Current Affairs Quiz
1. Who won 2016 Pen Pinter Prize?
a) Sheik Dawood
b) Margaret Atwood
c) Martin Thorpe
d) Justin Kemp
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Answer b) Margaret Atwood.Margaret Atwood has won this year’s Pen Pinter Prize, which celebrates champions of free speech. The Canadian novelist and poet is well known for her environmental campaigning. Judges praised Atwood’s political activism, and described her as an “exemplary public intellectual”. Atwood will formally receive the award at the British Library on 13 October, where she will also deliver an address. Atwood said she was “humbled” to be the recipient of this year’s prize.
2. Who has been appointed as Director General of Doordarshan’s?
a) Bhuvanesh Saha
b) Amit Mittal
c) Pankaj Kumar
d) Supriya Sahu
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Answer d) Supriya Sahu.Senior IAS officer Supriya Sahu has been appointed as Doordarshan’s Director General, a post lying vacant for nearly two years. A 1991 batch IAS officer, Sahu is currently working in her cadre state Tamil Nadu. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the proposal for appointment of Sahu as Director General, Doordarshan.
3. Who has been appointed as UN women goodwill ambassador?
a) Anne Hathaway
b) Mary George
c) Jessica Lange
d) Angelina Jolie
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Answer a) Anne Hathaway.Anne Hathaway is the latest Hollywood figure to be appointed by the United Nations as a global goodwill ambassador to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. The Oscar-winning actor joins Nicole Kidman, Emma Watson and Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand as fellow women’s goodwill ambassadors. She will advocate for the adoption and implementation of policies worldwide that will bring measurable change, including affordable childcare services and shared parental leave at both government and corporate levels.
4. Who has been elected as President of 71st session of United Nations General Assembly?
a) Albert Michael
b) Mogens Lykketoft
c) John Kennedy
d) Peter Thomson
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Answer d) Peter Thomson.In a rare secret ballot vote, the United Nations General Assembly has elected Peter Thomson, Permanent Representative of Fiji, as President of its upcoming 71st session. Mr. Thomson, who will replace current General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft, will begin his tenure in September at the commencement of the 71st General Assembly session.
5. ___________________________has granted in-principle approval to the centres as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit.
a) Government of India
b) Reserve Bank of India
c) SEBI
d) None of these
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Answer b) Reserve Bank of India.People residing in rural areas would soon be able to make bill payments at common service centres (CSCs) as the Reserve Bank of India has granted in-principle approval to the centres as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit. The Bharat Bill Payment System will allow CSCs to operate the bill payment system with a single brand image providing convenience of ‘anytime anywhere’ bill payment.
6. ____________________Bank to issue maiden local currency bond
a) Asian Development Bank
b) World Bank
c) New Development Bank
d) NABARD
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Answer c) New Development Bank.The New Development Bank (NDB), established by the BRICS group of emerging nations, plans to issue its first bond as a yuan denominated issue in China. The bank will also issue bonds in other member currencies in order to mitigate the foreign currency risk of funded infrastructure projects and help develop local currency fund- raising markets.
7. PM Modi inaugurates 1st conference of CBDT, CBEC. Expand CBDT?
a) Central Board of Direct Taxes
b) Central Bureau of Direct Taxes
c) Central Board of Distance Taxes
d) Central Bureau of Direct Trade
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Answer a) Central Board of Direct Taxes.PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated the two-day ‘Rajasva Gyan Sangam’, the first joint annual conference of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). The conference will also be attended by the top brass of Income Tax department. While CBDT is responsible for collecting direct taxes, CBEC recovers the indirect taxes.
8. Which telecom company has extended its free roaming service by one more year?
a) Airtel
b) Aircel
c) Reliance
d) BSNL
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Answer d) BSNL.BSNL has extended its free roaming service by one more year enabling its mobile customers to receive calls at no extra cost while roaming. The decision to extend the facility has been taken in view of overwhelming response of its customers in mobile number portability (MNP) and achieving highest growth of the customer in February and March months as per Trai report.
