagen is capital of Denmark Tiangong-1: Chinas first space lab module was launched aboard a Long March 2FTI rocket on September 28, 2011. The launch was the first key step in the countrys objective of becoming the third country, after Russia and the US to assemble its own space station. India, Africa aim for bilateral trade of US$90 billion within three years Who has been appointed, the new President of IAAF?

Lamine Diack of Senegal has been appointed the President of International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF). Ranjan Mathai Brazil has become the sixth-biggest economy in the world, the country's finance minister said. The Latin American nation's economy grew 2.7% last year, official figures show, more than the UK's 0.8% growth. The per capita income of Brazillians is at $11,000 per head.

Indias New Foreign Secretary

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Brazil Economy Overtakes UK

Iran successfully launched an observation satellite called

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Navid Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh visited South Korea on 25 March 2012 India and South Korea agreed to set a new bilateral trade target of 40 billion US dollars by 2015. Gagan Narang (Shooting) 2009-10 winner:Saina Nehwal (Badminton) Prize money:Rs 7.5 Lakhs

PM visited South Korea

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Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2010-11

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Bollywood Actor Abhishek Bachchan received a Green Globe Award from Arnold Schwarzenegger US Open 2011
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Mens Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Rafael Nadal (Spain). Womens Single: Samantha Stosur (Australia) won over Serena Williams (USA).
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Australian Open 2012

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Mens Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) : Womens Single: Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) Dubai Open 2012 : Mens Singles: Roger Federer (Switzerland) : Womens Single: Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) : Womens Doubles :Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond (USA) What is MGNREGA? Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guantee Act. : It is the Worlds largest social security programme. : The centre has effected some crucial changes in the Act. Panchayat will be the new administrator for implementing MGNREGA. S& P downgrade US The United States was on August 6, 2011 financially downgraded by Premier credit rating agency Standard & Poors (S & Ps). : The nation has lost its AAA rating and was branded AA+ nation. What is Indias projected peak population by UNO : 1.718 billion in 2060. After which it will decline. At its peak India will be the most populous country in the world. : China, at its peak in 2025, will have 1.395 billion people. : World population Day is July 11 : The population of India is 1,210,193,422 in 2011 Government of India and the World Bank on 20 January 2012 signed an IDA credit
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Government of India and the World Bank on 20 January 2012 signed an IDA credit of 130 million US dollars to finance the project NERLP (North East Rural Livelihoods Project). : Four participating states of Mizoram, Nagaland,Sikkim and Tripura. India signed a multi-lateral agreement with France and Germany to check tax evasion and avoidance. The Tibetan leader who has been chosen for the 2012 Templeton Prize by the USbased Templeton Foundation : Dalai Lama : the award is given for outstanding contribution for spirituality. It is the biggest award given in the world The Indian cricketer who was awarded the fifth ESPNcricinfo best batting performance award in Tests : Sachin Tendulkar The city which is the most expensive in the world to live in, according to Worldwide Cost of Living Survey carried out by Economic Intelligence Unit of the Economist : Zurich, Switzerland The country with a per capita GDP of 88,000 dollars, which has been ranked the world's richest country by Forbes magazine : Qatar . Doha is its capial The Arab League Summit was held in Baghdad from 27 to 29 March 2012. : The three-day summit was hosted by Iraq.22 Arab league states participated in the summit. The Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Rani Abbakka, the 1st of a series of five Inshore Petrol Vessels (IPV) built at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, was commissioned at Visakhapatnam
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India's per capita income as per the latest quick estimates released by the Central Statistical Organisation is : Rs. 53,331/-in 2010-11 The year 2012 has been declared by the Health Ministry of Government of India as the year of : Intensification of Routine Immunisation The Indian wrestler who has become the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics : Geeta Kumari 15th World Sanskrit conference was held from 5 to 10 January 2012 in New Delhi. The Committee constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for framing a National Corporate Governance Policy is headed by : Shri Adi Godrej President of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed resigned India and Mali signed Three Agreements : The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Toure visited India on 11-12 January 2012.The agreements are : .MoU on Co-operation in the field of Geology and Mineral Resources between the Ministry of Mines of the Government of India and Ministry of Mines of the Government of the Republic of Mali. : Joint statement by India and Mali on the occasion of the visit of the President of Mali : India also extended Line of Credit of 100 million US dollars for a power transmission project.

