General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 17

• Joint Russia-India Hypersonic BrahMos 2 missile to be ready by 2017.

• Sharad Pawar's reign as ICC president ends, Alan Isaac takes over.

• School-on-wheels launched in Delhi.

• Coca Cola and Pepsi contain alcohol: Study.

• TFM in soaps stands for "Total Fatty Matter".

• The immediate cause for the outbreak of the 1st World War was the murder of the Austrian crown prince Francis Ferdinand & his wife at Serajevo.

• Vietnam was partitioned into North and South Vietnam in the year 1954, the dividing line being the 17th parallel.

• May 2012: Goa topped the list of the states with highest per capita income in the country with a total per capita income of 1,92,652 rupees.

• Vitamin B2 is manufactured by fermentative action of the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum.

• Yeast is the best source of vitamin B complex.

• World's largest sugar producing nations in 2011:

1) Brazil

2) India

3) China

• Hindustan Steel Private Limited was set up on January 19, 1954.

• B.G. Tilak formed the Home Rule League in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1916.

• Annie Besant also started a Home Rule League in Madras (Chennai) in 1916.

• Pranab Mukherjee today (25-07-2012) took oath as the 13th President of India.

• Adolf Hitler kept Swastika as his party's emblem and his followers were known as Brown Shirts. He wrote a book called Mein Kampf (My struggle).

• Kargil Vijay Diwas is celebrated on 26 July every year in honour of the Kargil War's Heroes. Kargil war was ended on 26 July 1999.

• Operation Safed Sagar was the codename assigned to the Indian Air Force's strike to support the Ground troops during Operation Vijay.

• Operation Meghdoot was the code-name for the Indian Armed Forces operation to capture the Siachen Glacier in the disputed Kashmir region.

• London has hosted the Olympic Games on two occasions, in 1908 and 1948, and hosts the third in 2012 (27 July 2012 to 12 August 2012).

• A spirometer is an apparatus for measuring the volume of air inspired and expired by the lungs.

• Tata Steel to import European-made products.

• In plants, the process of photosynthesis occurs in two phases, the photochemical (light) reaction and carbon assimilation (dark) reaction.

• Hotmail was launched in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and acquired by Microsoft in 1997.

• Sushil Kumar Shinde takes charge as Home Minister.

• Microsoft is renaming its vintage Hotmail email service as Outlook.com with new features.

• Olympic record: Michael Phelps alone has 19 medals.

• Chidambaram takes over as finance minister.

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General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 16

• Kolkata Knight Riders win their 1st Indian Premier League (IPL) title.

• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918.

• The Indian Independence Act, passed by the British Parliament on 18 July 1947.

• Mahmud Ghazni invaded Mathura in 1018.

• RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner, named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania.

• Kamalesh Sharma is the 5th and current Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2008.

• London Declaration - 28 April 1949.

• Viswanathan Anand wins his 5th World Chess title. Anand has previously won the title in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

• September 8 - International Literacy Day, recognized by the UN.

• September 11 - World First Aid Day.

• September 27 - World Tourism Day.

• General Bikram Singh - New Chief of the Indian Army (25th), succeeding General VK Singh.

• Kevin Pietersen (England) retires from ODIs, T20s.

• Country's fastest growing states in 2011-12. 

• Bihar - 13.1% 

• Delhi - 11.3% 

• Puducherry - 11.0% 

• Chhattisgarh - 10.8% 

• Goa - 10.7%

• The Chinese Revolution of 1911 ended the 267 years old Manchu rule and the Chinese Republic was established.

• Sachin Tendulkar will take oath as a member of Rajya Sabha.

• Hockey: India wins bronze at Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

• March 27 - World Whisky Day.

• The Portuguese were expelled from Goa, Daman and Diu in 1962.

• On May 30, 1987, Goa became a Union Territory.

• The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act is an act of the Parliament of India which was passed in 1985, and it came into effect from November 14, 1985.

• The Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), a new scheme announced by the President, focuses on slum dwellers and the urban poor.

• Vice Admiral DK Joshi named new Navy chief after Admiral Nirmal Verma retires on August 31.

• Google to buy social media startup Meebo.

• Monsoon rains hit Kerala, to progress further normally.

