1. The 26th Eastern Zonal Meeting has been held in which city, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah?
(A) Ranchi
(B) Patna
(C) Bhubaneswar
(D) Kolkata
(E) Gangtok
Solution: Option B.)
Ans (B)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the 26th Eastern Zonal Meeting in Patna.
Addressing the representatives of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha Mr Shah appealed to all members to work with the spirit of cooperative federalism for all-round development.
Eastern India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Chairman – The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
Vice-Chairman – The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
In the light of the vision of Pandit Nehru, five Zonal Councils were set up vide Part-III of the States Re-organisation Act, 1956. These are-
The Northern Zonal Council
The Central Zonal Council
The Eastern Zonal Council
The Western Zonal Council
The Southern Zonal Council
2. Lakadong turmeric, which has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag recently, produced in which state?
(A) Uttarakhand
(B) Manipur
(C) Mizoram
(D) Meghalaya
(E) Tripura
Solution: Option D.)
Ans (D)
Meghalaya’s Lakadong turmeric, along with Garo dakmanda, Larnai pottery, and Garo chubitchi, has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
Lakadong turmeric: High curcumin content (6.8 to 7.5%).
Garo dakmanda: The traditional dress worn by Garo tribes.
Larnai Pottery: Artisanal black pottery from Jaintai Hills.
Garo Chubitchi: Rice-based alcoholic beverage.
3. What is the name of the Wipro CEO, who has become the highest paid CEO in India?
(A) Salil Parekh
(B) K Krithivasan
(C) Thierry Delaporte
(D) C Vijayakumar
(E) Mohit Joshi
Solution: Option C.)
Ans (C)
Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte emerged as the highest paid CEO in India, as per his salary package listed in the company filings for FY23.
Delaporte was born in France and has an three decades of experience in the global IT sector.
Zerodha founders Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath emerged as the highest-paid CEO and director of a startup firm, drawing in a salary of Rs 72 crore.
4. Which country has started world’s first fourth-generation nuclear reactor?
(A) Japan
(B) North Korea
(C) USA
(D) China
(E) Russia
Solution: Option D.)
Ans (D)
China has launched the world’s first commercial operations of a fourth-generation gas-cooled nuclear reactor power plant in eastern Shandong province, the Shidao Bay plant.
Unlike conventional reactors, this plant utilizes small modular reactors (SMRs), which are high-temperature reactors cooled by gas instead of pressurized water.
SMRs are considered more efficient and cost-effective.
The first Generation III reactors to begin operation were Kashiwazaki 6 and 7 advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs) in 1996 and 1997.
A generation II reactor is a design classification for a nuclear reactor, and refers to the class of commercial reactors built until the end of the 1990s.
Generation I reactors were developed in the 1950-60s and the last one (Wylfa 1 in the UK) shut down at the end of 2015.
5. Which country will host the four-day 27th WAIPA World Investment Conference starting from 11th December 2023?
(A) China
(B) India
(C) Britain
(D) France
(E) Australia
Solution: Option B.)
Ans (B)
India to host four-day 27th WAIPA World Investment Conference in New Delhi from 11th December 2023.
The World Investment Conference is being held in India for the 1st time.
National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of the Government of India, and World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies are organizing the conference at the India International Convention & Expo Centre.
6. Madhya Pradesh’s newly elected Chief Minister Mohan Yadav hails from which assembly constituency?
(A) Ujjain South
(B) Rewa
(C) Mandsaur
(D) Bhind
(E) Khargapur
Solution: Option A.)
Ans (A)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has officially announced Mohan Yadav as the chief minister-elect for Madhya Pradesh.
Mohan Yadav is an MLA from Ujjain South.
He has served as the education minister in the outgoing Shivraj Chouhan government.
The BJP appointed Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda as deputy chief ministers for Madhya Pradesh.
Rajendra Shukla, hailing from the Rewa constituency, and Jagdish Devda, representing Mandsaur.
Narendra Tomar has been elected as the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker.
7. Tiriyani Block, which has achieved the top spot in NITI Aayog’s inaugural delta rankings, is in which state?
(A) Tamil Nadu
(B) Telangana
(C) Maharashtra
(D) Chhattisgarh
(E) Odisha
Solution: Option B.)
Ans (B)
Tiriyani Block of Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district, Telangana, has secured the top position in the first delta rankings announced by NITI Aayog.
The rankings, showcased the outstanding performance and progress achieved by blocks across the country in the month of June 2023.
The winners from each zone will be felicitated with a prize amount of Rs 1.5 crores for the top rank and Rs 1 crore for the second rank in all zonal categories.
Aspirational Blocks Programme was launched on January 7, 2023.
8. Which armed force has recently concluded bi-annual exercise named “Prasthan”?
(A) Indian Air Force
(B) Indian Army
(C) Indian Coast Guard
(D) Indian Navy
(E) National Security Guard
Solution: Option D.)
Ans (D)
The Indian Navy, in collaboration with various defense, state, and civil agencies, recently concluded a comprehensive two-phased exercise named “Prasthan” at the Mumbai coast.
This exercise, conducted every six months, is aimed at addressing various contingencies that may arise in oil production platforms.
Personnel from Maharashtra Police, Customs, Fisheries Department, Mumbai Port Authorities, and other state and central civilian agencies participated.
9. Who will be honoured with the Ajanta-Ellora Film Festival?
(A) Shabana Azmi
(B) Javed Akhtar
(C) Farhan Akhtar
(D) Amitabh Bachchan
(E) A R Rahman
Solution: Option B.)
Ans (B)
Veteran lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar will be felicitated with the Padmapani Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ajanta-Ellora Film Festival.
Akhtar is the co-writer of Hindi cinema classics such as “Zanjeer”, “Deewaar”, “Sholay”, “Don”, “Mr India”, etc.
The award ceremony will take place at Rukmini Auditorium in MGM University campus of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on January 3, 2024.
10. What is the theme of United Nations Human Rights Day 2023?
(A) Freedom, Equality and Justice for All
(B) Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All
(C) EQUALITY – Reducing inequalities
(D) Youth Standing Up for Human Rights
(E) Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights
Solution: Option A.)
Ans (A)
Every year on December 10th, Human Rights Day commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
Theme for 2023: “Freedom, Equality and Justice for All.”
The year-long Human Rights 75 initiative seeks to shift the needle of understanding towards greater knowledge of universality of the UDHR and activism associated with it.