General Knowledge eBook for PA/SA Aspirants
RBI 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
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Which communication satellite of India expired recently after being in the
orbit for around ten-and-a-half years? -INSAT-3E
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Which country was forbidden from whale-hunting and grant of
further whaling permits by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its
judgment? – Japan
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Nancy Powell, who resigned as the Ambassador of the United States to India,
was appointed Ambassador in which year? – In 2012
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Which government department of India was chosen for UN Environment
Programmes (UNEP’s) prestigious ‘ECA Ozone Protection Award for Customs &
Enforcement Officers’? - Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
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Who was appointed as the third arbitrator in the dispute between Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL) and the petroleum ministry by the Supreme Court
- James Spigelman
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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 Garamondin
government printing? - Suvir Mirchandani
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Who took over as the new Chairman of Tata group firm Trent Ltd - Noel
N Tata
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The Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle approval of bank
licences to which two entitites – IDFC Limited and Bandhan Financial
Services Private Limited
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The Finance Ministry released a draft of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) which
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 individuals and Hindu Undivided
Family (HUF) belonging to ‘super- rich’ category. What is the criterion of
income for this ‘super-rich’ category? – Annual income
above Rs.10 crore
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What is the proposed tax slab for super-rich individuals and
Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) inthe draft of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) – 35%
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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) – 10%
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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
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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
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What is the approximate number of US citizens who signed up for President
Barack Obama’s highly ambitious health care programme? 7.1 million
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Which countries highest court gave official recognition to a third category
of sex other than male or female?– Australia
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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
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Who was appointed as the new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI)? – R. Gandhi
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The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) 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
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Which international drug manufacturer took Indian firm Biocon to court for
allegedly infringing the patent on one of its diabetes drug? –Novartis AG
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Union Minister K. Sambasiva Rao, who tendered his resignation to the Prime
Minister, was holding which portfolio? – Union Textiles Minister
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Which internationally-renowned tracking system made its debut in
Indian badminton circuit at the on-going India Open Super Series in
New Delhi? – Hawk-Eye technology
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Who is heading the 5-member committee constituted to recommend a
site for the capital of successor state of Andhra Pradesh following the
formation of Telangana? –K. Sivaramakrishnan
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An Indian rocket carrying the country’s second navigation
satellite, IRNSS-1B, successfully placed this satellite in earth’s
orbit. What is the name of the ISRO rocket which took IRNSS-1B into
space? – PSLV-C24
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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)? –Sunil
Sabharwal
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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
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A vast liquid ocean was found on which moon of Saturn by NASA’s Cassini
probe as published by ‘Science’ magazine? –‘Enceladus’
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What is the name of the Prime Minister of Hungary who was declared
victorious in the Hungarian parliamentary election? - Viktor Orban
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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
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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 2011
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Who was crowned as the new Miss India in the 51st Femina Miss India
contest, which culminated in April 2014 at Mumbai? - Koyal Rana
Jaipur
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Which country won the ICC T-20 Women’s World Cup 2014, final of
which was played in April 2014? .Australia
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Which company will acquire Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited for $3.2 billion,
as announced by the two companies? –Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited
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Who gave Sahara Force India team its second podium finish by coming third
in the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2014? - Sergio Perez of Mexico
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Who won the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2014 title? - Lewis Hamilton
(Great Britain) for Mercedes Team
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What is the name of the biblical epic movie which was banned by Malaysia
and Indonesia for its visual depiction of the prophet? – ‘Noah’
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Which two international cement companies announced their merger, which
would now create world’s largest cement manufacturing company? – Holcim
of Switzerland and Lafarge of France
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In an important decision, the Union Govt. 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
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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
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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
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Who won the men’s singles title of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open
Badminton 2014? – Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia
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What is the name of a new tool launched 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’
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Who took over as the new Chairman of software industry association NASSCOM?
