Dear Readers, Daily Current Affairs Questions Quiz for SBI, IBPS, RBI, RRB, SSC Exam 2020 of 03rd July 2020. Daily GK quiz online for bank & competitive exam. Here we have given the Daily Current Affairs Quiz based on the previous days Daily Current Affairs updates. Candidates preparing for IBPS, SBI, RBI, RRB, SSC Exam 2020 & other competitive exams can make use of these Current Affairs Quiz.
1) Private train operations in the country will begin by 2023. Private participation will be only ____ per cent of the existing trains.
A) 11
B) 10
C) 7
D) 8
E) 5
2) Which of the following institutions has developed a virtual classroom system named ‘Mobile Masterjee’?
A) IIT Delhi
B) IIT Mandi
C) IIT Hyderabad
D) IIT Kanpur
E) IIT Roorkee
3) Vikas Satwalekar who passed away recently was the Executive director of which institution?
A) Bose Institute
B) All India Institute of Medical Sciences
C) National Institute of Design
D) IIT Delhi
E) IIT Kanpur
4) What is the amount approved by the World Bank to provide budgetary support for Pakistan to tackle Covid-19?
A) 550 million
B) 500 million
C) 450 million
D) 400 million
E) 250 million
5) Which bank has launched an instant loan facility against mutual funds for its retail customers?
A) Yes
B) Bandhan
C) ICICI
D) HDFC
E) SBI
6) Karnam Sekar who has retired recently was the MD & CEO of which bank?
A) Yes Bank
B) HDFC
C) Oriental Bank of Commerce
D) UCO
E) Indian Overseas Bank
7) Who among the following has been named by the UN chief as a member of the scientific group for the 2021 food summit?
A) Shikha Prakash
B) Vasu Vashisht
C) Anand Singh
D) Rattan Lal
E) Sushma Seth
8) Who among the following has taken interim charge as ICC Chairman after Shashank Manohar stepped down from the post?
A) Jagmohan Dalmiya
B) Imran Khwaja
C) Dave Richardson
D) N Srinivasan
E) Manu Sawhney
9) Researchers from which institution have developed a sterilizing system for personal belongings?
A) IIT-Madras
B) IIT-Delhi
C) IIT-Roorkee
D) IIT-Mandi
E) IIT-Hyderabad
10) Carlyle Group is all set to acquire _________ per cent stake in Airtel’s data centre business for $235 mn.
A) 12
B) 10
C) 15
D) 20
E) 25
11) Who among the following has been appointed as the Director-General of IIMC?
A) Amit Singh
B) Raj Desai
C) Neeraj Singh
D) Sanjay Dwivedi
E) Raj Prakash
12) Hari Krishen Kaul who passed away at the age of 79 was a veteran _______.
A) Athlete
B) Producer
C) Poet
D) Director
E) Singer
13) ICMR is planning to launch an indigenous Covid-19 vaccine by ________ after completion of all clinical trials.
A) September 15
B) July 30
C) August 15
D) August 30
E) September 1
14) Saroj Khan who passed away at the age of 72 in Mumbai was a famous ________.
A) Musician
B) Writer
C) Choreographer
D) Director
E) Producer
15) Intel Capital is all set to invest how much amount in Jio Platforms?
A) Rs. 1450 crore
B) Rs 1,750 crore
C) Rs 1,894 crore
D) Rs 1,500 crore
E) Rs 1,650 crore
16) The Defence Acquisition Council in a recent meeting has cleared capital acquisitions worth how many crores as required by the Indian armed forces?
A) Rs 16,500 crore
B) Rs 26,500 crore
C) Rs 35,000 crore
D) Rs 38,900 crore
E) Rs 42,000 crore
17) Who among the following has launched the Drug Discovery Hackathon for supporting the drug discovery process?
A) G Kishan Reddy
B) Amit Shah
C) Narendra Modi
D) Nirmala Sitharaman
E) Harsh Vardhan
18) The government of which state has launched a portal to connect job seekers and employers?
A) Haryana
B) Karnataka
C) Madhya Pradesh
D) Uttar Pradesh
E) Kerala
19) What is India’s growth forecast for FY 2021-22 as per Fitch ratings?
