Objective Questions on Current Affairs Part

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1 601. In the UN, it is the Americans and the French who are now blocking the conclusion of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. It was sponsored by India way back in 1996, before 9/11, when the west didn't care about terrorism, except if Israel was affected After the Railway Budget gets merged in the Union Budget from 2017, the following major changes will occur in the budgeting procedure: a) After 92 years, there will be no separate Railway Budget. b) The Finance Minister will present the Railway Accounts as part of the Union Budget, and like other departments it will have a Demand for Grants c) There will be a separate discussion on railway expenditure in Parliament d) There will be no concept of capital at charge and government will not receive any dividend from railway accounts. This will save Rs. 9,700 crore The impact on Ministry of Railway will be as follows: e) Railway will have a separate identity as a commercially run department, and will continue to enjoy its existing autonomy. f) There will be more focussed implementation on capacity expansion and improving service delivery. g) An independent Railway Regulator will be created, to recommend fares and freight rates, and rationalise the entire fare structure as per market demand. h) 604. The first Finance Minister of Independent India was a) Sir RK Shanmukham Chetty b) John Mathai c) PM himself was in charge of Finance d) B.R. Ambedkar 10x10learning.com Page 1

2 605. The only two Railway Ministers of Independent India, who became Finance Ministers as well were: a) John Mathai b) Madhu Dandavate c) CD Deshmukh, d) (a) and (b) above e) (a) and (c) above 606. Which of the following countries has / have eradicated malaria: a) Sri Lanka, b) Iraq, c) Syria, d) Libya e) All the above 607. The newly developed Sustainable Development Goals health index, places India at a) 143rd among 188 countries b) 134 th among 188 countries c) 140 th among 188 countries d) 130 th among 188 countries 608. What is the per cent of GDP that India spends on healthcare a) 1.4% b) 2.4% c) 14 % d) 4.2% 609. Credit Default Swaps : China has given its bond traders the go-ahead to begin trading credit default swaps (CDS), an indication that the government is preparing for more big corporate bankruptcies. Credit default swaps allow investors to insure themselves against the default of a given security. Past bankruptcies in China involved only bank or corporate debt, but this one involves 108 creditors. This is because China is trying to take its economy through the delicate transition from one based on industry and its manufacturing sectors, to one based on domestic consumption and services like banking. 10x10learning.com Page 2

3 610. A World Class University: The idea that it is possible to set up world-class universities is flawed because at inception this cannot be claimed or ensured. The base of a university is the quality and quantity of knowledge it produces and disseminates through researches supervised by its faculty. The research also depends on quantum of grants that attract quality students. Quality research is an evolutionary process and cannot be achieved overnight. The focus should therefore, be on enabling an ecosystem based of standards, outcomes, aims, equity and access As in August,2016 status of Aadhar 612. The Financial Stability and Development Council monitors functioning of systemically important financial institutions (SIFI). Guidelines to identify such institutions are to be released shortly Ten conflict zones that are responsible for displacement of nearly 1% population of the world, ( equivalent to total population of Thailand or United Kingdom) at the end of 2015, include: a) Afghanistan ( 2.7 million) b) Iraq, c) Syria ( 4.8 million refugees ) d) Burundi, e) DR Congo, f) Somalia ( 1.1 million) g) Sudan, h) Colombia, Caucasus, and former Yugoslavia. 10x10learning.com Page 3

4 614. If a person does not have Aadhaar, he will not be denied a benefit but be enrolled in the programme at once, with the respective ministry or state government being made responsible to provide him with the unique identification number Aadhaar is a : a) 16 digit number b) 18 digit number c) 12 digit number d) 14 digit number 616. The difference between Mutual Fund and Systematic Investment Plan: a) Mutual fund is a mechanism where investors pool their money to invest in stock market through diverse instruments such as equity, debt, balanced scheme. It is governed by SEBI. b) Systematic Investment Plan is one of the long term wealth creation schemes provided by Mutual Fund. Its investments are made on monthly basis for any amount from Rs 500/- pm to 1000/- pm over a period of time The highest rate of domestic savings reached in India is/ was: a) 36% of GDP b) 30% of GDP c) 20% of GDP d) 25% of GDP 618. Which of the following are the starting and ending points of the Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor : a) Dadri in Noida and Dighi in Maharashtra. b) Delhi in north and Mumbai in south c) Agra in north and Pune in south d) Gurgaon in north and Sholapur in south 10x10learning.com Page 4

