Current Affairs - 28 October 2014

In a democracy, President's rule can't go on forever: SC on Delhi govt formation

• NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Centre and the Delhi lieutenant governor for delay in taking decisions regarding government formation.
  
  "Delhi's lieutenant governor should have taken decision on government formation at the earliest and should not have taken five months time," the Supreme Court said.
  
  "In a democracy, President's Rule can't go on forever. Have given enough time, nothing has happened. People of Delhi have the right to a government," the Supreme Court said.
  
  "We gave you enough time but nothing happened and you always make one statement or other on the day of hearing," the Supreme Court said.
  
  "Suppose lieutenant governor is going to invite the largest party (BJP). Are they in a position to form the government?" the apex court enquired, apparently making a reference to the number of legislators the BJP has in the Delhi assembly.

Maharashtra BJP legislature party to elect its leader today; initial cabinet likely to be compact

• MUMBAI: A high-level BJP team on Monday held discussions on the initial size of the cabinet and possible names for key portfolios ahead of Friday's swearing-in of a new government in the state.
  
  "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked us to ensure that the size of the cabinet is as small as possible and maximum emphasis is on providing a results-oriented administration," a senior BJP leader told TOI after the team's meeting.
  
  Accordingly, in the first round of portfolio distribution, less than a dozen cabinet members will be inducted and a number of departments merged. A source said that the Krishna Valley Development Corporation may be merged with the water resources department, and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) with the public works department (PWD).
  
  There's likely to be a single cabinet minister for medical education, public health, and food and drug administration, and another for home and transport.
  
  Devendra Fadnavis, who is a certainty for the post of chief minister, is expected to keep the general administration, urban development and housing department portfolios with himself.

Indian soldiers prevent Chinese troops from constructing road in Arunachal

• NEW DELHI: Arunachal Pradesh, much like eastern Ladakh, continues to be a major flashpoint between India and China, with Indian troops recently blocking attempts by the People's Liberation Army soldiers to once again construct a road in the Asaphila region.
  
  While the Asaphila incident did not lead to a prolonged military face-off, unlike the serious ones at Chumar and Demchok in eastern Ladakh last month, it's an indication of the continuing shadow-boxing between the two countries all along the 4,057-km long Line of Actual Control.
  
  Both armies undertake regular patrols to lay claim to "8-10 disputed areas" like Asaphila, a remote 100 sq km area along the LAC in Upper Subansiri division of Arunachal, as well as the so-called "Fish Tail-I and II" areas in Chaglagam sector, which take their name from the shape the LAC takes in the region.
  
  Sources said the PLA's "heightened activity" was been witnessed in Asaphila region for some months now. "The PLA troops, with vehicles and other equipment, then tried to build a road till Point 2445. They were then stopped from doing so by our soldiers," said a source.

Black money account holder big donor to BJP, Congress

• CHENNAI: One of the three people whom the Centre named in the Supreme Court as being black money account holders had made big donations to both BJP and Congress between 2004 and 2012.
  
  Radha S Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd, donated Rs 1.18 crore to the BJP and Rs 65 lakh to the Congress in this period, Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said, quoting figures submitted by the parties to the Election Commission.
  
  The Centre on Monday named Pradip Burman, Radha Timblo and Pankaj Lodhiya in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court on people with black money accounts.
  
  "An analysis of the donations made by individuals and corporates to national parties between 2004-05 and 2011-12 shows that Timblo Pvt Ltd, whose managing director is Radha Timblo, donated nine times to the BJP, a total of Rs 1.18 crore and thrice to the Congress, to a total of Rs 65 lakh, in seven years," said Jagdish Chokkar, a founder-member of ADR, a group that advocates electoral reform.

World’s first windowless plane set to take off

• LONDON : The world's first windowless plane is all set to take off. A British developer will soon test a windowless plane that allows passengers to see what's going on outside.
  
  The windows would be replaced by full-length screens allowing constant views of the sky and space outside.
  
  Passengers would be able to switch the view on and off according to their preference, identify prominent sights by tapping the screen or just surf the internet.
  
  Scientists and engineers at Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) called it "the windowless cabin with a view".
  
  They said, "The days of glimpsing the world through a tiny plastic porthole when you fly are soon to be a thing of the past; future aircrafts will offer a crystal clear panoramic view without any windows at all. We are developing ultra-flexible, high-definition display technologies that could line the interior walls of cabins and display live footage from external cameras.

Social media creates panic, spreads rumours about cyclone Nilofar

• PANAJI: While social media definitely has its perks, it can also act as a fertile ground for imaginations to run wild and to spread rumours, as was evident in the past few days where social media users claimed that Cyclone Nilofar would soon
  hit Goa.
  
  "Nobody is referring to our website. IMD is the nodal agency for this. Cyclone Nilofar is not going to affect Goa," Indian meteorological department director V K Mini said, while trying to assuage fears that the cyclone would wreck havoc across the state.

