Current Affairs Quiz – September 23 and 24 2016

Current Affairs Quiz

1. First Jesse Owens Award goes posthumously to ____________
a) Mike Tyson
b) Bruce Lee
c) Muhammad Ali
d) Rahman Ali

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Answer c) Muhammad Ali. The first Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award will recognize the late Muhammad Ali. The Owens Award was started this year, the 80th anniversary of Owens’ four-gold-medal performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and is to be presented annually to recognize people who have served as an inspiration in society. Ali won the gold medal at the Rome 1960 Olympics, then took three world heavyweight championships in 1964, 1974 and 1978.

2. ___________________ was ranked the best university in the world in Times Higher Education University Rankings
a) Stanford University
b) University of Oxford
c) University of Cambridge
d) California Institute of Technology

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Answer b) University of Oxford . UK-based University of Oxford was ranked the best university in the world in Times Higher Education University Rankings, pushing US-based California Institute of Technology, the five-time topper of the list, to the second spot. Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology took the third, fourth, and fifth spots respectively.

3. Who has been appointed as new Ambassador to the US?
a) Ranjan Mathai
b) Arun Kumar Singh
c) Navtej Singh Sarna
d) Arjun Singh Gupta

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Answer c) Navtej Singh Sarna. India’s High Commissioner to the UK, Navtej Singh Sarna, has been appointed the new Ambassador to the US. He will succeed the current envoy Arun Singh. A 1980-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Sarna will take over from Arun Kumar Singh, who has retired from the service. Sarna, who has authored several books, fiction as well as non-fiction, had succeeded Ranjan Mathai as India’s envoy to the UK.

4. Who has been appointed as chairperson of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India?
a) Vishwanathan
b) Madhusudan Sahoo
c) Muthu Kumar
d) Raman Sharma

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Answer b) Madhusudan Sahoo. Madhusudan Sahoo was appointed as chairperson of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. Sahoo is presently member of Competition Commission of India. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for five years, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training.

5. ______________will be the new Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, the nation’s largest company
a) Sanjiv Singh
b) Rajeev Singh
c) Abhishek Singh
d) Mukesh Singh

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Answer a) Sanjiv Singh. Sanjiv Singh will be the new Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, the nation’s largest company. Singh, 56, who is currently Director of Refineries at IOC, was selected for the top job after government head hunters Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) interviewed eight candidates. A Chemical Engineer from IIT-Roorkee, Singh joined IOC in December 1981 as Trainee Engineer and has worked in various positions at Mathura, Barauni and Panipat refineries of the company.

6. The National Society for Change for Childhood Cancer will be a organising a first-of-its-kind exhibition ‘CanKids-Kidscan’ at ____________
a) Red Fort
b) Qutb Minar
c) Taj Mahal
d) India Gate

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Answer c) Taj Mahal. The National Society for Change for Childhood Cancer will be a organising a first-of-its-kind exhibition ‘CanKids-Kidscan’ on childhood cancer awareness at the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra from September 25 to 27. As per a press release issued by the organizers, the exhibition will include‘Chalo Chalein Taj programme‘ under which around 1,500 cancer-affected children and their families will visit the Taj Mahal. Street play by childhood cancer survivors will also be shown at the function.

7. Which state Government alloted Rs 204 crore for ‘Thaaliku Thangam’ scheme under marriage assistance programme?
a) Kerala
b) Tamil Nadu
c) Andra Pradesh
d) Telangana

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Answer b) Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu government has allotted Rs 204 crore towards the implementation of enhanced gold scheme under a marriage assistance programme. Rs 204 crore has been allotted for ‘Thaaliku Thangam’ (Gold for Mangalsutra) scheme for the year 2016-17 to benefit 12,500 women. Assistance of Rs 25,000 for beneficiaries who have passed Class X and Rs 50,000 to those with an undergraduate degree or diploma is also given as part of the scheme.

8. Which Bank has entered into agreements with private insurers Cigna TTK and Reliance General Insurance to provide health and general insurance services to its customers?
a) Andra Bank
b) Allahabad Bank
c) Syndicate Bank
d) Bank of India

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Answer a) Andra Bank. Public sector lender Andhra Bank said that it has entered into agreements with private insurers Cigna TTK and Reliance General Insurance to provide health and general insurance services to its customers. The agreement was signed by Andhra Bank Executive Director S K Kalra, MD and CEO of Cigna TTK Health Insurance Sandeep Patel and CEO of Reliance General Insurance Rakesh Jain. Andhra Bank shares closed at Rs. 60.95 apiece, down 0.08 percent from their previous close.

