General Awareness Test (August - 15) - Set 1

ANSWER: 7th August

Explanation:
The first National Handloom Day will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chennai on 7th August.

ANSWER: Bangladesh

Explanation:
111 Indian enclaves within Bangladesh merged with Bangladesh, and 51 Bangladeshi ones got merged with India. The transfer gave over 50,000 people citizenship of both countries, bringing them access to all legal rights and civic amenities. A joint survey conducted from 6th -16th July gave them choice to decide which country they want to live in. Those who decided to move have been promised safe and secure passage with personal belongings & movable property till November 30th this year. Ban on property sale imposed since 6th July will be lifted to allow those moving, to sell their land.

ANSWER: United States

Explanation:
Documents released by Wikileaks list 35 telephone numbers targeted for interception by the US National Security Agency (NSA). Wikileaks said the surveillance extends back at least eight years. Wikileaks has previously released files showing the US spied on Germany, France and Brazil - like Japan, all allies. There has been no comment from Japan on the latest claims.

ANSWER: Tamil Nadu

Explanation:
In a statement issued in Chennai, Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa has said the annual “Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award” consisting 8 gram gold, Rs 5 Lakh cash and a citation would be given from this year onward on every Independence Day to a person from the state who works with exceptional merit in science, humanities and students welfare. She has also announced that Dr Kalam’s birthday on October 15th would be celebrated as the “Youth Revival Day”.

ANSWER: Lucknow

Explanation:
The event is being held at Los Angeles, USA. Sekhon is a student of ASHA School in Lucknow Cantt where he was coached and selected for various camps at State and National level as one amongst the 241 participants representing India.

ANSWER: Beijing

Explanation:
The Chinese capital beat Almaty, Kazakhstan in a secret ballot of 85 IOC members. Now Beijing will be the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games. Beijing successfully hosted the Summer Olympics in 2008.

ANSWER: Kotak Bharat

Explanation:
It is the ‘inclusive digital banking’ app launched by KMB that is primarily targetted to benefit customers in the under-banked and un-banked regions, who can access its services in their preferred language. One major benefit of this app is that it requires no internet connectivity.

ANSWER: 10

Explanation:
These 10 companies are HDFC Bank, TCS, HCL Tech, Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin, Sun Pharma, Motherson Sumi Systems, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors and Titan.

ANSWER: 70,000 Crore

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!

ANSWER: S. S. Ahluwalia

Explanation:
According to the listed business of the Lok Sabha, the committee’s chairman S S Ahluwalia will move a motion on 3rd Aug’15 in the House for seeking further extension upto 7th of this month to submit its report. The Joint Committee of Parliament, which was constituted in last May for examining the controversial land acquisition bill, had been given a fresh extension till the first working day of first week of this month. This is the third extension sought by the Committee. It was originally mandated to table its report on the first day of the Monsoon session, which began on 21st July.

ANSWER: Pakistan

Explanation:
A Sindh government official said the detained fishermen were set free as a goodwill gesture following the last month's meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Russia.

ANSWER: China

Explanation:
They were accused of bribery, embezzlement, illegal lending and other illicit acts. China's massive anti-corruption campaign has led to thousands of arrests and convictions on graft charges so far.

ANSWER: Muthaiya Muralitharan & T Dilshan

Explanation:
Murlidharan and Dilshan’s appointment was announced by the President just before the start of a T20 match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.

ANSWER: Jaipur

Explanation:
This decision was taken by the inspiring appeal by Dr Kalam not to declare holiday on his death rather work for one more day. All the subordinate office remained open and the Chief Post Master General and Director Post also attended the office. On 1st Aug’15 the Rajasthan Assembly Secretariat also functioned as a tribute to the former President.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
The UK based company Pangaea Laboratories Limited had filed patent application at European Patent office in February, 2011 on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss. An official release said in New Delhi that the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a Unit of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research filed pre-grant opposition along with prior-art evidences. It proved that turmeric, pine bark and green tea, are being used as a treatment for hair loss, since long in Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Unani. Till date CSIR-TKDL has achieved success in about 200 such cases without any cost.

ANSWER: 61%

Explanation:
India is the largest importer of gold, which mainly caters to the demand of the jewellery industry. Large imports of gold impact the country's current account deficit, which occurs when value of import of goods and services is more than its exports. The CAD in 2014-15 shrank to 1.3 per cent of GDP (USD 27.5 billion) from 1.7 per cent (USD 32.4 billion) in 2013-14. The Reserve Bank and the government have maintained that the CAD level is comfortable. In 2014-15, India imported 915.54 tonnes of gold as against 661.71 tonnes in the previous financial year.

ANSWER: Joshna Chinappa

Explanation:
Joshna defeated second seeded Line Hansen of Denmark. It is Joshna's tenth WSA title, the last being the Richmond Open title win in April last year.

ANSWER: Mumbai Cricket Association

Explanation:
The Association had imposed the ban following a 2012 fracas involving the Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner and security personnel during an IPL match. MCA vice president Ashish Shelar said after the Association's meeting in Mumbai that it was decided that the ban imposed on IPL's Kolkata franchise owner Shah Rukh Khan should be lifted.

