AC + ADDA 3+4 Flashcards
- Which of the following points is/are “correct” with respect to the ‘National Compilation on
Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India, 2023’ released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS)
in December 2023?
A) The Total Annual Groundwater Recharge is 449.08 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM), an increase
of 11.48 BCM from 437.6 BCM (2022).
B) The Annual Extractable Ground Water Resources is 407.21 BCM, showing an increase from
398.08 BCM in 2022.
C) Out of the total 6553 assessment units (Blocks/ Mandals/ Talukas) in the country, 736 units
in various States/ UTs (11.23%) have been categorized as ‘Over-exploited’ indicating ground
water extraction exceeding the annually replenishable ground water recharge.
1) Only A
2) Only A & B
3) Only B & C
4) Only A & C
5) All A, B & C
Answer- 5) All A, B & C
Explanation:
The Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) released the ‘National
Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources Of India, 2023’ whose assessment was carried
out jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and States/UTs for taking suitable interventions
by various stake-holders.
• CGWB works under the aegis of Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga
Rejuvenation, MoJS.
i. The Total Annual Groundwater Recharge is 449.08 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM), an increase of
11.48 BCM from 437.6 BCM (2022).
• The major increase is noticed in the States of West Bengal (WB), Assam, Telangana,
Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Bihar.
ii. The Annual Extractable Ground Water Resources is 407.21 BCM, showing an increase from
398.08 BCM in 2022.
iii. Out of the total 6553 assessment units (Blocks/ Mandals/ Talukas) in the country, 736 units in
various States/ UTs (11.23%) have been categorized as ‘Over-exploited’ indicating ground water
extraction exceeding the annually replenishable ground water recharge.
These units are mostly concentrated in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh (UP),
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
- Which company has recently (in Nov ‘23) signed the 300th contract with Innovations for
Defence Excellence (iDEX)-Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) for design and development
of GaN Semiconductors?
1) Agnit Semiconductors Private Limited
2) SPEL Semiconductor Limited
3) Cypress Semiconductor Limited
4) Nordic Semiconductor Limited
5) Alliance Semiconductor Corporation
Answer- 1) Agnit Semiconductors Private Limited
Explanation:
Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)-Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), the flagship
initiative of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), signed its 300th contract with Bengaluru (Karnataka)
based M/S Agnit Semiconductors Private Limited in New Delhi, Delhi.
i. The agreement focuses on developing advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) Semiconductors which is
essential for next-generation wireless transmitters in defence applications.
ii. The contract aims to utilise indigenous GaN technology to design, develop and manufacture GaN
components for defence in India.
iii. With this India can reduce its reliance on imports of GAN components and potentially become an
exporter of it.
Note: GaN’s applications range from radars to Electronics Warfare (EW) jammers.
- In December 2023, the high-level central committee, headed by Union Minister of Home
Affairs Amit Shah, approved the Recovery and Reconstruction (R&R) plan of Rs 1,658 crore for
_____________ (city/district).
1) Jorhat, Assam
2) Chamba, Himachal Pradesh
3) Joshimath, Uttarakhand
4) Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir
5) Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand
Answer- 3) Joshimath, Uttarakhand
Explanation:
The high-level central committee, headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has approved the
Recovery and Reconstruction (R&R) plan of Rs 1,658 crore for Joshimath in Uttarakhand, which
was affected by landslides and land subsidence.
i. About Joshimath’s Natural Disaster:
• Joshimath, a hill town in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, suffered a land subsidence (sink)
of about 5.4 cm in the 12 days from December 27, 2022, to January 8, 2023.
• After this incident, Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone by the
Uttarakhand government. Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the
Earth’s surface due to removal or displacement of subsurface earth materials.
ii. About the recovery plan for Joshimath:
• The recovery plan for Joshimath will be implemented in three years, following best practices,
Build Back Better (BBB) principles, and sustainability initiatives.
- Which of the following points is/are “correct” with respect to the recent step taken by the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in December 2023?
A) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Central Bank of Brazil signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for cooperation and information exchange regarding the Clearing
Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).
B) RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 10,000 on Bank of America, N.A. for violation of
RBI’s instructions on reporting requirements under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of
FEMA, 1999.
C) RBI approved the promoter of CSB Bank to retain a 26% stake in the lender.
1) Only A
2) Only A & B
3) Only B & C
4) Only A & C
5) All A, B & C
Answer- 3) Only B & C
Explanation:
On December 1, 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bank of England (BoE) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation and information exchange regarding the
Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).
• Signatories: RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar and BoE Deputy Governor for Financial
Stability Sarah Breeden in London, United Kingdom (UK)
i. RBI in exercise of powers under the provisions of Section 11(3) of FEMA (Foreign Exchange
Management Act), 1999 has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 10,000 on Bank of America, N.A. for
violation of RBI’s instructions on reporting requirements under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of
FEMA, 1999.
• This penalty will not affect any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its
customers.
ii. RBI approved the promoter of CSB Bank to retain a 26% stake in the lender. This is higher than
the 15% stake that RBI had previously advised.
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) extended the timeline of linking of SEBI
Complaint Redressal (SCORES) platform with the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Portal from
4th December 2023 to ____________.
1) 1st July 2024
2) 1st March 2024
3) 1st June 2024
4) 1st April 2024
5) 1st May 2024
Answer- 4) 1st April 2024
Explanation:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has extended the timeline of linking of SEBI
Complaint Redressal (SCORES) platform with the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Portal from 4th
December 2023 to 1st April 2024.
i. The circular was issued under Section 11(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act,
1992.
ii. As per the circular issued by SEBI on 20th September 2023,
• The market entities have to keep submitting the Action Taken Report (ATR) on SCORES within
21 calendar days from the date of receipt of the complaint.
• The market entities have to apply for SCORES authentication and for Application Programming
Interface (API) integration so that entities can comply with the circular from December 4,
2023.
iii. SEBI has proposed to reduce the timelines and introduce auto-routing and auto-escalation of
complaints to strengthen the investor grievance handling mechanism through SCORES.
- Which company has recently (in Dec ‘23) launched its mobile trading app, SKY on Amazon
Web Services (AWS)?
1) Motilal Oswal Securities
2) HDFC Securities
3) Axis Securities
4) ICICI Securities
5) Kotak Securities
Answer- 2) HDFC Securities
Explanation:
HDFC Securities Limited, the stock-broking arm of HDFC Bank, has launched its mobile trading app,
HDFC SKY on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing unit of Amazon.com.
i. AWS is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud.
• HDFC Securities will provide secure and low-latency trading services to retail investors who
prefer mobile trading.
• HDFC SKY, built on AWS, will enable investors to access the stock market at a scale of
thousands of transactions per second.
• With AWS, HDFC Securities will reduce its annual Information technology (IT) infrastructure
and management costs by up to 50%.
- Which of the following personalities has/have ‘Not’ featured on 2023 Power 100 published
by Art Review in December 2023?
1) Geeta Kapur
2) Prateek Raja
3) Bose Krishnamachari
4) Dayanita Singh
5) Natasha Ginwala
Answer- 1) Geeta Kapur
Explanation:
5 Indians including Bose Krishnamachari, an Indian painter and artist-curator hailing from Kerala,
are featured on 2023 Power 100, the annual ranking of the most influential people in art, published by
Art Review, a London-based magazine.
i. Bose Krishnamachari is ranked 38th on the list. He has curated the murals on Manaveeyam street in
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Traditional Historical and Colonial Architecture photography exhibition
and ‘Contextual Cosmologies.
ii. The other Indians on the list were,
• Prateek Raja & Priyanka Raja, Gallerists and Cofounders of Experimenter, Kolkata(West
Bengal) ranked 62nd.
• Dayanita Singh, Photographer (Delhi) ranked 78th.