A) 7%
B) 7.5%
C) 9%
D) 8%
E) 9.5%
20) Which of the following is the only Indian company on the global list of 100 firms that prospered during the pandemic?
A) Infosys
B) RIL
C) BEL
D) HDFC
E) ONGC
21) India has conducted a naval exercise with which country in the Indian ocean amidst ongoing India-China border tensions in Ladakh?
A) Myanmar
B) US
C) Australia
D) Japan
E) Sri Lanka
22) According to Care Ratings, India’s GDP may contract by ______ per cent in FY21.
A) 4.5
B) 5
C) 5.5
D) 6
E) 6.4
23) Which of the following banks has tied up with payment solution provider Innoviti to offer EMI billing options on debit cards?
A) HDFC
B) Kotak Mahindra
C) SBI
D) ICICI
E) Yes Bank
24) Who among the following has been appointed as a non-executive member on Axis Bank’s board?
A) Amit Rana
B) Rakesh Mishra
C) TC Suseel Kumar
D) Sushil Singh
E) Anand Mehta
25) Name the scheme launched by SERB to strengthen scientific research mechanisms and provide a platform for research internships in the country.
A) Spread Vigyan
B) Accelerate Science
C) Accelerate Knowledge
D) Accelerate Vigyan
E) Boost Science
Answers :
1) Answer: E
Private train operations in the country will begin by April 2023, and the ticket fares in these trains will be competitive with airfares on similar routes.
The improvement in technology will also mean that the coaches that now require maintenance after running 4,000 km, will need maintenance after every 40,000-km, that is either once or twice a month.
Private participation in passenger train operations will only be five per cent of the existing 2800 Mail/Express trains over IR.
The private entity has to ensure 95 per cent punctuality and record not more than one failure per lakh kilometre of travel.
2) Answer: D
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has developed an innovative virtual classroom aid titled ‘Mobile Masterjee’.
The classroom-to-home teaching setup is designed to record the lectures/instructions by the teachers while using smartphones. ‘Mobile Masterjee’ can capture the videos in horizontal (table) and vertical (blackboard) positions.
Earlier, IIT Kanpur had developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered solution for instant fact checking amid the deluge of fake news and unverified messages floating on the various social media platforms. Titled ‘Satyanweshi’ (seeker of truth in Sanskrit), the AI chatbot is programmed for finding and checking true information about Covid-19.
3) Answer: C
Alumnus and former executive director of the National Institute of Design (NID), Professor Vikas Satwalekar passed away.
Prof Satwalekar was formerly an NID executive director (1989-2000) and the head of its visual communication programme (1982-2000).
He had worked on prestigious exhibition design projects, such as the Khalsa Heritage Museum, and conceived and designed ‘Bharat Ek Darshan’ and ‘India Exhibit’ at the Commonwealth Institute, London.
4) Answer: B
The World Bank (WB) has approved US $500 million in budgetary support for Pakistan to address the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money will help Pakistan strengthen fiscal management, promote transparency and private sector growth, and undertake foundational reforms in the energy sector to transition to low-carbon energy.
The money support for Pakistan has been approved under the “Resilient Institutions for Sustainable Economy” program.
The project will be financed by a US $250 million credit from the International Development Association and a US $250 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
5) Answer: C
ICICI Bank has launched a facility that enables retail customers to get loans of up to Rs.1 crore instantaneously by pledging their holdings in both debt and equity mutual funds.
The fully digital and paperless facility empowers the customers to avail this loan as an overdraft (OD) in a matter of a few minutes, without visiting a branch and submitting physical documents.
ICICI Bank has launched ‘Insta Loans against Mutual Funds’ in partnership with ‘Computer Age Management Services’ (CAMS). ‘Insta Loans against Mutual Funds’ is an extension of the Insta LAS, an instant loan facility against equity.
Salient features of ‘Insta Loans against Mutual Funds’
Instant access to funds: The customers get access to instant liquidity by leveraging their existing mutual fund portfolio, without selling them.
6) Answer: E
Public sector Indian Overseas Bank’s (IOB) managing director and chief executive Karnam Sekar retired on June 30.
Sekar was appointed as OSD of IOB after merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank into Bank of Baroda.
