OSCAR AWARDS 2013

Ben Affleck's Iranian hostage drama 'Argo' won the Best Picture Oscar while Ang Lee pulled off a big surprise by taking home the Best Director trophy for 'Life of Pi' at the 85th Academy Awards.

British actor Daniel Day-Lewis, 55, scored a historic third Best Actor Oscar for his turn as the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's civil-war set drama 'Lincoln'.

He has become the first actor to win the most number of Best Actor Oscars. His previous Oscars were for 'My Left Foot' in 1989 and 'There Will Be Blood' in 2007.

22-year-old Jennifer Lawrence emerged a winner for 'Silver Linings Playbook' in a tight best actress race by tripping strong contenders like Jessica Chastain, Emmanuelle Riva, Naomi Watts and Quvenzhane Wallis.

'Argo' saw off tough competition from eight other films --including 'Lincoln', 'Life of Pi', 'Amour', 'Django Unchained' and 'Zero Dark Thirty'-- to walk away with the top award.

'Argo' was declared a winner by Jack Nicholson and First Lady Michelle Obama, who tuned in through a videolink, making an unprecedented appearance from White House in a shimmery silver gown.

The film, based on real incidents, narrates the near impossible escape story when CIA pulled out six US diplomats from Iranin 1979 by posing as a fake film crew.

List of Oscar Winners from the 2013 Academy Awards:

1. Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained."

2. Animated Short Film: "Paperman."

3. Animated Feature Film: "Brave."

4. Cinematography: "Life of Pi."

5. Visual Effects: "Life of Pi."

6. Costume: "Anna Karenina."

7. Makeup and Hairstyling: "Les Miserables."

8. Live Action Short Film: "Curfew."

9. Documentary (short subject): "Inocente."

10. Documentary: "Searching For Sugar Man."

11. Foreign Language Film: "Amour."

12. Sound Mixing: "Les Miserables."

13. Sound Editing (TIE): "Skyfall," "Zero Dark Thirty."

14. Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables."

15. Editing: "Argo."

16. Production Design: "Lincoln."

17. Score: "Life of Pi."

18. Song: Adele, "Skyfall."

19. Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, "Argo."

20. Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained."

21. Director: Ang Lee, "Life of Pi."

22. Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook."

23. Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln."

24. Picture: "Argo."

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs

1. Who was appointed as the Solicitor General of India on February 13, 2013?
 1) Mohan Jain
2) P.P.Malhotra
3) G.E.Vahanavati
4) Mohan Parasaran
5) Gopal Subramaniam

2. Who was given The Hindu Literary Prize 2013 for his novel "Em and the Big Hoom"?
1) Jeet Thayil
2) Jerry Pinto
3) Kiran Nagarkar
4) Shashi Tharoor
5) None of these

3. Rafael Correa was re-elected for third term as the President of which of the following South American countries in February 2013?
1) Peru
 2) Chile
3) Ecuador
4) Venezuela
5) Uruguay

4. Who was conferred the 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development on February 18, 2013?
1) Sheikh Hasina
2) Sonia Gandhi
3) Medha Patkar
4) Ela Bhatt
5) Shanta Sinha

5. Ratu Epeli Nailatikau was sworn in for a second three-year term in November 2012 as the President of?
1) Cyprus
2) Fiji
3) Latvia
4) Burkina Faso
5) Malta

6. E. Donnall Thomas of USA died recently. He won the 1990 Nobel Prize in which of the following fields?
1) Physics
2) Chemistry
3) Medicine
4) Literature
5) Economics

7. Which of the following is a voluntary force that serves as auxiliary to the police and helps in maintaining internal security?
1) Home Guards
2) CISF
3) CRPF
4) RAF
5) National Security Guard

8. Which of the following is a statutory, quasi-judicial body set up in 1966 by the Parliament with the object of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of press in India?
1) United News of India
2) Press Trust of India
3) Press Information Bureau
4) Press Council of India
5) None of these

