New Ministers and Portfolios

Newly inducted Ministers and their Portfolios as on 28^th October 2012

            Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh expanded his cabinet on Sunday (28^th October 2012), saying he had brought in youth and experience while allotting portfolios.

Here is a snapshot of ministers and their portfolios that emerged after the Cabinet reshuffle--the "last" before 2014 polls.

CABINET MINISTERS (NEW)

SL No	Name of the Minister	Portfolio
1	Shri K. Rahman Khan	Minority Affairs
2	Shri Dinsha J. Patel	Mines
3	Shri Ajay Maken	Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
4	Shri M.M. Pallam Raju	Human Resource Development
5	Shri Ashwani Kumar	Law & Justice
6	Shri Harish Rawat	Water Resources
7	Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch	Culture

MINISTERS OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) (NEW)

SL No	Name of the Minister	Portfolio
1	Shri Manish Tewari	Information & Broadcasting
2	Dr. K. Chiranjeevi	Tourism

MINISTERS OF STATE(NEW)

SL No	Name of the Minister	Portfolio
1	Dr. Shashi Tharoor	Human Resource Development
2	Shri Kodikunnil Suresh	Labour & Employment
3	Shri Tariq Anwar	Agriculture & Food Processing Industries
4	Shri K. J. Surya Prakash       Reddy	Railways
5	Smt. Ranee Narah	Tribal Affairs
6	Shri A.H. Khan Choudhury	Health & Family Welfare
7	Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury	Railways
8	Shri Sarvey Sathyanarayana	Road Transport & Highways
9	Shri Ninong Ering	Minority Affairs
10	Smt. Deepa Dasmunsi	Urban Development
11	Shri Porika Balram Naik	Social Justice & Empowerment
12	Dr.(Smt.) Kruparani Killi	Communications & Information Technology
13	Shri Lalchand Kataria	Defence

Existing Ministers with their new Portfolio’s

CABINET MINISTERS

SL No	Name of the Minister	Portfolio
1	Shri M. Veerappa Moily	Petroleum & Natural Gas
2	Shri S. Jaipal Reddy	Science & Technology and Earth Sciences
3	Shri Kamal Nath	Urban Development & Parliamentary Affairs
4	Shri Vayalar Ravi	Overseas Indian Affairs
5	Shri Kapil Sibal	Communications & Information Technology
6	Shri C.P. Joshi	Road Transport & Highways
7	Kumari Selja	Social Justice & Empowerment
8	Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal	Railways
9	Shri Salman Khursheed	External Affairs
10	Shri Jairam Ramesh	Rural Development

MINISTERS OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)

SL No	Name of the Minister	Portfolio
1	Shri Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia	Power
2	Shri K.H. Muniappa	Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
3	Shri Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki	Drinking Water & Sanitation
4	Shri Sachin Pilot	Corporate Affairs
5	Shri Jitendra Singh	Youth Affairs & Sports

MINISTERS OF STATE

SL No	Name of the Minister	Portfolio
1	Shri E. Ahamed	External Affairs
2	Smt. D. Purandeswari	Commerce & Industry
3	Shri Jitin Prasada	Defence & Human Resource Development
4	Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan	New & Renewable Energy
5	Shri R.P.N. Singh	Home
6	Shri K.C. Venugopal	Civil Aviation
7	Shri Rajeev Shukla	Parliamentary Affairs & Planning.

Source: Hindustantimes

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General Knowledge for competitive Exams

General Knowledge for competitive Exams

1) ‘The Great Indian Novel’ is a satirical novel written by? - Shashi Tharoor

2) ‘Yuan’ currency belongs to which one of the following countries?- China

3) ‘Diet’ is the Parliament of which country?- Japan

4) Who is Julian Assange? – Founder, Wikileaks

5) The metal contained in Clay?- Aluminium

6) National Sport of Bhutan?- Archery

7) Who was the first Indian woman to become cabinet minister?- Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

8) Who was the first Indian to win an Oscar?- Bhanu Athaiya

9) Delhi became the new capital of India in? – 1912

10)For excellence in which field is the Abel Prize Awarded?- Mathematics

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Salary Structure of Postal Assistant/Sorting Assistant

Salary of a newly appointed Postal/Sorting Assistant (PA/SA)

Friends…we have been receiving many queries regarding the salary structure of a newly appointed PA/SA. In this post we are bring you the details on the same. Hope this helps you…

The salary structure of  Postal Assistants/Sorting Assistant (PA/SA) cadre in Department of Posts, Government of India is based on the following parameters:

B.P = Basic Pay

D.A = Dearness Allowance

H.R.A = House Rent Allowance

T.A = Travelling Allowance

The above parameters are used in calculating the total salary of a Postal/Sorting Assistant.

