GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE MCQs FOR ALL BANK EXAMS

1. Novak Djokovic of Serbia won a record fifth Australian Open tennis men's singles title on
February 1, 2015. He defeated which of the following players in the final?
1) Stanislas Wawrinka
2) Roger Federer
3) Andreas Seppi
4) Andy Murray
5) Rafael Nadal

2. With effect from February 7, 2015 the Statutory Liquidity Ratio is?
1) 22 percent
2) 21.5 percent
3) 22.5 percent
4) 21 percent
5) 21.75 percent

3. Which of the following films won the Best Film Award at the 60th Filmfare Awards recently?
1) PK
2) 2 States
3) Queen
4) Haider
5) Mary Kom

4. Who assumed charge as the new Home Secretary on 2015 February 5?
1) Alok Rawat
2) Mukul Joshi
3) D.M. Spolia
4) L.C. Goyal
5) D.J. Pandian

5. Who is the first Indian shuttler to win two bronze medals at the World Badminton Championships?
1) Jwala Gutta
2) Ashwini Ponnappa
3) Saina Nehwal
4) Parupalli Kashyap
5) P.V. Sindhu

6. Who won the women's singles title at the World Badminton Championships in Copen Hagen in
August 2014?
1) Carolina Marin
2) Li Xuerui
3) Minatsu Mitani
4) Yu Yang
5) Wang Xiaoli

7. Environment Ministers of BASIC countries met in which of the following cities in August 2014?
1) Chennai
2) Hanzghou
3) New Delhi
4) Guangzhou
5) Beijing

8. Who won the inaugural STAR Prokabaddi League in Mumbai on August 31, 2014?
1) U Mumba
2) Jaipur Pink Panthers
3) Patna Pirates
4) Bengaluru Bulls
5) None of these

9. Prayuth Chanocha is the Prime Minister of which of the following Asian countries?
1) Vietnam
2) Cambodia
3) Philippines
4) Myanmar
5) Thailand

10. Haider alAbadi assumed office as the Prime Minister of which of the following countries on
September 8, 2014?
1) Iraq
2) Afghanistan
3) Yemen
4) Bahrain
5) Qatar

11. Who among the following 2014 Arjuna award winners excelled in Golf?
1) Abhishek Verma
2) V. Diju
3) Anirban Lahiri
4) Sunil Rana
5) Saji Thomas

12. The President Pranab Mukherjee presented the Outstanding Parliamentarian award to?
1) Arun Jaitley
2) Karan Singh
3) Sharad Yadav
4) Both 1and 2
5) All 1, 2 and 3

13. "Beyond 2020: A Vision for Tomorrow's India" is a book written by Y.S. Rajan and?
1) Amartya Sen
2) Jagdeesh Bhagwathi
3) Pranab Mukherjee
4) A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
5) C. Rangarajan

14. Mridula Sinha is the present Governor of?
1) Kerala
2) Goa
3) Karnataka
4) Tripura
5) Mizoram

15. Copley Medal is awarded every year for?
1) Mathematics
2) Science
3) Literature
4) Journalism
5) Sculpture

16. Which of the following public sector banks is/ are based in Kolkata?
1) United Bank of India
2) Allahabad Bank
3) UCO Bank
4) Both 1and 2
5) All 1, 2 and 3

17. State Bank of India has merged which of the following subsidiaries?
1) State Bank of Patiala
2) State Bank of Travancore
3) State Bank of Indore
4) Both 1 and 2
5) All 1, 2 and 3

18. Mouda Super Thermal Power Station is located in?
1) Gujarat
2) Chhattisgarh
3) Madhya Pradesh
4) Maharashtra
5) Jammu & Kashmir

19. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY) is related to?
1) Fertilizers
2) Pesticides
3) Seeds
4) Agriculture implements
5) Irrigation

20. North Karanpura Thermal Power Station is an upcoming coal based thermal power plant located
in?
1) Jharkhand
2) Karnataka
3) Gujarat
4) Uttarakhand
5) Madhya Pradesh

