General Awareness PYQs

Alphabet Inc’s Google has hired a new public policy head in India, Archana Gulati, who previously worked at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal think-tank NITI Ayog.

Finance minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman launched the DESH Stack e portal (Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood). Through this portal, a digital ecosystem will be developed for skilling and livelihood.

The monthly collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has peaked to an all-time high of Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April 2022. The gross GST collection has crossed the Rs 1.5 lakh crore-mark for the first time in April 2022 and Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the tenth month in a row.

The recommendation of increasing public spending on Education to 6% of GDP was first made by the National Policy on Education 1968 and reiterated by the 1986 Policy. NEP 2020 reaffirms the recommendation of increasing public spending on education to 6% of GDP.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today has approved the continuation of lending under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) beyond March 2022 till December 2024.
The Scheme had envisaged to facilitate loans for an amount of Rs. 5,000 crore. This approval has increased the loan amount to Rs. 8,100 crore, thereby providing the Street vendors working capital to further expand their business and making them AtmaNirbhar.
Under PM SVANidhi, significant achievements have already been made. As on April 25, 2022, 31.9 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 29.6 lakh loans amounting to Rs. 2,931 crore have been disbursed.

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched ‘Aatamanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM)’ portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities. The Portal is expected to improve the information flow and bridge the demand-supply gap in the skilled workforce market.

Jharokha is a PAN India programme that will be held at 16 locations in 13 states and UTs, as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav .

The Sagarmala programme is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping to promote port-led development in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes. The main vision of the Sagarmala Programme is to reduce logistics cost for EXIM and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment.

The committee comprises six members - three officials of the Reserve Bank of India and three external members nominated by the Government of India.

The OECD’s 38 members are: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

As per the APY chart, an 18-year-old investor will have to contribute ₹210 per month, if he or she chooses ₹5000 monthly pension post-retirement.
APY subscriber is required to continue investing till he or she attains 60 years of age. After that they will get monthly amount as per the chose monthly pension.

My Country My Life is an autobiographical book by L. K. Advani, an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004, and was the Leader of the Opposition in the 15^th Lok Sabha. The book was released on 19 March 2008 by Abdul Kalam, the eleventh President of India.

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, the Rio Conference, and the Earth Summit, was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.

World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.

World Environment Day 2022 is hosted by Sweden. ―Only One Earth" is the campaign slogan, with the focus on ―Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature‖.

The 2022 edition of The State of the World‘s Forests explores the potential of three forest pathways for achieving green recovery and tackling environmental crises, including climate change and biodiversity loss against the backdrop of the Glasgow Leaders‘ Declaration on Forests and Land Use and the pledge of 140 countries to eliminate forest loss by 2030 and to support restoration and sustainable production and consumption. It is released by FAO.

The Reserve Bank announced a hike in cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points to 4.5 per cent, effective May 21, which will take out Rs 87,000 crore liquidity from the system.

T Raja Kumar, a Singaporean, has been named president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the world‘s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing agency. His appointment is for a set two-year term, which begins on July 1, 2022. During the FATF plenary, he was chosen to succeed Dr Marcus Pleyer of Germany.

Shukrayaan-I: ISRO planning mission to Venus, eyeing December 2024 launch window.

The National Council for Higher Education is mandated to regulate and guide the establishment and management of higher education institutions as well as regulating the quality of higher education, equating qualifications and advising the Government on higher education matters.