Bharat Ratna for Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madan Mohan Malaviya

* Union government on 24 December 2014 announced the prestigious Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously).

* The announcement was made on the eve of Mr. Vajpayee's 90th birthday and the 153rd birth anniversary of Pandit Malviya.

* The BJP has been demanding Bharat Ratna for Mr. Vajpayee for a long time; and BJP patriarch L.K. Advani has been at the forefront of seeking the highest civilian honour for the former Prime Minister.

* A Bharat Ratna for Madan Mohan Malaviya, freedom fighter and educationist popularly known as 'Mahamana', was one of the promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election campaigns.

* 43 people have been honoured with the Bharat Ratna since its inception, including scientist CV Raman, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, singer Lata Mangeshkar and politicians C Rajagopalachari.

Read More

Current Affairs Quiz: 24 December 2014

1) Bharatiya Janata Party, along with its ally, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) won a total of 43 seats in the Jharkhand assembly elections, the result of which was declared on 23 December 2014. Total how many seats are there in Jharkhand Assembly?

(A) 65

(B) 84

(C) 90

(D) 81

2) Which country on 23 December 2014 carried out the first test launch of a new heavy-class Angara A5 rocket?

(A) China

(B) Russia

(C) Pakistan

(D) Argentina

3) K Balachander who died on 23 December 2014 was an acclaimed filmmaker in which industry?

(A) Tamil

(B) Malayalam

(C) Kannada

(D) Telugu

4) Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, was recently named as the International Cricket Council ambassador for the second successive edition for the World Cup to be held in 2015 at?

(A) England and Ireland

(B) India and Sri Lanka

(C) Australia and New Zealand

(D) South Africa and Kenya 

5) RBI on 23 December 2014 extended the deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes to?

(A) March 31, 2015

(B) January 31, 2015

(C) June 30, 2015

(D) September 30, 2015

6) Union Ministry of Home Affairs on 23 December 2014 set up a committee to examine the possibility of constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for reinvestigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. Who will head the committee?

(A) Justice (retired) G.P. Mathur

(B) Justice (retired) Markandey Katju

(C) Justice (retired) R.M Lotha

(D) Justice (retired) Ashok Kumar Mathur

7) Which party emerged as the largest party in Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections of 2014, results for which were declared on 23 December 2014?

(A) Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (NC)

(B) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

(C) Jammu & Kashmir People Conference

(D) Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

8) Kisan Diwas was observed across the country on 23 December 2014 to celebrate the birthday of?

(A) Madan Mohan Malviya

(B) Chaudhary Charan Singh

(C) Lal Bahadur Shastri

(D) Lala Lajpat Rai

9) Who won the Golden Boot Award for the top scorer of Indian Super League 2014?

(A) Sandesh Jhingan

(B) Iain Hume

(C) Elano Blumer

(D) Jan Seda

10) The data for the Sample Registration Survey (SRS), conducted by the Registrar General of India (RGI), was released on 22 December 2014. As per the report, in how many states the Total Fertility Rate has fallen below two children per woman?

(A) 5

(B) 12

(C) 9

(D) 8

Answers

1) Ans. (D) 81

2) Ans. (B) Russia

3) Ans. (A) Tamil

4) Ans. (C) Australia and New Zealand

5) Ans. (C) June 30, 2015

6) Ans. (A) Justice (retired) G.P. Mathur

7) Ans. (D) Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

8) Ans. (B) Chaudhary Charan Singh

9) Ans. (C) Elano Blumer

10) Ans. (D) 8

Read More

23 December 2014 Daily Current Affairs Updates

1) BJP becomes the single largest party in Jharkhand assembly election: Having secured a majority, the Bharatiya Janata Party, along with its ally, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU), is all set to form a government in Jharkhand. Many political stalwarts, even former Chief Ministers, lost the election, in what political observers see as a shift from the politics of the past that has seen unstable regimes, five Chief Ministers and intermittent periods of President’s rule since the State was formed 14 years ago.

2) Hung Assembly in Jammu&Kashmir: The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), with 28 seats, has emerged as the single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir, but the hung Assembly formed by a four-cornered division of seats has made government-formation an uphill task. 

