1. Which Indian personality has been appointed public policy fellow to Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars?
[A] Gopalaswami Parthasarathy
[B] Rakesh Sood
[C] Srinivas Kumar Sinha
[D] Nirupama Rao
Show Answer
Correct Answer: D [Nirupama Rao]
Notes:
Nirupama Rao, the former Indian Ambassador to US, has been appointed as a public policy fellow to a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) where she will work on a project on the Sino-India ties. Rao will be affiliated with the Wilson Centre’s Asia program and spend 3 months in residence at the Wilson Centre from June 2017, which is a key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues. The WWICS is the living, national memorial to President Wilson, created by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington DC. The Wilson Center provides a strictly nonpartisan space for the worlds of policymaking and scholarship to interact.
2. Which Indian Anti Hunger activist will be honoured with the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders award?
[A] Sachin Bansal
[B] Ankit Kawatra
[C] Anil Agarwal
[D] Kunal Bahl
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Ankit Kawatra]
Notes:
Indian anti-hunger activist Ankit Kawatra has honoured with the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders award for his exceptional work in transforming the lives of others. Kawatra is among the 60 others from all 53 Commonwealth countries to be felicitated with the prestigious award by Queen Elizabeth (II) at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace in London on June 29, 2017. The honourees will also undergo a year-long mentoring and online learning by the University of Cambridge to build leadership capabilities and better their work towards the communities. He is the founder of Feeding India, a not-for profit organization that works towards solving problems of hunger, malnutrition and food wastage, mainly by redistributing extra food from restaurants, canteens, households, corporates etc. to help people in need.
3. Which among the following countries is currently (June, 2022) the biggest supplier of crude oil to India?
[A] Iran
[B] Saudi Arabia
[C] Russia
[D] Iraq
Show Answer
Correct Answer: D [Iraq ]
Notes:
India fulfils 85% of its crude oil requirements through imports. As of June, 2022, Iraq, Russia and Saudi Arabia are India’s largest three crude oil suppliers.
4. The Union Cabinet has recently approved North-East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) 2017 with financial outlay of how much amount upto March 2020?
[A] Rs.4000 crore
[B] Rs.2000 crore
[C] Rs.3000 crore
[D] Rs.5000 crore
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [Rs.3000 crore]
Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS), 2017 with financial outlay of Rs.3000 crores upto March, 2020. Government will provide necessary allocations for remaining period of scheme after assessment before March 2020. NEIDS is a combination of the incentives covered under the earlier two schemes with a much larger outlay. In order to promote employment in the North East States, Government is incentivising primarily the MSME Sector through this scheme and is also providing specific incentive through it to generate employment. The newly introduced scheme will promote industrialization in the States of the North Eastern Region and will boost employment and income generation. All eligible industrial units which are getting benefits of one or more components of other schemes of the government will also be considered for benefits of other components of this scheme. The overall cap for benefits under all components of incentives will be of Rs 200 crores per unit.
5. Which city is hosting the 2018 Unified Commanders’ Conference (UCC) to review country’s security preparedness?
[A] Dharmshala
[B] New Delhi
[C] Raipur
[D] Srinagar
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [New Delhi]
Notes:
The Unified Commanders’ Conference (UCC) for the year 2018 has started at New Delhi on July 30 to review external security challenges as well as the country’s preparedness. The 2-day annual conference will provide a platform for discussions at the Apex Level on all ‘Joint Issues’ among the three Services & Ministry of Defence. The scope of this conference is to enable the forum to facilitate joint stock taking of the previous year’s performance of all Services & Departments of Ministry of Defence and jointly chart the course for the next year. The conference will be attended by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Ramrao Bhamre, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force among others.
6. Consider the following statements:
Assertion: Government of India has recently created a GOM to consider amendment to Article 311 of the Constitution
Reason: The provisions of Article 311 have come in the way of bringing corrupt civil servants to book and create obstacles for expeditious punitive action.
Choose the correct option:
[A] Both A and R are correct and R is correct explanation to A
[B] Both A and R are correct, but R is incorrect explanation to A
[C] A is correct , R is incorrect
[D] A is incorrect , R is correct
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [Both A and R are correct and R is correct explanation to A]
Notes:
Article 311 provides protection to Public servants. There is need for rationalization and simplification of procedures to prevent the corrupt and dishonest elements in the system from cornering the benefits of the constitutional safeguards. Central Government has constituted a GoM to consider measures that can be taken to tackle corruption. One of the terms of reference is to consider amendment to Article 311 of the Constitution to provide for summary proceedings in cases of grave misdemeanour or blatant corruption by public servants. The issue is under consideration of GoM.
7. Which of the following has been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 2016?
[A] Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve
[B] Nokrek Biosphere Reserve
[C] Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve
[D] Simlipal Biosphere Reserve
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [ Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve ]
Notes:
Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve became part of World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 2016. ABR includes the Indian Ecoregions of South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, South Western Ghats montane rain forests and Shola. It is the habitat for 2,000 varieties of medicinal plants, of which at least 50 are rare and endangered species. Rare animals include the tiger, Asian Elephant, and Nilgiri tahr.
8. Identify the fauna with the help of given information:
- This species was for long known to be endemic to Satpura ranges but recently has been recorded in northern Western Ghats
- It has been listed as critically endangered in the IUCN list
- The species is very small in size with very large talons and prefers mixed deciduous forests with dense undergrowth and mature softwood trees
Select the correct answer from options given below:
[A] Brown palm civet
[B] Forest owlet
[C] Pygmy hog
[D] Great Indian hornbill
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [ Forest owlet]
Notes:
All given features are of Forest owlet
9. Which of the following statements is correct about the recently launched “Pt Deen Dayal Upadhayay Vigyan Gram Sankul Pariyojana”?
[A] It aims to promote Agripreneurs and Agri Start-upsin the country
[B] It aims to transform the fate of villages in India in the field of Science and Technology (S&T) with the help of local available resources and skills
[C] It aims to restructure and strengthen Agricultural Extension to enable delivery of appropriate technologies and improved agronomic practices to the farmers.
[D] It aims to create awareness among the farmers with the help of digital technology about the enhanced use of appropriate technology in agriculture and allied sectors.
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [It aims to transform the fate of villages in India in the field of Science and Technology (S&T) with the help of local available resources and skills]
Notes:
Recently, the Ministry of Science & Technology has launched Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhayay Vigyan Gram Sankul Pariyojana to formulate and implement appropriate S&T. The scheme is initially launched on pilot basis under which the Department of Science and Technology (DST) will adopt few clusters of villages in Uttarakhand and transform them to become self-sustainable in terms of science & technology with the help of available local resources and skills. Practice of agriculture, agro-based cottage industries and animal husbandry in an eco-friendly manner will be emphasized during the implementation of the project.
10. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2017 was awarded to Richard H. Thaler for his:
[A] contributions to contract theory
[B] contributions to behavioural economics
[C] analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare
[D] analysis of market power and regulation
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [contributions to behavioural economics]
Notes:
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2017 was awarded to Richard H. Thaler “for his contributions to behavioural economics”. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, and generally regarded as the most prestigious award for that field. The prize was established in 1968. Although it is not one of the prizes that Alfred Nobel established in his will in 1895, it is referred to along with the other Nobel Prizes by the Nobel Foundation.