5 619. Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a technical six member committee with RBI governor as its chairperson, to recommend the extent and direction of change in policy rates, that has replaced the earlier technical committee. Which among the following are the differences in the new system : a) Three of six members are appointed by the Government of India. The remaining three members are to be from the RBI, and the RBI Governor will have the casting vote. b) The discussion in the MPC will be recorded and made public. Earlier, the RBI governor could accept or ignore any or all of the advice he received, without assigning any reason. c) The MPC's job is to contain inflation between 2% and 6%. For the next five years. The inflation target is to have Parliament's clearance through the Finance Bill. d) All the three above Arunachal Pradesh, from January 2016 to September 2016, has had the most frequent regime changes. Which of the following numbers is correct: a) Five regimes, including one period of President's rule. b) Four regimes including one spell of President s rule c) Three regimes with no President s Rule d) Four regimes with no President s Rules 621. Since 1994, which of the following have been an established fact : a) The only place to determine majority of an elected government is on the floor of the House. b) President's rule was to be subjected to judicial scrutiny. c) The option of reversing the decree in case of lack of adequate justification or mala fide imposition of President s rule, lay with the Supreme Court of India. d) All the three above. 10x10learning.com Page 5

6 622. Short Note on One Budget from January The railway budget has been merged with the general budget and date of its presentation has been advanced to January, from the year Currently, the general budget is presented on the last working day of February and the entire budget process is completed by mid-may. The budget presented in January will allow the government to complete the process before the new financial year starts from 1 st April. This will also allow taxpayers to know the tax rules before the start of the financial year, and ministries will be able to start spending from the very start of the fiscal. (100 words) 623. Short Note on WTO Ruling against India on solar modules India s National Solar Mission, includes a provision that 10% of the modules used in India's solar plants, should be domestically manufactured. Solar developers, buy most of their modules from foreign companies, especially Chinese. India-made modules are unable to compete with foreign ones, both on price and technology. If antidumping duty on solar modules, abolished in 2014, is re imposed, it would raise the cost for Indian developers, thereby rendering solar tariffs less competitive. National Thermal Power Corporation and Solar Corporation of India have been holding separate auctions, with a domestic content requirement (DCR) provision, where the subsidy provided by the government as well as winning tariffs, are significantly higher than in open auctions. In 2013, the US had complained to World Trade Organisation (WTO), that the DCR provision in India s National Solar Mission, favoured local manufacturers and was inconsistent with the WTO's Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) agreement. The WTO, Appellate Body has upheld the complaint of US At a glance Early Budget and WTO ruling 10x10learning.com Page 6

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8 625. All commercial aerial vehicles including unmanned aerial vehicles in India come under the jurisdiction of : a) Directorate General of Civil Aviation b) Ministry of Civil Aviation c) Ministry of Defence d) International Civil Aviation Organisation 626. Drones can be deployed for which of the following activities: a) land dispute resolution, b) rain water management, c) identifying illegal colonies and d) crop damage assessment in rural areas. e) All the above 627. Which of the correct option about GDP contribution by agriculture and number of people employed: a) 20% of the India's $2 trillion economy. b) 25% of the nation's $2 trillion economy. c) 10% of the nation's $2 trillion economy. d) 15% of the nation's $2 trillion economy. Indian Names of months JANUARY TO JUNE Uttaraayan from 14 th January to 21 st June JULY TO DECEMBER Dakshinaayan (22 nd June to 21 st December/ 13 th January) Month Major Indian festivals 1. Magh Mahakumbha (every 12 th year), Makarsankranti, Pongal, Republic Day 2. Phalgun Holi, Mahavir Jayanti, Good Friday, 3. Chaitra Start of Indian calendar on Chaitichandra occuring between 21 st March to 31 st March 4. Vaishakh Ramnavami, Bhaishakhi, Bihu, 5. Jyeshth Buddha Jayanti 6.Aashadh Jaganath yatra, Ramzan, Eid 7. Shravan Vyaspurnima, Rakshabandhan 8. Bhadrapad Krishna Janamashtami, Ganesh Utsav, Onam 9. Ashvin Durgapuja, Dassehra,, Eid, 10.Kartik 11. Margshirsh Deepawali, Gurupurnima 12. Paush Christmas, New Year x10learning.com Page 8

