APPSC GROUP-1 EXAM (05-09-2010) CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS ANALYSIS

Q. Recently the manuscripts of which one of the following has been included in the UNESCO’s Memory of world Register?

1) Mahabharata
2) Ramayana
3) Rigveda
4) Abhidhamma Pitaka

Answer: (3)
Analysis:

Memory of the World:
Documentary heritage reflects the diversity of languages, peoples and cultures. It is the mirror of the world and its memory. But this memory is fragile. Every day, irreplaceable parts of this memory disappear for ever.
UNESCO has launched the Memory of the World Programme to guard against collective amnesia calling upon the preservation of the valuable archive holdings and library collections all over the world ensuring their wide dissemination.

Archives of the Dutch East India Company:
Documentary heritage submitted by Netherlands and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2003.
Year of submission: 2003
Year of inscription: 2003

Country: Netherlands India Indonesia South Africa Sri Lanka
The Dutch East India Company (VOC, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie), founded in 1602 and liquidated in 1795, was the largest and most impressive of the early modern European trading companies operating in Asia. About twenty-five million pages of VOC records have survived in repositories in Jakarta, Colombo, Chennai, Cape Town, and The Hague. The VOC archives make up the most complete and extensive source on early modern world history anywhere with data relevant to the history of hundreds of Asia’s and Africa’s former local political and trade regions.

Rigveda:Documentary heritage submitted by India and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2007.Year of submission: 2007
Year of inscription: 2007
Country: India
The Vedas are generally known as the scriptures of the Hindu community. However, being among the first literary documents in the history of humankind, they transcend far beyond their identity as scriptures. The Rigveda, the oldest among the four Vedas, is the fountain source of the so-called Aryan culture in all its manifestations that spread beyond the Indian subcontinent to large parts of South and South East Asia, as well as parts of Central Asia. This valuable treasure of the ancient world has been preserved in the form of manuscripts in India, and handed down over centuries from generation to generation.

Saiva Manuscript in Pondicherry:
Documentary heritage submitted by India and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2005.
Year of submission: 2005
Year of inscription: 2005
Country: India
Within a collection of 11 000 manuscripts that concern mainly the religion and worship of the Hindu God Siva, is included the largest collection in the world of manuscripts of texts of the S'aiva Siddha-nta. In the 10th century CE, this religious tradition, a major current of Hinduism, was spread right across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, as far as Cambodia in the East. It long represented the mainstream of Tantric doctrine and worship and appears to have influenced every Indian theistic tradition. Its surviving texts, the majority of them unpublished, range from the 6th century CE to the colonial period. This unique collection thus furnishes much of the dwindling evidence remaining today for scholars to reconstruct a chapter in the religious annals of humanity. The collection is presently housed in the French institutions of research in Pondicherry. We have now framed a collaborative Indo-French project with the Indian government’s National Mission for Manuscripts. Our ultimate objective: to put the whole S'aiva collection online and so make it available to scholars throughout the world.

The I.A.S. Tamil Medical Manuscript Collection:
Documentary heritage submitted by India and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 1997.
Year of submission: 1997
Year of inscription: 1997
Country: IndiaMostly Tamil Medical Manuscripts preserved at the Institute of Asian Studies reflect the ancient system of medicine, practised by yogis. This system explains the methods of obtaining medicines from herbs, herbal roots, leaves, flowers, barks, fruits etc. The proportions of the ingredients as well as the specific processes are explained in detail.

Q. Global Campaign ‘350’ was observed as an International Day for Climate Action on:
1) 25th October, 2009
2) 30th October, 2009
3) 14th October, 2009
4) 24th October, 2009

Answer: (4)
Analysis:

350.org is an international environmental organization, headed by author Bill McKibben, with the goal of building a global grassroots movement to raise awareness of man-made climate change, to confront climate change denial, and to cut emissions of one of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, in order to slow the rate of global warming, the cause of current climate change. 350.org takes its name from the research of NASA scientist James E. Hansen, who posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point. The current record level is 392.04 ppm of CO2, an almost 40-percent increase from the pre-industrial revolution level of 278 ppm. In 1988 the Earth's atmosphere surpassed the 350 ppm mark, while global CO2 emissions per capita rose. The group reports that they organised the world's "most widespread day of political action" on Saturday October 24, 2009, reporting 5,245 actions in 181 countries.

