November 2011

APPOINTED-

Mariano Rajoy: He has been elected as the Prime Minister of Spain. He inherits a stagnant economy with a 23 per cent unemployment rate and borrowing costs back to levels Spain was paying before it joined the euro.
Mario Monti: He has been appointed as the Prime Minister of Italy.
Lucas Papademos: He has been appointed as the Prime Minister of Greece.
Nabam Tuki: He has been elected as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh.

RESIGNED

Silvio Berlusconi: Prime Minister of Italy.

DIED

Bhupen Hazarika: Noted singer, songwriter, composer and film maker from Assam. He was 85. He was not just a singer but a social reformer who brought the north-east closer to rest of India. A Dada Saheb Phalke award winner, his music echoed beyond borders.
Indira Goswami: Celebrated poet and writer from Assam. She had been conferred with Sahitya Akademi and Jnanpith awards. She also became India’s first Principal Prince Claus Laureate in 2008. Among her popular publications are: “The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker”, “Pages Stained with Blood”, and “The Man from Chinnamasta”. In “The Blue Naked Braja”, she gave her own experiences as a widow, as well as that of Radhaswamis of Vrindavan.
Sultan Khan: Noted sarangi maestro. He was 75.
Peter Roebuck: Noted 55-year-old British cricket writer. He was 55.
Hargobind Khorana: Pioneering Indian-American biochemist who won the 1968 Nobel Prize for medicine. He was 89.
Joe Frazier: Former world heavyweight champion. He was 67.

EVENTS

November
1—Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and pace bowler Mohammad Asif become the first cricketers ever to be convicted for fixing a part of a match. A 12-member jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court finds them guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiring to accept corrupt payments during a Pakistan-England Test match at Lord’s in 2010.
2—A landmark deal, signed between Nepal’s political parties to integrate about one-third of the 19,000 former Maoist guerrillas into the national army, sets the stage for reinvigorating the stalled peace process and formation of a national unity government after years of wrangling.
21—The Uttar Pradesh Assembly votes to re-organise the State into four parts—Purvanchal, Bundlekhand, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh.
26—NATO  raid on two border posts of Pakistan, on Pak-Afghan border, kills 28 Pakistani soldiers.

MILESTONES

Rana Kapoor: Founder, managing director and chief executive of Yes Bank, he has been chosen as the Banker of the Year 2010-12 by Business Standard newspaper.
Ivian Sarcos: Miss Venezuela, she has been crowned Mis World 2011.
Niranjan V.: A Rhodes scholar and alumnus of National Law School of India University, Bangalore, he has topped in Oxford University’s postgraduate programme, dubbed as one of the most “demanding programmes in the world”.

Assamese Litterateur and Jnanpith Award Winner, Indira Goswami

    Eminent Assamese litterateur and Jnanpith award winner, Indira Goswami, popularly known as Mamoni Raisom Goswami passed away in Guwahati on 29 November 2011. Dr. Goswami authored several bestseller Assamese novels and short story collections in her life time. She was also instrumental in initiating peace talks between the government and insurgent United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
 

Work of Indira Goswami

    Born in 1942, Goswami was encouraged by Kirti Nath Hazarika who published her first short stories in a literary journal he edited. At 20, she published her first collection of short stories Chinaki Morom.Goswami had served as a professor of modern Indian languages at Delhi University. Classics such as The Pages Stained with Blood and The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker were written during her stint in Delhi University. Goswami was an expert in Ramayani studies.Goswami authored several award winning books which include Datal Hathir Uwe Khowa, Neelakantha Braja, Mamore Dhora Tarowal, Ahiron, Chenabor Srot, Dasarathir Khoj, Tej Aru Dhulire Dhusaritha Prishta, Udaybhanur Charitra, Chhinmastar Manuhto and her autobiography Adha Lekha Dastavej. Her treatise Ramayana from Ganga to Brahmaputra is considered a literary masterpiece.
 Awards she received
She won the Sahitya Akademi Award for her powerful novel Mamare Dhara Tarowal Aru Dukhan Upanyasa in 1982 and the Jnanpith Award in 2000. She was also a recipient of the Katha Award, the Karnataka Sangha Sammam, the Manas Chatuechati Samiti Samman, the Kamal Kumari Foundation National Awards, the Sauhardya award and the Bhart Nirman award. She was India's first Principal Prince Claus Laureate in 2008.

