Part 2
1. What is SATMO?
2. What is “Vande Mataram Scheme” ?
3. What is Golden Handshake Scheme?
4. What is India Brand Equity Fund?
5. What is Jago Grahak Jago”?
6. What is a revolving credit?
7. What is Gender Budgeting?
8. What is Soft Currency?
9. What are factors of production?
10. What is the principle of Diminishing returns?

1. What is SATMO?
SATMO is Satellite Money Order Service introduced by Postal Department Govt. of India on December 16, 1994. However this scheme could not make its headway due to functional complicacies.
2. What is “Vande Mataram Scheme” ?
Vande mataram schem is a nationwide programme aimed at improving ante and post-natal care--which was launched on February 9, 2004. The scheme envisages free ante and post-natal check-ups, tips to avoid nutritional problems and anemia and counseling on small family norm and is a major initiative in Public Private partnerships during emergency.
3. What is Golden Handshake Scheme?
Golden handshake scheme is a Govt. of India scheme introduced as a Voluntary retirement Scheme (VRS) in Industrial Policy Resolution 1991 for reducing the pressure of extra employees on public sector enterprises.
4. What is India Brand Equity Fund?
This is a scheme to promote Indian Brands in Overseas Markets with the primary objective of brand promotion and not export promotion. To make the "Made in India" label a symbol of quality, competitive price, reliability and service to the customer & to project India as a reliable supplier of quality goods and services. It was established on July 11, 1996.
5. What is Jago Grahak Jago”?
The Consumer Awareness Scheme for the XI Plan amounting to a total of Rs. 409 crores has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 24.01.08. This scheme has been formulated to give an increased thrust to a multi media publicity campaign to make consumers aware of their rights. The slogan ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ is part of the publicity campaign undertaken in the last few years.
‘Jago Grahak Jago’ has become the focal theme through which issues concerning the functioning of almost all Government Departments having a consumer interface can been addressed. To achieve this objective joint campaigns have been undertaken/are being undertaken with a number of Government Departments.
6. What is a revolving credit?
Revolving credit is a type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments. Corporate revolving credit facilities are typically used to provide liquidity for a company's day-to-day operations.The credit cards are examples of revolving credit. They are renewed automatically until the notice of cancellation is receieved. The time of repayment is specified.
7. What is Gender Budgeting?
Gender budgeting is the process of conceiving, planning, approving, executing, monitoring, analyzing and auditing budgets in a gender-sensitive way. Gender Budgeting is actually an attempt to women upliftment without any sex discrimination while formulating the policies and making allocation for them.
Gender Budgeting is a process that entails incorporating a gender perspective at various stages- planning/ policy/ programme formulation, assessment of needs of target groups, allocation of resources, implementation, impact assessment, reprioritization of resources.
Gender Responsive Budget and Gender Mainstreaming are outcomes of Gender Budgeting.
8. What is Soft Currency?
Soft currency is opposite of hard currency and it indicates a type of currency whose value may depreciate rapidly or that is difficult to convert into other currencies. Soft currency can be in the form of paper, electronic or debt-based "IOUs" which have in the past been used in place of hard currency. This currency has limited convertibility into gold and other currencies.
9. What are factors of production?
The resources and the inputs which are required to produce a good or service is called factor of production. The basic categories are land labor and capital.
10. What is the principle of Diminishing returns?
This principle says that if one factor of production is fixed and constant additions of other factors are combined with this, the marginal productivity of variable factors will eventually decline. According to this relationship, in a production system with fixed and variable inputs (say factory size and labor), beyond some point, each additional unit of the variable input yields smaller and smaller increases in output. Conversely, producing one more unit of output costs more and more in variable inputs.

Part 1
What is a fiscal deficit?
What is Black Money ?
What is a Black Market?
What is a blue chip company? Why it is blue color only used in such companies?
What is a direct Tax?
What is an Indirect Tax?
What are LDCs or Least Developed Countries?
What are Middle Income Countries ?
What is Policy of Laissez Faire?
What is the difference between Monopoly and Monopsony ?

1. What is a fiscal deficit?
A deficit in the government budget of a country and represents the excess of expenditure over income. So this is the amount of borrowed funds required by the government to meet its expenditures completely.
India's fiscal deficit widened to Rs. 541.58 billion in April, 2009 as compared to Rs. 329.39 billion rupees in April 2008.

2. What is Black Money ?
Black Money is the unaccounted money concealed from the tax authorities. The black money runs a parallel economy adversely affecting the distribution of wealth & income in the economy.

The total amount of black money globally is estimated between $2.1 and 2.5 trillion. This is roughly about seven percent of the world’s GDP.

3.What is a Black Market?
A black market is an illegal market, in which something is bought and sold outside of official government-sanctioned channels. Black markets tend to arise when a government tries to fix a price without itself providing all of the necessary supply or demand. Black markets in foreign exchange almost always exist when there are exchange controls.

4.What is a blue chip company? Why it is blue color only used in such companies?
A blue chip is concerned with stocks & shares of company, which are well established and whose purchase is considered extremely safe. Due to stable earnings and no extensive liabilities these companies are called blue chip companies.
The term blue chip comes from casinos, where blue chips stand for counters of the highest value. Most blue chip stocks pay regular dividends, even when business is faring worse than usual.

5.What is a direct Tax?
A direct tax is that which is paid directly by someone to taxing authority. Income tax and property tax are examples of direct tax. They are not shifted to somebody else.

6.What is an Indirect Tax?
This type of tax is not paid by someone directly to the authorities and it is actually passed on to the other in the form of increased cost. They are levied on goods and services produced or purchased. Excise tax, Sales tax, VAT are indirect taxes.


7.What are LDCs or Least Developed Countries?
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are countries which as per United Nations show the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development.
They have lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world.
A country which has three-year average Gross national Income per capita of less than US $750 is tagged as LDC. a LDC must have an income of $ 900 to escape this tag. Besides if thse countries show human resource weakness based on indicators of nutrition, health, education and adult literacy and also or economic vulnerability based on instability of economy . Currently UN has tagged 49 countries in LDC. India is not an LDC.
8.What are Middle Income Countries ?
Middle-income countries (MICs) are the 86 countries that fall into the middle-income range set by the Bank's World Development Indicators. They account for just under half of the world's population; are home to one-third of people across the globe living on less than $2 per day; and are found in all six of the Bank's geographical regions. They cover a wide income range, with the highest income MIC having a per capita income 10 times that of the lowest.
9.What is Policy of Laissez Faire?
Laissez Faire is a French term and means no interference. It is a doctrine that states that government generally should not intervene in the marketplace.
10.What is the difference between Monopoly and Monopsony ?
In monopsony only one buyer faces many sellers. So this is called Buyer's Monopoly. It is a rare situation in today's economy.
In monopoly one seller faces many buyers. As the only purchaser of a good or service, the "monopsonist" may dictate terms to its suppliers in the same manner that a monopolist controls the market for its buyers.