9. Cabinet approved Rs.1102 crore cable think to ____________
a) New Delhi
b) Puducherry
c) Andaman and Nicobar Islands
d) Laskshadweep

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Answer c) Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The NDA Govt Cabinet on Sep 21, 2016 approved a Rs 1,102.38 crore project for a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between the mainland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The project to be completed by December 2018, will link Chennai with Port Blair and five other islands of Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Havelock, Kamorta and Great Nicobar.

10. The book “Citizen and Society,” written by _______________
a) Narendra Modi
b) Sumitra Mahajan
c) Meira Kumar
d) Hamid Ansari

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Answer d) Hamid Ansari. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, attended the function for the release of the book “Citizen and Society,” written by the Vice-President Shri Hamid Ansari. The book was released by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister congratulated the Vice President for presenting his thoughts to the future generations through the book.

11. Government of India has picked three economists __________________________ for a new monetary policy committee (MPC) to set interest rates
a) Chetan Ghate, Arvind Subramanian and Ravindra Dholakia
b) Rangarajan, Pami Dua and Ravindra Dholakia
c) Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua and Ravindra Dholakia
d) Chetan Ghate, Bimal Jalan and Ravindra Dholakia

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Answer c) Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua and Ravindra Dholakia. India’s government has picked three economists from the academic world for a new monetary policy committee (MPC) to set interest rates, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gets ready for a landmark switch in the way it decides policy. The non-RBI members named are Chetan Ghate, a professor at Indian Statistical Institute; Pami Dua, a director at the Delhi School of Economics; and Ravindra Dholakia, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.

12. Government of India signed a contract to buy 36 rafale jets for Rs.58 crores from _____________
a) France
b) Russia
c) Germany
d) USA

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Answer a) France . India has signed a contract to from French defence major Dassault Aviation for around Rs.58,000 crore in an effort to modernise Indian Air Force’s ageing fleet. The deal was finalised with the signing of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) by the Minister for Defence, Manohar Parrikar, and his French counterpart, Jean-Yves le Drian, at the Ministry of Defence.

13. World’s first CO2-emission-free train, which will be powered by hydrogen, was unveiled at _______________
a) Russia
b) Germany
c) France
d) USA

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Answer b) Germany . World’s first CO2-emission-free train, which will be powered by hydrogen, was unveiled at a trade show in Germany. The train ‘Coradia iLint’ was developed by French company Alstom and will start operating in Germany next year. The train will run using electricity stored in batteries, which are powered by a hydrogen tank on the train’s roof.

14. Which Country has been named the best destination for expats for the second year in a row by the annual HSBC Expat Explorer Survey?
a) India
b) China
c) Sweden
d) Singapore

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Answer d) Singapore . Singapore has been named the best destination for expats for the second year in a row by the annual HSBC Expat Explorer Survey. New Zealand and Canada have ranked second and third respectively, while the Czech Republic and Switzerland have completed the top five. Meanwhile, India has ranked 26th on the list.

15. Government of India to liberalise the e-tourist visa, which will allow travellers to stay in India for _____ days, instead of the 30-days
a) 60
b) 100
c) 150
d) 180

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Answer b) 100. The central government has put forward a proposal to liberalise the e-tourist visa, which will allow travellers to stay in India for 100 days, instead of the 30-day period that the e-tourist visa currently allows. Additionally, the Centre is also planning to introduce multiple entries for foreign nationals. The scheme has been proposed to boost foreign arrival in India.

16. India ranked _____ among 188 nations in health study
a) 83
b) 112
c) 143
d) 163

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Answer c) 143. The Global Burden of Disease study has ranked India 143 in a list of 188 countries, citing mortality rates, malaria hygiene and air pollution as major challenges. The US was ranked 28, while the UK was listed in the top five spots. Notably, Iceland topped the health index, and the Central African Republic was ranked the lowest.

17. India is the __________ largest seafood exporter in the world
a) Second
b) Third
c) Fifth
d) Seventh

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Answer d) Seventh . India is the seventh largest seafood exporter in the world, MoS for Commerce Nirmala Seetharaman said at the International Seafood Show in Visakhapatnam. The Minister gave the credit for this achievement to entrepreneurs and aqua producers. Notably, India exported quality seafood worth $4.7 billion in 2015-16 and expects to achieve an export target of $10 billion by 2020.

