Current Affairs - 2 December 2015

General Affairs

PM Narendra Modi Ranks 8th in TIME Person of the Year Poll

• WASHINGTON:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently among the top 10 of the TIME Person of the Year readers' choice poll in the company of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and Pope Francis.
  
  Although Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (10.5 per cent) continues to lead the poll, PM Modi with a vote share of 2.7 per cent was in the eighth place as of Monday evening while Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai (5.9 per cent) was in the second place and Pope Francis (3.9 per cent) in the third.
  
  Ms Sanders also far outpaces other presidential candidates, including Republican Donald Trump (2.1 per cent) and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton (1.4 per cent).
  
  

  PM Modi, according to the Time profile, "has encouraged foreign direct investment in India and is trying to modernise the world's largest democracy. He has also faced controversy over what some see as right wing extremism".
  
  Google's Indian-American CEO Sundar Pichai is currently in the 25th place with a vote share of 1.5 per cent, while Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani was in the 55th slot with a 0.5 per cent vote share.
  
  With global figures taking five of the top ten spots in the final week of voting, US President Barack Obama (3.5 per cent) was in the fourth place, "refugees" were in fifth and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in tenth place.
  
  International leaders have been named most influential by the magazine in recent years. The Pope was TIME's Person of the Year in 2013, and before that Russian President Vladimir Putin was chosen as Person of the Year in 2007.
  
  Voting on the readers' choice poll ends December 4 at 11:59 pm, and the winner of the poll will be announced December 7.
  
  TIME's editors will choose the Person of the Year, the person TIME believes most influenced the news this year for better or worse. It may well differ from the readers' choice.

50,000 Angwanwadi Centres to be Constructed Every Year: Women and Child Development Minister

• NEW DELHI:  Government will construct 50,000 anganwadi centres (AWCs) every year so that in the next four years two lakh anganwadis have their own buildings and can provide health care in villages in a better way, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi today said.
  
  The scheme is being funded partly from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA) and partly from the ICDS budget.
  
  "We are constructing anganwadi centres so that you (anganwadi workers) get space to sit, set up craches for children and feed them properly etc. I understand that you really face trouble in the absence of a proper building," said Gandhi, who gave the National Awards to anganwadi workers for exceptional achievements at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
  
  

  There are 13.4 lakh angwandis across the country out of which more than 2 lakh do not have their own buildings and are operating from rented buildings.
  
  Starting with this financial year, 50,000 anagwadi centres are being set up in 11 states which have high burden of malnutrition. These include Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand.
  
  Also, the 25 per cent reserved posts in which anganwadi workers, who have completed ten years of service and are graduate can apply and get promoted as a supervisor, has been increased to 50 per cent to motivate them, said Ms Gandhi.
  
  At the event, Secretary in WCD ministry, V Somasundaran highlighted the issue of receiving late nominations from state.
  
  "The nominations have to come from the states and the process was getting delayed. So we have put some people on the job to follow it up with states, and next year onwards we will give the awards on annual basis," said Mr Somasundaran.

Appeasement of Terrorists Happening in Country, Says Nitin Gadkari

• KOLKATA:  Amid allegations that three suspected ISI agents arrested from Kolkata had allegiance to the Trinamool Congress, Union Minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, without taking names, claimed today that appeasement of terrorists had been taking place in the country.
  
  "National security is not a question of politics and it should never be politicised. But unfortunately, the situation in the country is such that for vote-bank, appeasement of terrorists and terror organisations also happens," Mr Gadkari, who is the minister for road transport, highways and shipping, said on the sidelines of an event in Kolkata.
  
  Mr Gadkari made the remarks while commenting on the arrest of three suspected ISI agents, one of whom was allegedly a member of the students' wing of the Trinamool Congress while another was a union leader owing allegiance to West Bengal's ruling party.
  
  Mr Gadkari's comments came a day after the BJP tore into the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool government, accusing it of turning the state into a 'safe haven for terrorists'.
  
  The union minister, however, praised the Banerjee government for its commitment to the Rs.12,000 crore Sagardwip sea port project in the Bay of Bengal.
  
  "The Bengal government's support towards the Sagar project has been good and Mamata Banerjee has shown a keen interest. We are confident that together we will get the project started soon," he said.
  
  Blaming Pakistan for resorting to a proxy war against India, Mr Gadkari stressed on the need for fighting collectively against terrorism.
  
