Awards and Field

1. Bourlog Award » Agriculture

2. Academy (oscar) Awards » Film 

3. Dada Saheb Phalke Award » Film

4. Bharat Ratna » For outstanding contributions in the field of art/literature / science and public service

5. Ramon Magasaysay Award » Goverment Service, Social Service, Journalism, Literature,  Communication and
International Understanding.

6. Shankar Award » Indian Philosophy, Culture and Art.

7. Pulitzer Prize » Journalism

8. Jnanpith Award » Literature

9. Saraswati Samman » Literature

10. Vyas Samman » Literature

11. Dhanwantri Award » Medical Science

12. Grammy Award » Music

13. Noble Prize » Peace, Literature, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Economics

14. Vachaspati Samman »  Sanskrit lIterature 

15. Kalinga Award » Science 

16. Bhatnagar Award » Science

17. Karbir Samman » Socio- Communal Harmony

18. Arjuna Award » Sports 

19. Dronacharya Award » Sports Coaching 

21. DhyanChand Award » Lifetime Achievement in Sports

Daily MCQ

Ques. : 1 Which of the following pairs of meetings and their venues is NOT matched correctly with respect to some key international meetings scheduled to be held in Nov and Dec, 2014?
1) ASEAN – Myanmar
2) East Asia Summit – Fiji
3) G-20 – Australia
4) APEC – China
5) None of these
Answer:- 2) East Asia Summit – Fiji

Ques. : 2 Which of the following countries will host the international conference on climate change on the theme ‘Mountain People Adapting to Change’ from Nov 9 to 12?
1) Bhutan
2) Nepal
3) Afghanistan
4) India
5) China
Answer:- 2) Nepal

Ques. : 3 The modified direct cash subsidy transfer for LPG consumers will be launched in 54 districts from 15th Nov. The same scheme will be launched all over the country from
1) 30th Nov
2) 1st Dec
3) 15th Dec
4) 31st Dec
5) 1st Jan
Answer:- 5) 1st Jan

Ques. : 4 The Indian Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag will start his first visit to which of the following countries from 12 Nov during which he will be conferred the title of honorary rank of General of that country’s Army?
1) Bhutan
2) Sri Lanka
3) Vietnam
4) Nepal
5) Japan
Answer:- 4) Nepal

Ques. : 5 The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made his debut among the world's most powerful people on the Forbes list of 2014 released recently. He has been ranked at which of the following positions?
1) 64th
2) 57th
3) 36th
4) 21st
5) 15th
Answer:- 5) 15th

Ques. : 6 Ahead of the SAARC summit, the Vice President Hamid Ansari has pitched for creation of the South Asian group SAEU. Expand the term SAEU.
1) South Asian Exclusive Union
2) South Asian Export Union
3) South Asian Economic Union
4) South Asian Energy Union
5) None of these
Answer:- 3) South Asian Economic Union

Ques. : 7 The UP govt launched Samajwadi Pension Scheme to benefit poor families in the state. Which of the following is NOT a highlight of the scheme?
1) The scheme has an annual budget of 2,424 crore rupees.
2) The amount of pension will be hiked by 50 rupees per year up to a maximum limit of Rs 750.
3) The scheme, however, has riders relating to health, education and literacy.
4) The beneficiaries will receive the pension amount directly in their bank account.
5) None of these
Answer:- 5) None of these

Ques. : 8 The Navy Chief Admiral RK Dhowan handed over the second attack craft INS Tarasa to which of the following island nations during his recent visit? It will join her sister ship SCG Topaz as  part of the Indian Navy's assistance to the country.
1) Seychelles
2) Maldives
3) Sri Lanka
4) Thailand
5) None of these
Answer:- 1) Seychelles

Ques. : 9 Shimon Peres, who visited New Delhi recently and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the former president of
1) Spain
2) Israel
3) Sweden
4) Italy
5) None of these
Answer:- 2) Israel

Ques. : 10 The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Fiji after attending the G-20 summit in Australia. Which of the following is the capital city of Fiji?
1) Luanda
2) Port Louis
3) Suva
4) Libreville
5) None of these
Answer:- 3) Suva