9 IPC Sections 499 and 500? The Supreme Court will decide whether IPC Sections 499 and 500 are an infringement on the individual's right to freedom of speech and expression and whether remedy against defamatory statements can be sought only through civil process--defamation suit -seeking damages from offender. The SC will also consider whether the tone, tenor and stringency of Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC needs to be read down. ( Finance Minister s case against Delhi CM) Languages as per the Eight Schedule of the Constitution of India ( Article 344 (1) and 351) (Page 330 of soft copy) 1. Assamese 8. Kashmiri 15. Oriya a) Sindhi was inserted in (21 st Amendment) b) Konkani inserted in Bengali 9. Konkani 16. Punjabi ( 71 st Amendment) 3. Bodo 4. Dogri 10. Maithili 11. Malayalam 17. Sanskrit 18. Santhali c) Bodo, Dogri, Maithali, and Santhali inserted in 2003 (92 nd Amendment) 5. Gujarati 12.Manipuri 19. Sindhi 6. Hindi 13. Marathi 20. Tamil 1) Original List had 16 languages only. 7.Kannada 14. Nepali 21. Telugu 22. Urdu 629. As per 2011 national census the ratio of the elderly population was a) 8.6% 10x10learning.com Page 9

10 b) 5.6% c) 6.5% d) 6.8% How is the state of Delhi different from other states? Delhi is a Union territory and not a fully fledged state. The powers of governance in Delhi as recommended in the Balakrishna Report, was based on analysis of other capital cities of the world. Article 239AA of the Constitution is the arch stone that surmises that Delhi remains to be under the overall control of the Centre as it is a Union territory national capital territory. The office of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi is unique and has wider powers than those enjoyed by the governor of a state, because the LG is an administrator. Governor enjoys constitutional immunity but not the LG. He is the executive head of the state. The Chief Minister (CM) and his council have to aid and advise the LG, but he is not bound by it. In situations of a difference of opinion between LG and CM, the issue has to be referred to the President. LG is not a mayor or a titular head 632. About President s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh: 10x10learning.com Page 10

11 Article 174(1) mandates that there cannot be more than a six month gap between two assembly sessions. This was the situation in Itanagar, along with the internal political crisis within the state government. Governor Rajkhowa advanced the scheduled assembly winter session from January 14, 2016 to December 16, 2015, and fixed a motion for removing the Speaker as the first agenda item. The Speaker was removed in an `assembly' meeting that was held outside the premises of the State Assembly. The Supreme Court's 1979 Valluri Basavaiah Chowdhary judgment clearly states that as long as a democratically elected government exists, the Governor can only act on its advice. Similarly, the 1994 Bommai judgment said that the question of whether a government still has a majority or not, can only be decided on the floor of the assembly. Therefore, the imposition of the President s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh was held to be unconstitutional Which of the following have been declared as terror states by the United States of America? a) Iraq b) Syria c) Sudan d) All the three above 634. What is meant by Smart Cities? How are they different from traditional cities? A Smart city is one in which almost all the public services are automated and computerised. They are monitored and controlled through smart technology, which is similar to the one used in smart cell phones. Just as in a smart production line, every process is automated, and quality of output is high, in a smart city all aspects of public service delivery are automated. In case of electric power, the fluctuations in requirements in different localities get projected and supply is adjusted on real time basis. Similarly, traffic loads on streets is monitored and computers adjust the traffic lights either to divert traffic or to speed up its movement to clear the points of blockades. This enhances the quality of public services delivered in the city. 10x10learning.com Page 11

12 Singapore is the best example of a Smart City. All government services are delivered online and within the predetermined time limits. It is the only city in the world, where approval for construction / renovations to companies as well as to citizens, is given online. Citizens do not need to visit any government organisation for any work Life in a Smart City : Accountability of all citizens is also increased in a smart city. As everything is real time and is on camera, evidence admissible and needed for enforcing the law, is always available. This enforces public discipline as well. As the quality of life in a Smart city is high, living therein is also expensive. Singapore is also the most expensive city in the world to live in. However, this could also be because it is a small city state that needs to import almost everything from other countries. The negative points for a smart city include, higher cost of living, minimum scope for non technical employment, and the possible misuse of technology that could give rise to security concerns. However, these negatives are common to all sectors that are technology driven. In India, the 12 cities and towns included for conversion into smart cities, in the first list finalized in 2015, are Chennai, Coimbatore, Dindigul, Erode, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli, Tirupur, and Vellore Which of the following as recommended by the Fourteenth Finance Commission, have been included in the Reserve Bank of India s report on state finances, April, 2016: a) the states' share of tax devolution from increased from 32% to 42% of the divisible pool, but in effect, there has been a decline by 0.3% of GDP in , due to discontinuance of many centrally sponsored schemes. b) Schemes representing national priorities like poverty alleviation, and those backed by cess, have continued. c) States to be provided with greater fiscal space for development expenditure on health and education by augmenting revenue generation, levying reasonable user charges, boosting performance of state public sector units and 10x10learning.com Page 12