3) Filmmaker K Balachander died: Acclaimed filmmaker K Balachander, who brought in a new wave of filmmaking in Tamil cinema with bold themes and mentored talented actors like Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth and Sridevi, died on 23 December 2014. The 84-year-old Dadasaheb Phalke award winner, who carved out a niche for himself on the national stage with memorable films like 'Arangetram', 'Aval Oru Thodarkadhai', Rajini and Haasan-starrer 'Apoorva Raagangal', 'Avargal', 'Ek Duje Ke Liye' and 'Aaina', died of heart attack following a brief illness.

4) Deadline to exchange pre-2005 notes extended till June 30: The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, has been extended by another six months till June, 30, 2015. "The Reserve Bank of India has stated that the public can do so till June 30, 2015. Earlier in March 2014, it had set the last date for public to exchange these notes was January 1, 2015," the RBI said in a statement. The central bank clarified that all such notes will continue to remain a legal tender. These notes can be exchanged for their full value, it added. Currency notes issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side. In notes issued post 2005, the year of printing is visible at the bottom on the reverse.

5) Govt. sets up committee to form SIT to reinvestigate 1984 riot cases: Union Ministry of Home Affairs on 23 December 2014 set up Mathur committee to examine the possibility of constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for reinvestigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. The Committee will be headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (retired) G.P. Mathur. It will submit its report till April 2015.

6) Kisan Diwas observed: Kisan Diwas was observed across the country on 23 December 2014 to celebrate the birthday of Chaudhary Charan Singh. Political leaders cutting across party lines paid tributes to fifth PM of India on his 11th birth anniversary. Leaders visited the former PM’s samadhi at Kisan Ghat in New Delhi. Government in 2001 had decided to observe 23 December every year as Kisan Diwas (Farmers Day).

Read More

Recruitment of Officers in Grade "A" and "B" in NABARD 2015

Friends..National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has invited applications for the post of Assistant Manager (Grade ‘A’) in the Rural Development Banking Service (RDBS), Rajbhasha Service, Legal Service, Protocol & Security Service and Manager (Grade ‘B’) (RDBS). Eligible candidates can apply only ON-LINE on NABARD website www.nabard.org between 24 December 2014 and 15 January 2015. Further details are as follows:

Important Dates

Commencement of on-line registration of application: 24/12/2014

Closure of registration: 15/01/2015

Closure for editing application details: 15/01/2015

Last date for printing your application: 30/01/2015

Online Fee Payment: 24/12/2014 to 15/01/2015

Preliminary Examination will be conducted online tentatively in February / March 2015 on various dates. The examination may be held on working days.

Posts Advertised

Assistant Managers (Grade ‘A’) in Rural Development Banking Service (RDBS): 100

Assistant Managers (Grade ‘A’) in Rajbhasha Service: 09

Assistant Managers (Grade ‘A’) in Legal Service: 03

Assistant Managers (Grade ‘A’) in Protocol and Security Service: 10

Managers (Grade ‘B’) in Rural Development Banking Service (RDBS): 06

Age (as on 30 November 2014):

i) For Asst. Manager in Grade 'A' & Manager in Grade ‘B’: Between 21 years and 30 years (candidates born not earlier than 01 December 1984 and not later than 30 November 1993 are eligible to apply).

ii) For Asst. Manager in Grade ‘A’ in Protocol and Security Service : Between 25 and 40 Years (candidates born not earlier than 01 December 1974 and not later than 30 November 1989 are eligible to apply)

Educational Qualification and Experience (as on 30 November 2014): Refer official advertisement from below link. For Asst. Manager in Grade ‘A’ (RDBS) minimum qualification is a Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 50% marks or an equivalent grade, in aggregate of all semesters / years.

For more details refer official advertisement from the below link.

Check detailed notification: Click Here

Apply Online: Click Here

Read More

Multiple Choice Current Affairs Questions: 23 December 2014

1) Which former player was named ambassador for 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup on 22 December 2014?

(A) Shane Warne

(B) Rahul Dravid

(C) Sachin Tendulkar

(D) Rickey Ponting

2) Former Union minister of state D Napoleon on 21 December 2014 joined BJP, after quitting which party?

(A) TDP

(B) AIADMK

(C) NCP

(D) DMK 

3) Who was awarded the Golden Ball Award for the best player of Indian Super League, which concluded recently?

