GENERAL AWARENESS WITH REFERENCE TO BANKING SECTOR

 GENERAL AWARENESS WITH REFERENCE TO BANKING SECTOR

1. Who was appointed as the new Director of the country's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) recently?

a) Vikram Sood
b) Ashok Chaturvedi
c) P.K. Hormis Tharakan
d) C. D. Sahay
e) Sanjeev Tripathi*

Answer 1:

Sanjeev Tripathi, who heads the Aviation Research Centre (ARC), was on December 30, 2010 appointed new Director of the country's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for a two year term. He takes over from the present Director, K. C. Verma, who has expressed his desire to quit a month ahead of his tenure ending on January 31, 2011.

2. Who was appointed as the new president of the Editors Guild of India recently?

a) T.N. Ninan*
b) Commi Kapoor
c) Shekhar Gupta
d) Suresh Bafna
e) Arnab Goswami

Answer 2:

The Chairman and Editorial Director of Business Standard, T.N. Ninan was elected President of the Editors Guild of India at the annual general body organised in Delhi on December 31, 2010. Commi Kapoor of Indian Express was retained as general secretary while Suresh Bafna of Nai Duniya was elected treasurer. Ninan succeeds Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, while Bafna takes over from senior editor Rohit Bansal. In its continuing campaign against paid news, the Guild decided to post on its website from February 1 the names of those members who sign affidavits pledging against indulging in this pernicious practice.

3. Sudhir Chandra was appointed to which of the following positions recently?

a) Chairman, Securities Appellate Tribunal
b) Chairman, Finance Commission
c) Director General of Foreign Trade
d) Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes
e) Chairman, SEBI

Answer 3:

The CBDT will have a new Chairman in Sudhir Chandra, who has been Member (Investigation) since February 2009. Chandra, a 1973-batch Indian Revenue Services officer, assumed charge as CBDT chairman on December 31, 2010.

4. Which of the following statements about the agreement on Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project signed during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently, is/are correct?

I. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is the Indian company in the project

II. United Aircraft Corporation (MiG) is the Russian company in the project

III. The production of FGFA will be the biggest defence programme ever in the history of India
a) I only
b) I and II only
c) II only
d) I and III only*
e) I, II and III only

Answer 4:

President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev visited India on 21-22 December 2010 for the 10th Annual Summit meeting under the India Russia Strategic Partnership. A Contract for Preliminary Design of the Indo-Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) was signed between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi on December 21, 2010. The broad scope of bilateral cooperation during the joint project covers the design & development of the PMF (Perspective Multi-role Fighter), its production and joint marketing to the friendly third countries. The total cost including options and the value of production aircraft will make this the biggest Defence programme ever in the history of India involving production of over 200-250 aircraft.

5. Which state’s Tourism department organised the annual Pinjore Heritage Festival recently? 

a) Himachal Pradesh
b) Rajasthan
c) Madhya Pradesh
d) Bihar
e) Haryana*

Answer 5:

Pinjore Heritage Festival was organised by Haryana tourism at Yadavindra Gardens, Pinjore, from December 17 to 19, 2010.

6. Which of the following statements is are correct about the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS)?

I. It will facilitate real-time access of classified criminal data to law enforcement authorities

II. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is the nodal central agency mandated to implement the network in all the states

III. It became operational recently
a) I only
b) I and II only*
c) II only
d) I and III only
e) III only

Answer 6:

The government will roll out its crime-tracking network by September 2011 to help enforcement and police officials speed up probe and facilitate real-time access of classified criminal data. The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) will benefit collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, transfer and sharing of data and information between police stations, state HQs and central police organizations. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is the nodal central agency mandated to implement the network in all the states in collaboration with other enforcement agencies like the IB, the CBI, the ED and customs. The CCTNS will enhance transparency and would enable real-time analysis of criminals and crime incidents. “We are putting in place the hardware and software at police stations and control rooms so that the initial data can be fed onto the systems and individual database of police agencies and others is uploaded,” NCRB director general N. K. Tripathi said in December 2010.

7. The U.N. General Assembly has proclaimed 2011 as the International Year of      _______.

a) Forests*
b) Water Resources
c) Biodiversity
d) Marine life
e) Indigenous Tribes

Answer 7:

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

8. Which of the following was observed on January 15, 2011?

a) Army Day*
b) Navy Day
c) Air Force Day
d) Coast Guard Day
e) None of the above

Answer 8:

The 63rd Indian Army Day was celebrated on January 15, 2011. The Indian Army Day is celebrated Jan 15 every year in recognition of Lieutenant General - and later the Field Marshal - late K.M. Cariappa taking over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from General Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander, in 1949.

9. Which of the following statements is/are correct about India’s external debt as on September 30, 2010?

I. Commercial borrowings accounted for the highest share of India’s external debt

II. Short-term debt accounted for less than one-fourth of India’s total external debt

III. India’s external debt on Sept end 2010 showed an increase over the figure in March end 2010

a) I only
b) I and II only
c) II only
d) I and III only
e) I, II and III only*

Answer 9:

At end-September 2010, India’s external debt was US$ 295.8 billion reflecting an increase of 12.8 per cent over the level of US$ 262.3 billion at end-March 2010. The long-term debt increased by 9.5 per cent to US$ 229.8 billion, while short-term debt showed an increase of 25.8 per cent to US$ 66.0 billion.

Short-term debt accounted for 22.3 per cent of India’s total external debt while the rest 77.7 per cent was long-term debt.

Component-wise, the share of commercial borrowings stood highest at 27.8 per cent followed by NRI deposits (16.9 per cent) and multilateral debt (15.8 per cent). Government (Sovereign) external debt was US$ 72.3 billion (24.4 per cent of total external debt) at end-September 2010 as against US$ 67.1 billion (25.6 per cent) at end-March 2010.

The ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves was 22.5 per cent at end-September 2010 as compared to 18.8 per cent at end-March 2010.

10. The Union Ministry of Finance has decided to phase out the circulation of coins of denomination of below _____ with effect from June 30, 2011.

a) 5 Rupee
b) 2 Rupee
c) 1 Rupee
d) 50 paise*
e) 25 paise

Answer 10:

The Union Ministry of Finance has notified on December 20, 2010 to phase out the circulation of coins of denomination of below 50 paise with effect from June 30, 2011. From this date, these coins shall cease to be a legal tender for payment as well as on account. The procedure for call in shall be notified separately by the Reserve Bank of India. Consequently, from June 30, 2011 onwards these coins will not be accepted in transactions. The minimum denomination coin acceptable for transaction will be 50 paise from that date.