PA/SA cadre, as per sixth central pay commission which came into effect in 2006, is included in the Pay Scale of  5200-20200  with a grade pay of 2400. And the good news is that Finance Minister has already announced the setting up of seventh central pay commission and Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur has been appointed as commission and  it will come into effect in 2016!!!!

Calculation:

1)     Basic Pay (BP) = 9910 ( 7510 + 2400)

2)     Dearness Allowance = Dearness Allowance (DA) is given by the Government in every six months ie, in January and July every year. From January 2014 the Dearness Allowance is 100%. Thus the present DA is 100% of 9910 which works out to 9910.

3)     House Rent Allowance (HRA) = HRA is calculated based on the city where you are working. In India the cities have been classified into three categories as “X”, “Y” and “Z”.

                                   X' Cities - 30% HRA

States	Cities Classified as "X"
Andhra Pradesh	Hyderabad (UA)
Delhi	Delhi (UA)
Karnataka	Bangaluru (UA)
Mahrashtra	Greater Mumbai (UA)
Tamilnadu	Chennai (UA)
West Bengal	Kolkatta (UA)

                                                                  

                                                                    Y' Cities - 20% HRA 

States	Cities Classified as "Y"
Andhra Pradesh	Vijayawada (UA, Warangal, (UA), Vishkhapatnam (UA), Guntur
Assam	Guwahati (UA)
Bihar	Patna (UA)
Chandigarh	Chandigarh
Chattisgarh	Durg-Bhilai Nagar (UA), Raipur (UA)
Gujarat	Ahmedabad (UA), Rajkot (UA), Jamnagar (UA), Bhavnagar (UA), Vadodara (UA), Surat (UA)
Haryana	Faridabad*
Jammu & Kashmir	Srinagar (UA), Jammu (UA)
Jharkhand	Jamshedpur (UA), Dhanbad (UA), Ranchi (UA)
Karnataka	Belgaum (UA), Hubli-Dharwad, Mangalore (UA), Mysore (UA)
Kerala	Kozhikode (UA), Kochi (UA), Thiruvananthapuram (UA)
Madhya Pradesh	Gwalior (UA), Indore (UA), Bhopal (UA), Jabalpur (UA)
Maharashtra	Amravati, Nagpur (UA), Aurangabad (UA), Nashik (UA), Bhiwandi (UA), Pune (UA), Solapur, Kolhapur (UA)
Orissa	Cuttack (UA), Bhubaneswar (UA)
Punjab	Amritsar (UA), Jalandhar (UA), Ludihiana
Pondicherry	Pondicherry (UA)
Rajasthan	Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur (UA), Kota (UA)
Tamilnadu	Salem (UA), Tiruppur (UA), Coimbatore (UA), Madurai (UA)
Uttarkhand	Dehradun (UA)
Uttar Pradesh	Moradabad, Meerut (UA), Ghaziabad*, Aligarh, Agra (Ua), Bareilly (UA), Lucknow (UA), Kanpur (UA), Allahabad (UA), Gorakhpur, Varanasi (UA)
West Bengal	Asansol (UA)

 Remaining cities –      Z' Cities - 10% HRA 

In X cities = 30 % of 9910 = 2973

In Y Cities = 20 % of 9910 = 1982

In Z Cities = 10 % of 9910 = 991

4)     Travelling Allowance = TA is fixed as Rs.800 + the DA % of 800. So at present TA is 800 + 100% of 800 = 1600.

Gross Salary works out to:

·        In X class cities salary will be = 9910+9910+2973+1600 = 24,393

·        In  Y class cities will be = 9910+9910+1982+1600 = 23,402

·        In Z class cities will be = 9910+9910+991+1600= 22,411

(Note: Deductions as applicable including New Pension Scheme (NPS) Subscription etc will be made from this). 

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Postal Assistant Exam Model Questions

Current Affairs – Also useful for all competitive exams

1) Who has won the Denmark Open badminton super series title recently?- Saina Nehwal. She was also the bronze medal winner in the London Olympics 2012. She is also known as India’s Iron Butterfly.