(A) Iain Hume

(B) Elano Blumer

(C) Jan Seda

(D) Marco Materazzi

4) Which club recently defeated San Lorenzo of Argentina 2-0 to win the Club football World Cup 2014?

(A) Barcelona

(B) Machester United

(C) Liverpool

(D) Real Madrid

5) Who among the following was on 20 December 2014 appointed as the new Director-General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)?

(A) D K Pathak

(B) Prakash Mishra

(C) Dilip Trivedi

(C) None of these

6) India on 22 December 2014 celebrated National Mathematics Day. The day was celebrated on the birth anniversary of?

(A) Srinivasa Ramanujan

(B) Shakunthala Devi

(C) Aryabhata

(D) P.C. Mahalanobis

7) Haryanvi twins, Nungshi and Tashi Singh Mallik recently became the first twins to climb Seven Summits by climbing Mt Vinson. Mt Vinson is the highest peak of?

(A) Africa

(B) Australia

(C) South America

(D) Antartica

8) Which state will host the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2015 as announced by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 22 December 2014?

(A) Gujarat

(B) Kerala

(C) Rajasthan

(D) Goa

9) Beji Caid Essebsi was on 22 December 2014 elected as the President of?

(A) Belgium

(B) Fiji

(C) Tunisia

(D) Sudan

10) LCA (Navy) Prototype 1 - or NP1 - the first indigenously designed and developed fourth-plus generation combat aircraft, was tested at the Ski-Jump facility of the Shore Based Test Facility at INS Hansa in which state on 20 December 2014?

(A) Odisha

(B) Andhra Pradesh

(C) Goa

(D) Kerala

Answers

1) Ans. (C) Sachin Tendulkar

2) Ans. (D) DMK

3) Ans. (A) Iain Hume

4) Ans. (D) Real Madrid

5) Ans. (B) Prakash Mishra

6) Ans. (A) Srinivasa Ramanujan

7) Ans. (D) Antartica

8) Ans. (A) Gujarat

9) Ans. (C) Tunisia

10) Ans. (C) Goa

Read More

UPSC Civil Service Mains 2014 - English (Compulsory) Question Paper Download

Friends.. As you are all aware, the UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2014 was held from 14 December 2014 to 20 December 2014. So in this post, we are sharing with you the questions of English (compulsory) Paper which was held in the afternoon of 14.12.2014. This will be a useful reference for those who are preparing for next year's main examination. Also this will give you an idea about the question pattern. You can download this question paper as PDF from the below link. We will be posting the remaining question papers of main examination in coming days. Thank You.

General Instructions

Time allowed: Three Hours    

Maximum Marks: 300

All questions are to be attempted.

The number of marks carried by a question is indicated against it.

Answer must be written in ENGLISH Only.

Word limit in questions, wherever Specified, should be adhered to.

Download Question Paper as PDF: Click Here

Read More

Current Affairs daily Updates: 22 December 2014

1) Sachin Tendulkar named ambassador for 2015 ICC World Cup: Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, who is the all-time leading run-getter in World Cup history, was named the event's ambassador for the second successive edition. "The International Cricket Council today announced Sachin Tendulkar as the World Cup 2015 Ambassador. It will be the second successive time that the India maestro will be the Ambassador of ICC's pinnacle tournament, after he fulfilled the role in the previous event in 2011," the ICC said in a statement in Dubai on 22 December 2014. In his role as ambassador, Tendulkar will promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives to enhance the profile of the tournament, which is the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Australia and New Zealand from 14th February to 29th March.

2) Gujarat to host Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2015: The 13th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), an event which celebrates the achievements of Indians living abroad, will be held in Gujarat from January 7-9. Briefing the media about the upcoming event on 22 December 2014, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that Gujarat has been chosen as the partner State as 2015 happens to be the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa. To reflect this, the event will showcase his work and achievements. The event will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 8, and President Pranab Mukherjee will honour prominent Pravasis on January 9.