13 637. by improving realisations from state power distribution utilities. d) All the above 10x10learning.com Page 13

14 638. Gilgit, from where Karakoram Highway passes can be accessed from, lies in : a) Leh and Ladakh b) Baltistan, c) Pakistan Occupied Kashmir d) Pakistan 639. Which of the following choices is the correct meaning of `LoC Dynamic : a) A level of tolerance allowed by both India and Pakistan, where infiltrations could occur but the levels of violence were kept `local. b) The Line of Control was not a fixed border and kept changing c) The Line of Control was as transitory measures of conflict management d) None of the above 640. What makes India s seven successful surgical strikes' of September, 2016, different and a game changer is / are: a) Not the mission in itself, but the decision to make it officially known to all. b) For over two decades `denials' have been an important unspoken feature in Indo-Pak terms of engagement. c) Modi government has been consistent in rejecting the ongoing transitory measures of conflict management d) India went public with its claim, asserting in its wake that old rules were no longer in play e) All the above 641. The next Football World Cup will be held in: a) Russia b) Qatar c) Brazil d) Mexico 642. Short Note on `enclaves' or chhitmahal After 1971, India and Bangladesh contained within each other's borders, patches of territory belonging to the other nation. These were called `enclaves', or chhitmahal in Bengali. Each was small in area, but there were many: 102 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh, 71 Bangladeshi enclaves in India mainly in Cooch 10x10learning.com Page 14

15 Behar. In 2010, it was discovered that more than 51,500 people lived in these enclaves. Negotiations for these had been going on since In 1974, under Land Boundary Agreement administrative control was transferred, then held in abeyance after assassination of Mujib Rehman in In 2014, Parliament passed the amendments towards the end of its term. In 2015, India and Bangladesh finally swapped each other's chhitmahals. In May 2016 Assembly elections 15,000 newly registered Indian voters cast their votes Short Note on the Bill twice passed by a State Assembly and twice rejected by the President of India: The Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill, 2015 was introduced in The Bill was first rejected by then President APJ Abdul Kalam in 2004, demanding that the clause relating to interception of communication be removed. It was again rejected when Pratibha Patil was the President. In March 2014, Gujarat assembly had again passed the bill retaining controversial provisions In January, 2016,the Union home ministry has withdrawn the controversial anti-terror bill of Gujarat after waiting for President Pranab Mukherjee's nod for almost five months Short Note on geographical significance of Arunachal Pradesh: Arunachal Pradesh borders three of India's neighbours -Bhutan, China and Myanmar, stretching up to 1,630 km. China has been persistently staking claim over its entire 83,743 sq km territory even after 53 years of India-China war when the Chinese soldiers briefly occupied parts of its land. Arunachal is the only Northeast state that has not witnessed home-grown insurgency (Sikkim was merged into India in 1975), Arunachal also matters because of its huge natural resources. Apart from timber, (felling of trees, banned by the Supreme Court since 1996), horticulture, orchids the state has huge untapped hydroelectric potential. Two of the state's easternmost districts, Tezu and Anjaw, are hotbeds for cultivation of illicit opium. Naga underground outfits, particularly the NSCN-K have been active in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts, that adjoin Nagaland Under Article 174 of the Constitution, the governor exercises his power to convene, prorogue or dissolve the house on the aid and 10x10learning.com Page 15

16 advice of the chief minister and his council of ministers. However, the issue of whether the governor is bound by the CM's advice if he has lost his majority is still a grey area Which of the following executive actions have been deemed as atrocious by the Supreme Court of India: a) Emergency of 1975 b) JMM bribery case. c) Vodafone tax judgement d) All the three above 647. The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, has been extended by the Supreme Court to include: a) all private bank employees b) all political parties c) all Non government organisations d) none of the above 648. Short Note on Amendment to Section 46A of Banking Regulation Act in 1994, only the chairman, director and auditor of a bank were regarded as public servants in connection with offences under IPC. But the amendment brought within its purview chairman appointed on a whole-time basis, managing director, director, auditor, liquidator, manager and any other employee of a banking company, terming them as public servants for offences under IPC. Supreme Court s Judgement stated that: Object of enactment of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 was to make the anti-corruption law more effective and widen its coverage. It will be more reasonable to understand the expression `public servant' by reference to the office and the duties performed in connection therewith to be of a public character, merely because the legislature had said that Section 46A of Banking Regulation Act was applicable only with respect to Indian Penal Code offences, operation of PC Act for the same offences could not be shut out. 10x10learning.com Page 16

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