1. Who is the Chairperson of the 15th Finance Commission?
[A] A K Sikri
[B] N K Singh
[C] Rajiv Kumar
[D] Ranjan Gogoi
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [N K Singh]
Notes:
Economist and former Indian Administrative Service officer N K Singh is the Chairperson of the 15th Finance Commission.
Recently, the Finance Commission has decided to form a group to develop a mechanism to incentivise states for carrying out the agricultural reforms, that were announced as part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package. The group consists of Finance Commission member Ramesh Chand, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal and Agriculture, Research and Education Secretary T Mahapatra.
2. Who has been conferred with the lifetime achievement award for his contribution to statistics?
[A] D Subba Rao
[B] C Rangarajan
[C] Bimal Jalan
[D] Y V Reddy
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [C Rangarajan]
Notes:
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor C Rangarajan has been conferred with the lifetime achievement award for his contribution to statistics.
The award has been given to him on the occasion of Statistics Day, which is celebrated on June 29 every year, to commemorate the birth anniversary of PC Mahalanobis, the ‘father of Indian statistics’. C Rangarajan had served as the Chairman of the National Statistical Commission.
3. Who is the head of the national level committee set up by the Home Ministry, for reform in criminal law?
[A] Ranbir Singh
[B] A K Sikri
[C] C Rangarajan
[D] Thaawar Chand Gehlot
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Correct Answer: A [Ranbir Singh]
Notes:
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has constituted a national level committee for reform in criminal law.
The committee is to be headed by Ranbir Singh, who is the Vice-Chancellor, National Law University-Delhi. The committee has many veteran legal academicians and it has invited opinions online on the possible reforms in the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Indian Evidence Act.
4. The United States has eliminated the special status and halted Defence Exports to which country?
[A] China
[B] Hong Kong
[C] India
[D] Vietnam
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Correct Answer: B [Hong Kong]
Notes:
The United States has recently eliminated the special status under U.S. law and halted Defence Exports to Hong Kong.
U.S has also restricted the access of the country to high technology products. This decision has been taken while China is preparing new Hong Kong security legislation. U.S also proposed to end the export of dual-use technologies to the territory, which have both commercial and military uses.
5. Beximco LPG, with which Indian Oil has signed an agreement to form a Joint Venture LPG company, is located in which country?
[A] Malaysia
[B] Russia
[C] Bangladesh
[D] Thailand
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Correct Answer: C [Bangladesh]
Notes:
Indian Oil Corporation and Beximco LPG have signed an agreement to form a Joint venture company for LPG business in Bangladesh.
The Joint venture company (JVC) aims to set up a large LPG terminal at a deep-water port in Bangladesh, to receive LPG and reduce import. It will begin functioning by acquiring existing LPG assets of Beximco.
6. The United Nations has raised USD 7.7 billion in humanitarian aid for the people affected by war in which country?
[A] Iran
[B] Afghanistan
[C] Syria
[D] Iraq
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [Syria]
Notes:
The United Nations has raised USD 7.7 billion in humanitarian aid for the people affected by war in Syria.
The UN had organised a virtual donor conference with governments and non-official agencies. Among many countries that donated, Germany provided the single biggest country donation of 1.58 billion euros (USD 1.78 billion).
7. What is the name of the National-award winning Bollywood choreographer, who recently passed away?
[A] Saroj Khan
[B] Protik Prakash
[C] Tridib Ghosh
[D] Geetha Nagabhushan
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [Saroj Khan]
Notes:
Veteran Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan recently passed away at the age of 72. She was fondly called as ‘Masterji’ in Bollywood.
During her long career spanning over forty years, she had choreographed more than 2000 songs in many languages. She had also won three National Awards for Best Choreography for Devdas, Jab We Met and the Tamil film Shringaram.
8. Which Union Ministry along with Atal Innovation Mission has launched “Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge”?
[A] Ministry of Human Resources and Development
[B] Ministry of Electronics and IT
[C] Ministry of MSME
[D] Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Ministry of Electronics and IT]
Notes:
Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission, Niti Aayog has launched Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge.
The challenge seeks to support and build a strong ecosystem for Indian applications. In its first phase, the challenge will identify the potential Indian Apps that are being used, that are capable of becoming world class apps. The second phase will focus on developing new applications.
9. Who is the author of the book titled ‘Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver’?
[A] Amartya Sen
[B] Raghuram Rajan
[C] Urjit Patel
[D] ShaktiKanta Das
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [Urjit Patel]
Notes:
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has authored a book titled ‘Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver’.
The book is set to be released by the end of July 2020. The book focusses on the non-performing assets (NPAs) issue that has caused huge distress to the country’s banking sector. It also highlights the causes of NPAs and the efforts of Urjit Patel to deal with the issue as the Governor of RBI.
10. What is the rank of India in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index?
[A] 77
[B] 97
[C] 117
[D] 137
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [117]
Notes:
The Sustainable Development Report 2020 has been released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
In this year’s edition of the report, Sweden has topped the SDG rankings with a score of 84.7. It is followed by Denmark and Finland. India is placed at 117th rank with a score of 61.9. The countries are ranked based on their implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in terms of six broad transformations.