G.K. Bytes – October 2014 (Questions: 551 – 600)

(551) Recently, Australia became the first country in the world to repeal Carbon Tax. Name the first country that imposed Carbon Tax at first

Finland

(552) Aimed at starting high-speed train services utilising existing infrastructure between important destinations, the Railways conducted trial run of a 160 kmph semi-high-speed train between________.

New Delhi and Agra

(553) Which University in India, recently renamed as Savitrabai Phule University?

Pune University

(554) _____ has unveiled plans to build the world’s first temperature-controlled city Mall of the World, an ambitious project spread over an area of 48 million sq ft, to attract tourists even during the scorching summer months.

Dubai

(555) Recently, Four-party meet held in Berlin agreed on a series of step to resume the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. If Germany and Ukraine are those two countries in the Four-Party, the other two countries are:

France and Russia

(556) Who was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women?

Ema Watson

(557) The three Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women at present is

(1) Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman

(2) Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol

(3) British Actress Ema Watson

(558) Prime Minister described the day of Sep 24, 2014 as "Mangal-Parv" due to the success of Mangalyaan - "Mars Orbiter Mission." He described this at which place? (Not in ISRO)

Siddaganga Mutt at Tumkur (Karnataka)

(Received the blessings of Sri Shivakumar Swamy ji)

(559) _____ became the first Indian state to ratify the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill 2014.  [NJAC Bill is a constitutional amendment bill and hence it must be ratified by the legislatures of not less than one-half of the states by resolutions]

Rajasthan 

(560) India’s first ever e-Cabinet is associated with the State of

Andhra Pradesh

(561) The first Bank to name Vijay Mallaya and its Kingfisher Airlines as "Wilful Defaulter" (has money to pay the loan but does not)

United Bank of India

(562) "Mothan" is anew hybrid variety of

Banana

(563) India’s first underwater moored observatory that was set up in the Kongsfjorden fjord, in Norway near the North Pole is called as _____

IndARC

(564) In the recent Modi -Obama meet, India offered US industries as the lead partner in developing three 'smart cities' in India. Mention those three cities.

Ajmer (Rajasthan), Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh)

(565) Apart from "Swachhta mission", another programme for mass awakening for Youth participation was also launched on Oct 02, 2014. That program name is?

 “Punarjagaran”

(566) Recently, NASA said that _____ (sea) had dried and is at the verge of vanish

Aral Sea

(567) Alan Henning was in news recently. Who is he?

He is the British aid worker, who was beheaded by ISIS militants

(568) The first railway station in India to get Wi-Fi facility for its passengers (free for first 30 minutes)

Chennai – Central 

(569)Which country recently called for a referendum to change the national flag of the country?

New Zealand

(570) The country that won the Gold medal in “India’s unofficial national game” Cricket in the recently conceded 2014 Asian Games is

Sri Lanka (by defeating Afghanistan)

(571) India won the Men’s Kabaddi Gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games for ___ consecutive times

Seventh

(572) Sania Mirza won Gold Medal in 2014 Asian Games in Mixed Doubles event. Who was her partner in this game?

Saketh Myneni

(573) Kolkata Knight Riders won ____ consecutive matches, which was stopped by Chennai Super Kings in CLT20 final

14

(574) The Indian Actor who received the Global Diversity Award 2014 recently a t the House of Commons is

Shahrukh Khan

(575) How many Gold medals won by India in 2010 and 2014 Asian Games respectively?

14 Gold (2010) and 11 Gold (2014)

(576) The only player to win the Golden Grand Slam (or) Golden Slam (winning of Olympic Gold Medal and 4 Grand Slams in a year) is

Steffi Graff (in 1988)

(577) The only player to win ‘Career Grand Slam’ in both Singles and doubles (Olympic Gold medal and 4 Grand slam in his/her career) is

Serena Williams

Find the full form of the following in connection with India – US relations

(578) PACE

Partnership to Advance Clean Energy

(579) PEACE

Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy

(580) GIAN

Global Initiative of Academia Networks

(581) Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award 2014 for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management was awarded to

Dr. Sivathanu Pillai

(582) The Indian who won the 2014 Waislitz Global Citizen Award is

Anoop Jain

(583) 11th Metropolis World Congress 2014 organized in the Indian City of

Hyderabad (by the Government of Telengana)

(584) Who won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award at the recently concluded 2014 Asian Games?

Kosuke Hagino (Swimmer) - Japan

(585) ____ has strongly pitched in with the offer of its wood based high density house construction technology to enable India meet its ‘Housing for All by 2022’ target.

Canada

(586) India and ___ signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cultural Cooperation which will form the bulwark of the countries cultural relations for the period 2014 to 2019.

UK

(587)  ____ became the first state to allow gay marriage in USA

Massachussets

(588) For which novel, Australian author Richard Flanagan won the man Booker Prize 2014?

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

(589) Union Petroleum Ministry set up a Panel headed by ________ to inquire into the reasons for delay in developing gas discoveries in ONGC's Krishna Godavari basin KG-D5 block.

B. N. Talukar

(590) Kotak Mahindra Bank launched Facebook-based funds transfer platform named as

KayPay

(591) Author of "Final Test: Exit Sachin Tendulkar" is

Dilip D’Souza

(592) Author of "Narendra Modi –The Game Changer" is

Sudesh Verma

(593) Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched “Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana” (SAGY) under which each Member of Parliament will take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by ______ (year)

2019

(594) ____ became the first EU country to vote in favour of recognising a Palestinian state.

Sweden

(595) “Mars One” is a non profit organisation based in ____

The Netherlands

(596) Who bagged the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014?

Shakti Devi

(597) Who is appointed as the new Chief Economic Adviser?

Aravind Subramanian

(598) Whose autobiography is called as "Before Memory Fades"?

Fali Nariman

(599) ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C26, successfully launched _____, third Navigation Satellite

IRNSS-1C

(600) Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to _____ on his birth anniversary and urged people to visit “Kranti Teerth”, a memorial that celebrates his life and contribution. He was closely associated with India House, which was a very active hub for the nationalist movement in London. In 2003, Modi had the honour to bring his ashes back to India from Switzerland.

Whom we are referring in the above statement?

Shyamji Krishna Varma

ç========================= THE END ========================è

GK Bytes - Oct 2014 (in pdf) can be downloaded form the foll link:

GK Bytes (Oct 2014) in pdf - download link