• Railways hike parcel rates by 25% with immediate effect.

• June 8 - World Ocean Day.

• VS Sampath is the new Chief Election Commissioner. 62-year-old Sampath will take over as CEC after incumbent SY Quraishi demits office on June 10.

• The medicine that deals with the structure, function, diagnosis & treatment of diseases of the stomach & intestine is called Gastroenterology.

• Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a technique that temporarily takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery.

• Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won their maiden French Open mixed doubles title.

• The new Army Chief Bikram Singh lifts ban on Lt. Gen. Suhag.

• Scientists turn human skin cells into functional brain cells.

• New Bajaj Pulsar 200NS launched at Rs 84,096.

• June 14 - World Blood Donor Day.

• India to buy 8 warships from South Korea.

• Beijing University to teach Gujarati.

• India prepares to counter China's clout with INS Satpura.

• Maria Sharapova (Russia) wins French Open title.

• ‎Shehan Karunatilaka, author of 'Chinaman' wins the Commonwealth Book Prize for 2012.

• Rafael Nadal (Spain) won his record 7th French Open men's singles title.

• Presidential poll on July 19, counting on July 22.

• Coal pollution kills 70,000 a year in India: IMF.

• November 14 - World Diabetes Day.

• The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) was established in 1918. Headquarters of IUPAC is located in Zurich, Switzerland.

• The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) was established in 1922 and the first General Assembly was held in 1923 in Paris.

• The International Court of Justice consists of 15 judges chosen by the General Assembly and the Security Council of United Nations Organization.

• The 2012 G-20 Mexico Summit is the 7th meeting of the G-20 heads of govt. Held on June 18-19, 2012 in Los Cabos, Mexico.

• The City of Madurai constituted under the Madurai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1971.

• The Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act - 1994.

• Saina Nehwal overcomes Li Xuerui to lift third Indonesian Open title 2012.

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General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 15

• Indian Registration Act - 1908

• Powers- Of- Attorney Act - 1882

• Indian Stamp Act - 1899

• Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act - 1976.

• UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946. Headquarters - New York, USA.

• The National research centre on plant Biotechnology was established at Dehradum in 1985.

• BCCI suspends five cricketers for IPL spot fixing.

• Infosys Chief Mentor Narayana Murthy has been felicitated with the Global Leadership and Free Enterprise awards by the University of South Florida (USF) in recognition of his entrepreneurial spirit.

• In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day".

• INS Vindhyagiri, stuck with ammunition, to be destroyed.

• The anti-corruption Lokpal Bill will be brought to the Rajya Sabha again next week.

• The first session of the Indian National Congress (INC) was held at Bombay (Mumbai) in 1885 under the Presidentship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee.

• On Nov 15, 1995 the country's 1st elevated multi crore suburban railway scheme known as Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS), was opened in Chennai.

• Jackie Chan retires as action hero after 100th film.

• Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg marries Priscilla Chan.

• May 21 - Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, is also observed as Anti Terrorism Day in India.

• Now, yoga, sports part of MBBS curriculum.

• Deficiency of insulin causes Diabetes mellitus.

• Controlled dose of insulin & sugar free diet are best preventive measures for diabetes mellitus

• The 2012 Nuclear Security Summit was a summit held at the COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea, on March 26 & 27, 2012.

• The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit was a summit held in Washington, D.C., on April 12 and 13, 2010.

• Auxins were discovered by Went in 1928. He experimented with coleoptile tips of Avena (oats).

• Gibberellins were discovered by Kurusowa.

• Airtel 4G coming to Delhi and Mumbai.

• A section of the nationalist leaders like C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swarajya Party in 1922.

• In 1940, at the Lahore session of the Muslim League, the demand for a separate nation of Pakistan was made.

• Quit India Movement - 1942.

• Physiography means the description of the physical relief features of a country.

• Black Soil - is also known as Regur soil or Cotton soil.

• 'In vitro' culture means culturing the tissues outside the body of living organisms i.e. in the laboratory.

• October 8 - Indian Air Force Day.

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General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 14

• Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) was set up at Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu) in 1971 under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

• Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit (18 August 1900 - 01 December 1990): In 1953, she became the 1st woman President of the United Nations General Assembly.

