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Q- The national income of a country for a given period is equal to the A. total value of goods and services produced by the nationals B. sum of total consumption and investment expenditure C. sum of personal income of all individuals D. money value of final goods and services produced Q- Which of the statements given above is/are correct with reference to Special Economic Zone (SEZ)? 1. SEZs have full freedom for subcontracting. 2. They are exempted from routine examination by custom authorities. a) 1 only b) 2 only c) Both 1 and 2 d) Neither 1 nor 2 Q- Select the eastern most place among the places given from mediterranean sea. A. Ibiza B. Palma C. Malta D. Cyprus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Answer 1-A, 2-C, 3-D

Q- What is principle reason for Urban heat islands? A. It is because vehicles put lots of Green House gases B. It is because many common construction materials absorb and retain more of the sun’s heat C. It is because of suns heat wave stay near some urban areas due to photochemical reaction D. None of the above Q- Which of the following committees are related to BCCI reforms? 1. Justice Mudgal committee 2. Justice Lodha committee A. 1 only B. 2 only C. Both D. None Q- Which of the following is not an rating agency for bonds? A) Moody’s B) Fitch C) Standard & Poor’s D) APEC rating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . .  Answer  1-B, 2-C, 3-D

For the second time in the history of climate negotiations, the US first made a global agreement weak and then walked away from it. They did this with the Kyoto Protocol and now with the Paris Agreement. Today, when Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, he did nothing more than formalising the anti-climate policies that he had been promoting for the past few months. In March this year, Trump signed a sweeping Executive Order on ‘Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth’. The Order promotes coal mining on federal land, calls for canceling, revising or revoking any rule or action that can potentially burden the development of domestic fossil fuel resources, revokes carbon pollution standards from the power sector and halts the implementation of the clean power plan that aims at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from US power plants. Essentially, before today’s announcement, Trump had already dismantled the “modest” policies and initiative

What is Paris Agreement? The Paris Agreement is a climate pact adopted by 195 Parties on December 12, 2015. The Agreement is under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is the global climate regime to address climate change. It replaces its predecessor, the Kyoto Protocol, which came into force in 2005. What is the objective of the Paris Agreement? The Paris Agreement aims at arresting the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and urges the Parties to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C. When would the Paris Agreement come into force? Paris Agreement came into force on November 4, 2016, 30 days after at least 55 Parties to the Convention, collectively contributing an estimated 55 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions, ratified the climate deal in accordance with Article 21 of the Paris Agreement. However, the Agreement would be operational by 2020 after the finer detai

India-Africa engagement is getting stronger with the active involvement of political and business leaders of both sides. This was reflected in deliberations at the annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) recently. The AfDB’s decision to hold its meeting here in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, demonstrated its confidence in recent achievements and future prospects of the Indian economy. It also confirmed Africa’s growing interest in connecting more extensively with India Inc. AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina called India “a developing beacon for the rest of the world”, adding that the time was right for India and Africa to forge “winning partnerships”. This conference came against the backdrop of the historic third India-Africa Forum Summit in October 2015 when all 54 African nations had sent their representatives, 41 of them at the level of head of state or government. African governments have also been appreciative of Indian leaders’ unprecedented readiness to visit Africa. In

Trump’s hostile stance on key issues is changing the terms of diplomacy It was a diplomatic double whammy by the U.S. last week when President Donald Trump virtually held the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Group of 7 industrialised states (G7) hostage. The President’s near-repudiation of NATO’s key principles at the Brussels meet and the Paris Climate Accord at Taormina, Italy is the clearest sign yet of the diametrically opposite pathways the U.S. and its European partners have been traversing of late. The big difference, of course, is that the U.S. under Mr. Trump insists on going it alone; while Europe now has no option but to find its own feet. The normally circumspect German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, did not conceal her utter disappointment over the deepening rift among the Western allies on her return from the summit in the Sicilian town. She even implored the constituents of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to remain prepared for great

Afghan women are re-entering the public space in Kabul, but it’s imperative to take empowerment to countryside During the Taliban rule, like all other working women in Afghanistan, Suraya Raisada had to quit her job. “I began giving tuitions to schoolchildren at home,” said Ms. Raisada in broken Urdu, a reporter with a leading daily in Afghanistan who began working in the early 1990s during the mujahideen period. When the Taliban came into power in 1996, women were prohibited from public life, except for providing health care to other women. They were also not allowed to attend school. Further, severe restrictions were placed on the media. In 2001, when the Taliban were ousted, Ms. Raisada rejoined the daily. As I sat in her office in Kabul with three more Afghan women reporters, incomprehensible murmurs in a mélange of Dari, English and Urdu filled the room. She continued, “I studied journalism at Kabul University in the early 1990s. My parents have always supported me and have enc

The attack on Trump for sharing information is somewhat inexplicable, and has lessons for other democracies The United States currently gives an impression of being at war with itself. This stems from a series of charges and countercharges levied against President Donald Trump and his advisers, including that of collusion with the Russians, who are accused of meddling with the presidential election. Several probes have already been launched in this connection. Meanwhile, the kaleidoscopic nature of the changes taking place in the top echelons of the new administration is hardly helping matters. The peremptory actions of the President, such as the dismissal of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, has only aggravated this situation. Almost every step taken by the new administration is leading to partisan rows. The media and intelligence agencies are far from impartial in their behaviour. Leaks from within the administration, including the White House, have als

The dip in GDP growth in the January-March quarter points to the need for a policy reboot India’s economy, measured by the gross domestic product, grew at 7.1% in 2016-17, the slowest pace since the National Democratic Alliance government came to office in 2014, and significantly lower than the 8% growth clocked in 2015-16 (revised data). On the face of it, this is in line with the estimates put out by the Central Statistics Office in early January and at the end of February. A top government economist has lashed out at ‘messiahs of doom’ who had predicted a 2% decline in growth due to the Centre’s decision to demonetise ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes last November. But scratch deeper, and those naysayers don’t appear to be too far off the mark. Growth in the final quarter of 2016-17 was just 6.1%, all of 1.8 percentage points lower than the 7.9% recorded in its first (which decelerated to 7.5% and 7% in the second and third quarters, respectively). In fact, the only reason the 7.1%