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April 2, 2014

1) The Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) on 1 April 2014 released its

monetary policy statement in which

left the short-term lending rate and

the cash reserve ratios were

unchanged. What was an important

aspect associated

with announcement of this policy

statement? – This was RBI’s first

bimonthly monetary policy

statement (Prior to this the RBI

used to announce monetary

policystatements for three months)

2) In its first bi-monthly monetary

policy statement issued on 1 April

2014, the RBIannounced which

major relief for saving bank

account holders? – It asked banks

to cut down services on low-

balance accounts and do away

with fines (In this regard the RBI

said that it proposes to frame

comprehensive consumer

protection regulations based on

domestic experience and best

global banking practices. Instead of

levying penal charges for non-

maintenance of minimum balance

in ordinary savings bank accounts,

banks should limitservices

available on such accounts to those

available to basic savings bank

deposit accounts and restore the

services when the balances improve

to the minimum required level)

3) Which communication satellite

of India expired recently after

being in the orbit for around ten-

and-a-half years? - INSAT-

3E (INSAT-3E was a third-

generation satellite which was

launched during September 2003. It

was built to last 15 years)

4) Which country was forbidden

from whale-hunting and grant of

further whaling permits by the

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

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in its judgment of 31 March 2014?

– Japan (The ICJ in its ruling said

that Japan‟s whaling program is not

for scientific purposes and thus

forbade the granting of further

permits to it)

5) Nancy Powell, who resigned as

the Ambassador of the United

States to India on 31 March 2014,

was appointed Ambassador in

which year? – In 2012 (Her

resignation followed a row over the

arrest of a junior Indian diplomat

Devyani Khobragade in New York.

This issue pushed relations between

India and the US to their lowest

ebb in more than a decade)

6) Who was appointed as the third

arbitrator in the dispute between

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)

and the petroleum ministry by

the Supreme Court on 31 March

2014? - James Spigelman (James

Spigelman is a former chief justice

of the New South Wales Supreme

Court. The other two arbitrators in

this case are Justices (retd.) VN

Khare and (retd.) S.P. Bharucha)

7) What is the name of the 14-year

old Indian-American student who

came to limelight after he

suggested to the US government

that it could save $136 million a

year by simply switching fonts

from Times New Roman to

Garamond ingovernment printing?

- Suvir Mirchandani (He came up

with this suggestion after analysing

ink use for his school project and

later expanded his research to

government, which spends a

whopping $1.8 billion annually on

printing)

8) Which government department

of India was chosen for UN

Environment Programme‟s

(UNEP‟s) prestigious „ECA Ozone

Protection Award for Customs

& Enforcement Officers (3rd

Edition)‟ as announced during

March 2014? - Directorate of

Revenue Intelligence (DRI) – DRI

was chosen for its record seizure of

over 2.4 lakh kg of ozone-depleting

restricted refrigeration gas „R-22‟

being smuggled into India. DRI is

India‟s premier intelligence agency

dealing with matters relating to

violation of customs law)

9) Who took over as the new

Chairman of Tata group firm Trent

Ltd on 31 march 2014? - Noel N

Tata (Noel Tata, who has been

Vice-Chairman of the company,

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assumed the new role following the

retirement of F H Kavarana.

Established in 1998, Trent runs

lifestyle chain „Westside‟,

hypermarket chain „Star Bazaar‟

and „Landmark‟, a books and music

chain)

10) Which domestic airline

company on 1 April

2014 announced offering a chance

of travelling at a base fare of Rs 1,

an announcement which was later

forced to be withdrawn by the

Directorate General of Civil

Aviation (DGCA)? –

SpiceJet (SpiceJet announced the

bonanza for domestic air travellers

under which they were offered a

chance of travelling at a base fare

of Rs 1. The actual cost of travel

however would have been more as

a traveller will also have to pay

statutory taxes. Indian domestic

aviation regulator DGCA felt that

by pricing the ticket at Rs. 1, the

airline was selling its tickets below

cost, which was a predatory

practice)

April 3, 2014

1) The Reserve Bank of India on 2

April 2014 granted in-principle

approval of bank licences to

which two entitites? – IDFC

Limited and Bandhan Financial

Services Private Limited(These

two firms pipped to post 23 other

applicants, which included some

well-known financial and

industrial houses like Muthoot

Finance, Reliance Capital, Tata

Sons, IFCI, Aditya Birla Nuvo,

Bajaj Finserv, LIC Housing

Finance, L&T Finance Holdings

and Shriram Capital. IDFC was

established in 1997 and acts as a

specialized financial intermediary

for infrastructure projects.

Bandhan Financial is India‟s

largest micro finance institution

with over 4.5 lakh borrowers and

was set up in 2002)

2) The Finance Ministry released

a draft of the Direct Taxes Code

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(DTC) on 1 April 2014. This draft

focuses on raising more revenue

from high net worth individuals,

while leaving the slabs unchanged

for others. In this draft high slab

of income-tax has been

proposed for individualsand

Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)

belonging to „super-rich‟

category. What is the criterion of

income for this „super-rich‟

category? – Annualincome above

Rs. 10 crore

3) What is the proposed tax slab

for super-rich individuals and

Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)

inthe draft of the Direct Taxes

Code (DTC), which was released

on 1 April 2014? – 35%

4) What is the proposed additional

tax on those earning over Rs 1

crore through dividend income

in the draft of the Direct Taxes

Code (DTC), which was released

on 1 April 2014? – 10%

5) According to the

latest Annual Survey of Industries

(ASI) findings for 2011-12, which

state of India had the maximum

number of factories? –Tamil

Nadu (According to this report,

Tamil Nadu had the maximum

number of factories during 2011-

12, accounting for 17% of the

2.17 lakh units in India. It was

followed by Maharashtra (13% of

the total factories), Andhra

Pradesh (12.7%), Gujarat (10.2%)

and Uttar Pradesh (6.5%).

However, the report is yet to be

made public by the Central

Statistics Office)

6) Oil Ministry recently rejected

British energy major BP

plc.‟s application for which

category of fuel market, for which

the company had submitted

its application through BP

Explorer (Alpha) Ltd during

December 2013? – Aviation Fuel

market or Aviation Turbine

Fuel (ATF) market (The Oil

Ministry rejected BP‟s application

for the lucrative ATF market

saying the company did not fulfill

conditions for retailing

transportation fuel. BP has an

MoU with state-run Indian Oil

Corporation (IOC) for

collaboration in jet fuel retailing.

IOC has the largest ATF service

network in the country at present.