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Who was unanimously elected as President of the Athletics Federation of India? : Adille Sumariwalla The Mexican scientist who has been chosen for UNESCO-Kalinga Prize 2011 for popularising science : Dr Rene Raul Drucker Who has been reappointed as the Secretary General of 54-nation Commonwealth of Nations for 2nd consecutive term? : Kamalesh Sharma (India) Best European investment banker of the year 2011 : Anshu Jain India's National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), on 29 January 2012 signed an agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board(BPDP) for setting up a joint venture 1320 MW thermal power plant. BPL Population : In an Affidavit presented to the Supreme Court, the Planning Commission says that the total BPL Population now being served by the Public Distribution System (PDS) is 35.98 crore. The Tendulkar Committee had called for that number to be revised to 40.74 crore on the basis of projected population on March 1, 2005. : The affidavit says that only those individual consuming less than Rs. 32 per day in urban area and Rs. 26 in rural area will be treated as poor. : Suresh Tendulkar Committee earlier pegged the poverty line at Rs. 447 a month or about Rs. 15 a day at 200405 prices. Which two social networking sites have joined hands to challenge Facebook? : Twitter amd Mixi
General Awareness

Which countrys first female athlete is set to participate in Olympics 2012? : Saudi Arabia What is Deflation? : Deflation is the continuous decrease in prices of goods and services. Deflation occurs when the inflation rate becomes negative (below zero) and stays there for a longer period. What is PPP ? Public Private Partnership Which game is Sebastian Vettel associated with ? : Formula 1 car race. Who figured in the seventh position in the list of Worlds 100 most powerful women 2011 released by the Forbes Magazine in 2011. : Sonia Gandhi, the Congress President and UPA Chairperson. : M.P. Veerendrakumar is chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI). Who has been appointed, the new President of IAAF? : Lamine Diack of Senegal has been appointed the President of International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Tony Tan is the new President of Singapore. Which is the newest country in the world? : Republic of South Sudan. : Salva Kiir Mayardit has been elected President of South Sudan. 2nd Term for Ban-ki-Moon: Ban-ki-Moon unanimously reelected as the Secretary General of UNO for the 2nd term in office. He belongs to South Korea. Ranjan Mathai is Indias new Foreign Secretary Prakash Bakshi is the new Chairman

of NABARD. : National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development was setup in 1982. It is the apex bank for agriculture credit in India. What is Aadhaar? : Government initiative to provide its citizens with Unique Identification (UID) number is called Aadhaar. What is NPA : Non Performing Assets. What is PAN ? : Permanent Account Number What is Eurozone crisis ? : Acute financial crisis faced by some of the countries in European Union. They include Greece, Portugal , Spain and Italy. They find it tough to repay this debt and are on the verge of default. What is plastic money ? : Credit cards are popularly known as plastic money. What is liquidity ? : Easy convertibility into cash. What is hot money ? : Money which has the tendency to migrate towards more profit oriented place. What is CCI ? : The Competition Commission of India. It replaced Monopolies and Restricted Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) Mark Zuckerberg : Founder and CEO of Face Book What is the validity period of a cheque : 3 (w.e.f. April 1, 2012) What is a Commercial Bill : A bill of exchange drawn by the creditor on the debtor. When the debtors acceptance is obtained, the paper becomes a bill of exchange.
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What is a negotiable instrument ? : A cheque, promissory note or bill of exchange which are payable on demand. Bulls and Bears are terms associated with Stock Exchange : Bulls are traders who make profit when share prices goes up. : Bears make profit when share prices goes down. High value shares are popularly known as : Blue Chip Which bank is known as Bankers Bank? Reserve Bank of India (RBI) : Its headquarters is in Mumbai What is DTC : Direct Tax Code. It will replace the existing Income Tax Act. Laureus Awards 2012 : Sportsman - Novak Djokovic (Tennis) : Sportswoman - Vivian Cheruiyot ( Runner) : Lifetime Achievement Award Sir Bobby Charlton The Mexican scientist who has been chosen for UNESCO-Kalinga Prize 2011 for popularising science Dr Rene Raul Drucker The Indian-born molecular biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009, has been granted Knighthood by UK Venkatraman Ramakrishnan The cyclone that arose in the Bay of Bengal and hit the coastal parts of Tamilnadu on 30 Dec 2011 was named Thane The first Indian Comic Superhero created by Stan Lee creator of Spiderman, X Men