21. Istanbul Cup is associated with which of the following sports?
1) Table Tennis
2) Badminton
3) F1
4) Tennis
5) Golf

22. How many medals did India win at the 20th Commonwealth Games?
1) 15
2) 30
3) 57
4) 44
5) 64

23. Who is the first Indian woman gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games?
1) Dipa Karmarkar
2) Ashwini Ponappa
3) Apoorvi Chandela
4) Hina Sidhu
5) None of these

24. The world's tallest railway bridge will come up in Noney in?
1) Assam
2) Manipur
3) Arunachal Pradesh
4) Tripura
5) Himachal Pradesh

25. Manjula Chellur is the first woman Chief Justice of?
1) Karnataka High Court
2) Delhi High Court
3) Calcutta High Court
4) Bombay High Court
5) Gujarat High Court

26. Who assumed office as the 12th President of Turkey on August 28, 2014?
1) Ahmet Davutoglu
2) Abdullah Gul
3) Ali Babacan
4) Recep Tayyip Erdogan
5) None of these

27. India will host the 2015 Paragliding World Cup in Kangra district of?
1) Uttarakhand
2) Punjab
3) Haryana
4) Jammu & Kashmir
5) Himachal Pradesh

28. The government has re-launched the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) for the benefit of
citizens aged?
1) 55 years and above
2) 60 years and above
3) 65 years and above
4) 62 years and above
5) None of these

29. The Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana is administered by the?
1) RBI
2) GIC
3) LIC
4) SEBI
5) IRDA

30. Which is the 17th Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) to achieve Navratna status?
1) Airports Authority of India
2) India Trade Promotion Organization
3) Indian Rare Earths Limited
4) Container Corporation of India Limited
5) Goa Shipyard Limited

31. Nimoo-Bazgo and Chutak hydroelectric projects are located in?
1) Himachal Pradesh
2) Madhya Pradesh
3) Arunachal Pradesh
4) Haryana
5) Jammu & Kashmir

32. Who is the inventor of genetic fingerprinting?
1) Alec Jeffreys
2) Andre Geim
3) Stephen Hawking
4) Dorothy Hodgkin
5) None of these

33. Vladimir Beara, considered one of Soccer's greatest goalkeepers, died recently. He played 59
games for?
1) Hungary
2) Yugoslavia
3) USSR
4) Finland
5) Sweden

34. Eminent cartoonist Pran Kumar Sharma passed away recently. He is the creator of which of the following iconic characters?
1) Shaktimaan
2) Mussadi Lal
3) Chacha Chaudhary
4) Uncle Anu
5) None of these

35. Xavi Hernandez retired from international football recently. He was a member of which of the
following teams that won the Euro 2008 and Euro 2012?
1) Germany
2) England
3) France
4) Italy
5) Spain

36. Prasar Bharti has entered into an agreement with Deutsche Welle (DW), the public service
broadcaster of?
1) Spain
2) Australia
3) Netherlands
4) Germany
5) Italy

37. Union Agriculture Minister has announced that a Cashew and Spices Research Centre will be
established in?
1) Telangana
2) Andhra Pradesh
3) Goa
4) Karnataka
5) Haryana

38. Rashtriya Gokul Mission will promote conservation and development of?
1) Sheep
2) Fish
3) Goats
4) Cows
5) None of these

39. The National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) has been transferred to the Ministry of Water
Resources from the Ministry of?
1) Rural Development
2) Urban Development
3) Environment
4) Agriculture
5) Mining

40. Which State government launched 'Bhamashah' scheme to empower women, in August 2014?
1) Kerala
2) Gujarat
3) West Bengal
4) Rajasthan
5) Uttar Pradesh

ANSWERS:
1) 4 2) 2 3) 3 4) 4 5) 5 6) 1 7) 3 8) 2 9) 5 10) 1
11) 3 12) 5 13) 4 14) 2 15) 2 16) 5 17) 3 18) 4 19) 5 20) 1
21) 4 22) 5 23) 1 24) 2 25) 3 26) 4 27) 5 28) 2 29) 3 30) 4
31) 5 32) 1 33) 2 34) 3 35) 5 36) 4 37) 3 38) 4 39)3 40) 4

