Current Affairs - 14 November 2014

125th birth anniversary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is being celebrated on 14 November 2014. As first Prime Minister of India, Nehru is considered to be the architect of modern India and the father figure of Indian politics of the 20th century. He was born on 14 November 1889 at which place?

• 

  Allahabad

  Born to Motilal Nehru, the leading barrister of his time, Nehru served twice as the President of the Indian National Congress. He steered free India to become a modern country while being the Prime Minister of the country from 15 August 1947 till his death on 27 May 1964. He was a prolific writer and gave the world some of the iconic books on history such as ‘Discovery of India’, ‘Glimpses of World History’ and ‘Toward Freedom’.

UNWTO declares Chilika Lake as 'Destination Flyway'

• 

  The Chilika lake in Odisha has been declared as 'Destination Flyway' by the United Nation's World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) because of its natural treasure and bio-diversity, officials said.
  The chief executive of Chilika Development Authority (CDA) Ajit Kumar Pattnaik has informed that the lake has been accorded the tag of 'Destination Flyway' by the UN body.
  The high level meeting was presided over by Chief Secretary G C Pati, officials said.
  The issues related to the restoration and management of brackish water lagoon and its basin were discussed in the meeting, Pattnaik said.

Philippines Sign FTA with India

• 

  The Philippines, the only country in the 10-nation ASEAN to sign a Free Trade Agreement for services and investments with India, today assured that the internal processes for inking the ambitious bilateral pact was underway.
  The assurance was given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Philippines President Benigno Aquino during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the India-ASEAN and East Asia summits here.
  India has formally signed the long-pending pact with the other nine southeast Asian nations -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
  Modi in his address to the 12th India-ASEAN summit yesterday had urged that the FTA on Service and Investment be brought into force "at the earliest".

UK, France support India as permanent member of UNSC

• 

  The UK, France and Nepal have supported India's candidature as a permanent member of a reformed UN Security Council as member nations expressed frustration at the lack of progress on long-pending reforms in the powerful UN body.
  Some 50 nations participating in a General Assembly session here yesterday said Security Council reform is long overdue and is needed to reflect current political realities.
  Introducing the debate on 'Equitable Representation and Increase in Security Council Membership', UN General Assembly President Sam Kutesa reaffirmed that reform of the UN body is one of his top priorities.

India signs tax info exchange pact with Saint Kitts & Nevis

• 

  To help in its efforts to crack down on suspected black money stashed abroad, India has entered into an information exchange pact with Saint Kitts and Nevis, a two-island Carribean country, perceived as a safe haven for offshore funds.
  The agreement was signed by India's Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Kumar Mukerji, and his counterpart from Saint Kitts and Nevis Ambassador Delano Frank Bart at the Indian mission here.
  The agreement is modelled on other tax information exchange agreements and would cover taxes imposed by both the countries, the Indian mission said in a statement. It would include information relevant to administration of domestic tax laws of each countries in terms of assessment, tax claims and prosecution. The agreement would also encompass information on banking details, ownership information of companies and information relevant to administration of domestic laws and taxes in both the countries.

India, US reach pact to resolve WTO impasse

• 

  India and the United States issued statements on Thursday declaring that they had reached an agreement on outstanding issues with the aim of unlocking the impasse at the World Trade Organization (WTO). 
  India said that US has agreed that India’s right to protect its right to food security cannot be denied by the WTO as a result of which the imperfections of the Bali Ministerial package can now be removed. The US said that the agreement paves the way for full implementation of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), the first multilateral trade agreement to be concluded in the history of the WTO. The agreement also reflects shared understandings regarding the WTO’s work on food security, the US statement added. 

India China Joint Training-Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2014

• 

  In continuation of the series of Joint Exercises between India and China, the  Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2014 is all set to commence shortly at Aundh Camp, Pune on      16 Nov 14. This will be the fourth joint training exercise by the Indian Army with People’s Liberation Army of China. While the second edition of the exercise was held at Belgaum in 2008, it has been conducted twice in China in 2007 & 2013. 
              The aim of the joint training is to share the drills and practices learnt while tackling insurgency and terrorism, thereby promoting healthy military to military relations between the two Armies and developing joint strategies of conducting operations in a counter terrorism environment. Forming part of the different levels of the military to military engagement across the entire spectrum of operations, this exercise will enrich the two contingents in further honing basic military skills.