Updated Current Affairs

v1. Mahindra & Mahindra Tie Up with Corporation Bank
2.India Winning the Series in New Zealand
3. India has 23rd least Friendly Tax climate
4. LIC contract to ElectraCard Services
5. Swapanali Yadav
6. DRDO Nishant
7. Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal to Ratan Tata
8. Kalpen Suresh Modi
9. Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) and ICICI Bank
10. Japan now top M&A market in Asia-Pacific
11. PowerGrid

1. Mahindra & Mahindra Tie Up with Corporation Bank
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) and its joint venture company, Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd. (MNAL), has signed two MoUs with Corporation Bank for vehicle finance. Corporation Bank will be a preferred financier for the entire range of M&M and MNAL vehicles, encompassing utility vehicles, pick ups, three wheelers, passenger cars and Commercial Vehicles.
Note: Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd. (MNAL) is a 51:49 Joint Venture between Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) and Navistar Inc. USA. MNAL manufactures the entire spectrum of commercial vehicles ranging from 3.5 - 49 tons GVW/GCW. These products are developed to suit Indian conditions and will set new levels of reliability, efficiency and customer experience in the commercial vehicle industry. Apart from a joint venture to manufacture trucks and buses, in November 2007, Navistar signed a second joint venture agreement with Mahindra & Mahindra, Ltd., this one focused on producing diesel engines for Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles in India.

2.India Winning the Series in New Zealand
After a long wait of 41-years, the Men in Blue finally claimed a test series in New Zealand. Indian opener Gautam Ghamhir was declared man of the match. After vistory in New Zealand, India has achieved 3rd Position in ICC ODI rankings.

3. India has 23rd least Friendly Tax climate
While India still maintains a relatively low rank of 23rd least friendly tax climate in this year's Tax Misery Index, topped by France with harshest taxes across the world, it is ranked at top in terms of increase in its tax misery score, a collective measure of maximum corporate, personal, social security and sales tax rates. The index assesses whether a jurisdiction's tax policy attracts or repels capital and talent by calculating its Misery score. Jurisdictions at the top of the index with high scores impose the harshest taxes, while the most tax friendly are at the bottom.

The index, an annual global ranking compiled by the Asian edition of US business magazine Forbes, ranks the countries in terms of their tax climate harshness.

India was ranked 35th least tax friendly jurisdiction in the 2008 list.

France, China and Belgium have been named as having top three harshest tax climates.

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong have trumped other economies to retain the friendliest tax climate, as per the 2009 Tax Misery & Reform Index.

4. LIC contract to ElectraCard Services
ElectraCard Services (ECS), India's leading electronic payment solutions provider, has been awarded the contract for end to end processing of LIC Credit Cards, by Corporation Bank. The bank will issue white label credit cards on behalf of LIC Cards Services Limited, a company owned by LIC of India as per agreement entered into and the cards will be launched soon, stated a press release. LIC of India, one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, plans to leverage its ready database of 235 million policyholders to issue these cards in the first phase of rollout. It also plans to launch a facility to pay LIC premiums using the credit card. ECS will handle complete processing of the credit cards right from applications, card and accounts, transactions, billing, statements, payments, dispute resolution, and general ledger. ECS will also provide additional services in the form of a 24x7 help line to assist LIC card holders, as well as generate SMS and email alerts. ECS will provide the entire infrastructure and manpower required for such operations and will manage all relationships with 3rd party service providers that are engaged within this line of processing services.

5. Swapanali Yadav
Swapnali Yadav, the 8 year old from Mumbai participated and successfully completed the 19th International Swim across the Gulf Of Mesiniakos from Koroni-Kalamata, a distance of 30km, in 11 hours 10 minutes. The next youngest competitor was 22yrs old. Her next target is to become the youngest to swim across the legendary English Channel. The record books indicate that the youngest swimmer to cross the channel is Thomas Gregory at the age of 11yrs and 330days. Mihir Sen, a long distance swimming legend, was the first Indian to swim across the channel in 1958.

6. DRDO Nishant
The DRDO Nishant is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developed by India's ADE (Aeronautical Development Establishment) a branch of DRDO for the Indian Armed Forces. The Nishant UAV is primarily tasked with intelligence gathering over enemy territory and also for recce, surveillance, target designation, artillery fire correction, damage assessment, ELINT and SIGINT. The UAV has an Endurance of 4 hrs & 30min. Nishant has completed development Phase and User Trials.
The 380 kg Nishant UAV requires rail-launching from a hydro-pneumatic launcher and recovered by a Parachute System. Launches at a velocity of 45 m/s are carried out in 0.6 seconds with 100 kW power and subsequent launches can be carried out in intervals of 20 minutes. The Mobile Hydro-Pneumatic Launcher (MHPL) system mounted on a Tatra truck weighs 14,000 kg and boasts of a life cycle of 1000 launches before requiring overhaul. Nishant is one of the few UAVs in the world in its weight-class capable of being catapult-launched and recovered by using parachute, thus eliminating the need for a runway as in case of conventional take-off and landing with wheels.
source : wikipedia
7. Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal to Ratan Tata
The prestigious Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal for Industrial & Social Peace was conferred on Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, the Tata Group of Companies. The Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal was instituted by XLRI in 1966. Previous recipients of the Medal include respected names from diverse fields such as J. R. D. Tata, Arvind Mafatlal, Holck-Larsen, Rajmohan Gandhi, P. N. Bhagwati, V. Kurien and M. S. Banga. Mr. Ratan Tata has already been conferred with the XLRI Honorary Fellow Award.
A legend Called Ratan Tata: Some Other awards and Honours

1. On the occasion of India's 58th Republic Day on 26 January 2000, Ratan Tata was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest decoration that may be awarded to a civilian.

2. On 26 January 2008, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian decoration.

3. He was one of the recipients of the NASSCOM Global Leadership Awards 2008 given away at a ceremony on February 14, 2008 in Mumbai. Ratan Tata accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 on behalf of the Tata Family.

4. In March 2006, Tata was honoured by Cornell University as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, considered the highest honor the university awards to distinguished individuals from the corporate sector.

5. He recently received an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

6. He was listed among the 25 most powerful people in business named by Fortune Magazine in November 2007.

7. In May 2008, Mr. Tata made it to the Time Magazine's 2008 list of the World's 100 Most Influential People. Tata was hailed for unveiling his tiny Rs. One lakh car 'Nano'.

8. On 29th August 2008, the Government of Singapore conferred Honorary Citizenship on Ratan Tata, in recognition of his abiding business relationship with the island nation and his contribution to the growth of high-tech sectors in Singapore. Ratan Tata is the first Indian to receive this honour.

