1) What is the name of Additional Solicitor-General, who resigned from his post on 30 April 2013? – Harin P Raval (He submitted his resignation to the Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar a day after he wrote to the Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati that he had been made a scapegoat in the ‘coalgate controversy. In the CBI status report filed in the Supreme Court in March, he submitted that the draft status report was not shared with the government. But later, the CBI Director filed an affidavit stating that the report was shared with the Law Minister, a Joint Secretary in the Coal Ministry and an official in the Prime Minister’s Office and this sparked a furore) 2) Price of petrol was reduced by Rs. 3 per liter by state-owned petroleum companies on 30 April 2013 as result of decline in international price of crude oil and improvement in Rupee-US dollar exchange rate. This is the steepest reduction in rates in over five years. When the last “big” reduction in petrol prices was done? – In December 2008, when rates were slashed by Rs. 5 3) Consumer goods giant Unilever Plc. is to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever to 75% by spending US$ 5.4 billion. What is the present holding of Unilever Plc. in Hindustan Unilever? – 52.48% (Unilever Plc. is an Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, which is world’s second largest consumer goods company. Indian law requires a minimum public shareholding of 25% for a publicly listed company) 4) A six-member inter-ministerial committee was constituted by the Union Govt. recently to suggest measures for enhancing exports from country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). Who is the head of this committee? – R S Gujral, Finance Secretary (MSME contributed about 8% in country’s GDP and 40% in country’s total exports. However, of-late this sector’s contribution has been decreasing and new reports suggest that MSME’s contribution in exports have dwindled to around 36%. India’s total exports are also experiencing continuous decline) 5) The Netherlands got its first King in over 120 years as the Dutch Queen Beatrix on 30 April 2013 signed the Act of Abdication in favour of his son, who therefore became new King of the Netherlands. What is the name of new Dutch King? – King Willem-Alexander (Queen Beatrix abdicated her 33 year old rein by signing abdication document at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. Willem III, who died in 1890, was the last King of the Netherlands) 6) Who was elected as the new Speaker of Bangladesh’s Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) on 30 April 2013, thereby becoming the first woman Speaker of Bangladesh? – Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury (She was the lone candidate for the post and was nominated by the ruling Awami League’s parliamentary party. Chaudhury also became the youngest Speaker and she replaces Abdul Hamid, who assumed presidency recently) 7) What was India’s rank in the recently released Economist magazine’s Index of Democracy 2012? – 38, out of a total of 165 countries (India’s overall score was 7.52. The top three positions go to Norway (9.9 3) Sweden (9.7 3) and Iceland 9.65, while the United States is ranked 21st with an overall score of 8.11 8) Astronomers of NASA discovered two new exoplanets recently with the help of Kepler space telescope. What are the names given to these newly discovered exopanets? – KOI-200b and KOI-889b (Exoplanets are planets outside our solar system. More than 850 exoplanets have been discovered till now. These two newly discovered exoplanets have about the size of Jupiter but eccentric orbits with periods of less than 10 days)
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 22:29:19 +0000
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