General Awareness Test (August - 15) - Set 7

ANSWER: Ishant Sharma

Explanation:
Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma was fined 65 percent of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct twice during the fourth day in the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka at P Sara Oval in Colombo. Ishant was charged with breaching the ICC Code of Conduct which relates to using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his dismissal during an International Match on both the occasions.

ANSWER: Madhya Pradesh

Explanation:
On 23rd Aug’15 it was announced by the MP’s Energy Minister that state would host the world’s largest 750 Mega Watts (MW) solar power station. The project, named Rewa Ultra Mega Solar, will be a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India and MP Urja Vikas Nigam, wherein both parties have 50% stake. At present the world’s largest solar power project located at Mojave Deserts in California, United States named as Ivanpah Solar Power Facility of 392 MW.

ANSWER: Both B and C

Explanation:
Global bourses crashed on 24th Aug’15 following weeks of reports regarding China’s low economic growth as its consumption story further faltered. This fall was the biggest since 21 January 2008 when the Sensex crashed by 2,062.2 points.

ANSWER: Sehat

Explanation:
Under the initiative people will be able to consult doctors through video link and also order generic drugs. The initiative was launched by Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. With this initiative the tele-consultation services are being extended to 60,000 centres across the country.

ANSWER: Public Authorities

Explanation:
In an affidavit, Department of Personnel and Training said that bringing political parties under the RTI will not only hamper their smooth working but help political rivals to file pleas with malicious intention to seek information. The government said, when the RTI Act was enacted, it was never visualised that political parties would be brought within the ambit of the transparency law.

The affidavit said, there are provisions in Representation of the People Act 1951 and Income Tax Act which brought necessary transparency about the financial aspects of a political party.

ANSWER: Goni

Explanation:
People in Japan's southern main island of Kyushu are facing strong winds and heavy rains as Typhoon Goni rips through the region. The storm is causing gusts of nearly 200 kilometers per hour.

ANSWER: Netherland

Explanation:
Russian commandoes seized the Dutch-flagged ship in September 2013 and detained the 30 Greenpeace activists and journalists onboard after a protest at an offshore oil rig owned by Russian state oil giant Gazprom.

ANSWER: Colombia

Explanation:
The crossings were shut after an attack by smugglers left three soldiers and a civilian injured. Since then around 1,000 Colombians living in Venezuela have been expelled as part of a crackdown on smugglers and criminal gangs in the region. The two countries are due to hold talks on the issue on 26th Aug’15.

ANSWER: 2050

Explanation:
Alzheimer Disease International says dementia will saw as people live longer posing serious challenges to health and social care systems. Ten million news cases are expected this year alone.

ANSWER: Sierra Leone

Explanation:
It allows the nation to begin a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the virus that has killed nearly 4,000 people here. President Ernest Bai Koroma presented a certificate of discharge to Adama Sankoh, 40, who contracted Ebola after her son died from the disease late last month.

ANSWER: Justice Madanlal Laxmandas Tahaliyani

Explanation:
Justice Madanlal Laxmandas Tahaliyani, a retired judge of the Bombay High Court was sworn in as the new Lokayukta of Maharashtra. Governor Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office to Justice Tahaliyani at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. . Justice Tahaliyani succeeds Justice PB Gaikwad, whose term as Lokayukta ended on July 1, 2014.

ANSWER: Romeo James

Explanation:
Dhyan Chand Award 2015 will be given to Mr Romeo James for Hockey. Dronacharya Awards will be conferred on Athletics Para-sports coach Naval Singh and Wrestling coach Anoop Singh. An official release issued by the Sports Ministry said, Coach Harbans Singh will be given Dronacharya Awards for his life time contribution to Athletics, Coach Swatantar Raj Singh for Boxing and Coach Nihar Ameen will be conferred Dronacharya Awards for his life time contribution in Swimming.

ANSWER: Ajay Vishwakarma

Explanation:
The awardees will receive their awards from the President Pranab Mukherjee at a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 29th Aug’15. Dhyan Chand Award 2015 will be given to Mr Romeo James for Hockey, Mr Shiv Prakash Mishra for Tennis and Mr T.P.P Nair for Volleyball.

ANSWER: Zaina Erhaim

Explanation:
Over the last two years, she has trained about 100 citizen reporters from inside Syria, approximately a third of them women, in print and TV journalism, and has helped establish many of the new emerging independent newspapers and magazines in the war torn country. Erhaim is also the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an international organization that support journalists in countries undergoing conflict, crisis, or transition.

