1. Who has taken oath as the first woman Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court?
(A) Indu Malhotra
(B) Ritu Bahri
(C) Ruma Pal
(D) Hima Kohli
(E) Bela Trivedi
Solution: Option B.)
Ans (B)
Justice Ritu Bahri has been appointed as the first woman Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court.
Governor Lieutenant General (Retd.) Gurmeet Singh administered the oath to Justice Ritu Bahri at a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan.
He replaced former Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi.
In October last year, Justice Ritu Bahri was appointed as the acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
2. Which company has been awarded the ‘Best Green Bond-Corporate’ award at The Asset Triple A Awards for Sustainable Finance 2024?
(A) Hindalco
(B) Tata Power
(C) IOCL
(D) REC Limited
(E) NTPC Limited
Solution: Option D.)
Ans (D)
REC Limited has been awarded the prestigious Best Green Bond – Corporate Award at The Asset Triple A Awards for Sustainable Finance 2024.
REC Limited is a Maharatna enterprise under the Ministry of Power.
REC has received the award for issuing a $750 million USD green bond due in April 2023, which was also the first USD green bond from India.
3. Which country has become the first European country to accept the Unified Payment Interface (UPI)?
(A) France
(B) Germany
(C) Italy
(D) Portugal
(E) Serbia
Solution: Option A.)
Ans (A)
NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) recently announced that UPI users can now buy tickets for the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
France has become the first European country to accept digital payments from India.
For this, NIPL has partnered with Lyra e-commerce in France.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched UPI in the year 2016.
The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France.
It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889.
It was designated a monument historique in 1964 and was named part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (“Paris, Banks of the Seine”) in 1991.
4. Which country has become the first EU country to issue Digital Schengen visas?
(A) Austria
(B) Belgium
(C) Denmark
(D) France
(E) Finland
Solution: Option D.)
Ans (D)
France has started the initiative to issue Digital Schengen visas, becoming the first country in the European Union to issue this visa.
Specific eligibility criteria have been outlined for non-EU citizens seeking a digital visa.
Digital Visa will replace stickers with cryptographically signed barcodes.
The Schengen countries are part of the ‘Schengen Agreement’ which was established in 1995.
5. Which music album has won the “Best Global Music Album” award at the Grammy Awards 2024?
(A) This moment
(B) Midnights
(C) The Record
(D) Flowers
(E) Bending the rules
Solution: Option A.)
Ans (A)
Veteran Indian musicians Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain won the Grammy Awards in the “Best Global Music Album” category.
They have won for their album “This Moment” by fusion band “Shakti”.
“This Moment” was released on 30 June 2023.
Taylor Swift won the Best Album of the Year award for Midnights.
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards 2024 were held in Los Angeles.
6. Who has recently made the record of spending maximum time in space?
(A) Christina Koch
(B) Andrew Morgan
(C) Oleg Kononenko
(D) Scott Kelly
(E) Sergey Volkov
Solution: Option C.)
Ans (C)
Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko has set a new world record for spending the most time in space by staying in space for 878 days or more than two and a half years.
Oleg Kononenko overtook the record set by compatriot Gennady Padalka.
According to the European Space Agency, Oleg Kononenko started his space career as an engineer and made his first space flight in 2008.
7. Rajendra Prasad has been appointed as the new Advocate General of which state?
(A) Bihar
(B) Maharashtra
(C) Haryana
(D) Rajasthan
(E) Odisha
Solution: Option D.)
Ans (D)
Rajendra Prasad has been appointed as the new Advocate General of Rajasthan.
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra has approved the appointment of the new Advocate General.
Jodhpur High Court had recently sought a reply from the state government in this regard, after which Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma appointed the new Advocate General.
The highest law officer of the states in India is called the Advocate General of the State.
The governor appoints the advocate general of the state on the advice of the council of ministers of the state.
In the Order of Precedence, the Additional Solicitor General is above the Advocate General of State.
The Constitution does not fix the term of Advocate General in India.
The Constitution does not contain the procedure and grounds to remove the Advocate General of State.
He is responsible for advising the state government on the legal matters that the governor refers to him.
He also has to perform all the duties of legal characteristics as are assigned to him by the state governor.
He is bound by the Constitution for such duties and functions as is mentioned therein or any other constitutional law.
8. Who secured the second position globally in the Brand Guardianship Index 2024, surpassing figures like Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai?
(A) Mukesh Ambani
(B) Rahul Bajaj
(C) Gautam Adani
(D) Ratan Tata
(E) Lakshmi Sarabhai
Solution: Option A.)
Ans (A)
Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, has been ranked second globally in the Brand Guardianship Index 2024 compiled by Brand Finance.
Ambani surpassed prominent figures like Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai to secure the second spot globally, with Tencent’s Huateng Ma claiming the number-one position
Other Indian CEOs who made it to the Brand Guardianship Index 2024 rankings include N Chandrasekaran of Tata Sons (5th position), Anish Shah of Mahindra & Mahindra (6th position), and Salil Parekh of Infosys (16th position).
In addition to individual CEO rankings, the Brand Guardianship Index 2024 also recognized Jio as the strongest brand from India. Jio surpassed LIC and SBI in Brand Finance’s rankings.
9. Radha Raturi has been appointed as the first woman chief secretary of Uttarakhand. She replaces whom?
(A) Rajiv Chandra Sinha
(B) Girdhari Singh
(C) Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
(D) Ranjeet Kumar
(E) Bhagwat Kishore Mishra
Solution: Option C.)
Ans (C)
Radha Raturi has been appointed as the first woman chief secretary of Uttarakhand, replacing Sukhbir Singh Sandhu
Radha Raturi has been appointed as the first woman chief secretary of Uttarakhand, making history in the state’s administrative landscape.
Radha Raturi is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1988 batch, bringing decades of experience and expertise to her new role as chief secretary.
Raturi replaces Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, whose tenure as chief secretary of Uttarakhand ended on Wednesday, February 1, 2024.
10. Which state government has signed an MoU with JNU, Delhi to establish the Biju Patnaik Special Centre at JNU?
(A) Assam
(B) Odisha
(C) Kerala
(D) Bihar
(E) Haryana
Solution: Option B.)
Ans (B)
Odisha government and JNU, Delhi sign an MoU to establish the Biju Patnaik Special Centre for Odia Studies at JNU.
The center will focus on teaching and research in Odia language and literature, historical maritime linkages of the Kalinga Empire, and contemporary Odia culture.
The Odisha government has contributed a one-time corpus fund of Rs 10 crore for the establishment of the center.