1 GENERAL AWARNESS - HOT TIPS 1 Sam Pitroda heads the National Innovation Council, to give shape to the Indian government’s decision to observe the current decade (2010-2020) as the Decade of Innovation. • Sam Pitroda is the Chairman of National Knowledge Commission (NKC). 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity by UNO 2011 is the International Year of Chemistry. K.N.Raj (died) is a famous economist. Justice S.H. Kapadia has been appointed 38th Chief Justice of India. • At present Supreme Court has 31 judges including the Chief Justice. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 2 Liberhan Commission Report relates to demolition of Babri Mosque. Keeping the Faith: Memories of a Parliamentarian is a book written by Somnath Chatterjee. Before Memory Fades is an autobiography by Fali. S. Nariman. Indian’s first open jail for women was inaugurated at the Yerwada Central Jail, Pune. Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra was appointed as UNICEF National Ambassador for promoting Child rights and adolescence. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 3 Economic Tips As on Nov 9, 2010) : • Bank Rate: 6.00% • Repo Rate: 6.25% • Reverse Repo Rate: 5.25% • Cash Reserve Ratio: 6.0% • Statutory Liquidity Ratio: 25% • Saving Bank Rate: 3.5 % Prof. Madhava Menon headed the committee set up by central govt. to evolve a comprehensive policy on autonomy for Central Universities, IITs and IIMs. As per Asian Development Bank statement, the population in the NCR (National Capital Region), incorporating Delhi and sub-regions of three states is expected to almost 64million by 2021 from 37million now. • ADB (Asian Development Bank) approved a $150 million financial facility to India to develop urban infrastructure in the National Capital Region (NCR). The total grain stocks with the govt. on July 2010 were 57.8 million tonnes; of which 31.9 million tonnes is the buffer requirement. World Expo 2010 was held in Shanghai, China from May1, 2010 to October 31, 2010. It is the most expensive expo held in the history with over 73 million visitors. It broke the record of 64 million visitors in 1970 Osaka World Expo. Antyodaya Anna Yojana beneficiaries get wheat at Rs 2/kg and rice at Rs.3/kg. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 4 The Central Govt. plans to expand the coverage of Below Poverty Line (BPL) population under the Public Distribution system (PDS) from the current 6.52 crore to 8.07crore. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) with base year 2004-05. The Central Government released the revised series of Whole Price Index (WPI) with base year 2004-05 replacing the current WPI with 1993-94 as base year. The revised WPI serious has a representative commodity basket of 676 items and use a new weighing diagram reflecting the current structure of the economy. The data will be based on 5482 price quotations selected from across the country. The Masque of Africa is written by V.S Naipaul. Miss Mexico Jimena Navarrete was crowned Miss Universe 2010. The Union Cabinet has cleared the Nalanda University Bill, 2010 paving the way for the establishment of Nalanda University in Bihar at an estimated cost of Rs.1005 crores. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 5 A Journey is the autobiography of Tony Blair, British Prime Minister. The Museum of Innocence is written by Orhan Pamuk Y.H.Malegam heads RBI subcommittee to study issues regarding micro finance sectors in India. The first world Classical Tamil Conference was held at Coimbatore. • Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada are the 4 classical languages in India. State Bank of India Chairman O.P Bhatt has been elected the new chairman of the Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) for 2010-11. India’s largest car exporter now is Hyundai. Ravindra Kelekar, the Konkani Literateur and Jnanpith award winner died recently. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 6 The 2010 Women’s Hockey World Cup was held in Rosario, Argentina. The Central Government on September 23, 2010 reduced its borrowing target for the second half of 2010-11 fiscal by Rs 10000 crore to Rs 1.63 lakh crore. The move was facilititated by robust tax collection so far in the fiscal and more than expected realization from telecom spectrum auction. The government earlier estimated that it would require raising Rs.1.73 lakh crore in the second half of the financial year. The government budgeted to borrow Rs.4.57 lakh crore for the whole 2010-11, with Rs.2.87 lakh crore to be borrowed in the first half. In the first half, however, the borrowing stood at 2.73 lakh crore. The Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani elected to the foundation board of World Economic Forum (WEF). The world’s largest producer of hydro electric power is China. The upgraded version of short range surface-to- surface missile which has been successfully test fired by Iran recently is Fateh-110. Indian Ambassador to USA: Meera Shankar. India’s no: 1 social networking site is Facebook. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 7 Simply Fly: book written by Captain Gopinath. Brahmos is Likely to be inducted into Air Force by 2013. The Youth Olympic Games 2010 was held in Singapore. • China is at the top of the medal tally in Youth Olympic Games 2010. World Chess champion Viswanathan Anand has refused to accept the honorary doctorate which was to have been conferred on him by University of Hyderabad. ‘Daily Telegraph’ is a leading British Newspaper. Saina Nehwal (Badminton) got Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2010. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 8 The following persons got Dronacharya Award in 2010. • A.K.Kutty-Lifetime; Athletics • Subhash Aggarwal - Billiards and Snooker • L. Ibomcha Singh - Boxing • Ajay Kumar Bansal - Hockey • Capt. Chandrup - Lifetime; Wrestling. Anita Chanu a weightlifter got Dhyan Chand award in 2010. 2010 Men’s Hockey World Cup was held in Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi. Australia won the Cup beating Germany. Jammu and Kashmir enjoys special status under Article 370. Three Indian cities, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Chennai have been made it to the US magazine, Forbes’s list of world’s fastest growing cities of the next decade. The Union Cabinet on August 20, 2010 approved a 300 percent salary hike from Rs.16, 000 to Rs.50, 000 for Members of Parliament. • After salary hike, besides salary, an MP gets an allowance of Rs.2000 for each day the Parliament is in session or for taking part in House committee meeting. Formerly it was Rs.1000. India has taken part in 42 United Nations peace keeping missions so far (till 2010). Reliance Industries has raised $1.5 billion (Rs.6600 crore) from sales of dollar bonds. Its arm Reliance Holding USA sold $ 1 billion of 10 year bonds and $ 500 million of 30 year bonds. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 9 Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan agreed to set up joint fight against terrorism and narcotics at the Quadripartite Summit on August 18, 2010. Australia on Aug 8, 2010 defeated England to clinch the Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament in Moenchengladbach, Germany. The country which recently adopted a new constitution is – Kenya. Winner of Santhosh Trophy, 2010 football is Bengal. The first Indian women Shooter to be crowned World Champion is Tejaswini Sawant. The first Indian to win PGA tour title of Golf is Arjun Atwal. The venue of 2012 Olympic Games is at London. ‘Karrar’, the Iran’s first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft calling it an ‘ambassador of death’ to Iran’s enemy. The Fateh110 (conqueror) a surface-to-surface missile is test fired in Aug 2010 is built by Iran. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 10 Badminton player Saina Nehwal has been named the brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh. Naina Lal Kidwai is associated with banking field who heads HSBC’s operations in India. Shram Ratna is the country’s highest award given by the Ministry of Labour and Employment for outstanding workers in PSUs. During the April-August 2010 period (5 months), direct tax collection of central government rose by 14% to Rs 1.01 lakh crore and indirect tax collection increased by 45% to Rs.1.24 lakh crore. Eminent Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has been bestowed with the 18th Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award in New Delhi in August 2010. NELP IX is New Exploration Licensing policy IX. Government launched NELP IX offering 34 blocks for bidding. Form NELP IX onwards, energy explorers will get an incentive based on this investment replacing the existing regime of seven year holiday on profit. International Congress of Mathematics was held in Hyderabad on August 19, 2010. General Awareness Hot Tips 1 Brilliance College 11 To boost efforts towards environmental conservation and increasing green cover, India will have a dedicated forest satellite in 2013 that will monitor India’s forest cover on a daily basis. Jarawas are an endangered tribal group found in Andaman Nicobar Islands. India’s Green Cover is expanding and in the last 10 years we have added 3 million hectares of forest cover. UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon has set up a high level panel on global sustainability headed by the Presidents of South Africa and Finland. October 5 is celebrated as the World Teacher’s Day September 5 is National Teacher’s Day Government of India earned over one lakh crore from the sales of 3G telecom and broadband licences in 2010, against the 35000 crore it had estimated to raise through the same. World Food Day is celebrated on October 16. United against hunger is the theme of 2010 World Food Day.