Current Affairs Quiz For IBPS, RBI & Insurance Exam Answers

Answer – 1. Assam
Explanation
23rd meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council headed by Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley was held in Guwahati, Assam on November 10, 2017. Decisions taken during this meeting of GST council has brought in a comprehensive overhaul of GST rates. Besides return filing has been eased and more relief has been provided to small and medium enterprises. GST rate on 177 items has been reduced from 28% to 18%. Now only 50 items, mostly demerit, sin and luxury goods will attract 28% GST rate.

Answer – 3. Telangana
Explanation
Telangana State Assembly has passed three key bills including Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral traffic offenders and Land grabbers (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The amendment to Prevention of Dangerous Activities Bill has been brought in to replace a Government ordinance that was passed about 6 months ago to curb illegal activities. ‘Telangana Road Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ is the second bill that was passed. This bill seeks development of roads and highways by securing funds from financial institutions.

Answer – 2. New Delhi
Explanation
The second meeting of the Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (EAC-PM) was held in New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by Bibek Debroy. It was attended by renowned economists Dr. Surjit Bhalla, Dr. Rathin Roy, Dr. Ashima Goyal, Dr. Shamika Ravi and Member Secretary and Principal Adviser NITI Aayog, Ratan P. Watal. In the meeting road map towards skill development, job creation, enhanced resource investment in the social sector– including for Health and Education and for boosting Infrastructure financing were discussed.

Answer – 3. Air Pollution
Explanation
As Delhi’s air is turning toxic over recent weeks and reaching crisis levels, the Centre stepped in and decided to set up a 7-member-committee of secretaries from the Centre, Delhi Government and experts to continuously monitor and implement a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) that would include control of road and construction of dust garbage burning, control of power plants and industrial emissions, entry of vehicles and several other related factors.

Answer – 1. New Delhi
Explanation
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijijuinaugurated ‘India Disaster Response Summit’ in New Delhi. This Summit was jointly organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and social networking site Facebook. India has become the first country to partner with Facebook on disaster response. During the Summit, deliberations were held on how best to leverage social media platforms to ‘prepare, respond and recover during and after a disaster.

Answer – 2. Haryana
Explanation

Answer – 5. India
Explanation
India got re-elected as a member of the Executive Board of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The executive board is the top decision- making body of UNESCO. India was re-elected to executive Board during 39th session of the general conference of UNESCO in Paris, France. UNESCO’s General Conference comprises representatives of member countries and meets every two years.

Answer – 2. Dubai
Explanation
the International AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) Conference and Exhibition 2017 is held in Dubai. Minister for AYUSH Sripad Naik is on a three day visit to UAE to participate in the first ever International Ayush Conference and Exhibition in Dubai. This is the first ever conglomeration of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy practitioners, policy makers, industrialists, researchers and students across the world.

Answer – 4. International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)
Explanation
International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations has approved a USD 30 million soft loans for fourth phase of the North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP). NERCORMP is a livelihood and rural development project aimed to transform the lives of the poor and marginalized tribal families in several districts of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Answer – 1. 25
Explanation
The government raised the maximum amount that a central government employee can borrow from the government to Rs 25 lakh for new construction/purchase of new house/flat. The limit for home loan borrowing has been tripled for central government employees as per the 7th pay commission recommendations. Earlier this limit was only Rs 7.50 lakh. This move is going to benefit about 50 lakh central government employees all over India.

Answer – 4. 1 only
Explanation
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a notification outlining norms for outsourcing of functions/services by Non-Bank Financial Institution (NBFCs). As per the new norms, NBFCs cannot outsource core management functions like internal audit, management of investment portfolio, strategic and compliance functions for know your customer (KYC) norms and sanction of loans. Staff of service providers should have access to customer information only up to an extent which is required to perform the outsourced function.

Answer – 3. FEMA 20 and FEMA 24
Explanation
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has simplified the Foreign Exchange Management regulations pertaining to Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident outside India. This has been done by putting all the 93 amendments to Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) under one notification. This notification by RBI has combined two existing regulations FEMA 20 and FEMA 24, which provides information on investment in an Indian company or a partnership, or in a limited liability partnership or in a partnership firm.

Answer – 1. PayPal
Explanation
American Digital payments company PayPal has launched its domestic operations in India and will now provide digital payment solutions for merchants and customers in India. In the Indian market, PayPal has been offering cross border payments since last ten years. It claims to control a third of India’s Business to Customer (B2C) export payments. Senior officials of PayPal have stated that PayPal’s brand is basically based on three pillars viz. reliability, safety and security. Adhering to this ideology, PayPal will offer its services with ‘Buyer and Seller protection’ as a differentiating factor to create its presence in the highly competitive digital payments space of India.