18. Insurance regulator IRDAI has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on _________________Company for violations of various norms
a) Exide Life Insurance
b) HDFC Life Insurance
c) SBI Life Insurance
d) Reliance General Life Insurance

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Answer c) SBI Life Insurance. Insurance regulator IRDAI has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on SBI Life Insurance Company for violations of various norms. Inspection reports indicated that it had done 621 policies after expiry of licence. Authority renewed the expired licence of the corporate agent from a retrospective date i.e licence expiry date, which is only for operational convenience but doesn’t mean that insurer is allowed to procure business during the licence expiry period while the renewal application was under process.

19. India and ____________ have joined hands to promote sustainable tea production and consumption
a) China
b) Nepal
c) Sri Lanka
d) Bangladesh

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Answer a) China. India and China have joined hands to promote sustainable tea production and consumption. The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) and China Tea Marketing Association (CTMA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard. This MoU is the first step towards greater regional cooperation between Indian and Chinese tea industries, which produce and consume the highest volume of tea in the world. The funding support for this region would be around €15 million by 2020.

20. Who has been elected as president of the prestigious Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)?
a) Arvind Mayaram
b) Bimal Jalan
c) Nandan Nilekani
d) Vijay Kelkar

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Answer d) Vijay Kelkar. Former petroleum secretary Vijay Kelkar has been elected president of the prestigious Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Kelkar succeeded former RBI governor C Rangarajan. He was elected at the general body meeting of the institute, which functions under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

21. Industrialist ___________________ was conferred the 10th Annual Clinton Global Citizen Award for leadership in business and philanthropy
a) Azim Premji
b) Adi Godrej
c) Sunil Bharti Mittal
d) Dillip Shanghvi

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Answer b) Adi Godrej. Industrialist Adi Godrej, the Chairman of Mumbai-based Godrej Group, was conferred the 10th Annual Clinton Global Citizen Award for leadership in business and philanthropy, an official said here on Wednesday. The award recognizes Godrej’s “leadership in transforming the intersection of business and philanthropy and making the Godrej Group a global example of what can be achieved through inclusive, sustainable business strategies”.

22. The eighth edition of India-Russia Joint Military Exercise ______________ has begun in the Ussiriysk District in Vladivostok, Russia
a) SHAKTI 2016
b) HAND-IN-HAND 2016
c) INDRA 2016
d) SURYA KIRAN 2016

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Answer c) INDRA 2016 . The eighth edition of India-Russia Joint Military Exercise ‘INDRA-2016’ has begun in the Ussiriysk District in Vladivostok, Russia. Main focus of this edition of the joint exercise is on ‘Counter-Terrorism Operations in semi mountainous and jungle terrain under United Nations Mandate’. To achieve interoperability in joint operations, troops from both sides would acquaint themselves with the respective approach to such operations.

23. Who won the Pan Pacific Open doubles title 2016 in women’s category?
a) Zhaoxuan Yang and Chen Liang
b) Sania Mirza and Barbora Strýcová
c) Sania Mirza and Chen LiangSania
d) Zhaoxuan Yang and Barbora Strýcová

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Answer b) Sania Mirza and Barbora Strýcová. Indian tennis star Sania Mirza won her 40th WTA doubles title after winning the Pan Pacific Open title in Tokyo. Sania and her Czech partner Barbora Strýcová, playing together in their third tournament, defeated China’s Zhaoxuan Yang and Chen Liang 6-1, 6-1 in the 52-minute long tournament final.

24. Jagdish Gagneja who passed away recently was a/an
a) Politician
b) Journalist
c) Sportsmen
d) Author

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Answer a) Politician . Senior RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja, who was shot at in Jalandhar by unidentified assailants in August, died at a hospital in Ludhiana. He was also the Vice-President of the Punjab unit of the Sangh Gagneja, 65, breathed his last at 9.16 am at the Hero DMC Heart Institute, Dr GS Wander, Director of the Institute.

25. Reoti Saran Sharma who passed away recently, he was a well known writer of ___________ language
a) Bengali
b) Urdu
c) Hindi
d) Both Urdu and Hindi

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Answer d) Both Urdu and Hindi. Well known Hindi and Urdu writer Reoti Saran Sharma died in New Delhi. He was 92 years. He was a Pioneer in radio plays in All India Radio and was conferred with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2007 for his contribution to theatre. He was also awarded Sahitya Kala Parishad and Ghalib Award.