General Awareness

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India's central bank responsible for monetary policy. It decides key rates like Bank Rate, Repo Rate, and Reverse Repo Rate to control liquidity and inflation. Income Tax Rates are set by the Finance Ministry through the annual budget, not by RBI.

India's first nuclear test, codenamed Operation Smiling Buddha, was conducted on 18 May 1974 at Pokhran, Rajasthan. This made India the sixth nation to conduct a nuclear test. The test was supervised by Raja Ramanna.

Salman Rushdie, the British-Indian author born in India, was knighted by the United Kingdom in 2007 for his services to literature. The honor was controversial due to protests from some Muslim countries over his novel 'The Satanic Verses'. France, Italy, and Germany do not have knighthoods in the British system.

Sunita Williams, the Indian-American NASA astronaut, spent 195 days in space during her Expedition 33/34 mission to the International Space Station from 2012. She set records for women's spacewalking time. The other names are not astronauts who spent 195 days in space.

According to the Economic Survey 2006-07, India's share in world exports was around 1.25%. This was a period of growing export competitiveness. India's export share has been gradually increasing but was still relatively low compared to developed economies and China.

The Rangarajan Committee (1984) recommended computerization of banks in India. This committee, led by C. Rangarajan, suggested phased computerization to improve banking efficiency and customer service. Other committees dealt with different aspects like credit authorization (Tandon) or financial system reforms.

The Seven Pagodas refers to the rock-cut temples in Mahabalipuram (also called Mamallapuram), Tamil Nadu. Built by the Pallava dynasty in the 7th-8th centuries, these structures are UNESCO World Heritage sites. The name comes from the belief that seven temples once existed, though some may now be submerged.

The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300-1300 BCE) used standardized baked bricks for construction. Archaeological excavations at sites like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro reveal buildings made of carefully prepared bricks in set ratios. This shows advanced urban planning and construction techniques.

The Banking Ombudsman is a grievance redressal mechanism appointed by RBI to resolve complaints from bank customers. They investigate disputes related to services, charges, and other issues between customers and banks. They do not regulate products, conduct inspections, or handle forex transactions.

Quinine is a natural alkaloid extracted from cinchona tree bark. It has been used for centuries to treat malaria by killing the Plasmodium parasites in red blood cells. Quinine does not cause malaria, kill mosquitoes directly, or prevent mosquito bites.

Wular Lake in Jammu and Kashmir is India's largest freshwater lake. It spans approximately 100-130 square kilometers depending on seasonal variations. Dal Lake and Pushkar Lake are much smaller, while Bhatkal is not a major lake.

When both houses of Parliament meet in a joint session, the Speaker of Lok Sabha presides over the proceedings. This happens for special cases like electing the President or addressing deadlocks on bills. The Speaker maintains order and conducts the business of the joint sitting.

Nepanagar in Madhya Pradesh houses a major newsprint manufacturing plant established by Hindustan Newsprint Limited. It's strategically located near bamboo forests which provide raw material for newsprint production. Other cities like Indore, Dehradun, and Nagpur are not major newsprint production centers.

Bhang is obtained from the leaves and flowers of the Cannabis plant, not from tree bark. In contrast, Quinine is extracted from cinchona bark, Tannins (misspelled as 'Tann') come from various tree barks, and Cinnamon is obtained from the inner bark of Cinnamomum trees. Therefore, Bhang is the correct answer as it is not bark-derived.

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn, discovered in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens. It's the only moon in our solar system with a substantial atmosphere and is larger than the planet Mercury. The other options (Mercury, Venus, Neptune) are planets, not moons.

Ammonia (NH3) is a compound composed of two different elements (nitrogen and hydrogen) chemically bonded in a fixed ratio. Air is a mixture of gases, Mercury is a pure element, and Ozone (O3) is a molecule of the same element. A compound must contain at least two different elements.

The Simon Commission was appointed in November 1927, also known as the Indian Statutory Commission. It arrived in India in 1928 to study constitutional reform and recommend future changes. All seven members were British, which led to widespread protests and the boycott of the commission across India.

The Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia and medically assisted suicide in 2002 under the 'Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide Act'. Switzerland allows assisted suicide but has different legal framework. New Zealand and USA have varying state laws but weren't the first to legalize nationally.

Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union on May 16, 1975, after a referendum abolished the monarchy. Prior to this, Sikkim was a protectorate under Indian control since 1973. The merger completed India's political integration of the Himalayan region.

The Brahmi script is the earliest known Indian writing system, dating back to the 3rd century BCE during the Mauryan period. It was used to write Ashokan edicts and is the ancestor of most modern Indian scripts. Mori is not a recognized script, Devanagari evolved later, and Kharosti was used in northwest India but not the earliest.

Light from the Sun takes approximately 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth, which is about 499 seconds. This is based on the average distance of 150 million kilometers between Earth and Sun, and the speed of light at 300,000 km/s. The precise value varies slightly due to Earth's elliptical orbit.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, with a mass more than twice that of all other planets combined and a diameter of about 140,000 km. Saturn is the second-largest. Earth and Uranus are significantly smaller than Jupiter.

The Canary Islands are an autonomous community of Spain, located off the northwest coast of Africa. They have been Spanish territory since the 15th century. The islands are not part of Norway, New Zealand, or Portugal, though they are geographically close to the Moroccan coast.

Finland is known as the 'Land of a Thousand Lakes' and actually has approximately 188,000 lakes, far more than the 55,000 mentioned in the question. Norway also has many lakes but fewer than Finland. Poland and Denmark have significantly fewer lakes. Finland's landscape was shaped by glacial activity.

Venus has a retrograde rotation, meaning it spins in the opposite direction (clockwise) compared to most other planets in our solar system. This unique rotation is likely due to a massive ancient impact or tidal effects from its thick atmosphere.