General Knowledge: Check Whether You Can Score Well In This Quiz!

Answer – 1) Gita Gopinath

A two-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) aged 56, was unanimously elected as the new Speaker of 17th Lok Sabha. 13 motions were moved in support of Om Birla as the Speaker. His candidature as the Speaker was supported by all major parties including Congress, All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD). He will succeed Sumitra Mahajan (2014-2019) and pro-tem speaker of 17th Lok Sabha Virendra Kumar.

INS Kolkata (being designed and built in India, it is an advanced stealth destroyer capable of engaging multiple threats from the air, sea and underwater) and INS Shakti (is a fleet support ship that provides fuel, provisions and munitions to warships at sea), the 2 warships of the Indian Navy participated in a 3-day Asia Pacific naval and maritime event titled the International Maritime Defence Exhibition Asia (IMDEX Asia-2019) (it commenced on May 14, 2019) held in Changi Exhibition Centre, Singapore. After IMDEX, Indian Naval ships together with an Indian Navy surveillance aircraft P8I have participated in the 26th edition of Singapore India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX).

Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal announced that India’s first underwater train project is set to launch in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is a 16-kilometer long Kolkata Metro project.

On August 9, 2019, The annual National Film Awards 2019 were announced by by jury heads Rahul Rawail, AS Kanal and Utpal Bhorpujari. It was the 66th Edition.Ayushmann Khurrana (Andhadhun), Vicky Kaushal (Uri: the Surgical Strike) won the Best Actor(Male).

Ukrainian parliament of the 9th convocation appointed Oleksiy Honcharuk, a 35-year-old practicing lawyer, of the political party Servant of the People, as the 17th Prime Minister of Ukraine. His nomination was presented to the Ukrainian Parliament by its President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Mr Honcharuk, Ukraine’s youngest ever head of government, succeeded Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman.

On June 8, 2019, Facebook confirmed that it will launch a blockchain-powered stable-coin ‘Libra’ in 2020 through the release of white paper. It will be a form of digital money backed by a reserve of assets. It will be governed by the independent Libra Association, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

On 26th July 2019, Karnataka’s Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) state President Bookanakere Siddalingapp (BS) Yediyurappa was sworn in as the 19th Chief Minister of Karnataka. He succeeded H. D. Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal (Secular) party. He has the record of taking the oath of office as Chief Minister of Karnataka for the fourth time.Previously he served as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for 3 times viz, 12th to 19th November 2007, 30th May 2008 to 31st July 2011 & 17th to 19th May 2018.He is popularly known as “Raithara Bandhu” for his pro-farmer policies, initiatives like separate agriculture budget in Karnataka Government during his chief ministership.

Rafael Nadal became the first tennis player to win a single event 12 times. He registered the win with 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 over Dominic Thiem. This was his 18th Grand Slam Title.

National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) has played a very big role in significantly reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country, and that too faster than the global rates.The impact of the programme has been significant with more than 80% decline in estimated new infections from peak of epidemic in 1995.Similarly, estimated AIDS related death declined by 71% since its peak in 2005. As per UNAIDS 2018 report, the global average for decline in new infections and AIDS related deaths from peak has been 47% and 51% respectively.He further said that the Government is fully committed for meeting all the set goals to eliminate HIV/AIDS by 2030.

Sunil Chhetri, Indian men’s football team captain, was named the Men’s Footballer of the year 2019 at the All India Football Federation‘s (AIFF) Awards. He won the award for the third consecutive year. He is also the second-highest active international scorer (70 goals for India) after Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. In women’s category, it was conferred to footballer Ashalata Devi.

Wing Commander of Indian Air Force (IAF) Abhinandan Varthaman, who downed an enemy jet during an aerial combat with Pakistan in February 2019 and was held captive for 3 days, was conferred the Vir Chakra 2019, India’s third-highest war time gallantry medal.

India’s fastest train ‘Vande Bharat Express’ completed 1 Lakh kilometers without missing a single trip. It was flagged off by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi under ‘Make In India’ Initiative, on February 15, 2019, from New Delhi to Varanasi. This 16 coach train began its commercial run from February 17, 2019.The indigenously-built high-speed train was manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.This high-speed train is expected to replace Shatabdi Express trains soon.The train has facilities like high-speed onboard WiFi, GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points, and a climate control system which automatically adjusts to the temperature.

Walmart (US) topped “Fortune Global 500 list 2019” followed by Sinopec Group of China. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has become the top-ranked Indian company to feature in the latest “Fortune Global 500 list 2019” with a jump of 42 places. It ranked 106th in the list. Reliance Industries (RIL) overtakes state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which had been the top-ranked Indian company on the list and was first on the Fortune India 500 list which was started in 2010. Now IOC ranked 117 in the list with registering a jump of 20 spots.RIL’s revenue increased to $82.3 billion in 2019 from $62.3 billion in 2018 (32.1% increment).While IOC registered $77.6 billion from $65.9 billion, a 17.7 percent growth in revenue.