The government is also in the

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process of opening up the aircraft

re-fuelling infrastructure of the

country)

7) What is the approximate

number of US citizens who signed

up for President Barack Obama‟s

highly ambitious health care

programme, the deadline for

which ended on 31 March 2014? –

7.1 million (The White House on

1 April 2014 announced that

around 7.1 million Americans

have signed this health care

programme, which is officially

known as “The Affordable Care

Act.” About 50 million Americans

lacked health care coverage as the

law began taking effect, and

supporters hope it will

significantly reduce the ranks of

the uninsured)

8) Which country‟s highest court

on 2 April 2014 gave official

recognition to a third category of

sex other than male or female? –

Australia (The High Court of

Australia gave its ruling on a case

brought by Norrie May-Welby,

who identifies as neuter, and had

fought for years to have an option

other than male or female on

official records, preferring the

term “non-specific.” The ruling

only applies to what a person can

put on their official certificate for

births, deaths and marriages.

Eleven years ago Australia issued

the first passport to a person of

indeterminate sex with just an X

marked in the gender column)

April 4, 2014

1) Which firm became the first

Indian retail e-commerce to file

for an initial public offering (IPO)

on NASDAQ and to be listed on

this US stock exchange? –

HomeShop18 (Homeshop18 has

filed for a $75 million (Rs. 460

crore) IPO on NASDAQ via its

venture NW18 HSN holding.

With this it became the first

ecommerce firms in India to hit

the capital market in the US.

Other Indian e-commerce

companies such as Flipkart and

Snapdeal are also going through

their due diligence for getting

listed on the US stock exchange)

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2) The UNHCR (United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees)

on 3 April 2014 stated that

the number of Syrian refugees in

Lebanon has reached a new

milestone mark. The UNHCR also

called it a devastating milestone

for the tiny Arab country with

depleted resources and an

explosive sectarian mix of its

own. What milestone is this? – 1

million (The UNHCR (also

known as the UN Refugee

Agency) stated that this milestone

figure of 1 million refugees is a

huge burden for Lebanon, which

has 4.5 million people)

3) Union Minister K. Sambasiva

Rao, who tendered his resignation

to the Prime Minister on 3 April

2014, was holding which

portfolio? – Union Textiles

Minister (Rao was upset over the

division of Andhra Pradesh for the

creation of a separate state of

Telangana. He has served in the

state Congress and has been on

several parliamentary panels in

the past, including the crucial

Public Accounts Committee)

4) Who was appointed as the new

Deputy Governor of the Reserve

Bank of India (RBI) on 3 April

2014? – R. Gandhi (He was

appointed by the Union Govt. for

a period of three years.

Theappointment follows Anand

Sinha relinquishing his charge as

Deputy Governor in mid-January

2014. The RBI now has four

Deputy Governors – KC

Chakrabarty, HR Khan, Urjit Patel

and R. Gandhi. However, KC

Chakrabarty too had announced

his retirement and RBI is also

seeking a replacement for him)

5) Which international drug

manufacturer took Indian firm

Biocon to court for allegedly

infringing the patent on one of

its diabetes drug? –Novartis

AG (Novartis AG is a Basel-based

Swiss drug manufacturing come.

It sued Biocon for allegedly

infringing the patent on

its diabetes drug Galvus. Novartis

sought an injunction against

Biocon at the Delhi High Court to

try to stop it from launching a

generic version of Galvus)

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6) In an attempt to increase

Windows‟ market share on mobile

devices, Microsoft Inc. on 2 April

2014 announced to make the

operating system available free of

cost for smart phones and

tablets that have screen size

smaller than 9 inches. Till now

approximately how much was

Microsoft charging from phone

and tablet makers to use its

Windows system? – Between 5 to

15 dollars (Microsoft‟s move is

targeted to give a tough

competition to other major

operating systems available in the

market including iOS of Apple

and Google‟s Android)

7) Which internationally-

renowned trackingsystem made its

debut in Indian badminton circuit

at the ongoing India Open Super

Series in New Delhi? – Hawk-

Eye technology (Hawk-Eye

technology is a tracking system

used in sports like tennis to

determine line calls. This system

is used to provide instant-reviews

for major events)

April 5, 2014

1) Who is heading the 5-member

committee constituted on 4 April

2014 to recommend a site for

the capital of successor state of

Andhra Pradesh following the

formation of Telangana? –K.

Sivaramakrishnan, who is the

former UnionUrban

Development Secretary

(Hyderabad, which will be

the capital of Telangana, will be

the jointcapital of the two states

for ten years and within that

period the residuary Andhra

Pradesh state will have to build

a new capital)

2) An Indian rocket carrying the

country‟s second navigation

satellite, IRNSS-1B, on 4 April

2014 successfully placed this

satellite in earth‟s orbit.What is

the name of the ISRO rocket

which took IRNSS-1B into space?

– PSLV-C24 (PSLV-C24 stands

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for Polar Satellite Launch

Vehicle-C24 while IRNSS-1B

stands for Indian Regional

Navigational Satellite System -1B.

IRNSS is a seven satellite

programme of ISRO. This launch

was executed from the Satish

Dhawan Space Centre at

Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh)

3) Three men convicted in two

gang-rapes in Mumbai‟s Shakti

Mills in 2013 and charged with

being repeat sexual offenders,

were sentenced to death by a

Mumbai sessions court on 4 April

2014. This was the first case in the

country where the death sentence

has been awarded under Section

376 E of Indian Penal Code

introduced after the Delhi gang-

rape of December 2012.What is

the name of the

principal sessions judge who

delivered this sentence? – Justice

Shalini Phansalkar

Joshi (Principal sessions judge

Shalini Phansalkar Joshi

sentenced to death Vijay Jadhav,

Qasim Sheikh alias Bengali and

Salim Ansari. They had been

convicted for the gang-rape of a

young photo-journalist and a

telephone operator at Shakti Mills

last year. A fourth accused Siraj

Sheikh was sentenced to prison till

the rest of his natural life)

4) What is the name of the Indian-

American who was nominated by

US President Barack Obama to a

key administration post as the US

Alternate Executive Director at

the International Monetary Fund

(IMF) on 3 April 2014? – Sunil

Sabharwal(Sabharwal is an

independent investor in the US)

5) What is the name of the CEO

and co-founder of Mozilla (which

makes the popular Firefox web-

browser), who resigned recently

following protests over his

support of a gay marriage ban in

California? – Brendan Eich (At

issue was Eich‟s $1,000 donation

in 2008 to the campaign to pass

California‟s Proposition 8, a

constitutionalamendment that

outlawed same-sex marriages in

the state)

6) A vast liquid ocean was found

on which moon of Saturn by

NASA‟s Cassini probe as

published by „Science‟ magazine

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on 3 April 2014? –

‘Enceladus’ (Cassini probe found

sea up to 10 kilometres deep lies

beneath 40 kilometres of ice at the

south pole of Enceladus, which is

one of the several moons of

Saturn planet. Enceladus is the

sixth-largest moon of Saturn.

Water is considered one of the

essential criteria for a planet or

moon to support life. It has also

been found in our solar system on

Titan, also orbiting Saturn, and

Europa, one of Jupiter‟s moons.

