Current Affairs Quiz
1. South African writer _________________ has won the 17th edition of prestigious Caine Prize 2016 for his short story “Memories We Lost”.
a) Breyten Breytenbach
b) Damon Galgut
c) Njabulo Ndebele
d) Lidudumalingani Mqombothi
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Answer d) Lidudumalingani Mqombothi. South African writer, filmmaker and photographer Lidudumalingani Mqombothi has won the 17th edition of prestigious Caine Prize 2016 for his short story “Memories We Lost”. With this, Lidudumalingani was awarded 10000 Euros and a month atGeorgetown University in the US as a writer-in-residence. He will also be invited to speak at the Library of Congress and receive invitations to take part in Cape Town’s Open Book Festival, Nairobi’s Storymoja and Nigeria’s Ake Festival.
2. Who has been appointed as Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA)?
a) Prakash Singh
b) SK Kohli
c) Ramesh Khan
d) Sanjay Kumar
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Answer b) SK Kohli. Senior bureaucrat SK Kohli has been appointed as Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA). The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved Kohli’s empanelment for promotion to the post of CGDA. He is an Indian Defence Accounts Service officer.
3. Chief Executive Officer at Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd __________________ will step down by the end of this calendar year.
a) Kal Sundaram
b) Naresh Sundaram
c) Mohan Kumar
d) Prasath Sundaram
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Answer a) Kal Sundaram. Kal Sundaram, Chief Executive Officer at Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the Israeli subsidiary of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, will step down by the end of this calendar year. Sundaram will return to India to take up an executive position at Sun Pharma after the completion of his assignment at Taro at the end of 2016.
4. IDFC Mutual Fund has appointed ________________, a senior executive from Standard Chartered Bank, as its chief executive officer.
a) Sunil Kapoor
b) Vishal Kapoor
c) Ajay Kapoor
d) Sanjay Kapoor
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Answer b) Vishal Kapoor. IDFC Mutual Fund has appointed Vishal Kapoor, a senior executive from Standard Chartered Bank, as its chief executive officer. Mr. Kapoor will take charge of his new position from September this year. Vishal will be responsible for driving accelerated growth of IDFC AMC, heading a seasoned senior management team including Kaplan Parekh, Anoop Bhaskar and Suyash Choudhary.
5. Bharti Airtel’s Consumer Business Director India __________________ has quit the company and will join Deutsche Telekom.
a) Sunil Mittal
b) Akshay Patel
c) Srini Gopalan
d) Anand Kumar
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Answer c) Srini Gopalan. Bharti Airtel’s Consumer Business Director India has quit the company and will join Deutsche Telekom on October 1st as a member of new board member for Europe business. Gopalan studied Business Administration at the renowned St. Stephen’s collegein new delhi and later he earned his MBA the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, india’s leading school.
6. Which State government has taken up a project to set up three biotechnology hubs across the state to bring in more biotechnology innovations to the State?
a) Kerala
b) Assam
c) Punjab
d) West Bengal
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Answer d) West Bengal . The West Bengal Government has taken up a project to set up three biotechnology hubs across the state to bring in more biotechnology innovations to the State. The three proposed biotechnology hubs will come in Bardhaman, Kalimpong and Medinipur districts; they will help in the co-ordination of various departments with the Biotechnology Department in a better way.
7. _______________ Government to Launch II Phase of Haritha Haram programme
a) Telangana
b) Andra Pradesh
c) Maharashtra
d) Tamil Nadu
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Answer a) Telangana . The second phase of two-week long Haritha Haram programme of Telangana government has launched. Haritha Haram programme of Telangana government aimed to plant 46 crore plants to improve green belt. The State Government planned to plant a record 46 crore saplings, including 25 lakh in Hyderabad, during the season. Another record that was targeted was plantation over 163 kms of highway by over a lakh of people on the first day.
8. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his council of ministers, inducting 11 ministers, including 10 new faces. Who is the governor of Maharashtra?
a) Vajubhai Vala
b) Vidyasagar Rao
c) N N Vohra
d) Acharya Dev Virat
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Answer b) Vidyasagar Rao. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expanded his council of ministers, inducting 11 ministers, including 10 new faces. With this Cabinet expansion, the council of minister now has 39 members, with 42 being the maximum allowed. The BJP’s newly inducted cabinet rank ministers are Pandurang Phundkar, Subhash Deshmukh, Jaikumar Raval and Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar. The ministers of state from the BJP are Ravindra Chavan and Madan Yerawar. Mahadev Jankar of BJP’s ally Rashtriya Samaj Paksha was inducted as cabinet minister. Fadnavis also promoted BJP’s minister of state for home Ram Shinde to cabinet rank.