2) Who has won the world food prize for 2012? – Daniel Hillel

3) India has been removed from the list of Polio-endemic countries by the World Heath Organization (WHO) earlier this year. Name the countries which are now left in the list?- Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria

4) Who was the Indian Flag bearer in London Olympics 2012? – Susil Kumar

5) Who was the first gold winner of London Olympics 2012?- Yee Siling

6) Who is the new Home Minister of India?- Sushil Kumar Shinde

7) Which bank in India got the Banking Technology Excellence award recently?- South Indian Bank

8) Who has been appointed as the vice chancellor of proposed Nalanda University?- Amartya Sen

9) Who won the 2012 Laureus Sportsman of the year award? – Novak Djokovic

10)Which country will host the foot ball world cup 2014?- Brazil

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Solved Question Paper – Postal Assistant/Sorting Assistant Examination (PA/SA), November 2010

1. The JATAKA Tales were composed in the ancient language of _______?
A) Sanskrit B) brahmi C)greek D)pali
Ans: D
2. Who is the head of Indian state?
A) prime minister B) president C)speaker D)vice president
Ans: B
3. When was constitution of Indian adopted by constituent assembly?
A)26th nov 1949 B)26th Jan 1950 C) 15th aug 1947 D)30th jan 1948
Ans: A

4. Which countries participate in common wealth games?
A) all countries of the world B)countries which were colonies of british empire C)asia pacific Region countries D)under developed countries
Ans: B