He had joined the bank as an OSD (officer on special duty) and whole-time director on April 1, 2019 and was elevated as MD and CEO on July 1, 2019 after the retirement of Subramaniam Kumar.
7) Answer: D
Prof Rattan Lal of Ohio State University and Dr Uma Lele of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) are among the Scientific Group Members named by UN President Guterres.
Lal, a pre-eminent Indian-American soil scientist, was named last month as the 2020 World Food Prize Laureate for developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increasing food production that conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change.
Lal serves as distinguished university professor of Soil Science and founding Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Centre at The Ohio State University.
Lele, the first woman to be awarded a PhD in agricultural economics by Cornell University, was elected President Elect of the International Association of Agricultural Economists in July 2018.
Guterres, in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Rome-based Agencies, will convene the Food Systems Summit in 2021, as a critical contribution to the Decade of Action to deliver the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
8) Answer: B
ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar stepped down from the post after two-year tenures.
Deputy Chairman Imran Khwaja will assume the responsibilities of the Chairperson until a successor is elected.
9) Answer: C
IIT-Roorkee has developed a disinfection box that can be used for sterilizing a wide variety of personal belongings including medical equipment, Personal Protection Equipment, apparels among others, against coronavirus.
Termed as the ‘Unisaviour’ box, it comprises a metal coated with specially- designed highly reflective geometry to allow the calibrated passage of UVC light to disinfect personal belongings.
The device has been developed by a team of researchers at IIT Roorkee led by Professor Soumitra Satapathi, Laboratory of Integrated Nanophotonics and Biomaterials.
The box has an internal coating of indigenously- developed metal oxide along with herbal antibacterial and antiviral layers to prevent the growth of microorganisms when UVC light is not in use.
The user-friendly device comes with an additional safety switch for UVC light.
The ‘Unisaviour’ box is equipped with an Arduino-programmed system to control the time exposure and intensity of UVC light, that aids in the sterilization of various personal belongings.
10) Answer: E
US-based Carlyle Group will invest $235 million (approximately Rs 1770 crore) for approximately 25 per cent stake in Nxtra Data Ltd, an arm of Bharti Airtel engaged in the data centre business.
The transaction is subject to the necessary regulatory approvals, including approval from the Competition Commission of India.
US-based Carlyle has prior experience in data centre ownership through investments in Coresite in the US and Itconic in Spain.
Nxtra, which is building multiple large data centres across India, will use the proceeds from the deal to scale up its infrastructure.
Carlyle invested $700 million during the first half of 2020, excluding $235 million for 25 per cent stake in Airtel’s data which was announced today. In 2019, the company invested $698 million over three deals which rose to $700 million during the first half of 2020.
11) Answer: D
Professor Sanjay Dwivedi was appointed as the Director General of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC).
Dwivedi is at present Registrar of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal.
His appointment as the DG, IIMC on direct recruitment basis for a period of three years.
12) Answer: C
A noted library and information specialist, author, poet, and bibliographer, Dr Hari Krishen Kaul passed away after battling with Covid-19 for two weeks. He was 79.
Kaul was known for forming DELNET, a network of over 1,500 libraries in South Asia, in 1988, and was the founder-member and president of the Poetry Society (India), which he set up in 1984, along with poets Keshav Malik, J P Das and Lakshmi Kannan.
13) Answer: C
Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR is planning to launch indigenous Covid-19 vaccine for public use by the 15th of August after completion of all clinical trials. ICMR has partnered with Bharat Biotech International Limited to develop this path breaking, Covid-19 vaccine.
ICMR has asked Bharat Biotech to fast track the clinical trial mechanism and ensure that the subject enrolment is initiated by 7th of July.
This is the first indigenous vaccine being developed in India and one of the top priority projects of the government. The vaccine is derived from a SARS-COV2 strain isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. ICMR and Bharat Biotech are jointly working for the preclinical as well as clinical development of this vaccine.
Recently, the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation, the National regulatory body for Indian Pharmaceuticals and medical devices, has granted approval to Bharat Biotech India to conduct human clinical trials for Corona Vaccine called ‘Covexin’.
14) Answer: C
Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest in Mumbai.