3) Beji Caid Essebsi elected as the President of Tunisia: Veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi declared victory in Sunday's presidential run-off vote, seen as the last step in Tunisia's shift to full democracy four years after an uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. The country took about 4 years to make the free and fair democratic transition after the chaotic uprising of 2011 which toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The 88-year old leader heads the secular Nidaa Tounes (Call for Tunisia) party. He clinched the election by defeating incumbent Prime Minister Moncef Marzouki in the Presidential run-off vote.

4) India to reach replacement levels of fertility by 2020: Fertility is falling faster than expected in India, and the country is on track to reach replacement levels of fertility as soon as 2020, new official data shows. The 2013 data for the Sample Registration Survey (SRS), conducted by the Registrar General of India, the country’s official source of birth and death data, was released on 22 December 2014. The SRS shows that the Total Fertility Rate – the average number of children that will be born to a woman during her lifetime – in eight States has fallen below two children per woman, new official data shows.

5) Suresh Prabhu-led panel submitted advisory Group reports to Piyush Goyal: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 22 December 2014 submitted the reports of the Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal, and Renewable Energy to Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal. The report covers the contemporary issues and challenges in respect of the the latter's ministries. In the report, suggestions have been made for the enhancement of coal production in the short, medium and long terms.

6) Naval light combat aircraft successfully tested: The first naval prototype of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), designed to operate from the decks of aircraft carriers, was successfully tested at a facility in Goa, the defence ministry said. The LCA (Navy) Prototype 1 - or NP1 - the first indigenously designed and developed fourth-plus generation combat aircraft, was tested at the Ski-Jump facility of the Shore Based Test Facility at INS Hansa in Goa on 20 Dec 2014.

7) Arjun Atwal won inaugural Dubai Open Golf: Veteran Indian golfer Arjun Atwal on 21 December 2014 ended a frustrating four-year title drought by winning the inaugural Dubai Open by one stroke after South Korean teenager Wang Jeung-hun bogeyed the final hole at the par-72 Els Club Dubai.

8) National Mathematics Day celebrated: India on 22 December 2014 celebrated National Mathematics Day. The day is observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of great Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. The declaration to observe 22 December as National Mathematics Day was made by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 26 February 2012 at Madras University on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan.

9) India's Shiva Keshavan wins silver at Asian Luge Championship: India’s Shiva Keshavan added another international medal to his kitty by winning a silver at the 17th Asian Luge Championships in Nagano, Japan. Keshavan, who has participated in five Winter Olympics, clocked 49.934 seconds to cover the 1326 metre long ice track in the men’s luge competition at the Spiral Olympic Sliding Centre in Nagano. Hidenari Kanayama of Japan won gold in 49.791 seconds while Kim of Korea bagged the bronze with a timing of 50.178.

10) Klaus Iohannis sworn in as Romania’s new president: Liberal Klaus Iohannis, former mayor of Sibiu, has been sworn in as Romania's new president in an elaborate ceremony on 21 December 2014. The new head of state pledged to use his time in office to fight corruption and strengthen the country's institutions.

Read More

Syllabus & Pattern of SBI Associate Bank Clerk Exam 2014-15

Friends.. SBI is going to conduct the exam for recruitment of 6425 Clerks in SBI Associate Banks 2014-15 during the month of January and February 2015. The exam will be of online nature. In this post we are sharing with you, the Syllabus & Pattern of this exam.

The test will be online objective type, consisting of

(i) General Awareness

(ii) General English

(iii)Quantitative Aptitude

(iv)Reasoning Ability

(v)Marketing Aptitude /Computer Knowledge.

The questions in objective tests, except for the test of General English, will be bilingual i.e., English &Hindi. Each test will be of 40 marks. For these objective type tests of total 200 marks candidates will be given a composite time of 2Hours 15minutes.

The detailed syllabus will be similar to the SBI Clerk Exam 2014-2015 which is as follows:

General Awareness: Indian Constitution, Technology and Research News, India and its nearby countries’ news, Knowledge of current events, Sports, history, geography, culture etc.

General English: Deriving conclusions, Passage completion, Error detection, Passage correction, Sentence correction, Vocabulary, Spelling correction, Grammar, Idioms, Phrases, Synonyms, Word formation, Antonyms, Sentence completion, Comprehension and Theme detection.

