GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International

Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of World Bank group
are not specialised agencies of UN.

UNCTAD is not specialised agency of UN.

World development report is annually published by World bank.

Global competitiveness report is annually published by world economic

forum.

World economic outlook is annually published by IMF.

World investment report is annually published by UNCTAD.

Balance of Payment (BoP) of a country is defined as, "Systematic record of all

economic transactions with the residents of a foreign country" Thus balance of
payments includes all visible and non-visible transactions of a country during
a

given

period.

These

transactions

country's exports and imports of

include

payments

goods, services, financial

for

the

capital,

and financial transfers. Loans and investments are also included in it.
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Basics of bank rate (imp)

The Rangarajan Committees approach of relative poverty line is to delink

the estimation of poverty from a fixed level of consumption. The Committees
recommendation is that the bottom 35 per cent of rural Indians at any given
time (based on monthly consumption) be defined as poor. In the case of urban
Indians, the cut off will be at 25 per cent. The Tendulkar formula is for an
absolute Poverty Line. The number of poor became 29.6% in rangarajan
formula as against 21.9% in tendulkar formulae.

There were about 10,000 Indians in Iraq before the start of the war between
government troops and al Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIS).

Bangalore has recorded highest cyber crime cases (417) followed by

Vishakhapatnam (175) and Hyderabad (160).

DHVANI is state-of-the-art marksmanship training system recently developed

by CSIR for Indian Army. The sophisticated acoustic sensor-based system will

help the army to develop shooting techniques of its combat personnel during
training. The system will help them in perfecting marksmanship skills by
accurately determining the location of bullet impact and providing real time
feedback during training.
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The US space agency NASA has recently launched worlds first flying
observatory to study how stars are formed. The Stratospheric Observatory for
Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a heavily modified Boeing 747 Special
performance jetliner, with a 17 tonne and 8 foot telescope mounted behind a
16-by-23-foot sliding door that reveals the infrared telescope to the skies. The
plane provides a better visibility than ground-based observatories. This is due
to its ability to fly near the edges of the atmosphere. The plane can stay
airborne for over 12 hours and its range os 6,625 nautical miles.

NASA has recently launched its first satellite to measure carbon dioxide,
Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2. The OCO-2, is expected to provide an insight
into how the planet adjusts to the increased production of carbon dioxide from
a vantage point in orbit that will allow it to take readings on a scale never
achieved before.

India has 47 tiger reserves (recent figure)

India has become the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate
access to published works for persons who are visually impaired or otherwise
printed disabled. The treaty was adopted by 79 member countries of the World
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on June 27, 2013 and India ratified
it on June 24, 2014. The treaty will come into force once 20 countries ratify it.

Uttar Pradesh commands highest share of over 17% in total milk production,
followed by Rajasthan (11%), Andhra Pradesh (9%), Punjab (8%) and Gujarat
(8%).

France announced a one billion Euros credit line over the next three years to
India to take initiates in the climate control area.

Punjab has recorded the highest per capita milk availability of 937 grams per
day, followed by Haryana 679 grams, according to a report by Assocham. In
terms of per capita availability of milk in 2010-11, Punjab was the leader
among the 20 major states with 937 grams of milk available per person per
day.

India, Indonesia and Pakistan each have more than a million children out of
school, according to a UN report which shows the global number of
unschooled children aged 6 to 11 is still as high as 58 million, showing little
overall improvement since 2007. As per the UNSECOs report India had 1.4
million children out of school in 2011. Pakistan had 5.4 million children out of
school in 2012 while the figure for Indonesia was 1.3 million.

China has retained its top position as the worlds most attractive investment
destination followed by the US and Indonesia at second and third place,
according to the UNCTADs World Investment Report 2014. India has slipped
by one notch to the fourth position in the latest rankings.

The government of India has extended the ban on imports of milk and milk
products from China for one more year till June 2015. India had first imposed
the ban in September 2008 due to presence of melamine, used for making
plastics and fertiliser.

"Land Belongs to the Future Lets Climate Proof It" is the annual theme of
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought 2014.

Project Loop is a research and development project being developed by

Google with the mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote
areas. The project uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere to
create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.