She was 72 years of age and had recently been discharged from the hospital. She had earlier complained of breathing difficulties and tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
With a career spanning over forty years, she had choreographed more than 2000 songs across the board. Her last film as a choreographer was Kalank for which she won a Filmfare award for best choreography alongside Remo D’Souza.
Saroj Khan was born as Nirmala Nagpal. She joined the Indian film industry as a child artist, playing the younger Shyama in Nazarana. She became an assistant choreographer and her first break as an independent choreographer came with Geeta Mera Naam (1974). Her collaboration with Madhur Dixit shot her to fame in films like Tezaab and Beta and others.
15) Answer: C
Reliance Industries Limited and Jio Platforms Limited announced that Intel Capital will invest Rs. 1,894.50 crore in Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs. 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs. 5.16 lakh crore. Intel Capital’s investment will translate into a 0.39% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis.
The deal with Intel Capital — the 12th such investment in 11 weeks —takes the total stake that RIL sold in Jio Platforms to 25.09 percent.
Intel Capital joins the list of marquee firms who have recently invested in Jio Platforms, taking the total investment amount to Rs. 117,588.45 crore. Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has more than 388 million subscribers.
Jio Platforms has made significant investments across its digital ecosystem, powered by leading technologies spanning broadband connectivity, smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, augmented and mixed reality and blockchain.
16) Answer: D
Defence Acquisition Council ( DAC) in its meeting accorded approval for Capital acquisitions of various platforms and equipment required by the Indian Armed Forces. Proposals for an approximate cost of 38,900 Crore rupees were approved. The meeting chaired by Defence minister Rajnath Singh focused on indigenous design and development. These approvals include acquisitions from Indian Industry amounting to 31130 Crore rupees.
The equipment is to be manufactured in India involving Indian Defence Industry with participation of several MSMEs as prime tier vendors. The Indigenous content in some of these projects is up to 80 per cent of the project cost.
A large number of these projects have been made possible due to Transfer of Technology by DRDO to the Indigenous Industry. These include Pinaka ammunitions, BMP armament upgrades and Software Defined Radios for the Army, Long Range Land Attack Cruise Missile Systems and Astra Missiles for Navy and Air Force. The cost of these Design and Development proposals is in the range of 20400 crore rupees.
17) Answer: E
Human Resources and Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan jointly launched the Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020. It is an online competition and anybody from anywhere in the country or world can participate.
Mr Pokhriyal stated, Drug Discovery Hackathon is the first of its kind national initiative for supporting the drug discovery process. He stated, to attract international talent, the hackathon will be open to participation from across the globe from professionals, faculty, researchers and students.
Dr Harsh Vardhan emphasized the need to establish the culture of computational drug discovery in the country. In this initiative, HRD Innovation cell and AICTE will focus on identifying potential drug molecules through the Hackathon while CSIR will take these identified molecules forward for synthesis and laboratory testing.
18) Answer: B
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa launched ‘Skill Connect Forum’, a portal that connects job seekers with employers on a common platform.
An unemployed person will be imparted a skill and then enabled to get a job,” the Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood department stated in a statement.
The initiative comes even as the state continues to reel under the economic uncertainty and acute fund crunch due to the covid-19 induced lockdown that has resulted in job losses across the state and country.
The state government has been trying to introduce amendments to key industrial and labour laws as part of its efforts to improve ease of doing business and attract investors in the hope that it would generate employment.
The Skill Connect Forum portal provides information on available jobs.
Any individual can register on the portal by uploading details of their qualification, skill sets and other details. Similarly, employers would also register on the portal which then tries to match the requirement and availability.
19) Answer: D
Fitch Ratings cut India’s growth forecast for 2021-22 fiscal to 8 per cent from 9.5 percent predicted last month. It retained its projection of Indian economy contracting by 5 per cent in the current fiscal.
Indian economic growth stood at an estimated 4.2 per cent in 2019-20. In its June update of Global Economic Outlook, Fitch projected Indian economy to grow 5.5 per cent in 2022-23.
In India, where authorities imposed one of the most stringent lockdowns globally to try to halt the spread of the virus, measures are being relaxed only very gradually; with a limited policy easing response and ongoing financial sector fragilities, we have pared our 2021 forecast to 8 per cent from 9.5 per cent in the previous GEO, Fitch stated.
