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4th ESPNcricinfo awards concluded on 14th Feb 2011

2011-02-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

Sachin Tendulkar (One day Batting awards against South Africa 200 not out)
VVS Laxman ( Test batting award for 96 on seaming Durban pitch)
Dale Steyn ( Bowling prize for his 7for51 against India on a flat pitch )
Michael Hussey ( T20 batting award for his 60 not out against Pakistan in T20 World cup semi-final)
Umar Gul ( T20 bowling award )
Tim Southee ( for his 5 wickets in 9 bowls including a hattrick, first by any New Zealand player in T20 )

IPL-3 2010 Statistics

2010-04-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Maximum runs : Sachin Tendulkar(MI) - 618
Jacque Kallis (RCB) - 572
Suresh Raina (CSK) - 520

Maximum wickets: Pragyan Ojha (DC) - 21
Amit Mishra (DD) - 17
Harbhajan Singh (MI) - 17

Most catches : Andrew Symonds (DC) - 12
Murli Vijay (CSK) - 11
Suresh Raina (CSK) - 10

Highest team totals : Chennai Super Kings - 246/5
Rajasthan Royals - 223/5
Mumbai Indians - 218/7

Most sixes : Robin Uthappa (RCB) - 27
Murli Vijay (CSK) - 26
Yusuf Pathan (RR) - 24

Highest individual scores : Murli Vijay (CSK) - 127
Mahela Jayawardene - 110
David Warner - 107

Most fifties : Jacque Kallis (RCB) - 6
Sachin Tendulkar(MI) - 5
Sourav Ganguly (KKR) - 4
Suresh Raina (CSK) - 4
Andrew Symonds (DC) - 4

Player of the tournament : Sachin Tendulkar (MI)

IPL 2010

2010-04-26T01:20:00.001-07:00

Preity Zinta

Shilpa Shetty With Husband Raj Kundra

Dia Mirza

Arjun Rampal and Mehr Jessia Rampal

Mugdha Godse

Gaurav Kapur

Lalit Modi

Anil Kumble with his family

Amrita Rao

Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan

Vijay Mallya

Vida Samadzai

Talat Aziz with his wife Bina

Siddharth Mallya.

Shamita Shetty

Sameera Reddy

Ronit Roy

Priyanka Chopra's parents, Ashok Chopra and Madhu Chopra

Sahara IPL Awards 2010

2010-04-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

The Jury Awards:

Best batsman: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians);
Best bowler: Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers);
Best debut performance: Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians);
Best dramatic performance: Harbhajan Singh (Mumbai Indians);
Most consistent performer: Jacques Kallis (Royal Challengers Bangalore);
Best breakthrough performance 2008: Brendon McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders);
Best breakthrough performance 2009: Anil Kumble (Royal Challengers Bangalore);
Best fielder: AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils);
Best ground: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore;
Best stadium experience: DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai.

Viewers' Choice Awards:

Best catch: David Hussey (Kolkata Knight Riders);
Best batsman: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians);
Best captain: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians);
Best bowler: Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers);
Best commentator: Ravi Shastri;
Most stylish player: Robin Uthappa (Royal Challengers Bangalore);
Most fan-friendly cricketer: Adam Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers);
Best fielder: Suresh Raina (Chennai Super Kings).

Statistical Awards:

Most economical bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin (Chennai Super Kings);
Fastest hundred: Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan Royals);
Highest percentage of runs scored in boundaries: Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils)

IPL Captains' Award:
Indian cricketing legend I would want in my team: Kapil Dev.

Champions of Australian Open 2010

2010-02-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

Venue:

Melbourne Park, Australia

Duration:

Jan 18 to Jan 31 2010

Defending Champions of Australian Open 2009:

Rafael Nadal (Men’s Singles)
Serena Williams (Women’s Singles)
Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi (Mixed Doubles)
Bob and Mike Bryan (Men’s Doubles)
Serena and Venus Williams (Women’s Doubles)

Champions of Australian Open 2010:

Roger Federer beat Andy Murray (Men’s Singles)
Serena Williams beat Justine Henin (Women’s Singles)
Cara Black and Leander Paes beat beating E. Makarova and J. Levinsky (Mixed Doubles)
Bob and Mike Bryan beat D. Nestor and N. Zimonjic (Men’s Doubles)
Serena and Venus Williams beat Cara. Black and L. Huber (Women’s Doubles)

SACHIN TENDULKAR : THE REASON TO CHEER

2009-11-13T07:32:00.000-08:00

Sachin Tendulkar's five best innings in Test cricket :

http://sports.in.msn.com/cricket/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3211508

Best quotes on Sachin Tendulkar :

Best quotes on Sachin Tendulkar by various cricket legends like Matthew Hyden, Don Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar, Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell, Glenn McGrath, Brian Lara and many others.

http://sports.in.msn.com/cricket/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3349169

ICC WORLD CUP 2011 FIXTURES

2009-11-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

Sat Feb 19	1st match - India v Bangladesh Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Sun Feb 20	3rd match - Sri Lanka v Canada (Hambantota) Venue TBC

Sun Feb 20	2nd match - Kenya v New Zealand MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Mon Feb 21	4th match - Australia v Zimbabwe Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Tue Feb 22	5th match - England v Netherlands Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Wed Feb 23	6th match - Kenya v Pakistan (Hambantota) Venue TBC

Thu Feb 24	7th match - South Africa v West Indies Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Fri Feb 25	9th match - Bangladesh v Ireland Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Fri Feb 25	8th match - Australia v New Zealand Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Sat Feb 26	10th match - Pakistan v Sri Lanka (Colombo) Venue TBC

Sun Feb 27	11th match - India v England Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Mon Feb 28	12th match - Netherlands v West Indies Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Mon Feb 28	13th match - Canada v Zimbabwe Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Tue Mar 1	14th match - Kenya v Sri Lanka (Colombo) Venue TBC

Wed Mar 2	15th match - England v Ireland M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Thu Mar 3	17th match - Canada v Pakistan (Colombo) Venue TBC

Thu Mar 3	16th match - Netherlands v South Africa Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

Fri Mar 4	19th match - Bangladesh v West Indies Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Fri Mar 4	18th match - New Zealand v Zimbabwe Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Sat Mar 5	20th match - Australia v Sri Lanka (Colombo) Venue TBC

Sun Mar 6	21st match - India v Ireland M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Sun Mar 6	22nd match - England v South Africa MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Mon Mar 7	23rd match - Canada v Kenya Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Tue Mar 8	24th match - New Zealand v Pakistan (Pallekele) Venue TBC

Wed Mar 9	25th match - India v Netherlands Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Thu Mar 10	26th match - Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe (Pallekele) Venue TBC

Fri Mar 11	28th match - Bangladesh v England Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong

Fri Mar 11	27th match - Ireland v West Indies Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

Sat Mar 12	29th match - India v South Africa Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur

Sun Mar 13	30th match - Canada v New Zealand Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Sun Mar 13	31st match - Australia v Kenya M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Mon Mar 14	33rd match - Bangladesh v Netherlands Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong

Mon Mar 14	32nd match - Pakistan v Zimbabwe (Pallekele) Venue TBC

Tue Mar 15	34th match - Ireland v South Africa Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Wed Mar 16	35th match - Australia v Canada M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Thu Mar 17	36th match - England v West Indies MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Fri Mar 18	37th match - New Zealand v Sri Lanka Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Fri Mar 18	38th match - Ireland v Netherlands Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Sat Mar 19	40th match - Bangladesh v South Africa Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Sat Mar 19	39th match - Australia v Pakistan (Colombo) Venue TBC

Sun Mar 20	41st match - Kenya v Zimbabwe Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Sun Mar 20	42nd match - India v West Indies MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai

Wed Mar 23	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Thu Mar 24	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC (Colombo) Venue TBC

Fri Mar 25	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Sat Mar 26	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Tue Mar 29	Semi Final - TBC v TBC (Colombo) Venue TBC

Wed Mar 30	Semi Final - TBC v TBC Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh

Sat Apr 2	Final - TBC v TBC Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

SOCCER DIARIES

2009-10-30T09:13:00.001-07:00

World Cups!

Year	Host Nation(s)	Final
Year	Host Nation(s)	Winner	Runners-up
1930	Uruguay	Uruguay	Argentina
1934	Italy	Italy	Czechoslovakia
1938	France	Italy	Hungary
1950	Brazil	Uruguay	Brazil
1954	Switzerland	West Germany	Hungary
1958	Sweden	Brazil	Sweden
1962	Chile	Brazil	Czechoslovakia
1966	England	England	West Germany
1970	Mexico	Brazil	Italy
1974	West Germany	West Germany	Netherlands
1978	Argentina	Argentina	Netherlands
1982	Spain	Italy	West Germany
1986	Mexico	Argentina	West Germany
1990	Italy	West Germany	Argentina
1994	USA	Brazil	Italy
1998	France	France	Brazil
2002	South Korea & Japan	Brazil	Germany
2006	Germany	Italy	France

Lets look at the above chart in quiz form!

Q1. Which country has won maximum World Cups?
A : Brazil has won 5 World Cups followed by Italy who have won 4.

Q2. Which country has been runners-up at the World Cups the most times?
A : Germany has been runners-up the most times, numerically 4 times.

Q3. Which country hosted and won the first World Cup?
A3. Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2.

Q4. How many World Cups have been organized till date?
A : Eighteen

Q5. In which World Cup, there World Champions were declared without a final match being played?
A : The 1950 World Cup. The tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). Uruguay's 2-1 victory over Brazil was the decisive match which put them ahead in points.

Q6. When was a World Cup match first televised?
A : 1954

Q7. From which World Cup onwards FIFA introduced an official mascot for the tournament? Which was the first mascot?
A : From the 1966 World Cup. World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the first World Cup Mascot.

Q8. How many countries have at least played a World Cup Match?
A : 75 countries have at least played in a World Cup. 7 countries(Brazil, Argentina, Italy, France, England, Germany and Uruguay) have won at least one World Cup.

Q9. How many countries have won consecutive World Cups?
A : Only Brazil and Italy have won consecutive World Cups.

Q10. Why was the World Cup not organized in 1942 and 1946?
A : Due to the World War!

Q11. Which country has played in every World Cup organized by FIFA?
A : Brazil

Q12. Where will the 2010 and 2014 World Cups be held?
A : In South Africa(the first African team to organize the World Cup) and Brazil respectively.

Q13. Where, when and who played the first ever international football match?
A : It was played in Glasgow between England and Scotland in 1872.

Q14. When was FIFA formed?
A : 1904

Q15. Which country is an exception to the unwritten rule of adding a star to its crest for each World Cup won?
A : Uruguay has four stars even though it has won only 2 World Cups. The other 2 stars are for the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics victories.

Q16. Which was the first World Cup Match ever played?
A : 2 matches ( France v/s Mexico and USA v/s Belgium) took place simultaneously on 18th July, 1930.

Q 17. Which FIFA president played an important role in setting up the first World Cup?
A : Jules Rimet. The World Cup trophy which was originally called the Coup de Monde was renamed after Jules Rimet as the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1970.

Q18. Who designed the new World Cup trophy after 1970.
A : The Italian designer, Silvio Gazzaniga.

Q19. How many countries are expected to attempt at qualifying for World Cup 2010?
A : 204

Q20. Which country has the most appearance in a World Cup Final?
A : Brazil and Germany, (7 each).

The Underarm Bowling Incident of 1981

2009-10-30T09:06:00.001-07:00

The Underarm bowling incident of 1981 occurred on 1 Feb, 1981, when Australia were playing New Zealand in an ODI match, the third of five such matches in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup, at the MCC. In order to prevent New Zealand from scoring the 6 they needed to tie, the Australian captain, Greg Chappell instructed his bowler (his younger brother, Trevor Chappell) to deliver the last ball underarm, along the ground to prevent the Number 10 New Zealand batsman (Brian McKechnie) hitting a six from the last ball to tie the match. This action was technically legal, but seen as being unsporting.

As the ball was being bowled, Ian Chappell (older brother of Greg and Trevor, and a former Australia player) who was commentating on the match, was heard to call out "No, Greg, no, you can't do that" in an instinctive reaction to the incident, and he remained critical in a later newspaper article on the incident. Australia won the game, but were booed off the field by spectators. The New Zealand batsmen walked off in disgust, McKechnie throwing his bat to the ground in frustration. Ironically, McKechnie was censured for bringing the game of cricket into disrepute by doing so.

Brian McKechnie bears no ill will over the incident, but both Chappell brothers have publicly stated their embarrassment over the incident and almost thirty years later are still reluctant to discuss it. Unfortunately for Trevor Chappell, the "Underarm '81" incident remains what he is best remembered for.

CRICKET LAWS - 2

2009-10-29T09:05:00.001-07:00

There are 42 Laws (designed by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) ) that outline how the gentleman's game of cricket needs to be played.
The first 12 Laws are as follows:

Law 1
A cricket team consists of eleven players, including a captain.

Law 2
An injured fielder can be substituted. However, a substitute may not bat, bowl, keep wicket or act as captain. The original player may return if he has recovered. A batsman who becomes unable to run may have a runner, who completes the runs while the batsman continues batting. Alternatively, a batsman may retire hurt or ill, and may return later to resume his innings if he recovers.

Law 3
There are two umpires, who apply the Laws, make all necessary decisions, and relay the decisions to the scorers. The third umpire is not required under the laws of cricket.

Law 4
There are two scorers who respond to the umpires' signals and keep the score.

Law 5
A cricket ball is between 8 13/16 & 9 inches (22.4 cm and 22.9 cm) in circumference, and weighs between 5.5 and 5.75 ounces (155.9g and 163g). Only one ball is used at a time, unless it is lost, when it is replaced with a ball of similar wear. It is also replaced at the start of each innings, and may, at the request of the fielding side, be replaced with a new ball, after a certain number of overs have been bowled (80 in Test matches, 34 in ODIs).

Law 6
The bat is no more than 38 inches (97 cm) in length, and no more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm) wide. The hand or glove holding the bat is considered part of the bat. The bat has to be made of wood.

Law 7
The pitch is a rectangular area of the ground 22 yards (20 m) long and 10 ft (3.0 m) wide. The Ground Authority selects and prepares the pitch, but once the game has started, the umpires control what happens to the pitch. Professional cricket is almost always played on a grass surface. However, in the event a non-turf pitch is used, the artificial surface must have a minimum length of 58 ft (18 m) and a minimum width of 6 ft (1.8 m).

Law 8
The wicket consists of three wooden stumps that are 28 inches (71 cm) tall. The stumps are placed along the batting crease with equal distances between each stump. They are positioned so they are 9 inches (23 cm) wide. Two wooden bails are placed on top of the stumps. The bails must not project more than 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) above the stumps, and must, for men's cricket, be 4⁵⁄₁₆ inches (10.95 cm) long.

Law 9
Each bowling crease should be 8 feet 8 inches (2.6 m) in length, centred on the middle stump at each end, and each bowling crease terminates at one of the return creases. The popping crease, which determines whether a batsman is in his ground or not, and which is used in determining front-foot no balls (see law 24), is drawn at each end of the pitch in front of each of the two sets of stumps. The popping crease must be 4 feet (1.2 m) in front of and parallel to the bowling crease.The return creases, which are the lines a bowler must be within when making a delivery, are drawn on each side of each set of the stumps, along each sides of the pitch (so there are four return creases in all, one on either side of both sets of stumps).The return creases lie perpendicular to the popping crease and the bowling crease, 4 feet 4 inches (1.3 m) either side of and parallel to the imaginary line joining the centres of the two middle stumps. Each return crease terminates at one end at the popping crease but the other end is considered to be unlimited in length and must be marked to a minimum of 8 feet (2.4 m) from the popping crease.

Law 10
This law sets down rules governing how pitches should be prepared, mown, rolled, etc.

Law 11
The laws requires pitches to be covered wherever possible when there is wet weather.

Law 12
Before the game, the teams agree whether it is to be over one or two innings, and whether either or both innings are to be limited by time or by overs. In two-innings games, the sides bat alternately unless the follow-on (law 13) is enforced. An innings is closed once all batsmen are dismissed, no further batsmen are fit to play, the innings is declared or forfeited by the batting captain, or any agreed time or over limit is reached. The captain winning the toss of a coin decides whether to bat or to bowl first.

Law 13
For a game of five or more days, the side batting first must be at least 200 runs ahead to enforce the follow-on; for a three- or four-day game, 150 runs; for a two-day game, 100 runs; for a one-day game, 75 runs. The length of the game is determined by the number of scheduled days play left when the game actually begins.

Law 14
The batting captain can declare an innings closed at any time when the ball is dead. He may also forfeit his innings before it has started.

Law 15
There are intervals between each day's play, a ten-minute interval between innings, and lunch, tea and drinks intervals. The timing and length of the intervals must be agreed before the match begins. There are also provisions for moving the intervals and interval lengths in certain situations, most notably the provision that if nine wickets are down, the tea interval is delayed to the earlier of the fall of the next wicket and 30 minutes elapsing.

Law 16
Play after an interval commences with the umpire's call of "Play", and at the end of a session by "Time". The last hour of a match must contain at least 20 overs, being extended in time so as to include 20 overs if necessary.

Law 17
There may be no batting or bowling practice on the pitch except before the day's play starts and after the day's play has ended. Bowlers may only have trial run-ups if the umpires are of the view that it would waste no time.

Law 18
Runs are scored when the two batsmen run to each other's end of the pitch. Several runs can be scored from one ball.

Law 19
A boundary is marked round the edge of the field of play. If the ball is hit past this boundary, four runs are scored, or six runs if the ball didn't hit the ground before crossing the boundary.

Law 20
If a ball in play is lost or cannot be recovered, the fielding side can call "lost ball". The batting side keeps any penalty runs (such as no-balls and wides) and scores the higher of six runs and the number of runs actually run.

Law 21
The side which scores the most runs wins the match. If both sides score the same number of runs, the match is tied. However, the match may run out of time before the innings have all been completed. In this case, the match is drawn.

Law 22
An over consists of six balls bowled, excluding wides and no balls. Consecutive overs are delivered from opposite ends of the pitch. A bowler may not bowl two consecutive overs.

Law 23
The ball comes into play when the bowler begins his run up, and becomes dead when all the action from that ball is over. While the ball is dead, no runs can be scored and no batsmen can be dismissed. The ball also becomes dead when a batsman is dismissed.

Law 24
A ball can be a no ball for several reasons: if the bowler bowls from the wrong place; or if he straightens his elbow during the delivery; or if the bowling is dangerous; or if the ball bounces more than twice or rolls along the ground before reaching the batsman; or if the fielders are standing in illegal places. A no ball adds one run to the batting team's score, in addition to any other runs which are scored off it, and the batsman can't be dismissed off a no ball except by being run out, or by handling the ball, hitting the ball twice, or obstructing the field.

Law 25
An umpire calls a ball "wide" if, in his or her opinion, the batsman did not have a reasonable opportunity to score off the ball. A ball is called wide when the bowler bowls a bouncer that goes over the head of the batsman. A wide adds one run to the batting team's score, in addition to any other runs which are scored off it, and the batsman can't be dismissed off a wide except by being run out or stumped, or by handling the ball, hitting his wicket, or obstructing the field.

Law 26
If a ball that isn't a no ball or wide passes the striker and runs are scored, they are called byes. If a ball that isn't a no ball hits the striker but not the bat and runs are scored, they are called leg-byes. However, leg-byes cannot be scored if the striker is neither attempting a stroke nor trying to avoid being hit. Byes and leg-byes are credited to the team's but not the batsman's total.

Law 27
If the fielders believe a batsman is out, they may ask the umpire "How's That?", commonly shouted emphatically with arms raised, before the next ball is bowled. The umpire then decides whether the batsman is out.

Law 28
Several methods of being out occur when the wicket is put down. This means that the wicket is hit by the ball, or the batsman, or the hand in which a fielder is holding the ball, and at least one bail is removed.

Law 29
The batsmen can be run out or stumped if they are out of their ground. A batsman is in his ground if any part of him or his bat is on the ground behind the popping crease. If both batsman are in the middle of the pitch when a wicket is put down, the batsman closer to that end is out.

Law 30
A batsman is out if his wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler. It is irrelevant whether the ball has touched the bat, glove, or any part of the batsman before going on to put down the wicket, though it may not touch another player or an umpire before doing so.

Law 31
An incoming batsman must be ready to face a ball (or be at the crease with his partner ready to face a ball) within 2 minutes of the outgoing batsman being dismissed, otherwise the incoming batsman will be out.

Law 32
If a ball hits the bat or the hand holding the bat and is then caught by the opposition within the field of play before the ball bounces, then the batsman is out.

Law 33
If a batsman wilfully handles the ball with a hand that is not touching the bat without the consent of the opposition, he is out.

Law 34
If a batsman hits the ball twice, other than for the sole purpose of protecting his wicket or with the consent of the opposition, he is out.

Law 35
If, after the bowler has entered his delivery stride and while the ball is in play, a batsman puts his wicket down by his bat or his person he is out. The striker is also out hit wicket if he puts his wicket down by his bat or his person in setting off for a first run. "Person" includes the clothes and equipment of the batsman.

Law 36
If the ball hits the batsman without first hitting the bat, but would have hit the wicket if the batsman was not there, and the ball does not pitch on the leg side of the wicket the batsman will be out. However, if the ball strikes the batsman outside the line of the off-stump, and the batsman was attempting to play a stroke, he is not out.

Law 37
If a batsman willfully obstructs the opposition by word or action, he is out.

Law 38
A batsman is out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing side.

Law 39
A batsman is out when the wicket-keeper (see Law 40) puts down the wicket, while the batsman is out of his crease and not attempting a run.

Law 40
Related to the wicket-keeper

Law 41
Related to the fielder

Law 42
Related to fair and unfair play.

CRICKET FACTS - 1

2009-10-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

WORLD CUPS

Year Host Nation(s) Final Winner Runners-up
1975 England West Indies Australia
1979 England West Indies England
1983 England India West Indies
1987 Inda & Pakistan Australia England
1992 Australia & New Zealand Pakistan England
1996 India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Australia
1999 England, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands Australia Pakistan
2003 Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe Australia India
2007 West Indies Australia Sri Lanka
2011 India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh TBD TBD
2015 Australia & New Zealand TBD TBD
2019 England TBD TBD

quiz!

Q1. Who organizes the Cricket World Cup Tournament?
A : ICC (The International Cricket Council)

Q2. When was the first international cricket tournament played and between whom?
A : It was played between Canada and the United States, on the 24th and 25th of September 1844. However, the first credited Test Match was played in 1877 between Australia & England and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years. South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889.

Q3. What was the first three World Cups called and why?
A : The first three World Cups were held in England and officially known as the Prudential Cup after the sponsors Prudential PLC.(60 over innings, white uniforms, red balls)

Q4. Which teams participated in the first World Cup Tournament?
A : The six Test playing nations then (Australia, England, West Indies, India, Pakistan and New Zealand), Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa. South Africa was banned due to apartheid.

Q5. How many teams are participating for the World Cup 2011?
A : Fourteen.

Q6. Name the only two mascots for the world cups?
A : Dazzler, the zebra was the mascot for World Cup 2003. Mello, an orange-raccoon like creature was the mascot for World Cup 2007.

Q7. How many nations have qualified for the World Cup at least once?
A : Nineteen.

Q8. Since when was the "Man of the Tournament Award" given at the World Cups?
A : Since 1992
Year Player Performance details
1992 New Zealand Martin Crowe 456 runs
1996 Sri Lanka Sanath Jayasuriya 221 runs and 7 wickets
1999 South Africa Lance Klusener 281 runs and 17 wickets
2003 India Sachin Tendulkar 673 runs and 2 wickets
2007 Australia Glenn McGrath 26 wickets

Q9. Who has scored the most runs in World Cup History?
A : Sachin Tendulkar (1796)

Q10. Who has taken the most wickets in World Cup History?
A : Glenn McGrath(71)

Q11. Which team has been most successful at the World Cups?
A : Australia (4 World Cups out of 9).

Q12. What are the highest and the lowest team scores at the World Cups?
A : India v/s Bermuda (413/5) in 2007 being the highest and Canada v/s Sri Lanka (36/10) in 2003 being the lowest.

Q13. What is the highest individual score at the World Cups?
A : Gary Kirsten (South Africa) scoring 188* against the UAE.

Q14. What is the best bowling figures by a bowler at the World Cups?
A : Glenn McGrath (Australia) with a 7/15 against Namibia.

