Banking Awareness PYQs

The correct answer is 94^th.

• Government questions methodology and data accuracy of Global Hunger Index:
• The government has questioned the methodology and data accuracy of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report, alleging that children considered healthy were also counted to determine the ranking.
• In the latest report, India was ranked below countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar when it was among the top 10 food-producing countries in the world.
• India was ranked at the 94^th position out of 107 countries that were studied.
• Global Hunger Index:
• The report is a peer-reviewed publication released annually by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.
• It tracks hunger at global, regional and national levels.

The correct answer is Export sector.

Key Points

• The Finance Minister- Nirmala Sitharaman, announced the NIRVIK scheme in the Union Budget 2020-21 in Parliament.
• NIRVIK-Niryat Rin Vikas Yojana.
• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry prepared the scheme.
• NIRVIK provides for high insurance cover, reduction in premium for small exporters and simplified procedures for a claim, settlement.
• Under the scheme, also called the Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS), up to 90 per cent of the principal and interest is covered.
• The Ministry also proposed to subsidise the premium under the scheme that has to be paid by exporters of certain key sectors.
• The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation currently provides credit guarantee of up to 60 per cent loss.
• The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) cover will also provide additional comfort to banks as the credit rating of the borrower is enhanced to AA rated account.
• The enhanced cover will ensure that Foreign and Rupee export credit interest rates will be below 4%and 8% respectively for exporters.
• During April-December 2019-20, exports slipped 1.96 per cent to USD 239.29 billion, imports declined 8.9 per cent to USD 357.39 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 118.10 billion.

The correct answer is 2014.

Key Points

• In 2014 year did Kailash Satyarthi win the Nobel Peace Prize. 
• In 2014, Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.
• At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive this prize.
• Children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “focusing attention on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain”.
• Another important reason was that he followed the non-violent tradition of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

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Additional Information

• Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for the right of every child to receive an education.
• She was born in the Swat Valley in Pakistan.
• When the Islamic Taliban movement took control of the valley in 2008, girls’ schools were burned down.
• Malala kept a diary of the events, which was published in 2009 by BBC Urdu.
• In her diary she spoke out against the Taliban’s terrorist regime. An American documentary film made Malala internationally famous.
• Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 was awarded to three astrophysicists 
• Roger Penrose from the UK, Reinhard Genzel from Germany, and Andrea Ghez
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 for developing CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, one of gene technology’s sharpest tools
• Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A Doudna.
• The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations (UN) agency, for its efforts to combat hunger, bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas, and preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.
• Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, 2020 for their work on commercial auctions
• American economists, Paul Milgrom, and Robert Wilson
• The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 has been awarded to
• Louise Glück "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal."

The correct answer is Target Olympic Podium Scheme.

• Five players have been included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme, TOPS.
• Tennis player Ankita Raina, Rowers Arjun Lal Jat, Arvind Singh, and wrestlers Seema Bisla and Sumit Malik have been included in the core group of TOPS.
• In order to improve India’s performance at the Olympics and Paralympics, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had started the Target Olympic Podium Scheme in 2014.

The correct answer is 8 May:

• World Red Cross Day is observed on 8^th May every year.
• The World Red Cross Day is celebrated to commemorate the principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
• The 2021 World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day theme is 'Unstoppable'.
• The first Red Cross Day was celebrated on May 8, 1948.
• The official title of the day changed over time, and became World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day in 1984.
• Red Cross Day is the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, the founder of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
• Henry Dunant was also the recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize.
• The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 in Paris in the aftermath of World War I.

There were five founding members - Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States.

The correct answer is Andhra Pradesh.

• Andhra Pradesh will be the first in the country to come up with the Gender Budget concept.
• Expenditure for women's welfare through various schemes would be listed out in this budget.
• CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated Women Help Desks in all the police stations across the state and launched the SWECHHA program to create awareness on menstrual hygiene, on 8 March 2021.
• Andhra Pradesh:
• Chief Minister - Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
• Governor - Biswabhusan Harichandan.
• Number of Districts - 13.
• Lok Sabha seats - 25.
• Rajya Sabha seats - 11.

• Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost.
• List of Top 10 FMCG Companies in India

1. Hindustan Unilever Ltd
2. ITC Ltd
3. Nestle India Ltd
4. Britannia Industries Ltd
5. Godrej Consumer Products Ltd
6. Patanjali Ayurved Limited
7. Dabur India Ltd
8. Marico Ltd
9. Varun Beverages Ltd
10. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd
11. Hatsun Agro Product Ltd

• The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has announced Harsh Vardhan Patodia, MD, Unimark Group, Kolkata, as its new national president for the term 2021-23.
• Mr. Patodia also announced that the CREDAI Start-up Angel Network and Incubation and Acceleration Centre will help and support tech start-ups in the real estate space by handholding them and providing them access to its members network for business development.