1.5 lakh people swamp Taj Mahal on Diwali weekend

• AGRA: India's best loved, much visited and most famous — by far — monument is in some real and present danger. 
  
  On Diwali weekend, there were a staggering and unbelievable 1.5 lakh people inside the Taj Mahal, and doing pretty much what they pleased. While many were merrily clicking pictures in the mausoleum (a strict no), others were running their sweaty palms down Shah Jahan's labour of love (another big no). 
  
  And as shoe covers had run out of stock (as usual), innumerable tourists were seen stomping around in their shoes, turning the lone policeman's duty there into a nightmare. Experts now believe that if this kind of unregulated and undisciplined traffic goes on, the damage to India's biggest tourist attraction will be irreversible. 

Japan telecom giant SoftBank to invest $10bn in India

• NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: Japanese telecom and internet giant SoftBank on Monday announced its intent to invest nearly $10 billion (around Rs 60,000 crore) in India over the next few years, with Masayoshi Son, the $92 billion conglomerate's chairman and founder, expected to kick off investments during his trip to India, where he is expected to meet several entrepreneurs .
  
  Son mentioned the investment intention during his meeting with communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, an official statement said, adding that India is "the top most priority for SoftBank".
  
  Japan's richest man, who had invested $20 million in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2000, is eyeing investments in e-tailing and technology companies in India, said sources privy to the discussions. Son is learnt to have suggested that the Centre should speed up the rollout of telecom infrastructure and quickly move to nationwide 4G services.

Maruti to roll out India’s cheapest automatic car with Alto

• NEW DELHI : Maruti Suzuki is driving in the country's cheapest automatic car early next month. The company has chosen its Alto 1000cc model for the automatic variant, which is expected to be priced at under Rs 4 lakh. 
  
  The company focused on the automatic category with the Celerio compact and plans to introduce it on other models in the coming time, sales & marketing head R S Kalsi said. 
  
  Alto's automatic variant will use the Auto-Gear Shift (AGS) technology that the company had deployed on Celerio. Of nearly 83,500 units of Celerio booked so far, around 40% are running with the AGS technology.