GENERAL AWARENESS - 4

2009-10-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

151. 'Lawsons Bay Beach' and 'Ramakrishna Beach' are located in which port city on the Bay of Bengal --> Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
152. Which ancient Indian physician is known as the 'Father of Modern Plastic Surgery' --> Sushruta
153. Who directed Oscar award winning short documentary film 'Smile Pinki' (2008) --> Megan Mylan
154. On which planet, due to its clockwise (east to west) rotation on the axis, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east --> Venus
155. By what name is British lady Madeleine Slade, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, better known --> Meera Ben
156. For his major role in the development of computer chip 'Pentium', which Indian IT expert is called the 'Father of Pentium' --> Vinod Dham
157. Pinaka, the multi barrel rocket launcher produced in India, is named after which Hindu God's bow --> Shiva
158. Which disease, named after a Japanese city where it was first observed, is caused by severe Mercury poisoning --> Minimata
159. Name the bird than can imitate human speech better than a parrot --> The hill myna
160. Which river forms the marble falls --> Narmada
161. Which river is called ‘Bihar’s river of sorrow’ --> Kosi
162. Which is the oldest dam in India --> The Grand Anicut across the Coleroom River
163. Who designed the bhakra dam --> Henry Slokan
164. Who was known as the ‘Thug hunter’ in history --> William Sleeman
165. Who has earned the title of ’India’s cataract king’ --> Dr. M. C. Modi
166. Murli Dhar Devidas is the original name of which well known social worker --> Baba Amte
167. What is the original name of Mother Teresa --> Agnes Gonxha Bejaxhiu
168. Name the English man, who is called ‘Father of Calcutta’ --> Job Charnock
169. Who is called the ‘first lady of Indian screen’ --> Nargis Dutt
170. Which English man helped to form the INC --> Allan Octavian Hume
171. In which year The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was established --> 1956
172. The first American president who resigned Presidency was --> Richard Nixon
173. Where is Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management --> Shillong
174. The " liberty , equality and fraternity " enshrined by Preamble is inspired by which revolution --> French Revolution
175. Which organ in herbivorous animals helps in digestion of starch through bacteria --> Caecum
176. Rennin enzyme is secreted in --> Stomach
177. Heiroglyphic Writing is a part of which ancient civilization --> Egyptian
178. Which instrument is used to listen and record underwater sounds --> Hydrophone
179. Vedic mythology refers to an ancient settlement called Pushkalavati after Pushkal who was the son of King Bharata in the epic Ramayana. What is the modern location of Pushkalavati --> Peshawar (in Pakistan)
180. Baffin Island is located in which ocean --> Pacific Ocean
181. Karl Pearson is related to which branch of Mathematics --> Statistics
182. Whose had original name " Mula Shanakar" --> Swami Dayanand Saraswati
183. In which year "Gandhi" got Oscar Award --> 1982
184. Where is located the Airforce Academy --> Hyderabad
185. What is the currency of Mexico --> Peso
186. Which is the highest civilian award in India --> Bharat Ratna
187. Which is the highest honour forsports in India --> Rajev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
188. Which is true about the trade agreements SAFTA & SAPTA? (SAFTA- South Asian Free Trade Area & SAPTA- SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement) --> SAFTA, came into being on 1 January 2006 replacing SAPTA
189. Dunkel Proposals are related to which of the following rounds of GATT --> Uruguay Round
190. SAARC has designated the decade 2001-2010 as --> SAARC Decade of the Rights of the Child
191. Which of the following country backed out the 16th SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in 2009 expressing its inability to arrange the gathering due to the current economic recession --> Maldives , It was scheduled to be held in Male this year
192. India has requested membership in APEC, and received initial support from the United States, Japan and Australia but was not admitted because of the 10 year moratorium imposed in 1997. This moratorium was prolonged till which year later on --> 2010
193. Which among the following ratios correctly denotes Money Multiplier --> M3: M0
194. Which among the following is an alternate word used for " Buyer's Monopoly" --> Monopsony
195. katrina, Ike, Andrew, Wilma are the names of --> Tropical Cyclones
196. A mountain range which extends along the southern margin of Eurasia. Stretching from Java to Sumatra through the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and out into the Atlantic is called --> Alpide Range
197. What is the name of the mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together --> Altai Mountains, also called as onion range
198. Arete,Cirque, Groove, Moraines, Flood planes etc are the landforms associated with --> Erosion Activity
199. What does an "Epicenter" of an earthquake means --> point at ground level directly above the point of initial rupture. point of initial rupture is called Hypocenter
200. In which country Chukha Valley project is located --> Bhutan

NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS 2009

2009-10-10T20:33:00.001-07:00

I. Literature

Herta Müller (German)

Profile:

She is a German novelist, born in Romanian. She has been awarded for her poetic and prose writings. She writes about the hardships faced under Communist Romania, the history of the Germans in Banat, and the persecution of Romanian ethnic Germans by Stalinist Soviet occupying forces in Romania.

II. Physics

1. Charles Kao

Profile:

A Chinese physicist who proposed using fibre optics in telecommunications. He is also called the father of fibre optic communications

2. Willard Boyle

Profile:

He is a Canadian physicist who co-invented the charge-coupled device (CCDs) used in digitizing images (scanners, cameras etc use CCDs).

3. George Smith

Profile:

He is an American scientist who co-invented CCDs with Willard Boyle at Bell Labs in 1969.

III. Medicine

1. Elizabeth Blackburn:

Australia born American Scientist. She Conducted ground-breaking research on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and cell division that has provided a new line of inquiry into the chemical bases of life. She helped in discovery of a key enzyme, telomerase, which is necessary for chromosomes to make copies of themselves before cell division. This discovery will have lasting impact on cancer cure.

2. Carol W Greider

An Americam molecular biologist at the Johns Hopkins University. She helped co-discover telomerase, an enzyme that maintains the length and integrity of telomeres.

3. Jack W. Szostak

London born Canadian A biologist and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He was awarded for his contributions to the field of genetics.

IV. Chemistry

1. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Born in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India, He is a structural biologist at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical Research Council located in Cambridge, England. He has Citizenship of United States.

2. Thomas A. Steitz

He is a Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University in the USA

3. Ada E. Yonath

She is an Israeli crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosome. She is the director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

V. Peace

Barack Obama

He is the current President of the USA. He was awarded for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples

INDIAN POLITY AND CONSTITUTION - 2

2009-08-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

51. Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People , is under which article --> 330
52. What is the term of a member of Rajya Sabha --> 6 Years
53. Right to equality is an important right provided for in which Articles of the constitution --> 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18
54. Which article of the constitution abolishes the practice of untouchability --> Article 17
55. The right to freedom in Article 19 guarantees the how many freedoms --> 6
56. The right against exploitation, given in Articles 23 and 24, provides for two provisions, namely the abolition of trafficking in human beings and --> Begar or Forced Labour
57. Freedom of press" has been included in the right to freedom. True / false --> False
58. Which articles provide fundamental rights to Indian Citizen --> Article 12-35
59. Which act deprived the Company of its Indian trade monopoly except for trade in tea and the trade with China --> Charter act of 1813
60. In which amendment fundamental duties were added --> 42nd amendment
61. Fundamental duties don't enjoy any legal sanction. True or false --> True
62. The form of the government was borrowed from which country by law makers of India --> England
63. What the lawmakers of India have borrowed from Canada --> Scheme of federation
64. In India, a tax on Agricultural revenue can be levied by …? State / centre/ both / none --> State
65. In India education is a …… ? Class privilege / fundamental right/ qualification for political office/ legal obligation --> legal obligation
66. Who performs the duty of president on his / her absence --> vice-president
67. Who among the members of legislative assembly / parliament has been given a weightage in election of president --> none, a parity has been maintained between states as a whole and union
68. What can be the maximum number of members of the Lok Sabha --> 550
69. What was the total strength of the Lok Sabha, When 1st general election held in India --> 489
70. Parliament consists of President of India and the two Houses of Parliament known as Council of States (Rajya Sabha) and House of the People (Lok Sabha). Which article says this --> Article 79
71. The President is elected by the members of an electoral college . What does electoral college consist --> Elected members of both the Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of States and the Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry
72. A President is eligible for re-election to that office. Which article says this --> Article 57
73. In the election of president of India, MLA's of different states have same number / different number of votes --> different
74. In the event of non enforcement of directive principals of the state by the government, a citizen can move to supreme court / high court /district court --> none of the court
75. Under which articles, cultural & educational rights have been discussed --> 29 and 30
76. What does "we" mean in the constitution of India --> The people of India
77. Who holds the ultimate sovereignty in the Indian Polity --> people of India
78. Who controls the executive in a parliamentary form of democracy --> Legislature
79. On what base, the states have representation in the Rajya Sabha --> Population
80. Is Indian constitution rigid --> No
81. In which house among the Rajya Sabha and Loksabha the presiding officer is not member of the house --> Rajya Sabha
82. In Recommending creation of new all India services, which house enjoys exclusive right --> Rajya Sabha
83. In which situation can the president promulgate an ordinance --> when parliament not in session
84. cabinet Mission to India was in which year --> 1946
85. Which mission aimed to discuss and finalize plans for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership, providing India with independence under Dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations --> The British Cabinet Mission of 1946 to India
86. Right to vote is a --> Political Right
87. In which year first session of Loksabha held --> 1952
88. President can proclaim a state of emergency under which article --> Article 352
89. When was election commission of India established --> January 25, 1950 (under Article 324 of Constitution of India)
90. What are the four pillars of the Indian Constitution --> Election Commission,Supreme Court (SC) of India, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)
91. Who elects appoints Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners --> President
92. What is the tenure of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners --> six years, or up to the age of 65 years and 62 years respectively, whichever is earlier
93. How the Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office --> only through impeachment by Parliament
94. How Other Election Commissioners may be removed --> by the President on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner
95. What is the maximum permissible time gap between two sessions of parliament --> 6 months
96. Who is responsible for devising the best ways to utilize available resources of States --> Zonal council
97. Who supervises the Lok Sabha secretariat --> Lok Sabha Speaker
98. Which is a permanent house os state --> State legislative council
99. A judge of supreme court , who wishes to relinquish his job before expiry of his term will address his resignation to --> President
100.A judge of supreme court can be removed from his/her office by president on the basis of a resolution passed by --> 2/3 majority of Both Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha

CHANDRAYAN - 1

2009-07-17T07:48:00.001-07:00

1. It is India's first mission to the moon.

2. Includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor.

3. Launched by a modified version of the PSLV-C11

4. Launched On 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

5. It is a remote sensing satellite

6. Weight: 1,308 kilograms (590 kilograms initial orbit mass and 504 kilograms dry mass)

7. Mission Period: Over a two-years

8. Mission Cost: The estimated cost for the project is Rs. 3.86 billion.

9. Aim: Survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain ice.

10. Payloads: The mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which are being carried free of cost.

With the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1, India became the sixth nation to send a mission to the moon. According to the chairman of ISRO, G Madhavan Nair the launch of India's lunar spacecraft was prefect and precise. The spacecraft is reported to have carried an Indian flag which will be place on moon surface when it will land on moon during its operation.

India Also plans to Launch Chandrayaan-II by 2010.

BHARAT RATNA AWARD

2009-07-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

Bharat Ratna is India's highest civilian award. We have some information that will help you prepare for the various Entrance and Recruitment Exams.

Some Facts:

The award is conferred to the People who make great contribution in the field of art, literature, and science, and social service.
The award was started by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, on January 2, 1954.
The honour has been awarded to forty persons.
Two non-Indians and a naturalized Indian citizen are among the awardees.
With 8 honours each Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are the states with the most number of awardees.
The award is designed in the shape of a "peepul leaf" and with words "Bharat Ratna" written on it. The reverse side of the medal carries the state emblem and motto.
The award to Subhash Chandra Bose (1992) was withdrawn
The award was briefly suspended from July 13, 1977 to January 26, 1980.
No one has been awarded Bharat Ratna since 2001.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was awarded Bharat Ratna in 2008

S.No	Recipient	Year
1	Lata Mangeshkar	2001
2	Ustad Bismillah Khan	2001
3	Pandit Ravi Shankar	1999
4	Amartya Sen	1999
5	Gopinath Bordoloi	1999
6	M. S. Subbulakshmi	1998
7	Chidambaram Subramaniam	1998
8	Jayaprakash Narayan	1998
9	A.P.J. Abdul Kalam	1997
10	Gulzarilal Nanda	1997
11	Aruna Asaf Ali	1997
12	Maulana Abul Kalam Azad	1992
13	J. R. D. Tata	1992
14	Satyajit Ray	1992
15	Rajiv Gandhi	1991
16	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	1991
17	Morarji Desai	1991
18	B. R. Ambedkar	1990
19	Nelson Mandela	1990
20	M. G. Ramachandran	1988
21	Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan	1987
22	Acharya Vinoba Bhave	1983
23	Mother Teresa	1980
24	K. Kamaraj	1976
25	V. V. Giri	1975
26	Indira Gandhi	1971
27	Lal Bahadur Shastri	1966
28	Dr. Zakir Hussain	1963
29	Pandurang Vaman Kane	1963
30	Dr. Rajendra Prasad	1962
31	Dr. B. C. Roy	1961
32	Purushottam Das Tandon	1961
33	Dhondo Keshav Karve	1958
34	Govind Ballabh Pant	1957
35	Bhagwan Das	1955
36	Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya	1955
37	Jawaharlal Nehru	1955
38	Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	1954
39	Chakravarti Rajagopalachari	1954
40	Sir C. V. Raman	1954

NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS FROM INDIA

2009-07-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Field: Literature
For: Gitanjali (His collection of Poems, English version, published in 1912)
Year: 1913

He was first Asian to win Nobel Prize
He wrote our National Anthem (Later translated into English and is known as morning song of India)
He founded Shanti Niketan, which later became VishwaBharati University
He also wrote the National Anthem of Bangladesh "Amar Sonar Bangla (My Bengal of gold)".

Sir C.V. Raman (Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman) (1888 - 1970)
Field: Physics
For: "RAMAN" effect (Scattering of Light)
Year: 1930

He was the first Asian scientist to win the Nobel Prize.
He also received Bharat Ratna and Lenin Peace Prize.
He founded Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr. Hargobind Khorana (1922 - )
Field: Medicine and Physiology
For: Genetic Study
Year: 1968

He produced the first artificial gene in his laboratory.
He shared the Nobel Prize with Marshall Nuremberg and Robert Holley.

Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)
Field: Peace
For: Exemplary Charity and Social Service
Year: 1979

Born in Skoplje, Yugoslavia (then Turkey)
Original Name: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
Founded Missionaries Of Charity in Calcutta.
Received Bharat Ratna Award in 1980
Receive Magsaysay Award in 1962.

Dr. Subramaniam Chandrasekar (1910 - 2000)
Field: Physics
For: his work on stars and their evolution (Chandrasekhar's Limit).
Year: 1983

The space telescope Chandra launched by NASA was named after him.
He also served as the Governor of Maharashtra
He received Bharat Ratna in 1998

Dr. Amartya Sen
Field: Economics
For: Mathematical Solution to "Arrow's Impossibility Theorem"
Year: 1998
There are some more Nobel Laureates who are related to India but are not Indians.

V.S. Naipaul, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (1932- )
[British writer of Indian origin]
Field: Literature
Year: 2001

Rajendra K. Pachauri (1940 - )
For: Peace and Environment Conservation
Year: 2007

He accepted the prize on behalf of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as he was the chairman.
He shared the award with Al Gore, Vice President of USA

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 9

2009-07-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

401. The mid day meal programme provides meals with specific nutritional value to the children at primary stage as well as secondary stage. What is the

nutritional value at primary stage --> 450 calories & 12 gm Protein
402. The mid day meal programme provides meals with specific nutritional value to the children at primary stage as well as secondary stage. What is the

nutritional value at secondary stage --> 700 calories & 20 gm protein
403. In the " Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education Scheme" which is a centrally sponsored programme, what facility is provided to the eligible girls
--> A sum of Rs. 3000 deposited in her account which she may withdraw at the age of 18
404. Geeta Mukherjee Committee is related to --> Women Reservation in parliament
405. Because of his contribution in the analysis of the impact of economies of scale in international trade he was conferred with Nobel Prize in Economics in

2008. Who was he --> Paul Krugman
406. Saina Nehwal who scripted history on June 21 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament after clinching the Indonesia Open is also

the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. In which year she won World Junior Badminton Championships --> 2008
407. Who has recently won Laureus World Sportsman Award --> Usain Bolt
408. Ram Pradhan Committee is related to --> 26/11 Mumbai attack
409. In the Union Budget 2009-10, which form has been announced to simplify the taxation process --> Saral II
410. Allocation Under NREGS was stepped up to Rs. 39100 crore in the Union Budget 2009-10. hOW MUCH amount was increased from the allocation of 2008-09 -->

By 144%
411. Which of the following taxes has been introduced with effect from April 1, 2010 --> Goods and Services Tax (GST)
412. In the Union Budget 2009-10 , the highest subsidy allocation has been announced for --> Food
413. To ensure every rural house hold has a solar cooker and a solar lantern, the Economic survey of 2008-09 has recommended that --> Phase out kerosene

supply subsidy
414. The authorized enquiry for Indian Railway has recently introduced the facility of Railway enquiry through SMS which is a premium service " Rail

Sampark". What is the number --> 139
415. M.V. Nair has been elected Chairman of Indian Banks' Association (IBA) for 2009-10 by the Management Committee of IBA. He is Chairman & Managing

Director of --> Union Bank of India
416. Pascal Lamy has been unanimously re-elected director-general of the World Trade Organization for a second term of four years by the organization's 153

member states. He belongs to --> France
417. Recently Google has announced to develop a light computer operating system devoted to using the World Wide Web. What is the name of this Operating

System --> Google Chrome OS
418. Which steel majors has recently appointed consultancy majors McKinsey and Ernst & Young to assist its top five polluting companies reduce their carbon

footprint --> Tata
419. A news recently stated " India might be able to secure full membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body formed to

tackle money laundering and terrorist financing". This may happen by the end of --> 2010
420. Recently Global Enabling Trade Report 2009 was released by the World Economic Forum which measures and analyses factors enabling trade in 121

industrialized and emerging economies of the world. India was placed on ______place in this list? (July 8, 2009) --> 76th
421. As per the above report , which country is the world's most trade-friendly nation --> Singapore
422. Recently , the "Uppada Jamdani" sarees have been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) registration in India. They are specialty of --> Andhra

Pradesh
423. Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who met recently on the sidelines of G-8/G-5 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, resolved

to take the lead in tackling the vital issue of --> Climate Change
424. Among Dr. Amartya Sen,L N Mittal, Indra Nooyi & Dr. Narayana Murthy, who is not in the members of a high-level panel headed by PM Manmohan Singh

constituted to advise the government to draw upon experience of the best Indian minds abroad for a two-way engagement --> Dr. N R Narayana Murthy
425. In order to modernize THIS industry the finance minister has increased the allocation to the Technology Up gradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) by 188 per cent

to Rs 3,140 crore (Rs 31.40 billion) for 2009-10. Which industry --> Textile
426. As per the recent announcement of the government in the Union Budget , the farmers who pay their dues in time will get loans at a subsidized interest

rate of --> 6%
427. Giving relief to individual taxpayers, the government in the Union Budget 2009-10 has raised the income tax exemption limit by --> Rs 10,000 for general

taxpayers, and by Rs 15,000 for senior citizens
428. In Budget 2009-10, the defense services have been allocated Rs 1,41,703 crore for 2009-10. It was a hike of _% from 2008-09 budgetary allocation --> 34%
429. Goods and Services Tax -- GST, is a comprehensive tax levy on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services at which level --> National Level
430. Which drug company has created a vaccine for H1N1 flu --> Novartis
431. Russia is all willing to help the US in its war in Afghanistan. What is Russia willing to do --> Help with weapons and missiles
432. A riot broke out between Hindus and Muslims because someone threw a dead pig into a Mosque construction site. Where did this occur --> Mysore
433. Why does the International Criminal Court (ICC) want the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir --> War crimes in Darfur
434. Who recently quit his board of directors position to join the Government --> Nandan Nilkeni
435. This country said its going to spend $1.6bn on ‘war’ nations. One of the reasons being to raise the government ‘s profile on global development. Name

the country. --> United Kingdom
436. Which company raised 905 Crore in order to settle its debt pile of Rs 7,500 crore, part of which will go to pay loans taken towards the acquisition of

Whyte and Mackay --> United Spirits Limited
437. The 2009 budget may have been Pranab Mukherjee’s budget but which finance minister has bought forth the most in number --> P. Chidambaram
438. This company the leader in its segment plans to build 25 plants by 2010. Name it --> Bisleri
439. What major step did India take in connection with homosexuality issue in India --> Made section 377 more stringent
440. Two servicemen were killed in the on going operation called Panther’s Claw in Helmand, Afghanistan. Which country’s operation is this --> UNITED KINGDOM
442. A major offensive called Operation Strike of the Sword has been launched on Afghanistan by --> UNITED STATES
443. Which country assumed the EU Presidency for 2009 --> Sweden
444. he United States and Russia signed an agreement recently to --> Reduce Nuclear Stock piles
445. Which popular site was sold to Global Gaming Factory after the founders were jailed and fined for copyright infringement --> piratebay.com
446. The project grew out of 9/11, and was designed to show the tolerant and peaceful face of Islam. It is now a successful comic Name it. --> THE 99
447. On grounds of privacy of ‘the individual’ the BT Group took a stand. What did the British Telecommunication company do that resulted in 40% drop of the company Phorm --> Not allowing 3rd party access to invidual database
448. Reebok has started a new fitness chain called Jukari Fit to Fly. Who is it partnering with --> Cirque Du Soleil
449. China’s government again took all necessary steps to broadcast its version of the riots. IT blocked all micro blogging sites and search engines. Where did the riots occur --> Xinjiang
450. Stocks of this fish have declined by as much as 90 per cent in some waters according to the World Wildlife Fund. Japanese scientists are all set to breed a version that would be better that the ‘bluefin’. Which fish is being talked about here --> Tuna

ICC CRICKET WOLRD CUP 2011 LOGO AND TROPHY UNVIELED IN MUMBAI

2009-07-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 8

2009-07-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

351. Sri Lankan President Mr. Mahindra Rajpaksha urged the south Asian Countries in The SAARC council held in Colombo in February 2009 for an immediate and collective response to deal with --> Terrorism
352. In which SAARC summit The Convention of Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters was signed --> 15th summit Colombo
353. " Padma Vibhushan" is our country's ……..largest civilian award --> Second, First is Bharat Ratna
354. Which is a prominent corporate in Padma Bhushan Awardees --> A M Naik , He is chairman of L & T
355. Israel and India have recently signed a defense deal. Which country is a largest buyer of arms from Israel --> India
356. The recent deal with Israel Military Industries and Central government are related to manufacture of --> Artillery Ammunitions
357. Recently , Uranium ore arrived in India from Areva. This ore is being processed at Nuclear Fuel Complex situated in --> Hyderabad
358. Brahmos is a --> surface to surface Super Sonic Cruise Missile
359. Recently 8th Global Information Technology Report was released by World Economic Forum which has ranked 134 countries in Networked Readiness Index. What is India's Rank --> 54th
360. In the report of World Economic Forum , which country tops the list --> Denmark
361. An aircraft carrier , under construction at Cochin Shipyard will be deployed in Vishakhapatnam for Indian Navy by which year --> 2016
362. India spent $ 1 billion on acquiring six lockheed martin c-130J super Hercules military transport planes in 2008. Which country was the source --> USA
363. Which country is supporting Delhi Metro Rail Project --> Japan
364. Indian recently renewed Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Travel with which country --> Bangladesh
365. The declaration which was issued at the end of the G-20 summit was having the following title --> Strengthening The Financial System
366. Najib Razak was recently sworn in as Prime Minister of which country --> Malaysia
367. Which country has recently launched an indigenous communication satellite on April 5, 2009 --> N orth Korea
368. Who is the first women to serve as speaker of the house in President Obama's Team --> Nancy Pelosi
369. Which two European countries are redrawing the borders --> Italy and Switzerland
370. www recently marked its which century --> 20th
371. Which country has recently emerged as top creditor to US --> China
372. According to a revised UN estimate what will be world's population by 2050 --> 9 Billion
373. Anna Bligh is related to which country --> Australia
374. Recently Charles Simonyi was in news for traveling Space twice as Tourist . He belongs to which country--> US
375. Recently which Asian country has deployed two ballistic missile destroyers for its defense in sea --> North Korea
376. Panna / mukta and Tapti fields are for --> Oil and gas
377. Which company supplies 70% of Natural gas in the Country --> GAIL
378. Under the UV lamp , the original currency notes of India appear to have optical fibers of two colors. Which are the two colors --> Pink & Blue
379. " A Flame That has stood the test of Time" which company has used this punch line --> LIC
379. G-20 is a group of world's most powerful countries which represent what part of world's Economy --> 85%
380. In the G-20 summit , which funds were included to bring within the global regulatory Net for the first time --> Hedge Funds
381. What was the size of special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation in the G-20 summit for International Monetary Fund --> $150 billion
382. In the G-20 summit it was concluded that The Financial Stability Forum is to be replaced with strengthened mandate by which Organization --> Financial Stability Board
383. Where did the Finance Ministers and central bankers of the G-20 met on 14th march 2009 --> Horsham
384. Recently which temple sought for GI tag for its sweet --> Tirupati for Laddus
385. Chinnar wildlife Sanctuary is located in which state --> Kerala
386. If a person is arrested for an offence by a Police officer without warrant, the offence comes under which category --> Cognizable
387. Who is the President of CII --> Venu Srinivasan
388. " Autography of an unknown Indian" is a work of --> Nirad C. Chaudhuri
389. In July 2008 , which bank was given a nod to merge with State bank of India by Union Cabinet --> SB Saurashtra
390. Which title " Harishita Saxena" won in 2008 --> Miss India Earth
391. Which country has adopted a new constitution in Year 2008 --> Bhutan
392. "Harit Rajasthan' which is a flagship programme of Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot is a scheme to --> planting of saplings over vacant lands
393. "Arogya Sri" is a Insurance coverage programme for poor people , under the aegis of the state government of --> Andhra Pradesh
394. Recently which state has achieved Elimination of Leprosy status which is determined if the incidence of this affliction is less than one case per 10,000 of population in the State? (The Hindu, June 10, 2009) --> Haryana
395. "Uyghur" the designated minority (Muslims) community is prevalent in which region of China where many people have been recently killed in ethnic clashes --> Xinjiang
396. National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL)operates --> Air India & Indian Airlines
397. In the Budget Estimates of year 2009-10 , the allocation for Bharat Nirman was increased by --> 45%
398. In the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna a new scheme recently announced , how much amount will be spent on each village --> 10 lakh
399. What is correct full form of MAT --> Minimum Alternate Tax
400. Which tax has not been abolished in Union Budget 2009 --> Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT)

COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD & THEIR CAPITALS

2009-07-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan: Kabul

Albania: Tirane

Algeria: Algiers

Andorra: Andorra la Vella

Angola: Luanda

Antigua and Barbuda: Saint John's

Argentina: Buenos Aires

Armenia: Yerevan

Australia: Canberra

Austria: Vienna

Azerbaijan: Baku

The Bahamas: Nassau

Bahrain: Manama

Bangladesh: Dhaka

Barbados: Bridgetown

Belarus: Minsk

Belgium: Brussels

Belize: Belmopan

Benin: Porto-Novo

Bhutan: Thimphu

Bolivia: La Paz (administrative); Sucre (judicial)

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo

Botswana: Gaborone

Brazil: Brasilia

Brunei: Bandar Seri Begawan

Bulgaria: Sofia

Burkina Faso: Ouagadougou

Burundi: Bujumbura

Cambodia: Phnom Penh

Cameroon: Yaounde

Canada: Ottawa

Cape Verde: Praia

Central African Republic: Bangui

Chad: N'Djamena

Chile: Santiago

China: Beijing

Colombia: Bogota

Comoros: Moroni

Congo, Republic of the: Brazzaville

Congo, Democratic Republic of the: Kinshasa

Costa Rica: San Jose

Cote d'Ivoire: Yamoussoukro (official); Abidjan (de facto)

Croatia: Zagreb

Cuba: Havana

Cyprus: Nicosia

Czech Republic: Prague

Denmark: Copenhagen

Djibouti: Djibouti

Dominica: Roseau

Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo

East Timor (Timor-Leste): Dili

Ecuador: Quito

Egypt: Cairo

El Salvador: San Salvador

Equatorial Guinea: Malabo

Eritrea: Asmara

Estonia: Tallinn

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa

Fiji: Suva

Finland: Helsinki

France: Paris

Gabon: Libreville

The Gambia: Banjul

Georgia: Tbilisi

Germany: Berlin

Ghana: Accra

Greece: Athens

Grenada: Saint George's

Guatemala: Guatemala City

Guinea: Conakry

Guinea-Bissau: Bissau

Guyana: Georgetown

Haiti: Port-au-Prince

Honduras: Tegucigalpa

Hungary: Budapest

Iceland: Reykjavik

India: New Delhi

Indonesia: Jakarta

Iran: Tehran

Iraq: Baghdad

Ireland: Dublin

Israel: Jerusalem

Italy: Rome

Jamaica: Kingston

Japan: Tokyo

Jordan: Amman

Kazakhstan: Astana

Kenya: Nairobi

Kiribati: Tarawa Atoll

Korea, North: Pyongyang

Korea, South: Seoul

Kosovo: Pristina

Kuwait: Kuwait City

Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek

Laos: Vientiane

Latvia: Riga

Lebanon: Beirut

Lesotho: Maseru

Liberia: Monrovia

Libya: Tripoli

Liechtenstein: Vaduz

Lithuania: Vilnius

Luxembourg: Luxembourg

Macedonia: Skopje

Madagascar: Antananarivo

Malawi: Lilongwe

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

Maldives: Male

Mali: Bamako

Malta: Valletta

Marshall Islands: Majuro

Mauritania: Nouakchott

Mauritius: Port Louis

Mexico: Mexico City

Micronesia, Federated States of: Palikir

Moldova: Chisinau

Monaco: Monaco

Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar

Montenegro: Podgorica

Morocco: Rabat

Mozambique: Maputo

Myanmar (Burma):Rangoon (Yangon); Naypyidaw or Nay Pyi Taw (administrative)

Namibia: Windhoek

Nauru: no official capital; government offices in Yaren District

Nepal: Kathmandu

Netherlands: Amsterdam; The Hague (seat of government)

New Zealand: Wellington

Nicaragua: Managua

Niger: Niamey

Nigeria: Abuja

Norway: Oslo

Oman: Muscat

Pakistan: Islamabad

Palau: Melekeok

Panama: Panama City

Papua New Guinea: Port Moresby

Paraguay: Asuncion

Peru: Lima

Philippines: Manila

Poland: Warsaw

Portugal: Lisbon

Qatar: Doha

Romania: Bucharest

Russia: Moscow

Rwanda: Kigali

Saint Kitts and Nevis: Basseterre

Saint Lucia: Castries

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Kingstown

Samoa: Apia

San Marino: San Marino

Sao Tome and Principe: Sao Tome

Saudi Arabia: Riyadh

Senegal: Dakar

Serbia: Belgrade

Seychelles: Victoria

Sierra Leone: Freetown

Singapore: Singapore

Slovakia: Bratislava

Slovenia: Ljubljana

Solomon Islands: Honiara

Somalia: Mogadishu

South Africa: Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judiciary)

Spain: Madrid

Sri Lanka: Colombo; Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative)

Sudan: Khartoum

Suriname: Paramaribo

Swaziland: Mbabane

Sweden: Stockholm

Switzerland: Bern

Syria: Damascus

Taiwan: Taipei

Tajikistan: Dushanbe

Tanzania: Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (legislative)

Thailand: Bangkok

Togo: Lome

Tonga: Nuku'alofa

Trinidad and Tobago: Port-of-Spain

Tunisia: Tunis

Turkey: Ankara

Turkmenistan: Ashgabat

Tuvalu: Vaiaku village, Funafuti province

Uganda: Kampala

Ukraine: Kyiv

United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi

United Kingdom: London

United States of America: Washington D.C.