• Natasha Ginwala, an independent curator, researcher, and writer, ranked 94th.
- In December 2023, India was re-elected to the ___________(Organisation’s) Council under
Category B states for the 2024-2025 biennium.
1) International Labour Organization
2) International Telecommunication Union
3) International Trade Centre
4) International Finance Corporation
5) International Maritime Organisation
Answer- 5) International Maritime Organisation
Explanation:
India has been re-elected to the International
Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council under Category
B states for the 2024-2025 biennium. India got 157
votes out of 167, which is the highest number of votes
among candidates in category B.
• The election was held during the 33rd Assembly
of IMO in London, The United Kingdom (U.K.).
i. Vikram Doraiswami, High Commissioner of India to
the United Kingdom, represented India at the IMO Assembly.
Note: Along with India, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden,
and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were elected under “Category B – “largest interest in
international seaborne trade”.
• India has been elected to and serving the Council of the IMO, ever since it started functioning
except for two years for the period 1983-1984.
- Which bank has recently (in Dec ‘23) re-appointment Chandra Shekhar Ghosh as the
Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for 3 years?
1) IndusInd Bank
2) IDFC FIRST Bank
3) IDBI Bank
4) Bandhan Bank
5) Federal Bank
Answer- 4) Bandhan Bank
Explanation:
The board of Bandhan Bank Limited approved the re-appointment of Chandra Shekhar Ghosh as
the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bandhan Bank , for 3 years.
i. The re-appointment is subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the
shareholders of the bank.
ii. If approved by RBI, the re-appointment would be effective from July 10, 2024.
Note: His current tenure as the MD and CEO would expire on 9th July 2024. He has been serving as the
MD & CEO of the bank since 2015.
- In December 2023, Union Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the
Indian Railways is set to install an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based surveillance system, named
___________ to reduce elephant deaths on railway tracks.
1) Gaj Yatra
2) Haathi AI
3) Gajraj System
4) Gajraj MIKE
5) Janvar System
Answer- 3) Gajraj System
Explanation:
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry of Railways, announced that the Indian Railways will
install ‘Gajraj System’, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based surveillance system, covering 700-
kilometer (km) track across India to reduce elephant deaths on railway tracks.
i. 700 km of rail network across Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and
Tamil Nadu will be covered under this system.
ii. The implementation of this system will cost around Rs 181 Crore.
iii. The Gajraj System’ was developed by the Railways in collaboration with several startups. This
technology was tested on a 150-kilometer stretch of Assam in 2022. Based on the field experience,
improvements were made in the system exhibiting a 99.5% accuracy in detecting elephants on tracks.
- Name the Autonomous Bodies of Department of Health and Family Welfare that has
recently (in Dec ‘23) launched the revamped version of the DIGI-PHARMed application, a
cloud-based application to provide end-to-end services to Pharmacy institutions/Pharmacists.
1) National Institute of Biologicals
2) Pharmacy Council of India
3) Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission
4) Medical Council Of india, New Delhi
5) National Institute of Health & Family Welfare
Answer- 2) Pharmacy Council of India
Explanation:
Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) launched the revamped version of the DIGI-PHARMed
application, a cloud-based application to provide end-to-end services to Pharmacy
institutions/Pharmacist/Pharmacy student/Pharmacist jobseeker.
i. Dr. Montu Kumar M Patel, President of PCI inaugurated the revamped DIGI-PHARMed application.
ii. The Objective of DIGI-PHARMed application to ensure that educational standards are implemented
uniformly across India.
- Who has recently (in Dec ‘23) become India’s 84th Grandmaster(GM) by crossing the 2500
Elo live ratings in the 4th edition of the Llobregat Open Chess Tournament (Llobregat Open
2023)?
1) Vaishali Rameshbabu
2) Sayantan Das
3) Vignesh N. R.
