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Q.1- An increase in the Bank Rate generally indicates that the A. market rate of interest is likely to fall B. Central Bank is no longer making loans to commercial banks C. Central Bank is following an easy money policy D. Central Bank is following a tight money poli Q.2-- Which of the following is correct regarding Non-Aligned movement? 1. Movement has its origin in Asia-Africa conference in India 2. Conference was led by Indian PM Nehru along with Naseer and Soekarno A. 1 only B. 2 only C. Both D. None Q.3- Consider the following statement and mark the correct answer. A) GST is a tax regime to separate state taxes from central taxes. B) GST will have no impact on cascading effect of taxes. C) All major Central and State taxes will get subsumed into GST which will reduce the multiplicity of taxes, and thus bring down the compliance cost. D) None of the above. . . . . . . . . . . . .  Answer  1-D,2-B,3-C

Q.1- Which of the following is correct regarding NGT? 1. It's chairperson should be retired or serving High court or Supreme Court judge only 2. It looks cases environmental protection only 3. Present chairperson is justice swatanter Kumar. A. 1,2 B. 2,3 C. All D. 3 only Q.2- Who among the following replaced Cyrus Mistry as Charman of Tata Steel? A. Ratan Tata B. O.P.Bhatt C. Amitabh Kant D. None of the above Q.3- Which of the following is correct regarding HIV bill? 1. It is obligatory for the Central and State governments to provide for anti-retroviral therapy 2. Any discrimination or unfair treatment against PLHIVs and their families in their employment, education, healthcare and provision of insurance is prohibited. A. 1 only B. 2 only C. Both D. None  Answer  1-d,2-B,3-C

Q.1- Which of the following state does not share boundary with Myanmar? A. Arunachal Pradesh B. Meghalaya C. Manipur D. Nagaland Q.2- Consider the following form of taxes: 1. Income tax 2. Wealth tax 3. Fringe benefit tax which of the following are part of direct tax? A. 1 only B. 1,2 C. 2,3 D. All  Answer  1-B,2-D

Q.1- Who heads the Defence Acquisition Council ? A. Defence Minister B. Defence Secretary C. Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff D. Director General (Acquisition) Q.2- RTI Act 2005 came into force on (a) 12 October 2003 (b) 12 October 2005 (c) 12 October 2007 (d) 12 October 2009 Q.3- Which of the below statements correct regarding BS Norms? A) Bharat stage emission standards are emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles. B) The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment & Forests and climate change a) A only b) B only c) Both A and B d) Neither A nor B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Answer  1-A,2-B.3-A

Private life of an individual is being severely affected due to a crackdown on slaughterhouses, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court observed today while hearing a petition filed by a meat shop owner seeking renewal of the license. The court, accordingto the report by News 18 , has given Uttar Pradesh government 10 days to convene a meeting and decide on the issue so that the livelihood of individuals and their right to carry a trade and profession is not neglected in any way. The next hearing will be on April 13. According to the petitioner, a goat meat seller, the Nagar Palika Parishad of Lakhimpur Kheri was not renewing his license that expired on March 31. This is directly affecting his ability to survive since he earns his living by selling goat meat. Besides noting that the inaction of the state government affects livelihood of the meat shop owners and violate their right to trade and profession—fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution—the di...

A modeling study published on Wednesday in The Lancet Planetary Health suggests that India’s agricultural need for water can be met if Indians introduce minor changes in their diet. These changes include reducing their consumption of wheat, dairy, eggs, poultry, nuts and seeds and increasing their consumption of legumes, which, despite their relatively high blue water footprints, are a good source of protein. The researchers also advise a switch from white meat (poultry) to mutton and other red meat and to reduce their consumption of fruits such as grapes, guava and mango and consume melon, orange and papaya. This dietary shift will help achieve the 2025 and 2050 blue water footprint reduction targets of 18 per cent and 30 per cent. For those worried about compromising on nutritive values of their food, there is good news. The changes in diet will still meet the recommended dietary guidelines of the World Health Organization. Additionally, these changes would protect you from coro...

Carbon dioxide concentrations are heading towards values not seen in the past 200 million years. The sun has also been gradually getting stronger over time. Put together, these facts mean the climate may be heading towards warmth not seen in the past half a billion years. The Conversation A lot has happened on Earth since 500,000,000BC – continents, oceans and mountain ranges have come and gone, and complex life has evolved and moved from the oceans onto the land and into the air. Most of these changes occur on very long timescales of millions of years or more. However, over the past 150 years global temperatures have increased by about 1℃, ice caps and glaciers have retreated, polar sea-ice has melted, and sea levels have risen. Some will point out that Earth’s climate has undergone similar changes before. So what’s the big deal? Scientists can seek to understand past climates by looking at the evidence locked away in rocks, sediments and fossils. What this tells us is that yes...

