Current Affairs Quiz
1. Who has been appointed as new India’s Ambassador to Germany?
a) Meera Shankar
b) Mira Seth
c) Mukta Dutta Tomar
d) Nirupama Rao
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Answer c) Mukta Dutta Tomar. Mukta Dutta Tomar was appointed as new India’s Ambassador to Germany. Tomar, a 1984 batch IFS officer is presently working as the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). She is expected to take up the assignment shortly. Earlier, Gurjit Singh was holding this post till in March 2017.
2. Senior bureaucrats ___________ and ____________were appointed as members of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of the Income Tax department
a) Ram Tirath and B.K. Bansal
b) Ajit Kumar Srivastava and Shabri Bhattasali
c) Ajit Kumar Srivastava and Ananya Ray
d) K.K. Sharma and Shabri Bhattasali
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Answer b) Ajit Kumar Srivastava and Shabri Bhattasali. Senior bureaucrats Ajit Kumar Srivastava and Shabri Bhattasali were appointed members of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of the Income Tax department. The role of the CBDT is to provide inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in the country and the statutory authority also administers the direct tax laws through Income Tax Department. The CBDT functions under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963.
3. Who will be the next chairman of the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)?
a) Shiva Kirti Singh
b) Vikramajit Sen
c) M. Y. Eqbal
d) Gyan Sudha Misra
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Answer a) Shiva Kirti Singh. The government has cleared retired Supreme Court judge Shiva Kirti Singh as the next chairman of the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). The appointment is for a period of three years from the date of assumption of office or “until further orders, whichever is earlier. As per rules, the head of the dispute resolution agency for the telecom industry must be a person, who has been a Supreme Court judge, or the chief justice of a high court.
4. ‘Ammaku Vandanam’, a programme to pay tribute to mothers would be introduced in government schools in ____________from this year
a) Tamil Nadu
b) Kerala
c) Andra Pradesh
d) Telangana
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Answer c) Andra Pradesh. ‘Ammaku Vandanam’, a programme to pay tribute to mothers would be introduced in government schools in Andhra Pradesh from this year, officials have said. Under this programme, students will take the blessings of their mother and also wash their feet. According to the order, mothers would be invited to the schools on a specific day every year for the function.
5. The Central government launched ____________ a dedicated web portal allowing Indians to download accurate Indian maps prepared by the Survey of India
a) Bharat
b) Nakshe
c) Sakshe
d) Mapshe
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Answer b) Nakshe. The Central government launched ‘Nakshe’, a dedicated web portal allowing Indians to download accurate Indian maps prepared by the Survey of India. Aadhaar number, however, has been made mandatory to allow access to the free maps “only to Indians”, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said. Notably, users would be able to download three maps per Aadhaar card per day.
6. Which state government imposed a ban on using polythene carry bags in the state with effect from May 1?
a) Maharashtra
b) Uttar Pradesh
c) Madya Pradesh
d) West Bengal
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Answer c) Madya Pradesh. The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet imposed a ban on using polythene carry bags in the state with effect from May 1. “The cows eat polythene/plastic bags, which leads to their death. Banning of polythene use will protect their lives. Besides, the plastic/polythene bags are also harmful for the environment,” state’s Public Relations Department Minister Narottam Mishra said.
7. Atu Zumvu, who is a Sub-Divisional Police Officer with the _____________received the prestigious Shaurya Chakra award at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan
a) Tamil Nadu Police
b) Bihar Police
c) Assam Police
d) Nagaland Police
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Answer d) Nagaland Police. Atu Zumvu, who is a Sub-Divisional Police Officer with the Nagaland Police received the prestigious Shaurya Chakra award at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Nagaland attained statehood in 1963 and since then this is the first time a police officer from the state has been honoured with this award. He joined Nagaland Police in 1997 as he wanted to follow his father’s footsteps, who passed away when he was 12. Atu’s father remained a role model, as did his ideals of passion, determination and belief in real action as the premise for change.
8. Who conferred the National Geoscience Awards – 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan?
a) Pranab Mukherjee
b) Mohammad Hamid Ansari
c) Narendra Modi
d) Arun Jaitley
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Answer a) Pranab Mukherjee. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee conferred the National Geoscience Awards – 2016 (April 12, 2017) at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The National Geoscience Awards, previously known as the National Mineral Awards, was instituted by the Ministry of Mines in 1966, to honour individuals and teams of scientists for their extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in fundamental, applied geosciences, mining and allied fields.
9. Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill 2016 passed in Lok Sabha, Who is the Union Minister of Transport?
a) Arun Jaitley
b) Rajnath Singh
c) Nitin Gadkari
d) Suresh Prabhu
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Answer c) Nitin Gadkari. India is a step away from a game-changing legislation that will revamp the laws governing transportation in the country, with the Lok Sabha passing the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The changes are significant as they will, for the first time, acknowledge the fundamental reordering of mobility with the introduction of laws recognizing app-based taxi operators.
10. National Safe Motherhood Day was observed on?
a) April 11
b) April 10
c) April 09
d) April 08
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Answer a) April 11. National Safe Motherhood Day was observed on April 11 every year. National Safe Motherhood Day 2016 is an initiative of the White Ribbon Alliance India, to enforce that women must have the availability and adequate access to care during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal services. The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, India (WRA India) was formed when Centre for Catalyzing Change, an NGO, brought together a group of individuals and organizations to advocate safe motherhood in India.
11. India’s first ever micro-drama festival was held in ___________
a) Mumbai
b) Hyderabad
c) New Delhi
d) Bangalore
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Answer c) New Delhi. India’s first ever micro-drama festival was held in Delhi. Named after Thespis of Icaria, believed to be the first actor in Greek drama (6th century BC), the day-long event ‘Thespis’ saw screening of 28 independent plays at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Art. Organised by theatre group ‘Vriksh’, the festival marks the debut of the micro-drama concept in India.
12. The Kerala-based NBFC Manappuram Finance will launch its own co-branded prepaid card in tie-up with ____________
a) Yes Bank
b) ICICI Bank
c) HDFC Bank
d) Axis Bank
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Answer a) Yes Bank. The Kerala-based NBFC Manappuram Finance will launch its own co-branded prepaid card in tie-up with YES Bank. The ‘Manappuram YES Bank Prepaid Money Card’ can be pre-loaded up to a maximum amount of Rs. 50,000 and then be used to withdraw money from all ATMs. As the card works on the popular MasterCard and RuPay networks, it can also be used for online transactions and at merchant establishments with PoS terminals.
13. Which country is the world’s biggest executioner country of the year 2016?
a) India
b) Saudi Arabia
c) Japan
d) China
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Answer d) China. China executed more people in 2016 than all other nations combined, Amnesty International said, even as death penalties in the world decreased overall. The human rights organisation estimates the Asian giant alone killed “thousands” of people, a figure based on examinations of court records and news reports. All other countries together executed at least 1,032 people last year — a decline of 37 percent compared to 2015. Of those, 87 percent took place in just four countries – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan.
14. Carmen Chacon who passed away recently, she was the first female defence minister of __________
a) Australia
b) Spain
c) Germany
d) USA
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Answer b) Spain. Spain’s first female defence minister, Carmen Chacon, once a leadership contender for the main opposition Socialist party, died on Sunday at the age of 46. The cause of death has not been confirmed, although Spanish news outlets reported that she had been suffering from heart disease. Chacon, who was from Barcelona, was defense minister from 2008 to 2011 under Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. She was seven months pregnant when she took on the role, which cast her into the media spotlight.