– R Chandrasekaran
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Which North-eastern state capital became the second in the region
to have rail-connectivity? –Itanagar
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Which English Premier League club was denied the permission to change its
name by the Football Association Council (FAC)? – Hull City
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Which Indian brand was the only Indian retail brand to be listed in the 30
Best Retail Brands in Asia Pacific of the prestigious Inter brand’s Best Retail
Brands list for 2013? – Tanishq
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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? – Archie Andrews
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Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha appointed as the next Chief
Justice of India, who will succeed Justice Sathasivam, will be …………….Chief
Justice of India? – 41st
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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
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What is the name of the deadly virus for which the Computer Emergency
Response Team of India (CERT- In) issued an advisory to all Internet users in
the country? ‘Heartbleed’
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Which leading banking luminary was appointed as the special advisor of the
interim President of BCCI-IPL Sunil Gavaskar? – Deepak
Parekh, Chairman of HDFC
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British telecom major Vodafone Group took full control of its Indian unit
by buying the remaining 10.97% stake in the unit. This stake was acquired from
which enterprise? - Piramal Enterprises
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Which international financial institution completed its first global rupee
bond programme worth $ 1 billion? -International Finance Corporation
(IFC)
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Renowned poet-lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar was
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
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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)
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According to a series of papers published recently in the ‘Lancet Oncology’
journal, what is the reason for 40% of all types of cancers in India? – Tobacco
use
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Which un seeded player shocked badminton’s world number one Lee Chong Wei
to win the Singapore Open title for 2014? –Simon Santoso of
Indonesia
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Indian Navy’s decommissioned submarine INS Vagli would be established as a
permanent exhibit at which historic town of Tamil Nadu? Mamallapuram
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Who became the 5th Indian-born person to win the prestigious
Pulitzer Prize? –Vijay Seshadri
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In a landmark judgement the Supreme Court gave the recognition of ‘third
gender’ to trans genders and asked the Centre to treat trans genders 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
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A new round of India-China Strategic Dialogue was held at Beijing
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-ChinaStrategic
Dialogue series? – 6th
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Who was appointed the new Finance Secretary? – Arvind Mayaram
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Which team won the National T20 title for the Syed Mushtaq Ali
Trophy? –Baroda
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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”
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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
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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
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New Chief of the Indian Navy: Robin K Dhowan – 22nd
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Which film was selected as the Best Film for 61st National Film Awards
announced? – “Ship of Theseus”
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Which noted director was the Chairman of the 11-member 61st
National Film Awards selection committee which announced the winners? – Saeed
Akhtar Mirza
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Pakistan became the fourth country to publish ‘name and shame’ tax
directory in a bid to embarrass tax evaders.Cash-strapped Pakistan
published its first tax 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
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With the implementation of new Companies Act, 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
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U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law 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 Abutalebi
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel Prize
winning Latin-American author, who passed away, was citizen of which
Latin American country? – Colombia
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In a surprising development Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
announced backing out from hosting the Asian Games of 2019. Which Vietnamese
city was to host the 18th edition of Asian Games? –Hanoi
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What is the name of Indian Navy’s Vice-Admiral, who put in his
papers seeking voluntary retirement after his junior Admiral RK Dhowan
superseded him to take over as Navy chief? – Shekhar Sinha
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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
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Who won the Chinese F1 Grand Prix? – Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton
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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
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Which international Drug Company 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
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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
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Which football club recently created history by winning
the I-League title in their debut season? –Bengaluru FC
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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
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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.
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What was the name of the naval exercise conducted by China’s People’s
Liberation Army (PLA) to celebrate 65th anniversary of its Navy in which naval
ships from India and Pakistan also participated? –‘Maritime Cooperation –
2014’
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The Supreme Court 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 two NGOs. Which two NGOs are these? – Common Cause and
Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL)
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What is the name given to the newest mineral discovered recently in
Australia? – ‘Putnisite’
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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
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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. What is the reason for their
boycott? To honour the death of 16 of their colleagues who were
killed in the deadliest avalanche ever recorded on the mountain
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Supreme Court 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 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
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Who took over as the head of 5-member temple administration
committee of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, Thiruvananthapuram? – K.P.
Indira
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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
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The South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won offered to resign
over which issue? – After criticism of the government’s response to
the ferry disaster
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Microsoft completed the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices & Services
business. The deal, which was announced in September 2013 means Nokia’s mobile
business has become a subsidiary of Microsoft. What is the name of this
subsidiary? – ‘Nokia Mobile’
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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
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Which country overtook Mauritius as the top gateway of money being brought
in by overseas investors through the foreign direct investment (FDI) into
Indian markets? – The United States
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The United States signed Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement with which
country, which would give American forces temporary access to selected military
camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships?–The Philippines
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The 15th edition of IIFA was held from 24 to 26 April 2016 at – Tampa
Bay, Florida
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Which two former Popes were declared Saints by the Pope Francis at the
Vatican? – John XXIII and John Paul II
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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
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Which India-born business leader was appointed as the new CEO and
President of Nokia? – Rejeev Suri
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Three leading mobile operators got relief from the Telecom Dispute
Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) after it
allowed intra-circle roaming deals for 3G services. 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 Vodafon
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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
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Approximately how many investors were lost by India’s mutual fund industry
during the last financial year (2013-14)as disclosed in recently released
SEBI data? – 33 lakh
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