8. Kalpen Suresh Modi
Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), best-known by his professional name, Kal Penn, is an American film and television actor, and is the incoming Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison in the Barack Obama administration. On April 8, 2009 Penn announced that he would join the Obama White House as Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. This necessitated that his character Lawrence Kutner was written out of the TV series House.

9. Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) and ICICI Bank
The Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim) and ICICI Bank Limited acting through its Hong Kong Branch (ICICI Bank) signed a loan agreement for USD 98 million under the Two- step Buyer Credit (Export Credit) arrangement. ICICI Bank is the first Indian Bank to have entered into this arrangement with China Exim. The agreement was signed by Mr.Zhu Xinqiang, Assistant President, China Exim and Mr.Sudhir Dole, Senior General Manager & Regional Head- Asia, ICICI Bank. This agreement was signed in Beijing on March 19, 2009.

Source: icicibank.com

10. Japan now top M&A market in Asia-Pacific
Mergermarket says Japan now top M&A market in Asia-Pacific. Japan Has Overtaken China This Quarter as the Most Active Country in Asia-Pacific in the first quarter of 2009 as the most active country in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time in five years. Japanese M&A accounts for 28% of the number of Asia-Pacific deals, while Chinese activity makes up 25%, according to "mergermarket", the independent M&A intelligence provider.

11. PowerGrid
India’s central transmission utility PowerGrid Corporation has tied up 75% of the Rs 55,000-crore capex for laying inter-regional transmission capacity of 37,800 mw by 2012. Moreover, the company has received the Centre’s approval for raising an additional $1 billion from multilateral organisations such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the notification for which was issued recently. Of the Rs 55,000 crore, nearly Rs 16,000 crore will come from internal accruals and Rs 39,000 crore through domestic and international borrowings and also through suppliers’ credit. Besides, the state-run firm has proposed a capex of Rs 12,000 crore for 2009-10 against Rs 8,095 crore in 2008-09.

Politics
Lapang becomes Meghalaya CM
Donwa Dethwelson Lapang was yesterday sworn-in as the chief minister of Meghalaya where President's rule was lifted on Friday.Governor R S Mooshahary administered the oath of office and secrecy to Lapang at a programme in Raj Bhavan. Lapang is head of the Meghalaya United Alliance, which is comprising Congress and a regional party, United Democratic Party (UDP). The alliance has 37 MLAs -- 26 from the Congress, nine from UDP and two Independents -- in the 60-member house which now has an effective strength of 55 following resignation of one UDP MLA and disqualification of four others.
About President Rule in Meghalaya : President Rule in Meghalaya was imposed on march 18, 2009 after the government survived narrowly with the trust vote of speaker.

Runu Ghosh Convicted
Runu Ghosh, former deputy director general in the telecom ministry who has been convicted for corruption, will be pronounced Friday by a Delhi Court.

About Runu Ghosh :
She was a former Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer, and was held guilty by the court of amassing disproportionate assets of around Rs.2.27 million and can face imprisonment up to seven years. According to the prosecution, she acquired the wealth between 1992 and 1996 while working as deputy director general (licence and finance) in the Telecom Department during the tenure of then telecommunications minister Sukhram.

Hung parliament is what Exit polls say :
India's month-long general election ended Wednesday, with exit polls forecasting the Congress-led coalition to be leading the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Neither group will win a parliamentary majority. They will now be battling for new allies to form a new government.

Abroad

Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal is the new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. He is a a veteran counterinsurgency expert. He will take charge as the administration begins to implement its new strategy for the worsening conflict in Afghanistan and a growing insurgency in neighboring nuclear-armed Pakistan by allies of al Qaida and the Afghan Taliban. He is successor of Army Gen. David McKiernan

About US forces in Afganistan: There are more than 75,000 U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan. Another 21,000 American soldiers are due to deploy this year, including 17,000 destined for southern Afghanistan, the Taliban heartland and opium production center.

Last Nazi War Crime Trail in Germany:
Germany is preparing for its last Nazi war crimes trial and a courtroom duel between two old survivors: John Demjanjuk, accused of being a concentration camp guard in the killing fields of Eastern Europe, and Thomas Blatt, a former teenage inmate in one of the Third Reich’s most brutal outposts. In a charge sheet to be read to him with the help of an interpreter, Mr Demjanjuk will be accused of helping to kill 29,000 Jews.

UN warns a humanitarian crisis in Pakistan:
Fighting between government forces and Taliban in northern Pakistan has created a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis, say the heads of a Pakistan relief agency visiting New Zealand.Shama Mall, a deputy director of Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan, says the situation at home for the 200,000 people forced to flee in the last two days is worsening. “It’s very worrying at present. These people are under the open sky in a very insecure and unstable
environment. People have been forced to leave at short notice and their immediate needs are not being met. Many have never had to leave their communities before and are afraid to do so.

Business & Economy

India's Industrial Output contract by 2.3%
The country's Industrial output contracted by 2.3 per cent in March, the sharpest fall in 16 years, raising fears of a sustained industrial slowdown. The manufacturing sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of the index of industrial production (IIP), plunged by 3.3 per cent in March compared to last year's 5.7 per cent growth, latest official data released on Tuesday showed. Overall industrial output grew by a 2.4 per cent during 2008-09, down from last year's 8.5 per cent. click for Official Data


Microsoft launched First Bond Issue:
Microsoft has launched its first bond issue in hopes of raising 3.75 billion dollars, sparking rumors the US software giant was contemplating a takeover bid. Microsoft, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that it would use the money from the bond issue launched Monday for "general corporate purposes" and planned to offer five-year, 10-year and 30-year notes. The software giant "intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include funding for working capital, capital expenditures, repurchases of stock and acquisitions.


China's Exports Plunged 22.6% in April :
China's exports plunged 22.6 percent in April from the year before in the sixth straight monthly decline while a torrent in bank lending meant to ward off the economic downturn pushed up spending on factories, real estate and other fixed assets. China's economy is the world's third-largest after the U.S. and Japan - relies heavily on exports for growth.

Special Duty on nylon tyre cord fabrics from China
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has in a notification extended the special duty imposed on imports of nylon tyre cord fabrics from China for a period of another five years.

ICICI ties up with VISA for US Cards

ICICI India's second-largest Bank and India's largest credit card issuer, and Visa Inc.have announced a strategic relationship that will enable ICICI's New York Branch to issue Visa Debit cards in the U.S., extending the convenience and worldwide acceptance of Visa Debit cards to the bank's increasingly global customer base. The bank will offer Visa Debit cards to its Global Indian Account and other checking account customers at its New York branch. The Global Indian Account service addresses the banking needs of Indians moving overseas who require access to local banking facilities in the United States.

About ICICI Bank Ltd:

ICICI Bank Ltd is India's largest private sector bank and the second largest bank in the country with consolidated total assets of over $95 billion as of March 31, 2009. ICICI Bank's subsidiaries include India's leading private sector insurance companies and among its largest securities brokerage firms, mutual funds and private equity firms. ICICI Bank's presence currently spans 19 countries, including India.