Quantitative Aptitude: Number system, simplifications, Roots, Averages, Surd & Indices, Percentages, Profit & Loss, Ratio & Proportion, Partnership, Chain rule, Time & work, Pipes & Cisterns, Time & Distance, Problems on trains, Boats & streams, Allegation & mixtures, Simple & Compound interest, clocks & algorithms, mensuration, Volume & surface area, Permutations & combinations, heights & distances, line graphs, Bar graphs, pie charts and Tabulation.

Reasoning Ability: Series completion, syllogisms, Decision making, Statements , Analogy, Coding & Decoding, Blood relations, Sitting arrangements and Classification.

Marketing Aptitude: Economy of India, Marketing and Banking & Finance.

Computer Knowledge: Questions of Computer Software and Hardware, Operating System, Shortcut Keys, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Internet & Networks.

Read More

GK Updates for New India Assurance AO and United India Insurance AO Exam 2014

Friends.. both New India Assurance and United India Insurance are going to conduct their respective AO exams in the coming days. So in this post we are sharing with you some useful GK questions asked in previous year exams. These questions were shared with us by our friend & follower Aishwarya Laxman. We thank her on behalf of all our readers & team.

1. Why does milk turn sour? - Due to presence of bacteria called lactobacillus.

2. Tuberculosis is cause due to? - Mycobacterium tuberculosis

3. India's biggest river? - Ganga

4. Chairman of Lalit kala academy? - KK Chakravarty

5. Napolean of India? - Samudragupta

6. Varahamihira wrote a book "brihat samhita", is related with? - Astronomy

7. Book "India 2020" is written by? - APJ Abdul Kalam

8. ASCII full form? - American Standard Code for Information Interchange

9. Smallest information unit in a computer? - Bit

10. Essay on Religion and its role in Indian Politics

11. Father of internet? - Vint Cerf

12. Veliconda hills situated in the Easternghats is in which state? - Andhra Pradesh

13. Among which of these rulers is illiterate? - Akbar

14. India collects highest revenue from which source? - Service Tax

15. Who invented jet engine? - Frank Whittle

16. Which animal can you see in Logo of WWF? - Panda

17. When CD rom was invented? - 1965 by James T. Russell

18. Byte is the unit of? - Computer Memory

19. Led pencil is having component of? - Graphite

20. Doctrine of lapse is related to? - Dalhousie

21. Which is primary component of natural gas? - Methane

22. Which sikh guru was called Saccha Padshah? - Guru Har Gobind

23. PIN full form? - Personal Identification Number

24. NPA full form? – Non-performing Assets

25. US open and Australian open etc related to which game? - Tennis

26. Which award related to cinema? - Dada Sahab Phalke

27. Financial inclusion means? - Provide banking facility in rural area

28. President of France is? - Francois Hollande

29. Plastic money means? - Credit Card

30. LIBOR means? - London Inter Bank Offer Rate

31. Restart of computer is called? - Warm Booting

32. Which of the following is work of Kalidas? - Meghaduta

33. Bench mark rate is? - Repo Rate

34. Bank recovery act is? - SARFAESI Act

35. Earth day is observed on which date? - 22 April

36. Davis cup is related to which sports? - Tennis

37. Housing Scheme Rajiv Awas Yojana(RAY) is a scheme for? - “Slum Free Cities”

38. Currency of Japan? - Japanese yen

39. Who is Li Keqiang? - Prime Minister of China

40. ATM full form? - Automated teller machine

Read More

Employment News: 20 to 26 December 2014

1. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

Name of Post - Asstt. Manager Electrical, Asstt. Programmer,

Stenographer Jr. Engineer (Civil) etc.

No. of Vacancies - 189

Last Date - 15 Jan 2015

2. National Highways Authority of India,

Name of Post – Deputy Manager (Technical)

No. of Vacancies - 30

Last Date - 10 April 2015

3. Recruitment and Assessment Centre (RAC),

Name of Post – Scientist ‘F’, Scientist ‘E’, Scientist ‘D’, Scientist ‘C’

No. of Vacancies - 29

Last Date - 20 Days from the date of Publication.

4. National Mineral Development Corporation, (Chhattisgarh)

Name of Post – Field Attendant (Trainee)

No. of Vacancies - 25

Last Date - 21 days from the date of publication.

Read More