• The Total number of protons in the nucleus of an atom is called the atomic number.

• JJ Thomson's atom model is referred as the plum-pudding model.

• Agni V successfully test-fired: This is India's 1st launch of a 5,000 kilometre range missile.

• Lava launches Intel's 1st Atom-based smartphone.

• High Altitude Research Laboratory - Gulmarg (Kashmir).

• Uranium Corporation of India - Jaduguda (Jharkhand).

• Tata Memorial Centre - Mumbai.

• IIT-Bombay to set up campus in New York.

• Intel launches 'Ivy Bridge' chip.

• China ignores Pakistan's concerns, approves Indian basmati imports.

• Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar turns 39.

• Ricky Ponting (Australia) overtakes Rahul Dravid (India) as the 2nd highest Test scorer.

• Abhishek Singhvi quits as Congress spokesperson.

• Aggregate fruit is developed from a single flower with multicarpellary, apocarpous, superior ovaries. Each free carpel develops into a fruitlet.

• ISRO launched 'spy satellite' RISAT-1.

• Karpechenko a Russian geneticist produced an intergeneric hybridization between radish and cabbage.

• The President has approved Sachin Tendulkar's name for nomination as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Bollywood actor Rekha, and businesswoman Anu Aga are the two others whose names have been approved for a nominated seat in the Upper House of Parliament.

• PSLV-C19 has successfully injected India's 1st indigenous Radar Imaging SATellite-1 (RISAT-1) into orbit. The total Cost of mission is about Rs. 500 crores.

• The National research centre on plant Biotechnology was established at Dehradum in 1985.

• 'Bangalore' known as the Electronic Capital of India.

• Live and killed vaccines are the 2 types of vaccines.

• Edward Jenner was the 1st one developed the vaccine.

• IRCTC to sell online air tickets too.

• Karpechenko a Russian geneticist produced an intergeneric hybridization between radish & cabbage.

• April 18 - World Heritage Day.

• The South Asian Association for Regional co-operation (SAARC) was launched with its 1st summit meet at Dacca (Bangladesh) on Dec 7, 1985.

• The WiFi Technology was started in Chennai International Airport on August 21, 2005

• WiFi - Wireless Fidelity.

• Tbs - Terabits per second.

• RISAT-1 (launched on: April 26, 2012) project Director N Valarmathi, is the first woman to head a remote sensing satellite project.

• The Rowlatt act was passed in 1919. It empowered the British Government to arrest anyone with out any warrant.

 

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General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 13

• The maximum number of members of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) is 250.

• IMF (International Monetary Fund) opened an office in India in 1991.

• CABE - Central Advisory Board for Education.

• CAD - Computer Aided Design.

• CAPES - Computer Aided Paperless Examination System.

• Miss India World 2012 - Vanya Mishra.

• Miss India Earth 2012 - Prachi Mishra.

• Miss India International 2012 - Rochelle Maria Rao.

• In 1909 W. Healey established the 1st child guidance center, the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute (Chicago).

• Lachrymal glands secrete tears.

• Steroid hormone is derived from Cholesterol.

• Koyali Oil Refinery is located in Gujarat.

• Nuclear submarine INS Chakra joins Indian Navy.

• 4th December is celebrated as Navy Day in India.

• Apple launching iPhone 5 in June.

• The Morvi dam failure was a dam-related flood disaster which occurred on Aug 11, 1979 in (Gujarat) India. Around 1800 to 15000 people were killed.

• Shri R. C. Jha, Chairman - Central Water Commission.

• Nagarhole National Park (also known as, Rajiv Gandhi National Park) is in Karnataka.

• La Nina, which in Spanish means 'the girl', is a condition when surface temperatures in the south Pacific Ocean fall below normal.

• Amartya Sen (born - 3 Nov 1933): 

Nobel Prize in Economics - 1998
Bharat Ratna - 1999
National Humanities Medal (American award) - 2011

• Chemical name of laughing gas is Nitrous Oxide

• Strait of Dover between England & France, which connects the North Sea with the English Channel

• Chandigarh is the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana.

• Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya.

• Panaji is the capital of Goa.