About Visa Inc.:

Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries.

TCS Contract with Volkswagen

India’s largest information technology (IT) firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has signed a five-year contract with UK-based automobile maker Volkswagen Group to deliver IT transformation and support services.TCS will support Volkswagen in its business transformation programme to meet its aim to “sell more cars, sell more parts, drive down costs”.

SBI cuts deposit rates :

The State Bank of India has cut its fixed deposit (FD) rates across maturities by up to 50 basis points (100 basis points = 1%), effective from May 18. This is the second time in this month, and sixth time in 2009 that SBI has cut its deposit rates. Earlier this month, it reduced rates by 0.25 percentage points.

National Issues

PM wants to eradicate small schemes:
Prime Minister has directed all ministries and departments to suggest ways to downsize existing programmes. At present, there are only 50 central and centrally sponsored schemes, which had an allocation of more than Rs 500 crore for this year. This implies that for creation of any meaningful space, a large number of ongoing programmes will have to be deferred. Politically, this will be an uphill task as the government had introduced zero budgeting system three years ago and the then finance minister P Chidambaram had publicly expressed concern that proliferation of small schemes was hampering meaningful implementation.

In the Budget for this year, there are 908 Central schemes with a total allocation of Rs 77,973.6 crore of which only 24 schemes have an allocation of more than Rs 500 crore. These 24 schemes account for 42 per cent of all centrally funded schemes. The balance 58 per cent schemes have a total allocation of Rs 12,0876 crore.

Read Some Government of India Development Programs

Defence
India gets Akula-II by end of this year:

India gets its first new generation Akula-II class nuclear attack submarine by the year-end, bolstering its Navy’s undersea capability manifold. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered delivery of the submarine to the Indian Navy and has sanctioned $300 million for speedy completion of the project.

What is Akula?

Akula means Shark in Russian .

India is paying two billion dollars for the completion of two Akula-II class submarines. The first submarine will be named INS Chakra.Whereas the Russian Navy's Akula-II submarine is equipped with 28 nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a striking range of 3,000 kilometers, the Indian version expected to be armed with the 300 km range 3M-54 Klub nuclear-capable missiles. Missiles with ranges greater than 300 kilometers cannot be exported due to arms control restrictions, since Russia is a signatory to the MTCR treaty.
Ceremonies

National Technology Day celebrated on May 11:
National Technology Day marks 11th anniversary of Pokhran-II nuke test. May 11, was a significant day in the history of India and it represented scientific contribution in hi-technology for country’s development and pride.
Both 1974 and 1998 nuke tests were conducted on Buddha Purnima day
About Pokharan II:
Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. The test was conducted when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was in power with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister. These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states. On 18 May 1974 India exploded its first nuclear device code named Smiling Buddha. After about a quarter century, on Buddha Jayanti, 11 May 1998, Operation Shakti was carried out. Shakti was the codename for Pokhran-II.

About India's Nuclear Warhead Program:
The Indian nuclear weapons program was started in the year 1964. The 1962 Sino-Indian war was an unforgettable lesson to the Indian establishment. It underscored the need to have a strong military with a comprehensive capability to deter enemy forces. The Chinese Nuclear Test at Lop Nur in 1964 goaded the Indian government into action to kickstart India's indigenous program to develop nuclear weapons. Preliminary studies were carried out at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and plans were developed to produce plutonium and other bomb components. The program was shelved after Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru's death. It was revived in the year 1968 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The program culminated in the nuclear test of 1974 at Pokhran codenamed Smiling Buddha.

After the 1974 test India decided to stop testing as a temporary measure. Various political parties, especially the right wing Jana Sangh pushed for further testing and weaponisation. Successive governments in India decided to observe this temporary moratorium for fear of inviting international criticism. In 1995, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao decided to carry out further tests. But the plans were halted after American satellites picked up signs of preparations for testing at Pokhran. The Americans under President Bill Clinton exerted enormous pressure on Rao to stop the preparations.

People :

Suresh Kalmadi is president of Indian Olympic Association
Indian Olympic Association
The Indian Olympic Association is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams at the events. It also acts as the Indian Commonwealth Games Association, responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Commonwealth Games. The Indian Olympic Association was formed in 1927 with Sir Dorabji Tata as its first president and since that year has been the body officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as India's national Olympic organisation He was replaced by Maharaja Bhupindra Singh of Patiala in 1928 who stayed on till 1938.

Appointed:

Air Marshal PK Barbora is air officer commanding-in-chief, Western Air Command : Air Marshal PK Barbora, VSM, has taken over as the air officer commanding-in-chief, Western Air Command. Air Marshal Barbora, born in December 1950 in Shillong, was commissioned as a fighter pilot in June 1970. A very experienced flier, he has flown over 3500 hours. Air Marshal Barbora also took part in the 1971 war with Pakistan.

Died
Former Navy chief Admiral Sardari Mathradas Nanda dies: Former Navy chief Admiral Sardari Mathradas Nanda, who became popular as "the man who bombed Karachi'' during the 1971 war but later got enmeshed in controversy after his son was accused in defence kickback scandals, died late on Monday. He was 94.

Appointed the Navy chief in February 1970, Nanda is credited with formulating the daring strategy under which Indian warships bombed Pakistani oil tankers and enforced the blockade of Karachi port during the 1971 war. He will always be remembered in the most glowing terms for his leadership during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict, in which the Indian Navy carved its name in golden letters in the annals of history by its sterling offensive actions.
After retiring in 1973, Nanda also served as the chairman of the Shipping Corporation of India and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.

Current Affairs 2009

141. The present Foreign Secretary of India is—
(A) Romesh Bhandari
(B) Shyam Saran
(C) Shivshankar Menon
(D) Shashank

142. In China’s EAST fusion reactor, EAST stands for—
(A) Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak
(B) Experimental Advanced Solar Tool
(C) Electronically Advanced Scientific Technology
(D) Experimental Artificial Sun Tokamak

143. “A Passage to Hope : Women and International Migration” is—
(A) A book written on the theme of upliftment of women
(B) The theme of the new released ‘State of World Population Report-2006’ by UNFPA
(C) A documentary film on global migration of women
(D) A report on the status of women in the world

144. Where are the headquarters of National Fisheries Development Board situated ?
(A) New Delhi
(B) Hyderabad
(C) Chennai
(D) Bangalore

145. The book Guiding Souls : Dialogues on the purpose of life of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been translated into—
(A) Japanese
(B) Chinese
(C) German
(D) Portuguese

146. Who was the Chairman of the Sixth Central Pay Commission ?
(A) Justice B. N. Srikrishna
(B) Prof. Ravindra Dholakia
(C) J. S. Mathur
(D) Sushma Nath