Chennai to host Global Investors' Meet 2015

• The Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday announced that the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) would be held during May 23-24 next year in Chennai to showcase the ample endowments and boundless potential of the State. 
  Among the sectors that would be highlighted were electronics and electronics hardware, textiles, agro and food processing, IT/ITES, automobiles and auto components, chemicals and petrochemicals, engineering and heavy engineering, Infrastructure including roads and minor port development, industrial parks and SEZs, urban infrastructure and renewable energy. 
  The government, in the budget for 2014-2015, set apart Rs. 100 crore for the proposed event. 

Role of El Nino in Indian Ocean

• 

  The Indian Ocean has been warming at a rate faster than thought before (1.2 deg C during the past century). It is also the largest consistent contributor to the global ocean warming trends. Recent studies show that a warm Indian Ocean can in turn modulate the Pacific conditions including the El Nino events. So basically, such large warming over the Indian Ocean has implications on the global climate.
  The western Indian Ocean, traditionally thought to have cooler sea surface temperatures (SSTs) than the central and eastern Indian Ocean, is surprisingly showing an even stronger summer warming trend over the whole of the 20th century than the central and eastern Indian Ocean. The warming is significantly so large that it may alter the monsoon circulation, monsoon rainfall over the ocean and land, marine food webs and fisheries (western Indian Ocean is one of the most productive oceans) and global climate including the El Nino.

Ensure aid to Rohingya Muslims, Ban tells Myanmar

• 

  U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Myanmar government on Wednesday he is concerned about the welfare of the country's Rohingya Muslims and asked officials to ensure access for U.N. agencies delivering humanitarian assistance to them. 
  Mr. Ban, is in Myanmar to attend summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the East Asia Forum, met senior officials in the capital Naypyidaw and urged them to respect the Rohingya's human rights. 
  Almost 140,000 of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya, most of whom of whom are stateless, remain displaced after deadly clashes with Buddhists in western Rakhine state in 2012. 

All you need to know about the Rosetta mission

• 

  The European Space Agency on Wednesday successfully landed the Philae probe on comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko. The audacious landing attempt is the climax of a decade-long mission to link up with the giant ball of dust and ice. 
  Here’s a timeline of major events in the Rosetta mission: 
  March 2, 2004- Europe’s unmanned probe Rosetta takes off from Kourou, French Guiana, after a series of delays, including an abandoned January 2003 launch window because of a rocket problem. 
  Feb. 25, 2007- Rosetta carries out a close flyby of Mars. European Space Agency’s mission control breaks out in applause after the end of 15 tense minutes of radio silence as the craft passes behind the Red Planet. 