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs FOR BANK EXAMS

• 1. Seeking to boost manufacturing sector, Govt. has extended the benefits of the NMP throughout the country wherever industry can organise itself into clusters and adopt a selfregulatory model. What does NMP stand for?
  1) National Marketing Policy
  2) National Manufacturing Policy
  3) National Maintenance Policy
  4) National Manufacturing Practice
  5) National Manufacturing Promotion
• 2. Which combined military training exercise "Yudh Abhyas 2014" has been conducted in the foothills of Himalayas of Chaubattia in Uttarakhand from September 17 to 30, under the aegis of Garud Division/ Surya Command?
  1) Indo-US
  2) USA-USSR
  3) Indo-Pak
  4) Indo-UAE
  5) Indo-Aus
• 3. As per the new rules formed by the Govt. aimed at checking political interference, officers of the three premier services IAS, IPS and IFS will now spend at least what time in each posting?
  1) One year
  2) Two years
  3) Three years
  4) Four years
  5) Five years
• 4. In a step towards better management of its borrowings, the central govt. has prepared PDMA Bill. Consider the following with respect to PDMA:
  (A) PDMA is acronym for Public Debt Management Agency.
  (B) The proposed agency will be established as a statutory body.
  (C) It is expected to take away the borrowing task from the RBI.
  Which of the above statements is/ are correct?
  1) Only (A)
  2) Only (B)
  3) Only (C)
  4) Only (A) and (B)
  5) Only (A) and (C)
• 5. According to the Sixth Economic Census 2013 released on 9 September 2014, the highest percentage of hired workers in India is present in which State?
  1) AP
  2) MP
  3) Arunachal Pradesh
  4) Odisha
  5) Assam
• 6. The Union Cabinet approved the creation of India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF) recently. Consider the following in this regard and choose the correct statement(s):
  1) The National Innovation Council and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) have jointly created the fund.
  2) IIIF seeks to leverage the model of venture capital to transform the lives of the less privileged
  in the country.
  3) The fund will be registered with the SEBI with an initial corpus of Rs.5,000 cr.
  4) All the above
  5) Only (1) and (2)
• 7. The central bank of which of the following countries has approved domestic trading in the Chinese Yuan, Japanese Yen, Australian Dollar as well as Indian Rupee in a move that will effectively make those currencies legal tender in the country?
  1) Azerbaijan
  2) Mogadishu
  3) Zimbabwe
  4) Nigeria
  5) Bhutan
• 8. In the recently concluded 17th Asian games India won 57 medals. India placed in ........ position
  1) 11th
  2) 8th
  3) 6th
  4) 13th
  5) 7th
• 9. The high-level committee that was constituted by Supreme Court in January 2014 in its report on 8 September 2014 revealed that most of the deemed universities are unfit for the status. Which is that high-level committee?
  1) H Devaraja Committee
  2) V Seneghal Committee
  3) Tandon Committee
  4) Mudgal Committee
  5) Sri Krishna Committee
• 10. Which of the following is the first country, Narendra Modi visited as Prime Minister of India?
  1) Malaysia
  2) Japan
  3) USA
  4) Bangladesh
  5) Bhutan
• 11. In the recently concluded Asian games, with which of the following partner India's Sania Mirza won the gold medal in the mixed doubles?
  1) Horia Tecau
  2) Mahesh Bhupathi
  3) Saketh Myneni
  4) Rohan Bopanna
  5) None of these
• 12. President Pranab Mukherjee conferred Ashok Chakra upon K Prasad Babu posthumously on 65th Republic Day. He was a Sub- Inspector in Greyhounds in the state of...
  1) Odisha
  2) Jharkhand
  3) Bihar
  4) West Bengal
  5) Andhra Pradesh
• 13. In which of the following states, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) in first week of September 2014 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to setup India's first of its kind Coral Garden?
  1) Gujarat
  2) Odisha
  3) Telangana
  4) Andhra Pradesh
  5) Madhya Pradesh
• 14. Parliament of Iraq on 8 September 2014 approved a new government headed by a person as Prime Minister. Who is that person to head the government as Prime Minister?
  1) Haider-al-abadi
  2) Osama − al− Zuferi
  3) Abdul Kjader
  4) Hoshyar Zubedi
  5) None
• 15. McKinsey India Chairman 'Adil Zainulbhai' has been appointed as the Chairman of Quality Council of India (QCI) for a period of...
  1) 5 years
  2) 2 years
  3) 4 years
  4) 3 years
  5) 6 years
• 16. World observed "International Day for the preservation of the Ozone Layer 2014" on..
  1) September 16
  2) September 12
  3) September 17
  4) September 20
  5) September 22
• 17. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) exempts winners of which of the following awards/ games from paying income tax on cash or other rewards given by the govt?
  1) Ramon Magsaysay award
  2) Olympics
  3) Commonwealth games
  4) All the above
  5) None of these
• 18. The Supreme Court has laid down 12 guidelines for authorities in dealing with death-row prisoners recently. Which of the following is NOT true in this regard?
  1) All the required documents/ records should be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in one stroke.
  2) The rejection of mercy plea by the President should be communicated to prisoners in
  writing.
  3) There should be a gap of 30 days between receipt of communication of rejection of
  mercy petition and execution date.
  4) The post-mortem of death convicts after their hanging has been made obligatory.
  5) None of these
• 19. Kaushik Basu is going to be the second Indian after Amartya Sen to head?
  1) Indian Economic Association
  2) Indian Civics Association
  3) Indian Economic Council
  4) Economic association of India
  5) None
• 20. The Arvind Mayaram panel is considering redefining overseas inflow. As per the proposal, any individual investment above 10 percent of the paid-up capital in a listed company will be treated as which of the following?
  1) Foreign Direct Investment
  2) Foreign Portfolio Investment
  3) Qualified Foreign Investors
  4) Foreign Institutional Investment
  5) None