Recently at the release of our book First Food: Culture of Taste, which discusses the link between biodiversity, nutrition and livelihoods, I was asked a question. “Why do you not, as an environmentalist espousing the cause of traditional and local diets that are sustainable, condemn meat eating? After all, meat production is bad for climate—agriculture contributes roughly 15 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions and half of this comes from meat production. It also has a huge footprint in terms of land and water consumption since an estimated 30 per cent of the world’s land not covered with ice is used to grow food, not for humans but for livestock. A 2014 University of Oxford study on British diets found that meat-rich diets—defined as eating more than 100 g of meat per day per person—emitted about 7.2 kg of CO2 per day as compared to 2.9 kg of CO2 emitted by vegan diets. So, figuring out the sustainable diet should be a no-brainer, I was told. I differed. As an Indian (I underl...

A Kerala minister’s exit after a ‘sting’ operation spurs a debate on privacy vs public interest The matter is now under a judicial inquiry, but the resignation recently of a minister in the Kerala government turns the spotlight once again on the tricky journalistic terrain of the sting operation. A new Malayalam television channel, Mangalam TV, had debuted on March 26 with a splash. It broadcast an audio recording allegedly of the then Transport Minister of Kerala, A.K. Saseendran, purportedly seeking sexual favours from a woman who had come to him for assistance. Her end of the conversation was not put out, and the channel reported that it had got the tape directly from the woman. Mr. Saseendran put up a defence imputing that all was not what it appeared on the broadcast — but in the ensuing storm, resigned. Four days later, on March 30, the CEO of the channel went on air to render an apology, presumably for misrepresenting matters, though we must await the inquiry report to get a ...

In an ironic, yet vivid way, the Indian Premier League has held up the mirror to cricket A week after I ndia clinched the Test series against Australia  at Dharamsala, the memory of both the fine victory and the bad blood that marred those matches can be pushed to the sidelines. Such is the nature of frenetic cricket calendars that the  Indian Premier League has already rolled in, its tenth edition  commencing with the match between the defending champion, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and last year’s runner-up, Royal Challengers Bangalore, on April 5. Spread over 47 days and featuring 60 matches, the IPL has over the years blended the instant gratification of the Twenty20 format with a sense of longevity, having prospered since its inception in 2008. On the field, suspense and sixes, upsets and consistency, flair and acrobatic fielding have all combined to energise the league. The inaugural event witnessed a classic reprise of David vs Goliath. Unheralded Rajasthan Royals st...

Including Hindi on road signs on national highways is understandable, but not replacing English ones After reports pointed to locations on milestones being represented in Hindi rather than English on NH 75 and NH 77 in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri districts, there was the expected sound and fury from various Dravidian political parties. This happened despite the fact that Tamil signs were more or less intact on these highways. Strident opposition to the move was expressed by the working president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, M.K. Stalin; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko; and Pattali Makkal Katchi president S. Ramadoss. Protests were threatened as the political leaders sought to blame the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre for the move. Continuum of anti-Hindi agitations For these parties, and many others in Tamil Nadu’s civil society, the change from the use of English to Hindi signs on milestones is not merely a matter of conv...

The top court’s orders banning liquor sale on highways encroach upon the executive’s domain of policymaking Decades ago, Lon Fuller, the famous American legal philosopher, coined the term “polycentric problems”. Certain social issues, according to Fuller, involved a complex set of interdependent relationships, where changing one feature could result in unforeseen and far-reaching changes to other features. A polycentric problem was like a spider web, where “a pull on one strand will distribute tensions after a complicated pattern throughout the web as a whole”. Fuller argued that the judiciary was particularly ill-suited to resolve polycentric problems. The structure of the judicial process was not oriented towards taking into account the effect that a ruling would have on the many interdependent strands of a polycentric situation. Furthermore, the judiciary did not have the time, the resources, or the institutional expertise to engage in the kind of fine-grained, evidence-based, co...

It must coexist with the right to vote in order to deepen our democratic roots “There can be no doubt, that if power is granted to a body of men, called Representatives, they like any other men will use their power not for the advantage of the community but for their own advantage, if they can.” — James Mill The ancient Athenians, under their unique democracy, came up with a social custom. Each year, in the sixth or seventh month of their 10-month calendar, all the men were asked in their assembly whether they wished to hold an ostracism. If it was a yes, an ostracism was held two months later, in a reserved section of the local agora. Here, citizens wrote down the names of those they wished to be ostracised on shards of pottery, which were then deposited in urns. Officials counted the shards. Whoever had the largest pile of ostraka — the pieces of broken pottery that were used in voting — was banned from the city for 10 years. Even though such methods lacked due process and t...