Q1. The 14th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) convention has begun in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The three-day event has kicked start with the Youth PBD, the theme of 14th PBD is-
(a) Every Year to Commemorate the Return of Mahatma Gandhi
(b) NRIs and Overseas Indian Community Students in India
(c) Three Plenary Sessions are scheduled to be Held
(d) Role of Diaspora Youth in the Transformation of India
(e) None of the given options is true
Q2. Name the Company, which have signed a three-year global strategic partnership with TaTa Motors, recently?
(a) Wallmart
(b) Castrol
(c) ONGC
(d) Facebook
(e) None of the given options is true
Q3. Which among the following countries has launched the longest high-speed train service named 'Shangri-la of the World'?
(a) Canada
(b) France
(c) South Korea
(d) Russia
(e) China
Q4. Which country has decided to development of Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities recently?
(a) Germany
(b) Turkey
(c) Japan
(d) USA
(e) Italy
Q5. In which among the following cities the All India Conference of Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers of States and Union Territories' Waqf Boards has held?
(a) New Delhi
(b) Bengaluru
(c) Kolkata
(d) Lucknow
(e) Hyderabad
Q6. 09-day New Delhi World Book Fair begins in Pragati Maidan. The theme for this year's event is __________ which will focus on writings on and by women.
(a) Manushi
(b) Kurash
(c) Hanushi
(d) Bibeki
(e) None of the given options is true
Q7. India’s per capita income, a gauge for measuring living standard, is estimated to cross Rs 1 lakh in 2016-17, up from Rs 93,293 in the previous fiscal (2015-16). Which among the following organisation has released the India’s per capita income?
(a) Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
(b) Central Statistics Office (CSO)
(c) Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
(d) Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
(e) National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
Q8. The Budget session of Parliament convened to start from January 31 2017, a day before the Union Budget is likely to be presented. Who is present Union Finance Minister of India?
(a) Rajnath Singh
(b) Sushma Swaraj
(c) Arun Jaitley
(d) Suresh Prabhu
(e) Ravi Shankar Prasad
Q9. Name the country, which is setting up the world's highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes in a Tibet prefecture close to Line of Actual Control with India with a budget of $18.8 million to detect faintest echoes resonating from the universe which may reveal more about the Big Bang theory.
(a) USA
(b) Bhutan
(c) Pakistan
(d) China
(e) Russia
Q10. Droom has tied up with ____________ India’s third-largest private sector bank, to provide quick sanction of loans on both new as well as used cars.
(a) South Indian Bank
(b) HDFC Bank
(c) Kotak Mahindra Bank
(d) ICICI Bank
(e) Axis Bank
Q11. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Portuguese counterpart ________________ has inaugurated the main convention of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) in Bengaluru.
(a) Mauricio Macri
(b) Dr Antonio Costa
(c) Mariano Rajoy
(d) Francois Hollande
(e) None of the given options is true
Q12. China's Central Bank has says, the country's foreign currency reserves shrank last year, marking large annual losses for the 02nd year in a row. Which among the following is the Central Bank of China?
(a) People's Bank of China
(b) Bank of China
(c) Agricultural Bank of China
(d) Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(e) None of the given options is true
Q13. US President-elect Donald Trump has named ____________ as his National Intelligence Director.
(a) Vivian Chris
(b) Jones Boney
(c) Mack Gayle
(d) Dan Coats
(e) Steve Jack
Q14. Who has won the Qatar Open tennis title. In an epic final in Doha, the Serbian defeated Andy Murray of UK by 6-3 5-7 6-4 recently?
(a) Stan Wawrinka
(b) Roger Federer
(c) Novak Djokovic
(d) Rafael Nadal
(e) None of the given options are true
Q15. The GAAR, will kick in from April 1, 2017 said the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT). What is GAAR stands for?
(a) General Anti-Avoidance Regulation
(b) General Anti-Avoidance Revised
(c) General Anti-Agreement Rule
(d) General Action-Avoidance Rule
(e) General Anti-Avoidance Rule
Solutions
Sol. The 14th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) convention has begins in Bengaluru, Karnataka on 07th January 2017. The three-day event has kicked start with the Youth PBD, the theme of which is 'Role of Diaspora Youth in the Transformation of India'. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas has been held traditionally on 09th January every year to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi as a Pravasi from South Africa to India.
