Current Affair - 21 September 2014

Hope to be first Asian country to reach Mars in first shot: Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan

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   India's 50-year-old space odyssey will start a new chapter this week when an indigenously built spacecraft — affectionately called MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission) — attempts to enter the orbit around the Red Planet after a 680-million-km journey. The orbiting mission will take pictures and collect scientific data for about six months. The most nail-biting phase will begin early Wednesday when it executes the crucial Mars orbit insertion, a stage at which most missions have failed. Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan speaks about the challenge ahead.
  
  With 72 hours left for the crucial Mars orbit insertion, how do you describe the level of anxiety among your colleagues?
  
  There is no question of nervousness or tension. We have to stay cool and be prepared for any contingency.

Decades-long alliances falling apart, Sena-BJP & Cong-NCP at break point

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   UMBAI/NEW DELHI: Coalition politics in Maharashtra as we have known it for the past 25 years could be in for a complete shake-up unless the Shiv Sena and the BJP, allies for more than two decades, and the Congress and NCP, partners since 1999, step back from the brink. 
  
  On Saturday, there were signs that both alliances were on the verge of cracking: the BJP rejected the Shiv Sena's fresh offer of 126 seats, sending the alliance, a Sena leader said, "in the ICU," and the Congress and NCP issued each other an ultimatum, with state unit Congress chief Manikrao Thakre saying the party would contest all 288 seats if the NCP did not give up its "adamant attitude" and NCP's Praful Patel too setting a 24-hour deadline for Congress to accept the party's demand for 144 seats. The NCP will not accept less than 136 seats, it is learnt.

G20 deal on sharing bank information to aid India track black money

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  CAIRNS: In a major gain for Indian authorities trying to recover black money stashed abroad, G20 members will on Sunday agree to a deal that will mandate automatic sharing of all bank information with tax authorities on an annual basis, starting 2017.
  
  While 45 countries — including Mauritius and Switzerland — are expected to be part of the "early adopters" along with India, the OECD's Global Tax Forum that works on transparency and information exchange is trying to extract a commitment from 122 others to either come on board by September 2017 or the end of 2018, said sources familiar with the deliberations at the meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors from the world's 20 largest economies that account for 85% of the global economy.

Book your train ticket, ask for meals from restaurants

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  MUMBAI: Passengers who travel by long-distance trains will be able to relish food from a restaurant of their choice along the route as the Indian Railways would soon introduce e-catering facility to improve the travel experience. As of now, commuters have the option of buying food from the pantry car or unauthorized vendors.
  
  Railway Board member (traffic) D P Pandey said, "We plan to introduce this facility as a pilot project in two trains, including the Mumbai-Delhi Paschim Express. The order can be booked through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation."
  
  The Indian Railways has drawn a lot of flak for catering because of the pantry car operator's tendency to fleece people on quantity as well as quality. The introduction of e-catering facility through participation of private food outlets will spur competition and lead to improvement in service and quality of food offered by the pantry car contractor, officials said.
  
  Under the system, a passenger will have to provide his travel details, select the city and the food outlet from which he would like to order the food. A menu card will also be provided on the website.
  
  A senior WR official said, "There will be a cut-off time before which the person can order the food from a particular restaurant. For example, it will be mentioned that food from this restaurant has to be ordered at least one hour before the train's arrival at the station."

1 lakh, and counting: TCS is now top employer of women

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   MUMBAI: In a landmark for India Inc, the number of female employees at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has crossed the one-lakh mark, making it the country's biggest employer of women in the private sector. Women now comprise one-third of the IT major's 3.06 lakh workforce. This makes TCS, also the most valued company in India, one of the top employers of women in the technology sector globally. The top slot is held by IBM, which has an estimated 1.3 lakh women out of a workforce of 4.31 lakh. 
  
  In terms of market cap, the next two players in the domestic IT market are Infosys (54,537 women employees) and Wipro (45,276) but the female workforce of TCS is more than the two combined. The IT and BPO sector collectively employs about 3.1 million, of which nearly one million are women, according to industry body Nasscom.