Cassini has been exploring Saturn

and its satellites since 2004. The

spacecraft measured the gravity

and movement of Enceladus

during three flybys to calculate its

internal structure)

April 6-7, 2014

1) What is the name of the Prime

Minister of Hungary who

was declared victorious in the

Hungarian parliamentary election

held on 6 April 2014? - Viktor

Orban (Orban‟s centre-right

Fidesz won around 45% votes

while centre-left opposition

alliance trailed with around 25%.

The far-right Jobbik party

garnered around 21% votes. The

Hungarian left has never fully

recovered from its heavy defeat in

the 2010 ballot, in which Viktor

Orban swept to power with a two-

thirds majority)

2) Approximately how much

amount worth of tax evasions was

detected during fiscal-year 2013-

14 by the Directorate General of

Central Excise Intelligence

(DGCEI)? – Rs. 8,000 crore (The

DGCEI registered 1,144 cases

of service taxevasion during 2013-

14. The amount involving the

cases of service tax evasion was

Rs 7,928.22 crore during the

period. The DGCEI had detected

841 service tax evasion cases

involving government‟s revenue

of Rs 4,693 crore in 2012-13)

3) India‟s foreign exchange

(forex) reserves soared by $5.03

billion to $303.67 billion for the

week ended 28 march 2014. What

was the last time when the

reserves were over the $300

billion mark? – December

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2011 (This was the fifth

consecutive week of increase in

the country‟sforex reserves as

overseas investors poured

inmoney in local bonds and stock

markets. Divestment of union

govt.‟s stake in Axis Bankduring

the period also contributed to

increase in

country‟s forex reserves)

4) Who was crowned as the new

Miss India in the 51st Femina

Miss India contest, which

culminated on 5 April 2014 at

Mumbai? - Koyal Rana (Jaipur‟s

Koyal Rana won the Miss India

contest while Jhataleka Malhotra

from Mumbai and Gail Nicole Da

Silva from Goa were first and

second runners-up respectively.

Koyal has been crowned Miss

Teen India 2008 when she was 15.

Miss India 2014‟s finals was held

at the Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai)

5) Sri Lanka won the fifth edition

of the ICC T-20 World Cup on 6

April 2014 after defeating India

convincingly by six-wicket in the

finals at the Sher-e-Bangla

National Stadium, Dhaka. Sri

Lanka won the coveted title of T-

20 cricket after consecutively

featuring in how many ICC finals?

– Four (They featured in ICC

ODI World Cup of 2011 and were

defeated by India in the finals.

They were beaten in the finals of

ICC T-20 WorldCup of 2012 by

West India. They had also lost in

the finals of 2009 T-20

World Cup to Pakistan)

6) Which country won the ICC T-

20 Women‟s World Cup 2014,

final of which was played on 6

April 2014? –

Australia (Australia won the

4th edition of ICC T-20 Women‟s

World Cup by defeating England

by 6 wickets. This tournament

was also held in Bangladesh and

the final was held at Mirpur‟s

Shere Bangla National Stadium.

Australia had also won the 2012

and 2010 editions of ICC T-20

Women‟s World Cup)

April 8, 2014

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1) Who gave Sahara Force India

team its second podium finish

by coming third in the Formula 1

Bahrain Grand Prix 2014 on 6

April 2014? - Sergio Perez of

Mexico (Sahara Force India

recorded their best result of the

season as Sergio Perez drove a

brilliant race to hand the team just

their second podium finish, while

his teammate Nico Hulkenberg

ended an impressive fifth at the

Bahrain GP. Italian Giancarlo

Fisichella had secured Sahara

Force India‟s maiden podium in

2009 Belgium Grand Prix by

finishing second)

2) Who won the F1 Bahrain

Grand Prix 2014 title on 6 April

2014? - Lewis Hamilton (Great

Britain) for Mercedes

Team (His teammate Nico

Rosberg (Germany) was second in

a thrillingly close battle. Mercedes

is leading 2014 F1 season in

constructors standing with 111

points from three races)

3) Which company will acquire

RanbaxyLaboratories Limited for

$3.2 billion, asannounced by

the two companies on 7 April

2014? – Sun Pharmaceuticals

Limited (Sun Pharmaceuticals,

which is promoted by Dilip

Sanghvi, will take full control of

Ranbaxy in an all-stock deal. The

combination of these two Indian

companies will create the fifth-

largest specialty generics

company in the world and the

largest pharmaceutical company

in India. It is worth mentioning

that Ranbaxy‟s all

four plants have been banned by

the USDFA for violations of

manufacturing norms)

4) Doyen of cinematography and

Dada Saheb Phalke award

recipient V.K. Murthy (91) passed

away in Bangalore at his residence

on 7 April 2014. He was the

favourite cinematographer of ace

director Guru Dutt and shot some

of the most memorable shots of

Indian film industry for his films.

What was the name of India‟s first

cinemascope film that he shot for

Guru Dutt? – ‘Kagaz Ke

Phool’ (Murthy was the only

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cinematographer to have

been honoured with the Phalke

award)

5) What is the name of the biblical

epic movie which was banned by

Malaysia and Indonesia on 7 April

2014 for its visual depiction of the

prophet? – ‘Noah’ (Much of the

Muslim world, including the

UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, has

already banned the film, which is

a box-office hit in the U.S. This

Russell Crowe movie has been

banned in Muslim countries as

depictions of any prophet are

shunned in Islam to avoid worship

of a person rather than God.

Indonesia is world‟s most

populous Muslim country while

Malay Muslims make up about

60% of Malaysia‟s 30 million

people)

April 9, 2014

1) In an important decision, the

Union Govt. on 8 April 2014

decided to allow use of bulls in

south India‟s famous

„Jallikattu‟ festivals by amending

the list of animals prohibited from

being trained for performances.

While allowing the use of bulls in

Jallikattu, the govt. emphasized on

the historic, cultural and religious

significance of the event.

Jallikattu festival is held in which

South-Indian state? – Tamil

Nadu (The animal welfare

activists are up in arms against

Jallikattu for the past several

years. They want the age-old sport

to be banned for what they call it

as massive cruelties to animals)

2) Which two international

cement companiesannounced their

merger on 7 April 2014, which

would now create world‟s largest

cement manufacturing company?

– Holcim of Switzerland and

Lafarge of France (Holcim and

Lafarge would merge to create a

new company which would be

called “LafargeHolcim”. It would

have cement manufacturing

operations in around 90 countries

and sales of around $44 billion.