Additional Information

• The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) is the apex body of private Real Estate developers in India, established in 1999, with a vision of transforming the landscape of Indian Real Estate industry and a mandate to pursue the cause of Housing and Habitat.

The correct answer is VIPER​.

Key Points

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is sending its first mobile robot to the moon and is expected to launch it by late 2023.
• The robot named Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is part of the Artemis program.
• Data from VIPER would help the agency map resources at the lunar South Pole that could one day be harvested for long-term human exploration at the Moon.
• VIPER’s design calls for using the first headlights on a lunar rover to aid in exploring the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon.
• These areas haven’t seen sunlight in billions of years and are some of the coldest spots in the solar system.
• Running on solar power, VIPER will need to quickly manoeuvre around the extreme swings in light and dark at the lunar South Pole.
• NASA awarded a task order to Astrobotic for VIPER’s launch, transit and delivery to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
• VIPER will carry four instruments, including the Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrains (TRIDENT) hammer drill, the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) instrument, the Near-Infrared Volatiles Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) and the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS).

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Additional Information

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the USA which is responsible for the civilian space program, aeronautics, and aerospace research.
• It was established in 1958 with headquarters at Two Independence Square, Washington, D.C., United States.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower was its founder.
• James Frederick “Jim” Bridenstine is the present administrator of NASA.

The correct answer is HCL Technologies.

• HCL Technologies has approved the appointment of Shri Shiv Nadar as the 'Chairman Emeritus and Strategic Advisor to the Board' for a term of five years with effect from July 20, 2021.
• Shiv Nadar has tendered his resignation as the MD as well as the Director of HCL.
• The company has appointed C Vijayakumar - President and CEO of the company - as the Managing Director.​

The correct answer is 10,000.

Key Points

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana  (PMJDY) is a nationwide scheme.
• It was launched by the Government of India.
• It was established to ensure financial inclusion of every individual who does not have a bank account in India.
• The scheme was launched on August 28, 2014.
• The main slogan of this scheme was ‘Mera Khata – Bhagya Vidhata’ which implies " my bank account is my god."
• Any of the documents can be helpful in opening the account under this scheme-
• The passport
• The driving license
• The Permanent Account Number (PAN) Card
• The Voter’s ID issued by the Election Commission of India
• The Aadhar Card
• Under PMJDY-
• Accounts can be opened with Zero balance.
• The account holders under this scheme can avail of a RuPay debit card which can be used across all ATMs for cash withdrawal.
• A customer can open an account under this scheme with any bank branch or Business Correspondent (Bank Mitr) outlet.
• The account holders can avail of an overdraft facility up to Rs 10,000.

The correct answer is Umlingla Pass

• The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed the highest motorable road in the world at the height of 19,300 feet at Umlingla Pass in eastern Ladakh.
• It has constructed a 52-km long black-topped road through Umlingla Pass, bettering the previous record of a road in Bolivia connecting to its volcano Uturuncu.
• It now connects the important towns in the Chumar sector of Eastern Ladakh.

The correct answer is Odisha.

• Odisha would continue to sponsor the men’s and women’s national hockey teams for another 10 years after the current sponsorship ends in 2023.
• In 2018, Odisha had signed a ₹100 crore deal with Hockey India for sponsoring the men’s and women’s teams for 5 years.
• ₹10 lakh to each of the players and ₹5 lakh each to the support staff has been given by the CM Naveen Patnaik.
• Patnaik also gave away the ‘player with the maximum number of goals scored’ award to Harmanpreet Singh while PR Sreejesh won the award for the player with the maximum number of goals saved.
• In the women’s team, Gurjit Kaur and Vandana Katariya won the award for the maximum number of goals scored.
• Savita Punia won the award for the maximum number of goals saved.

The correct answer is ​Puri

Key Points

• Puri has become India’s 1^st City to provide 24*7 Drinking Tap Water through Sujal Project.
• Puri has also joined the international league of cities providing safe & pure water directly drinkable from taps.

