Ministry of Environment and Forests released Report on 39 Tiger reserves.

Find the pdf in the attachment.

29/07/2011
Cabinet approves draft of Lokpal Bill
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the draft of the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill that is to be tabled in Parliament during the upcoming monsoon session.

The Prime Minister and the judiciary have been excluded from the ambit of the Lokpal Bill.

According to this draft, the body will have a chairperson and eight members, including four judicial members.

Information minister Ambika Soni said the chairperson would be a serving or retired Supreme Court judge.

Sebi changes takeover code, trigger at 25%
In a big-bang market reform, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday accepted the all-important Takeover Code (of listed companies) for implementation wherein the mandatory open offer size in a company has been raised to 26 per cent from the existing 20 per cent.


Peru's Humala sworn in as new president, pledges to be responsible
LIMA, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Former military commander Ollanta Humala was on Thursday sworn in as Peru's new president in a ceremony before the Peruvian Congress for the five year term from 2011 to 2016.

Tunisias Ben Ali Convicted for Corrupt Property Deals
A Tunisian court has sentenced former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, his daughter and son-in-law in absentia to serve prison terms and ordered them to pay $100 million in damages for illicit property deals.

Fragile Rulezzz Says

Nothing declared till now...........

no gk for FMS

ajay arora Says

hey....does FMS have GK section this year?

Nothing declared till now...........

1)Yu Yongding, a former adviser to the Central Bank of China and strong critic of U.S. treasury bonds, an asset in which about 1.2 trillion dollars of China's foreign reserves are invested, has been calling on Chinese rulers to diversify as much as possible of China's holdings to guard against a weaker dollar. Speaking at a global economic forum in Beijing this month Yu said the U.S. debt and its ratio against the country GDP were rising, and predicted trouble for all U.S. assets and the global economy.


2)Europe's banking troubles and an impasse over lifting the U.S. government's borrowing limit helped drag down stock markets in the U.S. and Europe.
The results of stress tests on European banks released last week came under deeper scrutiny. Eight banks failed the test aimed at measuring how well they would hold up under additional financial strain.


3)South Korea's financial regulator on Tuesday put the brakes on local financial groups' moves to dole out substantial amounts of dividends to their shareholders.
"Maximizing shareholders' rights is important, but it's also important to protect customers and consumers," Financial Supervisory Services (FSS) Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se told reporters after a seminar in Seoul.
Kwon also stressed the importance of beefing up enough loan loss reserves to brace against risks stemming from growing project financing (PF) loans and the eurozone debt crisis.

hey....does FMS have GK section this year?

Ashadhi Akadashi being celebrated
Ashadhi Akadashi is being celebrated on July 11, 2011 in Maharashtra
Pandhapur the most popular place for the devotees from all over India, is a
centre for Warkaries (the regular devotees) coming to this place for
worshiping Vitthal -Rukhamini
Over 8 lakh pilgrims came to have a glimpse of their god and goddess
World Population Day: July 11, 2011
July 11, 2011: World population day
The theme this year: "Calling Attention to Urgent Global Issues"
Observed on July 11, every year the day attempts to lift alertness on global
population issues
Recognized by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in 1989
Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987: Approximately the date on which the
world's population reached five billion people. World Population Day inspired by
this DATE only.
SPORTS
Fernando Alonso wins British Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso delivered Ferrari's long-awaited first win of the
2011 season when he made the most of unpredictable and
challenging wet-dry conditions to triumph at the British Grand
Prix
Some Facts:-
1. British Grand Prix: A race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World
Championship
2. Currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in
Northamptonshire, UK
3. The British and Italian Grands Prix are the oldest continuously staged
Formula One World Championship Grands Prix
Computerization of all Post Offices by 2012
The Central Government has decided to
computerize all 1.5 Lakh Post offices by 2012
Around R`1800
Crore to be spent for the purpose
1000 ATM Machines would also be installed at the post
offices in the country
The Minister of State for communication: Sachin Pilot

US suspends $800 million aid to Pakistan

Reasons quoted for the same:
Infuriation over Pakistan's reluctance to go full throttle in the war
against terror
The suspended aid is about one-third of the $2 billion yearly US security
assistance to Pakistan
India welcomed United States' move to cut military aid to Pakistan
As External Affairs Minister Shri SM Krishna further supply of military aid would
have led to destabilising the region further

(A) The Government has appointed Rohinton Fali Nariman, Senior Advocate as Solicitor General of India. The appointment is for three years w.e.f. 27th July, 2011.
Born on 13th August, 1956, Rohinton Fali Nariman, studied at Shri Ram College of Commerce and at Faculty of Law in Delhi University as well as at the Harvard Law School. An expert in Comparative Constitutional Law and Civil Law, has practiced law for last 30 years with 500 Reported Supreme Court Judgements to his credit.