147. Swasraya Bharat-2006 week was organised—
(A) In honour of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
(B) In honour of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
(C) In honour of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
(D) For the promotion of religious and cultural unity of India

148. Who among the following is the present High Commissioner of India to Pakistan ?
(A) Satyabrata Pal
(B) Shiv Shankar Menon
(C) Vijay K. Nambiar
(D) None of these

149. Who among the following is the World Chess Champion of 2007 ?
(A) Vishwanathan Anand
(B) Veselin Tapalov
(C) Viktor Kramnik
(D) Rustam Kasimdzhanov

150. Which among the following Indian is the first Vice-Chancellor of Westminster University ?
(A) Lord Swaraj Paul
(B) Amartya Sen
(C) Subhramaniam Swami
(D) Sujatha Bose

151. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been honoured with a degree of Doctor of Law by which among the following Universities ?
(A) Cambridge University
(B) Oxford University
(C) Westminster University
(D) Havard University

152. Nobel Prize for Peace-2008 has been awarded to—
(A) Martti Ahtisaari
(B) World Bank
(C) Urban Bank
(D) NABARD

153. Ban Ki-Moon from South Korea has been elected as the Secretary-General of UN. He is the—
(A) Seventh Secretary-General
(B) Eighth Secretary-General
(C) Sixth Secretary-General
(D) Fifth Secretary-General

154. The books ‘Snow’ and ‘My Name is Red’ have been written by—
(A) Orhun Pamuk
(B) Harold Pinter
(C) J.M. Coetzee
(D) V.S. Naipaul

155. Which among the following match of the book and its year of receiving the Man Booker Prize is incorrect ?
(A) The Sea-2005
(B) The Gathering-Anne Enright
(C) Vernon God Little-2002
(D) The Inheritance of Loss-2006

156. Which among the following Indian women is not included in the Fortune magazine’s list of 50 most powerful business–women?
(A) Chanda Kochar, ICICI Bank
(B) Naina Lal Kidwai, HSBC India
(C) Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Biocon India
(D) Shehnaz Hussain, Shehnaz Hussain Herbals

157. Which among the following has become the first online District Court in India ?
(A) Jodhpur District Court
(B) Ajmer District Court
(C) Jaipur District Court
(D) Jaisalmer District Court

158. G. M. Modi Award for Innovative Science and Technology for the year 2007 has been conferred upon—
(A) Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
(B) Dr. K. Kasturirangan
(C) Prof. Goverdhan Mehta
(D) Dr. Y. S. Rajan

159. The winner of the 2008 US Open Tennis men’s singles title is—
(A) Roger Federer
(B) Rafael Nadal
(C) Andy Roddick
(D) Novak Djokovic

160. Which among the following has been removed from the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites in danger ?
(A) Hampi
(B) Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
(C) Kathmandu Valley
(D) Fort and Shalamar Gardens

161. The Sangeet Ratna Award has been instituted in memory of—
(A) Ustad Rashid Ahmed
(B) Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan
(C) Ustad Bismillah Khan
(D) Pt. Ravishankar

162. IBSA is—
(A) India Brazil—South Africa Trilateral Co-operation Forum
(B) India Brazil South Africa Agreement
(C) India Britain South America Agreement
(D) None of these

163. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 2007 has been won by—
(A) Pankaj Advani
(B) Mahendra Singh Dhoni
(C) Anju Bobby George
(D) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

164. Where will the 15th NAM summit be held ?
(A) Durban
(B) Egypt
(C) Cuba
(D) Cartagena

165. Which among the following has become the Third Tiger Reserve of Assam ?
(A) Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
(B) Kaziranga National Park
(C) Nameri National Park
(D) None of these

166. Who among the following is the most powerful women in the world according to the Forbes magazine’s list of 100 most powerful women ?
(A) Indra Nooyi
(B) Sonia Gandhi
(C) Angela Merkel
(D) Condoleeza Rice

167. The statue of which among the following literary luminaries has been unveiled at Shanghai ?
(A) Kalidasa
(B) Kalhana
(C) Bharavi
(D) Vishakha Dutta

168. Shijian–8 is—
(A) India’s newly created artificial satellite
(B) China’s seed-breeding satellite
(C) Japan’s seed-breeding satellite
(D) Russia’s remote sensing satellite

169. Who among the following has awarded UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Award 2009 ?
(A) Maj Chidiac
(B) Raul Rivero
(C) Lasantha Wickrematunga
(D) Amira Hass

170. Which among the following tennis players has recently bid his retirement ?
(A) Andre Agassi
(B) Roger Federer
(C) Carlos Moya
(D) Andy Raddick

171. The new addition to the Commonwealth Games 2010 is—
(A) Shooting
(B) Hockey
(C) Wrestling
(D) Football

172. ‘Deoria to Dadri Nyaya Yatra’ was launched by—
(A) V. P. Singh and Raj Babbar
(B) Chandrashekhar
(C) Raj Babbar and Mulayam Singh
(D) Lalu Prasad Yadav

173. ‘Automotive Mission Plan 2006–2016’ aims to—
(A) Make India a global hub of automatic electronic devices
(B) Advance India in the field of technology
(C) Make India a global hub of automobiles and auto-components
(D) Advance India in the field of computers

174. Treat, Train, Retain Plan is—
(A) A plan aiming at development of Indian Railway
(B) A plan to retain the high status of Indian Railway
(C) A part of WHO’s work to promote universal access to HIV/AIDS services
(D) A plan to launch several new trains in the next two years

175. The 8th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit/meeting was held in—
(A) 2008
(B) 2009
(C) 2007
(D) 2010

Answers :

141. (C) 142. (A) 143. (B) 144. (B) 145. (B) 146. (A) 147. (A) 148. (A) 149. (A) 150. (A)
151. (A) 152. (A) 153. (B) 154. (A) 155. (C) 156. (D) 157. (A) 158. (C) 159. (A) 160. (A)
161. (C) 162. (A) 163. (B) 164. (B) 165. (B) 166. (C) 167. (A) 168. (B) 169. (C) 170. (A) 171. (C) 172. (A) 173. (C) 174. (C) 175. (A)

Current Affairs 2009

106. According to the Human Development Report 2006, India has acquired 126th place in HDI ranking which is……than that of last year.
(A) Two ranks up
(B) One rank up
(C) Two ranks down
(D) One rank down

107. Which sector of the economy became the largest job recruiter in 2006-07 ?
(A) Private Sector Banks
(B) Garment Exports
(C) Broking Services
(D) Software IT Companies

108. ‘Sensitive sector’ as defined by RBI include(s)—
(A) Capital Market
(B) Real Estate
(C) Commodities
(D) All the above

109. At what place Indian economy stands in the world on the basis of PPP rating ?
(A) Second
(B) Fourth
(C) Sixth
(D) Tenth