  "Pakistan knows it cannot win against India in a war, so it has been indulging in proxy wars and trying to break India's communal harmony.
  
  "It is also not true that people from a particular religion or belief are involved in (terrorism). We all need to collectively battle terrorism. Across the globe, nations including Muslim counties have agreed to fight against terrorism," he said.

No Probe on Recent Disclosure on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Says Government

• 

  NEW DELHI:  No inquiry is being contemplated by the government on recent disclosure of information about Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Lok Sabha was informed today.
  
  It has recently surfaced from the disclosure of records from the West Bengal government archives that intelligence organisations were keeping a track of the family of Netaji post-independence.
  
  In response to a written question seeking to know whether the government is considering to conduct any inquiry in the backdrop of the recent disclosure of information regarding Netaji, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said, "No".
  
  The minister said the government is examining all the files (related to Netaji) in its custody for the purpose of declassifying the same.
  
  After meeting family members of Netaji in October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the process of declassification of files will begin on January 23, 2016.
  
  "Process of declassification of files relating to Netaji will begin on 23rd January 2016, Subhas Babu's birth anniversary," Modi had tweeted after an hour-long interaction with the family members.
  
  He had said he will also urge foreign governments to declassify files on Netaji available with them by writing to them and personally taking up with foreign leaders during meetings, beginning with Russia.

No Atmosphere of Alleged Intolerance: Government Tells Lok Sabha

• NEW DELHI:  The prevailing communal situation in the country does not indicate existence of alleged intolerance in the country, the Government today said.
  
  Replying to queries in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the number of communal incidents this year till October was 650, and that the responsibility of dealing with communal violence rests primarily with the respective state government.
  
  

  "Although it has been brought out in various fora, the prevailing communal situation in the country does not indicate existence of alleged intolerance in the country," he said in a written reply.
  
  Mr Rijiju said the number of communal incidents in the country in recent years have been 668 in 2012, 823 in 2013 and 644 in 2014.
  
  The Minister said as per available information, a total of 39 Sahitya Akademi awardees who received awards from 1976 onwards, one Lalit Kala Akademi awardee and three Padma awardees have reportedly returned their awards to the government.
  
  "It has been informed that the Sahitya Akademi convened a special executive board meeting in which a resolution has been passed, requesting the writers to reconsider their decision," Mr Rijiju said.
  
  To maintain communal harmony in the country, the central government assists the state governments and Union territory administrations in a variety of ways like sharing of information, sending alert messages and advisories and sending central armed police forces personnel besides others, he said.
  
  "The responsibility of dealing with communal violence as per the provisions of extant laws rests primarily with the respective state government," the minister said.

Business Affairs 

Sensex ends in green, Nifty at 7,954 post RBI policy; Vedanta top gainer

• The domestic markets ended flat in trade on Tuesday after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained status quo in its monetary policy, and left the repurchase (repo) rate unchanged at 6.75 per cent.

  The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 26,169.41, up 23.74 points, while broader CNX Nifty settled the day above its key psychological level of 7,950. The 50-share index quoted 7,954.90, up 19.65 points at close. 

  Market breadth remained positive with 17 of the 30 Sensex components ending the day in green.

  The Reserve Bank of India surprised no one when it kept its policy rates unchanged, after consumer inflation picked up to a four-month high and as emerging markets brace for a US rate hike.

  RBI Governor Rajan's comment that the central bank was still accommodative eased market worries and suggested the policy was less hawkish than feared.

  The central bank has lowered the rate by 125 basis points this year, including a larger-than-expected 50 bps cut at its last policy review in late September.

  "Maintaining status-quo was the best thing to do, you wait for the Fed to do what it wants and then you may need to react to that," said Jayant Manglik, president of retail distribution at Religare Securities.

  Sentiment also turned positive after data on Monday showed gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.4 per cent in the September quarter as compared to 7 per cent in the June quarter, backed by robust growth in manufacturing.

  GDP growth rate, however, was lower than 8.4 per cent recorded in the July-September quarter of the previous fiscal. 

  Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.4 percent, to 3,456.31 points, after data showed China's factory activity contracted for the ninth straight month in November, but at a slower pace than in October. Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled 1.57 per cent up, while Japan's Nikkei added 1.34 per cent at close.