(B) Jayanta Talukdar sealed his 2012 Olympics berth for the Archery Event

(C) Manoj Tiwari is all set to construct a temple for Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni

(D) Vasuki Sunkavalli, popularly known as Vasuki in the Indian modelling industry, has been chosen to represent India at the Miss Universe contest this year

(E) Arun Seth appointed as Chairman of Alcatel-Lucent for its India operations

More will be updated soon.

28/07/2011 General
2 Indians win Magsaysay Award

MANILA: Nileema Mishra, a lender to the poor in Maharashtra, and US-trained Indian engineer Harish Hande, who revolutionized the use of solar lights, are among six people who have been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for 2011.

Rohinton Nariman to be next Solicitor General

The government on Saturday decided to appoint senior advocate Rohinton F Nariman as Solicitor General for India, exactly two weeks after Gopal Subramaniam quit the post protesting the former's appearance in 2G scam case before the Supreme Court for telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

FIFA Announced World cup 2014 will start from 12th June in Brazil
166 Teams will be there, divided in 6 groups.

Government declared Ammonium Nitrate as explosive
Virdhawal Khade makes Olympics cut
BANGALORE: Top Indian swimmer Virdhawal Khade qualified for the 100m freestyle event in the 2012 London Olympics at the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai on Wednesday. The Asian Games bronze medalist clocked 50.34 seconds to make the invitation cut for the quadrennial Games. However, the Kolhapur-born, Bangalore-based youngster could not make the semifinal as he finished tied 41st overall out of 105 competitors.

GK Question SET - 1

1. Who has been elected as the President of Nigeria ?
a. Mwai Kibaki
b. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
c. Ian Khama
d. Goodluck Jonathan

2. Who among the following is the Secretary General of SAARC ?
a. Sheel kanth Sharma
b. Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji
c. Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed
d. QAMA Rahim

3. Which country won Sudiraman cup this year ?
a. China
b. India
c. Indonesia
d. South Korea

4. Who has been nominated for CK Naidu lifetime achievement award ?
a. Sachin Tendulkar
b. Kapil Dev
c. Sunil Gavaskar
d. Salim Durrani

5. Recently Oxford university established a chair in the memory of ?
a. Amartya Sen
b. Sanjay Lall
c. S. Rangarajan
d. Raghuram rajan

An interesting Article abt latest current affairs......
Hello DK Bose : India : Pritish Nandy : TOI Blogs


:w00t:

Nice read! Thanks

where is the gk thread for 2011-12??

Below are the answers:-

1. Mario Vargas Liosa
2. M Leelavathi
3. S Y Quraishi
4. Kallada
5. Phuentsholing


anshulpratap - 4/5

its great initiative puys to start with GK thread.as the MBA exams papers starting from IIFT,SNAP etc will be set by 1 or 2 months so apart from posting current affairs at present i think from last year when SNAP exam was conducted relevant current affairs after SNAP(last year) till now if posted would be usefull. here are some current affairs stuff i would like to share.

1) The International Seabed Authority (ISA) elected Peter Thomson, its President on 14 July 2011. Peter Thomson is Fijis permanent representative to the United Nations. Thomson was elected as ISA president by its assembly during its annual session in Kingston, Jamaica.
The assembly is the supreme body of the organisation, consisting of delegations from 161 member countries. Fiji has played a prominent role at the ISA since its inception.
ISA was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea held in the year 1982. Fiji became the first nation to sign the convention on 10 December 1982.
ISA is an autonomous international organisation. Any nation which becomes a party to the convention is given the responsibility of organizing, controlling and administering the resources of the international seabed beyond the limits of national exclusive economic zone.
2)India maintained its No. 1 status in the latest ICC Test Rankings released on 11 July 2011 but lost a couple of rating points after drawing two matches in the 1-0 series victory over West Indies. The test series concluded on 10 July 2011. India now has 126 points while the seventh-placed West Indies gained two rating points in spite of losing the three-match test series.

South Africa (117) is the second-placed team and England third-placed.