110. IRDA in India regulates—
(A) Banking business
(B) Insurance business
(C) Capital business
(D) Public issue of shares

111. Which Indian group of business houses has made a space in top 20 global firms in Forbes list of world’s most reputed companies ?
(A) Tata Group
(B) Maruti Suzuki
(C) Infosys
(D) Hero Honda Motors

112. In which fuel, the government has decided to mix ‘marker’ for identifying adulteration ?
(A) Kerosene
(B) Diesel
(C) Petrol
(D) All of these

113. Who among the following has started a new enterprise named ‘blogevery where.com’ ?
(A) Ratan Tata
(B) Narayan Murti
(C) Azim Premji
(D) Sabeer Bhatia

114. Tata Steel has recently acquired which among the following steel producer company ?
(A) Mittal Steel
(B) Corus
(C) Arcelor
(D) Nippon Steel

115. The fourth Asian Film Festival was held in—
(A) Pune
(B) Mumbai
(C) Nagpur
(D) Goa

116. Tshwane Declaration has been signed between—
(A) India and China
(B) India and South Africa
(C) India and Nepal
(D) India and Russia

117. The book ‘Falling Over Backwards’ is written by—
(A) Arun Shourie
(B) Ninan Koshi
(C) Arundhati Roy
(D) R. K. Narayan

118. ‘Sakshat’ is—
(A) An educational website
(B) A missile
(C) An artificial satellite
(D) A railway project

119. Gandhi Peace Prize for 2007 has been awarded to—
(A) Archbishop Desmond Tutu
(B) Javed Akhtar
(C) Dalai Lama
(D) Shabana Azmi

120. The present Governor of Bihar is—
(A) G. K. Gandhi
(B) Buta Singh
(C) R. L. Bhatia
(D) None of these

121. ‘Sabse Pahale Pakistan’ is an Urdu translated version of which among the following books ?
(A) Pakistan Eye of the Storm
(B) In the Line of Fire
(C) Pakistan Today
(D) Passage to Pakistan

122. The 2008 C. K. Nayadu Life Time Achievement Award of the year has been won by—
(A) Gundappa Vishwanath
(B) Kapil Dev
(C) Mohinder Amarnath
(D) Madan Lal

123. ‘Rainbow’ is—
(A) An ice-cream
(B) Prasar Bharti’s FM Channel
(C) A suitcase
(D) A musical group

124. The 2007 ICC Women’s Cricketer of the year award has been won by—
(A) Lisa Sthalekar
(B) Claire Taylor
(C) Anju Banerjee
(D) Jhulan Goswami

125. ‘Garib Rath’ is—
(A) The first AC train for the poor
(B) A portal
(C) A project launched by Ministry of HRD
(D) A low price car

126. Which among the following countries has not been elected recently as a non-permanent member of the Security Council ?
(A) South Africa
(B) Italy
(C) Belgium
(D) Japan

127. Who among the following won the UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship 2008 ?
(A) Belgium
(B) France
(C) England
(D) Spain

128. Solar-B satellite to study the sun was launched by—
(A) Japan
(B) China
(C) Russia
(D) America

129. Which among the following national parks is celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2006 ?
(A) Corbett National Park
(B) Kaziranga National Park
(C) Gir National Park
(D) Ghana Wildlife Sanctuary

130. Saina Nehwal is related with which among the following sports ?
(A) Badminton
(B) Tennis
(C) Chess
(D) Table Tennis

131. ‘GLONASS’ is—
(A) Global Navigational Satellite System
(B) Global Navigational Space System
(C) Geostationary Launch of Artificial Space System
(D) Global New Astronomical Space System

132. India has signed first bilateral agreement on social security with which among the following countries ?
(A) Belgium
(B) Holland
(C) France
(D) Germany

133. Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of Pakistan has been recently awarded to—
(A) Hu Jintao
(B) Dilip Kumar
(C) King Abdullah
(D) Khuswant Singh

134. 2008 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to—
(A) Osamu Shimomura
(B) Martin Chalfie
(C) Roger Y. Tsien
(D) All of these

135. ‘Miss Universe 2008’ is—
(A) Ioana Valentina Boitor
(B) Dayana Mendoza
(C) Sabrina Houssami
(D) Natasha Suri

136. The present Prime Minister of Japan is—
(A) Junichiro Koizumi
(B) Mori Yoshiro
(C) Taro Aso
(D) Hashimoto Ryutaro

137. Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration- 2006 has been awarded to—
(A) J. S. Bandukwalla
(B) President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
(C) Acharya Mahaprajna
(D) M.S. Subbulakshmi

138. Which among the following has been reelected to the United Nations Human Rights Committee for the fourth time ?
(A) Nisuke Ando
(B) Michael O’ Flaherty
(C) Justice P.N. Bhagwati
(D) Ivan Shearer

139. The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for 2006 for the promotion of tolerance and nonviolence has been awarded to—
(A) V. Anandasagree
(B) Taslima Nasreen
(C) Narayan Desai
(D) Pope Shenouda-III

140. Who among the following is the winner of US Open 2008 women’s single title ?
(A) Mary Pierce
(B) Maria Sharapova
(C) Svetlana Kuznetsova
(D) Serena Williams

Answers :

106. (B) 107. (D) 108. (D) 109. (B) 110. (B) 111. (A) 112. (A) 113. (D) 114. (B) 115. (A)
116. (B) 117. (A) 118. (A) 119. (A) 120. (C) 121. (B) 122 (A) 123. (B) 124. (D) 125. (A)
126. (D) 127. (D) 128. (A) 129. (A) 130. (A)
131. (A) 132. (A) 133. (A) 134. (D) 135. (B) 136. (C) 137. (A) 138. (C) 139. (A) 140. (D)

Q & A's

1. Very often we read about financial inclusion in newspapers these days. Financial Inclusion means—
(A) Providing loans to all eligible persons
(B) Creating a mechanism of providing financial help to business people of society whenever they are in need of the same
(C) Providing banking services to all those who are staying in remote and interior areas of the country
(D) To ensure that each and every person pays tax on his/her income regularly and honestly
(E) None of these
Ans : (C)

2. ‘Mid Day Meals’ is a scheme to provide nutritious food to—
(A) Those taking treatment in hospitals
(B) School going children
(C) Daily wage employees/or labours
(D) Labours engaged in jobs in unorganized sectors
(E) Girls who are residing in girls/youth hostels
Ans : (B)

3. The Govt. of India is running a National Programme to control which of the following disease ?
(A) Renal Failures
(B) Heart Ailments
(C) Cancer (D) AIDS
(E) None of these
Ans : (D)

4. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is aimed at the education of which of the following ?
(A) Engineering and technical education
(B) Education of girls upto graduation level
(C) College education
(D) Adult education
(E) Education of children between 6-14 years
Ans : (E)