9. State Bank of India opened its second Kohinoor premium banking centre for very high net worth individuals on November 7, 2012 in which of the following cities?
1) Mumbai
2) Chennai
3) Pune
4) Vijayawada
5) Visakhapatnam

10. Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL), one of the largest security custodians to financial institutions, will be merged with?
1) IFCI
2) GIC
3) IDBI Bank
4) LIC
5) SBI

11. An indirect tax levied on those goods which are manufactured in India is called?
1) Sales Tax
 2) Income Tax
3) Excise Duty
4) VAT
5) None of these

12. Outlook.com is a web mail service launched by?
1) Google
2) Rediff
3) Apple
 4) Microsoft
5) None of these

13. Naresh Chandra Task Force is related to?
1) Black Money
2) Corruption
3) National Security
4) Income Tax
5) None of these

14. India won the inaugural Asian Cricket Council's Women T-20 Asia Cup by defeating which of the following teams in the final in Guangzhou, China?
1) China
2) Thailand
3) Sri Lanka
4) Bangladesh
5) Pakistan

15. The Art of Living Foundation is one of the world's largest volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-govern men tal organizations (NGO). It was founded in 1981 by?
1) Baba Ram Dev
2) Acharya Rajneesh
3) Sri Narayan Guru
4) Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
5) None of these

16. Kanha National Park is a Tiger Reserve in?
1) Odisha
2) Rajasthan
3) Bihar
4) Uttar Pradesh
5) Madhya Pradesh

17. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is Asia's first stock exchange. It was established in?
1) 1882
2) 1887
3) 1875
4)1897
 5) 1895

18. World Consumer Rights Day is observed on?
1) May 25
2) March 15
3) June 25
4) May 15
5)January 15

19. Which of the follow ing scientific research institutions is located in Bangalore?
1) National Institute of Nutrition
2) Indian Institute of Geomagne tism
3) Agarkar Research Institute
4) Indian Institute of Astro physics
5) None of these

20. 'Associated Press' is the main news agency of?
1) UK
2) France
3) Russia
4) Australia
5) USA

ANSWERS:
1) 4 2) 2 3) 3 4) 4 5) 2 6) 3 7) 1 8) 4 9) 5 10) 3
11) 3 12) 4 13) 3 14) 5 15) 4 16) 5 17) 3 18) 2 19) 4 20) 5

IBPS PO EXAM - GENERAL AWARENESS SOLVED PAPER (EXAM HELD ON: 17-06-2012)

1.Which of the following was issue over which India decided to vote against Sri Lanka in the meeting of one of the UN governed bodies/agencies ?   
a) Violations of human rights in Sri Lanka
b) Allowing china of human rights in Sri Lanka
c) Issue of subsidy on agricultural products in the meeting of the WTO
d) Allowing part of Sri Lanka to become an independent country governed by LTTE.
e) Sri Lanka ‘s claim to become a permanent member of UN security council.
Ans : A  

  

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE about political situation in Mali, where a military coup burst out recently 
a) General elections were due there in March / April 2012 but did not take place
b) The Country was under the control of US army since last 18 months
c) Army of the country was not happy as Amadou Toure was made president without elections for the next five years
d) Coup broke out in Mali when Amadou Toure, the military chief got seriously injured in a bomb blast.
e) NATO and its associates had panned a coup there.
Ans: D   

3. In the summit of which if the following organizations/group of Nations it was declared that all members should enforce Budget discipline?  
a) G-8

b) OPEC

c) European Union

d) SAARC

e) G-20
Ans : C   

4. A per newspaper reports, India is planning to use ‘SEU’ as fuel in its 700 MW nuclear reactors being developed in new plants. What is full form of ‘SEU’ as used here ?    (science & technology)
a) Safe Electrical Units

b) Small Electrical units

c) Slightly enriched Uranium

d) Sufficiently Enriched Units

e) Safely enriched uranium
Ans : C    

5. The Golden Jubilee of Afro-Asian Development organization was organized in which of the following places in March 2012 ?   
a) Dhaka

b) Tokya

c) Cairo

d) kualalumpur

e) New Delhi
Ans :E  

  