Uruguay: Montevideo

Uzbekistan: Tashkent

Vanuatu: Port-Vila

Vatican City (Holy See): Vatican City

Venezuela: Caracas

Vietnam: Hanoi

Yemen: Sanaa

Zambia: Lusaka

Zimbabwe: Harare

Financial and General Awareness

2009-07-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

1. When did Regional Rural Banks start functioning in India?

(A) 1975

(B) 1947

(C) 1956

(D) 1960

2. Who was the Chairman of the Sixth Central Pay Commission?

(A) Justice B. N. Srikrishna

(B) Prof. Ravindra Dholakia

(C) J. S. Mathur

(D) Sushma Nath

3. The 11th Five Year Plan is termed as plan for.

(A) India’s Health

(B) Eradication of poverty from India

(C) India’s Education

(D) Development of Rural India

4. Which of the following correctly describes what sub-prime lending is?

(1) Lending to the people with less than ideal credit status.

(2) Lending to the people who are high value customers of the banks.

(3) Lending to those who are not a regular customer

(A) Only 1

(B) Only 2

(C) Only 3

(D) All

5. The actual return of an investor is reduced sometimes as the prices of the commodities go up all of a sudden. In financial sector this type of phenomenon is known as:

(A) Probability risk

(B) Market risk

(C) Inflation risk

(D) Credit risk

6. Which of the following is the limitation of the ATMs owing to which people are required to visit branches of the bank?

(1) It does not accept deposits.

(2) It has a limited cash disbursement capacity.

(3) Lack of human interface.

(A) Only (1)

(B) Only (2)

(C) Only (3)

(D) All

7. The World Development Report 2009 is released by which of the following Organisations?

(A) UNESCO

(B) ADB

(C) IMF

(D) World Bank

8. Which of the following statements is/are TRUE about the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. which was in news sometimes back?

(1) The US government provided a US$ 7000 million bailout package to the company.

(2) The company filed for bankruptcy in a court in New York.

(3) The company is now out of financial crisis and is busy in its restructuring so that it can start afresh.

(A) Only (1)

(B) Only (2)

(C) Only (3)

(D) All

9. The Reserve Bank of India has recently issued guidelines to banks on Pillar 2 of Basel II framework. Pillar 2 deals with which of the following?

(1) Better human resource management

(2) Adequate capital to support risks

(3) Better profitability with minimum number of employees

(A) Only (1)

(B) Only (2)

(C) Only (3)

(D) None of these

10.The World Investment Report 2008 was released in September 20This report is published every year by:

(A) Government of India

(B) World Trade Organisation (WTO)

(C) Asian Development Bank (ADB)

(D) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

11. As we all know some new initiatives were introduced in the area of Fiscal Management by the government of India. Which of the following acts was passed a few years back to keep a check on the fiscal indiscipline on macroeconomic parameters?

(A) FERA

(B) FRBMA

(C) FEMA

(D) Public Debt Act

12. Which of the following has the sole right of issuing paper notes in India?

(A) Union Government

(B) Reserve Bank of India

(C) Ministry of Finance

(D) Supreme Court

13. Decision taken at Bretton Woods Conference led to the formation of

(A) IDA

(B) IMF

(C) ADB

(D) IFC

14. Which of the following is known as plastic money?

(A) bearer cheques

(B) credit cards

(C) demand drafts

(D) gift cheques

15. Euro is the currency of European Union. When did it come into being?

(A) 1999

(B) 1995

(C) 2000

(D) 2001

16. Which is the largest commercial bank in India?

(A) Reserve Bank of India

(B) State Bank of India

(C) ICICI Bank

(D) Bank of India

17. The Bank of Calcutta, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras were merged in 1921 to form

(A) Reserve Bank of India

(B) Imperial Bank of India

(C) Bank of India

(D) Union Bank of India

18.In India, income tax is levied by

(A) Union Government

(B) State Governments

(C) Ministry of Finance

(D) RBI

19. The Reserve Bank of India was nationalized in?

(A) 1947

(B) 1948

(C) 1950

(D) 1956

20. What is a Bank which has capital and reserves of over Rs. 5 lakhs called?

(A) National Bank

(B) Cooperative Bank

(C) Scheduled Bank

(D) Unscheduled Bank

1.A
2.A
3.C
4.A
5.A
6.D
7.D
8.B
9.D
10.D
11.B
12.B
13.B
14.B
15.A
16.B
17.B
18.A
19.B
20.C

SBI: Financial Awareness and Marketing Sample Question Paper

2009-07-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is better known as
(A) World Bank

(B) Asian Development Bank

(C) IMF

(D) It is known by its name

2. When was the Reserve Bank of India established?

(A) 1935

(B) 1920

(C) 1928

(D) 1947

3. Which is the largest commercial bank in India?

(A) Reserve Bank of India

(B) State Bank of India

(C) ICICI Bank

(D) Bank of India

4. The Bank of Calcutta, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras were merged in 1921 to form

(A) Reserve Bank of India

(B) Imperial Bank of India

(C) Bank of India

(D) Union Bank of India

5. Which sister organization of the World Bank helps private activity in developing countries by financing projects with long-term capital in the form of equity and loans?

(A) Asian Development Bank

(B) IMF

(C) International Developmental Association

(D) International Finance Corporation

6. Which sister organization of the World Bank provides long term loans at zero interest to the poorest developing countries?

(A) Asian Development Bank

(B) IMF

(C) International Developmental Association

(D) International Finance Corporation

7. Who is known as the ‘Father of Economics’?

(A) Adam Smith

(B) Chanakya

(C) Machiavelli

(D) None of these

8. Which was the first Indian Bank to introduce credit card?

(A) State Bank of India

(B) Central Bank of India

(C) Union Bank of India

(D) ICICI

9. What does devaluation of a currency mean?

(A) decrease in the internal value of money

(B) decrease in the external value of money

(C) decrease both in the external and internal values of money

(D) none of these

10.Which of the following is known as plastic money?

(A) bearer cheques

(B) credit cards

(C) demand drafts

(D) gift cheques

11. Which of the following statements best describes the concept of involvement in the context of buyer behaviour?

(A) The length of time involved in the buying process

(B) The potential impact of a product on an individual's self-identity

(C) The number of people involved in the decision-making unit

(D) The complexity of an order

12. Buying decisions generally follow a pattern of overlapping stages. Which of the following best describes the typical stages of the buying process?

(A) Need recognition > Information search > Evaluation > Decision > Post purchase evaluation

(B) Need recognition > Evaluation > Information search > Decision > Post purchase evaluation

(C) Information search > Need recognition > Evaluation > Decision > Post purchase evaluation

(D) Need recognition > Information search > Decision > Evaluation > Post purchase evaluation

13. Needs differ from wants because:

(A) Wants are a socialized manifestation of underlying needs

(B) Needs are a socialized manifest Needs are historical; wants are about the futuretation of underlying wants

(C) Needs are historical; wants are about the future

(D) Needs and wants are exactly the same

14. Which of the following levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is most likely to be associated with consumers' purchase of goods which appeal to their inner sense of peace of mind (e.g. art classes)?

(A) Self-actualization

(B) Love

(C) Security

(D) Physiological

15. An individual is considering buying a new microwave cooker and is faced with the possibility of several models. Which of the following describes the widest range of microwave cookers, which the buyer considers in some form?

(A) The choice set

(B) The awareness set

(C) The total set

(D) The pre-evaluation set

16. A company uses The Coors to endorse its range of snack foods. This endorsement is likely to be particularly effective if the Coors are seen by Large numbers of the company's target market as:

(A) A primary reference group.

(B) A tertiary reference group.

(C) A secondary reference group.

(D) A non-reference group.

17. Which of the following consumer responses is LEAST likely to overcome cognitive dissonance experienced by a consumer who is dissatisfied with their purchase?

(A) Rationalizing to ourselves that a product is actually quite good

(B) Seeing the product in a different light so that we emphasize the bad aspects of a product

(C) Seeing the product in a different light so that we emphasize the good aspects of a product

(D) Complaining and returning goods to the supplier

18.Which of the following labels is NOT associated with a role in a buying Decision Making Unit?

(A) Supplier

(B) Gatekeeper

(C) Decision maker

(D) User

19. A secretary who answers calls for a company buyer may be taking on which role within the company's decision-making unit?

(A) User

(B) Influencer

(C) Gatekeeper

(D) Buyer

20. Which of the following is NOT an element of a Marketing Information System?

(A) Marketing research

(B) Decision support system

(C) Production monitoring system

(D) None of these

ANSWERS :
1- A
2- A
3- B
4- B
5- D
6- C
7- A
8- B
9- B
10- B
11- A
12- A
13- A
14- A
15- A
16- B
17- A
18- B
19- C
20- D

RAIL BUDGET 2009-10 HIGHLIGHTS

2009-07-03T22:49:00.000-07:00

PM says Mamata has done a commendable job
No increase in freight rates
No increase in passenger fares
Tatkal charges go down to Rs 100, booking time reduced from 5 days to 2 days
Unreserved ticketing systems to be expanded from 5,000 to 8,000 terminals
Janta khana (peoples' food) to be provided in railway stations
Develop 50 stations with world class amenities
12 new non-stop point to point trains introduced
ATMs on 200 mid and small sized stations
Aim for 1300 km gauge conversion by 2010
AC double decker trains for inter-city travel
Railway Finance Corp to borrow Rs 9000 crore in FY 2010
Madrasa students included in concession scheme
To set-up North Eastern development funds
Ladies special trains to be introduced in Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi
Kolkata Metro to be expanded
Increased Budgetary support by Rs 5000 crores
AC 'Yuva' trains at Rs 299 and Rs 399 to be introduced
Press correspondents to get 50% concession
To launch 57 new trains
Non-stop AC 'Turant' trains to connect major metros
Rs 25 ticket for those with monthly salary under Rs 1000 under the 'Izzat scheme'
Ladies special trains during peak hours
A new scheme called 'Izzat' to be introduced
To use Railway Land Bank for industrial development
To set up a new coach factory in Kanchrapara
Computerised tickets from post offices
3000 more unreserved ticketing terminals
At least one doctor on long distance train
Railways to set up cold storage cargoes
Mega logistics hubs in Eastern and Western corridor
Launch of premium faster parcel services in three routes
Aim to fulfill SC/ST backlog in jobs
18,000 wagons to be acquired by FY 2010
Railway hospitals to be upgraded
Commando battalion to be raised for security purposes
Integrated security schemes for 130 vulnerable stations
Railway recruitment board to be reviewed shortly
7 nursing colleges to be set up on railway land
Environmental friendly toilets on trains
49 stations of religious importance to be upgraded
Automatic vending machines to be set up at stations
Women commandos to employed for the security of women passengers
High-capacity double decker AC coaches on the cards
Automatic vending vans to be set up to make ticketing easy
Computerised ticketing from post offices
SMS update on waitlisted tickets
Tickets can be bought from Post Offices
Automatic train information systems on major cities
Specially designed coaches, escalators and elevators for the physically challenged
Depute doctors on long distance trains
Book stores, PCOs to be set up across stations
Infotainment services on Rajhandi and Shatabdi trains
To take the Private-Public partnership route to develop stations
Priority for food and water on trains
Developing multi-functional complexes at stations
Priority to passenger amenities
Rail projects shouldn't be gauged by economic viability but governed by social viability: Mamata
To set up panel for financing unavailable rail projects
Improvement of trains amenities
Railways is trying to keep up with change
Committed to the cause of the underpreviliged.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee begins her speech in Parliament.
Shares of engineering and wagon manufacturing firms surged by up to 4 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange in early trade today ahead of the Railway Budget 2009-10
Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) gained 2.15 per cent at Rs 1,105, Hind Rectifiers, the manufacturer of rectifier equipment and semi-conductor devices, rose by 5.27 per cent to Rs 64.95
Budget is of the people, by the people and for the people: Mamata Banerjee
More trains for West Bengal
Budget hotels at railway stations
More Garib Rath trains to be introduced
Measures to improve catering and on-board decoration
Special announcement for security on railways
Mamata is expected to announce 25 new trains
Amid expectations of improvement in railway amenities and food served in trains, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee would present a 'pro-people' budget in Parliament
Business leaders and commoners in West Bengal are expecting a series of sops for the state when she presents her budget in parliament
In her two budgets earlier, Banerjee introduced a new biweekly New Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhani Express, besides starting several express trains connecting various portions of West Bengal
She might also announce changes in the Tatkal scheme to make it more passenger friendly
Among the legacies of conflict that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has inherited from her predecessor Lalu Prasad is the much-hyped budget hotels scheme - involving the construction of 100 hotels on vacant railway land in the public-private partnership mode
Mumbai, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of country's train passengers, expects three of its major projects to be approved in the railway budget
Mamata's predecessor Lalu Prasad Yadav had promised to introduce GO Mumbai card on Central and Western Railway and on BEST

HQ NATURE'S WALLPAPERS

2009-05-09T21:42:00.001-07:00

NATURE AT ITS BEST

2009-05-07T23:34:00.000-07:00

0 comments

INDIAN ECONOMY - 1

2009-05-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

1. A kind of indirect tax in which goods are taxed by their values is called --> Ad Valorem
2. What is Autarchy --> a country is self-sufficient to fulfill all needs
3. A systematic record of all economic transactions completed between residents ofa country and the rest of the world in a year is known as --> Balance of Payment
4. "A statement of estimated receipts and expenditures called annual Financial Statement (Budget) has to be placed before parliament for each financial year. " which article says this --> Article 112
5. What are indirect taxes --> taxes paid by a consumer when buying goods or services
6. When we decrease interest payments from fiscal deficit , the figure arrived is known as --> Primary deficit
7. Monetary Policy is the sum total of action taken to regulate the level of money or liquidity in the economy or change interest rates. Who takes this action --> Reserve bank of India
8. When the government fails to check inflation , it raises income tax and the corporate tax. What do we call such tax --> Buoyancy
9. Capitalism is based upon "Laissez-faire system". What is "Laissez-faire system" --> No governmental intervention
10. To control inflationary pressure and Monetary authorities restrict credit as and when required. What is the restriction called --> Credit Squeeze
11. Those goods which have positive relationship between price and quantity demanded are called as --> Giffin Goods
12. " Bad money (if not limited in quantity ) drives good money out of circulation" Which law had said this --> Gresham's Law
13. What is Monopsony --> when there is a single buyer i.e. buyer's monopoly
14. " paper Gold " is another name of --> SDR, Special Drawing Rights
15. A state of economy in which economic activity is slowing down but wages and prices continue to rise . What is the term for this
phenomena --> Stagflation (Stagnation + Inflation)
16. Jawahar Rozgar Yozna was launched in which 5 year plan --> Seventh, 1 April 1989
17. As per 2001 census , what is sex ratio in India --> 933
18. In first five year plan, what was given the highest priority --> Agriculture , Irrigation and Power Projects
19. "To achieve a 25% increase in national income through rapid industrialization" was an aim of which five year plan --> second, 20% was actually achieved
20. What is the growth rate target in 11th plan --> It is 9.0%
21. Which was the first insurance firm in India --> Oriental Life Insurance Company in 1818
22. What was the share of Agriculture in 2006-2007 in GDP --> 18.5%
23. In which year new " Liberalized Industrial Policy " in India was announced --> 1991
24. Which decade of the Indian planning has been the best decade for agricultural growth --> Eighties
25. In which year MRTP act became effective --> 1970
26. How many industries were reserved for the Public Sector in 1991 Liberalized Economic Policy --> 8
27. In which five year plan highest percentage of plan outlay was invested in Irrigation & Energy --> First
28. In an oligopolistic or monopolistically competitive market, firms will not raise their prices because even a small price increase will lose many customers. This follows to which theory --> Kinked Demand or Kink Curve Theory
29. What should not be deducted from the total revenue of the firm for arriving at profits for the year --> dividend paid to ordinary shareholders
30. Profit for the year divided by the average number of shares, we come at a figure which is called --> Earning Per Share, EPS
31. What do we call the costs that vary directly with the production of one additional unit --> Variable Unit Cost
32. Why a supply curve of a commodity falls downward --> Cost falls as the production grows
33. Fixed cost is used in marginal cost . True / False --> False
34. When Depreciation is subtracted from GDP , which figure we arrive at --> Net Domestic Product as Market Price
35. What is to be divided by population to arrive at Percapita Income --> National Income
36. When there is a decrease in the money relative to supply of goods and services it is inflation / deflation --> deflation
37. Which sector has largest contribution in Gross Domestic Savings in India --> Household Sector
38. Provident Funds are part of national Debt. True / false --> False
39. What are the three methods used for national income calculation --> Product method, Income method and Expenditure method
40. In which year expenditure tax was imposed for the first time --> 1987
41. Estate duty is a direct tax. True/ False --> True
42. What was the price set for wheat in Antyodaya Anna Yojana --> Rs. 3/kg
43. What is full form of TRYSEM scheme --> Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment
44. What was the growth of Muslim and Hindu population during 1991-2001 census --> Muslim 29.3% , Hindu 20%
45. The only union territory which shows a favorable sex ratio is --> Pondicherry 1001 females per 1000 males
46. What was Kerala's sex ratio in 2001 census --> 1058
47. What was male literacy rate in 2001 census --> 75.3%
48. The money owed by the central government to domestic and foreign lenders is known as --> National Debt
49. In India Public Sector is Most Prominent in which sector --> Transport
50. Where was set up the first steel factory in India --> Burnpur

GEOGRAPHY - 2

2009-05-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

51. An extreme form of rainfall, sometimes mixed with hail and thunder, which normally lasts no longer than a few minutes but is capable of creating minor flood conditions. Name it --> Cloudburst
52. "Owen Falls" is world's greatest man made lake. Where is it located --> Uganda
53. Lloyd Barrage is a 6166 mile long network of canals, feeding the largest irrigation system in the world, with more than 5 million acres of irrigated land. In which country it is located --> Pakistan
54. What are "Bantus" --> Negroes of central & South Africa
55. which one is the largest desert of Asia --> Gobi
56. What kind of a desert is Gobi --> rain shadow desert
57. Which type of forests are mostly found in Tropic Climatic areas --> Evergreen
58. On western slopes of the Western Ghats in States e.g.Kerala and Karnataka and jaintia and khasi hills which types of forest are
found --> evergreen
59. Marble is an example of which kind of rock --> Metamorphic
60. What is foliation in metamorphic rocks --> the layering within metamorphic rocks
61. The changes that take place when magma is injected into the surrounding solid rock , what kind of metamorphism is this called --> Contact Metamorphism
62. Changes in great masses of rock over a wide area where rocks can be metamorphosed by being at great depths below the Earth's
surface, subjected to high temperatures and the great pressure caused by the immense weight of the rock layers above. Name it --> Regional metamorphism
63. Rock formed by deposition and consolidation of mineral and organic material and from precipitation of minerals from solution is
called --> sedimentary rock
64. What are the three kinds of sedimentary rocks --> clastic, organic , chemical
65. The rocks composed of discrete fragments or clasts of materials derived from other minerals, composed largely of quartz with other
common minerals including feldspar, amphiboles, clay minerals are known as --> Clastic
66. A weathering in which the breakdown of rock into particles without producing changes in the chemical composition of the minerals
in the rock is called as --> Mechanical weathering e.g.. Ice
67. What is the main quality of quartz as a mineral --> one of the most mechanically and chemically resistant minerals
68. Other than Moon and Sun , which other celestial body appears brightest in the sky --> Venus
69. Which rock is formed by magma (molten rock) being cooled and becoming solid --> Igneous
70. Which igneous rocks are formed from magma that cools and solidifies within the earth surrounded by pre-existing rock (called
country rock), the magma cools slowly, and as a result these rocks are coarse grained --> Intrusive Igneous Rock
71. Which rocks are formed at the Earth's surface as a result of the partial melting of rocks within the mantle and crust --> Extrusive igneous rocks
72. What is the rock type and origin of granite --> igneous rock and is formed from magma
73. The Red Pyramid of Egypt named for the light crimson hue which is the third largest of Egyptian pyramids has mainly use of --> granite surface
74. Which type of the rocks most prized by climbers, for its steepness, soundness, crack systems, and friction --> Granite Rocks
75. mid-ocean ridge is an example of which kind of valley --> Rift Valley
76. The temperatures soar high in the day, while dipping greatly at night. As the rock heats up and expands by day, and cools and
contracts by night, stress is often exerted on the outer layers. What kind of expansion is this --> Thermal Expansion
77. A type of physical weathering caused by the growth of salt crystals is called as --> Haloclasty
78. An inorganic chemical reaction where water is added to the crystal structure of a mineral, usually creating a new mineral, is called as --> mineral hydration and new mineral is called hydrate
79. What is the name of the mechanism by which Portland cement develops strength --> Hydration
80. Where in India an active volcano has been found --> Barren Island
81. Zoji la Pass is in which state --> J & K
82. In which state is Bara Lacha Pass --> Himachal Pradesh
83. Jeep La pass is in which state --> Sikkim
84. ………..degree East is the longitude which determines Indian standard Time --> 82.5
85. from which lakes Table Salt is Obtained --> Sambhar
86. Which city can never get vertical rays of Sun --> Sri Nagar
87. Hirakud Hydel Power station is on which River --> Mahanadi
88. Kota Hydel Power station is on which River --> Chambal
89. Which state produces maximum black pepper --> Kerala
90. Where is located Forest Survey of India --> Dehradun
91. Kampala is the capital of which country --> Uganda
92. KLM airways belongs to which country --> Netherlands
93. " Kohoutek" is a --> Comet
94. Which country is called the "land of the morning calm" --> Korea
95. The lines on a map connecting regions of equal geochemical characteristics are called --> Isocons
96. Littoral forests are rich sources of --> Firewood
97. "Loti" is a --> currency (The loti (pl. maloti) is the currency of the Kingdom of Lesotho )
98. What are the main criteria of dividing major natural regions of the world --> temperature, rain fall and vegetation
99. Mediterranean Sea is connected to Atlantic with --> Strait of Gibraltar
100.Palk strait divides India and Sri Lanka. Which state of India gets connected with sri Lanka with Palk Strait -->Tamil Nadu