  Overnight, US stocks edged lower, dragged by losses in health and consumers stocks. The Dow Jones fell 78.57 points, or 0.44 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 9.65 points, or 0.46 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 18.86 points, or 0.37 per cent.

  Lowdown on markets today

  02:26 pm

  Sensex at 26,169.51, up 23.84 points

  Nifty at 7,953.50, up 18.25 points

  1:00 pm

  Sensex at 26150.71, up 5 points

  Nifty at 7941.45, up 6 points
  

  11:20 am

  Sensex at 26,129.77 down 15.90 points

  Nifty at 7,937.25, up 2.00 points

  9:25 am

  Sensex at 26,222.75 up 77.08 points

  Nifty at 7,960.85, up 25.60 points

AXA raises stake in insurance JVs with Bharti Enterprises to 49%

• French insurer AXA has raised its holdings in Indian insurance joint ventures with Bharti Enterprises to 49 per cent, the latest in a slew of similar deals after a rule change easing cap on foreign ownership in the local insurance companies.

  The government earlier this year allowed foreign ownership in the $50 billion Indian insurance sector to up to 49 per cent from a maximum permissible 26 per cent stake, a move that is aimed at giving a boost to the capital-starved sector.

  AXA has raised stakes in its life and non-life insurance joint ventures with Bharti to 49 per cent from 26 per cent, the two companies said in a statement on Tuesday. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

  The easing of foreign ownership rules has opened doors for foreign insurers such as Prudential Plc and Standard Life Plc to take a higher interest in the business in India, where insurance penetration is low.

  Last month, Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Co said it has agreed to raise its stake in Reliance Life Insurance, a unit of Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital Ltd to 49 per cent.

RBI Monetary policy: Five takeaways from Raghuram Rajan's review

• 

  As widely expected, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan today kept the interest rates unchanged in the fifth monetary policy review. He also gave his views on a range of issues impacting future monetary policy reviews.
  

  Here are five key takeaways:

  1. On Future cuts
  "We are in an accomodative stance," says Rajan. RBI has reduced the repo rate by 125 basis points since January this year. The direction is clear for softening of interest rate as and when inflation reduces further or comes under the RBI's comfort zone.

  2. On Likely US Fed Rate Hike 
  "My sense is that after initial bout of volatility, we will see (Indian) market stabilising," says Rajan. The Fed meeting in mid-December will be keenly watched as the US is expected to take a call on hiking rates for the first time since the global financial meltdown. There are fears that as the US starts raising rates, there is a likelihood of foreign funds in debt and equity moving out of emerging market economies like India.

  3. On Seventh Pay Commission implementation 
  "It (the increase) will be offset by additional revenues or cuts elsewhere. We don't feel there will be a significant impact," says Rajan. The government's move to implement the Seventh Pay Commission 's recommendations will create additional fiscal burden as it envisages 23.5 per cent increase in the wages of central government employees including retired employees. This will be an additional expenditure, which will have implications for fiscal deficit. 

  4. On fiscal deficit
  "Both the quantum and quality of fiscal deficit matters. ...That is the issue government is seized of," says Rajan. As per current statistics coming from the government, the fiscal deficit is already 74 per cent in the seventh months of the budgeted estimates of 2015/16. The targeted fiscal deficit is at 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015/16. The movement of fiscal deficit impacts the monetary policy as higher fiscal deficit fuels inflation in the medium to longer term.

  5. Growth momentum 
  "It's very clear that we are in the process or midst of recovery. Take, for example, agriculture is growing relatively weaker. As a result, rural demand is relatively weak. On the other hand, capital goods is growing. We are growing in certain areas and there are areas of weakness, which I feel will turn around going forward," says Rajan. The GDP growth at 7.4 per cent in the second quarter is encouraging as compared to 7 per cent in the first quarter of 2015/16. The government is hopeful of achieving 7.3 per cent GDP in 2015/16.

IMF admits China's yuan into Special Drawing Rights basket

• The International Monetary Fund admitted China's yuan into its benchmark currency basket on Monday, as expected, in a victory for Beijing's campaign for recognition as a global economic power.

  The decision to add the yuan, also known as the renminbi, to the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket alongside the dollar, euro, pound sterling and yen, is an important milestone in China's integration into global finances and a nod to the progress it has made with reforms.

  To meet the IMF's criteria, Beijing has undertaken a flurry of reforms in recent months, including better access for foreigners to Chinese currency markets, more frequent debt issuance and expanded yuan trading hours.

  IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who along with in-house experts has previously backed the inclusion, made it clear she did not expect Beijing to stop there.

  "The renminbi's inclusion in the SDR is a clear indication of the reforms that have been implemented and will continue to be implemented," she told reporters.

  The People's Bank of China said the move, which was backed by countries including the United States and Britain, showed the international community expected China to play a bigger role in the world economy.

  "Going forward, China will continue to deepen and accelerate economic reforms and financial opening up, and contribute to promoting world economic growth, safeguarding financial stability and improving global economic governance," it said in a statement.

  A person familiar with the IMF deliberations said approval was unanimous. An IMF official said it was not IMF policy to disclose board voting records.

  The yuan will have a 10.92 per cent share, in line with expectations, after a review of the weightings formula for the SDR which also cut the euro's share by more than 6 per centage points.

  To be included in the SDR basket, the yuan had to meet the criteria to be "freely usable," or widely used to make international payments and widely traded in foreign exchange markets -- a yardstick it missed at the last review in 2010.

  The yuan's inclusion in the basket from October 2016 is a largely symbolic move with few immediate implications for financial markets. But it is the first time an additional currency has been added to the SDR basket, which determines which currencies countries can receive as part of IMF loans.

  "Ultimately China would like to see, as a number of countries would, the dollar end its reign as the global reserve currency," said Malcolm Polley, chief investment officer at Stewart Capital Advisors.

  "That won't happen until there is another currency that from a geopolitical standpoint is as secure as the dollar."

  EURO MAKES ROOM

  The new SDR formula gives more weight to financial variables and less to exports, reflecting long-standing criticism of the methodology but also cutting the euro's share to 30.93 per cent, from 37.4 per cent.

  The yuan will come in with a higher weight than sterling and yen, which will drop to 8.09 per cent and 8.33 per cent respectively, while the dollar remains broadly unchanged at 41.73 per cent.

  The addition is likely to fuel demand for China's currency and for renminbi-denominated assets as central banks and foreign fund managers adjust their portfolios to reflect the yuan's new status.

  But analysts said investors would likely remain cautious as long as China did not fully liberalize capital controls or allow the currency to float freely.

  "'Freely usable' meant freely usable to reserve managers and available to official institutions," said Steven Englander, head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at Citi in New York.

  "But if you look at the normal definition of liquidity, the point is not that just you and your mates can use it but that the whole world can use it."

  The IMF said China's comparatively higher interest rates would likely increase the SDR interest rate - potentially pushing up the cost of IMF loans for some borrowers.

Realty sector unlikely to see FDI inflows in near term: Fitch

• The government's initiative of easing foreign direct investment norms for real estate is unlikely to boost FDI in the sector in the near term, Fitch Ratings said.

  "The easing of investment norms under FDI policy for the real estate sector is more of a long term story, and is unlikely to result in any immediate increase in FDI in the near term," the ratings agency said in a statement.

  The policy, which became effective from November 24, removes the earlier conditions on minimum investments of $5 million, minimum area norms and also eases exit options for FDI investors.

  "The Indian real estate sector has been challenged by frequent delays in project completion and a long and complex approval process. The weak demand in recent times has added to the challenges. With these issues continuing to impact the sector, we believe that investment flows will remain slow and limited to a few selective projects in the next 12 months," it said.

  According to Fitch, investment flows in to the real estate sector have slowed down over the last 18 months.

  FDI in construction-development projects fell by over 38 per cent during the year ending March 2015 to $758 million compared to $1,226 million in FY14.

  FDI flow has remained weak this year with just $34 million of investments in April-June quarter of this fiscal.

  "We expect the investments to pick up over the next 2-3 years along with the expected improvement in demand in the real estate sector. Also, the easier exit options allowing FDI investors to cash out after a lock-in period of three years without linking them to any execution delays and ability to invest in completed projects may improve the appetite of investors," the agency said.

  Fitch expects FDI investments to reach about $1.5 billion annually over the next two-three years.