6. The present Foreign Trade policy of India will continue till   
a) December 2012

b) march 2013

c) march 2014

d) June 2014

e) December 2014
Ans : C  

  

7. What was the reasons owing Enrica Lexie , an Italian ship was detained by the port Authorities in Kerala and was bought to Cochin port for inspection and search?  

a) It was carrying in objectionable material
b) It was involved in sea piracy
c) It was detained as the crew killed two India fishermen
d) The ship started sailing without making payments of Iron ore it loaded
e) It was detained as it was dumping nuclear waste in deep sea.
Ans : C   

8. Which of the following agencies/ organizations recently gave ‘go-head’ verdict to India’s one of the most controversial project of Inter linking rivers?( some of the rivers international rivers )                                                                                                                                                                                             
a) UN Food and Agriculture Organization
b) World Meteorological Organization
c) International Court of Justice
d) Central Water Commission
e) Supreme Court of India
Ans : E 

   

9. Who among the following was the captain of the Australian Team which played 4 Test matches against India in January 2012 and won all of them ?    (sports and games)
a) Ricky Pointing

b) Michael Clarke

c) Nathan Lyon

d) Stuart Clark

e) Andrew Symonds
Ans : B 

   

10. The committee on review of Small saving fund (NSSF) was headed by   
a) Dr.C.Rangarajan

b) Mr.U.K.sinha

c) Dr.Y.V.Reddy

d) Mrs,shyamala Gopinath

e) Dr. Usha thorat
Ans : D  

  

11. The 5th Asian Indoor Athletics Championship was organized in February 2012 in 
a) Bangladesh

b) India

c) Qatar

d) China

e) South Korea
Ans : D

    

12. Who among the following was the chief Guest at the three -day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in January 2012?   
a) kamla Persad – Bissessar

b) Ram Baran Yadav

c) Lakshmi Mittal

d) Salman Rushdie

e) Benjamini Netanyahu
Ans : A  

  

13. As per revised RBI Guidelines, Provision on secured  portion of loan accounts classified as Doubtful assets for than one year and up to 3 (three) years is to be made at the rate of     (economy)
a) 15%

 b) 20% 

c) 40 % 

d) 25% 

e) 30%
Ans : E    

14. As per the provisions in the food Security Bill -2011, per month how much food grain should be given to each person of the target group?   
a) 5kg

b) 7 kg

c) 9kg

d) 10 kg

e) 20kg
Ans : B    

15. Which of the following states has launched ‘panch parmeswar Yojana’ Under which panshayats are allowed to use the fund for developing infrastructure and basic amenities in villages ?  
a) UttarPradesh

b) Maharastra

c) Gujarat

d) Madhya Pradesh

e) Tamilnadu
Ans : D

    

16. National table tennis championship was organized in January 2012 in   
a) Mumbai

b) Delhi

c) Hyderabad

d) Luknow

e) Jaipur
Ans : D    

17. Who among the following is the author of the book ‘Nirbasan’?
a) Mahasweta devi

b) Taslima Nasreen

c) Sunil Gangopadhyay

d) Vikram Seth

e) Kiran Desai
Ans : B 

   

18.Who maong the following Indian Lawn Tennis layer won a Doubles of Australian Open 2012 ?          
a) Mahesh Bhupati

b) Kamlesh Mehta

c) Leander paes

d) Sania Mirza

e) Achanta sarath kamal
Ans : C   

19.’Akula -11′class’K-152 Nepra ‘ was included in Indian Navy recently. These are   
a) Air crafts

b) Radar System

c) Submarines Missiles

d) Warships

e) Submarines
Ans : E    

20. Which of the following awards was conferred upon Late Mario De Miranda(Posthumously)in January 2012?   
a) Padma Vibhushan

b) bharat Ratna

c) kalidas Samman

d) Saraswati Samman

e) Padmashri
Ans : A  

  