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 7

2009-05-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

301. What was Rank of Lakshmi Mittal & Mukesh Ambani in 10 World's Billionaires by Forbes Magazine --> Lakshami 8 , Mukesh 7
302. The excavations at Utkottai in Tamil Nadu have unraveled the historical facts related to which Chola King of 11-12th Century AD --> Rajendra Chola-I
303. Who was declared Player of Tournament in Women's World Cup --> Claire Taylor
304. Which team won the 17th senior National Women's Championship in Neyveli on March 2009 --> Manipur
305. Accenture Match Play Championship is related to which sports --> Golf
306. Which company has won three awards at the 'Goafest 2009' advertising festival recently (April 12, 2009) --> Himani
307. A summit of Asian leaders was cancelled on after anti-government protesters swarmed into the meeting's venue, renewing doubts about the durability of the government. Where --> Thailand
308. World Hemophilia Day is celebrated on what date --> April 17
309. IIPCAG, comprising key representatives involved in IP criminal law enforcement. What is the full form --> Interpol Intellectual Property Crime Action Group
310. On what date World Press Freedom Day is celebrated --> 3 May
311. Which north east state was brought under President Rule recently --> Meghalaya
312. The National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (Nacas), on accounting policies followed by the Indian industry, has favored suspending for two years of which norms --> AS 11
313. Who has written I Witness: Partial Observations --> Kapil Sibal
314. Where was held the 18th Global Summit of Women --> Hanoi
315. An autonomous underwater vehicle which is to be produced by India by 2009 is --> Varunastra
316. Which spacecraft of America took the first closeup photographs of Moon --> Ranger 7
317. Shanghai Cooperation Organization's conference on Afghanistan, was held in march 2009 at which place --> Moscow
318. Recently , due to political upheavals Madagascar was expelled from which union --> The African Union
319. Which country has been a cause of souring China & US relationships --> Taiwan (China is unhappy over military sales of US to Taiwan)
320. Baden-Baden and Kohl in Germany were recently in news because of the following summits held there --> NATO summit
321. Where was Global Automotive Sourcing Summit 2009 held on April 21, 2009 --> Shanghai
322. Automobile Major Bajaj has tied up with which companies to bring out the ULC' (ultra low cost), car by 2011 --> Renault & Nissan
323. CBI court has recently sentenced M Gopalakrishnana to 14 years rigorous imprisonment for fraud and misuse of official position while being CMD of which bank --> Indian Bank
324. Swine Flu which has recently hit Mexico and other countries is a mutated strain of the virus denoted by --> H1N1
325. Who is the new Finance Secretary of India --> Mr. Ashok Chawla
326. Which government had established Abel Prize on the pattern of Nobel Prizes --> Norway
327. Recently Mr. Bindeshwar pathak was given Stockholm Water Prize 2009. He belongs to which of the NGO --> Sulabh International
328. Who presents Luther L Terry awards --> American Cancer Society
329. Which award was conferred to Shamshad Beghum recently --> Padma Bhushan
330. Serfs Emancipation Day is related to which Place --> Tibet
331. Bacillus Aryabhatta is a name given to a new bacteria strain found by --> ISRO
332. The campaign " Incredible India" was launched by Ministry of Tourism and a TV channel . Which is that TV channel --> NDTV
333. national Technology Day is celebrated on which date --> 11 May
334. On what date World-No Tobacco Day is observed --> May 31
335. ANTRIX is a corporation of government of India. What is the purpose of ANTRIX --> Commercially sell Products & Services of Indian Space Program
336. Which diseases is called " Pink Eye" --> Conjuctivitis
337. Baba Amte is known for which of the following social work --> Work for Leprosy Patients
338. National Security Guards was created by the Government of India on the pattern of Special Air Service & GSG-9 of two European Countries. Which are these two countries respectively --> UK & Germany
339. National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) conducts nationwide sample surveys on various socio-economic issues in successive rounds, each round covering subjects of current interest in a specific survey period. Who is the founder of this Organization --> Prof. P.C.Mahalanobis
340. Which organization of Government of India is the repository of the non-current records of the Government of India and is holding them in trust for the use of administrators and scholars --> The National Archives of India
341. Which committee has been constituted by Supreme Court to curb the menace of Ragging --> Raghavan Committee
342. When was The Hindu marriage Act enacted by the parliament --> 1955
343. Where is located the SEZ Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park --> Chandigarh
344. Which peak of the Himalaya has the name Chogo Gangri --> K2
345. Which port is called Child of Partition --> Kandla
346. Which is the currency of Israel --> Shekel
347. What was "Colonial Height" that struck Virginia of US in 2008 --> Tornado
348. What was "Gustav" --> A Hurricane , that struck US Gulf Coast in September 2008
349. Which summit was held in Hua Hin Thailand recently (March 2009) --> ASEAN
350. Recently the word " protectionism" was in newspapers. What is the precise definition of protectionism --> Raising Barriers in Trade between two countries

Samsung OMNIA HD i8910 Review

2009-04-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

We need to point out that plastic surface on its back side simply adores fingerprints. Our other negative comment here is the back cover opens way too easily, there is no apparent lock mechanism and we felt as if it was about to come off anytime. It´s possible that the issue affects only the unit we tested. What else is there onto the back panel? One of the most interesting and important features of the i8910 HD – the world´s first 8-megapixel camera that supports HD video capture (720p equal to 1280x720 pixels).

The folk at PhoneArena has published a huge review of the Samsung i8910 OMNIA HD. So what are you waiting for, head over to phonearena to view the review

CAT GOES ONLINE FROM THIS YEAR

2009-04-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

The much reputed CAT(Common Admission Test) conducted by prestigiuos IIM's will be online from this year.So , some students might have to put some extra efforts to clear the exam.

India will host World Cup 2011 Final

2009-04-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

ICC has taken a decision that India will host 29 matches to be played at eight venues including a semi-final & final & Sri Lanka will would host 12 matches in three venues including a semi-final . So, India has got a huge share of world cup matches to be played in Asian subcontinent.

ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA

2009-04-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

India, the largest democracy of the world is voting to elect representative of 15^th Lok Sabha. The whole process is carried out by The Election Commission of India. Today we will provide you with some information about ECI.

Established On:

January 25, 1950 (under Article 324 of Constitution of India)

Status and Power of Election Commission:

It is an autonomous, quasi-judiciary constitutional body. It is insulated from any kind of executive interference. Its recommendations and opinions, in matters of electoral disputes and other matters involving the conduct of elections, are binding on the President of India. However, the decisions of the body are liable for independent judiciary reviews by courts acting on electoral petitions.

Duties of Election Commission:

Conduct free and fair elections in India. The Election Commission is one of the four pillars of the Indian Constitution, the other three being the Supreme Court (SC) of India, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

During the elections, the entire Central (Federal) and State government machinery including para-military forces and the Police is deemed to be on deputation to the Election Commission which takes effective control of personnel, movable and immovable Government Properties it deems necessary for successful completion of the electoral process. The Apart from conducting elections to representative bodies, the Election Commission has been on many occasions, called upon by the Courts to oversee and execute elections to various governing bodies of other autonomous organisations, such as Syndicates of Universities, statutory professional bodies, etc.

The following are the principal functions of the Election Commission of India:

1. Demarcation of Constituencies

2. Preparation of Electoral Rolls

3. Recognition of Political parties and allotment of symbols

4. Scrutiny of nomination papers

5. Conduct of polls

6. Scrutiny of election expenses of candidates

Structure of Election Commission:

The commission presently consists of a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, appointed by the president. The present positions as held by:

CEC: Navin Chawla (as on April 21, 2009)

Election Commissioners: S.Y. Quraishi and V.S. Sampath

Chief Election Commissioners of India:

The following have held the post of the Chief Election Commissioner of India:

1. Sukumar Sen: 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958

2. K.V.K. Sundaram: 20 December 1958 to 30 September 1967

3. S.P. Sen Verma: 1 October 1967 to 30 September 1972

4. Nagendra Singh: 1 October 1972 to 6 February 1973

5. T. Swaminathan: 7 February 1973 to 17 June 1977

6. S.L. Shakdhar: 18 June 1977 to 17 June 1982

7. R.K. Trivedi: 18 June 1982 to 31 December 1985

8. R.V.S. Peri Sastri: 1 January 1986 to 25 November 1990

9. V.S. Ramadevi: 26 November 1990 to 11 December 1990

10. T.N. Seshan: 12 December 1990 to 11 December 1996

11. M.S. Gill: 12 December 1996 to 13 June 2001

12. J.M. Lyngdoh: 14 June 2001 to 7 February 2004

13. T.S. Krishnamurthy: 8 February 2004 to 15 May 2005

14. B.B. Tandon: 16 May 2005 to 28 June 2006

15. N. Gopalaswami: 29 June 2006 to 20 April 2009

16. Navin Chawla: 21 April 2009 (Current)

Appointment of Commissioners:

The President appoints Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners have tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years and 62 years respectively, whichever is earlier. They enjoy the same status and receive salary and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India. The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by Parliament. Other Election Commissioner may be removed by the President on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner.

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 6

2009-04-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

251. What is the full form of STPF --> Special Tiger Protection Force
252. On what date Earth Day is observed --> April 22
253. Who has been appointed as Chief of National Security Guards --> A P Aulakh
254. On march 13, 2009 , which anniversary of www was observed --> 20TH
255. Which award has been given to K Vishvanath Reddy Recently --> Luther L Terry Award
256. Which is world's costliest city --> Tokyo
257. The sole aircraft carrier of Indian Navy recently celebrated its Golden Jubilee. What was the name of the carrier --> INS Viraat
258. Where was held the Aero India 2009 exhibition in February --> Bangalore
259. Who has been appointed Chairman of Competition Commission of India --> Dhanendra Kumar
260. How many years Operation of Rajdhani Express Completed on March 1, 2009 --> 40 years
261. How much money the filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire have donated to a charity dedicated to educating Mumbai's slum children --> £500,000 (about $900,000)
262. Who will be India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations --> Hardeep Singh Puri
263. (SFIO) has completed the investigation of the Satyam-fraud case and submitted its report to the government. What is SFIO? What was it investigating --> Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Satyam Scam
264. Which move of RIL will enable India's biggest private refiner to revive 1,432 petrol pumps it had put in abeyance --> ending the export status of its old refinery at Jamnagar
265. Satyam Computer Services has been recently acquired by which company --> Tech Mahindra
266. Which policy started the process of full-scale liberalization and intensified the process of integration of India with the global economy --> new industrial policy, June 24, 1991
267. In the new Industrial Policy Announced in 1991 which body was authorized to provide a single window clearance for foreign investments --> FIPB Foreign Investment Promotion Board
268. Bretton Woods Agreement was signed in which year --> 1944
269. Israel is delivering phalcon Awacs to Indian Air Force in May 2009. What is full form of Awacs --> Airborne Warning and Control systems
270. What is the main use of Awacs --> detection of incoming hostile cruise missiles and aircrafts
271. Recently INS Parandu was commissioned. What is INS Parandu --> air station of Navy at Uchipuli in Tamil Nadu
272. Recently the term Tax Heaven was in news. What is a tax heaven --> where foreign people can safely hide their black money
273. Approximately how much Foreign Money is locked in Swiss Banks --> $ 2 Trillion
274. International Criminal Court recently issued arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir. Genocide was one of the charges included. True / false --> False, charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes
275. Which country was branded as " axis of evil " by George Bush? Iran / Afghanistan / Pakistan / Sudan --> Iran
276. Recently Fifth World Water Forum was concluded on World water Day on March 22. Where --> Istanbul , Turkey
277. Where was the first meeting of World Water Forum held --> Morocco in 1997
278. Where was held the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health --> Mumbai , March 8, 2009
279. Where will the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health will take place --> Singapore in 2012
280. African Union recently suspended the membership of which nation --> Madagascar
281. What was the reason of African Union to suspend membership of Madagascar --> military forced the elected president from office and handed power to a populist
282. On march 30, 2009, Arab League Summit was held at which place --> Doha, Qatar
283. Recently , which three agreed to continue pushing forward the Six-Party talks aimed at realizing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula --> China, Japan and South Korea
284. Where was the Earth Hour started --> Sydney in 2007
285. Aditya Puri is related to which bank --> HDFC
286. Information Technology Gyan Kendras is a scheme of which state government --> Rajasthan
287. Recently which north east state government survived a floor test --> Meghalaya
288. Who has taken charge as the first ever Director General of Operations at Air Headquarters in New Delhi --> Air Marshal D C Kumaria
289. Indian Government has appointed whom as the new Chief of the Indian Air Force --> AIR Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik
290. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched new coins of what denomination ? (April 11, 2009) --> 10 Rupee
291. Recently which insurance Giant Launched Credit Card --> LIC
292. Ardhanarishwar, Awara, Masiha, Pankheen, Jane Anjane, Dhalti Raat, Swapnamayi, Nav Prabhat and Doctor are some works of a Hindi Writer who passed away recently . What was his name --> Vishnu Prabhakar
293. The Hoover Medal, an American engineering prize is given since 1930 for "outstanding extra-career services by engineers to humanity". Who was given this award recently --> Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
294. What is the name of actor Chiranjivi's party --> Praja Rajyam Party
295. Luther L Terry Awards are given for outstanding work in which field --> tobacco control
296. Recently ICWAI presented National Award for Excellence in Cost Management 2008 to which Company --> Nangal Unit of National Fertilizers Ltd
297. Where were held the 4th Women's World Awards recently --> Stadthalle F in Vienna
298. Which tourist train recently begged National Tourism Award Under Most Innovative Tourism Product for year 2007-2008 --> Mahaparinirvan Express
299. Mahaparinirvan Express is launched to target which tourism circuit in India --> Buddhist Circuit
300. Who has recently topped the list of top 10 World's Billionaires by Forbes Magazine --> Bill Gates

IPL 2008 RECORDS

2009-04-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

• Rajasthan Royals’ Shane Watson emerged the Man of the Series with his all round performance — 472 runs and 17 wickets from 15 matches.

• Kings XI Punjab’s Shaun Marsh was named the Batman of the Series for his run aggregate of 616 runs from 11 matches. He scored five fifties – one hundred and five half centuries – a record for most fifties in the tournament and earned the Man of the Match award on five occasions – another record for most Man of the Match awards.

• Rajasthan Royals’ Sohail Tanvir was named the Bowler of the Series for his 22 wickets aggregate from 11 games which included the best bowling figures of the tournament - 6 for 14

• The Fairplay award went to Chennai Super Kings, while the most successful India under-19 player award was bagged by Bangalore Royal Challengers’ Srivats Goswami.

• Marsh {616}, Delhi Daredevils’ Gautam Gambhir {534} and Mumbai Indians’ Sanath Jayasuriya {514} were the three batsmen who aggregated 500 plus runs in the tournament.

• Gambhir with 68 fours holds the record for hitting the most fours in the tournament. Marsh {59}, Jayasuriya {57}, Rajasthan Royal’s Graeme Smith {54} and Deccan Chargers’ Adam Gilchrist {51} are the others at the top of the chart.an

• Marsh {six scors of 50-plus} and Gambhir {five 50s} are the only batsmen who made five or more half-centuries in the tournament. Marsh’s six fifties included a hundred.

• Tanvir captured the most wickets – 22 – in the tournament and was the only bowler to capture more than 20 wickets.

• Chennai Super Kings’ Suresh Raina took the most catches in the tournament – 10 from 16 matches. He is the only fielder (excluding wicket-keepers) to take 10 or more catches in the tournament.

• Mumbai Indians’ Sachin Tendulkar held the most catches in an innings in the tournament. He took four catches against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai on May 16.

• Among the wicket-keepers, Mumbai Indias’ YV Takawale had the most dismissals – 11 – in the tournament. He took 10 catches and made one stumping in seven matches. He also holds the record for most dismissals in a match – four (three catches and a stumping against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on May 7). Rajasthan Royals’ Kamran Akmal made the most stumpings in the tournament – four.

• Chennai Super Kings’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rajasthan Royals’ Shane Warne held the records for the most runs and the most wickets respectively as captains. Dhoni aggregated 414 runs from 16 matches and Warne had a tally of 19 wickets from 15 matches.

Batting records from IPL Season 2008

Here are some other highlights and batting records from the inaugural edition.

158* Brendon McCullum, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore. Bangalore, April 18
117* Andrew Symonds, Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals, Hyderabad, April 24
116* Mike Hussey, Chennai Super Kiungs vs Kings XI Punjab, Mohali, April 19
115 Shaun Marsh, Kings XI Punjab vs Jaipur, Mohali May 28
.
114* Sanath Jayasuriya, Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super King, Mumbai May 14
109* Adam Gilchrist, Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians, Mumbai (DYP), April 27
Top-scores for other teams:
94 Virender Sehwag, Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers, Hyderabad, April 19

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 5

2009-04-19T05:00:00.001-07:00

201. Recently , Maharastra government challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions which of the acts --> States Reorganization Act 1956, & Bombay Reorganization act 1960
202. What was India's rank in UNESCO's latest list of countries having the maximum number of dialects on verge of extinction --> First (UNESCO listed 196 languages on verge of extinction
203. The central board of Trustees of Employees Provident Fund has recommended what rate of interest for 2008-09 --> 8.5%
204. Recently BSNL launched which plan which has a less than Re. 1 tariff between two destination of the country --> Indian Golden 50 Plan
205. Recently , Union Cabinet's committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval to which company to subscribe to and acquire 27% equity in Tata Teleservices --> NTT Docomo Inc.
206. In which plan BSNL announced Rs. 1 a minute for a video call while launching 3G mobile services in 11 cities --> Rs. 2500 plan
207. In March 2009 , director of FBI met Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi and discuss security and terrorism related issues. What is his name --> Mr. Robert Mueller
208. First time in the History , Coal India Ltd won two coal blocks for exploration in which country --> Mozambique
209. Where was the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health was held recently (March 8, 2009) --> Mumbai
210. Which committee has recently submitted its report on " Renovation and Rejuvenation of Universities" --> Yashpal Committee
211. Recently archaeologists unearthed a stone anchor with a design similar to Chinese and Japanese Ships of 12th century AD, giving indication of India's Trade Relation with Asian Countries. Where --> Gulf of Khambat
212. How many medals , the Indian Archers won in Asian Grand prix Championship in Bangkok Thailand in February 2009 --> Five including one Gold
213. According to a recent UN report , Indian Economy is expected to grow by what rate in percentage in 2009 --> 6%
214. Who won the Men's Singles Title in Indian Open Badminton Championship 2009 --> Taufique Hidayat of Indonesia
215. Where was Indian Open Badminton Championship 2009 held --> Hyderabad
216. Where was Indian Open Badminton Championship 2009 held --> Pi Hongyan of France
217. According to a research conducted by healthcare researchers Deloitte, what is India's Rank in Medical Tourism --> second after Thailand
218. N Sundardevan Committee is enquiring into what matter --> Police Action on Madras High Court Campus
219. For the 12th Five Year plan Government of Rajasthan has invited leading power companies to buy how much power --> 2000 megawatt
220. Which team won Vijay Harare Trophy in March 2009 --> Tamil Nadu
221. What is the name of the European satellite launched in 2009, which will show the Inner working of earth, from the movements of ocean currents to the location of oil deposits --> The Goce Probe
222. Italy and Switzerland have decided to redraw their borders . What is the reason of --> global warming dissolved the Alpine glaciers
223. On what date Earth Hour was observed --> March 28, 2009
224. Recently , as per a report a team of researchers are on target to create unlimited quantities of "synthetic" human blood (by British scientists ). What will be the main source of this --> embryonic stem cells from donor embryos universally compatible O-negative blood type
225. Who won the Dubai World Cup 2009 in March 2009 --> Well Armed
226. Recently Charles Simonyi was in news for what --> First Person to Travel in Space Twice as Tourist
227. Which PSU has recently emerged as top profit making central PSU --> ONGC
228. Recently which two Indian companies merged to create 25% approximately of world's total complex refining capacity --> RIL & RPL
229. What was the RIL-RPL merger ratio --> 1:16
230. How many gears are there in Nano --> four forward and one reverse
231. Who has been declared the single largest loser by Forbes Magazine in the global recession as his fortune declines 2/3rd --> Mukesh Ambani
232. Who are the three Indians among the most influential people of 2009 by Time Magazine --> Sonia Gandhi, Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani
233. Who won the BNP Paribas Open Championship in march 2009 --> Rafael Nadal
234. Which is the scheme being launched from April to December and is a confidence building exercise to build the confidence of a recessionary world terrorized by the Mumbai attack. Govt. of India announced which scheme to boost tourism recently --> Visit India Year 2009
235. How many members will be elected for the 15th Loksabha --> 543
236. For the first time, in how many constituencies Photo electoral Rolls will be used --> 522
237. In which states delimitation process was not undertaken --> J& K, Arunanchal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland
238. In which three states assembly elections are taking place simultaneously to Lok Sabha Polls --> AP, Orissa, and sikkim
239. Which south American leader , traveled in India in March 2009 , was conferred a honorary doctorate degree by Madras University --> Chilean President Michelle Bachlet
240. Who is the president of International Cricket Council --> David Morgan
241. Who is the director General of UNESCO --> Koichiro Matsuura
242. In which year Titanic Sank --> 1912
243. Considering the vast potential of energy savings and benefits of energy efficiency, the Government of India enacted the Energy Conservation Act in which year --> 2001
244. Which bank launched Indo Nepal Remittance Scheme --> RBI
245. The National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (Nacas), on accounting policies followed by the Indian industry, has favored suspending for two years of which norms --> AS 11
246. By which year India plans to send manned mission to Moon --> 2020
247. India recently signed a pact on biofuels with which country --> USA
248. As per the latest surveys , how much of India's land is clad with trees --> 22%
249. Where was located the military base in central Asia which was voted out by Kyrgyzstan parliament --> Manas
250. Who won the Best Actor award in Oscar 2009 --> Sean Penn

BOOKS AND AUTHORS -1

2009-04-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

1. Which book has been printed in maximum number of languages --> Bible
2. Only religious book published in shorthand till now is --> Bible
3. What is the oldest printed work in the world --> The Hirak Sutra , 868 A.D.
4. Which one is the longest novel ever written --> Les Hommes de Bonne Volonte
5. Who had written Mahabharata --> Ved Vyasa
6. Who has written AnandMath --> Bankim Chandra Chatarjee
7. Who has written Apple Cart --> George Bernard Shaw
8. Who has written Arthshastra --> Kautilya
9. Who has written " AutoBiography of an Unknown Indian" --> Nirad C. Chaudhaury
10. Who has written the play " Bharat Bharti" --> Maithili Sharan Gupta
11. Who has written "Bisarjan" --> Rabindra Nath Taigore
12. Who has written "Bunch of Old Letters" --> Jawahar Lal Nehru
13. Who has written " Das Kapital" --> Kar Marx
14. Who has written " Decent of Man" --> Charles Darwin
15. Who has written Discovery of India --> jawahar lal Nehru
16. Who has written the novel " From here to an eternity" --> James Jones
17. Who has written" The Gardner" --> Rabindra Nath Tagore
18. "Gita Rahasya " has been written by whom --> Bal Gangadhar Tilak
19. "India Divided" was written by whom --> Dr. Rajendra Prasad
20. Who has written Kumarsambhava --> Kalidasa
21. Who has written " Life Divine" --> Aurobindo Ghosh
22. Who has written " My Truth" --> Indira Gandhi
23. Who has written "Oliver Twist" --> Charles Dickens
24. Who has written " Ratnavali" --> Harshavardhana
25. Who has written " Glimpses of World History" --> Jawahar Lal Nehru
26. Who has written"Godan" --> Munshi Premchand
27. Who has written"Hindu View of Life" --> Dr. Radhkrishnan
28. "My Presidential Year" Who has written this book --> R Venkatramanan
29. Who has written the book " Communist Manifesto" --> Karl Marx
30. " Agni Vina" is a famous Bangla book written by --> Kazi Nazrul Islam
31. " Creating a future Islamic Civilization" who has written this book --> Rashid Shah
32. Who has written the book " The Enduring Bahu" --> K C Sivaramakrishnan
33. " Towards Social Development" who has written this book --> KS Bhatt
34. "Indirect economic impacts of dam" Who has written this book --> Ramesh Bhatia
35. Who has written Nyaya Darshan --> Gautam
36. Which English writer displayed a swastika on the cover of his books --> Rudyard Kipling
37. Which Indian author's first names are Rasipuram Krishnaswamy --> R.K.NArayan
38. Who wrote the book "The God of Small Things' which won the Booker Prize --> Arundhati Roy
39. The Hindi classic Padmavat was a work by a Muslim Writer. Name him --> Malik Muhammad Jaisi
40. Kitab-i-rehla is a work by a foreign traveler as an account of his travels. What is the name --> Ibn Batutah
41. "Profiles in courage" who has written this book --> John F. Kennedy. It won the Pulitzer Prize
42. Who wrote "Shahnama" --> Ferdowsi
43. Who authored the book 'India Wins Freedom' --> Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
44. Who has written the book " A Golden Age" --> Tahmina Anam (Bangladesh)
45. Who authored the book 'A Brief History of Time' --> Stephan Hawking
46. Who wrote the famous novel 'Devdas' --> Sharat Chandra Chatterjee
47. Who has written " Malgudy Days" --> R K Narayanan
48. Who has written the book Pakistan Papers --> Mani Shankar Aiyyer
49. Who has written the book " The White Tiger" --> Arvind Adiga
50. Who has written I Witness: Partial Observations --> Kapil Sibal