ANSWER: H N Girisha

Explanation:
On 26th Aug’15 Karnataka High Court found substance in the claim of Para-athlete H N Girisha who challenged the recommendation of Sania Mirza for the prestigious Khel Ratna award. Justice A S Bopanna, who heard the case on a petition filed by Girisha issued notices to sports ministry and the tennis ace and directed the respondents to reply to the notices within 15 days. Girisha, a Paralympic Games medallist, said in his plea that he deserved to win the coveted award more than Sania because he was the top contender with 90 points against his name and the tennis star was far behind him as per performance-based points system.

ANSWER: Telecommunication Technology Development Centre

Explanation:
The Centre for Development of Telematics is an Indian Government owned telecommunications technology development centre. It was established in 1984 with initial mandate of designing and developing digital exchanges.

ANSWER: US Court

Explanation:
The three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that it found the arguments presented by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) in its case against Gandhi "without merit". SFJ had filed a lawsuit in 2013 against Gandhi accusing her of allegedly shielding and protecting Congress party leaders in the anti-Sikh riots that had erupted following the assassination of former Prime Minister and her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi.

ANSWER: South Sudan

Explanation:
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has signed a peace deal with rebels after a threat of sanctions from the UN. He told those gathered for the signing ceremony in the capital, Juba, that he had "reservations" about how the mediation was conducted and some of the clauses in the compromise deal. Rebel leader Riek Machar signed the deal last week but Mr Kiir refused. It is meant to end months of brutal civil war and would see Mr. Machar return as Vice-President.

ANSWER: United States

Explanation:
The US had sponsored a resolution at the UNHRC last September calling for a credible inquiry on war crime and other human right violation allegations against the security forces of Sri Lanka and the LTTE militants.

ANSWER: Mark Zuckerberg

Explanation:
Zuckerberg is joined on the list by fellow Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, who claimed the second place on the list with an estimated net worth of USD 9.3 billion and Eduardo Saverin who was ranked fourth with an estimated net of USD 5.3 billion, as per Wealth-X, the global wealth intelligence and prospecting company.

ANSWER: Haryana

Explanation:
A government spokesman said that the motive behind opening the police stations for women is to ensure their safety and instill among them a sense of security and confidence.

ANSWER: Both A and B

Explanation:
China's central bank has cut interest rates and lowered the amount its reserve banks must hold. People's Bank of China cut its key lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.6 percent, an effort to calm stock markets. It is the fifth interest rate cut since November and will come into effect from 26th Aug’15. This move has boosted global share prices further, however, US stocks ended in descent after initials gains. London's FTSE 100 jumped 3 per cent, while Germany's Dax gained 5 percent and the Paris Cac rose by 4.1 percent.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
The 10th World Hindi Conference (WHC) is being organized from 10-12 September 2015 in the city of Bhopal by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in partnership with the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The decision to organize the 10th edition of the Conference in India was taken at the 9th World Hindi Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2012.

ANSWER: Kolkata Port

Explanation:
Kolkata Port has been adjudged ‘ Major Port of the Year’ amongst 12 major ports in the country for the year 2014-15 in recognition of its impressive growth rate in volumes, optimizing capacity utilization, growth in output per berth and customer satisfaction . It has been declared in the Gateway Award 2015 programme held at Mumbai recently.

ANSWER: Girish Sahni

Explanation:
Dr. Girish Sahni, who had been the Director, CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh, assumed charge as the next Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology, with effect from the 24th August 2015.

ANSWER: Adam Gilchrist

Explanation:
No explanation is available for this question!

ANSWER: 2.3%

Explanation:
The proportion of population in India is Hindu -96.63 crores (79.8%), Muslim-17.22 crores (14.2%), Christian -2.78 crores (2.3%), Sikh-2.08 crores (1.7%), Buddhist-0.84 crores (0.7%), Jain-0.45 crores (0.4%), Other Religions & Persuasions-0.79 crores (0.7%), Religion Not Stated-0.29 crores (0.2%).

ANSWER: Both A and D

Explanation:
The Indian Space Research Organization ISRO on 27th Aug’15 successfully launched the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-D6 and injected the communication satellite GSAT-6 into its intended transfer orbit. It injected the satellite carrying S-Band transponders meant for strategic purposes within 17 minutes and four seconds in the intended geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The mission life of the satellite GSAT-6 weighing 2117 kg is nine years. This is the second continuous successful GSLV mission using India’s own cryogenic engine, out of the three development flights held so far using it.

