General Awareness PYQs

• What is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)?
• The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) was established by act of government, beginning operations as the country’s central bank, and financial regulatory authority, on 1 January 1971. Prior to its introduction, the monetary functions of Singapore’s central bank were performed by separate government departments. As the complexity of modern banking increased, however, and Singapore’s financial profile grew, the inefficiencies of co-ordinating between financial departments became evident – creating a need for coherence and uniformity which only a centralized administrative body could provide. Following the Monetary Authority of Singapore Bill (passed on 2 September 1970) MAS was brought into being.
• What does MAS do?
• MAS’ role on Singapore’s financial landscape is to not only regulate and supervise the financial sector but to promote and sustain economic growth. MAS is governed by a board of directors and chaired by Singapore’s Minister for Finance. As a government institution, MAS operates by a strict code of conduct and considers certain core values, including a commitment to professionalism, integrity, and fairness, of paramount importance.
• In its regulatory capacity, MAS oversees every aspect of monetary policy, banking and finance in Singapore, including matters relating to the insurance industry. According to its mandate, MAS’ role as central bank involves:
• Conducting monetary policy, including issuing currency and overseeing payment systems.
• Serving as a financial agent and banker to the government of Singapore by providing it with facilities in which to deposit money, and to transact with international financial institutions, such as the World Bank.
• Conducting supervision of Singapore’s financial services, and surveillance of the country’s financial stability.
• Managing Singapore’s foreign reserves and assets.
• Developing Singapore’s status as an international financial center.
• The role MAS plays in the economic and professional profile of Singapore is significant. The actions MAS takes to regulate and supervise the country’s financial landscape is a foundation of its reputation as an international business hub, and the esteem in which it is held by the international community.

• Incumbent President of Iceland, Gudni Th. Jóhannesson won his second four-year term in the presidential election.
• Jóhannesson was re-elected with 92% of the popular vote, the second-largest win in Icelandic presidential elections.
• The President is Iceland's head of state and largely hold a ceremonial role with limited powers.
• Presidents are elected through direct popular vote.
• Iceland:
• Capital - Reykjavík
• Currency - Icelandic króna

• BSNL in partnership with SBI has launched a UPI-based payment platform, Bharat InstaPay.
• The new payment facility developed by the company will enable its partners, especially prepaid sellers, to buy service immediately for sale.
• Bharat InstaPay will help its partners do digital transactions on a real-time basis.

The correct answer is Accredited Social Health Activist.

Key Points

• ASHA stands for Accredited Social Health Activist.
• ASHA is one of the key components of the National Rural Health Mission is to provide every village in the country with a trained female community health activist ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activist.
• Selected from the village itself and accountable to it, the ASHA will be trained to work as an interface between the community and the public health system.
• One of the key components of the National Rural Health Mission is to provide every village in the country with a trained female community health activist ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activist.
• Selected from the village itself and accountable to it, the ASHA will be trained to work as an interface between the community and the public health system.
• ASHA must primarily be a woman resident of the village married/ widowed/ divorced, preferably in the age group of 25 to 45 years.

The correct answer is Laser and Turbo.

Key Points

• The foundation of the Hinduja Group was laid by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja.
• The Group remained headquartered in Iran till 1979. It then moved to Europe.
• Hinduja Group then went on to strengthen its businesses with diversifications in the fields of Automotive, Information Technology, Media, Entertainment & Communications, Infrastructure Project, Development, Oil & Specialty Chemicals, Power, Real Estate and Healthcare, spanning across continents.
• These are some companies under Hinduja group Ashok Leyland Ltd, IndusInd Bank Ltd, Gulf Oil Corp. Ltd, Hinduja Foundries Ltd, Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd and Hinduja Ventures Ltd.

The correct answer is 2,00,000

A payment bank can accept only savings and current deposits of up to Rs 2 lakh per customer.

More About Payment Banks:

• Payment banks will undertake only limited banking functions which are allowed as per the Banking Regulation Act of 1949.
• Payments banks were introduced by the RBI to widen financial inclusion to small savings account holders, low-income households, unorganized sectors, migrant workers, and small businesses.
• The minimum capital requirement for the license of the payment bank is Rs 100 crore.
• Payment Banks can issue ATM/debit cards but not credit cards.
• A payment bank can distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products like mutual funds and insurance products. Banking Regulation Act of 1949- This act was enacted to safeguard the interest of the depositors and to control the abuse of powers by controlling the banks by any means necessary and to the interest of the Indian economy in general.

Foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) are a special category of bonds. FCCBs are issued in currencies different from the issuing company's domestic currency. Corporates issue FCCBs to raise money in foreign currencies. These bonds retain all features of a convertible bond, making them very attractive to both the investors and the issuers. These bonds assume great importance for multinational corporations and in the current business scenario of globalisation, where companies are constantly dealing in foreign currencies

The correct answer is Training.

Important Points

• For Self-Employment Ministry of Rural Development has adopted the concept of rural self-employment training institute (RSETIs).
• Rural youth belonging to poor families are identified and trained for self-employment.
• The trainees will be provided intensive short-term residential training programs free of cost, with food and Accommodation.
• To promote rural Entrepreneurship and
• Holding support for credit linkage with banks.

The correct answer is ICICI Bank.