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs FOR ALL BANK EXAMINATIONS

• 1. The internet banking providing many banking services making the customers life easier. Which of the following risks recognized internationally in the internet banking?
  1) Operational risk
  2) Credit risk
  3) Liquidity risk
  4) Foreign exchange risk
  5) All of above
• 2. Operational risk in the internet banking means .........
  1) Inaccurate processing of transactions
  2) Non privacy and confidentiality
  3) Attacks or unauthorized access to banks systems and databases
  4) Weak technology adoption
  5) All of above are part of Operational risk
• 3. When counter-party fails to settle an obligation when due or any time henceforth for its full value and the credit worthiness of the customer may not be properly evaluated is termed as ............ in internet banking.
  1) Operational risk
  2) Liquidity risk
  3) Credit risk
  4) Security risk
  5) Reputation risk
• 4. In the internet banking, the bank may face liquidity crunch in short-term time horizon, once the outflow of fund may increase suddenly, it is called ...........
  1) Foreign exchange risk
  2) Credit risk
  3) Operational risk
  4) Liquidity risk
  5) None of above
• 5. President Pranab Mukherjee on 30 September 2014 authorized Rajiv to act as....
  1) Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC)
  2) Chief Justice of India
  3) Central Election Commissioner
  4) Head of BSF
  5) None
• 6. The Security risk is one of the very important issue in internet banking systems. The security risk in the internet banking is ..............
  1) hacking
  2) stealing of KYC data from online
  3) the information use by other agencies to tap the account holder business
  4) it is tough for the banks to bring the awareness among all customers to follow the security measures
  5) All of above
• 7. It is tough for the RBI to see whether banks are following the guidelines of RBI regarding the online transactions, as they are fast, millions of transactions done in the short period and very tough to audit them in the short period. The banking pundits termed this risk as .............
  1) Money risk
  2) Stand-off risk
  3) Funds risk
  4) Compliance risk
  5) Credit risk
• 8. If any bank offers the internet banking suffers from ........... due to negative opinion if the network systems failed or discontinued for a considerable time.
  1) Credit risk
  2) Monetary risk
  3) Compliance risk
  4) Reputation risk
  5) None of above
• 9. Sometimes the bank face which risk in the internet banking in the case of hushing attacks or any other fraudulent activities where the terms and conditions have not been framed adequately by the bank?
  1) Volatility risk
  2) Operational risk
  3) Specified risk
  4) Legal risk
  5) Causality risk
• 10. Wrong implementation of unfavourable market conditions related to either the banking products offered through electronic channel is called ............
  1) Statutory risk
  2) System risk
  3) Strategic risk
  4) Employee risk
  5) All of above
• 11. It is known fact that the bank staff and the customers in the internet banking have no personal interaction. The internet banking transfer transactions of dubious nature may be done by the offenders without much of hassles is called ..........
  1) Credit risk
  2) Phenomenon risk
  3) Primary risk
  4) Money laundering risk
  5) None of above
• 12. NABARD set up how much corpus fund to provide loans to cold chains as declared on 3 November 2014?
  1) Rs.100 crore
  2) Rs.500 crore
  3) Rs.750 crore
  4) Rs.1000 crore
  5) None of above
• 13. RBI on 31 October 2014 has raised the limit for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) to sanction loan against gold collateral to ............
  1) Rs.3 Lakh
  2) Rs.10 Lakh
  3) Rs. 2 Lakh
  4) Rs. 4 Lakh
  5) None
• 14. Which Indian bank on 26 September 2014 said it has signed a line of credit (LoC) of $500 million with Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea EXIM Bank)?
  1) Bank of India
  2) Union Bank of India
  3) SBI
  4) BOB
  5) SBH
• 15. Five associate banks would raise about ..... capital to meet Basel III norms in the next five years as stated on 21 September 2014.
  1) Rs.33,000 cr
  2) Rs.5,000 cr
  3) Rs.12,000 cr
  4) Rs.75,000 cr
  5) Rs.19,000 cr
• 16. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrates on 31 October on the eve of birth day of ..........
  1) Mahatma Gandhi
  2) Deendayal Upadhyaya
  3) Sardar Vallabhai Patel
  4) Jayaprakash Narayan
  5) Shyam Prasad Mukherjee
• 17. Locate the wrong combination.
  1) National Diabetes day - 14 November
  2) International Day of Students - 18 November
  3) International Day for Tolerance - 16 November
  4) International Men's Day - 19 November
  5) International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women - 25 November
• 18. Demonstrating the mission of promoting the growth and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises with dedication and commitment, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was conferred with ......................
  1) ISO 9001 : 2010
  2) ISO 9001 : 2011
  3) ISO 9001 : 2009
  4) ISO 9001 : 2008
  5) None of above