Indira as peace maker

Dr. Goswami in 2004 mediated between the Centre and the ULFA and succeeded in convincing both the government and the ULFA to come forward for negotiations. Her initiative led to the formation of the Peoples' Consultative Group (PCG) by the ULFA to prepare the ground for peace talks.She  had prepared ground for talks between the two sides. She had acted as the sole mediator between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, her former colleague at Delhi University, and the ULFA leadership. She had prepared and submitted the first draft peace proposal to Singh.Later, she had played a key role when the Sanmilta Jatiya Abhbartan, an umbrella body of civil society organisations of Assam, facilitated the resumption of dialogue between the ULFA and the Centre.

 

Federer won Singles Final Tennis Match at Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals

Swiss tennis player Roger Federer defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in their singles final tennis match at the Barclay's ATP World Tour Finals, in the O2 arena in London on 27 November 2011. The victory earned him a record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title.Federer has won 70 trophies in his career and has also equalled Lendl's record of 39 match wins in the end-of-season event.

Cyrus Mistry to take over from Ratan Tata

        

            Cyrus Mistry, the man tapped as the next chairman of India's Tata Group. Mr. Mistry, 43 years old, is the son of a construction baron who is the largest shareholder in Tata Sons the holding company for the Tata Group's wide-ranging interests that include steel, autos, power, hospitality and telecom.

           Mr. Mistry, a Mumbai native, studied civil engineering at Imperial College in London and management at London Business School before going full-time into Shapoorji Pallonji & Co., the family construction business. His father, Pallonji Mistry, is the largest shareholder in Tata Sons with a roughly 18% stake and has an estimated net worth of $7.6 billion,according to Forbes.

KBC gets its first Rs. 5 cr winner

                           History was made when Sushil Kumar(a computer operator making Rs 6,000 a month,), from Bihar (posted at the historic place Champaran), became the first ever contestant to win five crore rupees on 'Kaun Banega Crorepati 5'.Now that's an amount 27-year-old Sushil Kumar, from Champaran, Bihar, could only dream of a couple of days back. But on this occasion , that dream turned to reality after he became the first crorepati on this season of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati 5'.As Sushil Kumar wasn’t exactly a slumdog, but his Rs 5 crore-win on the television quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) is no less dramatic for it.

Latest Banking Awareness

1. SBI commercial & International Bank Limited acquired by ...........?

1) Reserve Bank of India

2) Ministry of Commerce

3) SEBI      4) State bank of India

5) None

2. RBI ordered that more than what denomination the Demand Drafts should not be issuedagainst Cash, particularly by RRBs?

1) Rs.1000       2) Rs.10,000  3) Rs.50,000

4) Rs.1,50,000   5)None

3. LIC(Life Insurance Corporation of India) made a pact to issue Credit Cards with ?...........

1) HDFC              2) AXIS Bank 

3) Corporation Bank

4) ICICI 5) Andhra Bank

4. Recently EXIM Bank (Export and Import Bank of India) provided $ 20 million line of credit to...........?

1) Switzerland 2) Zimbwabe 3) Swaziland

4) Australia 5) New Zealand

5. Karnataka State Highway improvement project got $ 315 million from ...........?

1) Asian Development Bank  2) World Bank

3) IMF 4) AFD           5) ODA

6. Most active segment of the money market in India is...........?

1) Repo rate 2) Statutory Liquidity Ratio

3) Call money market

4) Certificate of Deposits market

5) Term note market

7. Syndicated loan means ...........?

1) the loan offered to BPL families

2) loan offered to one bank by different

states in India

3) loan taken by different borrowers from

one bank in the single account

4) loan given by the group of banks to single

borrower

5) loans ban by RBI

8. India signed to get Rs. 1600 cr from German Bank to finance world biggest solar powerplants in Dhule district of

1) Andhra Pradesh 2) Karnataka 3) Mysore

4) Maharastra 5) Goa

9. $ 200 million will be given to power distribution in Madhya Pradesh by ….

1) World Bank

2) Asian development Bank        3) AFD

4) International Monetary Fund   5) IFC

10. $ 648 million to be provided by world bank to construct 444 MW hydro power projectin...........