21. Which of the following schemes in launched to provide pension to people in unorganized sectors in India    
a) Swabhiman

b) Jeevan Dhara

c) Jeevan Kalyan

d) ASHA

e) Swavalamban
Ans : E

22. The 10th basic Ministerial Meeting on climate change was organized in February 2012 in     
a) Tokyo

b) Beijing

c) manila

d) Moscow

e) New Delhi
Ans : E 

   

23. Finance Ministry has asked the Reserve Bank of India to allow Common ATM’s taht will be owned and managed by non-banking entities hoping to cut transaction costs for banks, such ATM’a are known as  
a) black Label ATM’s

b) Offsite ATM’s

c) On site ATM’s or red ATM’s

d) Third Party ATM’s

e) White label ATM’s
Ans : E    

24. Ranbir Kapoor was awarded Best Actor Award in 57th Film Fare function for his performance in?            
a) No One Killed Jessica

b) Stanley Ka Dabba

c) 7 khoon Maaf

d) Rockstar

e) Zindagi na milendi Dobara
Ans : D

‘Electoral Trust Scheme

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come out with an ‘Electoral Trust Scheme’, which lays down the procedure for grant of approval to an electoral trust. With this move, such trusts are set to get more popular with corporate India. The taxman’s approval is important for electoral trusts to avail themselves of tax exemption on voluntary contributions received by them. Once this is done, donors to such trusts will get 100 per cent tax deduction for their contributions. However, these tax breaks will be available only when the electoral trusts distribute 95 per cent of their annual contribution to eligible political parties. To reform the system of funding of political parties, the UPA Government had, in its 2009 Budget, extended
tax breaks for ‘electoral trusts’. It was seen as a win-win arrangement as it would encourage creation of such trusts and help corporates avoid getting into an embarrassing situation of supporting only certain political parties. Prior to the 2009 move, corporates did not get any tax breaks on contributions made to electoral
trusts.

Assam’s Computerisation of Registration (Panjeeyan) Project

Assam’s Computerisation of Registration (Panjeeyan) Project has earned laurels for the state. The Project has won the prestigious Gold Icon National Award by the Union department of administrative reforms and public grievances for 2012-13. The state-wide Computerisation of Registration (Panjeeyan) Project in Assam was implemented by the revenue and disaster management department with support of the finance department, under the Assam Governance and Public Resource Management Project (AGPRMP) funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Under the Project, all 75 sub-registrar offices across the state have been computerised replacing the earlier manual system of maintaining records and registers. The registration process carried out in sub-registrar offices is a means of recording documents like sale deed, mortgage, agreement, lease deed, power of attorney, will, etc., as provided for in the Registration Act, 1908. It confers a legal status to the document and provides a measure of security to the transaction and minimises scope of disputes.

Vajpayee Arogyasri Yojana

Vajpayee Arogyasri Yojana is the Karnataka State government’s flagship health insurance scheme, which helps families living below the poverty line (BPL) to avail themselves of medical benefits. World Bank will fund 80 per cent of the project, while state government will fund the remaining 20 per cent. The scheme, which will provide free treatment for 402 procedures including cardiovascular diseases, cancer treatment, burns and neo-natal cases, will also consist of 55 post operative procedures. Accidents, if not covered by insurance will also be taken up under the Yojana.

JEEVika - Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project

JEEVika - Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project, is a Government of Bihar Project assisted by the World Bank, aims to empower the rural poor by creating self managed community institutions and enhancing incomes through sustainable livelihoods. The project is striving to bring a change in the lives of about 5 lakh poor families of Bihar by promoting livelihoods through community institutions, their federation and producer's groups. The five year project was launched on 2nd October 2007.