General Awareness

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE QUESTIONS FOR IBPS EXAMS

• 1. Who was appointed as an Executive Director on the board of the International Monetary Fund?
  1) Subir Gokarn
  2) Anand Sinha
  3) K.C. Chakrabarty
  4) H.R. Khan
  5) Urjit Patel
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2. Who won the China Open Super Series Premier badminton women’s singles title in Fuzhou in
  November 2015?
  1) Saina Nehwal
  2) Li Xuerui
  3) Yihan Wang
  4) Carolina Marin
  5) P.V. Sindhu
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  3. Who was elected as the Vice Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in November 2015?
  1) Y. Venugopal Reddy
  2) C. Rangarajan
  3) Raghuram Rajan
  4) Kaushik Basu
  5) Bimal Jalan
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4. Who was appointed as the next Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations on November 16, 2015?
  1) Vikas Swarup
  2) S. Jaishankar
  3) Saurabh Kumar
  4) Syed Akbaruddin
  5) T.C.A. Raghavan
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  5. The Bank for International Settlements serves as a bank for central banks. It is based in?
  1) Zurich
  2) Tokyo
  3) Beijing
  4) Geneva
  5) Basel
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  6. Which country won the 2015 FIFAWomen’s World Cup Football tournament on July 5, 2015?
  1) USA
  2) Japan
  3) France
  4) Germany
  5) Norway
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  7. Identify the mismatched pair? 2015 Host Tournament Country
  1) Copa America Chile
  2) FIFAWomen’s Canada World Cup
  3) FIFA Under-20 Serbia World Cup
  4) Asian Athletics China Championships
  5) ICC World Cup Australia & NewZealand
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  8. Which of the following districts in West Bengal has won the United Nations Public Service Award 2015?
  1) Purulia
  2) Howrah
  3) Cooch Behar
  4) Nadia
  5) Jalpaiguri
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  9. Which of the following governments has reached a historic agreement with FARC guerrillas to
  de-escalate the decades-long armed conflict?
  1) Cuba
  2) Colombia
  3) Ecuador
  4) France
  5) Armenia
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  10. Which country will contribute the largest amount ($41 billion) to the BRICS Currency Reserve Arrangement(CRA)?
  1) Brazil
  2) Russia
  3) India
  4) China
  5) South Africa
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  11. Identify the mismatched pair? BOOK AUTHOR
  1) Modi-Incredible Emergence of a Star - Tarun Vijay
  2) Flood of Fire - Amitav Ghosh
  3) Scion of Ikshvaku - Amish Tripathi
  4) Transcendence - APJ Abdul Kalam
  5) Beyond Doubt - Shobha De
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  12. India’s spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi was conferred Order of the Democracy Simon Bolivar,
  the highest civilian award of?
  1) Bolivia
  2) Brazil
  3) Colombia
  4) Chile
  5) Argentina
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  13. What does the letter ‘C’ stand for in the abbreviation CRR?
  1) Currency
  2) Credit
  3) Cash
  4) Capital
  5) Commercial
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  14. Singapore’s central bank and financial regulatory authority is called?
  1) Bank of Singapore
  2) People’s Bank of Singapore
  3) Federal Reserve of Singapore
  4) Monetary Authority of Singapore
  5) None of these
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  15. The World Food Program (WFP) is the food assistance branch of the United Nations. Its headquarters is in?
  1) Vienna
  2) Washington D.C.
  3) Geneva
  4) Tokyo
  5) Rome
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  16. Who is the present Union Minister for Food Processing Industries?
  1) Radha Mohan Singh
  2) Anant Kumar
  3) Anant Geete
  4) Thawar Chand Gehlot
  5) Harsimrat Kaur Badal
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  17. Who was given the Moortidevi Award for 2014 for his work ‘Vyomkesh Darvesh’?
  1) K. Radhakrishnan
  2) Viswanath Tripathi
  3) Kamal Kishore Goenka
  4) Munishwar Jha
  5) None of these
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  18. The 2015 World Food Prize recipient belongs to which of the following countries?
  1) India
  2) Philippines
  3) Bangladesh
  4) Brazil
  5) Mexico
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  19. Praful Bidwai passed away on June 23, 2015. He was a renowned?
  1) Architect
  2) Painter
  3) Singer
  4) Journalist
  5) Television personality
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  20. Who has been named as the 2015 Global Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture and Life Sciences World Agriculture Prize laureate?
  1) M.S. Swaminathan
  2) R. Paul Singh
  3) Sanjay Rajaram
  4) R.S. Paroda
  5) None of these