• 19. Union Minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises is ..........
  1) Kalraj Mishra
  2) Venkaiah Naidu
  3) Nitin Gadkari
  4) Sushma Swaraj
  5) None of above
• 20. On 18th October 2014, the second Para Asian Games begins at ...........
  1) New Delhi
  2) Tokyo
  3) Pyongyang
  4) Manila
  5) Incheon
• 21. Slogan of second Para Asian games 2014 is ...........
  1) Inspire a Generation
  2) People, Place, Passion
  3) Diversity Shines Here
  4) A Wave of Passion, Now Begins!
  5) None of above
• 22. Amit Kumar won a gold medal in second Para Asian games in .....
  1) Athletics
  2) Badminton
  3) Swimming
  4) Power lifting
  5) Judo
• 23. On 20 October 2014, Joko Widodo assumed office as the new president of .........
  1) Fiji
  2) New Zealand
  3) Turkey
  4) Philippines
  5) Indonesia
• 24. Indonesia capital is Jakarta and its currency is ...........
  1) Real
  2) Peso
  3) Lira
  4) Rupiah
  5) Taka
• 25. Currency code of Indonesian Rupiah is .......
  1) INR
  2) IND
  3) IDR
  4) RUI
  5) None of above
• 26. "Chalein Saath Saath: Forward Together We Go" is the vision statement between ...........
  1) India and Bhutan
  2) India and Nepal
  3) India and USA
  4) India and China
  5) None
• 27. Umbrella Revolution in the news recently relates to ....................
  1) Demand for democracy by Hong Kong people
  2) Demand for separate nation by Kashmir people
  3) Demand by India to join in UNO Security Council
  4) Demand for the separate state by the people of Vidarbha in Maharashtra
  5) None of above
• 28. On 20 October 2014 WHO declared which nation as Ebola free country?
  1) Guinea
  2) Burkina Faso
  3) Mali
  4) Ghana
  5) Nigeria
• 29. Which nation tourism department on 18 October 2014 launched the Gandhi - Inspired Tourist Attraction project that identifies 13 places that were connected to his life?
  1) Pakistan
  2) UK
  3) South Africa
  4) Bangladesh
  5) None
• 30. On 12 October 2014, India declared how much aid for reconstruction of Gaza Strip that was destroyed during the Palestine and Israel conflict?
  1) $ 10 million
  2) $ 4 billion
  3) $ 3 million
  4) $ 2 million
  5) $ 4 million
• 31. India announced to contribute ............. to the United Nations to fight the deadly Ebola virus in Africa on 25 September 2014.
  1) $ 18 million
  2) $ 2 million
  3) $ 12 billion
  4) $ 12 million
  5) None
• 32. India successfully test-fired it's indigenously developed nuclear capable sub-sonic missile Nirbhay from ...................
  1) Thiruvananthapuram
  2) Sriharikota
  3) Chennai
  4) Chandipur
  5) None
• 33. Which state government's rural development and rural water supply system drew the World Bank and UNICEF. The highlight of the project is to supply filtered- and arsenic-free water to the rural households?
  1) Odisha
  2) Bihar
  3) West Bengal
  4) Assam
  5) Tripura
• 34. Which state government on the eve of Rajyotsava on 1 November 2014, changed the name of Bangalore into Bengaluru, Mangalore into Mangaluru? On the same day it also changed the names of other 9 cities or towns, saying good bye to colonial names.
  1) Andhra Pradesh
  2) Odisha
  3) Karnataka
  4) Tamilnadu
  5) None
• 35. MIGA is one of the lending agency of World Bank group. MIGA stands for ...............
  1) Mutual Investment Guarantee Agency
  2) Multilateral Investment Goods Agency
  3) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
  4) Multilateral Internal Guarantee Agency
  5) None
• 36. Headquarters of the international agencies/ summits given. Locate the wrong option.
  1) UNO-New York
  2) UNESCO-Paris
  3) IAEA-Tokyo
  4) WTO-Geneva
  5) SAARC-Kathmandu
• 37. 'The Oath of the Vayuputras' written by ......
  1) Chetan Bhagath
  2) Robin Sharma
  3) Arundhati Roy
  4) Narendra Modi
  5) Amish Tripathi
• 38. 'Chanakya's Chant' written by ...............
  1) Chetan Bhagath
  2) Amish Tripathi
  3) Ashwin Sanghi
  4) Aravind Adiga
  5) None
• 39. Fifth Annual Forex Assembly on 8 October 2014 inaugurated at ....................
  1) Mumbai
  2) Hyderabad
  3) Kolkata
  4) Chennai
  5) Nagpur
• 40. "Kobane" city is under attack from "Islamic state" organization is located in ...............
  1) Syria
  2) Afganistan
  3) Iraq
  4) Pakistan
  5) None
• 41. Six Software Technology Parks of India (STPIs) will be established in .................. as per the statement given by Union Government on 30 September 2014.
  1) AP
  2) Tamilnadu
  3) Jammu & Kashmir
  4) Odisha
  5) Assam
• 42. Who among the following is the Director of Indian Cricket team whose tenure was extended till Cricket World Cup in 2015?
  1) Sunil Gavaskar
  2) Sandip Patel
  3) Ravi Shastri
  4) Vengsarkar
  5) None
• 43. Jamia Millia University located in .............
  1) Mumbai
  2) Chennai
  3) Rajkot
  4) Baroda
  5) New Delhi
• 44. As part of supervision of cross border operations of Indian banks abroad, RBI sets up supervisory college for Axis Bank in ..........
  1) Mumbai
  2) Delhi
  3) Pune
  4) Hyderabad
  5) Kanpur
• ANSWERS:
  1-5, 2-5, 3-3, 4-4, 5-1, 6-5, 7-4, 8-4, 9-4, 10-3
  11-4, 12-4, 13-3, 14-3, 15-1, 16-3, 17-2, 18-4, 19-1, 20-5
  21-4, 22-1, 23-5, 24-4, 25-3, 26-3, 27-1, 28-5, 29-3, 30-5
  31-4, 32-4, 33-3, 34-3, 35-3, 36-3, 37-5, 38-3, 39-1, 40-1
  41-4, 42-3, 43-5, 44-1