S1. Ans.(e)
Sol. Indian shooter Jitu Rai clinched a silver medal in the 50 metre pistol event of the ISSF World Cup Final at Bologna, Italy. Jitu shot a score of 188.8 to finish behind China’s Wei Pang at 190.6. Italy’s Giuseppe Giordano settled for the bronze. In the process Jitu Rai also equalled the national record score in the event.
S2. Ans.(d)
Sol. Germany has appointed former Nasscom Chairman B V R Mohan Reddy as an Honourary Consul of Germany in Hyderabad. Mohan Reddy will be the Consul for Germany in Telangana and Hyderabad. Reddy, who is also the Executive Chairman of Cyient Ltd.
S3. Ans.(c)
Sol. Arundhati Roy is set to come out with her next book in June 2017, 19 years after her Booker prize-winning novel The God of Small Things was published. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness will be published by Hamish Hamilton UK and Penguin India.
S4. Ans.(b)
Sol. Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inspected and flagged off the newly manufactured Guard Van of Goods (Freight) Train at Delhi Safdarjung Railway Station. The newly manufactured Guard Van of Goods Train (8 wheeled) has been equipped for the first time with Solar powered Light, Fan, Mobile Charging Point along with the facility of Zero discharge Bio Toilet. On this occasion, Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board Shri Hemant Kumar, Member Traffic, Railway Board Shri Mohammed Jamshed, Financial Commissioner Railways, Shri KV Nanda, were also present.
S5. Ans.(a)
Sol. ICICI Bank has introduced digital banking on its mobile app ‘Pockets’. Claiming to be the first to introduce contact-less mobile payment solution in the country, the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive, Chanda Kochhar, said in a release that the solution would allow anyone, even those who are not customers of ICICI Bank, to download, fund the wallet from any bank account, and use it. “Pockets is also the world’s first mobile application to integrate the mVISA payment solution. It has, within a short span of time, registered over five million downloads; and over 75 per cent of them are new to the bank,” she added.
S6. Ans.(e)
Sol. Jammu and Kashmir Bank today appointed Parvez Ahmed as Chairman and CEO of the bank. He has been appointed Chairman for a period of three years. He replaces Mustaq Ahmad, who completed his term on October 5.
S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. Efforts by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to end five decades of war in his country were recognised with the Nobel Peace Prize. The award came despite voters’ shock rejection of the terms of a historic deal he reached last month with FARC chief Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, after nearly four years of talks.
S8. Ans.(c)
Sol. Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling was conferred the prestigious 2016 ‘Sustainable Development Leadership Award’ by President Pranab Mukherjee during the World Sustainable Development Summit organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
S9. Ans.(b)
Sol. A new frog species, which closely resembles the Graceful tree frog (Litoria Gracilenta), was discovered in Australia’s largest virgin forest in Queensland. The frog discovered in Queensland’s Cape York was only determined to be a new species on September 27 after undergoing rigorous tests for a year, scientist Jodi Rowley told Xinhua news agency.
S10. Ans.(a)
Sol. Cho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain peak in the world and is wedged between the China-Tibet border. It stands 20 km west of Mount Everest. Noida-based 23-year-old professional mountaineer Arjun Vajpai became the youngest in the world to scale the Mount Cho Oyu.
S11. Ans.(a)
Sol. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the first edition of World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) here being organised by TERI with emphasis on the need to limit the rise of climate change in New Delhi.
S12. Ans.(b)
Sol. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Internal Working Group (IWG) on Rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy has
proposed easing bank branch norms. It was chaired by Lily Vadera. It has proposed to relax norms that a bank branch has to follow, like a building, number of employees etc to facilitate financial inclusion.
S13. Ans.(c)
Sol. India is hosting the 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) from November 3 to 5,
2016 in New Delhi. This will be second time India hosting AMCDRR. The conference will be hosted by Union Government in
collaboration with the United Nations Of??ce for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
S14. Ans.(b)
Sol. The Managing Committee of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) at its meeting held elected Rajeev Rishi, Chairman & Managing Director, Central Bank of India, as the Chairman, of the Association for the term 2016-17. The other Office-bearers of the Association elected are Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India; Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank; and Arun Tiwari, Chairman & Managing Director, Union Bank of India as Deputy Chairmen.
S15. Ans.(a)
Sol. The Union Minister for Power (independent charge) Piyush Goyal announced launch of a special scheme for states to fund capital investments to achieve 100 per cent rural household electrification in villages. Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the Conference of Power Ministers of States and Union Territories at Vadodara, Goyal informed that a decision was taken after consultations with the State power ministers to provide funding for capital investments for electrification of rural households. Power ministers from 20 states and 2 union territories besides bureaucrats remained present at the Conference.