9. To promote India among travellers, the ministry of external affairs is holding the country’s first SAARC Tourism Summit in ________________, Maharashtra
a) Amravati
b) Pune
c) Nagpur
d) Aurangabad
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Answer d) Aurangabad . To promote India among travellers, the ministry of external affairs is holding the country’s first SAARC Tourism Summit in Aurangabad, which is also considered the tourism capital of Maharashtra, in the second week of October. The government hopes that the summit will also bolster ‘Make in India‘ and ‘Make in Maharashtra‘ and may bring more FDI.
10. India and Mozambique have signed three agreements in the area of ________________________________
a) Drug trafficking, Pulse Trading and Double taxation
b) Data trafficking, Pulse Trading and Double taxation
c) Drug trafficking, Pulse Trading and Youth affairs and sports
d) Drug trafficking, online Trading and Double taxation
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Answer c) Drug trafficking, Pulse Trading and Youth affairs and sports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a second MoU with South African country Mozambique. India and Mozambique have signed three agreements in the area of drug trafficking (1st), pulse trading (2nd) and youth affairs & sports (3rd). Indian prime minister said: “Our agreement on prevention of drug trafficking is a testimony to our shared determination to combat this menace and these networks.”
11. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the second Anti-drug Working Group meeting of Heads of Drug Control Agencies of BRICS countries in ______________
a) Mumbai
b) Srinagar
c) Kolkata
d) New Delhi
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Answer d) New Delhi. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the second Anti-drug Working Group meeting of Heads of Drug Control Agencies of BRICS countries in New Delhi. Besides the delegates from the member countries, the Ambassadors of the respective countries shall also be attending the inaugural session. The meeting is being organized by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The Indian delegation will be headed by Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, Director General, Narcotics Control Bureau.
12. NASSCOM unveils India’s first Centre of Excellence on Internet of Things in ___________________
a) Hyderabad
b) Chennai
c) Bengaluru
d) Mumbai
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Answer c) Bengaluru . The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) unveiled India’s first Centre of Excellence focused on Internet of Things (CoE- IoT) at its Startup Warehouse in Bengaluru. The center was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law, Government of India. The centre was launched in a bid to encourage start-ups to come up with tech solutions centred on Internet of Things (IoT).
13. The newly-elected Left Democratic Front government in Kerala has imposed a ‘fat tax’ of _____ on branded restaurants that sell junk food like burgers, pizzas, and pasta.
a) 10.50%
b) 14.50%
c) 16%
d) 12.50%
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Answer b) 14.50%. The newly-elected Left Democratic Front government in Kerala has imposed a ‘fat tax’ of 14.5% on branded restaurants that sell junk food like burgers, pizzas, and pasta. This is the first such tax in India and is expected to help the government raise ₹10 crore annually. Notably, a similar tax was imposed in Denmark and Hungary to fight obesity.
14. How many Indian hotels in World’s 100 Best Hotels list?
a) 5
b) 4
c) 10
d) 12
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Answer a) 5. Five Indian hotels have made it to the ‘Travel + Leisure’ magazine’s 100 Best Hotels list, with The Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur ranked 22nd. In a survey conducted by the magazine, The Oberoi Vanyavilas (Ranthambhore) was ranked 28th, while The Oberoi Rajvilas (Jaipur) was 59th. The list also included The Leela Palace New Delhi and the Taj Lake Palace (Udaipur).
15. Which State government announced a pension scheme, starting this year, for transgenders above 60 years of age?
a) Karnataka
b) Kerala
c) Rajasthan
d) West Bengal
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Answer b) Kerala . The Left Democratic Front government in Kerala announced a pension scheme, starting this year, for transgenders above 60 years of age. It also announced special education aid for transgender students. Only last year, Kerala became the first state in India to announce a Transgender Welfare Board that aims to end stigma towards the sexual minority group.
16. Out of the 78 ministers in the current Council of Ministers, _________ are women, according to analysis of the ministers’ affidavits.
a) Seven
b) Ten
c) Nine
d) Fifteen
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Answer c) Nine . Out of the 78 ministers in the current Council of Ministers, nine are women, according to analysis of the ministers’ affidavits. This makes up 12% of the Council. While seven of them took oath in May 2014, one was inducted in November 2014 and another joined in the July 2016 reshuffle.