ANSWER: Pakistan

Explanation:
Pakistan thus became the first member of CERN among Asian countries and the first non-European member of this prestigious organization. The associate membership will open a new era of cooperation that will strengthen the long-term partnership between CERN and the Pakistani scientific community.

ANSWER: Tamil Nadu

Explanation:
Tamil Nadu was followed by Kerala and Punjab. The use of LPG was least in Chhattisgarh (1.5% of households) followed by Jharkhand (2.9%) and Odisha (3.9%).

ANSWER: 1st Aug’15

Explanation:
The new guidelines in adoption are intend to provide for more effective regulation for adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children and would bring more transparency and efficiency in the adoption system.

ANSWER: South Sudan

Explanation:
South Sudan was inducted as the latest member of the International Olympic Committee on 1st Aug’15 at committee’s ongoing annual meet at Kuala Lumpur.

ANSWER: CARINGS

Explanation:
CARINGS is abbreviated as Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System. The completely revamped CARINGS will facilitate the adoption of maximum number of adoptable children and ensure a smoother adoption process by curbing undue delays. For hassle-free adoption, CARINGS will contain a centralized data bank of adoptable children and PAPs. Clear cut timelines for domestic and inter-country adoption have been laid down to ensure early deinstitutionalization of such children.

ANSWER: S K Roy

Explanation:
Roy will head the three-member Executive Committee (EC), a key body of the Council, for a period of three years.

ANSWER: September’15

Explanation:
The Channel will cater to the needs of farmers and will provide necessary information relating to various aspects of rural life and professions in the State.

ANSWER: National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!

ANSWER: Congress

Explanation:
The suspended leaders were protesting against the government over the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scams. Taking tough action against the agitating members, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said they were suspended for persistently and willfully obstructing the House. She ruled that the 'named' members will not attend five sittings of the House.

ANSWER: Haryana

Explanation:
Under this project about ten lakh beneficiaries would get payment of social security pensions of July 2015 through banks or post offices directly into their accounts marking the successful completion of its first phase.

ANSWER: Odisha

Explanation:
The government will set up 300 cold storage centres across Odisha in which about 25 lakh tonne of onion can be stored that will help in containing the price rise of onion.

ANSWER: Dipa Karmakar

Explanation:
Chinese Yan Wang defended her title with 14.988 points followed by Japanese Sae Miyakawa with 14.812 points.

ANSWER: NSCN (IM)

Explanation:
Centre signed a landmark peace accord with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. On the occasion, NSCN (I-M) leader T Muivah said the accord has ushered in a new relationship between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M).

ANSWER: Bharat Parv

Explanation:
As part of these celebrations, the Ministry of Tourism is organizing the “Bharat Parv” comprising of State Centric Food Festivals along with cultural performances at prominent locations in Delhi in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, Delhi Tourism, NDMC & several other agencies.

ANSWER: Russia

Explanation:
Russians, who fear that their family members could be under the threat of being recruited by the IS, can address their concerns to the State Civic Chamber by phone or in writing.

ANSWER: China

Explanation:
The umbrella company in east China's Jiangxi Province set the new record for creating the world's largest umbrella by unveiling an umbrella of around 23 meters in diameter and 14.4 meters in height. According to the website of Guinness World Records, the largest umbrella measures 17.06 m (56 ft) in diameter and is 10.97 m (36 ft) tall and was made by Max New York Life Insurance (India).

ANSWER: Unchanged

Explanation:
In Mumbai, RBI announced that repo rate at which the RBI lends to the system, will remain unchanged at 7.25 percent. The cash reserve ratio (CRR) which is the proportion of deposit banks have to park with the central bank, will remain at 4 percent.

ANSWER: SAMANVAY

Explanation:
Briefing media in New Delhi after the launch, Mr Singh said the purpose behind bringing out SAMANVAY is to help MPs in utilising relevant schemes in the planning and implementation of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. He said more than 1800 state schemes from across all states have been documented in SAMANVAY.

ANSWER: Panchayat Darpan

Explanation:
It will act as a mirror of all the development activities in the village panchayats. Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was launched in October last year under which MPs are to develop three Adarsh Gram Panchayats by 2019. The objective of the programme is to create Model Villages.

ANSWER: MAST

Explanation:
The Multi Application Solar Telescope (MAST) was inaugurated by the Professor U.R Rao- Chairman of Physical Research Laboratory. MAST will be the biggest ever telescope which can help to study the movements of stars and sun even in the day time. He said with the help of the device the researchers will be able to achieve new heights internationally in the study of sun and the related components. The telescope was installed under the Ministry of Science and Technology and was funded by Department of Space.

ANSWER: Life Insurance Corporation

Explanation:
Life Insurance Corporation has agreed to provide funds to the tune of Rs 1.50 lakh crore to Railways for five years for infrastructure development.

ANSWER: Arunachal Pradesh

Explanation:
The helicopter was on a routines sortie to Longding from Tirap and was to return to Mohanbari airport in Dibrugarh, Assam when it lost contact.