Production of Bio-Gas

The estimated State-wise production of biogas from family type biogas plants and large biogas plants installed in the country under different programmes of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy during the 11^th Five Year Plan period is given below:-

Sl. No.	Name of State	Biogas production (in Lakh cubic metres)
1.	Andhra Pradesh	9969.60
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	58.82
3.	Assam	1616.33
4.	Bihar	2325.94
5.	Chhattisgarh	527.63
6.	Goa	71.83
7.	Gujarat	8731.94
8.	Haryana	1112.13
9.	Himachal Pradesh	842.47
10.	Jammu & Kashmir	47.44
11.	Jharkhand	107.19
12.	Karnataka	8213.62
13.	Kerala	2399.30
14.	Madhya Pradesh	5713.25
15.	Maharashtra	15297.74
16.	Manipur	38.80
17.	Meghalaya	146.30
18.	Mizoram	72.40
19.	Nagaland	95.83
20.	Odisha	4402.65
21.	Punjab	2966.70
22.	Rajasthan	1235.30
23.	Sikkim	144.66
24.	Tamil Nadu	5261.66
25.	Tripura	53.25
26.	Uttar Pradesh	7765.80
27.	Uttarakhand	531.37
28.	West Bengal	6213.70
TOTAL :		85963.53

Central Tool Rooms in the Country

10 Tool Rooms are presently functional in the country. The State-wise list of 10 Tool Rooms  is:

S.No	Name of the Technology Centre	Location	State
1.	Central Tool Room & Training Centre (CTTC),	Bhubaneswar	Odisha
2.	Indo Danish Tool Room (IDTR),	Jamshedpur	Jharkhand
3.	Central Tool Room & Training Centre (CTTC)	Kolkata	West Bengal
4.	Tool Room & Training Centre (TRTC)	Guwahati	Assam
5.	Indo German Tool Room (IGTR)	Aurangabad	Maharashtra
6.	Indo German Tool Room (IGTR)	Indore	Madhya Pradesh
7.	Indo German Tool Room (IGTR)	Ahmedabad	Gujarat
8.	Central Tool Room (CTR)	Ludhiana	Punjab
9.	Central Institute of Hand Tools (CIHT)	Jalandhar	Punjab
10.	Central Institute of Tool Design (CITD)	Hyderabad	Telangana

Gujarat Becomes The First State To Conduct Online Elections

Gujarat has been creating landmark strides in the wing of elections to the local body authorities. Earlier the Gujarat government was successful in clearing the bill which has paved the way for compulsory voting by all the voters in the local municipal and panchayat elections. The very controversial Gujarat Local Authorities Laws Bill, 2009 was passed in the previous year, which made

(a) The voting by all those voters in the electoral college mandatory
(b) Also provided for 50% reservation for women in the local authorities.

Now after making the voting mandatory, the government has decided to make some appeasements by facilitating easy voting. This, the State Election Commission plans to bring by Online Voting.

This according to the commission would facilitate all those voters who are unable to reach the polling stations. The method follows a series of steps as follows:

(1) The voters would have to register themselves in the Gujarat Election Commission Official website.(2) They would have to present themselves for the physical verification which would be carried out by the local officials who would visit the address specified by the voters.(3) The officials would collect the biometric details and along with that would also note the hardware configuration of the laptop and the desktops that would be possibly used for voting.(4) The voters would be asked to use the same hardware as checked by the officials for voting.(5) While voting the voters would receive a OTP(One Time Password) that would be sent to their mobile phones, which would be followed by a line for the purpose of verification.(6) Using these verifications the voter could cast his/her vote online. 

Govt launches E-Vaidya Scheme

The health minister launched the second electronic UPHC - Urban Primary Health Centre in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This would be the first of its kind e-Vaidya telemedicine facility launched in the country. The e-Vaidya scheme comes under the flagship- NUHM (National Urban Health Mission).