On June 15, 2019, A 20-year-old model, Suman Rao, a resident of Rajsamand, Rajasthan was crowned Miss India 2019. The ceremony was held at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Indoor Stadium, Mumbai, Maharashtra. She was crowned by Miss India 2018 Anukreethy Vas from Tamil Nadu. Shivani Jadhav from Chhattisgarh won Femina Miss Grand India 2019 title and Shreya Shanker from Bihar won Miss India United Continents 2019 title. Sanjana Vij of Telangana was adjudged as Miss India Runner Up 2019.

On August 24,2019, former Finance Minister Shri ArunJaitley passed away at the age of 66 due to health related ailments at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi where he underwent treatment several weeks after suffering from breathlessness and restlessness.

The central government’s ambitious project of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’, under which beneficiaries can buy subsidized foodgrains from any ration shop in the country.The central government’s ambitious project of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’, under which beneficiaries can buy subsidized foodgrains from any ration shop in the country will begin on 1 July 2020. Deadline: The Centre has given states and Union Territories time till June 30, 2020, to use point of sale (PoS) machines in the ration shops and roll out the scheme. Present status: 77% of the ration shops across the country have PoS machines.Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Tripura are the states already providing portability of Public Distribution System (PDS) entitlements.

Keshav Dutt, the two-time Olympic gold medallist in hockey and Prasun Banerjee, former Indian football captain, will be awarded the ‘Mohun Bagan Ratna’ for the year 2019 on Mohun Bagan Day on July 29, 2019. Keshav Dutt, aged 94, is one of the oldest surviving hockey Olympians of India. He represented India in the 1948 London Games, where India won the first gold post Independence. Other Awardees

On 25th July 2019, Federation Internationale de Football Association(FIFA) has released its ranking for the year 2019. Belgium leads the overall FIFA rankings, followed by Brazil, France, England, and Uruguay. Indian football team slipped two places to 103rd in the recent FIFA rankings with 1214 ranking points.Among Asian Countries, Iran topped the ranking. Iran ranked 23rd globally followed by Japan (33), Korea (37), Australia (46) and Qatar (62).

Andhra Pradesh Assembly under the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy passed the Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/Factories Act, 2019, which reserves 75% private job to locals across factories, industrial units, joint ventures and private projects taken under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.Under the new law, private companies will have to train locals if people with suitable skills are not available.With this, it became the first state in India to reserve jobs for the locals in the private & industrial concerns.

Australia’s Ellyse Perry on Thursday became the world-number one T20I all-rounder in the latest ICC player rankings, after a standout performance in the series against England, which Australia won by 2-1. The 28-year-old is now 12 points ahead of Taylor and is at a career-high of 398 points, at the top of the table for the first time since October 2017.

Pramod Kumar Mishra, aged 71, was appointed as the new principal secretary to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi succeeding Nripendra Misra with effect from September 11, 2019. He was the additional principal secretary to the PM (2014-19) and was holding the rank of a Cabinet minister. He is the recipient of United Nations Sasakawa Award 2019, the most prestigious international award in disaster management. Former cabinet secretary P K Sinha, aged 64, was appointed as the principal advisor to the PM. He currently serves as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

As per the “Global Happiness Survey” conducted by market research firm Ipsos, India is ranked 9th with 77% on happiness index among 28 global markets. The top determinants for Indians to stay happy are Personal safety and security, friends and feeling in control of life, good financial conditions and physical well-being along with hobbies and interests.Australia and Canada topped in the “Global Happiness Survey”.

On the demand of the local Hindu community, Pakistan opened Shawala Teja Singh Temple in eastern city Sialkot for worship for the first time since partition. According to the book ‘History of Sialkot’ by the late Rashid Niaz, the temple is 1,000-years-old.The Evacuee Trust Property Board looks after the holy places of minorities in Pakistan.According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan.

Forbes magazine’s Worlds Highest-Paid Actors Of 2019 list was released on August 23, 2019. The list was topped by American actor, producer and former wrestler Dwayne Johnson (also known as The Rock) with worth $89.4 million followed by Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr in the second and third spot respectively.

On September 8, 2019 former TamilNadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan who was sworn in as the first woman governor of Telangana, became theyoungest state governor at the age of 58 among all the current governors. Andhra Pradesh governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan is the oldest at the age of 85 among the current governors.