5. Five year plans in India are designed and launched by which of the following organizations ?
(A) Ministry of Rural Development
(B) Ministry of Agriculture
(C) Panchayat Raj Samitees of each state
(D) Planning Commission of India
(E) Ministry of Home Affairs
Ans : (D)

6. Which of the following Ministries prepares its own budget and presents it in the Parliament every year ?
(A) Finance Ministry
(B) Railway Ministry
(C) Ministry of Defence
(D) Ministry of Home Affairs
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

7. Which of the following banks is a nationalized bank ?
(A) ICICI Bank
(B) Yes Bank
(C) Saraswat Co-op. Bank
(D) Reserve Bank of India
(E) Bank of India
Ans : (E)

8. Which of the following types of accounts are known as ‘Demat Accounts’ ?
(A) Accounts which are Zero Balance Accounts
(B) Accounts which are opened to facilitate repayment of a loan taken from the bank. No other business can be conducted from there
(C) Accounts in which shares of various companies are traded in electronic form
(D) Accounts which are operated through internet banking facility
(E) None of these
Ans : (C)

9. Which of the following is definitely a major indication of the state of the economy of a country ?
(A) Rate of GDP growth
(B) Rate of inflation
(C) Number of Banks in a country
(D) Stock of foodgrains in a country
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

10. Which of the following taxes levied by the Govt. of India is withdrawn now ? (As announced in Union Budget 2008–09)
(A) Income Tax
(B) VAT
(C) Corporate Tax
(D) Banking Cash Transaction Tax
(E) None of these
Ans : (D)

11. Sakhalin oilfields are located in—
(A) China
(B) Russia
(C) France
(D) USA
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

12. Twenty 20 Cricket Matches are very popular these days. What is the format of the game ?
(A) Every player has to play 20 balls only
(B) Every team has to play 20 overs only
(C) Every team will now have twenty players
(D) The team who makes maximum runs in 20 hours will be the winner
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

13. Which of the following countries won the finals of under 19 Cricket World Cup held in March 2008 ?
(A) South Africa
(B) India
(C) England
(D) New Zealand
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

14. Who amongst the following presented the Union Budget 2008-09 in the Parliament ?
(A) Dr. Manmohan Singh
(B) Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav
(C) Smt. Sonia Gandhi
(D) Mr. Arjun Singh
(E) None of these
Ans : (E)

15. Late Benazir Bhutto was the—
(A) Present President of Pakistan
(B) Former President of Pakistan
(C) Present Prime Minister of Pakistan
(D) Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
(E) Present Foreign Minister of Pakistan
Ans : (D)

16. If you visit the branch of a bank you will normally not see a department/section/counter names as —
(A) Cash
(B) Credit
(C) Customer care
(D) Housekeeping
(E) Retail Banking
Ans : (D)

17. Who amongst the following is the Chairperson of the National Knowledge Commission ?
(A) Dr. Manmohan Singh
(B) Mr. Arjun Singh
(C) Dr. Pranav Mukherjee
(D) Justice Arijit Pasayat
(E) Mr. Sam Pitroda
Ans : (E)

18. Which of the following phenomenon has created a state of anxiety in the economic and financial sector in India these days ?
(A) Rate of Inflation
(B) Sub-prime crisis in USA
(C) High level of fluctuation in Sensex
(D) Population growth in Metro cities in India
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

19. Name of Ishant Sharma is associated with the game of—
(A) Hockey
(B) Chess
(C) Cricket
(D) Football
(E) Badminton
Ans : (C)

20. Which of the following programmes is launched to develop basic infrastructure in the country ?
(A) Bharat Nirman programme
(B) Technology Mission
(C) Special Economic Zones
(D) National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

21. Which of the following is permanent venue of International Film festivals in India ?
(A) Goa
(B) Pune (Maharashtra)
(C) Jaipur (Rajasthan)
(D) Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

22. Foreign investments in India are normally known as—
(A) CII
(B) FDI
(C) SFI
(D) SME
(E) MDI
Ans : (B)

23. Which of the following is a computer package for preparing / typing letters / documents ?
(A) Word
(B) Excel
(C) PowerPoint
(D) Windows
(E) Unix
Ans : (D)

24. ‘Duleep Trophy’ is associated with the game of—
(A) Badminton
(B) Hockey
(C) Football
(D) Cricket
(E) Chess
Ans : (D)

25. Jnanpith Award is given for excellence in the field of—
(A) Social Service
(B) Sports
(C) Classical Dance
(D) Music
(E) Literature
Ans : (E)

26. Which of the following organizations is a popular name in the field of computer & softwares ?
(A) Rotman
(B) Henley
(C) Microsoft
(D) Louis Vuitton
(E) DLA Piper
Ans : (C)

27. King of which of the following countries has to leave as the country has adopted parliamentary form of democratic govt. and first election has taken place ?
(A) Jordan
(B) Bhutan
(C) Nepal
(D) Myanmar
(E) None of these
Ans : (C)

28. For applying for this project, the applicants were required to—
(A) Send physical applications
(B) Apply on-line
(C) Buy scannable form and send after filling
(D) Send only Demand Draft
(E) Apply in employment exchange
Ans : (B)

29. ‘Dyanchand Trophy’ is associated with the game of—
(A) Golf
(B) Cricket
(C) Football
(D) Tennis
(E) Hockey
Ans : (E)

30. Who amongst the following is a famous Lawn tennis player ?
(A) Irfan Khan
(B) Sania Mirza
(C) Sujata Sharma
(D) Kiran Desai
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

31. Which of the following bills was placed in the Parliament recently after a waiting period of several years ?
(A) Women’s Reservation Bill
(B) Financial Inclusion Bill
(C) Income Tax Amendment Bill
(D) Companies Amendment Bill
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

32. Who amongst the following is the author of the book ‘Business at the Speed of Thought’ ?
(A) V. S. Naipaul
(B) Jaswant Singh
(C) Ritu Beri
(D) Bill Gates
(E) None of these
Ans : (D)

33. Govt. normally does not announce the support price of—
(A) Wheat
(B) Paddy
(C) Mango
(D) Sugar cane
(E) Cotton
Ans : (C)

34. Mr. Dmitry Medvedev has become the new—
(A) Prime Minister of Russia
(B) President of Russia
(C) Prime Minister of France
(D) President of France
(E) Prime Minister of Italy
Ans : (B)

35. If you visit USA you have to make all your payments in—
(A) Euro
(B) Dollar
(C) Rupee
(D) Pound Sterling
(E) Any one of these
Ans : (B)

36. Census in India is done after a period of—
(A) 5 years
(B) 7 years
(C) 8 years
(D) 10 years
(E) 12 years
Ans : (D)

37. TRAI regulates the functioning of which of the following services ?
(A) Telecom
(B) Trade
(C) Port
(D) Transport
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