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE QUESTIONS FOR SBI PROBATIONARY OFFICERS EXAM

• 1. Vikas Gowda won a gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in which of the following sports?
  a) Weightlifting
  b) Shooting
  c) Wrestling
  d) Discus throw
  e) None of these
• 2. Reuven Rivlin is the new President of which of the following countries?
  a) Germany
  b) Israel
  c) Austria
  d) Hungary
  e) Romania
• 3. Which of the following teams was placed third in the 2014 FIFA World Cup?
  a) Germany
  b) Argentina
  c) Netherlands
  d) Brazil
  e) Belgium
• 4. Who were runners up in FIFAWorld Cup 2014?
  a) Germany
  b) Netherlands
  c) Argentina
  d) Brazil
  e) Colombia
• 5. Who is the Present Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha?
  a) Sumitra Mahajan
  b) Arun Jaitely
  c) Gulam Nabi Azad
  d) P. J. Kurien
  e) P. Sreedharan
• 6. 56th Annual Grammy Awards "Song of the Year"?
  a) I Will Wait
  b) I Cry
  c) One More Night
  d) Royals
  e) Passenger
• 7. Name the Chairman of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)?
  a) Shekar Basu
  b) Dr. M. Y. S. Prasad
  c) K. Radha Krishnan
  d) Ranjit Biswal
  e) N. Srinivasan
• 8. Who got the "India's Global Icon of the Year" award?
  a) Amir khan
  b) Amitabh Bachchan
  c) Narendra modi
  d) Rajini kanth
  e) Abdul kalam
• 9. Which film bagged Best Film in BAFTAAwards 2014?
  a) 12 Years a Slave
  b) Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
  c) The Flick
  d) The Goldfinch
  e) Margaret Fuller
• 10. What is the official currency of Argentina?
  a) Argentine Peso
  b) Argentine Real
  c) Argentine Pula
  d) Argentine Dollar
  e) Argentine Rope
• 11. Cricketer of the year of CEAT Awards is bagged by:
  a) Shikhar Dhawan (India)
  b) Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)
  c) Virat Kohli (India)
  d) Mitchell Jonson (Australia)
  e) Glenn Maxwell (Australia)
• 
  12. Who among the following was conferred Padma Vibhushan during this year?
  a) Dr. Raghunath A. Mashelkar,
  Science and Engineering
  b) Shri B.K.S. Iyengar
  c) Shri T.H. Vinayakram, Art - Ghatam Artist, Tamil Nadu
  d) Dr. Thirumalachari Ramasami, Science and Engineering, Delhi
  e) Smt Rani Karnaa, Art - Kathak, West Bengal
• 13. Who is the Secretary General of SAARC (The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation)?
  a) Takehiko Nakao
  b) Jose Manuel Barroso
  c) Nkosazana Dilmini Zuma
  d) Le luong Minh Jakartha
  e) Arjun Bahadur Thapa
• 14. K. V. Chowdary is the Chairman of:
  a) ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India)
  b) PAC (Public Accounts Committee)
  c) CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes)
  d) SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India)
  e) ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations)
• 15. The Budget 2014-15 extends ____ per cent withholding tax on corporate bonds until June 30, 2017:
  a) 3
  b) 4
  c) 5
  d) 6
  e) 7
• 16. The Budget 2014-15 raises limit on foreign direct investment in defence sector to ____ per cent from ____ percent:
  a) 49; 25
  b) 46; 26
  c) 47; 25
  d) 48; 26
  e) 49; 26
• 17. World Literacy Day is observed on
  a) Sep 5
  b) Aug 6
  c) Sep 8
  d) Oct 24
  e) Dec 7
• 18. LASIK surgery is gaining widespread popularity and acceptance by people who are not friendly with the eye-glasses. What is the full form of LASIK?
  a) Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis
  b) Laser-Assayed In-Situ Keratomileusis
  c) Laser-Assisted Inhibited Keratomileusis
  d) Laser-Assayed Inhibited Keratomileusis
  e) None of these
• 19. "Arka Rakshak" is a famous variet y of __?
  a) Tomato
  b) Potato
  c) Brinjal
  d) Orange
  e) Apple
• 20. Dr. Noel W. Hinners, a former Chief Scientist of NASA has recently passed away. What is the name of the space program on which he had worked extensively and given significant contributions?
  a) Project Mercury
  b) Project Gemini
  c) Project Apollo
  d) Project Soyuz
  e) Project Jupiter
• ANSWERS:
  1) d; 2) b; 3) c; 4) c; 5) d; 6) d; 7) c; 8) b; 9) a; 10) a;
  11) c; 12) b; 13) e; 14) c; 15) c; 16) e; 17) c: 18) a: 19) a: 20) c