The deal will give the group a

market value of close to $60

billion)

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3) Indian Navy during April 2014

sold its now decommissioned first

aircraft carrier ship to a ship-

breaking company of Mumbai for

Rs. 63.2 crore. What is the name

of this iconic ship which was

commissioned into the India Navy

in 1961 and was decommissioned

in 1997? – INS Vikrant(INS

Vikrant (formerly HMS Hercules)

was purchased by India from the

United Kingdom in 1957. It was

operated from 1961 to 1997)

4) What is the name of a new tool

launched on 8 April 2014 by

Internet giant Google as part of its

elections portal offering which

will give citizens access to

relevant information about

political candidates contesting

from their constituency and their

incumbent Member of

Parliament? –‘Know your

candidate’ (The tool will

integrate publicly available

information, such as educational

background, financial details and

social media presence, sourced

from Indian organizations such as

the Association for Democratic

Reforms (ADR), PRS Legislative

Research and Liberty Institute

India)

5) What is the name of the

Venezuelan daredevil who during

April 2014 set a new Guinness

record for skydiving 14,000 feet

with world‟s smallest parachute?

– Ernesto Gainza (Gainza

performed this daredevil act in the

Palm Drop Zone at the Skydive

Dubai Club. His jump took 0.18

sq m off the previous record for

smallest parachute canopy, set by

Brazilian Luigi Cani in 2006)

6) Who won the men‟s singles

title of the Yonex-Sunrise

India Open Badminton 2014 on 6

April 2014? – Lee Chong Wei of

Malaysia (World No.1 Lee Chong

Wei defeated China‟s Chen Long

by 21-13, 21-17 to win this

prestigious title. Defending

champion Lee Chong Wei

produced one of his finest

performances to retain the men‟s

singles title with a straight-game

victory over Long. China‟s

Wang Shixian emerged Women‟s

Singles champion. She defeated

Olympic champion and top seed

fellow Chinese Li Xuerui by 22-

20, 21-19 to win the title)

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April 10, 2014

1) Which North-eastern state

capital on 7 April 2014 became

the second in the region to have

rail-connectivity? –Itanagar, the

capital of Arunachal Pradesh

(Itanagar received the

first passenger train on this day

from Dekargaon. This became

possible after commissioning of

the newly built 20-km Harmuti-

Naharlagun railway line that

connects Itanagar. Till now

Assamese capital Guwahati was

the only North-Eastern state

capital with direct train

connectivity)

2) Microsoft Corporation on 8

April 2014 ended the support

system for its highly

popularWindows XP operating

system. This meant a final

goodbye to Windows XP as the

company had already stopped

shipping XP-based PCs during

2010. When was Windows

XP launched? – In

2001 (The Windows XP operating

system was released to

manufacturing on 24 August 2001

and was released for retail sale on

25 October 2001. It was

withdrawn as a boxed software in

2008 and its sale as a bundled

operating system was held-up in

2010 by Microsoft)

3) Who took over as the new

Chairman of software industry

association NASSCOM on 9 April

2014? – R Chandrasekaran (R

Chandrasekaran is the Executive

Vice-Chairman of Cognizant India

and he succeeded Mindtree‟s CEO

and MD Krishnakumar Natarajan.

BVR Mohan Reddy, the founder,

Chairman and Managing Director

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of Infotech Enterprises, took over

as the Vice-Chairman of the body.

NASSCOM represents the $108

billion Indian IT-BPO sector and

has played an instrumental role in

propelling the industry to a

leadership position in the global

sourcing arena as well as the

domestic market)

4) Which Indian brand was the

only Indian retail brand to be

listed in the 30 Best Retail Brands

in Asia Pacific of the prestigious

Interbrand‟s Best Retail Brands

list for 2013? – Tanishq (Tanishq

is the jewellery brand from the

house of Tata‟s and it stood at

number 13 in the list Asia Pacific

list with a brand value of $670

million)

5) What is the name of the famous

character featured in the iconic

Archie Comics, whose character

will end in the forthcoming issue

of this comic as announced on 8

April 2014? – Archie

Andrews (Archie Andrews is the

famous lead character in Archie

Comics beloved by millions

around the globe for over 70

years. He will sacrifice himself

heroically while saving the life of

a friend in the pages of July 2014

edition of „LIFE WITH

ARCHIE‟. The fictional character

of Archie Andrews was created by

Vic Bloom and Bob Montana in

1941)

6) Which English Premier League

club was denied the permission to

change its name by the Football

Association Council (FAC) on 9

April 2014? – Hull City (Assem

Allam-owned Hull City club had

applied for changing its name to

Hull Tigers. However, FAC

rejected this application by a

63.5% vote of the council‟s

members. Hull City is a 110-year

old English football club and

wanted the name change to boost

marketing potential for it)

April 11-12, 2014

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1) What is the title of the book

written by Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh‟s former media

advisor Sanjaya Baru which

created a storm as soon as it was

released on 11 April 2014 with

controversial claims on the

equation between the PM and

Congress President Sonia Gandhi?

– “Accidental Prime Minister :

The making and unmaking of

Manmohan Singh” (In this book

Baru claimed that the PM had

accepted Sonia Gandhi as the

centre of power and the equation

between the two had crippling

effect on country‟s governance)

2) Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha

was on 11 April 2014 appointed

as the next Chief Justice of India

and he will assume his charge

on 27 April 2014. Lodha, who

will succeed Justice Sathasivam,

will be …………….Chief Justice

of India? – 41st

3) How much amount was

collected by India‟s largest

banking group the State Bank of

India (SBI) recently in overseas

debt sale through a dual tranche

bond programme, which make it

the largest ever offering from a

domestic issuer? - $1.25

billion (The bank raised $750

million in 5-year money at US

treasury interest rate plus 205

basis points, while it priced the

10-year $500 million issue at 225

bps over the treasury. The

overseas debt sale programme was

completed on 10 April 2014)

4) What is the name of the deadly

virus for which the Computer

Emergency Response Team of

India (CERT-In) issued an

advisory on 11 April 2014 to all

Internet users in the country? –

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‘Heartbleed’ („Heartbleed‟

primarily attacks the openSSL of

an online system which is the

most essential protocol which

encrypts information and data

transfer over the Internet. CERT

in its advisory said vulnerability

of this virus had been witnessed in

OpenSSL, which could be

exploited by a remote attacker to

disclose potentially sensitive

information. The virus has made

anumber of countries sit up and

take notice of its destructive and

threatening activities in the recent

days)

5) Which international

financial institution on 11 April

2014 completed its first global

rupee bond programme worth $ 1

billion? - International Finance

Corporation (IFC) – Washington

D.C. headquartered-IFC

completed this huge issue in three

rounds and the third and final

round of bond issue totalling Rs

12 billion (about $ 194 million)

was completed on 11 April. Under

its global rupee bond programme,

IFC has also issued three-year

bonds totalling Rs 30 billion and

five-year bonds totalling Rs 20

billion. This issue was launched to

strengthen India‟s capital markets

and attract greater foreign

investment)

6) Which leading banking

luminary was appointed as the

special advisor of the interim

President of BCCI-IPL Sunil

Gavaskar on 11 April 2014? –

Deepak Parekh, Chairman of

HDFC (Parekh will be a special

invitee during the IPL governing

council meeting as his vast

experience in financial affairs will

enable Gavaskar to ensure smooth

functioning if IPL for

next two months)

7) British telecom

major Vodafone Group took full

control of its Indian unit by

buying the remaining 10.97%

stake in the unit on 10 April 2014.