Additional Information

• The State Government has planned to cover all urban areas of Odisha by March 2022, making it the state first to do so in India.
• Supplying drink-from-tap quality water to every home.
• It includes a 24/7 helpline centre with IVRS for grievance redressal.
• The inauguration of a mobile water testing laboratory and quick response team for rapid redressal of water supply complaints.
• Puri joins the international league of cities providing safe & pure water directly drinkable from taps.
• Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated the ‘Sujal-Drink From Tap Mission’ to the residents of Puri town to provide clean drinking water to the local residents.
• The ₹3.6 trillion JJM scheme aims to ensure assured tap water supply or ‘Har Ghar Jal’ to all rural households by 2024.
• This mission was launched by the hon’ble chief minister in October 2020 to provide drink-from-tap quality, 24x7 piped water supply to every household.

Important Points

 About Odisha:

• Governor: Ganeshi Lal
• Capital: Bhubaneswar
• Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik

The correct answer is Ladakh.

• ‘Hemis National Park’ is the largest National Park in India located in the Union territory of Ladakh.
• The Hemis National Park is known for the snow leopards where the highest density of them could be possible in a protected area in the world.

The Correct Answer is Byju's. 

Key Points

• Time Magazine's first-ever list of 100 most successful companies included two Indian companies: Reliance Industries' technology arm Jio Platforms and e-learning startup Byju's.
• Companies shaping the future are at the core of the first-ever TIME100 Most Influential Companies, according to Time's website.
• TIME gathered nominations from a variety of industries, including healthcare, entertainment, transportation, and technology, and assessed each one on key criteria such as importance, influence, creativity, leadership, ambition, and achievement.
• Jio Platforms was listed alongside Zoom, Adidas, TikTok, Ikea, Moderna, and Netflix in the Innovators category. Facebook, for example, is working on an e-commerce platform focused on WhatsApp, and Google is planning to release low-cost 5G smartphones.
• Jio raised more than USD 20 billion in the capital last year, demonstrating the importance and potential of its rapidly expanding user base.
• In the Disruptors group, Byju's was classified alongside Tesla, Huawei, Shopify, Airbnb, and DiDi Chuxing.

Important Points

• Byju's:
• Founded: 2011, Bengaluru
• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Founders: Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath

The correct answer is Assistance.

• The Supreme Court has unveiled its Artificial Intelligence (AI) portal SUPACE, designed to make research easier for judges, thereby easing their workload.
• It is a pet project of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde.
• The Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court’s Efficiency (SUPACE) is a tool that collects relevant facts and laws and makes them available to a judge.

The correct answer is 4%

• The interest subvention scheme for farmers aims at providing short term credit to farmers at subsidised rate.
• This scheme came into force with effect from Kharif 2006-07.
• This scheme is implemented by NABARD and RBI.
• The Central Government provides to all farmers for short term crop loan upto 1 year for loan upto Rs. 3 lakh borrowed by them.
• The farmers can avail concessional crop loans of upto Rs.3 lakh at 7% rate of interest.
• It also provides for an additional subvention of 3% for prompt repayment within a period of 1 year from the date of advance.
• The scheme will help farmers to avail short term crop loans up to Rs. 3 lakh payable within one year at only 4% per annum.
• In case farmers do not repay the short term crop loan in time they would be eligible for interest subvention of 2% as against 5% available above.

The correct answer is Rs. 10,000.

• The Reserve Bank of India has proposed penalties for banks and White Label ATM operators if their ATMs are found to be lying without replenishment for more than ten hours to ensure customers and not inconvenienced.
• The regulator also directed banks and White Label ATM Operators to ensure a minimum duration of cashouts in ATMs.
• Cash-out will attract a flat penalty of Rs. 10,000 per ATM.
• RBI:
• Governor - Shaktikanta Das.
• Headquarters - Mumbai.
• Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

GER stands for Gross Enrolment Ratio is used in the education sector. It is expressed as the number of students enrolled at various grade levels and the actual population of children of that age.

• Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) or Gross Enrolment Index (GEI) is a statistical measure used in the education sector, and formerly by the UN in its Education Index, to determine the number of students enrolled in school at several different grade levels (like elementary, middle school and high school), and use it to show the ratio of the number of students who live in that country to those who qualify for the particular grade level.

• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), describes "Gross Enrolment Ratio" as the total enrolment within a country "in a specific level of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population in the official age group corresponding to this level of education".

• The Higher Education GER (18-23 age group) in India for the year 2018-19 is 26.3.

• While higher education GER in India is on an increasing trend, it stills lags when compared with other countries.

• The age group for higher (tertiary) education is 18-22 years internationally.

• On September 19, 2020, President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the Visitor's Conference on 'Implementation of National Education Policy 2020' said: 

• Effective implementation of National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP) is likely to restore India’s glory as a great centre of learning.

• One of the targets of NEP 2020 is to increase Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education to 50% by 2035.

• Technology can help in achieving this target.

Thus, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in institutions of higher education in India is planned to increase by  50% in 2035.