Key Points

• ICICI Bank Financial Institution launched a special banking program for millennial customers called 'ICICI Bank MINE'.
• ICICI MINE is India's first comprehensive banking platform for customers from the age of 18 years to 35 years.
• The key offerings of ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ are-Instant savings account opening, New look iMobile, New credit card with curated features, Instant personal loan, overdraft facility and, different looking ICICI Bank branch with experiential engagement area.

Additional Information

About ICICI Bank-

• Headquarters -Mumbai.
• MD & CEO  - Sandeep Bakshi. (As of Dec-2020)

• A cheque is a negotiable instrument defined under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.  The different features of a crossed cheque are as following:

1. It has two parallel lines that are made on the top left of the cheque.
2. Amount mentioned on the cheque can only be transferred to the bank account of the payee.
3. There is no cash payment on this cheque.
4. The cheque is endorsable.

The correct answer is Mustard.

Important Points

• The agricultural crop year in India is from July to June.
• The Indian cropping season is classified into two main seasons-(i) Kharif and (ii) Rabi based on the monsoon.
• The kharif cropping season is from July – October during the south-west monsoon and the Rabi cropping season is from October-March (winter).
• The crops grown between March and June are summer crops.
• Pakistan and Bangladesh are two other countries that are using the term ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ to describe their cropping patterns.
• The terms ‘kharif’ and ‘rabi’ originate from the Arabic language where Kharif means autumn and Rabi means spring.

Key Points 

The correct answer is None of the above.

Important Points

• Seven sportspersons from the Indian sports fraternity have been awarded the prestigious Padma awards for the year 2021.

Key Points

• The list of awardees in the sports category:

1. P Anitha (basketball)
2. Mouma Das (table tennis)
3. Anshu Jamsenpa (mountaineering)
4. Sudha Singh (athletics)
5. Virender Singh (wrestling in deaf category)
6. KY Venkatesh (para-athlete), and
7. Madhavan Nambiar (athletics coach).

Additional Information

• Regarded as one of the highest civilian awards of the country, the prestigious Padma Awards are conferred in three categories - Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri.
• Every year, the award winners are announced on the eve of Republic Day (January 25).
• The Padma Awards are felicitated by the President of India in the month of April or March.
• President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the conferment of 119 Padma Awards.
• The Padma award list for the year 2021 comprises 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan, and 102 Padma Shri Awards.
• While 29 of the awardees are women, the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI, 16 Posthumous awardees, and 1 transgender awardee.

• Angkor Wat is a Buddhist temple complex located in northern Cambodia.
• It was originally built in the first half of the 12^th century as a Hindu temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.
• The Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world, Spread across more than 400 acres.
• The builder of Angkor Wat was a king named Suryavarman II.
• Cambodia is a Southeast Asian nation, the capital city is Phnom Penh.

DBS Bank

• Founded: 1968
• Headquarters: Singapore
• Chairman: Peter Seah Lim Huat
• CEO: Piyush Gupta

The correct answer is Rs 1.5 lakh.

Key Points

• Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank has launched an Overdraft (OD) facility for farmers.
• An overdraft facility is a financial facility or instrument that enables a customer to withdraw money from their bank account (savings or current), even if a customer does not have any account balance.
• Under this scheme, the farmers are provided with an OD facility based on the value of their land.
• The limit is fixed up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh per acre to irrigated lands and Rs 1 lakh per acre to dry land.

​

Additional Information

About Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank.

• Headquarters - Dharwad.
• Chairman - P Gopi Krishna
• It is an Indian Regional Rural Bank sponsored by Canara Bank.
• It was established on 12^th Sept 2005 by a Govt. of India

About RRB's-

• Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) operates at the regional level in the different states of India.
• These were established in 1975.
• The first Regional Bank that was established in India is “Prathama Grameen Bank”.
• These were set up on the recommendations of the Narsimham Working Group Committee(1975).

Oriental Bank of Commerce is an India-based bank established in Lahore (then the city of United India, and currently in Pakistan) on 19 February 1943, is one of the public sector banks in India. It was the first Public Sector Bank to issue capital to Public. It is headquartered at Gurgaon.

The correct answer is NABARD.

• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has announced a special refinance facility to support the government's Water, Sanitisation and Hygiene (WASH) programme.
• An amount of Rs 800 crore has been earmarked for this purpose for the financial year 2020-21.
• NABARD will provide concessional refinance to all eligible financial institutions with a repayment period of up to 36 months.

The correct answer is 6^th August.

Key Points

• Hiroshima Day( 6^th August):​
• The 6^th of August every year marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima during World War II.
• The horrific incident took place, which impacted many lives and property of the people of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
• The United States dropped an atomic bomb named “Little Boy”, on the Hiroshima town in Japan

The correct answer is BharatPe.

Key Points

• BharatPe, a leading merchant payment network, has announced the launch of digital gold on its platform.
• The launch of this new category of fintech product is in line with the company’s commitment to offering the entire gamut of financial products to Small and Medium Enterprises.
• Through this latest offering, BharatPe’s merchants will be able to buy and sell 99.5 percent pure24-carat gold.

Option 1 is correct, i.e. Manila.

• The headquarters of the Asian Development Bank situated in Manila.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966.
• .The company also maintains 31 field offices around the world to promote social and economic development in Asia.
• The bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries.
• The current president is Masatsugu Asakawa.
• Manila is the capital of the Philippines.