1) Uttarakhand  2) Uttar Pradesh  3) Assom

4) Goa              5) Rajasthan

11. LIBOR (London Inter bank Offered Rate) being  published by...........

1) BSE     2) Thomson Reuters

3) Washington Post    4) New York Times

5) London University

12. Till Kharif 2010, how many farmers covered under National Agriculture

Insurance Scheme ...........

1) 20.25 crore   2) 18.65 crore  3) 12.4 crore 

4) 9.6 crore      5) 17.14 crore

13. Center for Monitoring Indian Economy estimated 2011-12 fiscal year growth willbe............percent?

1) 5.2 2) 9.1     3) 8.1 4) 10.5 5) 9.5

14. Rastriya Arogya Nidhi available to...........to

get  medical assistance.

1) The inhabitants of poor states

2) The inhabitants of North eastern states

3) BPL families

4) MGNREGA domestic workers only

5) None

15. Dal Bhat Scheme provides a meal for Rs.5 to poor. This is the scheme of...........?

1) Bihar 2) Tamilnadu

3) Arunachal Pradesh 4) Jharkhand

5) Assam

16. Which state has idea of bringing the federations of Self Help Groups (SHG)?

1) Karnataka 2) Maharastra

3) Andhra Pradesh 4) Tamilnadu

5) Uttar Pradesh

17. The chairman of Parliamentary standing committee on Law and Justice?

1) Murali Manohar Joshi

2) P.C.Chako

3) L.K.Advani

4)Yashwanth Sinha

5) Abhisheik Manu Singhvi

18. On 21 July 2011, for the defence pensioners which scheme launched?

1) Sudha 2) Suvidha      3 ) Sugam

4) Saral 5) Sangam

19. International Atomic Energy Agency was invited by India to visit ........... Nuclear plantrecently?

1) Apsara 2) Druva

3) Kalpakam 4) Jaitapur

5) None

20. Kaveri Engine to be used in light combat aircraft ( LAC). This engine to be developed with the aid of...........?

1) France                 2) USA 3) UK

4) Germany 5) Japan

21. Recently India and which country sign memorandum of understanding in the cooperation of Rural Development?

1) Brunai 2) Laos 3) Lesotho

4) South Africa 5) None

22. Who heads the panel to estimate the losses of power distribution companies in 2007-2010?

1) Narla Tatha Rao 2) Vidhya Sagar

3) V.K.Shunglu 4) Shantharam

5) Vijay C Kelkar

23. On August 13 , 2011 which multiple missile trail version successful?

1) Agni - II 2) Pruthvi- I 3) Nag

4) Akash 5) Brahmos – III

24. Fifth conference of SAARC speakers and parliamentarians held recently in..........

1) New Delhi 2) Mumbai      3) London

4) Dhaka 5) Male

25. Presently India is the third largest producer of Steel in the world. It becomes the secondLargest producer by which year as per the estimate of central government recently?

1) 2013  2) 2020 3) 2045 4) 2050 5) 2015

26. Sevottam Certificate got by...........?

1) GPO, Mumbai

2) GPO, Rastrapathi Bhavan

3) GPO, Hyderabad

4) Gol Dak Khana, the Newdelhi GPO

5) All of above

27. Bank deposits grow by ...........percent during the March 2011- July 2011?

1) 8 2) 5.5 3) 6.1 4) 7 5) 9

28. Raise in inflation rate leads to decline in ?...........

1) interest rate

2) raise in the deposits in the banks

3) decrease the real interest rate

4) raise the credit growth by banks

5) None

29. Difference between interest earned and interest paid is called ..........?

1) Gross Interest

Income

2) Paid Interest

Income

3) Free Interest

Income

4) Net Interest

Income

5)  All of above

30. Express Remit is the brand name remittance facility of ...........?

1) SBH 2) Allahabad Bank

3) Repco Bank 4) UBI 5) SBI

31. Rs.1000 can be withdrawn from the Point ofSales Terminals ( POS) as per the order of RBI. Which is the first bank to introduce this

facility?

1) SBI 2) SBH     3) Union Bank of India

4) ICICI 5) HDFC

32. Recently RBI advised the banks to reduce the Net Interest Margin (NIM) come down to see the double digit growth. What is meant by it ...........