This stake was acquired from

which enterprise? - Piramal

Enterprises (With this acquisition

Newbury-based Vodafone Group

took 100% control

of Vodafone India Ltd (VIL) , its

Indian unit. In March

2014, Vodafone Group had

bought indirect equity interests in

VIL held by Analjit Singh and

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Neelu Analjit Singh, taking its

stake to 89.03% in

VIL. Vodafone Group had

acquired its original interest in

India from Hutchison in 2007)

April 13-14, 2014

1) India retained the top spot in

the world in foreign exchange

remittances from its migratory

workforce during 2013. How

much remittance was received by

India during the year? – $70

billion (India was followed by

China ($60 billion), Philippines

($25 billion), Mexico ($22

billion), Nigeria ($21 billion),

Egypt ($17 billion), Pakistan

($15 billion), Bangladesh ($14

billion), Vietnam ($11 billion)

and Ukraine ($10 billion) in

the top 10 remittance recipient

nations in the world. This data

was disclosed in a World Bank

report on remittances, which is

an annual exercise that

underscores the point that

remittances are an important

source of foreign exchange. One

important fact is that remittance

received by India was more than

the $65 billion it earned from

country‟s flagship software

services exports)

2) Renowned poet-lyricist and

filmmaker Gulzar was on 12 April

2014 selected for the prestigious

Dada Saheb Phalke award for

2013. He would be 45th recipient

of this award. What is the real

name of Gulzar? – Sampooran

Singh Kalra (Sampooran Singh

Kalra was his original name and

he took thepen name of „Gulzar

Deenvi‟ after becoming an author.

Dada Saheb Phalke award is

India‟s highest award for

contribution in film industry. It

was first instituted in 1969)

3) According to a series of papers

published recently in the „Lancet

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Oncology’ journal, what is the

reason for 40% of all types of

cancers in India? – Tobacco

use (These papers prepared by

Richard Sullivan of King‟s

College London and others

claimed that tobacco use alone

accounts for about 40% of all

cancers in India. Almost three of

five cancer deaths in India are

associated with tobacco or

infectious diseases. The most

common, nearly half of all, are

cancers of the lung and oral cavity

in men, and of the breast and

cervix in women. Every year

nearly one million new cancer

cases are diagnosed in India. With

mortalities of 6 to 7 lakh a year,

cancer causes six per cent of all

adult deaths in the country)

4) Indian Navy‟s decommissioned

submarine INS Vagli would be

established as a permanent exhibit

at which historic town of Tamil

Nadu, where it reached on 13

April 2014? –

Mamallapuram (Mamallapuram,

also known as Mahabalipuram, is

a famous temple town in

Kancheepuram district of the state

and is around 60 km from

Chennai. INS Vagli is a Vela-

class diesel-electric submarine and

was decommissioned in December

2010 after it served the Navy for

36 years. Visakhapatnam was the

first city in the country to have a

similar facility, where INS

Kurusura has been converted into

a submarine museum)

5) Which unseeded player

shocked badminton‟s

world number one Lee Chong Wei

to win the Singapore Open title

for 2014 on 13 April 2014? –

Simon Santoso of

Indonesia (The 28-year-old

Simon Santoso, considered a rank

outsider against Malaysia‟s Lee

Chong Wei, scored an emphatic

21-15, 21-10 victory in just 48

minutes in the men‟s singles final

of Singapore Open. Santoso is a

former No. 3 player who dropped

out of the top 100 last year

following back problems. In the

women‟s singles final Olympic

champion Li Xuerui of China was

defeated by team-mate and arch-

rival Wang Yihan for the second

year in a row by 21-11, 21-19)

April 15-16, 2014

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1) In a landmark judgement

theSupreme Court on 15 April

2014 gave the recognition of

„third gender‟ to transgenders and

asked the Centre to treat

transgenders as “socially and

economically backward” so as to

enable them to get reservations in

jobs and education. This ruling

was given on a public interest

litigation (PIL) filed by which

entity? – The National Legal

Services Authority –

NALSA (The NALSA had

petitioned the apex court seeking

equal rights for this group of

people, saying that even hospitals

did not admit them)

2) A new round of India-China

Strategic Dialogue was held at

Beijing on 14 April 2014 between

Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh

and Chinese Vice Foreign

Minister Liu Zhenmin. The talks

aimed at maintaining the

momentum of India-China

relations and implementing

agreements reached at the

leadership level. These talks were

which round of the India-China

Strategic Dialogue series? –

6th (Intensive consultations on

bilateral, regional

and international issues were held

in these talks)

3) Who became the 5th Indian-born

person to win the

prestigious Pulitzer Prize on 14

April 2014? –Vijay

Seshadri (Vijay Seshadri,

presently a

Columbia University professor

was awarded the

2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry

category for his collection of

poems “3 Sections.” Before him

Gobind Behari Lal (1937),

Jhumpa Lahiri (2000), Geeta

Anand (2003) and Siddhartha

Mukherjee (2011) have also won

this award)

4) Who was appointed the new

Finance Secretary on 15 April

2014? – Arvind

Mayaram(Arvind Mayaram is

presently the Economic Affairs

Secretary and replaced Sumit

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Bose who retired on 31 March

2014)

5) What is the title of the book

written by former Coal Secretary

P.C. Parakh in which he claimed

that Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh‟s inability to take on vested

interests led to the coal block

row? – “Crusader or Conspirator

: Coalgate and other truths” (In

this book Parakh also targetted the

CBI and said it is not equipped to

find the truth)

6) Usha International, the leading

household consumer durables

company, has become the

official partners of which

franchisee team for the 7th season

of the Indian Premier

League (IPL)? –Mumbai

Indians (This collaboration is a

part of Usha‟s efforts in

promoting sports and engaging

with the younger audience)

7) Which team won the National

T20 title for the Syed Mushtaq Ali

Trophy on 14 April 2014? –

Baroda (In a thrilling final played

at Mumbai‟s Wankhede Stadium,

Baroda defeated Uttar Pradesh by

3 runs to regain the title)

April 17-18, 2014

1) Which member of the

Commonwealth organisation

recently announced its decision to

withhold funding to the

Commonwealth Secretariat,

pointing to the Secretariat‟s

silence on alleged war crimes and

rights abuse in Sri Lanka? –

Canada (Canada on 14 April

2014 announced that it would not

contribute its funding to the

Commonwealth Secretariat as it

has unable to stand for the

defence of the basic principles of

freedom, democracy and respect

for human dignity in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka, which currently chairs

the international association, has

been charged with serious human-

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rights violations while fighting the

LTTE)

2) Robin K. Dhowan, who took

over as the new Chief of the

Indian Navy on 17 April 2014, is

the ………Chief of the Naval

Staff? – 22nd (Admiral R.K.