etc is named Chakra, the Invincible

The Chinese satellite navigation system which started providing initial positioning, navigation and timing operational services to China is named Beidou The American youngster who became the youngest to climb Mt. Everest in 2010 (at the age of 13 yrs 10 mths 10 days) has become the youngest the scale the seven summits in Dec 2011 Jordan Romero Satyadev Dubey, a Padma Bhushan 2011 recipient, who passed away on 25 Dec 2011 was associated with Theatre The team which has won the 62nd National Basketball Championship (Men) held at Chennai from 16 to 24 Dec 2011 Punjab The venue of 19th National Childrens' Science Congress Jaipur The footballer who has been named the Player of the Year by the All India Football Federation Sunil Chhetri The Pakistani writer who has been chosen for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for his debut novel The Wandering Falcon Jamil ahmad The new Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh The person who has been named person of the year by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Hema Malini The village in Nepal which has become has become Asia's first renewable energy village with the installation of mini windsolar hybrid power system Dhaubadi TIME Person of the Year 2011 The Protestor The Indian badminton star who created history by becoming 1st Indian singles player to reach finals of BWF Super Series at Liuzhou in China Saina Nehwal

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The person who has been chosen for the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2011 award Anna Hazare The Indian Air Force fighter aircraft which have been temporarily grounded following a crash near Pune on 13 December 2011 Sukhoi 30MKI The island nation in the Indian Ocean where China is setting up its first military base abroad Seychelles The film director who has been chosen for KR Narayanan Puraskaram for the film DAM999 Sohan Roy The place in Rajasthan which has been identified for establishing a new nuclear energy power station with 4x700 MW nuclear power plants Banswara The company which has topped the list of Indian companies in the Fortune 500 Indian Oil Corporation India won the SAFF Football Cup on 11 Dec 2011, the final being played at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi,by defeatingAfghanistan The venue of CMS Vatavaran Film Festival (Green Film Festival) held in December 2011 New Delhi Mario Miranda, who passed away on 11 Dec 2011 was a renowned Cartoonist. Later he has been awarded Padma Vibhushan The South Asian country which has been appointed a permanent member of the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation(UNSCEAR) by the United Nations General Assembly Pakistan The cricketer from Maharashtra who scored 451 runs in 466 balls in Group A match against Assam in the Cooch Behar Trophy Vijay Zol The sportsperson who has won the women's title at the National Squash

Championship in Chennai Dipika Pallikal

The sportsperson who has won the men's title at the National Squash Championship in Chennai Saurav Ghosal The Indian cricketer who has become the highest individual scorer in One-day Internationals by scoring 219 runs Virender Sehwag The Comptroller and Auditor General of India who has been elected as the Chairman of the Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations, the Specialized Agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency Vinod Rai As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India report the tele-density in India at the end of September is 75.48 connections per 100 people The most earthlike extra-solar planet discovered by NASA is named Kepler 22b The army exercise being conducted in Barmer district of Rajasthan is named Sudarshan Shakti O.P. Jindal Global University chancellor who has been conferred the Justice P.N. Bhagwati Award for his "outstanding contribution" to legal education and corporate philanthropy Naveen Jindal Socrates, the great footballer who died on 04 Dec 2011, played for Brazil The player who has won IBSF World Snooker Championship held in Bangalore, thus becoming the first Iranian to do so Hoosein Vafaei Ayouri The state in India in which Russia set up a polling station to enable its citizens to cast their votes to elect the State Duma lower house of the Parliament Goa The country which has won the Davis Cup 2011Spain The venue of the 20th World Petroleum Congress (WPC), India being represented
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by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri S Jaipal Reddy Doha

ernment Shantipur in Nadia dist.

The social activist who has been chosen for the Basava award for the year 2010, instituted by the Karnataka government Medha Patkar The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer launched by NASA towards Mars on 26 Nov 2011 is named Curiosity The expert group set up by the Central Government to suggest restructuring of power utilities of seven major States, including Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh is headed by B.K. Chaturvedi The film actor who has been appointed the national brand ambassador of UNICEF to promote child nutrition Aamir Khan The Assamese writer and winner of 2000 Jnanpith Award who died on 29 Nov 2011 Indira Goswami As per recent Government of India release, the doctor-population ratio in India is 1 : 2000 The venue of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference being held from 28 Nov 2011 Durban, South Africa The Indian cricketer who has been chosen for the Dilip Sardesai award for being India's best cricketer in the 2011-12 Test series against the West Indies by the BCCI R. Ashwin The sanctuary in Rajasthan which is to be converted into a National Park as decided by Rajasthan govt Kumbhalgarh Sanctuary Ustad Sultan Khan, who passed away on 27 Nov 2011 was a renowned Sarangi player The place in West Bengal where setting up of Institute of Handloom Technology has been approved by the Central Gov-