Answer – 2. SEBI
Explanation
India’s securities market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has penalised 22 entities for involvement in manipulative trading. One of these 22 entities is Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) that was found to be involved in manipulative trading through a listed firm called Sarang Chemicals. The alleged manipulative transactions by Mr. Rupani’s firm were done between January and June, 2011. Mr. Rupani’s firm has been asked to pay a Rs 15 lakh fine within 45 days.

Answer – 2. Government agency
Explanation
A panel led by India’s consumer affairs ministry under Avinash K Srivastavahas decided to import the onions through a government agency to increase the availability of the same, in the market on moderate prices. The meeting of Price Stabilization Fund Management Committee (PSFMC) headed by Secretary, Consumer Affairs, Shri Avinash K Srivastava was held in New Delhi on 09.11.2017.

Answer – 1. India
Explanation
Union minister Kiren Rijiju said that, India is the first country to partner with social networking site Facebook on disaster response. According to the Home Ministry, the programme in collaboration with Facebook, will be piloted in two disaster-prone states: Assam and Uttarakhand. Facebook will share its disaster maps, developed using aggregated, de-identified data, with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The maps can aid swift disaster response by providing real-time, actionable information.

Answer – 3. Girija Devi
Explanation
Eminent classical singer late Girija Devi will be honoured with the prestigious Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement on 17th November 2017 in New Delhi. The Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement will be presented by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs) to Girija Devi’s daughter, Sudha Datta, at Kamani Auditorium. The award was instituted six years ago in the memory of Delhi’s well-known art patron, Sumitra Charat Ram, by her daughter Shobha Deepak Singh.

Answer – 2. UNHCR
Explanation
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was named as the recipient of the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice, 2017 as an acknowledgement of its exceptional work worldwide. The UNHCR provides humanitarian aid to innumerable people internally displaced by conflicts and helping stateless people all over the world.

Answer – 3. 15 lakhs
Explanation
The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) hosted the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017 marking the completion of three years of its inception. The National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) was instituted by MSDE in 2016 to encourage entrepreneurship in India. This year 15 winners across various categories were awarded. Winners were given a cash award of Rs 5 lakh (enterprises and individuals) and Rs. 10 lakhs (organizations/institutes) along with a certificate and trophy recognizing their efforts of being the change agents in India’s development.

Answer – 4. Rajasthan
Explanation
Union minister of state for tourism, Alphons Kannanthanam, was elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan in a bypoll. The Rajya Sabha seat had fallen vacant after former Union minister Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the Vice-President in August 2017. Returning officer at the Rajasthan legislative assembly, Prithvi Raj, declared Alphons Kannanthanam elected unopposed after no other candidate submitted papers even on the last day of filing.

Answer – 2. India
Explanation
A study led by researchers at the University of Maryland in the US suggests that India is becoming, if it is not already, the world’s top sulphur dioxide emitter. The study says that, India’s emissions of the air pollutant sulphur dioxide increased by 50 % since 2007, while China’s fell by 75 %. Sulphur dioxide is an air pollutant that causes acid rain, haze and many health-related problems. It is produced predominantly when coal is burned to generate electricity.

Answer – 1. Shooting
Explanation
Indian para shooters Deepender Singh and Manish Narwal set 2 world records in the Shooting Para Sport World Cup 2017, in Bangkok. Indian para shooters Deepender Singh and Manish Narwal won gold and silver respectively in the P1 10m Air Pistol SH1 category in the Shooting Para Sport World Cup 2017.

Answer – 2. Author
Explanation
Noted author and Padma Shri awardee Manu Sharma died in Varanasi following prolonged illness. Manu Sharma was 89 years old. He died at his residence in Varanasi on 8th November 2017 following prolonged illness. His last rites were performed at the Manikarnika Ghat with full state honours. He was also called as Hanuman Prasad Sharma. He was nominated as one of the navratna of the Swachha Bharat Abhiyan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Varanasi in 2014.

Answer – 1. 10th November
Explanation
On 10th November 2017, World science day for peace and development was celebrated all over the world. World Science Day for peace and development was coined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2001 and was celebrated for the first time in 2002. It highlights the important role that science has in society. It also highlights the need to engage the public in debates on emerging scientific issues.The theme for World Science Day for peace and development 2017 is ‘Science for Global Understanding’.