Dhowan was the acting Chief

since Admiral D.K. Joshi quit the

post on 26 February 2014 in the

wake of a series of mishaps. He

will have tenure of 25 months and

will retire in May 2016)

3) The Supreme Court on 17

April 2014 dismissed telecom

operators‟ plea against allowing

the Comptroller & Auditor

General (CAG) to audit their

revenues. The telecom operators

had moved the Supreme Court to

overturn the High Court‟s verdict

allowing the CAG‟s decision to

audit private companies. In which

year the Department of Telecom

(DoT) had first hired CAG-

empanelled auditors to look into

the books of private telecom

operators? – 2009 (DoT had hired

CAG-empanelled auditors to look

into the books of Bharti Airtel

Ltd, Vodafone India Ltd, Idea

Cellular Ltd and Reliance

Communications Ltd for the years

2006-07 and 2007-08. DoT then

issued notices to recover almost

Rs 1,600 crore in unpaid dues

from the five telecom companies

in June 2012 after it was found

that they had allegedly under-

reported revenues)

4) Which film was selected as the

Best Film for 61st National Film

Awards announced on 16 April

2014? – “Ship of Theseus‟ (This

film was directed by debutant

director Anand Gandhi and was

produced by Kiran Rao)

5) Which noted director was the

Chairman of the 11-member

61st National Film Awards

selection committee

which announced the winners on

16 April 2014? – Saeed Akhtar

Mirza

6) Pakistan became the fourth

country to publish „name and

shame‟ tax directory in a bid

toembarrass tax evaders. Cash-

strapped Pakistan on 17 April

2014 published its first tax

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directory showing income tax

details of all its registered

taxpayers. Which are the other

three countries who already

follow this practice? – Sweden,

Finland and Norway (Pakistan

has been waging a battle against

tax evaders under pressure from

international lending houses and

financial institutions. The tax

directory will act as a recognition

for genuine tax payers and an

embarrassment for those who

don‟t pay tax at all or those whose

tax returns do not match their

lifestyles)

7) With the implementation of

new Companies Act from 1 April

2014, a majority of the top 200

listed companies will need to

change their auditors over the next

three years. According to the new

Companies Act, it is now

mandatory for the companies to

change their auditors after how

many years? – 10 years (The

recently notified section 139 of

the Companies Act 2013 makes it

mandatory for audit firms to be

changed after every 10 years. This

has been done in a bid toensure

objectivity and prevent the alleged

cozy relations between

management and auditors)

April 19-21, 2014

1) U.S.President Barack

Obamasigned a law on 18 April

2014 that allows Washington to

deny visas to anyone (including

United Nations envoys) who has

engaged in terrorist acts against

the United States. This law would

apparently deny a visa to Iran‟s

designated ambassador to the New

York-based United Nations. What

is the name of this Iranian

diplomat? – Hamid

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Abutalebi (Hamid Abutalebi was

a member of an Iranian student

group that seized the US embassy

in 1979 in Tehran and held 52 US

citizens hostage for 444 days. He

is effectively prevented from

becoming Iran‟s ambassador to

the UN. Under the law, which

passed Congress on 10 April 2014

the US already notified the UN

that it would not issue a visa to

Iran‟s designated ambassador to

the New York-based world body)

2) In a surprising development

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen

Tan Dung on 17 April 2014

announced backing out from

hosting the Asian Games of 2019.

Which Vietnamese city was to

host the 18th edition of Asian

Games? – Hanoi(Lack of

preparedness and economic

recession were cited as the main

reasons for Vietnam pulling out

from hosting these games. Hanoi

was awarded hosting of these

games during 2012)

3) What is the name of Indian

Navy‟s Vice-Admiral who on 17

April 2014 put in his papers

seeking voluntary retirement after

his junior Admiral RK Dhowan

superseded him to take over as

Navy chief? – Shekhar

Sinha (Vice Admiral Shekhar

Sinha, who is six months senior to

newly appointed Navy chief

Robin Dhowan shot off a letter to

the Defence Ministry seeking

voluntary retirement just months

before his tenure was to end in

August this year. Sinha was the

senior-most Vice Admiral but he

was edged out of the race,

apparently because majority of the

14 mishaps, including two major

submarine accidents, took place

under his command during the last

10 months. He was heading the

Western Naval Command)

4) Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the

Nobel Prize winning Latin-

American author, who passed

away on 17 April 2014, was

citizen of which LatinAmerican

country? – Colombia (Marquez

was often considered one of the

greatest writers of 20th century

and his 1967 novel „One Hundred

Years of Solitude‟ sold over 30

million copies)

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5) What is the date for providing

permanent or universal account

numbers (UAN) to subscribers of

retirement fund body Employees‟

Provident Fund Organisation‟s

(EPFO) as stated by the body

recently? – 15 October

2014 (EPFO will provide UAN on

the pattern of core banking

services to its over five crore

active subscribers by October 15

this year. Under core banking

services, a customer can avail the

bank services in any of its branch

through his allotted unique

account number. The UAN will

facilitate subscribers in avoiding

filing of provident fund transfer

claims on changing jobs)

6) Noted Indian woman squash

player Joshna Chinappa defeated

Australia‟s former world

champion Rachael Grinham in the

final of which inaugural

tournament to win the title? –

Richmond Open (World No.21

Chinappa beat her 16th-ranked

opponent 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 for the

first time in six meetings to bag

her ninth Women‟s Squash

Association (WSA) tour title at

theCountry Club of Virginia,

Richmond on 19 April 2014. For

Grinham, it was the 65th final

appearance since making her first

tour final back in March 1998

while it was the 16th final for the

Indian)

7) Who won the Chinese F1

Grand Prix on 20 April 2014? –

Mercedes’ Lewis

Hamilton (With this win Great

Britain‟s Hamilton won three

races in a row for the first time in

his career. His Mercedes

teammate Nico Rosberg

(Germany) was second while third

spot was claimed by Ferrari‟s

Fernando Alonso of Spain. Force

India‟s Nico Hulkenberg

(Germany) was sixth)

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April 22-23, 2014

1) In an important development

the Supreme Court on 22 April

2014 appointed a panel to suggest

measures to prevent road

accidents and to ensure

accountability. The bench of Chief

Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices

Ranjan Gogoi and N.V. Ramana,

gave this direction acting on a

public interest writ petition (PIL)

filed by renowned orthopaedician

Dr. S. Rajasekaran. Which three

persons were nominted as

members of this panel? – Justice

K.S. Radhakrishnan, S. Sundar

and Dr. Nishi Mittal (Justice

K.S. Radhakrishnan retires as

Supreme Court judge on 14 May

2014. S. Sundar is a former

TransportSecretary and Dr. Nishi

Mittal is a former HoD Traffic

Engineering and Safety (TES))

2) Which state has achieved the

highest rate of increase in

the number of electors in the

country in the past five years as

stated in the electoral data

released early this year? – Tamil

Nadu(Tamil Nadu‟s electorate has

grown by 29.15%. In 2009, it was

4.16 crore and in 2014 it stood at

5.37 crore. The increased

enrolment is largely due to intense

measures taken in the past two

years to cover eligible voters left

out of enrolment. Haryana was

second with 29.01% increase in

electorate during the

corresponding period and was

followed by Madhya

Pradesh (24.84%), Meghalaya

(21.55%) and Sikkim (20.54%))

3) Which international drug

company on 22 April

2014 announced a multi-billion

dollar revamp plan in which it will

swap assets with

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and will

sell some business to Eli Lilly? –

Novartis AG (Switzerland-based

Novartis AG will buy GSK‟s

oncology business for $14.5

billion and will sell its vaccine

business to GSK for $7.1 billion.