3)
NR Narayana Murthy was elected the chairperson of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) on 11 July 2011. He will replace former McKinsey chief Rajat Gupta. Gupta resigned from the PFHI in March 2011 after which YV Reddy took over as the interim chair. Gupta was accused of insider trading in the USA.
Murthy will head a governing council including Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Shiv Nadar, Amartya Sen, YV Reddy, Miraj Chatterjee, AK Shiva Kumar and TK Nair.
The objective of PHFI is to strengthen training, research and policy development in the area of public health.

Some questions from my side

1) The Nobel Prize 2010 in Literature was awarded to ___.
a. Liu Xiaobo
b. Mario Vargas Liosa
c. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov
d. Akira Suzuki



2)Ezhuthachan Award 2010 (Ezhuthachan Puraskaram) was awarded to ___.
a. Sugathakumari
b. M Leelavathi
c. O N V Kurup
d. Sukumar Azhikode

3)Name the present Chief Election Commissioner of India?
a. Navin Chawla
b. S Y Quraishi
c. N Gopalaswami
d. B B Tandon


4) The largest irrigation project in Kerala is ___.
a. Kallada
b. Malampuzha
c. Pallivasal
d. Neyyar

5) The Directorate of Bhutan Lotteries is situated at ___.
a. Thimphu
b. Jakar
c. Punakha
d. Phuentsholing

1-b
2-b
3-b
4-b
5-d

Some questions from my side

1) The Nobel Prize 2010 in Literature was awarded to ___.
a. Liu Xiaobo
b. Mario Vargas Liosa
c. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov
d. Akira Suzuki



2)Ezhuthachan Award 2010 (Ezhuthachan Puraskaram) was awarded to ___.
a. Sugathakumari
b. M Leelavathi
c. O N V Kurup
d. Sukumar Azhikode

3)Name the present Chief Election Commissioner of India?
a. Navin Chawla
b. S Y Quraishi
c. N Gopalaswami
d. B B Tandon


4) The largest irrigation project in Kerala is ___.
a. Kallada
b. Malampuzha
c. Pallivasal
d. Neyyar

5) The Directorate of Bhutan Lotteries is situated at ___.
a. Thimphu
b. Jakar
c. Punakha
d. Phuentsholing

Here Goes Nominess For Emmys 2011
IMDb Road to the Emmys 2011 Emmy Nominations

pbhalla1990 Says

Someone Please tell me that The Last Commonwealth games(2010) are to be included in this year's EXAMs(2011)....specially SNAP? :O

SNAP's GK doesn't have boundaries.......so better u go thro it ......It has been an imp topic especially after the latest Doping Scam.....

moving the thread to prep resources section.

Someone Please tell me that The Last Commonwealth games(2010) are to be included in this year's EXAMs(2011)....specially SNAP?

This is an useful thread....thanks for the updates on current affairs...

PM axes 7 ministers, inducts 8 new faces

PM axes 7 ministers, inducts 8 new faces - Economy and Politics - livemint.com

An interesting Article abt latest current affairs......
Hello DK Bose : India : Pritish Nandy : TOI Blogs


:w00t:

The Newest country- South Sudan
South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan,is a country in East Africa. Its capital and largest city is Juba, located in the southern state of Central Equatoria. The landlocked country is bordered by Ethiopia to the east; Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south; the Central African Republic to the west; and Sudan to the north. South Sudan includes the vast swamp region of the Sudd formed by the White Nile, locally called the Bahr al Jabal.


What is now South Sudan was initially part of the British and Egyptian condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and became part of the Republic of Sudan when independence was achieved in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983. A second Sudanese civil war soon developed and ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Later that year southern autonomy was restored when an Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed. South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011 at midnight (00:00) local time following a referendum held in January 2011 in which nearly 99% of voters opted for separation from the rest of Sudan

M&A; News For the Month Of June.....(This section has always been favr8 for paper setters and will also help in GDs/PIs) Click for further details....
Schneider Electric to acquire Luminous
Lupin inks licencing deal with Sydney-based NeuClone
ICVL eyes 59% stake in Mozambique coal firm
Toshiba, Sony plan to merge small LCD panel units: sources
Infosys buys NZ Gen-is software solutions biz
Keventer, Future Group to develop food park in Bihar jointly
Irda notifies M&A; norms for general insurers
Glodyne to buy Comat Tech to expand e-governance biz
RIL to buy Bharti stake in insurers
Next leg of M&A; activity to be from family-run businesses
Tata Steel sells Riversdale stake to Rio Tinto
Bhushan Power to launch open offer for Nova Iron on 13 Aug
RIL may have to acquire RCom for telecom success: report
Fosters rejects $10 bn SABMiller bid
Auto sector saw M&A; deals worth $29.4 bn in 2010: PwC
Dentsply in talks to buy AstraZeneca unit: source
Dentsply buys Astra Tech for $1.8 billion
Emami says in talks with Reckitt to buy Paras personal care biz
LIC acquires 10% stake in Andhra Bank
Deutsche Boerse, NYSE seek EU approval for merger
Dell sees acquisitions as critical focus
CA Technologies to acquire ITKO for $330 mn in cash