1) Banks accept the deposits at high

rate of interest and lend at higher

rate of interest

2) Banks accept the deposits at high

rate of interest and lend at no rate

of interest

3) Banks accept the deposits at high

rate of interest and lend at lower

rate than the present rates

4) Banks accept the deposits at lower

rate of interest and lend at higher rate

5) None

33. Interest Corridor includes ...........?

1) Base rate and savings rate

2) Bank rate and Reverse Repo rate

3) Base rate and Repo rate

4) Repo rate and Reverse Repo rate

5) None

34. Asset-Liability mismatch usually happened in...........?

1) Home Loan and Infrastructure Project

Financing

2) Education loan and personal loan

3) Personal loan and marriage loan

4) Travel loan and marriage loan

5) Education loan and School Fees

35. First Dedicated Education Loan Company CREDILA is the associate body of...........?

1) HDFC 2) Andhra Bank

3) United Bank of India 4) Axis bank

5) SBH

36. Portal-linked service, which enables a dissatisfied customer to SMS 'unhappy' to8008202020, if he is a customer of...........this is the first of its kind in India?

1) SBI 2) IDBI 3)HDFC     4) ICICI

5) Indian bank

37. INFINET is a communication channel for transmission of electronic communication by banks. INFINET stands for...........?

1) Indian Financial Internal Network

Electronic Transaction     

2) Indian Financial Internal Network

3) Indian National Financial Internal Net

Extra Track     

4) Indian Financial Network     

5) None

38. RBI subsidiary BRBNMPL related statements are given. Pick the incorrect one?

1) Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran

Private Limited was established by RBI

2)  its wholly owned subsidiary of RBI

established on 3rd February 1995

3) It is established to handover the functions

of RBI to mint currency

4) It is established to bridge the gap

between the supply and demand for bank

notes in the country.

5) The company manages 2 Presses one at

Mysore in Karnataka and the other at

Salboni in West Bengal.

39. Rohinton Nariman is the new ...........of India?

1) Election Commissioner

2) Auditor General

3) Solicitor General

4) Army General

5) RBI Governor

40. 110th constitutional amendment bill connected to...........?

1) Reservation of woman local bodies

2) Reservation of SC and ST in the

Assembly elections

3) Jan lokpal Bill 4) GST council

5) Direct Taxes Code

41. Rs.117.64 Crores released by the Central Government to promote production of...........?

1) Tobacco 2) Food grains

3) Nutri-cereals 4) Pulses 5) Rice

42. Sucheta becomes first Indian woman to cross ...........?

1) Antartica 2) Arctic Ocean

3) Sahara Desert 4) Gobi Desert

5) Suez Canal

43. Standard & Poor downgrades USA AAA credit rating to

1) AAA ++ 2) AAB 3) BBB

4) AA+ 5) AB+

44. Which coach became first one to train 100 cricket test matches in the world?

1) Waqar Younus        2) Greg Chappel

3) Duncan Fletcher     4) David Boon

5) Kapil Dev

45. 2014 FIFA world Cup to be held from 12 June to 13 July in

1) London (Britain) 2)  Rio ( Brazil)

3) Incheon (South Korea)

4) Washington (USA)       5) None

46. Who was called the Doctor Death, died recently, helped many people to die, if they are suffering from the dreaded and long time diseases?

1) Dr. Subodh Roy     2) Kimitachi Penogogi

3)  Dr.Jack Kevorkian 4) Dr. Shantha Singh

5) None

47. India-South Africa trade to touch $………...billion before 2014?

1) 25 2) 10     3) 50    4) 15      5) 60

48. Modi cup is related to……….?

1) Cricket 2) Golf 3) Hockey

4) Tennis 5) Carrom

49. Arasu Cable TV Corporation belongs to the state of ………..?

1) Tamilnadu   2) Kerala

3) Andhra Pradesh 4) Puduccherry

5) None

50. Direct Tax do not include ………..?

1) Income Tax 2) Corporate Duty

3) Service Tax 4) Sales Tax

5) Wealth Tax

General Awareness

KEY: 1)4  2)3 3)2 4)3 5)1 6)3 7)4 8)4  9)2 10)1 11)2 12)5 13)3 14)3 15)4 16)3 17)5 18)5 19)4 20)1 21)3 22)3 23)5 24)1 25)1 26)4 27)2 28)3 29)4 30)5 31)3 32)3 33)4 34)1 35)1 36)1 37)4 38)3 39)3 40)1 41)3 42)4 43)4 44)3 45)2 46)3 47)4 48)3 49)1 50)4.