Q. The Indian girl, who got a rare honour to address world leaders at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change was:
1) Anjana Sharma
2) Yugratna Srivastava
3) Soumya Bhattacharjee
4) Pratiksha Chakravarthy
Answer: (2)

Analysis:

Yugratna Srivastav, a 13-year-old girl from Lucknow has addressed the United Nations Climate Change Summit in New York. Yugratna's speech was cheered on by world leaders including UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon. Yugratna became sensitised to environmental protection in Grade 6 in St. Francis School in Shamli, India. It was there that she joined "Tarumitra" (Friends of Trees).

The non-governmental organization works hard to stop the felling of trees and forests, builds roadside gardens and cleans up garbage dumps, among other activities. In 2008 Yugratna participated in the Tunza youth conference in Norway organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and became a member of the Junior Board. Tunza is the UNEP magazine for youth.
She is the first Indian child to ever get elected to the Junior Board and was invited again to participate in this year's Tunza conference in Seoul. When she is not in school, she is talking about climate change and environmental protection around India and abroad.

"For my generation in India, climate change means global warming, scarcity of food and drinking water and an outbreak of accentuated epidemics," she added. Her increasing environmental activism has brought her to the attention of UNEP and now to the world leading to her addressing the UN Summit in New York.


Q. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India is:
1) S.H. Kapadia
2) A.R. Dave
3) D.S.R. Varma
4) K.G. Balakrishnan
Answer: (1)

Analysis:

Hon'ble Mr. Justice S.H. Kapadia Born on 29th September 1947 . Enrolled as an Advocate on 10th September 1974 . Practiced in the Bombay High Court, both on the Original Side and Appellate Side in Suits, Letters Patent Appeals, Writs, matters under Negotiable Instruments Act, Detention Matters, matters under Bombay Rent Act, matters under Bombay Municipal Corporation Act including trials concerning fixation of rate able value, matters under Maharashtra Land Revenue Code including trials concerning valuation of properties for the purposes of fixation of NA assessments, challenge to the validity of notifications fixing Standard Rent, appeared in AOs, First Appeals under the BMC Act, Second Appeals as also in Land Acquisition References under the Land Acquisition Act as also in matters under Bombay Land Requisition and Acquisition Act. This is apart from the practice in Industrial Law and Services Matters. Appeared as a counsel for the Department in Income-Tax matters. Appeared as a counsel for BMC in matters concerning rate able value and Octroi. Appeared as a counsel for Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation in High Court and Supreme Court in connection with service matters including disputes concerning framing of Pension Rules. Also appeared for the Management and Unions in matters under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and ULP Act, 1972.
Appointed as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court on 8th October 1991 . Appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Bombay High Court on 23rd March 1993 . Appointed as a Judge of the Special Court (Trial of Offences Relating to Transaction in Securities) Act, 1992 on 15th October 1999 . During the above period, decided important matters under PIL pertaining to CRZ, financial matters under RBI and Banking Regulation Act; matters concerning the Constitutional validity of the 74th Amendment Act of 1992 dealing with Municipalities; matters under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976; matters concerning Mergers and Acquisitions; matters under Payment of Bonus Act; matters under Industrial Disputes Act. In addition to the above, dealt with matters under the Income Tax Act concerning Valuation of closing stocks, Accounting treatment to be given to Modvat Credit Convergence of Tax Accounting with Commercial Accounting, etc.
As a Judge presiding over the Special Court has dealt with Civil and Criminal matters including matters concerning corroborative value to be given to the Report submitted by RBI and JPC vis-à-vis Evidence Act. As a Judge of the Special Court , has also dealt with Accounts and Finances of Banks and Financial Institutions as also accounts of the Share and Stock Brokers as also matters under Contempt o Courts Act where the Notified Parties had diverted their assets. As a Judge of the Special Court has framed Investment Schemes, Schemes dealing with Valuation and Disposal of Shares of Notified Parties as also Distributions of asset of the Notified Parties under the Act and declaring dividends to the Creditors of the Notified Parties.
Appointed as Chief Justice of the Uttaranchal High Court on 5.8.2003.
Elevated to the Bench of the Supreme Court of India on 18.12.2003.
Has keen interest in Economics, Public Finance, Theoretical Physics and Hindu and Buddhist Philosophies.
Appointed as the Chief Justice of India in the forenoon of 12.05.2010.
Due to retire on 29.09.2012 (F.N.)