• 21. Which of the following is NOT correct about India's strategic missile Agni-IV?
  1) It is a nuclear-capable strategic missile and has a strike range of about 4,000 km
  2) The missile cannot be launched from a roadmobile launcher.
  3) It has two stages of solid propulsion
  4) It has a re-entry heat shield which can withstand temperature of more than 3000 degrees Celsius.
  5) It carries state-of-the-art Ring Laser Gyros based high accuracy INS and Micro Navigation System (MINGS).
• 22. Which of the following cricket teams lost its one-day international status recently after it failed to win the final super six game in New Zealand in the World Cup qualifiers?
  1) Kenya
  2) Zimbabwe
  3) Scotland
  4) UAE
  5) None of these
• 23. Mission Mangalam, an integrated poverty alleviation and rural woman empowerment initiative of which among the following states?
  1) West Bengal
  2) Rajasthan
  3) Gujarat
  4) Kerala
  5) Arunachal Pradesh
• 24. As per currently prevailing norms, 49 percent FDI is allowed under automatic route in private sector banks in India. However, under the govt route FDI limit is up to...
  1) 64%
  2) 74%
  3) 84%
  4) 94%
  5) 100%
• 25. The RBI announced to conduct open market operations, aimed to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market by selling or purchasing which of the following?
  1) Govt. securities
  2) Public Sector Banks (PSB's) shares
  3) Shares of blue chip PSUs
  4) Gold
  5) None of these
• 26. The Govt. had set up a six-member committee to address concerns of people from the Northeast following outrage over the death of a 19-year-old student in Delhi from Arunachal Pradesh. The Committee was headed by...
  1) P Bharat Singh
  2) Tape Bagra
  3) Allen Temshi Jamir
  4) HWT Syeim
  5) MP Bezbaruah
• 27. After the direct benefit transfer project, the Govt. is now planning to usher in a DTH scheme. Which of the following is correct with respect to this scheme?
  1) DTH is the acronym for Direct-To-Home.
  2) The scheme has already been initiated in Andhra Pradesh and will now be implemented across the country.
  3) All wages, pensions, maternity benefits and subsidy schemes meant for the people will actually be delivered directly to the family through Micro ATMs and other means.
  4) All the above
  5) Only (1) and (3)
• 28. Which of the following has been appointed as India's permanent representative to International Renewable Energy Agency?
  1) Anil Nair
  2) T.R. Chandrasekhar
  3) Kushal Singh
  4) Arvind Nair
  5) T.P. Seetharam
• 29. Which of the following is/ are correctly matched with respect to bank's classification of their non-performing assets (NPAs)?
  (A) Sub-standard asset: an asset which has remained NPA for a period not exceeding 12 months
  (B) Doubtful Asset: an asset which has remained NPA for a period exceeding 12 months
  (C) Loss asset: an asset which cannot be recovered
  1) All the above
  2) Only (A)
  3) Only (B)
  4) Only (C)
  5) Only (A) and (B)
• 30. Any tangible assets that an organisation uses to produce goods or services such as office buildings, equipment and machinery, is termed as which of the following?
  1) Fast moving consumer goods
  2) White goods
  3) Capital goods
  4) Brown goods
  5) None of these
• 31. In the latest Railway budget, the government has announced the first bullet train in which of the following corridor?
  1) Mumbai-Ahmedabad
  2) Delhi-Kanpur
  3) Delhi-Kolkata
  4) Varanasi-Chennai
  5) Mumbai - Pune
• 32. Susie Wolff becomes the first woman to take part in a Formula1 racing weekend race in 22 years during the British Grand Prix. Who was the last woman to enter the F1 world Championship?
  1) Christiana Amati
  2) Lella Lombardi
  3) Susi Headen
  4) Giovanna Amati
  5) None
• 33. Super Typhoon Neoguri, the strongest typhoon so far in 2014 Western Pacific season smashed which of the following countries?
  1) China
  2) Japan
  3) Canada
  4) USA
  5) UAE
• 34. NABARD has sanctioned loans worth over Rs 19,100 cr under RIDF to states for agriculture and allied activities. Expand RIDF....
  1) Rural Industries Development Fund
  2) Rural Infrastructure Development Facility
  3) Rural Innovation and Development Fund
  4) Rural Irrigation Development Fund
  5) Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
• 35. The Reserve Bank of India has suggested the use of PKI in payment system application. PKI, enables internet users to securely and privately exchange data and money, stands for...
  1) Public Key Initiative
  2) Public Key Information
  3) Public Key Interference
  4) Public Key Introduction
  5) Public Key Infrastructure
• 36. The Sant Kabir award is given for the personalities who have given outstanding contribution in which field among these?
  1) Handicrafts and Handlooms
  2) Agriculture
  3) Cultural Heritage
  4) Environmental Studies
  5) Peace and Harmony
• 37. Who among the following has been elected as the new president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)? India returned to the Olympic fold after a 14-month suspension following his election:
  1) Lalit Bhanot
  2) Abhay Singh Chautala
  3) Anil Khanna
  4) Rajeev Mehta
  5) N. Ramachandran
• 38. The "Golden Pen of Freedom Award" is an annual international journalism award given by which organisation?
  1) World Association of the News papers
  2) UNESCO
  3) Times Group
  4) SAARC
  5) None of these
• 39. The Penguin publications announced to withdraw a book, The Hindus: An Alternative History after some Hindu activists opposed the book. Who is the author of the book?
  1) Sheldon Pollock
  2) Sudhir Kakar
  3) Rajiv Malhotra
  4) Marjorie Garber
  5) Wendy Dongier
• 40. Indian Air Force has launched its first 3D mobile game to encourage youths to join the Air Force. What is the name of that Game?
  1) Guardian of the Sky
  2) Sky Protectors
  3) Protectors & Scrappers
  4) Sky Guardians
  5) None of these
• ANSWERS:
  
  1-2, 2-1, 3-2, 4-5, 5-3, 6-5, 7-3, 8-2, 9-1, 10-5
  11-3, 12-5, 13-1, 14-1, 15-4, 16-1, 17-4, 18-3, 19-1, 20-1
  21-2, 22-1, 23-3, 24-2, 25-1, 26-5, 27-4, 28-5, 29-1, 30-3
  31-1, 32-4, 33-2, 34-5, 35-5, 36-1, 37-5, 38-1, 39-5, 40-1