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 4

2009-04-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

151. Who won the title Miss India Worldwide 2008 --> Ms. Nikkita shah Marwah
152. Recently , two submarines one British & one French collided as per reports in which ocean --> Atlantic Ocean
153. UN Environment Programme (UNEP), A top UN agency recently warned that food prices will increase by what percentage in 10 years --> 30-35%
154. Who won the best actress Oscar award,2009 --> Kate Winslet
155. In which province of Australia , a bushfire broke out claiming above 200 lives --> Victoria
156. One of NASA's observatory landed in Pacific Ocean near Antarctica after failing to reach the orbit. What was the name of this
observatory --> Orbiting Carbon Observatory
157. Recently Iran tested its first Nuclear Power Plant. At which place in Iran --> Bushehr
158. Which mountain range of Antarctica was mapped for the first time --> Gamburtsev Mountain Range
159. Which were the earliest vertebrates to use internal fertilization as per classified by a recent Australian Study in February 2009 --> fossilized Fish
160. Recently , the Standing committee of China's NPC approved which law to enhance supervision and strengthen quality standards --> Food Safety Law
161. Recently China's first lunar probe impacted moon. What was its name --> Chang'e 1
162. A huge asteroid buzzed past earth recently in March 2009. Approximate how far was it from earth's surface --> 72000 kms
163. Where were attacked the Srilankan Cricketers in Pakistan --> Lahore
164. Recently , United Kingdom's Prime Minister Gordon Brown became the ……th Prime Minister of England to address joint session of US Congress --> 5th
165. What is the name of NASA's telescope to search for life in corner of Galaxy --> Kepler
166. Recently' which country terminated its diplomatic relationships with Iran --> Morocco
167. Which country of Europe recently announced to rejoin NATO's military command --> France
168. The government of Switzerland recently announced to cooperate with the international community in which area --> International Tax Evasion
169. Who won the Dubai Open Tennis Championship in Dubai in February 2009 --> Venus Williams
170. Who won the Nancy Masters International Chess Tournament in France --> P Harikrishna of India
171. Who clinched the Memphis Open tennis tournament men's title in Feb 2009 --> Andy Roddlick USA
172. "ASHA" is a government of India Scheme related to which area of operation --> Infrastructure development
173. Which country has allowed FDI from India for the first time in the history --> Pakistan
174. Under which system , scheme to distribute food grains , oil etc at subsidized rates comes --> Public Distribution System PDS
175. What is the area of land for which additional irrigation capacity to be created by 2009 under Bharat Nirman --> 10 million hectares
176. " Salal Project" is on which river --> Chenab
177. Who among of the following persons, analyst in Goldman Sachs, author of "Super Spike theory " has roiled the world by predicting
oil prices as high as $ 200 a barrel --> Arjun Narayan Murthy
178. Who among of the following women scientists has been appointed to head Agni II missile Project --> Tessy Thomas
179. Among Canada , United State , Japan , United Kingdom , what is the correct sequence of per capita emissions' Country (CO2 Emissions) in the descending order --> United State , Canada , Japan , United Kingdom
180. In Which countries of Europe, United States is planning to set up a missile defense base --> Czech Republic and Poland
181. What was the theme of Global Summit of Women 2008 in Hanoi --> Women and Asia – Driving the global Economy
182. Who among of the Indian beaurocrats has been awarded United Nations Public Service award recently --> R S Pandey
183. Recently which scientist transformed ordinary pancreatic cell into insulin producing cells in living mice,using gene therapy techniques --> Dr. Douglas Melton
184. World Bank's new poverty line is ……$ per day --> 1.25
185. The country's first poly silicon solar project , which also happens to be the largest integrated solar Power complex of the world will be started at --> Haldia
186. IPS officer from Andhra Pradesh and an expert in handling the anti-naxal operations, is likely to take charge of the COBRA --> K Durga Prasad
187. According to latest astronomical observation, what is the percent of Ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy in the Universe --> 4.6% Atoms, 23% Cold Dark Matter, 72% Dark Energy
188. Who is the founder of 'Facebook' is declared youngest billionaire on earth by Forbes Magazine in 2008 --> Mark Zuckerberg
189. Who among of the following scientists is the inventor of first integrated circuit, the basic building block of everything from 3G cell phones to supercomputers --> Jack Kilby
190. Which Indian state has been chosen for E- Bharat Programme Funded by World Bank --> Tamil Nadu
191. What is the rank of nuclear power in India among the sources of electricity --> fourth
192. Which among of the following countries have developed the latest war weapon ' BigDog' billed as " The Most advanced quadruped
robot on Earth" --> USA
193. Shenzhou 7 , the third Chinese human spaceflight were launched on September 25, 2008 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in
which province of China --> Gansu province
194. France meets what share of its energy needs through nuclear energy --> 78%
195. At present India have 22 atomic power reactors. How many atomic power reactors were designated for civilian programme --> 14
196. Which company singed an agreement on a "Passport Seva Project" for quicker passport recently --> TCS
197. Who is given Janapith award 2008 for his literary work in the Kashmiri Language --> Rahman Rahi
198. Who was the Director of Shourya Missile's Programme, which was recently tested successfully at Chandipur-on-sea, Balasore, Orissa --> A. K. Chakrabarti
199. A convergence programme to be operated jointly by the Rajasthan Government and the United Nations agencies for achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been launched in how many districts of the state --> FIVE
200. Which country has recently emerged as India's largest defense supplier --> Israel

NOKIA 7610 SUPERNOVA

2009-04-12T01:44:00.001-07:00

Nokia 7610 is a GSM phone. Nokia 7610, a Slider mobile comes with a great list of features. Nokia 7610 price is optimal and it is a great buy.

The fashion changes as per the times and the phone world is no exception. Nokia is ever fast in introducing its newer product in its menu card. And the latest one is Nokia 7610 Supernova, a flagship targeting the female sex, at the same time keeping an ear on male sex. Nokia 7610 Supernova is not intended to be a high-end species, but a mid-end and you cannot term it as a smart-phone, unlike Nokia's earlier ones. Though coming under the category of media phone, Nokia 7610 Supernova handset is devised to perform on an S-40 mode.

The exotic aspect about Nokia 7610 Supernova is its Theme Coloriser and Xpress-On Covers, which are already available in Nokia's other Supernova models. The advantage of this coloriser is that the user can change the cover to suit the mindset.

As a slider phone, Nokia 7610 Supernova handset invites attention with its features that come in the row - metallic front case allied with a plastic made trim, a 3.2 megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash with a resolution range of 2048 x 1536 pixels and an auto-focus, optional portrait / landscape mode, shoot / edit photos at a resolution of VGA (15 fps) and mediocre image quality, a loudspeaker supported by bass, a charger connector, the power button, a 2.5mm headset jack, volume keys, a music player and a camera key, a micro USB connector.

Bluetooth with EDR and A2DP helps the transfer of files to another handset and music to headsets through wireless mode, compatible to get linked to an external phone through Bluetooth, sharp 'stereo widening' aspect, a FM Radio with RDS, the Theme Coloriser has both enhanced utility and exhaust of memory, comes with preinstalled Yahoo by which the users are free to search Web, download maps, low-speed Opera Mini (through EDGE), access to POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail, WidSets.

Nokia has not let down the consumers as this handset consists of four pre-installed games viz Snake 3D, Sudoku, Sea Sweeper and Bounce II.Nokia 7610 Supernova, as on par with other Nokia models, is fitted with 64 MB internal memory and a 512 MB card, 860 mAh Li-Ion battery supposed to last for 5.4 hours of talk-time mode / 300 hours of stand-by mode (however the battery may be subjected to charge once the handset functions on music player), the SAR value is 0.81 W/kg at use and 0.65 W/ kg while lying on the body. A value-added phone for those who do not insist on 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS or a document reader and for those whom fashion alone counts a lot, Nokia 7610 Supernova is what they are looking for.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

2009-04-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

a) A Bend in the river - V.S. Naipaul
b) A Brush with life - Satish Gujral
c) A captain’s diary - Alec Stewart
d) A Devil’s Teardrop - Jeffery Deaver
e) A century’s Journey- How the great
shape the world - Tobert A Pastor
f) A Conceptual Encyclopaedia of
Guru Granth Sahib - S.S. Kohli
g) A foreign policy for India - I.K. Gujral
h) A Gender lens on social psychology - Judith A.Howard & Jocelyn A. Hollander
i) A forture teller told me - Tiziano Terzani
j) A Great wall – Six president & china
; An investigative history - Patrick Tylar
k) A Himalayan love story - Namita Gokhale
l) A last leap south - Vladimir Zhisinovsky
m) A man in full - Tom Wolfe
n) A new world - Amit Chaudhuri
o) A peep into the past - Vasant Navrekar
p) A possible India - Partha Chatterjee
q) A psychoanalysis of the prophets - Abdulla Kamal
r) A revolutionary life - Laxmi Sehgal
s) A secular agenda - Arun Shourie
t) A simple path - Lucinda Vardey
u) A sin of colour - Sunetra Gupta
v) A stream of windows-unsettling
reflections on trade, immigration and
democracy - Jagdish Bhagwati
w) A sudden change of hearts - Barbara Taylor
x) A suitable boy - Vikram Seth
y) A tale of two gardens - Octavio Paz
z) A thousand suns - Dominique Lapierre
aa) A tribute to people’s princess Diana - Peter Donelli
ab) A tryst with destiny - Stanley Wolfer
ac) A tunnel of time – An autobiography - R.K. Laxman
ad) A window for one year - John Lrving
ae) Abbot - Walter Scott
af) Abdul’s taxi at Kalighat – A
celebration of Calcutta - Joe Roberts
ag) Absalom, Absalom - William Faulkner
ah) Absalom and Achitophel - John Dryden
ai) Accession to Extinction - D.R. Mankekar
aj) Adam Bede - George Eliot
ak) Adhe Adhure - Mohan Rakesh
al) Adonis - P.B. Shelley
am) Adrian Mole-The wilderness years - Sue Townsend
an) The adventages of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
ao) Adventages of Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
ap) Adventages of sally - P.G. Wodehouse
aq) Adventages of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
ar) The adventages of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
as) Adversary in the house - Irving Stone
at) Advice and consent - Allen Drury
au) Aeneid - Virgil
av) The Affairs - C.P. Snow
aw) The Affluent society - J.K. Galbraith
ax) Afghanistan: Mullah Marx & Mujahid - R.H.Magnus & Eden Naby
ay) Africa’s challenge to America - Chester Bowles
az) After all these years - Susan Issacs
ba) After the dark night - S.M. Ali
bb) Against the grain - Boris Yeltsin
bc) Age of reason - Jean Paul Sartre
bd) Agni pariksha - Acharya Tulsi
be) Agni veena - Kazi Nazrul Islam
bf) The Agony and the Eestasy - Irving Stone
bg) Ain-i-Akbari - Abul Fazal
bh) Air port - Arthur Hailey
bi) Ajatshatru - Jai Shankar Prasad
bj) Akbarnama - Abul Fazal
bk) Alaska unbound - James Michener
bl) The Alchemist - Ben Johnson
bm) Alexander – Quartet - Lawrence Durrel
bn) Alexander the great - John Gunther
bo)Alice in wonderland - Lewis Carroll
bp) Alien Nation - Peter Brimelow
bq) All for love - John Dryden
br) All is well that ends well - William Shakespeare
bs) All quiet on the western front - Erich Maria Remarque
bt) All the king’s men - Robert penn Warren
bu) All the President’s men - Carl Bernstein & bob Woodward
bv) All the Prime Minister’s men - Janardhan Thakur
bw) All things Bright & beautiful - James Herroit
bx) All under heaven - Pearl S. Buck
by) Along the road - Aldous Huxley
bz) Altered states - Anita Brookner
ca) Amar Kosh - Amar Singh
cb) Ambassador’s Journal - J.K. Galbraith
cc) Ambassador’s report - Chester Bowles
cd) Amelia - Henry Fielding
ce) American capitalism - J.K. Galbraith
cf) An Admiral’s Dilemma - GunnarMyrdal
cg) An American in khadi - Asha Sharma
ch) An American tragedy - Theodore Dreiser
ci) An apology for idlers - Robert Louis Stevenson
cj) An autobiography - Jawaharlal Nehru
ck) An equal music - Vikram Seth
cl) An eye to china - David Selbourne
cm) An idealist view of life - Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
cn) An unfinished dream - Dr. Verghese Kurien
co) Anandmath - Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
cp) Anatomy of a flawed inheritance - J.N. Dixit
cq) Ancient evenings - Norman Mailer
cr) The ancient mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
cs) And quiet flows the don - Mikhail Sholokhov
ct) Androcles and the lion - George Bernard Shaw
cu) And through the looking glass - Lewis Carroll
cv) Angry letters - Willem Doevenduin
cx) Anguish of deprived - Lakshmidhar Mishra
cy) The animal farm - George Orwell
cz) Anna Karenina - Count Leo Tolstoy
da) Another life - Derek Walcott
db) Answer to history - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
dc) Antic hay - Aldous Huxley
dd) Antony and Cleopatra - William Shakespeare
de) Ape and Essence - Aldous Huxley
df) Apple Cart - George Bernard Burton
dg) Arabian nights - Sir Richard Burton
dh) Area of darkness - V.S. Naipal
di) Arion and the Dolphin - Vikram Seth
dj) Arms and the man - George Bernard Shaw
dk) Arrow in the blue - Arthur Koestler
dl) Arrow of gold - Joseph Conrad
dm) Arrow smith - Sinclair Lewis
dn) As I lay dying - William Faulkner
do) As you like it - William Shakespeare
dp) Ascent of the everest - Sir John Hunt
dq) Ashtadhyayi - Panini
dr) Asia and Western Dominance - K.M. Panikkar
ds) Asian drama - Gunnar Myrdal
dt) Aspects of the novel - E.M. Forster
du) Assassination of a Prime Minister - S. Anandram
dv) Assignment colombo - J.N. Dixit
dw) Athenian constitution - Aristotle
dx) Atoms of hope - Mohan Sundara Rajan
dy) August 1914 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
dz) The August coup - Mikhais S. Gorbachev
ea) Author’s Farce - Henry Fielding
eb) Autobiography of an unknown India - Nirad C. Chaudhuri
ec) Autumn leaves - O. Pulla Reddi
ed) Avanti Sundari - Dandi
ee) Babbit - Sinclair Lewis
ef) Back to methuselah - George Bernard Shaw
eg) Backward place - Ruth Prawer Jhabwala
eh) Bandicoot run - Manohar Malgonkar
ei) Bang-i-Dara - Mohammad Lqbal
ej) Bangladesh-The unfinished revolution - Lawrence Liftschultz

WORLD GEOGRAPHY -1

2009-04-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

1. Which is the only continent through which all three main latitude lines - Equator, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn - passes --> Africa
2. Kavaratti, an island town, is the capital of which Indian union territory --> Lakshadweep
3. Which is the largest hot & cold deserts in the world --> Sahara & Antarctica
4. What is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe --> Silk Road or Silk Route
5. Which type of soil is capable of holding moisture for release to plants during the dry period --> Black soil
6. A linear-shaped lowland between highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault is called --> rift valley
7. What is the most common example of a rift valley in the world --> Dead Sea
8. Situated in south-east Siberia, the 3.15-million-ha Lake ………. Is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world --> Baikal
9. What is a deep valley between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river --> Canyon
10. Horseshoe Canyon is located in which country --> Canada
11. When decaying vegetations produce organic acids which cause a breakdown of minerals , which kind of weathering is called this
concept --> Chemical weathering
12. What is Diego Garcia --> island in the Indian ocean with large military base
13. An astronomical term referring to the apparent daily motion of stars around the Earth, or more precisely around the two celestial
poles is called --> Diurnal motion
14. Where is located Dakshin Gangotri --> Antarctica (weather and scientific recording station)
15. A belt of calm and light variable winds near the equator are called --> Doldrums
16. Down warping of Rajmahal Garo gap took place in which epoch --> Eocene
17. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene epoch to the beginning of the …….epoch --> Oligocene
18. What is the relative position of Sun, Moon and earth during solar eclipse --> Moon between Sun and Earth
19. During the first half of year, when northern hemisphere tilts towards Sun, in which hemisphere is winter and in which summer --> Northern -summer, Southern winter
20. Which Monsoon first hits the Western Ghats of the coastal state of Kerala, India and hence Kerala is the first state in India to
receive rain from it --> South West Monsoon
21. What name has been given to the development of warm surface waters in the equatorial pacific ocean --> El Nino
22. With distance from which place each time zone has been defined --> Greenwich
23. What is the precise time of earth rotation on axis --> 23 hrs, 56 minutes and 4.9 seconds
24. How many years ago earth is believed to be originated --> 4600 million
25. Mangoloids were believed to be associated a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. What was it called --> Down's Syndroms
26. What kind of regions are normally related to earthquakes and volcanoes --> Folded and faulted
27. What kind of energy is earthquake that is transferred through the bedrock --> wave energy
28. Tectonism causes what --> earthquake
29. The Eucla Basin is an artesian depression located in --> Australia
30. Which canal separates Africa from Asia --> Suez Canal
31. Which one is smallest continent of world --> Australia
32. Which volcano is called the "light pillar of Mediterranean sea" --> Stromboli
33. What is the average density of earth --> 5.5
34. World's largest trade centre of diamond is in which country --> Antwerp in Belgium
35. Black Mountain is in which country --> Bhutan
36. When sun is vertically above the equator what is it called --> Equinox
37. When earth is farthest from sun it is called --> Aphelion
38. "Land of Morning Calm" is name of which country --> Korea
39. The luminous effect of electromagnetic phenomena in the ionosphere is known as --> AURORA
40. Which city is on the banks of "Seine" River --> P aris
41. Which kind of soils are best for the production of cotton --> Black Soil
42. The forests that mostly grow in the belt of land lying between 50 degree and 70 degree in north --> Temperate Coniferous Forests
43. Bolivia is an important producer of iron / cocoa / tin --> Tin
44. What was the earlier name of Cambodia --> Kampuchea
45. What is the name of the city where President Kennedy was assassinated --> Dallas
46. What kind of climate is in Central & Western Part of California --> Mediterranean
47. What is the capital and currency of Libya --> Tripoli - Libyan Dinar
48. Which country is the largest producer of cotton in the world --> China followed by USA, India
49. What is a contour --> Areas of equal height above sea level
50. What are Isotherms --> Area having the same temperature

INDIAN HISTORY - 2

2009-04-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

51. The Partition of Bengal was made in 1905. Who was viceroy of India at that Time --> Lord Curzon
52. The Battle of Buxar was fought in October 1764 between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, and the combined armies of --> Mir Kasim, Shuja-ud-Daula & Shah Alam II
53. The Muslim League was founded at which place in 1906 --> Dhaka
54. Simuka was an Indian king and the founder of which dynasty --> Satavahana dynasty
55. Battle of Wandiwash was fought between whom --> French & East India Company
56. " Jagat Seth" a rich businessman of murshidabad was a contemporary of which nawab --> Siraj-ud-Daula
57. Who founded Home Rule League --> Annie Besant
58. Who was the founder of Rastrakuta dynasty --> Dantidurga (735 - 756) or Dantivarman
59. Pillai was the term used for students in which age --> Sangam Age
60. Which animal was the state emblem of Pandya Kings --> Fish
61. Panchatantra was written in which period --> Gupta Period
62. Which animal was widely exported in the Sangam age to western world --> Peacock
63. The richest and biggest land lords class was known by which name during sangam age --> Velas
64. Tamil God who was most favorite in sangam age was --> Murugan
65. Bhandi was a chief secretary of which Indian King --> Harshavardhan
66. In 1612, where did the British establish their first factory (trading post) in India --> Surat
67. On the banks of river Ganga, which ruler of Magadh founded the city of Patliputra (modern Patna) --> Ajatashatru
68. At which place did Mahatama Gandhi start his first Satyagraha in India --> Champaran (Bihar)
69. Who was Saadat Hasan Manto --> a versatile Urdu story of partition times of India & Pakistan
70. What is the chronological order of Dutch, French , Portuguese and English to come in India --> Portuguese, Dutch, English, French
71. Juna Garh rock inscription is related to which ruler of ancient Gujarat --> Rudradaman
72. Vikram samvat is popularly used in India. In which other country it is used popularly --> Nepal
73. The Vikrama Samvat was founded by the Tuar Rajput emperor Vikramaditya of Ujjain[1] following his victory over --> Sakas
74. The Vikram Samvat calendar is how long ahead (in years) of the solar Gregorian calendar --> 56.7 years
75. What is the correct chronological order of construction of Qutub Minar, Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri & Agra Fort --> Qutub Minar, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal
76. Who was the first ruler of The Mamluk Dynasty --> Qutub-ud-din Aibak
77. What kind of coins introduced Muhammad Bin Tughlaq without effective regulation against forgery --> copper coins
78. Who was the founder and first ruler of Tughlaq Dynasty --> Ghiyas ud din Tughluq Shah or Ghazi Malik
79. In which year Akbar centralized the control and functioning of various mints --> 1570
80. The construction of the Delhi Iron Pillar , now located at the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in New Delhi was constructed in which period --> Gupta Period
81. Who were the highest officials of Asoka --> Rajukas
82. Out of Burma, Nepal, Sri Lanka & China, in which countries Asoka propagated Buddhism --> Burma, Nepal & Sri Lanka
83. Who was the ancient Greek King contemporary of Asoka and mentioned him in his edicts --> Antiochus II Theos
84. Out of Infanticide, Sati, Slavery & Lotteries, which was outlawed / abolished first at the beginning of eighteenth century --> Infanticide (both male & female)
85. Which hills in Orrisa , have major Edicts of Ashoka engraved on a mass of rock, by the side of the road leading to the summit of the hills --> Dhuli Hills
86. In which edict in Dhuli Asoka expresses his concern for the "welfare of the whole world" --> Kalinga Edict VI
87. In which battle artillery was used for the first time --> First Battle of Panipat
88. In which state the Indus Valley site at Surkotada is located --> 160 km (99 mi) north-east of Bhuj,Kutch, Gujarat
89. What was the major finding at the Surkotada City of Indus Valley Civilization --> massive fortification wall of semi-undressed stones
90. During the reign of Harshavardhana, where was the largest Buddhist monastery established --> Nalanda
91. Largest Roman settlement and a Roman factory is found in which archaeological site near Pondicherry, southern India --> Arikamedu
92. Ancient trading depot of Bharukaccha is related to which city of Modern India --> Bharuch of Gujarat
93. What was the capital of the ancient Maitraka dynasty --> Vallabhi
94. In 1906, at the founding session of all India Muslim League in Dhaka, who became the first president of the party --> Nawab Salimullah Khan
95. Which monument was built by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah in 1591 to commemorate the end of the plague in his capital --> Charminar, Hyderabad
96. Who presided over the first session of the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920 --> Lala Lajpat Rai
97. Gol Ghar, a beehive shaped structure built in 1786 to store grains for the British Army, is located in which city --> Patna
98. Which freedom fighter was popularly known as 'Lokpriya' --> Gopinath Bordoloi
99. Which battle lead to the disintegration of Vijayanagar empire of south India --> Battle of Talikota (1565)
100.Which sultan called himself the ‘Second Alexander’ --> Sultan Alauddin Khilji

Ekta Chaudhury - Miss India Universe 2009

2009-04-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

Ekta Chaudhury - Miss India Universe 2009

Miss India Universe Ekta Chaudhury, Miss India Earth Shriya Kishore and Miss India World Pooja Chopra pose on stage at the Pantaloons Femina Miss India Contest 2009

GENERAL AWARENESS - 3

2009-04-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

101. In 1718, an English pirate called Edward Teach was killed in a battle with British forces off the coast of Virginia. How was he better known --> Blackbeard
102. In 1995, a probe from this spacecraft first entered the planet Jupiter. Name it --> Galileo
103. George Jorgensen was a former US GI who had gone to Denmark in 1950 and returned in 1952 after undergoing a particular treatment, a first in the world. What had he undergone --> Sex-change operation
104. Tsai Lun, a eunuch, invented it in 105 AD. According to official history, he was given an aristocratic title when he presented it to Emperor Ho Ti for the first time. What was it --> Paper
105. What is the shortest verse in the Bible --> 'Jesus wept.'
106. On which Shakespeare play is the musical "West Side Story" based --> Romeo and Juliet
107. The letters that he wrote to his daughter from jail were published as a book Letters from a Father to a Daughter. Name both --> Jawahar Lal Nehru wrote to his daughter Indira Gandhi which were later published as Glimpses of World History
108. Which Bharat Ratna winning scientist's autobiography is titled Wings of Fire --> A.P.J.Abdul Kalam
109. Which international airline is named after the vahana of Lord Vishnu --> Garuna Indonesia
110. Which is the only animal with four knees --> Elephant
111. Sachin Tendulkar was named after his brother Ajit's favourite music director. Who --> SAchin Dev (S D ) Burman
112. Who is known as the 'Terror of MM Hills' --> Veerapan
113. What is the Sanskrit word for 'refined' --> SAnskrit
114. Name the wife of Agni --> Swaha
115. By what name do we know the Hindi actor Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia better --> Akshay Kumar
116. Two wards in the Tihar Jail in New Delhi were named after Indian cricketers by supercop Kiran Bedi. Who --> SAchin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli
118. Why did Pakistan supposedly name its missile 'Ghauri' --> Because it thought India had named Prithvi after Prithviraj Chauhan
119. Whose ashes are supposedly stored at the Renkoji Temple in Japan --> Subhash Chandra Bose
120. Which actor and director both made their debut in the Kannada film 'Pallavi Anu Pallavi' --> Maniratnam and Anil KApoor
121. Who founded the Mysore Bank now known as the State Bank of Mysore --> Sir M. Vishweshvarayya
122. Who promotes Kannada theatre through his troupe called Rangayana --> B V Karanth
123. Which great writer and poet introduced and promoted the sport of Judo in India --> Rabindranath TAgore
124. who made the first cover design of Jawaharlal Nehru’s The Discovery of India --> Satyajit Ray
125. According to Hindu mythology, twin sisters Riddhi and Siddhi are wives of which God --> Ganesh
126. Which scientist was known as 'Wizard of Menlo Park' --> Thomas Alva Edison
127. On 6th April 1909, who became the first person to reach the North Pole --> Robert Edwin Peary
128. In which city is the dargah (tomb) of sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti located --> Ajmer
129. Which is the nearest star to the Sun --> Which is the nearest star to the Sun
130. Which gas is commonly known as 'Laughing Gas' --> Nitrous Oxide
131. Who discoverd Penicillin --> Alexander Fleming
132. In Mumbai terror attacks on 26 Nov. 2008, what was the code name of security forces commando action against terrorists --> Operation Black Tornado
133. Launched on 1st July 1822, which newspaper is the Asia's oldest extant daily --> Mumbai Samachar
134. Which body is responsible to keep the government money under various heads --> RBI
135. Look East Policy was launched in which year --> 1992
136. When a loan is given by a bank to an individual or organization is not returned by the borrower wishfully or otherwise is known as
………….asset --> non-performing asset
137. A time-bound plan for rural infrastructure by the government of India in partnership with State Governments and Panchayat Raj
Institutions. What is the name of this plan --> Bharat Nirman
138. Who died of Leukemia caused by radio activity while experimenting with its effects --> Marie Curie and Irene Joliet Curie
139. Which ancient scientist claimed that termite mounds were indicators of groundwater --> Varahamithira
140. In which year the following acts took place?
Water Act - 1974
Pollution control Act - 1982
Wild Life Act - 1972
Environment Protection Act - 1986
Forest Conservation Act - 1980
Protect Tiger Act - 1973
141. Which animal scientific name is Axis Axis --> The Spotted Deer
142. Which is the fastest breeding mammal --> The Indian Mole rat
143. The leaf of which tree often used as a Motif in Kashmir crafts --> Chinas
144. Which is known as King of spices and Queen of spices --> Pepper and Cardamom
145. Who is known as god father of birds --> Dr. Salim Ali
146. In which state is the Kanchenjunga, the second highest mountain peak in India, located --> Sikkim
147. What does the Pisciculture refers to --> Fishes
148. How do we better know nineteenth century spiritual guru Gadadhar Chatterjee --> Ramakrishna Paramhans
149. Which mineral is mined at Jayamkondam in Tamil Nadu --> Lignite
150. For the popularization of science, which agency of United Nations (UN) awards the Kalinga Prize --> UNESCO

