General Studies

General Studies

1. Following the Maldives example, cabinet ministers of which of the following countries conducted their meeting at an unusual place recently to highlight the effects of global warming ?
(A) Tuvalu
(B) Sri Lanka
(C) South Africa
(D) Nepal
Ans : (D)

2. The United Nations (UN) has declared 2010 as the—
(A) International Year of Youth
(B) International Year of Renewable Energy
(C) International Year of Eco-Tourism
(D) International Year of Biodegradable Material
Ans : (A)

3. Ben Bernanke has been named ‘Person of the Year’ by the prestigious Time magazine. The current profile of Ben Bernanke is—
(A) Chairman, NASDAQ
(B) President, World Bank
(C) Chairman, US Federal Reserve
(D) Director-General, WTO
Ans : (C)

4. Cape Canaveral, the site from which space shuttles are launched, is located in the state—
(A) Florida
(B) Virginia
(C) North Carolina
(D) South Carolina
Ans : (A)

5. As per the State of Forest Report-2009, what fraction of India’s area is covered by forests ?
(A) 17•92%
(B) 21•02%
(C) 23•84%
(D) 25•96%
Ans : (C)

6. Who is the Secretary of the International Monetary Fund ?
(A) Indira Mathur
(B) AT Vashishtha
(C) Siddharth Tiwari
(D) None of these
Ans : (C)

7. Who is the first Goodwill Ambassador of the ‘Smile Train’, an international charity that provides free cleft lip and palate surgery to children in need ?
(A) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
(B) Katrina Kaif
(C) Angelina Jolie
(D) None of these
Ans : (A)

8. Asia’s biggest solar power plant has been recently unveiled at—
(A) Japan
(B) Indonesia
(C) Malaysia
(D) Taiwan
Ans : (D)

9. India had recently landed its Moon Impact Probe on the Moon. Among the following countries, which one has landed such a probe on the Moon earlier ?
(A) Australia
(B) Canada
(C) China
(D) Japan
Ans : (D)

10. With which company did India’s largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services sign a two year multimillion dollar deal recently ?
(A) Infosys
(B) SAP IG
(C) Singapore People’s Association
(D) Citigroup
Ans : (C)

11. Jamie Dwyer, recently crowned hockey’s World Player of the Year for a third time, belongs to—
(A) Germany
(B) England
(C) Netherlands
(D) Australia
Ans : (D)

12. Which among the following countries is the World Bank’s single largest borrower ?
(A) Pakistan
(B) India
(C) China
(D) Russia
Ans : (B)

13. Kaiane Aldorino who won the 2009 Miss World pageant recently held in Johannesburg, is from—
(A) South Africa
(B) Venezuela
(C) Columbia
(D) Gibraltar
Ans : (D)

14. The group of nations presently known as G-8 first started as G-7. Which country from among the following was not one of the them ?
(A) Canada
(B) Italy
(C) Japan
(D) Russia
Ans : (D)

15. CERN, the organisation that conducted the Large Hadren Collider Experiment in Geneva recently, is the—
(A) European Space Agency
(B) European Organisation for Nuclear Research
(C) International Atomic Energy Agency
(D) National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Ans : (B)

16. Reliance Communication has signed an agreement with ……offering Windows Mobile Solutions on its wireless network.
(A) Rediffmail.com
(B) Microsoft
(C) Google
(D) Gmail.com
Ans : (B)

17. Which of the following teams was defeated by India to mark its 100th Test match victory in cricket ?
(A) New Zealand
(B) Australia
(C) Bangladesh
(D) Sri Lanka
Ans : (D)

18. Who is the first Indian to head Amnesty International in its 50-year history ?
(A) Pramod Bhasin
(B) Salil Shetty
(C) G.R. Madhavan
(D) C.K. Roy
Ans : (B)

19. Lionel Messi, the footballer who plays for Barcelona club, and won the FIFA World Player of the Year Award for 2009, belongs to which country ?
(A) Brazil
(B) Italy
(C) Argentina
(D) Germany
Ans : (C)

20. Recently, which of the following was included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage list ?
(A) Dilwara Temple
(B) Kalka-Shimla Railway
(C) Bhiterkanika Mangrove Area
(D) Visakhapatnam to Araku Valley railway line
Ans : (B)