The firm will also sell its animal

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health arm to Eli Lilly & Co. for

around $5.4 billion. The revamp

has beenannounced as a part of

realignment in a sector that is

presently coping with steep govt.

spending cuts)

4) What is the name of NASA‟s

Moon probe which recently

crashed into the lunar surface thus

closing the six-month mission? –

Lunar Atmosphere and Dust

Environment Explorer –

LADEE (LADEE was launched

in September 2013 and it started

sending important data from 10

November 2013. LADEE‟s

mission ended as it lacked fuel to

maintain the mission)

5) What is the new name of

leading confectionary and

chocolate manufacturer Cadbury

India Limited which was adopted

by the company recently? –

Mondelez India Foods

Ltd. (Cadbury India Limited is a

subsidiary of $35 billion

Mondelez International Inc. and

the name was changed to conclude

the process of transition that

began over two years ago after

Mondelez International acquired

Cadbury. The change in

company‟s name will however,

have no impact on the names or

packaging of its popular products

like Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5 Star,

Gems, Bournville, Perk,

Celebrations, Choclairs, Halls,

Bournvita, Tang and Oreo)

6) Which football club recently

created history by winning the I-

League title in their debut season?

– Bengaluru FC (First-timers

Bengaluru FC on wrote a new

chapter in Indian football by

clinching the prestigious I-League

title in their debut season on 20

April 2014 after a 4-2 win over

Dempo Sports Club. Bengaluru

needed a win to snatch the title.

Bengaluru FC is owned by the

Jindal Steel Works (JSW) and its

Chief Coach is Ashley Westwood,

the former assistant manager of

Blackburn Rovers)

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April 24, 2014

1) The Supreme Court on 23 April

2014 set up a four-member

committee for framing guidelines

to prevent misuse of public funds

by the government and its

authorities in giving

advertisements in newspapers and

television to get political mileage.

The court ruled that substantive

guidelines are needed to regulate

such advertisements at the cost of

public exchequer. The order to

constitute this committee was

passed while the apex court heard

a public interest litigation (PIL)

by twoNGOs. Which two NGOs

are these? – Common

Cause and Centre for Public

Interest Litigation (CPIL) –

These two NGOs had pleaded

before the Supreme Court to

frame guidelines in this respect)

2) What is the name given to the

newest mineral discovered

recently in Australia? –

‘Putnisite’(„Putnisite‟ was

discovered at Lake Cowan, north

of Norseman in Western

Australia. The mineral appears as

dark pink spots on dark green and

white rock which, under the

microscope, appears as square,

cube-like crystals. However, no

practical use of „Putnisite‟ has

been determined yet)

3) What was the name of the

naval exerciseconducted by

China‟s People‟s Liberation Army

(PLA) on 23 April 2014 to

celebrate 65th anniversary of its

Navy in which naval ships from

India and Pakistan also

participated? – ‘Maritime

Cooperation – 2014’ (This was a

rare multilateral

maritime exercise conducted by

China held off the coast of the

eastern Chinese city of Qingdao.

Apart from host China, India and

Pakistan ships from four other

countries (Bangladesh, Brunei,

Malaysia and Singapore) also took

part in theexercise. Indian Navy‟s

stealth frigate INS Shivalik took

part in this exercise, which

focused on joint search and

rescue, and included task force

communication, formation

movement, maritime

replenishment supply, joint

rescue, joint anti-hijacking and

small firearms shooting)

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4) Indian Air Force (IAF) has

initiated a project for DNA

profiling of its personnel,

selecting a high-risk group of air

crew that undertakes dangerous

missions for the first round. Under

this project the DNA samples of

nearly 2,500 crew members who

face potential threat to life during

everyday operations are being

collected. A database of the DNA

records will be established at

which place? – Pune (The

project will be part of the

repository at the Forensic

Department of the Armed

ForcesMedical College (AFMC)

in Pune)

5) Sherpa guides, who assist in

undertaking summit expeditions to

Mt. Everest in Nepal, started the

boycott of climbing season for

2014. These guides packed up

their tents and left Mount

Everest‟s base camp on 23 April

2014. What is the reason for their

boycott? – To honour the death

of 16 of their colleagues who

were killed on 18 April 2014 in

the deadliest avalanche ever

recorded on the

mountain(Thirteen bodies were

recovered after the avalanche and

three Sherpas still missing are

presumed dead. Without Sherpa

help, it would be nearly

impossible for climbers to scale

the mountain as they help as

guides as well as porters in the

difficult expedition to world‟

highest peak)

April 25-27, 2014

1) In a path breaking order

the Supreme Court on 24 April

2014 constituted a 5-member

committee to look after the

administration of Kerala‟s Sree

Padmanabhaswamy temple. With

this the main trustee of the temple

was asked to hand over the keys to

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all secret vaults to the new

committee. This order was given

based on a report by which

famous lawyer, in which it was

alleged that the trustees had failed

very miserably in bringing

transparency in managing the

affairs of the temple? – Gopal

Subramaniam

2) Who on 26 April 2014 took

over as the head of 5-member

temple administration committee

of Sree Padmanabhaswamy

temple,Thiruvananthapuram? –

K.P. Indira (K.P. Indira is

the district principal additional

sessions judge. His assuming

charge of this committee marked a

historic departure in the

governance of Sree

Padmanabhaswamy temple.

Wealth in various forms of

jewellery worth Rs. 1 lakh crore is

believed to be stashed in the six

vaults of this temple)

3) The South Korean Prime

Minister Chung Hong-won on 27

April 2014 offered to resign over

which issue? – After criticism of

the government’s response

to the ferry disaster (This ferry

named „Sewol‟ sank on 16 April

2014 on a routine trip from the

port of Incheon to the traditional

holiday island of Jeju. More than

300 people, most of them students

and teachers from one high

schoolon a field trip, have died or

are missing and presumed dead.