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 3

2009-04-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

101. Recently, state which set a new record in country's power sector of signing 3 MOU on a single day --> Karnataka
102. Who took over as new chair man of Air port authority of India --> V P Agarwal
103. From which state Chandrayaan 1 was launched --> Andhra Pradesh
104. Man Mohan Singh is a Rajya Sabha member elected from which state --> Assam
105. Recently which organization found new bacteria in stratosphere --> ISRO
106. Who is the chief minister of Meghalaya who survived floor test recently --> Donkupar Roy
107. President Barack Obama's administration has cleared a sale to India of eight Boeing Co which maritime patrol aircraft --> P-81
108. What is SPQEM --> Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarasas
109. Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarasas is a scheme launched through which organization --> NIOS National Institute of Open Schooling
110. Recently J& K RTI law was in news. What is this law --> Right to Information Law
111. Where was the 29th SAARC Festival of Literature started in March 2009 --> Agra
112. Recently some banks changes FCNR rates. What is FCNR --> Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Banks) Accounts
113. Which company has recently topped the list of Fortune's most admired company of the world --> Apple
114. A United Nations body working on climate change has rejected a CDM project proposal submitted by Tata Chemicals. What is CDM --> Clean Development Mechanism
115. Where was a harappan era cemetary found recently --> Rohtak in Haryana
116. Who will take over as the next Chief Election Commissioner of India on April 20 --> Navin chawla
117. India has successfully tested the latest land attack version of which supersonic cruise missile at a firing range in Pokhran in the Rajasthan Desert --> Brahmos
118. According to a report released by the World Economic Forum , what is the rank of India in most attractive tourist destinations of the world --> 62
119. Who is the first DG of Indian Air Force --> Air Marshal Naresh Verma
120. Patients' rights as well as the rights of healthcare providers might get legal recognition with the Union health ministry recently drawing up a draft legislation called --> National Health Bill 2009
121. Recently India lifted ban from Import of China's Products. Which products and on what ground they were banned --> Toys, Public health & safety
122. Loksabha polls will be in how many phases & during which time in 2009 in India --> In 5 phases from April 16 to May 13
123. Which company plans to replenish all the groundwater used by the company in India back into nature and become completely 'water
neutral´ by 2012 --> Coca Cola
124. has won an award for the best debt fund house for a three-year performance from investment research firm Morning Star --> ICICI Prudential AMC
125. The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) started way back in 1795 under British. What was the original name --> Ramgarh Local Battalion
126. The UN sponsored theme for this year's International Women's day was --> Women and men united to end violence against women and girls
127. Colony Collapse Disorder was recently in news. What is it related to --> disappearance of honeybees and the collapse of their communities
128. According to the reports estimate that there are how many tobacco users in India --> at least 120-million
129. Who is the president of Asian Development Bank --> Haruhiko Kuroda
130. India has been divided into how many telecom circles --> 22
131. Which high court has recently criticized the practice of government nominating members of political parties as non-official directors (NoDs) on boards of public sector banks --> Gujarat High Court
132. Which agency controls unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) --> Insurance Regulatory & Development Authorities (IrDA)
133. Which norms define the risk-related capital adequacy of banks --> Basel II
134. After launching the Nano, Tata Motors is now looking to set up a truck manufacturing plant in which country with support from the
Indian government in the form of financial participation --> Myanmar
135. Which channel is broadcaster to India for the Indian Premier Leagues (IPL) Twenty20 format cricket tournament --> SETMAX
136. In its biggest defense deal with India, which country will provide its largest arms buyer an air defence system at a whopping sum of $1.4 billion --> Israel
137. Where did the first meeting of G-20 take place --> Berlin, on December 15-16, 1999
138. The G-20 is made up of which authorities of 19 countries --> finance ministers and central bank governors
139. In which year the G-20 chair was India --> 2002
140. Where was the last meeting of G-20 held --> Washington DC
141. What is UN-ESCAP --> United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
142. Which actress is set to be the First Indian Face of Barbie Doll --> Aishwarya Rai
143. Which company is the highest profit making PSU in India (awarded by Dalal Street Investment Journal ) recently --> ONGC
144. Which company is the most diversified PSU in India (awarded by Dalal Street Investment Journal ) recently --> GAIL
145. Which company is the Most valuable PSU in India (awarded by Dalal Street Investment Journal ) recently --> NTPC
146. Where is " Freedom Tower" located --> New York
147. Which Indian city has been chosen by Brisbane as it's sister city --> Lucknow
148. Where was meeting between the finance ministers of the G7 countries held in February 2009 in regard to the economical crisis --> Rome
149. Recently, after two decades of hostility Hamas & Fatah the two rival Palestinian groups hold talks for reconciliation. Where were the talks held --> Cairo
150. Where was held the 18th Miss India Worldwide in February 2009 --> Durban , south Africa

IMPORTANT DAYS OF APRIL

2009-04-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

April 01- Prevention of Blindness Week
April 02- International Children's Book Day
April 05- National Maritime Day , India
April 07- Handloom Week,India
April 07- World Health Day, All Over World
April 11- National Safe Motherhood Day , India
April 13- Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
April 14- Customs Day
April 14- Fire Service Week
April 17- World Hemophilia Day
April 18- World Amatuer Radio Awarness Day
April 18- World Heritage Day
April 22- Earth Day
April 23- World Book and Copyright Day
April 24- Women's Political Empowerment Day, India
April 29- International Dance Day
April 30- Anti-Child Labour Day

PRIME MINISTERS OF INDIA TILL DATE WITH THEIR TENURES

2009-04-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

India follows a Parliamentary system of Government like United Kingdom. In a Parliamentary system the Powers are generally in the hands of a Prime Minister rather than a President. The Prime Minister is the leader of a party (or coalition of parties that has a majority in the Lok Sabha (lower house) of the Parliament The Prime Minister either has to be a current member of one of the houses of Parliament, or be elected within six months of being appointed. The First Prime Minister of Independent India was Jawaharlal Nehru. Jawaharlal Nehru also holds the record for continuously being in the office for the longest period Aug. 15, 1947 to May 27, 1964 about 17 years.

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
Jawaharlal Nehru implemented his socialist vision by introducing a modified, "Indian" version of state planning and control over the economy. Creating the Planning commission of India, Nehru drew up the first Five-Year Plan in 1951, which charted the government`s investments in industries and agriculture. Increasing business and income taxes, Nehru envisaged a mixed economy in which the government would manage strategic industries such as mining, electricity and heavy industries, serving public interest and a check to private enterprise. Nehru pursued land redistribution and launched programmes to build irrigation canals, dams and spread the use of fertilizers to increase agricultural production. While encouraging the construction of large dams, irrigation works and the generation of hydroelectricity, Nehru also launched India`s programme to harness nuclear energy. For most of Nehru`s term as prime minister, India would continue to face serious food shortages despite progress and increases in agricultural production. Nehru`s industrial policies encouraged the growth of diverse manufacturing and heavy industries, yet state planning, controls and regulations impaired productivity, quality and profitability. Although the Indian economy enjoyed a steady rate of growth, chronic unemployment amidst inerradicable poverty continued to plague the population. Nehru`s popularity remained unaffected, and his government succeeded in extending water and electricity supply, health care, roads and infrastructure to a large degree for India`s vast rural population.

GULZARI LAL NANDA
Gulzari lal was a Gandhian to the core and was also temporary Prime Minister on two occasions after the sudden death of Pandit Nehru (from may 27, 1964 to June 9, 1964), for 14 days, and again after the sudden demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri (from January 11 to 24, 1966), again for a period of 14 days. On both occasions he acted for slightly less than a month, his term ending upon the election of a new leader of the Indian National Congress. Born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan), July 4, 1898 died on January 15, 1998, as a centenarian. He was a leading member in the labour movement. He had also conferred the Bharat Ratna Award in the year1997.

LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI
Born in Moghalsarai (Varanasi), October 2, 1904 died in Tashkent (USSR) on January 11, 1966, while negotiating peace talks with Pakistan. He had conferred Bharat Ratna in 1966. As the Minister for Transport and Police, he was the first to appoint women conductors and ordered that Police use jets of water instead of lathis to avoid unruly crowds. Shastri worked by his natural traits to obtain agreements, but in his short tenure was ineffective in dealing with the economic crisis and food shortage in the country. He was respected a lot and used this advantage in pushing the Green Revolution in India which directly led to India becoming a food-surplus nation, he also introduced White Revolution. During the 22-day war with Pakistan, Lal Bahadur Shastri created the slogan of "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan", underlining the need to boost India`s food production. He held office for 582 days, from June 9, 1964 to January 11, 1966.

INDIRA GANDHI
Indira Gandhi was the first Women Prime Minister of India and held office from Jan. 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977 and again from Jan. 14 to Oct. 31,1984, for a total of 5,831 days. Abolition of Privy Purse, nationalization of banks, birth of Bangladesh is some of her achievements. Born in Allahabad, Nov. 19, 1917; died on Oct. 31,1984. Her own Sikh bodyguard murdered her as she had ordered attack on the Golden Temple. Indira Gandhi was Minister for Information and Broadcasting in Lal Bahadur Shastri`s tenure. She was the person to declare Emergency in the country; by 1973 Delhi and north India were rocked by demonstrations angry at high price rise, the poor state of the economy, uncontrolled corruption, and poor standards of living. In June 1975, the High Court of Allahabad found her guilty of using illegal practices during election campaign, and ordered her to vacate her seat.

MORARJI DESAI
The first non-congress Prime Minister since Independence, Morarji Desai headed the Janata Party Government for 857 days, from March 24, 1977 to July 28, 1979. He was one of those rare Gandhians. Born on 29th February 1896, in Bahadesli Village, Gujarat; a centenarian, he passed away on April 10, 1995. He had also conferred Bharat Ratna in 1991. During his time Desai greatly improved relations with Pakistan and Zia-ul-Haq. Diplomatic relations were also re-established with China. His greatest contribution was that his Government renewed people`s faith in democracy. His Government undid many amendments made to the constitution during emergency and made it difficult for any future Government to impose National emergency.

CHARAN SINGH
A "kisan" Prime Minister from Uttar Pradesh, he never faced Parliament, even though he was in office for 171 days, from July 28, 1979 to Jan. 14, 1980. Within days of assuming office, one of the supporting parties withdrew its support, after which he continued as caretaker PM, till fresh elections were held. Born in Noorpur, Meerut in U. P. on Dec.23, 1902 died in 1987. Charan Singh was of the opinion that cooperative farms would not succeed in India. Charan Singh`s political career suffered due to his open criticism of Nehru`s economic policy. He also mentioned that that Indian labour laws had to be refined if India were to become competitive in world economy. He also opened high level diplomatic relations with Israel.

RAJIV GANDHI
Rajiv Gandhi worked as a professional pilot for Indian Airlines before coming into politics. The youngest Prime Minister so far, this grand son of Pt. Nehru assumed office at the age of 41, the day his mother was assassinated (Oct. 31,1984). In the 1985 elections, he led his party to a big win and continued as PM till Dec 1,1989. Born in Bombay on Aug. 20, 1944; died in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, at the hands of a human bomb. He began demolishing the License Raj, government quotas, tax and permitted regulations on economic activity, modernized the telecommunications industry, education system, expanded science and technology and improved relations with the United States. The Bofors scandal broke his honest, image and resulted in a major defeat for his party in the 1989 elections. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1991.

V.P. SINGH
V. P. Singh became Prime Minister of Janata Dal on Dec. 2,1989 and continued till Nov. 10, 1990. Born in Allahabad on June 25, 1931. Singh wished to move nationally on social justice-related issues, which would in turn combine the caste coalition that supported the Janata Dal in North India, and accordingly decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged Other Backward Classes. these were Hindu castes, and certain non-Hindu caste-like communities, which, though not untouchable, had been socially and educationally backward. This decision led to widespread protests among the youth in urban areas in North India.

CHANDRA SHEKHAR
The " Young Turk"(reformist) became Prime Minister on Nov. 10,1990 and continued till June 21, 1991 (224 days). Born in Village Ibrahimpatti in Ballia District, U P on July 1, 1927. Holding the office of Prime Minister for only seven months, Shekhar resigned on March 6, 1991 after the Congress Party withdrew support to him. Chandra Shekhar was known for abiding by the parliamentary Rules and Regulations and was honoured with the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1995. Today, Chandra Shekhar is a member of India`s Lower House of Parliament. He now leads Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya). Chandra Shekhar was the Eleventh Prime Minister of India.

P. V. NARASIMHA RAO
The first ever from South to hold this office, he ruled for full five years, from June 21, 1991 to May 10, 1996 (1, 785 days), despite a hung Parliament, initially. Narasimha Rao was born in Vangara, Andhra Pradesh, on June 28, 1921. Rao decided that India, which in 1991 was on the verge of bankruptcy, would benefit from Economic Liberalisation Programme. Rao, also called Father of Indian Economic Reforms. The state of Jammu and Kashmir faced increased terrorist activity during Rao`s tenure. During Rao`s tenure major happenings took place like the Babri Masjid Demolition, Latur Earthquake, Riots of 1993, Corruption charges and many more scandals.

A. B. VAJPAYEE
The first "bachelor" Prime Minister, he was at the office only for 16 days from May 16 to June 1, 1996, creating a record for the shortest spell in office. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born in Gwalior (M. P) on 25th December 1926. A prolific writer and a great orator. He assumed charge for the second time on March 19, 1998. He took the oath on October 13, 1999 after General Election. He submitted resignation on May 13, 2004. He was a passionate champion of women`s empowerment and social equality, Vajpayee believes in a forward-looking, forward moving India, a strong and wealthy nation confident of its rightful place in the good will of nations. He stands for an India secured in 5000 years of development history, ever modernizing, renewing, and ever re-energizing itself to meet the challenges of the next 1000 years. India`s second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, was conferred upon him.

H D DEVE GOWDA
Haradanahalli Dodde Deve Gowda, who was in office from June 1, 1996 to April 21, 1997 for only 11 months, headed the 11th Lok Sabha. Deve Gowda was born on May 18, 1933, in Haradanahalli Village, Hassan District and Karnataka. When the Congress party was defeated in the 1996 general elections Deve Gowda became prime minister of a United Front coalition government after Indian nationalists failed to form a government. He is widely respected and regarded for his struggle toward the cause of the farming community and is proudly known as "son of the soil".

I. K. GUJRAL
Inder Kumar Gujral became Prime Minister on April 21, 1997. He resigned office on Nov. 28. 1997. Gujral was born on December 4, 1919, in Jhelum. Prime Minister Gujral continued in the office for over 11 months, including 3 months as caretaker Prime Minister. During this time, he attempted to improve relations with Pakistan, reform the aging institutions of government and promote pro-growth economic policies to bring the country out of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which had left it stagnant. But thelawless, corrupt and unstable coalition politics were too big aproblem. One of the most controversial decisions of his government was declaration of President`s rule in Uttar Pradesh, following uncontrollable scenes in the state assembly.

DR. MANMOHAN SINGH
He was born on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab (now in Punjab, Pakistan) into a Kohli family. A globally renowned economist and former Finance Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh assumed charge on May 22, 2004. Sonia Gandhi was elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party and was expected to become the Prime Minister. In an unexpected move, she declined to accept the post and instead nominated Singh. He is the 17th and current Prime Minister of India. Singh is a member of the Indian National Congress party and became the first Sikh to become Prime Minister of India. He is one of the most qualified and influential figures in India`s recent history, because of the economic liberalisation he started in 1991. It is no less a reward that most of the ministers in his cabinet are qualified.

INDIAN POLITY AND CONSTITUTION

2009-04-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

1. How many schedules are there in Indian Constitution --> 12
2. What defines the aim of constitution --> Preamble
3. How many types of Indian Citizenships are there --> Single Indian Citizenship
4. In which year Indian Citizenship act passed --> 1955
5. Which article of Indian Constitution abolished untouchability --> Article 17
6. Under which article the the president of India can be impeached --> article 61
7. Under which article in Money Bill defined the constitution --> Article 110
8. From which country's constitution is parliamentary system adopted --> United Kingdom
9. Which article declares that " there shall be a President of India" --> Article 52
10. What is the maximum age for retirement of a judge of the Supreme Court --> 65 years
11. Who appoints " ad hoc" Judges of the Supreme Court --> Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with permission of President
12. Which article says " there will be governor of each state" --> article 153
13. By whom the state council of Ministers formed --> Governor
14. Which is the top-most urban local government --> The Municipal Corporation
15. Which is the permanent House of Legislature --> Legislative Council
16. Who established Municipality in the year 1882 AD --> Lord Ripon
17. Who is the head of the executive wing council --> Commissioner
18. Who becomes the Chairman of the National Development Council --> Prime Minister
19. Which non constitutional body is called "Super Cabinet" --> National Development Council
20. What is the main objective for the formation of Interstate Council --> The co-ordination between centre and state
21. What is the color of Chakra in National Flag --> blue
22. What is set time to sing national anthem --> 52 seconds
23. Who is the spokes person of the State --> Chief Minister
24. Who is the highest Law Officer of an state --> Advocate General
25. Which section of IPC is applicable for death under negligence --> 304 A
26. Prime Minister of India is a member of which house of parliament --> should become member of the either house in 6 months time
27. How a citizen of India can protect his / her fundamental right --> by a writ in Supreme Court
28. All revenues received by the Government of India by taxes e.g. Income Tax, Central Excise, Customs and other receipts flowing to the Government in connection with the conduct of Government business i.e. Non-Tax Revenues are credited into which fund --> Consolidated Fund of India
29. All expenditure of the government is incurred from Consolidated Fund of India and no amount can be withdrawn from the Fund without authorization from whom --> Parliament
30. In which fund the transactions relate to debt other than those included in the Consolidated Fund of India --> Public Account
31. Parliamentary authorization for payments from the Public Account is not required. True /False --> True
32. Who determines the size of the council of Ministers --> Prime Minister
33. What is the number of Fundamental rights guaranteed by constitution of India --> 6
34. Till now how many judges of Supreme Court of India have been removed from Office through impeachment --> None
35. What is the tenure of the Prime Minister of India --> as long as he/ she enjoys confidence in Lok Sabha
36. How many languages are recognized as regional languages in India Constitution (after eighth schedule of the Indian constitution ) --> 22
37. Which article of the Indian Constitution declares Hindi to be the official language of the Union --> Article 343
38. What status enjoys English in Indian Constitution --> special status& additional official language of India
39. How many members can be nominated by the president to the Rajya sabha --> 12
40. How many members of the Loksabha can be nominated by President --> 2
41. How many standing committees of Parliament are constituted by the Chairman of Rajya Sabha --> 6
42. How many standing Committees have been provided in new committee system --> 17
43. The Bills initiated by Ministers in Parliament are called --> Government Bills
44. A Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament becomes an Act only after it has been assented to by the --> President
45. Each House of Parliament collectively and the Members individually, enjoy certain special powers and privileges without which they
cannot discharge their functions, efficiently and effectively. Which article deals with such powers --> article 105
46. The Council of States or Rajya Sabha was set up under the Constitution on which date --> 3 April 1952
47. The allocation of seats in Rajya Sabha is contained in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution . Which state has maximum numbers
of members in Rajya sabha --> Uttar Pradesh, 31
48. How many states in India have two houses viz. Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council --> 5
49. How many times the Preamble has been amended --> One
50. How many types of emergencies have been envisaged under the Indian constitution --> 3

BUSINESS QUIZ - 2

2009-04-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

51. Style Spa is a chain of furniture stores owned by which group --> K K Birla
52. iPOD is a gizmo from which company --> Apple
53. Which city in India is named after JN Tata --> Jamshedpur
54. Obsessed with Quality, since 1895 is the baseline of which brand --> Skoda
55. Which bank calls itself the Worlds Local Bank --> HSBC
56. Where would you find a publication by the name Brew Print --> Barista
57. Which Indian brand name means priceless --> Amul
58. Which airlines inflight magazine is called Krisworld --> Singapore Airlines
59. George Eastman is credited as the founder of which company --> Kodak
60. Which company made the ball for the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2006 --> Adidas
61. Which retail giant did Sam Walton found in 1962 --> Walmart
62. Which company had an in-house agency called Adbur --> Dabur
63. Classmate Paperkraft & Saathi are all stationery brands from whom --> ITC
64. Softwar is a book on which company --> Oracle
65. Toblerone is a chocolate bar made by which company --> Kraft Foods
66. Who is the author of "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" --> Robin Sharma
67. Journalism of courage is the adline of --> The Indian Express
68. Khushi khushi jao, khushi khushi aao, is the baseline of which company --> Cox & Kings
69. "A Passion to Perform" is the adline of which bank --> Deutsche Bank
70. What is the name given to Nike logo --> Swoosh
71. Bob Miner & Ed Oates are the cofounders of which company --> Oracle
72. eServe International is part of which group --> Citi Group
73. Which Chinese company took over IBM'S PD dividion --> Lenovo
74. Which shoe company did Rudi Dassler start --> Puma
75. What does the brand name Volvo mean in Latin --> I roll
76. Which company got its name from "Integrated Electronics" --> Intel
77. Whose concept is "Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid" --> C K Prahlad
78. Which magazine was started by Bob Guccione in 1965 --> Penthouse
79. Byk is a bike from which company --> Bajaj
80. HCL tech. recently decided to open its new office in which country --> Israel at Yokneam
81. BHEL has recently announced to open a new plant at which city in China --> Shanghai
82. Recently Dell has decided to shift its European manufacturing base from Ireland to which country --> Poland
83. Nissan(Japan) will launch the small car in India by 2010 from its upcoming plant at Chennai co developed with which company --> Renault(France)
84. Walkman, which has now has become a generic name for the portable tape-recorder, is actually a brand name of the company which introduced it. Which company --> Sony
85. This product is manufactured only by one company - The Mysore Paints & Varnishes Ltd --> Voter's Indelible Ink
86. "One World One Dream" was the tagline of which major mega event in 2008 --> Beizing Olympics 2008
87. Which company makes its product using the 7X formula --> Coca Cola
88. Expand HDFC --> Housing Development Finance Corporation
89. Expand SIM --> Subscriber Identity Module
90. What resulted when Ruth Handler saw her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls --> Barbie
91. Major Indian pharma giant formed by Khwaja Ahmed in 1935 --> Cipla
92. Which company was founded by brothers ambrogio and Egidio in 1946 --> Perfetti
93. During world war-ii,what did the british call "TATAnagars" --> The armoured vehicles built by the TATAs
94. Every year,what does kolkata municipal corporation buy 400 tonnes of at a cost of Rs.50 Lakh --> Broomstick
95. Whose designation reads managing director,Leftword Books --> CPI(M) General Secy,Prakash Karat
96. What is the ‘Sundown Rule’ that Wal-Mart strives to achieve --> dealing with customer requests by the close of business on the day they are received
97. Formica brand of laminates belong to which Indian business group --> Wadia Group
98. BONAQUA brand of packaged water belongs to whom --> Coca Cola,to be launched very soon in India
99. X the son of an Indian Army general. He is the first Parsi to be selected to the upper house of UK parliament. He came up with a solution to the General dissatisfaction with the "gassy and heavy" British beer that "just did not go well with Indian food”. In 1990 created a brand Y?Identify X & Y --> (X-Karan Billimoria,Y-Cobra Beer)
100.TATA Safari-DICOR is a great brand.DICOR stands for --> Direct Injection Common Rail

IPL 2009 New Schedule IPL Season 2 Dates South Africa,IPL Logo

2009-04-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

IPL 2009 New Schedule IPL Season 2 Dates South Africa

April 18: Rajasthan Royals Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town

April 18: Mumbai Indians Vs Chennai Super Kings
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town.

April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Deccan Chargers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town

April 19: Delhi Daredevils Vs Kings XI Punjab
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town.

April 20: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Chennai Super Kings
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Port Elizabeth.

April 21: Rajasthan Royal Vs Mumbai Indians
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

April 21: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mohali Kings XI Punjab
Time: 8:00 PM Ground: Durban

April 22: Delhi Daredevils Vs Chennai Super Kings
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

April 22: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Hyderabad Deccan chargers
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town

April 23: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Rajasthan Royal
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Port Elizabeth

April 24: Mohali Kings XI Punjab Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Johannesburg

April 25: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Chennai Super Kings
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town

April 25: Hyderabad Deccan chargers Vs Mumbai Indians
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Durban.

April 26: Rajasthan Royal Vs Mohali Kings XI Punjab
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town

April 26: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Delhi Daredevils
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Port Elizabeth

April 27: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Mumbai Indians
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Cape Town

April 27: Chennai Super Kings Vs Hyderabad Deccan chargers
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Durban.

April 28: Delhi Daredevils Vs Rajasthan Royal
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

April 29: Mumbai Indians Vs Mohali Kings XI Punjab
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

April 29: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Durban

April 30: Delhi Daredevils Vs Hyderabad Deccan chargers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

April 30: Rajasthan Royal Vs Chennai Super Kings
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria.

May 1: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Mohali Kings XI Punjab
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: East London

May 1: Mumbai Indians Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 2: Rajasthan Royal Vs Hyderabad Deccan chargers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Johannesburg

May 2: Chennai Super Kings Vs Delhi Daredevils
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Port Elizabeth

May 3: Mumbai Indians Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 3: Mohali Kings XI Punjab Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: East London

May 4: Hyderabad Deccan chargers Vs Chennai Super Kings
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Port Elizabeth

May 5: Delhi Daredevils Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 5: Mohali Kings XI Punjab Vs Rajasthan Royal
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 6: Mumbai Indians Vs Hyderabad Deccan chargers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

May 7: Mohali Kings XI Punjab Vs Chennai Super Kings
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

May 7: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Rajasthan Royal
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

May 8: Delhi Daredevils Vs Mumbai Indians
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: East London

May 9: Hyderabad Deccan chargers Vs Mohali Kings XI Punjab
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Bloemfontein.