E-Vaidya is primarily a digital health unit which would serve as a primary health center, and is a highly innovative approach with a frugal combination between the offline and the online modes. It would help in enabling and provisioning of the health care for all. It operates under a cooperative partnership between the state and the central government. The scheme importantly introduces e-UPHC i.e electronic Urban Primary Health Centre.

The various important points under the scheme:

(a) Usage of videoconferencing with which the patients can directly interact with the doctors at far off places.
(b) Specialists and other consultation could be easily carried out by the technique.
(c) The Online e-UPHC at the fringe places would have the facility for video conferencing and also other basic facilities such as machinery for X-Ray, basic labs and other diagnostic technologies.
(d) The common people could consult these doctors using video conferencing and use these facilities for the various tests which are asked to be conducted on them for the purpose of diagnosis.
(e) Many plans are covered under the scheme, the patients could opt for yearly memberships from the e-Vaidya site and can consult with the doctors even while sitting at homes with internet. But the patients will have to pay a nominal fees for memberships.
(f) The fees would vary according to the kind of consultation seeked and the time period availed for such consultations. 

Union Cabinet paves the way for New Development Bank

The union cabinet has approved the establishment of New Development Bank and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). The Bank will help India and other member countries to raise and avail resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects. In the New Development Bank each participant country will be given one vote with none having veto power unlike the World Bank, which assigns votes based on the capital share. The BRICS CRA is aimed at providing short-term liquidity support to the members to help mitigate BOP crisis situation through currency swaps, in case such a situation arises.

Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched Swachh Vidyalaya Programme under Swachh Bharat Mission with an objective to provide separate toilets for boys and girls in all government schools within one year. The Ministry financially supports States/Union Territories inter alia to provide toilets for girls and boys in schools under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). Under SSA and RMSA 88,728 toilets have been sanctioned during 2014-15. 1.58 lakh toilets as well as dysfunctional toilets have been taken up by Public Sector Undertakings/Corporates for construction/repairs. Besides an amount of Rs. 56.51crore has been allocated from the Swachh Bharat Kosh for re-construction/repairs of the dysfunctional toilets. 

National Marine Police Academy at West Coast

The Government of India has decided to establish a National Marine Police Training Institute in the land offered by the Government of Gujarat located at Pindara village in Devbhoomi Dwarka district of the State, to impart training to the marine Police personnel of all the coastal States/Union Territories in the country.  It will take, at least, 4 years to operationalise this Institute. 

Union Budget 2015-16 Practice Questions

1) On which date Union Budget 2015-16 was presented in Parliament? 

- 28 February 2015

2) Name the Union Finance Minister who presented the Union Budget 2015-16 in Parliament? 

- Arun Jaitley

3) Personal Income Tax limit was not changed in Union Budget 2015-16. What is the present Personal I-T exemption limit? 

- Rs 2.5 lakh

4) Health Insurance Premium deduction hiked from Rs. 15,000 to? 

- Rs. 25,000 (for senior citizens to Rs. 30,000)

5) Transport allowance exemption hiked to Rs. 1,600, from ____ per month? 

- Rs. 800

6) PAN card is must for all purchase above ____ rupees as proposed in Budget 2015-16? - Rs. 1 lakh

7) An additional ___% surcharge on people earning over Rs. 1 cr was put forth in the budget 2015-16? 

- 2%

8) Wht change was made in the Wealth tax? 

- Wealth tax abolished

9) DTC was dropped in the Budget 2015-16. Expand DTC? 

- Direct Taxes Code

10) Corporate tax to be reduced from 30% to ___ over next four years? 

- 25%

11) Mudra banks to be established with capital of Rs.___ crore? 

- 20000

12) Rs. ____ deduction for contribution to New Pension Scheme? 

- Rs. 50,000

13) GAAR implementation deferred by 2 years to? 

- April 2017

14) Service Tax rate hiked to ___% from 12.36%?

 - 14%

15) Tax free bonds were proposed in budget for? 