In May update to the outlook, Fitch had projected 9.5 per cent growth in 2021-22.
S&P has forecast a 5 per cent contraction in the fiscal year starting April, and the growth to recover to 8.5 per cent next fiscal.
20) Answer: B
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) is the only Indian company to feature on a list of businesses that prospered during the Coronavirus enforced lockdown.
A list of top 100 companies by Financial Times ranked Mumbai-based RIL at 89. The publication ranked companies based on resiliency during the pandemic.
While Reliance’s core energy businesses have struggled during the pandemic, foreign investors flocked to its digital arm Jio. After Facebook bought a 10 per cent stake for $5.7 billion in April, Jio sold stakes to everyone from Silver Lake and KKR to Mubadala,” the publication stated.
RIL’s telecom unit Jio Platforms has raised Rs 1,17,588.45 crore from global investors since April 22, the conglomerate stated on July 3.
21) Answer: D
The Indian and Japanese navies have reportedly conducted an exercise in the Indian Ocean amidst ongoing India-China border tensions in Ladakh.
Rajput-class destroyer INS Rana and Kora-class missile corvette INS Kulish of the Indian Navy participated in the ‘goodwill training’ exercise.
The Japanese vessels are JS Shirayuki and JS Kashima. They belong to the country’s Maritime Self-Defence Force’s training squadron.
According to undisclosed sources, the passing exercise (PASSEX) is considered a significant strategic signalling for China.
In the last three years, the Indian and Japanese navies have conducted 15 of these training exercises.
Since 2015, Japan has also been regularly taking part in naval drills between India and the US.
The bilateral exercise Malabar began in 1992 in the Indian Ocean. Last year, it was held in Sasebo in September.
In 2018, India and Japan launched an annual joint land military exercise called Dharma Guardian.
22) Answer: E
Care Ratings revised India’s GDP growth forecast for the current financial year to (-) 6.4 percent as economic activity continues to be under restriction. The rating agency, in May, had projected a decline in GDP growth of 1.5-1.6 percent in FY21.
Under these assumptions our forecast for GDP growth is now (-) 6.4 percent for FY21 with GVA (de)growth estimated to be around (-) 6.1 percent, Care Ratings stated in a report.
The sharper fall in real GDP also means that the nominal GDP for the year will also decline assuming inflation of 5 percent which in turn will affect the projected fiscal deficit number of the central government which will be in the region of 8 percent for FY21, it stated.
In FY20, the country’s economy grew at an estimated 4.2 percent, almost a decade low.
It, however, stated the positive growth will come from only agriculture and the government sector.
23) Answer: B
Kotak Mahindra Bank and Innoviti Payment Solutions announced that they have collaborated to offer equated monthly instalments (EMI) billing options on Kotak debit cards swiped on Innoviti POS terminals.
The facility will allow over 1 crore Kotak customers to pay for their purchases in instalments by using the EMIs on debit cards at over 70,000 Innoviti POS terminals across more than 1,000 cities.
Importantly, with over half of Innoviti’s POS terminals installed in 350 smaller cities and towns in India with a population of less than 20 lakh, this arrangement will help consumers particularly in tier 2 and 3 cities access credit conveniently through their Kotak debit cards, Kotak Mahindra Bank stated.
24) Answer: C
Axis Bank appointed Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) managing director T C Suseel Kumar on its board as non-executive member.
LIC is one of the promoters of Axis Bank.
The proposal relating to the appointment of Kumar as the additional non-executive (nominee) director of the bank will be subject to the approval of shareholders at the 26th Annual General Meeting, Axis Bank stated.
25) Answer: D
The Science and Engineering Research Board has launched a new scheme called ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ to provide a single platform for research internships, capacity building programs and workshops across the country.
The primary objective of this inter-ministerial scheme is to encourage high-end scientific research and prepare scientific manpower, which can lead towards research careers and knowledge-based economy.
Accelerate Vigyan will initiate and strengthen mechanisms for identifying research potential, mentoring, training and hands-on workshops on a national scale.
This post was last modified on July 3, 2020 7:55 pm