The sector in which the Indian Government has allowed increased FDI of 51% Multi-brand Retail The woman cricketer who has been chosen for MA Chidambaram Trophy (Best woman cricketer of 2010-11) Jhulan Goswami The Indian cricketer who has been chosen for Polly Umrigar Award for Indias best cricketer of 2010-11 Rahul Dravid The National Online Examination System which was launched by the Govt in Nov 2011 has been developed by C-DAC The former Indian cricketer who has been chosen for BCCI's Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Trophy 2010-11. Ajit Wadekar The Iranian film which won the Golden Elephant for being the Best Feature Film in the Competition International' section of the 17th International Children's Film Festival held in Hyderabad. Alafzar (Meadows) The scheme launched by Delhi government under which school children upto the age of 14 years will be provided free medical treatment and check-ups is named Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojana The organisation which has won the Thomson Reuters India Innovation Award- 2011 in "Hi-Tech Academic & Government" Category DRDO Vijaynagar airfield, which was inaugurated by the Indian Air Force as an Advance Landing Ground is located in Arunachal Pradesh The venue of India-ASEAN summit, India being represented by Dr. Manmohan Singh Bali, Indonesia The annual coastal security exercise to
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test the coastal preparedness of Lakshadweep and Minicoy islands commencing 15 Nov 11 is named Neptune IV

The theme of World Science Day for Peace and Development 2011 Towards green societies: equity, inclusiveness, participation TCS, India's largest technology company bagged the biggest deal for an Indian firm from Uk-based pension provider. The name of the company is Friends Life The Indian tourism compaign which won the Asia's Leading Tourist Board award at World Travel Awards in London Incredible India Caixa Bank which recently opened its representative office in India is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain Joe Frazier, also known as Smokin' Joe, who died on Nov 07, 2011 was associated with the sport of Heavyweight Boxing The commonly used pulse variety whose genome has been sequenced by the scientists at ICRISAT. Arhar or Pigeon Pea The veteran singer who has been chosen for KL Saigal award by Savitri Vikas Samiti Lata Mangeshkar The city in which the World's largest cross-country run for school children was held on 06 November 11.New Delhi The Indian ship which sank near the southern Dhofar region of Oman on Saturday killing 5 sailors, after it was caught up in strong winds of tropical cyclone Keila was named MSV Shiv Sagar MNV 2169 As per RBI directive banks have to offer uniform rate of interest on savings bank deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh As per the latest RBI notification, Account Payee demand drafts are to be mandatorily issued for amount exceeding Rs. 20,000/General Awareness

The first Shatabdi Express for South Central Railway introduced on 13 Nov 2011 runs between Secunderabad and Pune The tennis tournament won by seventh seeded Indo-Pak pair Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi on November 13, 2011 Paris Masters The venue of International Vaccine symposium titled 'Vaccines from Discovery to Translation' to be held from November 13, 2011 New Delhi The theme of 31st India International Trade Fair starting in New Delhi from 13 Nov 11 Indian handicrafts The magic of the gifted hands The Indian origin scientist who died on 09 Nov 11. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1968 Hargobind Khorana The Indian Navy ship which has been involved in thwarting pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden on 11 Nov 11 (and earlier twice in Sep 2011) INS Sukanya The DRDO developed Medium Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MALE - UAV) which completed its 5th successful flight Rustom 1 The theme of 17 SAARC summit held in Addu Island, Maldives from 10 to 11 Nov 11 Building Bridges The team which has won the Beighton Cup (Hockey) defeating ONGC in the finals Indian Oil Corporation The new Prime Minister of Greece who is to succeed George Papandreou, who resigned in view of country's economic trouble Lucas Papademos

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The rank of India in the Bribery Index released by Transparency International for 28 countries 19 The UNO agency which has admitted Palestine as its full-fledged member UNESCO The Indian boxer who has been ranked No. 2 in the international rankings released by AIBA on 01 November 11 Vikas Krishan The country which tops the Human Development Index 2011 Norway The country which tops the Gender Inequality Index 2011 Sweden The percentage who suffer from Multidimensional Poverty in India as per the report on Human Development released by United Nations Development Programme 53.7% The rank of India as per Gender Inequal-

ity Index 2011 released by United Nations Development Programme 129

The rank of India as per Human Development Index 2011 released by United Nations Development Programme 134 The number of new jobs the National Manufacturing Policy announced by the Central Govt aims to create by 2022 100 million The state in which 2nd Pearls Kabaddi World Cup for men and 1st for women is being held (Refer Sports Events for details) Punjab The new limit imposed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the number of commercial/non-commercial SMS that can be sent each day 200 The person elected as the interim Prime Minister of Libya to head the transitional government Abdel Rahim al-Kib

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General Awareness