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram launched in Thane, Maharashtra

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on 6 February 2013 launched a new health initiative called Rashtriya Bal Sawsthya Karyakram at Palghar town in Thane district of Maharashtra. The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, is a part of the National Rural Health Mission of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The Main Features of Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram are as following:
• The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram is aimed at improving overall quality of life of children through early detection of birth defects, diseases and deficiencies, which are among key factors for child mortality.
• The new initiative would assure a package of health services for all children up to 18 years of age. The programme will also prove economical for poor and marginalized.
• The services will be provided through dedicated mobile health teams placed in every block. The scheme, which will be implemented in a phased manner, is expected to benefit approximately 27 crore children across the country.

Birth defects account for 9.6 per cent of all new-born deaths and 4 per cent of under-five mortality. According to the programme, a set of thirty common conditions have been identified for screening and further management of child health.

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is an Indian health program for improving health care delivery across rural India. It was launched on 12 April 2005 for a period of 7 years.

Merger of National Lake Conservation Plan and National Wetlands Conservation Programme into a new scheme

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs  approved the proposal for the merger of National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) and National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP) into a new scheme called the `National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems` (NPCA). 

The merged scheme shall be operational during the XII Plan Period at an estimated cost of Rs.900 crore on 70:30 cost sharing between the Central Government and respective State Governments (90:10 for North-East States). 

For conservation of lakes and wetlands, the Ministry of Environment and Forests is presently, implementing two separate Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), namely the NWCP and the NLCP. To avoid overlap, promote better synergies and to ensure conservation and management works, an integrated scheme, NPCA is proposed, with the objective of conserving aquatic ecosystems (lakes and wetlands), through implementation of sustainable conservation plans and governed with application of uniform policy and guidelines. 

The principal objectives of the new scheme will be holistic conservation and restoration of lakes and wetlands for achieving desired water quality enhancement, besides improvement in biodiversity and the ecosystem, through an integrated and multidisciplinary approach with a common regulatory framework, The scheme would contribute to reduction of pollution loads and improvement in goods and services provided by these water bodies to stakeholders.

The new scheme will have conservation and management of lakes and wetlands in the country within its scope, to include inventory and information system on lakes and wetlands national level directive on criteria for lakes and wetlands, regulatory framework, capacity building at state government and local body levels, evaluation etc.

Amendments to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Act, 1981

The Union Cabinet gave its approval to the amendments to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Act 1981.

The following amendments to the NABARD Act 1981 are proposed:-

1.      Raising the authorized capital of NABARD to Rs. 20,000 crore from Rs. 5,000 crore.

2.      The meaning of cooperative society is proposed to be enlarged to include multistate cooperative societies registered under any Central law or any other Central or State law relating to cooperative societies.

3.      Change of ownership to facilitate the transfer of the remaining share capital of NABARD from the Reserve Bank to the Central Government.

4.      Increasing the scope of operations of NABARD under short term funding purposes and other changes.

The following benefits are projected by this amendment:-

1.  By increasing the authorized capital of NABARD to Rs 20,000 crore from Rs 5,000 crore, the ability of NABARD to mobilize resources from the market will be enhanced thereby new credit products, new credit linkages and new clients will be developed.

2.  The amendments allow NABARD to lend to new institutions, mainly Societies covered under multistate cooperative societies act and other central laws, producer organizations or such class of financial institutions which are approved by the Central Government. This is likely to benefit a larger segment of the financially excluded farmers in the country.

3.  The amendments allow combination of credit, creation of short term operations fund and swapping of debt of farmers.

4.  The decision of the Government to transfer the balance one percent shares to the Govt. of India from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in NABARD shall be carried out, which will provide for increased public accountability, as the Government will acquire the equity held by RBI.

5.  NABARD will combine the post of Chairman and the post of Managing Director, into one, therefore Chairman and Managing Director, under the provisions of the NABARD Act relating to these two posts. This shall ensure a distinct line of command.

Background

        NABARD was established on 12 July 1982 to provide sharp focus to agriculture credit and rural development. NABARD adopted, as its mission, the promotion of sustainable and equitable development of agriculture and rural prosperity through effective credit support, related services, institution development and other innovative initiatives.