May 9: Chennai Super Kings Vs Rajasthan Royal
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Port Elizabeth

May 10: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Delhi Daredevils
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: East London

May 10: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Mumbai Indians
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Johannesburg

May 11: Hyderabad Deccan chargers Vs Rajasthan Royal
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Bloemfontein

May 12: Bangalore Royal Challengers Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

May 12: Mohali Kings XI Punjab Vs Mumbai Indians
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria.

May 13: Hyderabad Deccan chargers Vs Delhi Daredevils
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 14: Mumbai Indians Vs Rajasthan Royal
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 14: Chennai Super Kings Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Durban.

May 15: Mohali Kings XI Punjab Vs Delhi Daredevils
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Kimberley

May 16: Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Johannesburg

May 16: Hyderabad Deccan chargers Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Port Elizabeth

May 17: Rajasthan Royal Vs Delhi Daredevils
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Kimberley

May 17: Mohali Kings XI Punjab Vs Hyderabad Deccan chargers
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Johannesburg

May 18: Chennai Super Kings Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

May 19: Delhi Daredevils Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Johannesburg

May 20: Chennai Super Kings Vs Mohali Kings XI Punjab
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 20: Rajasthan Royal Vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Durban

May 21: Hyderabad Deccan chargers Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Time: 4:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

May 21: Mumbai Indians Vs Delhi Daredevils
Time: 8:00 PM
Ground: Pretoria

May 22: Semi-final 1
Ground: Pretoria

May 23: Semi-final 2
Ground: Johannesburg

May 24: Final
Ground: Johannesburg.

Note: All times mentioned here are Indian Standard Time.

IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT GOLD

2009-04-01T06:59:00.001-07:00

1. Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (Latin: aurum) and atomic number 79
2. Gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion.
3. It is attacked by aqua regia* (a mixture of acids), forming chloroauric acid and by alkaline solutions of cyanide but not by single acids.
4. * Aqua regia (Latin for royal water) is a highly corrosive, fuming yellow or red solution. The mixture is formed by freshly mixing concentrated nitric acid and concentrated hydrochloric acid, usually in a volumetric ratio of 1:3 respectively. It was so named because it can dissolve the so-called royal, or noble metals gold and platinum, although tantalum, iridium, osmium, titanium and a few other metals are able to withstand it.
5. The gold content of gold alloys is measured in carats (k), pure gold being designated as 24k.
6. Since the abandonment of the gold standard* and the forced conversion of bullion gold and
circulating gold to silver in 1933 by the United States Government, gold has not generally been used in daily commerce.
7. The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common media of exchange are paper notes that are normally freely convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold. The gold standard is not currently used by any government, having been replaced completely by fiat currency.
8. The concentration of free electrons in gold metal is 5.90×1022 cm-3.
9. Gold is highly conductive to electricity, and has been used for electrical wiring in some high energy applications (silver is even more conductive per volume, but gold has the advantage of corrosion resistance).
10. As a measure of purity, one carat is purity by mass:
X=24*Mg/Mm
Where
X is the carat rating of the material,
Mg is the mass of pure gold or platinum in the material, and
Mm is the total mass of the material.
Therefore 24-carat gold is fine (99.9% Au w/w), 18-carat gold is 75% gold, 12-carat gold is 50% gold, and so forth.

11. Historically, in England the carat was divisible into four grains, and the grain was divisible into four quarts. For example, a gold alloy of fineness (that is, 99.2% purity) could have been described as being 23-carat, 3-grain, 1-quart gold.The carat system is increasingly being complemented or superseded by the millesimal fineness system in which the purity of precious metals is denoted by parts per thousand of pure metal in the alloy.
12. The most common carats used for gold in bullion, jewellery making and by goldsmiths are:

24 carat (millesimal fineness 999)
22 carat (millesimal fineness 916)
20 carat (millesimal fineness 833)
18 carat (millesimal fineness 750)
15 carat (millesimal fineness 625)
14 carat (millesimal fineness 585)
10 carat (millesimal fineness 417)
9 carat (millesimal fineness 375)
8 carat (millesimal fineness 333)
1 carat (millesimal fineness 042)
13. Chip Gold is a gold ingot vacuum-sealed in a package in the shape of a credit card. It is meant to be used as a tangible and liquid investment in gold bullion. The packaging ensures the consumer/investor that the gold within is of stated purity and weight. Typically, weights available are 1g, 2.5g, 5 g, 10g, and 20g, 1/4 Ounce, 1/2 Ounce, 1 Ounce and the purity is .9999 (at least 99.99% pure gold).
14. White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel or palladium. Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is given in carats. White gold's properties vary depending on the metals and proportions used. As a result, white gold alloys can be used for different purposes; while a nickel alloy is hard and strong, and therefore good for rings and pins, gold-palladium alloys are soft, pliable and good for white gold gemstone settings, sometimes with other metals like copper, silver, and platinum for weight and durability, although this often requires specialized goldsmiths.
15. Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy widely used for specialized jewelry due to its reddish color. It is also known as pink gold and red gold. As it was popular in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it is also known as Russian gold.
16. Green gold alloys are made by leaving the copper out of the alloy mixture, and just using gold and silver. It actually appears as a greenish yellow, rather than as green. Eighteen carat green gold would therefore contain a mix of gold 75% and silver 25%. Fired enamels adhere better to these alloys.
17. The first gold coins in history were coined by Egyptian Pharaohs around 2,700 BC. These gold coins, of variable purity, were used primarily as gifts and not for commerce. Several centuries later, King Croesus, ruler of Lydia between 560-546 BC, began issuing gold coins, with a standardised purity, for general circulation. King Croesus' gold coins follow the first silver coins that were minted by king Pheidon of Argos around 700 BC.
18. The Ying Yuan was another gold coin minted during this time by the Chinese in the 6th or 5th century BC. Larger units of monetary value and exchange such as the talent were the ancient equivalents of the modern 400 troy ounce "good delivery" gold bullion bar.
19. Gold Investment: Today, like all investments and commodities, the price of gold is ultimately driven by supply and demand. Unlike most other commodities, the hoarding and disposal plays a much bigger role in affecting the price, because most of the gold ever mined still exists and is potentially able to come on to the market for the right price.
20. According to the World Gold Council, annual mine production of gold over the last few years has been close to 2,500 tonnes. About 2,000 tonnes goes into jewelry or industrial/dental production, and around 500 tonnes goes to retail investors and exchange traded gold funds. This translates to an annual demand for gold to be 1000 tonnes in excess over mine production which has come from central bank sales and other disposal.
21. Central banks and the International Monetary Fund play an important role in the gold price. At the end of 2004 central banks and official organizations held 19 percent of all above-ground gold as official gold reserves.
22. The Washington Agreement on Gold (WAG), which dates from September 1999, limits gold sales by its members (Europe, United States, Japan, Australia, Bank for International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund) to less than 400 tones a year. European central banks, such as the Bank of England and Swiss National Bank, have been key sellers of gold over this period. Although central banks do not generally announce gold purchases in advance, some, such as Russia, have expressed interest in growing their gold reserves again as of late 2005. In early 2006, China, which only holds 1.3% of its reserves in gold, announced that it was looking for ways to improve the returns on its official reserves. Some bulls hope that this signals that China might reposition more of its holdings into gold in line with other Central Banks.
23. Gold fingerprinting is a method for identifying a particular item made of gold based on the impurities or trace elements it contains. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is used to characterize a gold-containing item by its trace elements, a.k.a. fingerprinting the sample by mineralizing event and to the particular mine or bullion source. This technique has been used to lay claim to stolen or relocated gold. Even gold that has undergone salting can be identified as to its multiple sources.
24. Gold & India

India was renowned for its gold from time immemorial. Extensive and intensive ancient gold mining activity, as evidenced by numerous ancient workings, throughout the country testifies the flourishing nature of the gold mining industry in India. Modern gold mining dates from the year 1870. Gold production in India was not significant when compared to world standards. At present, Bharat Gold Mines Ltd., and Hutti Gold Mines Co. Ltd., are the two primary gold producing units in India, and produced together about 2.5 tonnes of gold during 1995 as against the world's total of 2,272 tonnes. While production has fallen to very low levels in recent years, demand for the precious metal in domestic market has abnormally increased from 150 tonnes in 1986 to 506 tonnes in 1995 which was mainly met by imports. Indian mine production has been insignificant and remained static between 1.6 and 2.5 tonnes per annum during the last 10 years. This was mainly due to the fact that no new gold deposits of significant size were discovered in the country as the gold exploration and mining programmes were not aggressive due to the meager budgetary allocations to these sectors as they were controlled by the Government. Considering the big gap in ever increasing demand for gold and the insignificant indigenous supply from the mines, and the vast geological potential, which was not thoroughly explored and mined, Government of India liberalized the mineral policy. The repeal of the Gold Control Order and economic liberalization have thrown open new vistas for growth of gold mining in the country. There is ample market potential available in the country for indigenously produced gold as India is highly deficient in gold production. From the past history of gold mining and striking similarities in geological environment with the leading gold producing countries of the world. India offers a good potential for gold. The Archaean greenstone belts and the other favourable geological horizons have to be thoroughly explored systematically by the latest state-of-art technology.
25. Deccan Gold Mines Limited (DGML) is the first private sector gold exploration company in India to be listed on the Mumbai Stock Exchange. Established as a gold exploration company in 2003, DGML now has a large portfolio of exploration prospects in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan.
26. Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) was one of the major gold mines in India and is located in the Kolar district in Karnataka, close to the city of Bangalore. It was closed in 2003 due to reducing deposits and increasing costs. The mine is considered the world's second deepest gold mine.
27. India is the largest importer and consumer of gold in the world; but gold mining remains at very low levels. The country imported an estimated 443 tonnes of gold during in the first six months of the current fiscal, valued at $5.82 billion. But the country's domestic gold production was at 3.05 tonnes during the financial year 2006.
28. Faced with the low production of gold, the Indian government has asked domestic gold miners to actively explore joint venture with foreign companies to speed up exploration of the yellow metal within the country.
29. What is the process of exploration for gold deposits in India, and how it is done?
Following are the seven steps to gold mining in India.
1: Literature Survey: There are a number of government agencies that carry out verification surveys on gold mining in India. The main among them are Geological Survey of India and Mineral Exploration Corporation of India. These agencies have already carried out extensive regional and detailed surface and underground exploration for gold in different parts of the country. The geological and exploration data generated by these agencies are available in several publications of theirs respective agencies. Collection of all this literature, which facilitates picking up of targets for further probing, forms the first step in exploration process.

2: Geological Mapping: Preparation of a good geological map of the area of interest, initially on a regional scale (1:50,000) by taking up number of field geological traverses, and with the help of aerial photographs and landsat imageries is generally the next step.
3: Identification of Gold Bearing Zones: This is done by collecting rock chip samples from favourable locales for gold mineralization while preparing the geological map of the area. If the rocks are not exposed, geochemical methods like stream sediment sampling, soil sampling can be adopted to identify gold anomalous areas. Similarly geophysical methods can be deployed to locate any conductive or magnetic bodies below the soil cover. These targets will be explored by trenching and rock-chip sampling. Depending on the sampling results the target areas are demarcated for detailed sampling in three dimensions.
4: Three Dimension Sampling: Three dimension sampling of gold bearing zones is carried out by reverse circulation (RC) drilling and diamond core drilling. The RC drill is mounted on a truck and is easily mobile. The rock sample is obtained in the form of rock chips for every 1 m drilling. The RC drill can drill up to 100m a day and works on compressed air. The mobility of a diamond core drill is slow. In diamond core drilling, the rock sample is obtained in the form of solid core. Approximately 20 to 25 m can be drilled in a day depending on the hardness of the rock formation.
5: Estimation of Global Resource: Based on the three dimension sampling of the gold-bearing zone (ore body), i.e. length, width, depth and grade, a global resource of the gold deposit is estimated.
6: Pre-feasibility exploration: The global resource is further worked upon by close spaced diamond core drilling along length and dip of ore body and sampling to improve the reliability of the global resource estimate. It also helps in ascertaining whether the deposit is mineable or not.
7: Feasibility Exploration: Feasibility exploration involves additional extensive sampling on surface and underground. An open pittable resource of reasonable dimensions has to be further sampled on surface by very closed spaced drilling, bench cutting and bench sampling to delineate the mineable reserves and to demarcate ore from waste. A resource that could be exploited by only underground method of mining needs to be sampled by sinking shafts and developing ore body along its length. This sampling enables the delination of rich pockets of ore within the ore body and assessment of mineable reserves.

INDIAN HISTORY - 1

2009-04-01T00:11:00.000-07:00

1. In which province, the first signs of unrest appeared early in 1857 --> Bengal
2. Who was the leader of the revolt of 1857 in Kanpur --> Nana Saheb
3. Who was the leader of 1857 mutiny in Assam --> Diwan Mani Ram Datta
4. " Sardar Malla" a leader of farmer's revolt in 1857 hailed from which place --> Mysore
5. Who started Kuka Movement in 1840 --> Guru Ram Singh
6. Who was the originator of Indian Awakening --> Raja Ram Mohan Roy
7. Who established TatvaBodhini Sabha --> Devendra Nath Tagore
8. Marco Polo who traveled India during 1298-1292 AD from Italy. During whose reign did he come --> Pandya
9. " Mulk-e-Kadim" was other name of which kingdom --> Maratha Kingdom
10. What was the importance of Mallik Amber in Maratha Kingdom --> he gave training of Guerilla war to Marathas
11. How many forts were returned by Shivaji in Purandhar Treaty --> 23 out of 35
12. Who established Dal Khalsa --> Kapur Singh
13. Who was the leader of the Jat revolt against Aurangazeb --> Gokul
14. From which mines Kohinoor Diamond was found --> Golkunda
15. Whose reign was called the Golden Age of Mughal Era --> Shahjahan
16. 12 rules of conduct " Dastur-ul-Amal were of which mughal emperor --> Jahangir
17. " mansur " was a great painter in whose reign in Mughal Era --> Jahangir
18. " Kariraj" was a title to given whom and by whom --> Akbar to Birbal
19. Who was the first to adopt Din-i-ilahi --> Birbal
20. During the Medieval India who was the only Hindu King to sit on throne of Delhi --> Hemu
21. " Barid-i-Mamalik" was a department established by Shershah Suri . What this department dealt with --> Intelligence
22. Which medieval book was written by Gulbadan Beghum --> Humayunnama
23. Mansabdari system was started by Akbar after which victory --> Gujarat Victory
24. Who adopted the policy of " Hindu-pad-padshahi" --> Balaji Vishavanath
25. " What was Bhandarvada" --> land of Marathas known as in Medieval India
26. In the second round table conference, who represented Congress --> Mahatma Gandhi
27. The famous Bull Seal of Indus Valley Civilization is found at which place --> Mohen Jo Dero
28. In which province Muslim League formed their first government after 1946 elections --> Bengal
29. Which was the Capital of Mughul Empire --> Delhi
30. Who was Tipu Sultan`s father --> Hyder Ali
31. Din-E-Illahi was a religion founded by which emperor --> Akbar
32. Which leader succumbed to injuries in a lathi charge during a protest against the Simon Commission in 1928 --> Lala Lajpat Rai
33. In which year did the first war of Indian Independence took place --> 1857
34. This Indian ruler collected taxes labelled as ‘chauth’ and ‘sardeshmukhi’ --> Shivaji
35. Which famous organisation in the history of Indian independence was founded by Rashbehari Bose --> INA
36. In which Indian city did Shivaji marry --> Bangalore
37. Which British General was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre --> General Dyer
38. To avenge whose death did Bhagat Singh shoot and kill General Saunders --> Lala LAjpat rai
39. Which of India's greatest freedom fighters got his name because his familywere originally sellers of perfume --> Gandhi from gandha 40. The Chipko movement was found to save trees from destruction. By what name was it known inKarnataka --> Appiko Movement
41. The Hindi classic Padmavat was a work by a Muslim Writer. Name him --> Malik Muhammad Jaisi
42. Kitab-i-rehla is a work by a foreign traveler as an account of his travels. What is the name --> Ibn Batutah
43. " Sulva Sutras" are related to which branch of mathematics --> Geometry
44. Ustad Mansur as a painter started his career during the last few years of which mughal emperor reign as a minor painter --> Akbar
45. The Montague-Chelmsford Reforms were reforms introduced by the British Government in India in 1919. What was their objective --> introduce self-governing institutions to India
46. In which year Queen Victoria's Proclamation assuming the Government of India took place --> 1858
47. Tahqiq-i-hind was a work of which foreign traveler --> Al Beruni
48. Hartog Commission was for the reforms in the area of which field --> Education
49. Fraser commission in 1902 was related to reforms in --> Police
50. The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy devised by which Governor General of India --> Lord Dalhousie

THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN

2009-03-25T00:19:00.000-07:00

1. The third plan stressed on agriculture and improving production of rice, but the brief Sino-Indian War in 1962, Jawaharlal Nehru’s Death in 1964, Indo-Pak War 1965 etc exposed weaknesses in the economy and shifted the focus towards defense. This affected badly the smooth implementation of the Plan.
2. Growth rate was targeted 5%, however achieved only 2.2%. Much of the achievement was null and void because of 36% inflation and devaluation of rupee in 1966.
3. In this plan major emphasis was on basic industries but also agriculture, irrigation and power got 35% of the total plan outlay.
4. In 1965-1966, the Green Revolution in India advanced agriculture. The construction of dams continued. Many cement and fertilizer plants were also built. Punjab began producing an abundance of wheat.
5. Many primary schools were started in rural areas. In an effort to bring democracy to the grassroots level, Panchayat elections were started and the states were given more development responsibilities.
6. State electricity boards and state secondary education boards were formed. States were made responsible for secondary and higher education.
7. State road transportation corporations were formed and local road building became a state responsibility.

After the bad experience of the third plan a Plan Holiday was declared for three years. Due to famine of 1965-1966 , all available resources were mobilised for building a buffer stock and for stepping up food production . So Fourth Plan Period was 1969-1974.

SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN

2009-03-25T00:11:00.000-07:00

Second Five Year Plan (1956-1961)
1. The second five-year plan focused on industry, especially heavy industry. The target of 25% Increase in the national income was set through rapid industrialization however the achieved target was of only 20%.
2. This plan was based upon socialistic pattern.
3. Rate of Investment was planned 11 % now, as compared to 7% in First plan.
4. National Income in this plan rose by 20% but per capita income grew by 8% only.
5. Domestic production of industrial products was encouraged, particularly in the development of the public sector.
6. The plan followed the Mahalanobis model, an economic development model developed by the Indian statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in 1953.
7. The plan attempted to determine the optimal allocation of investment between productive sectors in order to maximize long-run economic growth . It used the prevalent state of art techniques of operations research and optimization as well as the novel applications of statistical models developed at the Indian Statiatical Institute.
8. Hydroelectric power projects and five steel mills at Bhilai, Durgapur, and Rourkela were established. Coal production was increased. More railway lines were added in the north east.
9. The Atomic Energy Commission was formed in 1957 with Homi J. Bhabha as the first chairman. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was established as a research institute. In 1957 a talent search and scholarship program was begun to find talented young students to train for work in nuclear power.

Solar-powered G-Shock Rose Gold Series watches

2009-03-24T01:01:00.000-07:00

October 23, 2008 Casio has added to its well-known G-Shock collection with the introduction of its premium Rose Gold series. The new line of watches combine shock-resistance characteristics with self-adjusting atomic timekeeping technology and a mini solar panel for extended battery life.

The MTG1000BR-1A, GIEZ, GW700BRJ-1A, and GW1800BRJ-1A models all feature rose gold accents matched with matte black IP (ion plating) for a sporty yet sophisticated look. A tiny solar panel, combined with a large-capacity rechargeable battery, enables a variety of energy-hungry functions to operate smoothly and greatly reduces the need for battery changes. Self-adjusting, multi-band atomic timekeeping technology receives calibration signals automatically from up to five transmitters around the world (US, Germany, UK and two in Japan) and updates settings accordingly for pinpoint accuracy, even adjusting for leap year and daylight saving time.

IPL TO BE PLAYED OUTSIDE INDIA

2009-03-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

England and South Africa have emerged as the front-runners to host the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the BCCI decided, following days of inconclusive negotiations with the Indian home ministry and various state governments, to shift the tournament out of India. The venue and new schedule will be announced soon. Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, said the tournament had been relocated "because of the extraordinary situation existing this year." The 45-day tournament clashes with the forthcoming general elections in India and there had been concerns over security. But IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has also assured that the tournament will be back to India next year. IPL Franchise owners Preity Zinta, Shahrukh Khan, VIjay Mallya, Manoj Badale have all backe BCCI's decision to conduct it outside instead of scrapping or truncating the tournament

FACTS ABOUT INDIA - 1

2009-03-22T12:40:00.001-07:00

1. Formation of All India Muslim league(AIML) --> 1906 in Dhaka
2. First defence minister of India -->Sardar Baldev Singh
3. Babri Masjid demolition took place on --> 6 Dec,1992
4. Prime Minster of India at the time of Babri Masjid demolition --> P.V.Narsimha Rao
5. Which Commission was set up for probing Babri Masjid demolition case -->Liberhan Commission headed by Justice (retd) M S Liberhan
6. Chief Minster of U.P. at the time of Babri Masjid demolition --> Kalyan Singh(BJP)
7. Where is the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies --> New Delhi
8. Who heads the National Land Reforms council --> Prime Minister
9. whats the name of the organization setup by the Andhra pradesh govt to fight terrorism in the state --> Octopus
10. Where is the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services --> Hyderabad
11. Bhabha Atomic Research Center(BARC) was established in the year --> 1955
12. Where was Indian Muslim League founder --> Dhaka
13. Bharatnatyam is the dance of which state in India --> Tamil Nadu
14. The national Tsunami Early warning system was inagurated in --> Hyderabad
15. where is the national environmental engineering and research institute(NEERI) --> Nagpur
16. Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable energy is located in --> Kapurthala - Punjab
17. Who was the President of India during the emergency --> Fakruddin Ali Ahmed (1974-77)
18. Founder of Indian Independence League --> Rasbihari Bose
19. Chilka lake is in which state --> Orissa
20. Who elects the President of India --> Parliament and State Assemblies
21. The Fundamental Duties were incorporated in the Constitution of India by the --> Forty-second Amendment
22. The time taken by the Sun to revolve around the center of our galaxy is --> 250 mn years
23. The Vice-President is elected by an electoral college consisting of --> all members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
24. In which one of the following states of India is it legal for a Hindu male and illegal for a Muslim male to have more than one living wife --> Goa
25. Where was Gautam Buddha dead --> Kushinagar
26. What was the main difference between the Indus Valley Civilization and Vedic Civilization -->Indus Valley Civilization was urban, while the Vedic Civilization was rural
27. Which is oldest Indian Language --> Tamil
28. Which state is the largest producer of pulses in India --> Madhya Pradesh(MP)
29. Who founded VisvBharti University --> Rabindra Nath tagore
30. What was the first Multipurpose project of Independent India --> Damodar Valley Project
31. What are the intermediate range ballistic missiles of India --> Agni I, Agni II and Agni III
32. What is the Indian Navy’s only Sail Training Ship? what is the name of the voyage that it has just completed --> INS Tarangini is the ship and the name of the voyage is Lokayan-07
33. Which city of Rajasthan is called " Suncity" --> Jodhpur
34. What are the hot spots of Biodiversity in India --> Eastern Himalayas and western ghats
35. Kandhmal is in which state --> Orissa
36. What does Seven Sisters refer to in India --> 7 north eastern states
37. Who was the designer of the Indian national flag --> Pingali Venkayya
38. Which bank was established in 1806 as Bank of Calcutta --> State Bank of India
39. Who is the youngest ever Member of Parliament of India --> Agatha Sangma
40. Which State is often called as ‘God’s own country’ --> Kerala
41. On which street in Mumbai is the Bombay Stock Exchange located --> Dalal Street
42. Which was India’s first talkie film --> Alam Ara
43. Where is the famous tomb Gol Gumbaz located --> Bijapur
44. The design of which Indian car is based on that of the Morris Oxford --> Ambassador
45. Which is the second most spoken language in India --> Tamil
46. Which is the highest civilian award of India --> Bharat Ratna
47. What was the Rashtrapathi Bhavan initially called --> Viceroy House
48. Who was the first President of India to have died in office --> Zakir Hussain
49. Who is known as Iron man of India --> Sardar Vallabhai Patel
50. Which is the highest gateway of India --> Buland Darwaza

PRESIDENT OF INDIA

2009-03-22T02:45:00.000-07:00

The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India.
The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of India.
Although the president is vested such powers by the constitution of India, the position is largely a ceremonial role and the executive powers are de facto exercised by the Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister.
The President is elected by an electoral college composed of members of the parliament houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and also members of the Vidhan Sabha, the state legislative assemblies.
The President may remain in office for a tenure of five years, as stated by article 56, part V, of the constitution of India.
Two presidents, Zakir Hussain and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, have died in office.
Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Muhammad Hidayatullah, and Basappa Danappa Jatti, have functioned as acting presidents.

1. Dr. Rejendra Prasad(26 January 1950-13 May 1962)

Rajendra Prasad was the first President of independent India.
He was also an independence activist of the Indian Independence Movement.
He was the only president to serve for two terms in office.

2. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan(13 May 1962-13 May 1967)

Radhakrishnan was a prominent philosopher, writer, a Knight of the Realm and also held the position of vice chancellor of the Andhra University and Banaras Hindu University.
He was also made a Knight of the Golden Army of Angels by Pope Paul VI.

3. Zakir Hussain(13 May 1967-3 May 1969)

He was the first elected Muslim president of India.
He was awarded the highest Indian national honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1963.
In his inaugural speech he said that the whole of India was his home and all its people were his family.
He was the first Indian President to die in office on the 3rd day of May, 1969.
He was buried on the campus of the Jamia Millia Islamia (or Central University) in New Delhi.
Hussain was vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University and a recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna.