21. The Government of India has granted approval in principle to SBI to merge one more of its associate banks after State Bank of Saurashtra. This second associate bank of SBI to be merged with it is—
(A) State Bank of Travancore
(B) State Bank of Indore
(C) State Bank of Patiala
(D) State Bank of Hyderabad
Ans : (B)

22. Recently which of the following versions of Windows was launched by Microsoft ?
(A) Windows 7
(B) Windows 8
(C) Windows 9
(D) Windows 10
Ans : (A)

23. Which is the most popular e-mail service among Indians according to Online Audience Measurement and Analytics Platform ?
(A) G-mail
(B) Yahoo
(C) Google
(D) Rediffmail
Ans : (D)

24. Name the Jammu & Kashmir ‘braveheart’ who killed a terrorist and was recently appointed as a Special Police Officer in the Jammu-Kashmir police force.
(A) Salma Khan
(B) Firdaus Ahmed
(C) Rukhsana Kausar
(D) Shahana Azmi
Ans : (C)

25. Which of the following statements regarding Operation Flood is/are correct ?
1. Operation Flood is the world’s largest Integrated Dairy Development Programme.
2. Dr. Verghese Kurien is the pioneer of Operation Flood.
3. Operation Flood was started in 1970 by Amul Dairy.
(A) 1 Only
(B) 1 and 2
(C) 2 and 3
(D) All of the above
Ans : (B)

26. Which pharmaceutical company has been given permission by the Government of India to conduct H1N1 vaccine trials on humans ?
(A) Bharat Biotech
(B) Panacea Pharmaceuticals
(C) Serum Institute of India
(D) Zydus Cadila
Ans : (D)

27. Which Indian State Government made voting compulsory for its Municipal Corporation elections ?
(A) Maharashtra
(B) Kerala
(C) Karnataka
(D) Gujarat
Ans : (D)

28. Due to the efforts of which Member of Parliament (MP), can Indian citizens now fly the National Flag even at night ?
(A) Jyotraditya Scindia
(B) Naveen Jindal
(C) Rahul Gandhi
(D) None of these
Ans : (B)

29. The Commonwealth Games 2010 being held in New Delhi is the …… edition of this international event.
(A) XX
(B) XIX
(C) XXI
(D) XXII
Ans : (B)

30. What is the expected growth (in %) in international tourist arrivals during 2010, as per the forecast by UNWTO ?
(A) 3 – 4
(B) 5 – 6
(C) 7 – 8
(D) 9 – 10
Ans : (A)

31. The 13th Meeting of the ASEAN Tourism Ministers was held in the month of—
(A) January 2010
(B) February 2010
(C) March 2010
(D) December 2010
Ans : (A)

32. Air India has entered into partnership with which organisation to improve operational efficiencies in key airline functions and become more cost-efficient ?
(A) Sabre Airline Solutions
(B) Airline Solutions Group
(C) Amadeus Airlines
(D) Kale Consultants Limited
Ans : (A)

33. Which state of India has the highest population density ?
(A) Bihar
(B) Kerala
(C) Andhra Pradesh
(D) None of these
Ans : (A)

34. Which is the highest honour amongst the Padma Awards conferred on eminent personalities by the Government of India every year ?
(A) Padma Vibhushan
(B) Padma Bhushan
(C) Padma Sri
(D) None of these
Ans : (D)

35. Which country will be hosting the Winter Olympics 2014 ?
(A) America
(B) Russia
(C) Germany
(D) England
Ans : (B)

36. The Naina Devi Temple is located in which state of India ?
(A) Gujarat
(B) Jammu & Kashmir
(C) Himachal Pradesh
(D) Haryana
Ans : (C)

37. Which of the following SLVs carried the Chandrayaan-I on its voyage to the moon ?
(A) PSLV-C12
(B) PSLV-12
(C) PSLV-C11
(D) PSLV-C10
Ans : (C)

38. Which of the following countries is planning to launch a Satellite to study the Sun ?
(A) USA
(B) India
(C) Russia
(D) China
Ans : (B)

39. Who won the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2009 ?
(A) India
(B) England
(C) New Zealand
(D) Australia
Ans : (B)

40. Who is the only Indian sportswoman to win a medal for the country at the Olympics ?
(A) P.T. Usha
(B) Karanam Malleswari
(C) Sania Mirza
(D) Saina Nehwal
Ans : (B)