5. Viswanathan anand is associated with which game?
A)snooker B) billiards C)chess D)ice hockey
Ans: C
6. HTTP stand for
A)hypo test transfer protocol B)hyper text transfer protocol C)hyper test transfer proxy D)none of these
Ans: B
7. Polio disease is spread by
A)parasite B)bacteria C)virus D)protozoa
Ans: C
8. Phylloquinone is chemical name of
A)vitamin A B)vitaminC C)vitamin K D)vitamin D
Ans: C
9. The best parliamentarian award for 2009 has been conferred on
A)hema malini B)jaipal reddy C)m m josi D)manmohan singh
Ans: C
10. Lothal had a structure which, according to some archaeologists, was a
A)citadel B)dockyard C)public building D)great tank
Ans: B
11. Liquefied petroleum gas(LPG)consist of
A)butane and propane B)ethane and hexane C) ethane and nonane D)butane and nonane
Ans: A
12. The hobby of collecting stamps is called as
A)philanthropy B)numismatics C)philately D)philology
Ans: C
13.The new rupee symbol is a combination of English and ______ scripts
A)devanagari B)tamil C)telugu D)Gurumukhi
Ans: A
14. The Nobel peace prize for 2009 was awarded to
A)barack obama B)bill Clinton C)Mikhail gorbachev D)nicholas sarkory
Ans: A
15. Who among the following was the author of “RAJTHARANGINI”, commonly regarded as the first genuine history of India written by an Indian?
A) Banbhatta B) ravikirti C) pushpadanta D) kalhana
Ans: D
16. Twitter, facebook n, and orkut are examples of_____ websites
A) E-mail B) social networking C) search engines D) internet telephony
Ans: B
17. H1N1 virus causes which of the following diseases?
A) Swine flu B) chickungunya C) dengue D) avian flu
Ans: A
18. Biological pigment that determines skin colour in humans is called
A) Protein B) melanin C) vitamin D) toxin
Ans: B
19. Which dance form originated from Kerala?
A) Odissi B) katak C) kuchipudi D) kathakali
Ans: D
20. Nathu la is located in the Himalayas. La means
A) Glacier B) pass C) hillock D) crevasse
Ans: B
21. a train 350 mts long is moving at a speed of 32kmph. It will cross a man coming from the opposite direction at a speed 3 kmph in
A) 28 sec B) 24 sec C) 36 sec D) 32 sec
Ans: C
22. .45/.005+.2*50=?
A) 10 B) 90 C) 100 D) 90.1
Ans: C
23. The age of the father is 5 times of the son. After 20 yrs father age is 40. Then what will be the age of the son?
A) 20 B) 22 C) 21 D) 24
Ans: D
24. A candidate appearing for an examination has to secure 40% marks to pass paper 1. But he secured only 40 marks and failed by 20 marks. What is the max mark for paper 1?
A) 100 B) 200 C ) 150 D)180
Ans: C
25. 6 times of an unknown no is 13 less than 55. The unknown no
A) 10 B) 7 C) 11 D) 5
Ans: B
26. A sports dealer bought 2000 hockey sticks for Rs.350each. 10% of them were found to be defective and unfit to be sold. At what price should he sell the remaining stick to get a overall profit of 8%?
A) 360 B) 400 C) 420 D) 450
Ans: C
27. The population of a colony of ants increases by 20% every day. If one Monday the population is 3000 on which day of the week is it 5184?
A) Wednesday B) Tuesday C) Thursday D) Friday
Ans: C
28. Three runners’ ajay, bharath and charan run a race with ajay finishing 20mts ahead of bharath and 34 mts ahead of charan, while bharath finishes 21 mts ahead of charan. Each runner travels the entire distance at a constant speed. What was the length of the race?
A) 40MTS b) 50MTS c) 60MTS d) 70 MTS
Ans: C
29. If 20men assemble 8 machines in a day how many men are needed to assemble 12 machines in a day?
A) 40 B) 20 C) 30 D) 42
Ans: C
30. Find the area in square mts if the perimeter of football field which is 120m long is 400 mts
A) 6500sq. m B) 9600sq.m C) 6800sq.m D) 4800sq.m
Ans: B
31. At the end of the dinner party all the 8 persons present at the dinner party shake hands with each other once. How many handshakes will be there in all?
A) 8 B) 16 C)28 D)64
Ans: C
32. Select the correct alternative from the given choices
BDFH, CBID, DZLZ, EXOV,_________
A) FVRS B) FVQR C) FVRR D)FVSR
Ans: C
33. Fill in the blank
8, 40, 20, 100, 50,_______,125
A) 225 B) 250 C) 200 D) 150
Ans: B
34. If the digits in the no. 86435192 r arranged in ascending order, what will b the diff b/t the digits which r second from the right and 4th from the left in the new arrangement?
A) 1 B) 2 C) 4 D)3
Ans: C
35. 3 of the following 4 are the alike in a certain way and so form a group. Which is the 1 that does not belong to that group?
A) 145 B) 325 C) 257 D) 399
Ans: D
36. In a certain code language, if the word ‘sector’ is coded as ‘CESROT’ then how will your code the word “OPPOSITION”?
A) SOPPONOITI B) NOITISOPPO C ) SOPOPNOITI D)SOPPONTIT
Ans: A
37. If 30th June, 1989 was a Friday, then what day of the week was 17th Sep, 1993?
A) WEDNESDAY B) THRUSDAY C) FRIDAY D) SATURDAY
Ans: B
38. Complete the series?
18, 27,6,9,2,3_____
A) 1 B) 2/3 C) 1/3 D) ½
Ans: B
39. My school is to the east of my house. My father’s office is to the south-west of my school. A park is to the south of my school. Towards which direction is my house located with re3spect to the park?
A) East B) north-west C) south-west D) south
Ans: B
40. Which one is different from others?
A) Calf B) colt C) cat D) puppy
Ans: C
41. “.A speech delivered without any pervious preparation” can be expressed in one word only put of the following?
A) Extempore B) Maiden C) Spinster D) Empiric
Ans: A
42. The garden is very dry today. Fetch me a _______ of water
A) Pale B) pail C) pile D) pill
Ans: B
43. Please, may I have _____oranges?
A) A few B) some C) little D) less
Ans: B
44. Delhi is ____ than Nagpur.
A) More bigger B) so bigger C) very bigger D) much bigger
Ans: D
45. Use proper conjunction in the sentence given below:
“GIVE ME ____ poverty ______riches.”
A) is/was B) nor/neither C) neither/nor D ) here/there
Ans: C
46. We need to ______our appointment
A) Reconnect B) reschedule C) reorganize D) regret
Ans: B
47. SCEPTICAL is exactly opposite to
A) Convinced B) doubtful C) questioning D) cynic
Ans: A
48. Choose wrongly spelt word
A) Relevent B) poignant C) prevalent D) malignant
Ans: A
49. A person who hates the institution of marriage
A) Misologist B) misogamist C) misogynist D) philogynist
Ans: C
50. We have been friends for ages. I ________ her since we were children.
A) Am knowing B) are known C) have known D)is known
Like ·
Ans: C

Prepared by: currentaffairs4examz.blogspot.com

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Booker Prize 2012 - Current Affairs for Competitive Exams

Hilary Mantel has won this year’s £50,000 Man Booker Prize for her historical novel Bring up the Bodies chalking up a raft of "firsts’’----the first ever woman and the first living British novelist to win the prize twice, after Peter Carey and J.M. Coetzee.

"You wait 20 years for a Booker Prize and two come along at once," she joked after receiving the prize at a high-profile champagne-soaked event at London’s Guildhall on Tuesday.

Her five disappointed rivals included the Kerala-born writer and poet Jeet Thayil whose debut novel Narcopolis was a strong contender.

Bring up the Bodies, which chronicles the downfall of Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn, is a sequel to Wolf Hall which won Ms Mantel her first Booker in 2009.

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