The 9th Edition of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Film Festival for the year 2019 was held at the National Film Corporation Cinema Hall, Colombo, Sri Lanka from July 2-7, 2019. Indian entries bagged 6 awards.Nagarkirtan, a Bengali film, was awarded the Best Feature Film.Best Director Award was conferred to Kaushik Ganguly for Nagarkirtan.Riddhi Sen won the best actor award and Prabuddha Bannerjee bagged Best Original Score for Nagarkirtan.Best Short Film Award was conferred to Na Bole Wo Haram directed by Nitish Patan.Special Jury Award for Direction and Story was conferred to ‘Walking with the Wind’, by Praveen Morchhale.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed the former Indian captain Rahul Dravid as Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He will look after all cricket related activities at NCA. He will be involved in mentoring, coaching, training and motivating players, coaches and support staff at the NCA. He will work with the National men’s and women’s Head coaches and coaches for India Developmental teams including India A, India Under 19, India Under 23 teams.

On August 24, 2019 the Gokulam Kerala Football club(FC) defeated Mohun Bagan team at the finals of the 2019 Durand cup (129th edition) match held at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Kerala lifted the title for the second time in the 131year history of the oldest football tournament in Asia by defeating Mohun bagan team with a 2-1 score. Marcus Joseph (Gokulam Kerala FC)- Golden Boot and Golden Ball award for top goal scoring and best player category respectively. CK Ubaid (Gokulam Kerala FC)- Golden Glove award for outstanding performance.

Bancha in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh became the first village in India to have zero wooden stoves. There was no use for Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders as all 75 houses relied on solar-powered stoves to meet their cooking needs. The solar-powered stoves were developed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai. The project of installing plates, solar-powered batteries and stoves in all the houses was started in September 2017 and was completed by December 2018.

ICICI Bank(Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India), the leading private sector lender, has become the 1st bank in India to deploy industrial ‘robotic arms’ to count millions of notes in currency chests across the country. 14 machines (robotic arms) have been deployed in 12 cities so that all these can count 6 million notes in a working day or about 1.80 billion notes annually.

Henley Passport Index for the year 2019 was released on August 21, 2019. The latest report ranks India at 86th position of 189 countries in 2019 with a mobility score of 58. However, it slipped 5 places from last year, in which India was ranked at 81st spot.The report was topped by Japan and Singapore as the “world’s most powerful passport” in 2019.Earlier, In the month of January, 2019 India was placed at 79th position.

On august 21,2019 the Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, was appointed as the new cabinet secretary (the most powerful position in the country’s civil service), replacing PK Sinha. He is appointed for a period of two years from august 30,2019, approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

Current General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Army Command, Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane has been appointed as the next vice chief of the army staff in the Indian Army. He succeeds Lieutenant General D. Anbu who is retiring next month. Lt-Gen. R.P. Singh will take over as General officer commanding-in-chief, Western Army command, succeeding Lt-Gen. Surinder Singh.The current director-general of military operations (DGMO) Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan will replace Lt-Gen M.M. Naravane in the eastern command.The current director-general of military training Lt-Gen. A.S. Kler has been appointed as General Officer Commanding-in-chief of the South Western Command succeeding Lt-Gen. Cherish Matheson.Lt-Gen.I.S. Ghuman will take charge of Lucknow based General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Command from Lt-Gen. Abhay Krishna.

On June 24, 2019, In the final round of voting at the 134th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, Italy’s Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo won the right to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, defeating Sweden’s capital Stockholm. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo received 47 votes from the IOC members and Stockholm secured 34 votes.

On September 6, 2019, The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind has addressed the special function ‘Swachh Mahotsav 2019’, organized by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti held in Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu and Kashmir(J&K)won Best Swachh Iconic Place award in Category: Overall improvement in sanitation. Ministry of Railways won Best ministry for implementation of Swachhta Action Plan for 2018-19 in Swachh Bharat Awards 2019.

From 7th June to 7th July, FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 or 8th edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup was held in France in 9 cities. United States(US), the defending champion won the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 by defeating the Netherlands. 24 teams participated in the tournament. The prize money was $30 million. United States (US) won the tournament for the record fourth time and became the second nation, after Germany, to have successfully retained the title.The United States already won the tournament in the year 2015, which was held in Canada.

On June 25, 2019, The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released the rankings of police stations for the year 2018. The Kalu police station in Bikaner district of Rajasthan was ranked the best police station in the country. It was awarded the first rank for its performance in crime prevention, investigation and disposal of cases, crime detection, community policing and maintenance of law and order, women help desk facility, drinking water facility and WiFi.Campbell Bay police station in Nicobar district of Andaman & Nicobar Islands was ranked second.