S2. Ans.(b)
Sol. Tata Motors and Castrol have signed a 3-year strategic partnership agreement. As part of the agreement, Castrol will supply Commercial Vehicle Oils to Tata Motors globally. The agreement will cover over 50 markets including SAARC and ASEAN region, Middle East, Africa, Russia and Latin America.
S3. Ans.(e)
Sol. China has launched its longest high-speed train service from Kunming capital of south-west China's Yunnan Province to Beijing. The train named 'Shangri-la of the World' left Kunming at 11:05 am on a 2,760-km trip to Beijing. The mileage will increase to 45,000 km by 2030.
S4. Ans.(c)
Sol. Japan’s Ambassador to India Mr.Kenji Hiramatsu during a meeting with Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu has announced India with the development of Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities. Mr.Kenji Hiramatsu stated that Japan is quite interested in urban development initiatives of the Government of India and decided to be a partner.
S5. Ans.(a)
Sol. The All India Conference of Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers of States and Union Territories' Waqf Boards begins in New Delhi.The conference has been inaugurated by Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.Various issues, including review of progress under the schemes relating to grant of financial assistance for computerization of waqf properties, strengthening of waqf boards and development of waqf properties by National Waqf Development Corporation Ltd. has discussed during the conference.
S6. Ans.(a)
Sol. 09-day New Delhi World Book Fair begins in Pragati Maidan. The theme for this year's event is 'Manushi' which will focus on writings on and by women. Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Mahendra Nath Pandey will inaugurate the fair, while HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar will inaugurate the theme pavilion.
S7. Ans.(b)
Sol. India’s per capita income, a gauge for measuring living standard, is estimated to cross Rs 1 lakh in 2016-17, up from Rs 93,293 in the previous fiscal. As per the ‘First Advance Estimates of National Income, 2016-17’ released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the per capita net national income during 2016-17 is “estimated to be Rs 103,007” at current prices. This is higher by 10.4 per cent compared to Rs 93,293 during 2015-16.
S8. Ans.(c)
Sol. The Budget session of Parliament convened to start from January 31 2017, a day before the Union Budget is likely to be presented. President Pranab Mukherjee has summoned the Rajya Sabha to meet on January 31, 2017. A similar notification is also expected from the Lok Sabha secretariat. Arun Jaitley is present Union Finance Minister of India.
S9. Ans.(d)
Sol. China is setting up the world's highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes in a Tibet prefecture close to Line of Actual Control with India with a budget of $18.8 million to detect faintest echoes resonating from the universe which may reveal more about the Big Bang theory. Construction has started for the first telescope, code-named Ngari No 1, 30 km south of Shiquanhe Town in Ngari Prefecture, said Yao Yongqiang chief researcher with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
S10. Ans.(e)
Sol. India’s pioneering online automobile transactional marketplace Droom has firmly entrenched its foothold as a complete eco-system for buyers to have an impeccable automobile owning experience. In its latest effort to sustain such a status, Droom has tied up with Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector bank, to provide quick sanction of loans on both new as well as used cars.
S11. Ans.(b)
Sol. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Portuguese counterpart Dr Antonio Costa has inaugurated the main convention of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas this morning (08th January 2017) in Bengaluru. In his keynote address at the 14th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas celebrations, Mr Modi said, the Indian diaspora represents the best of Indian culture, ethos and values. Indians abroad are valued not just for their strength in numbers.
S12. Ans.(a)
Sol. China's Central Bank says, the country's foreign currency reserves shrank last year, marking large annual losses for the 2nd year in a row. Officials at the People's Bank of China (China's Central Bank) said that foreign reserves stood at over three trillion dollars as of the end of December 2016. For the year as a whole, China's foreign exchange reserve fell nearly 320 billion dollars from a year earlier, following a drop of more than 512 billion dollars in 2015.
S13. Ans.(d)
Sol. US President-elect Donald Trump has named Dan Coats as his National Intelligence Director. The Indiana ex-senator formerly served on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mr Coats would provide unwavering leadership and spearhead his administration's ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do them harm.
S14. Ans.(c)
Sol. Novak Djokovic has won the Qatar Open tennis title. In an epic final in Doha, the Serbian defeated Andy Murray of UK by 6-3 5-7 6-4. Djokovic missed out on three match points and had to repel a roaring Murray comeback before ending the Briton's 28-match, five-tournament winning streak.
S15. Ans.(e)
Sol. The General Anti-Avoidance Rule,GAAR, will kick in from April 1, 2017 said the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) on 08th January 2017. GAAR was part of the 2012-13 Budget speech of the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to check tax evasion and avoidance.