9. HRD ministry has launched ___________ scheme inviting volunteers to hold public speaking, storytelling, play acting sessions and participate in other co-scholastic activities.
a) Geethanjali
b) Pathanjali
c) Vidyanjali
d) Sudanjali
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Answer c) Vidyanjali .To boost community participation in government schools, HRD ministry has launched Vidyanjali scheme inviting volunteers to hold public speaking, storytelling, play acting sessions and participate in other co-scholastic activities. Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Iranisaid 21 states and 2,200 schools will be participating in the pilot launch of the programme and hoped that by December it will be expanded to include every school in the country.
10. NITI Aayog has decided to set up _____ Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in schools across the country.
a) 100
b) 500
c) 1000
d) 750
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Answer b) 500.To cultivate scientific temperament and a spirit of innovation in young minds, the NITI Aayog has decided to set up 500 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in schools across the country. These laboratories will provide a work space to the young students for shaping their ideas by hands on doing themselves models and learning innovation skills. The vision of the scheme is to ‘Cultivate 1 Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators‘.
11. Indian Railways has signed a pact with the ________________ government for setting up a joint venture company for development of rail infrastructure in the eastern state.
a) Assam
b) Meghalaya
c) Odisha
d) Arunachal Pradesh
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Answer c) Odisha .Indian Railways has signed a pact with the Odisha government for setting up a joint venture company for development of rail infrastructure in the eastern state. Under the agreement, Railways will have 49 per cent stake while the state government will own 51 per cent in the JV company which will identify projects for development and mobilisation of financial resources for their execution.
12. Which State Government launched a bilingual grievance redressal app, ‘Panchayat Pratikar’, across the state’s gram panchayats?
a) Assam
b) West Bengal
c) Rajasthan
d) Tamil Nadu
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Answer b) West Bengal.West Bengal Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee launched a bilingual grievance redressal app, ‘Panchayat Pratikar’, across the state’s gram panchayats. All complaints would be recorded, a reply would be given on the mobile and redressal would be provided within 72 working hours, Mukherjee said. “The status of the complaint will also be traceable on the net or mobile,” he added.
13. Which Ministry start social media system for grievance for passengers?
a) Transport Ministry
b) Shipping Ministry
c) Railway Ministry
d) None of these
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Answer c) Railway Ministry .Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday launched an Integrated Social Media platform to take care of passengers’ grievances received through the posts on Facebook and Twitter. The posts will be first analysed by the Railway Board’s Social Media Cell and then forwarded to the concerned Divisional Railways Manager (DRM) to take prompt action on the matter.
14. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off India’s first time-tabled freight train, named __________________, from Delhi to Bengaluru.
a) Cargo Express
b) Comfort Express
c) Speed Express
d) Soft Express
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Answer a) Cargo Express.Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off India’s first time-tabled freight train, named ‘Cargo Express’, from Delhi to Bengaluru. The move aims to reduce the delay and uncertainty over the time schedule for delivery of goods. Earlier, passenger trains in the country used to get preference over goods trains for transportation across busy routes.
15. Arktika, the most powerful nuclear icebreaker launched by ________________
a) USA
b) India
c) China
d) Russia
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Answer d) Russia .Russia’s new Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreaker dubbed “Arktika” was launched from the Baltic Shipyard in Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg. Built at the Baltic Shipyard, which belongs to Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation, project 22220 is the world’s largest and most powerful vessel of its kind.
16. Singtel and ______________ have joined hands to deliver high-speed, secure enterprise data network coverage in the Asia-Pacific, West Asia, Africa, Europe and the US.
a) Vodafone
b) Aircel
c) Airtel
d) Reliance
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Answer c) Airtel.Singapore Telecommunications and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to deliver high-speed, secure enterprise data network coverage in the Asia-Pacific, West Asia, Africa, Europe and the US. The two companies have combined their resources into one network to provide data connectivity in 325 cities across the world through 370 points of presence (PoP). This will form one of the world’s largest Internet Protocol Virtual Private Networks (IP VPNs).