Q. India launched the Census, 2011 on:
1) 1st January, 2010
2) 1st February, 2010
3) 1st March, 2010
4) 1st April, 2010

Answer: (4)

Analysis:

India on 01 April 2010 launched “Census 2011,'' the biggest-ever census attempted in the history of mankind enumerating the country's 1.2 billion population and classifying usual residents according to their gender, religion, occupation and education.

The massive exercise, to be spread over next 11 months, will mark a milestone as the first-ever National Population Register (NPR) will also be prepared in which all persons aged over 15 years will be photographed and fingerprinted to create a biometric national database. With this India will probably become the first democratic nation in the world which would have got its population fingerprinted in a year from now.

As the first citizen of the country, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil was the first person to be listed in the decennial exercise. She appealed to her compatriots to follow her example “for the good of the nation.''

“My appeal to all brothers and sisters of the country is to wholeheartedly take part in the gigantic national tasks of Census and preparation of the first ever National Population Register. It is important for the nation as well as you,'' she said after a delegation of the Census officials visited Rashtrapati Bhavan and took down her information.

The delegation included Registrar General and Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli and Deputy Director General, National Population Register, S.K. Chakraborty. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who was also present, said: “An exercise of this kind has not been attempted anywhere else in the world. This exercise must succeed and will succeed. We will leave no stone unturned to visit every village, every habitation in the country.''

The 15th National Census exercise, since 1872, will see over 25 lakh officials capturing the socio-economic-cultural profile of its citizens. It will cost around Rs. 2,209 crore while the expenditure on NPR will be Rs. 3,539.24 crore. The exercise will also consume more than 11 million tonnes of paper. The Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari was the next one to be listed by the Census officials. Mr. Ansari said the decennial census operation was a remarkable exercise and the first ever NPR was a “unique initiative.'' During the massive exercise, the enumerators for the first time will collect information like ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet, having treated or untreated drinking water facility and usage of banking services. They will also seek additional information for the creation of NPR. The government has already said that no information will be collected on castes as no caste-based census has ever been conducted in independent India.
Mr. Chandramouli said the first phase, called the House listing and Housing Census, will be conducted between this April and July.

The second phase, called the Population Enumeration phase, will be conducted simultaneously all over the country from February 9 to 28, 2011, and the entire exercise would be completed by March 5, 2011. All 640 districts, 5,767 tehsils, 7,742 towns and more than six lakh villages will be covered.


Q. The General Elections in Great Britain were held on:
1) 5th May, 2010
2) 6th May, 2010
3) 7th May, 2010
4) 8th May, 2010

Answer: (2)

Analysis:


The United Kingdom general election of 2010 was held on Thursday 6 May 2010 to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies[note 1] across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. None of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, won the largest number of votes and seats but still fell twenty seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election. However unlike in 1974, this time a hung parliament had been widely expected and therefore the country was better prepared for the constitutional process that would follow such a result.[2] The coalition government that was subsequently formed was the first coalition in UK history to eventuate directly from an election outcome.