There has been criticism that the

pace of the recovery has been too

slow, and that conflicting

information has been given by the

South Korean government)

4) NTT Docomo recently

announced its decision to exit the

Indian telecom market by selling

its entire stake in its Indian joint-

venture partner Tata Teleservices

Limited (TTSL). The two entities

were operating in the Indian

market with the Tata Docomo

brand name. NTT Docomo is

which country‟s No.1 telecom

company? – Japan (NTT

Docomo is the dominant player in

the Japanese telecom industry. It

has proposed to sell its entire

26.5% stake in TTSL due to

certain performancerelated issues)

5) Microsoft on 25 April 2014

completed the acquisition of

Nokia‟s Devices & Services

business. The deal, which was

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announced in September 2013

means Nokia‟s mobile business

has become a subsidiary of

Microsoft. What is the name of

this subsidiary? – ‘Nokia

Mobile’ (The change from „Nokia

Corporation‟ to „Microsoft

Mobile‟ meant that for many

employees 25 April was their last

day as employees of Nokia

Corporation. Nokia Corporation

of Finland had on 3 September

2013 announced signing an

agreement to sell substantially all

of its Devices & Services

business, license and patents to

Microsoft Corp. in an all-cash

deal of $7.5 billion)

6) Which country was rated

lowest for average internet speed

in the Asia Pacific region in a

recently conducted study done by

US firm Akamai? – India (In this

study the lowest average

connection speed was seen in

India at 1.5Mbps (megabits per

second). Akamai analysed

17,844,839 connections in India

for the study. South Korea was

once again the only country with

an average connection speed of

over 20Mbps. Though there is no

regulation of wireless Internet

connection speeds in the country,

Indian telecom regulator TRAI

has decided to prescribe a

minimum rate for wireless

Internet services)

April 28, 2014

1) Which country overtook

Mauritius as the top gateway

ofmoneybeing brought in by

overseas investors through the

foreign direct investment (FDI)

into Indian markets? – The

United States(According to the

latest data available with the

Indian capital markets regulator

SEBI, the US accounted for the

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largest chunk of assets under the

FDI mode being invested in the

Indian equity and debt markets

at the end of 2013 with over Rs

4.37 lakh crore worth funds. The

US was followed by Mauritius

with over Rs 3.31 lakh crore

worth „assets under custody

(AUC)‟ of FIIs and their sub-

accounts as on 31 December

2013)

2) The United States signed

Enhanced Defense Cooperation

Agreement with which country on

28 April 2014, which would give

American forces temporary access

to selected military camps and

allow them to preposition fighter

jets and ships? –The

Philippines (This agreement is for

10-year period and was signed at

the Department of Defense in the

Philippine capital, Manila, shortly

before the arrival of President

Barack Obama)

3) Which two former Popes

were declared Saints by the Pope

Francis at the Vatican on 27 April

2014? – John XXIII and John

Paul II (Pope John XIII reigned

from 1958-1963 and is perceived

as a hero by the liberal Catholics

for having convened the Second

Vatican Council. Pope John Paul

IIhad reigned from 1978-2005.

The event was also attended by

retired Pope Benedict XVI which

was seen as an unprecedented

event in Vatican‟s history)

4) Who took oath as the 41st Chief

Justice of theSupreme Court on 27

April 2014? – Justice Rajendra

Mal Lodha (He was sworn in as

the new Chief Justice of India

(CJI) by President Pranab

Mukherjee. Lodha took over from

Justice (retd) P. Sathasivam who

demitted office on 26 April after

nine months as the head of the

judiciary. Lodha will have a brief

tenure of five months as the CJI

and is due to retire on 27

September 2014)

5) The 15th edition of IIFA was

held from 24 to 26 April 2016 at –

Tampa Bay, Florida (IIFA 2014

culminated at the Raymonds

James Stadium where the Indian

film fraternity had gathered to

award the best performances of

last year. „Bhaag Milka Bhaag‟

was among the pick of

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the winnerswhile Shatrughan

Sinha was given the Lifetime

Achievement Award at this year‟s

IIFA. Hollywood actor John

Travolta was honored the most

popular Hollywood star)

April 29-30, 2014

1) The International Olympic

Committee (IOC) entered into a

historic agreement with which

organisation to use the power of

sports to promote peace and

economic development? – The

United Nations – UN (This

historic agreement between

the two is seen as a move that

strengthens collaboration

between two of the world‟s major

organizations. The agreement

calls for joint sporting initiatives

between the IOC, national

Olympic committees, international

sports federations, organizing

committees and international

athletes and the 193 U.N. member

states, U.N. agencies, envoys and

goodwill ambassadors)

2) Three leading mobile operators

got relief from the Telecom

Dispute Settlement Appellate

Tribunal (TDSAT) after it allowed

intra-circle roaming deals for 3G

services on 29 April 2014.

The Department of Telecom had

issued orders in March 2013 to

stop 3G services in circles where

these operators did not have

spectrum. Which three operators

are these? – Airtel, Idea Cellular

and Vodafone (Airtel, Idea

Cellular and Vodafone had

entered into an intra-circle

roaming agreement to offer 3G

services across the country using

one another‟s spectrum. This was

because none of these players had

won pan-India spectrum

individually. However, the

TDSAT order also named all the

other telecom service operators to

be extended this relief)

3) Which India-born business

leader was appointed as the new

CEO and President of Nokia? –

Rejeev Suri (Finnish firm Nokia,

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which recently sold its mobile unit

to Microsoft, has appointed

Rajeev Suri as the company‟s new

CEO and President. Risto

Siilasmaa, who has been serving

as the interim CEO, will now

return to his role as Chairman of

Nokia‟s Board)

4) Approximately how many

investors were lost by India‟s

mutual fund industry during the

lastfinancial year (2013-14) as

disclosed in recently released

SEBI data? – 33 lakh (When

measured in terms

of individual accounts or folios,

the Indian mutual fund industry

lost around 33 lakh investors

during 2012-13. On total investor

accounts with 44 fund houses, the

number of folios fell to around

3.95 crore at the end of 2013-14,

from 4.28 crore in the last fiscal

(2012-13). It was the fifth

consecutive year of loss of folios

by mutual funds and it was

primarily on account of volatility

in equity market)

5) Which famous American bank

came to news recently for

miscalculating a measure of the

capital on its books which reduced

its capital level by $4 billion? –

Bank of America (Bank of

America (BoA) is the second-

largest U.S. bank. It on 28 April

2014 announced that regulators

had suspended its plan to buy

back more shares and raise its

dividend after the bank realized it

had miscalculated a measure of

the capital on its books. The bank

said fixing the mistake reduced a

capital level by $4 billion, or

about three-quarters of the

extra money that the Federal

Reserve hadapproved its returning

to shareholders over the next year)

6) Former Indian Air Force (IAF)

chief Norman Anil Kumar

Browne was appointed India‟s

next Ambassador to which

country? – Norway(Browne had

served as IAF chief between 31

July 2011 and 31 December 2013.

He will succeed R. K. Tyagi as

India‟s envoy in Norway)

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