17. Business leaders from India and South Africa signed ________ MoUs at a CEO forum on the sidelines of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the African country.
a) Eight
b) Six
c) Five
d) Three
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Answer a) Eight. Business leaders from India and South Africa signed eight MoUs at a CEO forum on the sidelines of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the African country. The MoUs were signed in sectors including mining, railways, defence and education. The biggest of the MoUs was signed between a South African port and Cipla, involving investment worth around $90 million.
18. Which State government issued directions that 100 kilometres of roads be constructed every month in the state?
a) Madya Pradesh
b) Chhattisgarh
c) Kerala
d) Tamil Nadu
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Answer b) Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh issued directions that 100 kilometres of roads be constructed every month in the state. Singh added that 1,446 kilometres of road will be constructed by March 2018 at an estimated cost of ₹9,268 crore. He also set a deadline to finish construction of roads in Left Wing Extremism-affected regions of the state.
19. Who will become the first ever woman in the world to receive the Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea from the International Maritime Organisation?
a) Radhika Menon
b) Priya Menon
c) Ramya Menon
d) Deepa Menon
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Answer a) Radhika Menon. Captain Radhika Menon will become the first ever woman in the world to receive the Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea from the International Maritime Organisation. Menon, also the first woman captain of the Indian Merchant Navy, will be given the award for saving the lives of seven fishermen in a ceremony to be held in London on November 21.
20. The 4th edition of Woodpecker Environment and Wildlife Film Festival 2016 began at historic Gaiety Theatre in ______________
a) Bilaspur
b) Kangra
c) Shimla
d) Kinnaur
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Answer c) Shimla . With the aim to highlighting the environmental concerns, a three-day Woodpecker Environment and Wildlife Film Festival would begin at historic Gaiety Theatre here from July 7. As many as 45 films, including several national Award winning films and five films from Himachal Pradesh would be screened at the festival. The focus of the festival would be on critical environment and wildlife conservation issues like climate change, forest conservation, biodiversity and man-animal conflict and success stories would also be showcased in it.
21. India has set up an apparel training centre in _____________ to support textiles industry of the West African country.
a) Liberia
b) Nigeria
c) Guinea
d) Gambia
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Answer b) Nigeria. India has set up an apparel training centre in Nigeria to support textiles industry of the West African country. This is a first of its kind centre in Nigeria set up in partnership with their government, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement. The centre has been established in Kaduna, Nigeria under the Cotton Technical Assistance Programme for Africa which is being implemented by the Indian Department of Commerce. It was inaugurated on June 22.
22. Which Bank has launched an SME Bank which will provide full-fledged digital banking service to small and medium sector enterprises?
a) State Bank of India
b) ICICI Bank
c) Axis Bank
d) HDFC Bank
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Answer d) HDFC Bank. HDFC Bank is turning aggressive in the SME space that’s crying for funds with state-run banks deserting them due to mounting bad loans. The private sector lender has launched an SME Bank which will provide full-fledged digital banking service to small and medium sector enterprises. SMEs will now be able to avail banking facilities such as forward currency outward remittances, import bill under collection, besides viewing credit lines with the bank and outstanding amount.
23. Who won Wimbledon women’s singles title 2016?
a) Serena Williams
b) Angelique Kerber
c) Venus Williams
d) Maria Sharapova
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Answer a) Serena Williams. Defending champion Serena Williams beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber in straight sets to win her 22nd Grand Slam, equalling Steffi Graf’s record for most Grand Slam title wins in the Open Era. Serena defeated Kerber 7-5, 6-3, to win her 7th Wimbledon women’s singles title. This was Serena’s first victory in a Grand Slam final in last four attempts.
24. Om Prakash Sonik who passed away recently was a/an
a) Actor
b) Music director
c) Journalist
d) Politician
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Answer b) Music director. Veteran music director Om Prakash Sonik, popularly known as Omi passed away due to brief illness, in a private hospital in Mumbai. He was 77 years old. In the early 1950s, Master Sonik got a break to direct music for films like Mamta, Mehfil and Ishwar Bhakti, but their music failed to catch the ears of the listeners. Omi was the other half of Bollywood’s well-known blind music director Master Sonik. They both formed Sonik-Omi team which provided music to about 125 Hindi movies between 1950 and 1980s.