Coalition talks began immediately between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and lasted for five days. There was an aborted attempt to put together a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition (although other smaller parties would have been required to make up the ten seats they lacked for a majority). To facilitate this Gordon Brown announced on the evening of Monday 10 May that he would resign as Labour Party leader. On Tuesday 11 May, Brown announced his resignation[3] as Prime Minister, marking the end of 13 years of Labour government.[3] This was accepted by Queen Elizabeth II, who then invited David Cameron to form a government and become Prime Minister. Just after midnight on 12 May, the Liberal Democrats emerged from a meeting of their Parliamentary party and Federal Executive to announce that the coalition deal had been "approved overwhelmingly", sealing a stable coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

None of the three main party leaders had previously led a general election campaign, a situation which had not occurred since the 1979 election. During the campaign, the three main party leaders engaged in a series of televised debates, the first such debates in a British general election campaign. The Liberal Democrats achieved a breakthrough in opinion polls after the first debate in which their leader Nick Clegg was widely seen as the strongest performer. However, on polling day their share of the vote increased by only 1% over the previous general election, and they suffered a net loss of five seats. Still, this was the Liberal Democrats' largest popular vote since the party's creation, and they found themselves in a pivotal role in the formation of the new government.

The share of votes for parties other than Labour or the Conservatives was 35% and was the largest since the 1918 general election. In terms of votes it was the most "three-cornered" election since 1923, and in terms of seats since 1929. The Green Party of England and Wales won its first ever seat in the Commons, and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland gained its first representation since 1974.


Q. Millennium’s longest Annular Solar eclipse occured on:
1) 15th January, 2010
2) 16th January, 2010
3) 17th January, 2010
4) 18th January, 2010

Answer: (1)

Analysis:

January 15, 2010 an annular solar eclipse occurred when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun's light.

This is the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium, and the longest until December 23, 2043, with a maximum length of 11 mins and 7.8 seconds. (The solar eclipse of January 4, 1992 was longer, at 11 minutes, 41 seconds, occurring in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.)

It was visible as a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It was seen as annular within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala (India), South Tamil Nadu (India), North Sri Lanka, parts of Burma and parts of China.


Q. Agni-I ballistic missile which was test fired in March, 2010 has a range of:
1) 300 Km
2) 500 Km
3) 700 Km
4) 900 Km

Answer: (3)

Analysis:

India 2010 March 28th successfully test-fired its indigenously developed, nuclear-capable, short range ballistic missile (SRBM) Agni-1 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island, about 100 km from here off the Orissa coast. Blasted off from a rail mobile launcher, the surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, roared into the sky trailing behind a column of orange and white thick smoke.

User of the missile, the strategic force command of the Indian Army, executed the entire launch operation with the necessary logistic support being provided by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) at the integrated test range (ITR).Weighing 12 tonnes, the 15 metre tall Agni-1, which can carry payloads weighing up to one tonne, has already been inducted into the Indian Army.
The Agni-1 has a range of upto 700 kms."The command chain has been validated. This is a major step in the preparedness of the Army in using this weapon system.


Q. The winner of the Gold Medal at the Second World Sand Sculpture Championship is : 1) Sudarshan Pattnail
2) Someswar Pathak
3) Goutham Prasad
4) Harishchandra Mukharjee

Answer: (1)

Analysis:

Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik won Gold medal at 2nd Moscow World Sand Sculpture championship 2010. Internationally acclaimed Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik from Orissa won Gold medal for People's Choice prize at 2nd Moscow World sand sculpture championship 2010, Russia. The artists from Island won the 'Jury Choice', and 'Sculptor Choice' prize in this championship.

Pattnaik created a sand sculpture of Raj Kapoor the legend actor of Indian cinema. The name of the sculpture is “RAJ KAPOOR, THE ICON OF INDO-RUSIAN FRIENDSHIP”. this was very much appreciated by Russian people. in this championship. The theme of the sculpture is World cinema (famous movies from famous directors with famous actors).