ANSWER: Laskar-e-Toiba

Explanation:
In Jammu & Kashmir, four militants were killed and one Pakistani militant captured alive in a four day joint operation by Army and Special Operations Group through robust counter infiltration grid which helped in foiling the infiltration bid in north Kashmir’s Uri sector of Baramulla district. One 22 year old Lashkar e Toiba militant Sajjad of Baluchistan Pakistan was captured alive.

ANSWER: Uttar Pradesh

Explanation:
The aspirants’ cities were selected by the States and Union Territories on the parametres set by the Centre. Announcing the list in New Delhi, Union Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu said, it include 13 cities from Uttar Pradesh, 12 from Tamil Nadu, 10 from Maharashtra, 7 from Madhya Pradesh, 3 each from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. All other states have also got one or two cities for the purpose.

Out of these 98 cities, 24 are capital cities, 24 are business and industrial centres, 18 are of cultural and tourism importance, 5 are port cities and three are educational and healthcare hubs. 9 capital cities including Patna, Shimla, Bengaluru, Daman, Kolkata did not find place for smart city development. Two more cities will be announced in due course since the Government of Jammu and Kashmir sought more time to firm up their choice and there was tie between Meerut and Raibarelly in Uttar Pradesh.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The Law Commission has also suggested inclusion of the most favoured nation in the model treaty. It further recommended that the government procurement should not be excluded from the treaty protection. The Commission also said it is not necessary to exclude taxation from the purview of the treaty as "power to tax is an integral part of the State's police powers in international law. This power exists independent of a treaty, unless the tax itself is arbitrarily imposed to destroy the State's regulatory freedom".

ANSWER: Dr. Modadugu Vijay Gupta

Explanation:
Noted Indian agricultural scientist Dr Modadugu Vijay Gupta will receive the first Sunhak Peace Prize in South Korean Capital Seoul. He is a joint winner of the prize along with President of Kiribati Islands Anote Tong. Dr. Gupta was also recipient of the World Food Prize in 2005 for development and dissemination of low-cost techniques for freshwater fish farming.

Sunhak Peace Prize was founded by South Korean religious leader Dr Hak Ja Han Moon to recognise eminent individuals who contributed to peace and development of the world. Billed next only to the Nobel Prize in terms of money being awarded to individuals, the Sunhak Peace Prize will be given annually from this year.

ANSWER: Yusuf Raza Gilani

Explanation:
A Pakistani anti-corruption court in Karachi issued non-bailable arrest warrants against former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and former trade minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim for alleged corrupt deals by approving subsidies to fake companies. The court issued arrest orders after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented a formal charge sheet of 12 cases registered against the duo and some senior officials of Trade Development Authority Pakistan (TDAP).

Gilani was prime minister from 2008 to 2013 when he was sacked after the Supreme Court held him responsible for defying an order of the court to write a letter to the Swiss government to reopen a corruption probe against then President Asif Ali Zardari.

ANSWER: Usain Bolt

Explanation:
Bolt clocked a world-leading 19.55 seconds to beat Gatlin by nearly two-tenths. The victory meant Bolt has now remarkably won 11 of the last 12 individual Olympic and world sprint titles dating back to Beijing 2008. His only blip came after a false start in the 100 metres at the 2011 worlds in Daegu.

ANSWER: Air India

Explanation:
Air India has regained the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hockey title after seven years. Air India defeated defending champions Army XI.

ANSWER: Swapnil Dhopade

Explanation:
International Master Swapnil Dhopade from Indian Railways has clinched the title of the Glocal Square 53rd National Challengers Chess Championship which concluded in Nagpur. FIDE Master K. Praneeth Surya from Telangana secured the second position while Grand Master Murali Karthikeyan from Tamil Nadu had to be content with the third position.

ANSWER: Rajendra Singh

Explanation:
Rajendra Singh is also known as Waterman of India. He has contributed several decades of his life to defeat drought and empowering communities of Rajasthan through his organisation Tarun Bharat Sangh (India Youth Association).

ANSWER: Arvind Panagariya

Explanation:
IESS would become a very useful tool for framing the National Energy Policy. IESS would enable decision makers to take a detailed view of India's emerging energy scenario, and help in effectively deciding the right mix of appropriate technology interventions and measures towards maximizing indigenous fuel supplies towards meeting the country's energy challenges.

ANSWER: United Kingdom

Explanation:
To cleanse the environment with low carbon emission and help to decrease the effect of climate change, Kolkata mayor and UK Minister have join hands to take an initiative.

ANSWER: Novak Djokovic

Explanation:
Since 2011, Djokovic had served as UNICEF’s Serbia Ambassador.