Pyeongchang wins bid to host 2018 Winter Games


Pyeongchang of South Korea won the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics on Wednesday, comprehensively winning a vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over rivals Munich of Germany and France's Annecy.

IOC President Jacques Rogge announced Pyeongchang's victory at the IOC's session in Durban. It will be the first time a Korean city has staged the Winter Games and only the third time it will have been held in Asia.


"This is one of the happiest days for our country, our people and millions of youth dreaming of winter sport," Pyeongchang bid chief Cho Yang-ho told Reuters seconds after the announcement.



The Pyeongchang delegation in Durban cheered and chanted "Korea, Korea" after Rogge announced the decision.


Pyeongchang narrowly missed victory in each of the last two Winter Olympic votes, losing out to Vancouver of Canada for the 2010 Games and to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi for 2014.


Each time they had led on the first round of voting by IOC members but failed to gain an overall majority and lost out on the second round.
On Wednesday they won outright on the first round and avoided suffering the same fate for the third time.


The Koreans put in a determined bid, stressing their virtues of perseverance and patience, and employed their country's President Lee Mying-bak and Olympic women's figure skating champion Kim Yuna to persuade and charm the IOC.

INDIA GOLD TREASURE TO HIT $25 BILLION AS COUNTING CONTINUES



Sree Padmanabha swami temple, which already revealed a mammoth treasure amounting to nearly $22 billion, is expected to produce more surprises as two more secret chambers are to be opened later this week.
Analysts said two more chambers B and E remain to be opened and are expected to disgorge many more royal treasures and the final value could hit $25 billion.

The temple has a total of six chambers, named A to F by the committee authorized to calculate the value and each chamber is situated around 20 feet under the ground.

Officials expect the entire operations to calculate the treasure to be completed this week but had decided against filming or photographing the process as this wasnt allowed under temple traditions.

Antiquarians said it would take much longer to conclusively evaluate the treasure as the historical value of the objects recovered would need to be assessed along with their astronomical intrinsic value.

Meanwhile, the Kerala government has decided to provide commando protection to the temple and seek central government help to maintain heavy security in and around the temple which was situated in a thickly populated area.

Medias and public in Kerala are discussing widely on the treasure and are divided on what to do with the vast treasure which is likely to hit at least $25 billion once the B vault will be opened.

Some argued that the treasure would be utilized for the welfare of the state and cited example of northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh in this regard.

Earlier this year , In order to widen the scope of earlier bill and dispose off idle GOLD in the stock of temple trusts, Himachal Pradesh government proposed amendment in the HP Hindu Public Religious & Charitable Endowments Act 1984, proposing better utilization of gold reserves.

The Bill intends to insert new clauses in section 12(A) in HP Hindu Public Religious & Charitable Endowments Act 1984 by proposing that 50 per cent gold be converted into gold biscuits or coins and sold to the devotees and pilgrim on the current prevailing market price.

However, Kerala has already made it clear that the entire treasure belongs to temple and deity and rejected any questions about who should manage the wealth, much of which is believed to have been deposited at the temple by the royal family of the princely state of Travancore.

Although a final decision in this regard will be taken by Indias apex court, The Supreme Court of India once it has established the total value of the holdings, which could take months to finish.

Early estimates of the treasure have been revised several times as searchers have opened more of the vaults in recent days.

G-8 Summit




The 37th G-8 summit was held on May 26-27, 2011 in the commune of Deauville in France. The G-8 is comprised of the eight main industrialised countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.


The Middle East and North Africa, nuclear safety and economic recovery topped the agenda of G-8 leaders.G-8 countries and multilateral development banks pledged $20bn in backing for democratic reform, with the EU offering new. The G8 also endorsed the EUs call for worldwide stress tests on nuclear power plants as part of a review of international safety standards.