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  21. A National Memorial of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan will be set up in which of the following States?
  1) Uttarakhand
  2) Bihar
  3) Madhya Pradesh
  4) Uttar Pradesh
  5) None of these
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  22. The Union Government has launched the first modernized Anganwadi centre of India at Hasnapur village of Sonepat in?
  1) Chhattisgarh
  2) Madhya Pradesh
  3) Punjab
  4) Haryana
  5) Odisha
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  23. Who launched the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan(RAA) in New Delhi on July 9, 2015?
  1) Narendra Modi
  2) Pranab Mukherjee
  3) APJ Abdul Kalam
  4) Hameed Ansari
  5) Nitin Gadkari
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  24. How many cities will be chosen for the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) project?
  1) 100
  2) 250
  3) 200
  4) 500
  5) None of these
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  25. Who is the founder of BRAC, the largest Non Government Organization in the world?
  1) Muhammad Yunus
  2) Nurul Islam
  3) Rehman Sobhan
  4) Fazle Hasan Abed
  5) None of these
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  26. As per a research published by the World Economic Forum, the world’s biggest employer is?
  1) The US Department of Defense
  2) People’s Liberation Army of China
  3) Wal-Mart
  4) McDonalds
  5) UK’s National Health Service
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  27. The National Skill Development Mission’s Governing Council is chaired by the?
  1) President
  2) Home Minister
  3) Prime Minister
  4) Finance Minister
  5) Human Resources Development Minister
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  28. Islam Karimov is the President of which of the following countries?
  1) Azerbaijan
  2) Armenia
  3) Ukraine
  4) Uzbekistan
  5) Georgia
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  29. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a ‘Nakshatra Vatika’ on July 6, 2015 in?
  1) New Delhi
  2) Secunderabad
  3) Nagpur
  4) Kolkata
  5) Mumbai
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  30. Who won the women’s title in the Senior National Squash championship on July 12, 2015?
  1) Joshna Chinappa
  2) Bhuveneshwari Kumari
  3) Deepika Pallikal
  4) Harshit Kaur
  5) None of these
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  31. The United Nations General Assembly designated which of the following days as World Youth Skills Day?
  1) July 15
  2) June 15
  3) August 15
  4) September 15
  5) April 15
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  32. Which of the following has launched a mobile application named "Pashu Poshan" that will boost dairy farmer’s income?
  1) NDRI
  2) NDDB
  3) IARI
  4) NIRD
  5) ICRISAT
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  33. Serena Williams won her sixth Wimbledon women’s singles title by defeating which of the following tennis players in the final in July 2015?
  1) Maria Sharapova
  2) Belinda Bencic
  3) Garbine Muguruza
  4) Lucie Safarova
  5) Ana Ivanovic
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  34. Which State has declared Blue Mormon species as State Butterfly?
  1) Punjab
  2) Haryana
  3) Gujarat
  4) Maharashtra
  5) West Bengal
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  35. Which of the following cities is the capital of Uzbekistan?
  1) Samarkhand
  2) Namangan
  3) Peshawar
  4) Hun
  5) Tashkent
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  36. Which is the first developed nation to default on the International Monetary Fund debt?
  1) Portugal
  2) Ireland
  3) Greece
  4) Italy
  5) Spain
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  37. Which city hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in July 2015?
  1) Yekaterinburg
  2) Beijing
  3) Shanghai
  4) Ufa
  5) Moscow
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  38. Which country has been accepted as a full member of Shanghai Cooperation
  Organization along with India?
  1) Belarus
  2) Afghanistan
  3) Iran
  4) Mongolia
  5) Pakistan
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  39. Which country retained the South Asian Basketball Championship (SABA) title in July 2015?
  1) Sri Lanka
  2) Bangladesh
  3) India
  4) Pakistan
  5) Nepal
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  40. Garbine Muguruza is a tennis player from which of the follo wing countries?
  1) Russia
  2) Bulgaria
  3) Poland
  4) Spain
  5) Czech Republic
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ANSWERS:
  1) 1 2) 2 3) 3 4) 4 5) 5 6) 1 7) 3 8) 4 9) 2 10) 4
  11) 5 12) 3 13) 3 14) 4 15) 5 16) 5 17) 2 18) 3 19) 4 20) 2
  21) 2 22) 4 23) 3 24) 4 25) 4 26) 1 27) 3 28) 4 29) 2 30) 1
  31) 1 32) 2 33) 3 34) 4 35) 5 36) 3 37) 4 38) 5 39) 3 40) 4