On Wednesday In a grand prize distribution ceremony director of this event Mr. Pavel zadanyuk presented the medal to Sudarsan and Mr.Sanjay vedi deputy director of jawaharlal nehuru cultural centre Moscow was also present there.

The sand sculpture championship started from 28th April to 5th May at Russia capital Moscow. Including India eleven countries like America, Russia, England, Italy, Island, Czech Republic, Bulgeria, Ukraine, Spain etc. around the World .

Last year pattnaik also got the museum prize in this championship he achieved many International awards by representing India in many countries on World platform . He always sends massages to the public by creating awareness campaign through sand art. Pattnaik also running a sand art school at Puri Beach in Orissa.

Q. The Nobel prize in Literature for 2009 is awarded to:
1) Olivers Williamson
2) Herta Mueller
3) Elinor Ostrom
4) Thomas Steitz

Answer: (2)

Analysis:

Herta Müller (born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German Nobel Prize-winning novelist, poet and essayist noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of Communist Romania under the repressive Nicolae Ceaus,escu regime which she experienced herself. Many of her works are told from the viewpoint of the German minority in Romania and are also a depiction of the modern history of the Germans in the Banat, and more broadly, Transylvania. Her much acclaimed 2009 novel Everything I Possess I Carry With Me portrays the deportation of Romania's German minority to Stalinist Soviet Gulags during the Soviet occupation of Romania for use as German forced labor.

Müller has been an internationally well-known author since the early 1990s, and her works have been translated into more than 20 languages.She has received over 20 awards, including the 1994 Kleist Prize, the 1995 Aristeion Prize, the 1998 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the 2009 Franz Werfel Human Rights Award. On 8 October 2009 it was announced that she had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.



Q. The winner of the Spelling Bee Prize 2010 in washington held on 4th June 2010 is:
1) Sameer Mishra
2) Kavya Shivashankar
3) Anamika Veeramani
4) Shantanu Srivastav

Answer: (3)

Analysis:

A North Royalton 14-year-old Anamika Veeramani was the Spelling Bee 2010 winner. An Indian-American youth who's parent will be proud of her achievement at her young age and recently aired live by ABC to inspired student minds watching the national show. According to report, she bring home cash of about $2,500 prize along with a scholarship grant amount of $5,000 which will be given by Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation.

Aside from the above mentioned prize of Spelling Bee 2010, Anamika Veeramani also granted by Encyclopedia Britannica package which totally worth an about $3,500 and Merriam-Webster complete reference dictionary award. How lucky is Anamika, right? Try to imagine this great success achieved by a young brilliant mind, we hope many students from different level will be inspired by her story starting from now.

The youngest among all contestants was 8-year-old Vanya Shivashankar, the sister of the last year’s spelling bee winner Kavya Shivashinkar.

The 83rd Scripps National Spelling Bee was held from June 2, 2010, to June 4, 2010 at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C.


Q. The total eclipse of the 21st Century occured on:
1) 20th July, 2009
2) 21th July, 2009
3) 22th July, 2009
4) 23th July, 2009

Answer: (3)

Analysis:

A total solar eclipse occurred on July 22, 2009. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across the surface of the Earth, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible over a region thousands of kilometers wide.

It was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century, not to be surpassed until 13 June 2132. It lasted a maximum of 6 minutes and 39 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia, causing tourist interest in eastern China, Japan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Visibility

A partial eclipse was seen within the broad path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia (all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania.

The total eclipse was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives, northern Pakistan, northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, northern Philippines, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.

Totality was visible in many large cities, including Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Gaya, Dinajpur, Siliguri, Guwahati, Tawang in India and Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo, Shanghai, Chapai Nawabganj as well as over the Three Gorges Dam in China. However, in Shanghai, the largest city in the eclipse's path, the view was obscured by heavy clouds. According to NASA, the Japanese island Kitaio Jima was predicted to have the best viewing conditions featuring both longer viewing time (being the closest point of land to the point of greatest eclipse) and lower cloud cover statistics than all of continental Asia.