Indias share in world services exports, which increased from 0.6 per cent in
1990 to 1.1 per cent in 2000 and further to 3.3 per cent in 2013, has been
increasing faster than its share in world merchandise exports. exports of
software services, accounting for 46 per cent of Indias total services exports,
5.9 per cent in 2012-13, travel, accounting for a nearly 12 percent share. India
has the second fastest growing services sector with its compound annual
growth rate at nine per cent, just below Chinas 10.9 per cent

More than 85 per cent of investment in the agri sector is by the

private sector.

Foreign Institutional Investments (FIIs), Non Resident Indians and Persons of

India Origin (PIO) can invest in primary and secondary capital markets in
India through Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).

Britain published the worlds first modern slavery bill under which
perpetrators of the heinous crime will be jailed for life. The modern slavery

bill is the first of its kind in Europe and one of the first in the world, to
specifically address slavery and trafficking in the 21st century.
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Share of India in world production of coconut is 26.34% and is highest.

Broadband users in India: 55.2 million.

Last year, firefighting reduced the current account deficit (CAD) and
strengthened the rupee, but increasing domestic financial savings and
deepening domestic markets are important among longer term measures to
maintain a sustainable CAD.

Vulture restaurants have been opened for first time in country in gadchiroli to
protect the endangered vultures.

The World Trade Organization does not have a set framework for what
constitutes a developing country; member nations declare themselves as
such. The World Trade Organization lets countries declare themselves either
developing or developed, but does maintain a list of the least-developed
countries. There are three global organizations that decide what category a
country falls under. They are the International Monetary Funds (IMF), The
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the
World Bank.

Essential commodities act: the govt has control over the production, supply
and distribution at fair price.In this Act government has the power to declare a
commodity as an essential commodity so that its readily available. This helps
in equal and fair price distribution of the commodities and keeps a checks on
traders to curb exploitation by them. There is also a stock holding limit on
traders. The traders can be punished if they are found to have stock above the
permissible limit.

Delhi is now the worlds second most populous city with 25 million
inhabitants. Tokyo remains the worlds largest city with 38 million inhabitants.

India wants to discuss the phasing out of HFC under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and not under the
Montreal Protocol. What goes against the UNFCCC is that it is not designed
for a phase down of specific gases. Countries have the choice to decide which
gases they want to reduce.

HFC is a replacement for ozone-depleting substances like chlorofluorocarbons

(CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). While CFCs and HCFCs are

being phased out under the Montreal Protocol, HFCs, on the other hand, have
zero ozone-depleting potential but high global warming potential.
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INS Kamorta, the first in series of anti-submarine corvettes indigenously built

by Kolkata based Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. (GRSE), was
handed over to Indian Navy recently. It is the first Indian Naval warship ever
built in the country with almost 90 per cent of indigenous content.

Urea is the only fertilizer that continues to be subject to price distribution and
movement control under the Fertilizer Control Order issued under the
Essential Commodities Act. Urea doesnt come under nutrient based subsidy
scheme and its prices are still under statutory control.

The report by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence under the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare says the expenditure on health has gone down
from 4.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2000 to 3.7 per cent
in 2010. Fund flow to the health sector is maximum by private funds at 71. 62
per cent as per 2008-09 estimates and that of public funds had accounted only
for 26.70 per cent. The ninth edition of the National Health Profile, 2013
released, reveals that per capita private expenditure on health is three to four
times higher than per capita public expenditure in all major States the
exceptions being some North-eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir.

Carbon dioxide is the most-prevalent gas when it comes to climate change.

But methane and nitrous oxide are also greenhouse gasses and account for
approximately 28 per cent of global warming activity. Methane and nitrous
oxide are released, in part, by livestock. Animals release methane as a result of
microorganisms that are involved in their digestive processes and nitrous
oxide from decomposing manure.

National programme for education of girls at elementary level comes under

sarva shiksha abhiyaan.

Only volcanoes are the direct source of information from earths interior and
not anything else (ncert). Indirect sources: gravitation, magnetic field, and
seismic activity.

Clay layers are poor aquifers because the inter-particle space of clay minerals
is the least.

Vishakhapatnam is a land locked harbour.

Shifting cultivation is an example of subsistence farming.

the national level (urban area), the monthly per capita expenditure is 43 per cent on food
items and 57 per cent on non-food items. (2014)

COMMONWEALTH GAMES, GLASSGOW (2014)

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Manipuri female weightlifters

Sanjita Chanu and Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won

gold and silver medals respectively in the 48 kg womens weightlifting event.

Abhinav Bindra won gold in 10m rifle shooting.