38. Firewalls are used to protect against—
(A) Unauthorised Attacks
(B) Virus Attacks
(C) Data Driven Attacks
(D) Fire Attacks
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

39. The ………… directory is mandatory for every disk.
(A) Root
(B) Base
(C) Sub
(D) Case
(E) None of these
Ans : (C)

40. ‘WWW’ stands for—
(A) World Word Web
(B) World Wide Web
(C) World White Web
(D) World Work Web
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

41. For applying for this project, the applicants were required to—
(A) Pay fee by Cheque
(B) Pay fee by Demand Draft
(C) Pay fee by Postal Order
(D) No fee/postage was required to be paid
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

42. Which of the following is NOT associated with Computers ?
(A) Bit
(B) Binary
(C) Pencil
(D) Mouse
(E) Screen
Ans : (C)

43. ‘MICR’ technology used for clearance of cheques by banks refers to—
(A) Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
(B) Magnetic Intelligence Character Recognition
(C) Magnetic Information Cable Recognition
(D) Magnetic Insurance Cases Recognition
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

44. Modern Computers represent characters and numbers internally using one of the following number systems—
(A) Penta
(B) Octal
(C) Hexa
(D) Septa
(E) Binary
Ans : (E)

45. Smallest storage unit of a computer is—
(A) Bit
(B) Byte
(C) Nibble
(D) Pixel
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

46. A MODEM is connected in between a telephone line and a—
(A) Network
(B) Computer
(C) Communication Adapter
(D) Serial Port
(E) All of these
Ans : (B)

47. Window is ………… and Window 95, Window 98 are …………
(A) Graphical User Interface, Operating System
(B) Graphics Useful Interface, Executing Systems
(C) Graph User Interval, Expert Systems
(D) Graphical Use Interphase, Excel Systems
(E) None of these
Ans : (A)

48. Which of the following best explains e-governance ?
(A) Improving the functioning of Government
(B) Teaching Government employees the basics of computing
(C) Delivery of public services through internet
(D) Framing of cyber-laws of chatting on internet
(E) Convergence of e-mail and videoconferencing
Ans : (C)

49. ‘Buy Now–Pay Now’ is commonly used for………
(A) Visa Cards
(B) Vault Cards
(C) Credit Cards
(D) E-purse
(E) Debit Cards
Ans : (A)

50. Smart Card is………
(A) Special purpose Cards
(B) Microprocessor Cards
(C) Processing unit contains memory for storing data
(D) Processing unit for software handling
(E) None of these
Ans : (B)

books and authors

Books And Authors

---

Books	Authors
A Bend in the river	V.S. Naipaul
Area of Darkness	V.S. Naipaul
House for Mr. Biswas	V.S. Naipaul
India-A Wounded Civilisation	V.S. Naipaul
Million Mutinies Now	V.S. Naipaul
A Suitable Boy	Vikram Seth
Golden Gate	Vikram Seth
An Equal Music	Vikram Seth
Beastly Tales	Vikram Seth
Three Chinese Poets	Vikram Seth
All You Who Sleep Tonight	Vikram Seth
Mappings	Vikram Seth
Two Lives	Vikram Seth
From Heaven lake	Vikram Seth
Midnight’s Children	Salman Rushdie
The Satanic Verses	Salman Rushdie
East,West	Salman Rushdie
The Enchantress of Florence	Salman Rushdie
Jaguar Smile	Salman Rushdie
The Moor’s Last Sigh	Salman Rushdie
Shalimar The Clown	Salman Rushdie
Fury	Salman Rushdie
Shame	Salman Rushdie
Imaginary Homelands	Salman Rushdie
The God of Small Things	Arundhati Roy
The Shape of the Beast	Arundhati Roy
The Algebra of Infinite Justice	Arundhati Roy
The End of Imagination	Arundhati Roy
The Cost of Living	Arundhati Roy
Power Politics	Arundhati Roy
War Talk	Arundhati Roy
Show business	Shashi Tharoor
The Five Dollar Smile and Other Stories	Shashi Tharoor
The Great Indian Novel	Shashi Tharoor
The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone	Shashi Tharoor
Bookless in Baghdad	Shashi Tharoor
Nehru: The Invention of India	Shashi Tharoor
India: From Midnight to the Millenium	Shashi Tharoor
Reasons of State	Shashi Tharoor
Riot	Shashi Tharoor
My Country, My Life	L K Advani
A Prisoner’s Scrap Book	L K Advani
Wings of Fire	A P J Abdul Kalam
Ignited Minds	A P J Abdul Kalam
India 2020	A P J Abdul Kalam
India-my-Dream	A P J Abdul Kalam
Scientist to President	A P J Abdul Kalam
My Truth	Indira Gandhi
Eternal India	Indira Gandhi
Imagining India	Nandan Nilakeni
The White Tiger	Aravind adiga
Between the Assasination	Aravind adiga
The Elephant	Aravind Adiga
The Inheritance of Loss	Kiran Desai
Sea of Poppies	Amitav Ghosh
The Shadow Lines	Amitav Ghosh
The Hungry Tide	Amitav Ghosh
The Glass palace	Amitav Ghosh
In Custody	Anita desai
The Village By The Sea	Anita desai
Fire on the Mountain	Anita desai
Clear Light of Day	Anita desai
Fasting,Feasting	Anita desai
The Dark Room	R.K.narayan
Waiting for the Mahatma	R.K.narayan
The Guide	R.K.Narayan
My Days	R.K.Narayan
The Financial Expert	R.K.Narayan
Malgudi Days	R.K.Narayan
Painter of Sains	R.K.Narayan
Gods, Demons and Others	R.K.Narayan
A Better India, A Better World	Narayana Murthy
Unaccustomed Earth	Jhumpa Lahiri
The Namesake	Jhumpa lahiri
Interpreter of Maladies	Jhumpa Lahiri
Dreams from My Father	Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope	Barack Obama
Between hope and History	Bill Clinton
My Life	Bill Clinton
Giving	Bill Clinton
It Takes a Village	Hillary Clinton
An Invitation to White House	Hillary Clinton
Living History	Hillary Clinton
Daughter of the East	Benazir Bhutto
Pakistan-The Gathering Storm	Benazir Bhutto
Great Tragedy	Z A Bhutto
If I am Assassinated	Z A Bhutto
Freedom from Fear	Aung San Suu Kyi
The Voice of hope	Aung San Suu Kyi
Letters from Burma	Aung San Suu Kyi
Universe in a Single Atom	Dalai lama
The 3 mistakes of my Life	Chetan bhagat
Five Point Someone	Chetan bhagat
One night@ the call Center	Chetan bhagat
Who Says Elephant can’t Dance	Louis V. Gerstner
The Kite Runner	Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns	Khaled Hosseini
A Tale of Two Cities	Charles Dickens