4. Varahagiri Venkata Giri(24 August 1969-24 August 1974)

Giri was appointed as first acting president following the death of Hussain.
He was the only person to have served as both an acting president and president of India.
He was a recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and has functioned as Indian Minister of Labour and High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

5. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed(24 August 1974-11 February 1977)

He died in 1977 before his term of office ended, and was the second Indian president to have died during a term of office.

6. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy(25 July 1977-25 July 1982)

He was the sixth President of India, serving from 1977 to 1982.
He was the only person to be elected President of India unopposed.

7. Giani Zail Singh(25 July 1982-25 July 1987)

Sardar Zail Singh, a Sikh by religion, was given the title of Giani, as he was educated and learned about Guru Granth Sahib however he did not have formal education.
Following his accidental death, Zail Singh was cremated at EKTA STHAL in the vicinity of the Raj Ghat.

8. Ramaswamy Venkataraman(25 July 1987-25 July 1992)

He was the member of constituent assembly that drafted India's constitution.
Venkataraman died at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi on January 27, 2009.
With Venkataraman's death, Abdul Kalam became the only surviving former President of India.

9. Shankar Dayal Sharma(25 July 1992-25 July 1997)

Shankar Dayal Sharma (August 19, 1918 - December 26, 1999) was the 9th President of republic of India serving from 1992 to 1997.
He was cremated near the Vijay Ghat.

10. K. R. Narayanan(25 July 1997-25 July 2002)

Narayanan served as India's ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China and United States of America.
He was also the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

11. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam(25 July 2002-25 July 2007)

Kalam was a scientist who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
Kalam also received the Bharat Ratna.
Before his term as India's president, he worked as an engineer with DRDO and ISRO and was awarded India's highest civilian honor Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Indian government.
He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.
The Government of India has honoured him with the nation's highest civilian honours: the Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997.
Wings of Fire is his autobiography.

12. Pratibha Patil

Patil is the first woman to become President of India.
She is also the first female Governor of Rajasthan.

SPORTS - 1

2009-03-21T11:41:00.001-07:00

1. Where is National Golf Academy --> Chandigarh
2. Where and when the 19th FIFA cup is scheduled to held --> June-July 2010, South Africa
3. "Volvo Masters of India" is related to which game --> Golf
4. " Shotgun World Cup " is related to which game --> Shooting
5. " Asian Beach Games" are related to which sports --> Athletics
6. Who won the " Maharastra Kesari" title in January 2009 --> Chandradhar Patil
7. " Jimmy George Foundation Award " is given in the field of which sports --> Athletics
8. " RBS Cup " is related to which sports --> Cricket
9. " Bama Belleck Cup" is related to which sports --> Table Tennis
10. " Wellington Trophy" is related to which sports --> Rowing
11. " Augusta Masters" is related to which sports --> Golf
12. What is the national game of USA --> Baseball
13. "Rugby Football " is a national game of which country --> Scotland and England ( England has Cricket too)
14. What is " Epsom" --> Derby Horse Race stadium, England
15. " Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium" in Hyderabad is mainly for which sports --> Hockey
16. " Punter, Dead Hit, Protest, Place" are the terms used in which game --> Horse Racing
17. " Bogie, Caddie, Put, Stymie" are used in which game --> Golf
18. How many players are in " Kabaddi" on each side --> 7
19. How many players are on one side in Baseball --> 9
20. What is the normal length of " Pitch" In cricket --> 20.12 meters
21. What is the route length in Derby Course --> 2400 meters
22. " Ju Jitsu " is a national sports of which country --> Japan
23. What is the national game of Malaysia --> Badminton
24. " British Open" is related to which sports --> Badminton
25. " Merdeka Cup" is related to which sports --> Football
26. "O Sullivan" was world champion in which sports --> Snooker
27. PGA Mercedes-Benz Championship is related to which sports --> Golf
28. "Saurav Ghosal" is related to which sports --> Squash, He is national Squash Champion of India
29. The famous swimmer who faced controversy over his photograph published in newspapers smoking marizuana --> Michael Phelps
30. Which Indian cricketer made the first Test Century --> Lala AmARNATH
31. Who faced the first ball in the first ever One day match --> Geoffrey Boycott
32. Which cricketer played for South Africa before it was banned from international cricket and later represented Zimbabwe --> John Traicos
33. Which is the only sport which is not allowed to play left handed --> Polo
34. " Surya Shekhar Ganguly " is related to which game --> Chess
35. What does the olympic flame symbolize --> Continuity between new and ancient games
36. Usain Bolt edged whom to be voted as 2008 athlete of the year by international media --> Michel Phelps
37. Who was described as the ‘Byron of Indian Cricket’ --> Lala Amarnath
38. Which is the only country to have appeared in all the FIFA World Cup finals till date --> Brazil
39. Which fast game did James Naismith invent in America --> Basketball
40. When you hit a home run in baseball what distance do you run to traverse all the bases --> 360 feet
41. Which Indian cricketer was captain in one test and dropped to 12th man in the next --> Venkatraghavan
42. Which unarmed combat's name means “ Empty Hand” --> Karate
43. Which cricketer owns a restaurant called Curry Leaves --> Aravinda De Silva
44. What is the name of the system which visually tracks the path of the ball and display a record of its actual path as graphic image in cricket --> Hawk eye
45. Which is the only F1 team owned by an Indian --> Force India
46. In which sport have Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinnappa represented India --> Squash
47. How do we better know the game of nine-pins --> Skittles
48. ‘In Quest of the Ashes’ is the autobiography of which famous cricketer --> Jardine
49. Participants of which sport are called ‘male geishas’ in Japan, because of the large amount of time they take to get ready --> Sumo wrestling
50. Which mode of dismissal in cricket was introduced last --> Being timed out

GENERAL AWARENESS - 2

2009-03-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

51. Who constructed "GyanVapi " Mosque in Varansi --> Aurangzeb
52. What is Bani Thani --> A painting in kishangarh style of Rajasthan
53. Which are the two station in between " Maitri Express" is introduced --> Kolkata & Dhaka
54. In which state " Baxa Tiger Project" is Located --> West Bengal
55. Which tree is called " Flame of the Forest" in Rajasthan --> Palas
56. Among the 18 mahajanpads, which one was situated on the bank of river Godavari --> Assaka
57. What indicates the rise in the price of a basket of commodities on a point to point basis --> Inflation
58. In which kind of climate , corals are found generally --> Above 18 degree C in temperate climate
59. Which animal is symbol of world wild life fund --> Red Panda
60. The electoral college for the united states Presidential election is constituted by --> Members of United States Congress
61. What are the 3 Capitals of South Africa --> Pretoria, Cape Town & Bloemfontein. (Administrative, Lesgislative & Judicial respectively)
62. According to Hindu myth who was the first mortal to die --> Yama
63. Which drink is nicknamed "scandal broth" --> Tea
64. On which god is the largest monolithic statue in India carved --> Gomateshwara
65. largest mammal on the earth --> Whale
66. Second largest mammal on the earth --> Elephant
67. The lines of equal sunshinae are called --> ISOHEL
68. Where is amundsen sea --> The Amundsen Sea is an arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica
69. Named after its inventor, by what name is the Giant Wheel or Observation wheel known --> The Ferris wheel is named after George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr
70. Mother tongue of Aishwarya Rai --> Tulu
71. Which Bird is the symbol of peace --> Dove
71. What do we know Barbara Millicent Roberts better as --> Barbie
72. "Origin of Species” was published by Charles Darwin in which year --> 1859
73. Who was the first rock star to be arrested on stage --> Jim Morrison
74. To keep their exposed feet warm during winter Shahtoosh, from which shawls are made, comes from which animal --> Tibetan Antelope
75. Why is the fish "Bombay Duck" called by this name --> Corruption of its local name, Bombilli
76. What are polled cattle --> Without horns
77. The world knows this animal from the corruption of Telugu for Pig-rat. Which one --> Bandicoot
78. Which animal did Noah release first from the Ark --> Dove
79. What is the name of the railcar used in the small-gauge railway to Shimla --> Safed Murgi
80. In a pack of cards, which one is a copyright --> Ace of Spade
81. Epiphytic and parasitic plants grow on which of the following --> Plants
82. The fermented molasses left over from the sugar-refining process is used in the manufacture of which spirit --> Rum
83. She was the first winner of the Asian Women’s amateur Table Tennis title but is better known for her professional life --> Kiran Bedi
84. Which Indian Astronaut was killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 --> Kalpana Chawla
85. What was Bhishma’s original name in the epic Mahabharata --> Devavrata
86. Julian, Dick, Anne and George and their dog Timmy are collectively called --> famous five
87. What is the lowest of the four Varna --> Surdas
88. A species of Hippopotamus shares its name with which Africa tribe --> Pygmy
89. Where did Ravana undertake a penance to bring Shiva to Lanka --> Gokarna
90. Name the only British Governor-General to be impeached --> Warren-Hastings
91. Spielberg’s production company is named after his very first short film. Name it --> Amblin
92. ‘More stars than there are in heaven’ was the publicity line of which studio --> MGM
93. Name the first US city to host the Olympic Games --> St Loius
94. Which word has been referred to as ‘The Great Australian Adjective’ --> Bloody
95. In ancient Rome, what was awarded to a gladiator, signifying that he would never have to fight again --> A cracked shield
96. This fictional character’s only wife was named Tracy Daco and he’s a graduate of Oriental languages from Cambridge. Name him --> James Bond
97. In the Enid Blyton ‘Noddy’ series, name the character that was responsible for actually creating Noddy --> Mr Carver
98. The name of which character from the Ramayana literally means ‘furrow’ --> Sita
99. ‘Secrets of a Sparrow’ is the autobiography of which famous singer --> Diana Ross
100. In Bollywood, how do we better know Mumtaz Jahanara Begum --> Madhubala

HONDA ACCORD EXCLUSIVE HQ PICTURES, PHOTO GALLERY

2009-03-21T10:33:00.001-07:00

HONDA ACCORD

IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER

2009-03-19T02:17:00.000-07:00

ISALLOBAR
The line of equal change in atmospheric pressure during a certain time period. It marks the change in pressure tendency.

ISOBAR
The line drawn on a weather map connecting points of equal barometric pressure.

ISODROSOTHERM
The line drawn on a weather map connecting points of equal dew point.

ISOHEL
A line drawn through geographic points having equal duration of sunshine or another form of solar radiation during a specified time period.

ISOHYET
The line drawn through geographic points recording equal amounts of rainfall during a given time or for a given of storm.

ISOPLETH
A line connecting equal points of value. Also called an isoline.

ISOTACH
A line connecting equal wind speeds.

ISOTHERM
The line of equal or constant air temperature. If something is isothermal, it is of equal or constant temperature with respect to either time or space.

DTMF (dual tone multi frequency)

2009-03-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

DTMF is a subscriber service provided by the GSM network.DTMF is a tone signaling scheme often used for various control purposes via the telephone network, such as remote control of an answering machine. GSM supports full-originating DTMF.

DTMF (dual tone multi frequency) is the signal to the phone company that you generate when you press an ordinary telephone's touch keys. In the United States and perhaps elsewhere, it's known as "Touchtone" phone (formerly a registered trademark of AT&T). DTMF has generally replaced loop disconnect ("pulse") dialling. With DTMF, each key you press on your phone generates two tones of specific frequencies. So that a voice can't imitate the tones, one tone is generated from a high-frequency group of tones and the other from a low frequency group. A number of companies make microchips that send and receive DTMF signals. The Telephony Application Program Interface (TAPI) provides a way for a program to detect DTMF digits.

Sony Ericsson Idou Phone Specification

2009-03-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

Network
Frequency GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Dimension 111 x 54 x 15 mm

Display
Type TFT touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches

Camera
Camera 12 MP, 4000 x 3000 pixels
Secondary Camera Yes

Connectivity
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared No
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
USB Yes, v2.0
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support

Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 3.6 Mbps

Internet
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML,

Memory
Phone Book Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call Record 30 received, dialed and missed calls
Card Slot microSD

Softwares
Operating System Symbian OS
Games Yes, Downloadable

Miscellaneous
Color: Black
Java MIDP 2.0
Voice memo

GENERAL SCIENCE - 1

2009-03-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

1. Cell wall in the plant cells is made of --> cellulose
2. How a sodium ion is represented --> Na+
3. What is the chemical formula of baking soda --> NaHCO3
4. What is heavy water --> deuterium oxide, D2O
5. The organ which is both endocrine and exocrine gland --> Pancreas
6. Which bacteria is found in curd --> lactobacillus
7. How many bones are in Human Body --> 206
8. The vessels which carry blood away from heart are called --> Arteries
9. What is the outermost layer of an artery called --> tunica external
10. "Sub mucous Fibrosis" is a diseases related with which organ --> Oral Cavity
11. What is the name of blood protein that regulates the amount of water in plasma --> Albumin
12. " Anoxia " is a state related to which gas --> Oxygen, Anoxia is lack of Oxygen
13. What is antidote --> a substance used to counteract poison or disease
14. Epinephrine is a hormone secreted by which gland --> Epinephrine
15. Aspirin is a popular analgesic. What is the chemical name of Aspirin --> Acetylsalicylic Acid
16. Which eye disease is corrected by using cylindrical lens --> Astigmatism
17. Which lens is used to correct " presbyopia:" --> Bifocal
18. Atropine extracted from deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) and other plants of the same family. Which family is this --> Solanacae
19. The rod shaped bacteria are called Bacillus. What do we call those bacteria which grow in chain shapes --> Streptococcus
20. What do we call the virus that attack and destroy bacteria --> Bacteriophage
21. What is the full form of BCG vaccine --> Bacillus Calmette Guerin
22. Trimethylxanthine is a chemical name of a stimulant which is found in tea and coffee. What is the popular name --> Caffeine
23. Cirrhosis is a disease related to which organ --> Liver
24. What is Diathermy --> use of electrically generated heat particularly in surgery
25. What are Diuretics --> Drugs that induce more urine production by Kidney
26. What do we call an epidemic disease of a very large or sometimes worldwide proportions --> Pandemic
27. What are the two types of serum proteins --> Globulin and Albumin
28. " Goiter" is a disease related to which gland --> Thyroid
29. Correction of pendulous breasts by surgical fixation and plastic surgery is called --> Mastopexy
30. The acidic medium of gastric juice along with an enzyme pepsin breaks the proteins down into smaller parts. What these smaller parts are called --> Peptones
31. The energy released in respiration is a chemical energy which gets stored in ATP molecules. What is the full form of ATP --> Adenosine Triphosphate
32. In Earthworm respiration takes place through which organ --> Skin
33. An " Rh Negative" mother may lose her baby if the Rh of baby is --> Positive
34. " Bowman's Capsule" is found in which human organ --> Kidney
35. Neurons are the structural and functional units of nervous system and also the biggest cells. What are the joints between two neurons called --> Synapse
36. Which part of the brain control the " swallowing, coughing, sneezing and Vomiting" --> Medulla Oblongata
37. The organism which possess only one Chromosome are called --> Prokaryotes
38. The disease generally found in mining workers and those related to ceramics, pottery , glass etc. --> Silicosis
39. What is the number of muscles in human beings --> 525
40. The refrigerators, fire extinguishers and aerosol sprayers are related to ozone layer depletion. What is the chemical associated with this --> Chloro Fluoro Carbons (CFCs)
41. By which process alum cleans the muddy water --> Coagulation
42. What is used in synthesis of Polythene --> Ethylene
43. Pheromones are found in which animals --> Insects
44. Which process can convert sea water into pure water --> Reverse Osmosis
45. What is Azolla Anabaena --> A biofertilizer mainly used in rice crops
46. Which metal is the best conductor of heat --> Silver
47. What is the velocity of sound in air --> 330m/sec
48. On what principal a " Tape Recorder" work --> Electromagnetic Induction
49. What is the frequency of AC mains in India --> 50c/s
50. Which gas is used to extinguish fire --> CO (Carbon Mono Oxide)

GENERAL AWARENESS - 1

2009-03-18T04:29:00.001-07:00

1. Who has written the book " Communist Manifesto" --> Karl Marx
2. First FIFA Women's World Cup tournament, named the Women's World Championship, was held in which year --> 1991
3. " Residex" is a index which is related to --> land Prices
4. "Read My Lips : No New Taxes" who gave this famous slogan --> Senior George W. Bush
5. Where is Global Vipassana Pagoda --> Mumbai
6. On what date World Forestry Day is celebrated --> 21 March
7. What is "moody" --> Global Credit rating Agency
8. " Vinegar " we use in food has the scientic name --> Acetic Acid
9. Prithviraj Chauhan ruled in which century --> 12th
10. Several coins depict and ancient king playing on the Veena. Who was that king --> Samudragupta
11. Which style of Indian Classical Music Singing was developed by Tansen --> Dhrupad
12. Sant Tukaram was a devotee of which lord --> Vittala
13. Surdas was a disciple of whom --> Vallabhacharya
14. Surdas lived during the reign of which Moghul Emperor --> Akbar
15. What is "Mistral" --> Famous high speed train of France
16. Where is the origin of Chambal River --> Manpura, south of Mhow town, near Indore
17. Bridgetown is a capital of which country --> Barbados
18. The two countries which fought Crimean War --> Russia & Turkey
19. RanaPratap Sagar dam is on which river --> Chambal
20. The mewar king defeated by Babur --> Rana Sanga or Sangram Singh
21. "Kailash Temple" is located in which ancient caves --> Ellora
22. The famous Woman Muslim ruler belonged to the kingdom of Ahmednagar --> Chand Bibi
23. What is NIA --> National Investigation Agency
24. Where are the headquarters of WHO --> Geneva
25. What is reverse repo rate --> The rate at which Banks lend to RBI
26. What is FIEO --> Federation of Indian Export Organizations
27. Who invented Mobile --> Nathan B. Stubblefield
28. Who invented "Electricity" --> Benjamin Franklin
29. What was the name of mother of Mahatma Gandhi --> Putlibai
30. Who is the first Indian Leader to render a speech in Hindi at United Nations --> Atal Bihari Vajpayee
31. Which river originates at Amarkantak --> Narmada
32. Indira Gandhi Canal is benefiting which state most --> Rajasthan
33. What is the Ph of blood --> 7.4
34. The palace of Amritsar was given by Mughal Emperor Akabr to whom --> Guru Ramdas
35. COFEPOSA deals with what --> Economic offences
36. The earth rotates on its axis from --> West to east
37. The United Kingom consists of which countries --> England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales
38. Who publishes employment news --> Ministry of Information and broadcasting
39. Who was the first Tirthankar of Jainism --> Rishabdev
40. What is the symbol of "Parshvnath" in Jainism --> Snake
41. How many crimes have been decided in Jainism --> 18
42. The principal military officer of "Brihadrath" assassinated him and captured the throne to start Shung Dynasty. Who was this officer --> Pushyamitra Shung
43. Where was the capital of Pandyas --> Madurai
44. On which state Mohd. Ghori attacked first in India in 1175 --> Multan
45. Hasan Nizami " and Fakh-e-Mudabbir were the court poets of which slave ruler --> Kutubuddin Aibak
46. Who was the first sovereign ruler of Sultanet of Delhi --> Iltutmish
47. Who was the ruler who abolished " Milk , Inam & Waqf" --> Iltutmish
48. How much land tax was collected by Alauddin Khilji from the produce --> 50%
49. " I issue orders to people as I consider them beneficial for state and people, I don't know they are permitted in Shariat or not"? Who said
this --> Alauddin Khilji ( As per Ziauddin Barni)
50. Whom did Alauddin Khilji Sent to invade Southern India --> Malik Kafur

FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN

2009-03-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

1. The first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru presented the first five-year plan to the Parliament of India on December 8, 1951.

2. Highest Priority was given to Agriculture, Irrigation & Power Projects.
3. The total plan budget of Rs. 2069 Crore was allocated to seven broad areas: irrigation and energy (27.2 percent), agriculture and community development (17.4 percent), transport and communications (24 percent), industry (8.4 percent), social services (16.64 percent), land rehabilitation (4.1 percent), and other (2.5 percent).
4. The plan promoting the idea of a self reliant closed economy was developed by Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis of Indian Statistical Institute and borrowed the ideas from USSR's five year plans developed by Domer. Thus The plan is often referred to as the Domer-Mahalanobis Model.
5. The target growth rate was 2.1 percent annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth; the achieved growth rate was 3.6 percent. Rate of Investment was targeted 7% of national Income.
6. During the first five-year plan the National Income grew by 18 % and per capita income by 11%.
7. The monsoons were good and there were relatively high crop yields, boosting exchange reserves and per capita income. Food production went up by 20%.
8. Lower increase of per capita income as compared to national income was due to rapid population growth.
9. Many irrigation projects were initiated during this period, including the Bhakra Dam and Hirakund Dam. The World Health Organization, with the Indian government, addressed children's health and reduced infant mortality, contributing to population growth.
10. At the end of the plan period in 1956, five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were started as major technical institutions.
11. University Grant Commission was set up to take care of funding and take measures to strengthen the higher education in the country.
12. Contracts were signed to start five steel plants; however these plants did not come into existence until the middle of the next five-year plan.

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 2

2009-03-17T10:01:00.001-07:00

51. The Ratna and Miniratna companies now may invest in mutual funds upto what extent of their cash balances --> 30%
52. Where will be the head office of SAARC University --> New Delhi
53. Pradhanmantri Bharat Jodo Pariyojna is related to which infrastructure development --> Highways
54. Project Sankalp is related to which disease --> AIDS
55. Sharavati Project is in which state --> Karnataka
56. Balimela Project is in which state --> Orissa
57. HCL tech. recently decided to open its new office in which country --> Israel at Yokneam
58. BHEL has recently announced to open a new plant at which city in China --> Shanghai
59. Recently Dell has decided to shift its European manufacturing base from Ireland to which country --> Poland
60. Tata steel(corus) decided to appoint a new CEO KIRBY Adams as a successor to whom --> PHILIPPE VARIN
61. Nissan(Japan) will launch the small car in India by 2010 from its upcoming plant at Chennai co developed with which company --> Renault(France)
62. Law reform commission of which state headed by former SC judge VR Krishna Iyre recommended legalizing Euthanasia and decriminalizing suicide --> Kerala
63. Amartya Sen, Sam Pitroda, Jagdish Bhagwati were the members of Man Mohan Singh's which council recently --> Global Advisory Council
64. Which countries signed Abuja Declaration? give salient points of this --> It is the declaration of strategic partnership between India and Nigeria.
Salient points are:
(1) Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement
(2) Expedition Treaty
(3) Oil trade
(4) support for UNSC seat for India
65. Which two countries recently entered an agreement on resuming natural gas supplies to Europe --> Russia and Ukraine
66. Recently In a miraculous escape Airbus A320 steered into which river in USA --> Hudson
67. If Obama is 44th President then Joe Bidden is …the vice president --> 47th
68. 11Day National Cooperative Fair was hosted by which city in India --> Jaipur
69. Recently PM Manmohan singh inaugurated 96th session of Indian Science congress in which city --> Guwahati
70. Kate Winslet was nominated and later won Oscar in Best actress category for which film --> The Reader
71. Who is Gujarat offspiner who is recently barred from playing Duleep trophy --> Mohnish Parmar
71. Bobby Zindal who was in news recently is a governor of which state --> Louisiana
72. " Creating a future Islamic Civilization" who has written this book --> Rashid Shah
73. Recently which bill was being given assent by President of India which restrains the police from arresting a person for criminal offence for which the maximum sentence is up to 7 years. Name of the bill --> Criminal Prosecution Code Bill
74. Which state was recently brought under president rule and state assembly kept under suspended animation --> Jharkhand
75. Which Indian state was recently ranked first for investment by World Bank --> Karnataka
76. Indian Air force recently ordered two squadron missile of medium range to BEL(bharat electronics limited). What is the name of the missile --> Akash(surface to air missile)
77. Recently conference of Chief Ministers on internal security was recently held at which place --> New Delhi
78. Aiming to protect country's share in overseas market, government removed export duty on which commodity --> Premium Basmati Rice
79. Which country recently launched telecom satellite for the first time --> Iran
80. Recently PM Manmohan Singh inaugurated Ezhimala Naval Academy at which place --> Kannur, Kerala
81. Recently Union Cabinet announced Rs.12513 crore project to improve road connectivity in which border state --> Arunachal Pradesh
82. Committee for banning ragging in educational institutes has been formed . Who is the chairman of this committee --> R.K. Raghvan
83. Recently who has has taken over the charge of ICAI from 7th feb 2009 --> Uttam Aggarwal
84. Who is Indian Army Chief --> Deepak Kapoor
85. Who is CEO Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd --> S K Jain
86. Who is the CEO of " Areva" --> Anne Lauvergeon
87. India will help set up an Information Technology Lab at Indonesia's Military Academy and participate in a defence exercise, for United Nations peace support operations? What is the name of the exercise --> Garuda Shield
88. Recently Obama approaced CNN's chief medical correspondent to be country's next surgeon general. Who is he --> Sanjay Gupta
89. What % of surplus funds which has been allowed by the govt to the navratnas and mini narvratnas to invest in equity --> 30%
90. Recently , Which state has decided to give Rs.200 to each AIDS patient undergoing Anti-retrovial therapy in state --> Andhrapradesh
91. Recently Real Admiral Ahmed Mohammed Al Sahab al - Tenaiji , visited India. He is heading which Country's navy --> Commander of UAE naval force
92. Recently who received the Kishore Kumar Kala Ratna Award instituted by Kishore Kumar Memorial Club --> Geeta Chandran
93. As per 2001 census state having highest urban population is --> Maharastra
94. What was the name of the operation which was launched by israel on Dec 27th 2008 saying it wanted to stop Hamas Rocket attack on
South Israel --> Operation Cast Lead
95. Who will be the next leader of Ghana --> John Atta - Mills
96. India and Pakistan on Jan 1 2009 exchanged their list of nuclear installations through their diplomatic mission . This was under which agreement --> under the 1988 agreement on prohibition of attacks against nuclear installation and facility
97. With which country India signed an agreement on 3 jan 2009 to improve the recruitment process of workers --> Malaysia
98. Governor Rod Blagojevich who was impeached on Jan 30 was of which state --> Illinois
99. On jan 12 world bank banned 2 indian companies from doing business under CPP. Which are these two companies --> Wipro & Megasoft
100.NTPC on jan 11 signed an agreement with which govt. for execution of 460 MW kolodyne stage 2 hydro electric project on kolodyne river --> Mizoram