• The known SIV (Swine Influenza Virus) strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H2N1, H3N1, H3N2 and H2N3.

• Facebook buys Instagram (image sharing application).

• Tamil Nadu bans cell phones in Assembly.

• Airtel launches 4G wireless services in Kolkata.

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General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 12

• World Water Day has been observed on 22 March since 1993.

• March 21 is observed as World Forestry Day.

• March 23 - World Meteorological Day.

• Soumitra Chatterjee to get Dadasaheb Phalke award.

• Marriage law: Women may get right to marital property.

• March 24 - World TB Day.

• China 'warns' India, conducts 'live fire' exercise in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

• Cricket: Pakistan have won the Asia Cup after a gap of 12 years.

• Bhagat Singh (born on: 28 Sept 1907) was hanged on 23 March 1931 at 7:30 pm in Lahore jail with his fellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev.

• HighMAT: High-performance Media Access Technology

• Dheeran Chinnamalai (17 April 1756 to 31 July 1805). In July 2005, a commemorative postage stamp on him was issued. Birth: Melapalayam, Erode.

• On November 10, 1997, Apple introduced the Apple Online Store.

• On October 23, 2001, Apple introduced the iPod digital music player.

• Apple was established on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, to sell the Apple I personal computer kit.

• The Bombay Natural History Society was started in 1883.

• In 1952, Central Government of India Constituted the Indian Board for Wild Life.

• India (New Delhi) hosts 4th BRICS summit.

• BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

• Tech capital Bangalore costliest Indian city to live in: Survey.

• BRICS summit in Delhi focuses on new bank.

• U.S. hikes fee for H-1B visa.

• Project Elephant, a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched in February 1992.

• Project Tiger has been under implementation since 1973.

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General Knowledge and Current Affairs - 11

• C.D. Deshmukh was the first Indian Governor of RBI to have presented the Interim Budget for 1951-52.

• An Oscillograph is an instrument for measuring alternating or varying electric current in terms of current and voltage.

• A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC).

• Winds are caused by convection currents.

• Sound needs a medium for propagation. It cannot travel through vacuum.

• Vijay Bahuguna to be the new Uttarakhand CM.

• The Reliance CDMA Tab: India's first CDMA tablet.

• NuSTAR - Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array.

• Salim Ali - The eminent Ornithologist known as "the Birdman of India"

• 'Atithi Devo Bhavah' is a Social Awareness Campaign aimed at providing the inbound tourist a greater sense of being welcomed to the country.

• The branch of science that deals with the characteristic features of fruit is called Pomology.

• The colouring matter in turmeric is curcumin.

• Origami - art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD. Akira Yoshizawa (Japan), the father of modern origami techniques.

• March 15 - World Consumer Rights Day.

• Economic Survey: India 4th largest economy but has low per capita income.

• The per capita income of India stood at $1,527 in 2011.

• Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presents Union Budget 2012-13.

• India's GDP expected to grow at 7.6% next year.

• Sachin Tendulkar gets his 100th ton.

• Individual income tax exemption limit raised to Rs 2 lakh.

• Income from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh-10 per cent tax.

• 20 per cent tax between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.

• 30 per cent tax for above Rs 10 lakh.

• Habeas Corpus is a Latin term which literally means "you should have the body". Mandamus means 'we order'.

• GMT - Greenwich Mean Time.

• National Chemical Laboratory - Pune

• National Physical Laboratory - New Delhi.

• Central Food Technological Research Institute - Mysore.

• IVRS - Interactive Voice Response System.

• MICR - Magnetic Ink Character Recognition.

• CCTV - Closed Circuit Television.

• Psychology is the study of the mind, occurring partly via the study of behavior.

• Physiology is the science of the function of living systems.

• India's chase of 330 against Pakistan on Sunday (March 18, 2012) was their 13th successful chase of 300-plus in one-dayers. It was also the highest total they have chased in ODIs.

• Mukul Roy sworn in as Railways Minister.

• Sir John Shore: Non-intervention policy.

• Sir George Barlow: Mutiny in Vellore.

• Lord Auckland: Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Delhi.

• Dinesh Trivedi resigns as Railways Minister.

• Saina Nehwal wins Swiss Open title 2012. 

 

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