BSC Match points February Month

Banking Services Chronicle Magazine Match Points GK

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13 Banking Facts

• Allahabad Bank is the oldest Joint Stock Bank of India.
• Andhra Bank was founded by Freedom Fighter Dr. Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya
• Bank of India, London, 1946 was first bank to open a branch outside India.
• The first bank to be given an ISO 9002 certificate for one of its branches -- Canara Bank
• The Postal Dept has issued a commemorative  stamp in the name of this bank celebrating 100 years in 2011 -- Central Bank of India
• First Indian Bank to be wholly owned by Indians -- Central Bank of India
• The bank formed on the efforts of Lala Lajpat Rai -- Punjab National Bank
• The only merger of nationalized banks took place between -- Punjab National Bank and New Bank of India in 1993
• The bank whose brand equity is "Pygmy Deposit Scheme" -- Syndicate Bank
• The bank which was conceived by Shri GD Birla -- UCO Bank 
• The bank which was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1919 -- Union Bank of India
• The largest among nationalized banks -- Punjab National Bank
• The bank established in the year 1913 as Bank of Mysore Ltd. at the instance of the banking committee headed by the great Engineer - Statesman, Late Dr. Sir M.Visvesvaraya -- State Bank of Mysor

Liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) - Interview Special

                   Liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) is a monetary policy tool which allows banks to borrow money through repurchase agreements.

                 LAF is used to aid banks in adjusting the day to day mismatches in liquidity. LAF consists of repo and reverse repo operations. Repo or repurchase option is a collaterised lending i.e. banks borrow money from Reserve bank of India to meet short term needs by selling securities to RBI with an agreement to repurchase the same at predetermined rate and date. The rate charged by RBI for this transaction is called the repo rate. Repo operations therefore inject liquidity into the system. Reverse repo operation is when RBI borrows money from banks by lending securities. The interest rate paid by RBI is in this case is called the reverse repo rate. Reverse repo operation therefore absorbs the liquidity in the system. The collateral used for repo and reverse repo operations are Government of India securities. Oil bonds have been also suggested to be included as collateral for Liquidity adjustment facility.

                  Liquidity adjustment facility has emerged as the principal operating instrument for modulating short term liquidity in the economy. Repo rate has become the key policy rate which signals the monetary policy stance of the economy.

                  The origin of repo rates, one of the component of liquidity adjustment facility, can be traced to as early as 1917 in U.S financial market when war time taxes made other sources of lending unattractive . The introduction of Liquidity adjustment facility in India was on the basis of the recommendations of Narsimham committee on banking sector reforms. In April 1999, an interim LAF was introduced to provide a ceiling and the fixed rate repos were continued to provide a floor for money market rates. As per the policy measures announced in 2000, the Liquidity Adjustment Facility was introduced with the first stage starting from June 2000 onwards. Subsequent revisions were made in 2001 and 2004. When the scheme was introduced, repo auctions were described for operations which absorbed liquidity from the system and reverse repo actions for operations which injected liquidity into the system. However in international nomenclature, repo and reverse repo implied the reverse. Hence in October 2004 when revised scheme of LAF was announced, the decision to follow the international usage of terms was adopted.

                 Repo and reverse repo rates were announced separately till the monetary policy statement in 3.5.2011. In this monetary policy statement, it has been decided that the reverse repo rate would not be announced separately but will be linked to repo rate. The reverse repo rate will be 100 basis points below repo rate. The liquidity adjustment facility corridor, that is the excess of repo rate over reverse repo, has varied between 100 to 300 basis points. The period between April 2001 to March 2004 and June 2008 to early November 2008 saw a broader corridor ranging from 150–250 and 200–300 basis points respectively. During March 2004 to June 2008 the corridor was narrow with the rates ranging from 100–175 basis points. A narrow LAF corridor is reflected from November 2008 onwards. At present the width of the corridor is 100 basis points. This corridor is used to contain any volatility in short-term interest rates.