On July 18, 2019, In the event of G7 finance ministers meeting in France, all fully supported two-pillar taxation for large tech companies to be adopted by 2020.Digital Taxes: They agreed on a plan for taxing digital companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon in the countries in which they make money, even without any physical presence in the country.They also agreed that a minimum level of effective taxation would contribute to ensuring that companies pay their fair share of tax.The plan would have to be further developed by the G20 group of top 20 economies and then implemented under the aegis of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

On August 16, 2019, 5th BRICS Minister of Environment Meeting held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which was preceded by the 2-day meeting of BRICS Joint Working Group on Environment. The Indian delegation was led by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar.The Ministers of BRICS countries underlined the” Partnership on Urban Environmental Sustainability Initiative (PUESI)” for sharing knowledge & experience on major issues such as waste management, cogeneration, reverse logistics, sanitation, urban air quality, urban green areas.

The Pop singer Taylor Swift topped the Forbes Celebrity 100 list 2019 for the second time after 2016. She is the highest-paid celebrity with her 2019 estimated earnings to be over $185 million. Her 2018 ‘Reputation’ tour became the highest-grossing tour in the history of the United States collecting over $266.1 million. Second name in the list was of Kylie Jenner, with estimated earnings of $170 million followed by Kanye West with earning over $150 million.Ed Sheeran, singer-songwriter, stood at the fifth position with $110 million and Dwayne Johnson stood at No. 15. Akshay Kumar was the only Indian in the Forbes Highest-Paid Celebrities 2019. He stood at the 33rd spot with earnings of Rs 444 crore ($65 million).

The G20 (Group of 20) Summit 2019 was held at the International Exhibition Center, Osaka, Japan on June 28-29, 2019. It was the 14th meeting of the G20. The 2018 G20 Summit was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the 2020 G20 Summit will be held in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF) will jointly engage to conduct a large war exercise code-named ‘HimVijay’ in October 2019 along the china border near Arunachal Pradesh. This would be the 1st and biggest ever war game done by the strike corps in the eastern region. For the first time, 17 Mountain Corps will be involved, over 2500 soldiers will participate in it.

On August 2, 2019, Sharad Satya Chauhan, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Mohali traffic police launched 3-D Smart Traffic Signal ‘Intelights’ designed by the students of Chitkara University Incubated Start-up – Anukai Solutions. On a pilot project basis, the wireless system is installed at the traffic crossing near Quark City on Airport Road, Chandigarh, Punjab.It proposes a 360-degree solution to curb the rising problem of traffic congestion.It will regulate traffic signals with a smart bird’s eye view wireless sensor system.

On July 27, 2019, the 36th Goods & Service Tax (GST) Council Meeting was held in New Delhi Via Video Conference under the chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. It was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur, Revenue Secretary Shri Ajay Bhushan Pandey and other senior officials of the Ministry of Finance. The GST Council made the following changes in the GST rate on supply of goods and services which will be effective from August 1, 2019: The GST rate on all Electric Vehicles (EVs) was reduced from 12% to 5%. The GST rate on charger or charging stations for EVs was reduced from 18% to 5%. Hiring of electric buses (of carrying capacity of more than 12 passengers) by local authorities was exempted from GST.

The 5th annual International Day of Yoga (IDY) was observed on June 21, 2019. There are two themes for World Yoga Day 2019 , United Nation has declared theme as “Yoga for Climate Action” and Ministry of Ayush , India has declared theme for Yoga Day is ” Yoga for Heart“. The first International Day of Yoga was celebrated in the year 2015 at RajPath in New Delhi. The day was declared by the United States General Assembly (UNGA). The word ‘yoga’ was derived from Sanskrit, which means to join or unite, symbolizing the union of body and consciousness. The main yoga day event was held at Prabhat Tara ground, Ranchi, Jharkhand.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DIPP), Government of India(GoI) has granted Geographical Indication (GI) tag for 3 new products from two states. Tawlhlohpuan(a woven fabric) and Mizo Puanchei(a colourful Mizo shawl) from the State of Mizoram. Tirur betel vine from Kerala are the latest addition in the GI list.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC), confirmed that China will host the 2023 Asia Cup.This will be the second time china is hosting the quadrennial continental tournament, after the 2004 edition. Earlier Korea was competing with china for hosting rights but it took back to concentrate on securing the hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.China ranked 74th in the FIFA’s rankings and once qualified for the World Cup in 2002.

Global market from Chennai facility will help make Tamil Nadu the first state in India to manufacture electric cars. Tamil Nadu ranks 3rd in capital investment in the industrial sector with Rs 4.02 lakh crore, after Gujarat (Rs 8.14 lakh crore) and Maharashtra (Rs 5.02 lakh crore).Industrial o/p: Tamil Nadu has 37,220 factories (the most in India followed by Maharashtra (27,010 units) and Gujarat (25,966 units)) also ranks 3rd in total industrial output(o/p), with Rs 7.66 lakh crore, after Gujarat (Rs 12.22 lakh crore) and Maharashtra (Rs 10.74 lakh crore).

Answer – 3) 5.40 %