4) Pranesh M
5) Koustav Chatterjee
Answer- 1) Vaishali Rameshbabu
Explanation:
Indian Chess player Vaishali Rameshbabu(22 years old), has become India’s 84th
Grandmaster(GM) by crossing the 2500 Elo live ratings during the ongoing 4th edition of the
Llobregat Open Chess Tournament (Llobregat Open 2023) from 30th November 2023 to 8th
December 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.
• She is the third Indian female, after Koneru Humpy (2002) and Harika Dronavalli (2011), to get
the GM title.
• Vaishali and her brother Praggnanandhaa became the world’s first sister-brother pair to be
GrandMasters.
i. Vaishali Rameshbabu secured her Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title in 2018 (elo rating 2300) and
International Master (IM) title in 2021(elo rating 2400).
• At present, she is ranked world no. 11 in the women’s ranking with a live rating of 2501.5.
- When was the United Nations (UN) International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2023
observed across the globe?
1) 28th November 2023
2) 29th November 2023
3) 30th November 2023
4) 2nd December 2023
5) 1st December 2023
Answer- 4) 2nd December 2023
Explanation:
The United Nations (UN) International Day for the Abolition of Slavery 2023 was observed across
the globe on 2nd December 2023 to combat and eradicate contemporary forms of slavery, such as
human trafficking, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced
recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
i. The 50 for Freedom Campaign is led by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and its
partners, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Organization of
Employers(IOE).
ii. The 50 for Freedom campaign is the ILO’s Protocol on Forced Labour that helps millions of
children, women, and men reclaim their freedom and dignity.
iii. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Children worldwide participate in paid
and unpaid forms of work.
• In the least developed countries, over 25% of children (ages 5 to 17) engage in labour
detrimental to their health and growth.
- When was the National Pollution Control Day 2023 observed across India?
1) 2nd December 2023
2) 30th November 2023
3) 29th November 2023
4) 1st December 2023
5) 28th November 2023
Answer- 1) 2nd December 2023
Explanation:
National Pollution Control Day or National Pollution Prevention Day is annually observed across
India on 2 December in the memory of those who lost their lives in the disastrous 1984 Bhopal Gas
Tragedy.
• 2nd December 2023 marks the 39th Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
i. Bhopal Gas Tragedy was India’s first major industrial disaster that took place on the intervening
night of December 2 and 3, 1984, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh(MP).
ii. Almost 45 tonnes of the hazardous gas – Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) as well as several other
poisonous gases leaked from a pesticide plant, Union Carbide (India) Ltd. (UCIL).
- The __________ World Computer Literacy Day observed across the globe on 2nd December
2023.
1) 21st
2) 23rd
3) 20th
4) 25th
5) 22nd
Answer- 2) 23rd
Explanation:
The 23rd World Computer Literacy Day 2023 was observed across the globe on 2nd December
2023 to raise public knowledge of computers and encourage the development of technological skills,
particularly among children and women in India.
i. World Computer Literacy Day was established in 2001 by an Indian company National Institute of
Information Technology (NIIT) to commemorate its 20th anniversary.
ii. The first World Computer Literacy Day was observed on 2nd December 2001.
- Name the state government that has recently (in Dec ‘23) signed an MoU with the National
Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for the holistic development of the dairy sector.
1) Jharkhand
2) Madhya Pradesh
3) Gujarat
4) Uttar Pradesh
5) Assam
Answer- 5) Assam
Explanation:
The Government of Assam has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the National Dairy
Development Board (NDDB) for the holistic development
of the dairy sector in Assam.
i. This partnership is in line with efforts to make Assam
sufficient in milk and egg production in the coming years.
The government has targeted to increase Assam’s milk
production to 39 lakh litres per day from 29 lakh litres.
ii. Assam has identified land at three places to set up mega milk processing plants with a capacity of 1
lakh litres per day.
iii. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam also laid the foundation stone of Purabi
Dairy expansion project under World Bank-funded Assam Agribusiness & Rural Transportation
Project (APART).