- Roads, railways, irrigation projects

Union Budget 2015-16 Highlights:

Union Budget 2015-16 Highlights:
- Arun Jaitley leaves North Block with finance ministry officials for Lok sabha.
- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley begins General Budget 2015-16 speech in Loksabha.

 TAXATION
1. Abolition of Wealth Tax.
2. Additional 2% surcharge for the super rich with income of over Rs. 1 crore.
3. Rate of corporate tax to be reduced to 25% over next four years.
4. No change in tax slabs.
5. Total exemption of up to Rs. 4,44,200 can be achieved.
6. 100% exemption for contribution to Swachch Bharat, apart from CSR.
7. Service tax increased to14 percent.

AGRICULTURE
1. Rs. 25,000 crore for Rural Infrastructure Development Bank.
2. Rs. 5,300 crore to support Micro Irrigation Programme.
3. Farmers credit - target of 8.5 lakh crore.

INFRASTRUCTURE
1. Rs. 70,000 crores to Infrastructure sector.
2. Tax-free bonds for projects in rail road and irrigation
3. PPP model for infrastructure development to be revitalised and govt. to bear majority of the risk.
4. Atal Innovation Mission to be established to draw on expertise of entrepreneurs, and researchers to foster scientific innovations; allocation of Rs. 150 crore.
5. Govt. proposes to set up 5 ultra mega power projects, each of 4000MW.

EDUCATION
1. AIIMS in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Assam.
2. IIT in Karnataka; Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad to be upgraded to IIT.
3. PG institute of Horticulture in Amritsar.
4. Kerala to have University of Disability Studies
5. Centre of film production, animation and gaming to come up in Arunachal Pradesh.
6. IIM for Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh.

DEFENCE
1. Allocation of Rs. 2,46,726 crore; an increase of 9.87 per cent over last year.
2. Focus on Make in India for quick manufacturing of Defence equipment.

WELFARE SCHEMES
1. GST and JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile) to improve quality of life and to pass benefits to common man.
2. Six crore toilets across the country under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
3. MUDRA bank will refinance micro finance orgs. to encourage first generation SC/ST entrepreneurs.
4. Housing for all by 2020.
5. Upgradation 80,000 secondary schools.
6. DBT will be further be expanded from 1 crore to 10.3 crore.
7. For the Atal Pension Yojana, govt. will contribute 50% of the premium limited to Rs. 1,000 a year.
8. New scheme for physical aids and assisted living devices for people aged over 80 .
9. Govt. to use Rs. 9,000 crore unclaimed funds in PPF/EPF for Senior Citizens Fund.
10. Rs. 5,000 crore additional allocation for MGNREGA.
11. Govt. to create universal social security system for all Indians.

RENEWABLE ENERGY
1. Rs. 75 crore for electric cars production.
2. Renewable energy target for 2022: 100K MW in solar; 60K MW in wind; 10K MW in biomass and 5K MW in small hydro

TOURISM
1. Develpoment schemes for churches and convents in old Goa; Hampi, Elephanta caves, Forests of Rajasthan, Leh palace, Varanasi , Jallianwala Bagh, Qutb Shahi tombs at Hyderabad to be under the new toursim scheme.
2. Visa on Arrival for 150 countries.

GOLD
1. Sovereign Gold Bond, as an alternative to purchasing metal gold.
2. New scheme for depositors of gold to earn interest and jewellers to obtain loans on their metal accounts.
3. To develop an Indian gold voin, which will carry the Ashok Chakra on its face, to reduce the demand for foreign coins and recycle the gold available in the country.

FINANCIAL SECTOR
1. Forward Markets Commission to be merged with the Securities and Exchange Board of India
2. NBFCs registered with the RBI and having asset size of Rs 500 crore and above to be considered as ‘financial institution’ under Sarfaesi Act, 2002, enabling them to fund SME and mid-corporate businesses
3. Permanent Establishment norms to be modified to that mere presence of offshore fund managers in the country does not lead to “adverse tax consequences.”