General Knowledge (Part-2) (CDS-Solved Paper)

Iran’s key strategic port of Chabahar (in Gulf of Oman) became operational with the maiden shipment of wheat from India to Afghanistan.

This is a major push for India’s Afghan outreach bypassing Pakistan for the first time under the 2016 Indo-Afghan-Iran trilateral pact.

India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) has been incorporated as a Public LImited Company under the Department of Posts with 100% government equity.

IPPB was launched on 30th January, 2017 in Ranchi and Raipur with the objective of being present in all corners of India in the coming years. Hence, only statement 1 is correct.

Indian boxer MC Mary Kom on 8th November, 2017 won the Gold Medal at the Asian Boxing Championship 2017 in 48 kg category.

Mary Kom defeated North Korea’s Hyang Mi Kim by 5-0. In 2019 Amit Panghal picked up his second successive Gold Medal in the Asian championship in Bangkok.

World Soil Day is celebrated annually on the 5th of December at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations headquarters in Rome, the regional offices and through national and local events.

The theme for 2017 was ‘Caring for the planet starts from the ground’. The theme for 2019 World Soil Day was ‘stop soil erosion, saveour future’. Hence, option (b) is correct.

In men’s event of Senior National Badminton Championship, HS Prannoy defeated Kidambi Shrikanth to clinch the title in 2017. Saina Nehwal  defeated PV Sindhu in straight games to clinch the women’s singles title in the  Senior National Badminton Championship.

Saina Nehwal and Sourabh Verma won 83rd National Badminton Championship 2019 in women and men’s category respectively.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (UMoEFCC) has unveiled third National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031 to chalk out future road map for wildlife conservation.

It is third action plan after first released in 1983 to 2001 and second from 2002 to 2016. The NWAP has five components, 17 themes, 103 conservation actions and 250 projects. Hence, statement (1) and (2) are correct.

According to the economic survey 2015-16, the growth rate in production of natural gas for the year 2015-16 was (4.7%), refinery products (4.9%), fertilizers (7%), coal (4.8%).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated World Food India 2017 (WFI) on 3rd November, 2017 at the India Gate lawns in New Delhi. Germany, Japan and Denmark were partner countries and Italy was the focus country to World Food India.

The three day event was organised by Ministry of Food Processing Industries. The theme of WFI 2017 is ‘Transforming the Food Economy’. The theme of WFI 2019 is ‘Forging Partnerships Growth’.

Nobel Prize Series-India 2018, a five-day unique programme to stimulate engagement in science, literature and peace took place in Goa, Mumbai and New Delhi.

During Nobel Prize Series, five Nobel Laureates gave lectures and took part in round table discussions and meetings together with experts and students from several universities.

The Nobel Prize Series-India 2019 was hosted by Mohali in September 2019 and later held at Ludhiana and Delhi too.

The massive renovation and restoration effort at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, executed through the public-private partnership model, has won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit 2017 for cultural heritage conservation.

The Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, also known as Thiruvaranga Tirupati, is located about 12 kilometres North of the city of  Tiruchirappalli, South-West of  Chennai.

A temple at Srirangam is mentioned in Tamil literature of the Sangam era  (1st to the 4th century AD). In 2019 Award of Distinction has given to Vikram Sarabhai Library, IIM Ahmedabad India.