Roger Federer has won Wimbledon finals against Andy Roddick in five dramatic sets and regained the title he lost to Rafael Nadal last year. This is his sixth Wimbledon title and 15th Grand Slam title. He has also broken the record of Pete Sampras. The Swiss Champion Tennis player won 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 16-14 and surpassed Sampras’s 14 Grand Slam wins. He has also become world’ number one tennis player. After losing the finals Roddick said “I just want to say congratulations to Roger, he deserves everything he gets” Federer is also the only player in tennis history to win the same two Grand Slam tournaments back to back for four consecutive years (2004-07).

Roger Federer Grand Slam Titles ::

Grand Slam Titles Record Holders::

15 – Roger Federer
14 – Pete Sampras
12 – Roy Emerson
11 – Rod Laver
11 – Bjorn Borg
10 – Bill Tilden
8 – Ken Rosewall
8 – Ivan Lendl
8 – Andre Agassi
8 – Jimmy Connors
8 – Fred Perry

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On 3rd July, Mamata Banerjee presented Indian Rail Budget 2009 in Lok Sabha. She started her speech with a question if Indian Railways, which runs the world’s second largest railways network under single management, should function purely on the basis of economic viability and address the social commitment. Banerjee said her focus would be on better passenger amenities, good food at affordable prices, clean toilets at stations and trains. Keeping her promise of social welfare and rural development, she has not increased passenger fares and freight tariffs. Experts have called this budget progressive and forward looking. This is her first rail budget for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and third in her political career. I have compiled some of the Highlights of Indian Rail Budget 2009.

Highlights of Indian Rail Budget 2009 ::

• 50 stations to be developed as World Class stations.
• 375 stations to be upgraded as ‘Adarsh Stations’ with basic facilities including drinking water, adequate toilets, ladies dormitories etc.
• Multi-functional complexes to be constructed at 50 railway stations serving centres of pilgrimage, tourist and industry. To have shopping facilities, food stalls, budget hotels etc.
• Expanding facilities like ramps, special signage, lifts, escalators, special coaches for physically challenged and aged persons.
• Onboard availability of doctors in long-distance trains being considered; ambulance services to be provided in seven cities to start with.
• On-board infotainment services to be provided on important long-distance intercity trains.
• Toilet facilities to be introduced in DEMU/MEMU trains with journey time more than 2 hours.
• 1000 new PRS locations to be opened; UTS services to be expanded from 5000 to 8000 locations.
• Automated ticket vending machines to be installed at 200 large and medium sized stations.
• Taking ticketing to ‘Maa Mati Manush’ – grassroot, through issue of computerized tickets at Post offices and ‘Mushkil Aasaan’ mobile ticketing service vans.
• Air-conditioned double decker coaches for inter-city travel to be introduced.
• Timely track renewal, modernization of signals, use of digital ultrasonic flaw detectors etc.
• Integrated Security Scheme to be introduced at 140 vulnerable and sensitive railway stations.
• Women RPF squads for security of women passengers
• 6,560 staff quarters to be constructed in 2009-10.
• Indoor stadia to be developed in major railway divisions and zones.
• Increased contribution of Rs 350 per employee to Staff Benefit Fund to continue for a year, with Rs 100 per employee for women empowerment, vocational training of physically and mentally challenged wards especially girl child, and higher education for girls.
• Scholarships for higher education of girl child of group D staff.
• Proposal to open 7 nursing colleges on railway land at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai (Kalyan), Chennai, Secunderabad, Lucknow and Jabalpur on PPP model to facilitate the wards of railway employees in finding vocational avenues.
• Burn Units at major Railway hospitals.
• Metro Railway Hospital to be upgraded to 75 beds.
• Medical colleges planned to be attached to existing railway hospitals at 18 locations through PPP mode.
• Dormitories for railway families accompanying patients to be provided at 16 hospitals having 150 beds and above.
• Policy on Railway Recruitment Boards to be reviewed.
• Special recruitment drive for filling vacancies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Physically Handicapped quota.
• Premium service for container movement with assured transit time being considered.
• Private ownership of special purpose rolling stock for commodities and private operation of freight terminals will be encouraged.
• Mega logistic hubs being planned alongside Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors.
• Kisan-Vision project – Running special trains from production clusters to consumer centers for perishable products like fruits and vegetables to reduce wastage and also for village handicraft, cottage industry & textile products to increase outreach and access to new markets for rural produce. Temperature controlled cargo centres to be encouraged.
• Premium Parcel Services named Faster Parcel Services on pilot basis on three routes to run with guaranteed transit time from dedicated terminals.
• Dedicated Freight corridors declared ‘Diamond Rail Corridors’.
• Setting up of a new factory at Kanchrapara-Halisahar Railway Complex with annual capacity of 500 EMU/MEMU and Metro coaches in Joint Venture/Public-Private Partnership mode.
• Proposal to initiate action for setting up 1000 MW power plant with Ministry of Power, at Adra, in under developed tribal area.
• State of the art training facilities proposed at Dankuni for young artisans and supervisors, thereby contributing to national talent pool.
• Feasibility study for energy efficient rail based system to provide connectivity to suburban system in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.
• Proposals for better integration of passengers’ movement in Kolkata suburban area.
• Quazigund-Anantnag New Line to be completed by August, ‘09.
• Creation of Northeast Rail Development Fund under consideration for timely completion of national projects in N.E. Region.
• New proposals for better rail connectivity proposed to be processed which include 53 for new lines, 3 for gauge conversion works and 12 for doubling.
• Setting up of an expert committee headed by Shri Sam Pitroda to suggest innovations to utilize optic fibre cable network of Railways and take information technology to door steps in remote areas.
• Project Monitoring Committee for developing mechanism to avoid slippage in project delivery. Special monitoring for National Projects.
• Railways to come out with white paper on organizational, operational and financial status based on last five years performance and develop Vision-2020 with long and short term strategy and plan of action.
• Modernization of select railway printing presses. Offer for takeover of heritage institution Basumati Sahitya Mandir, for revival.
• Takeover of Units of Burn Standard and also Braithwaite under consideration.
• Revision in Tatkal Scheme to make it more user friendly. Advance booking period reduced. Minimum charge reduced to Rs. 100.
• No increase in passenger fares and freight tariffs.

Financial Performance in 2008-09

• Freight loading at 833 million tonnes (MT) grew @ 5% on previous year.
• Traffic receipts also increased by 11.4% to reach Rs 79,862 cr.
• Cash surplus before dividend Rs 17,400 cr after disbursing Rs 13,600 cr towards implementation of 6th Central Pay Commission.
• Railways paid full dividend liability of Rs 4,717 cr to Government.
• Investible surplus of Rs 12,681 cr generated.
• Annual Plan expenditure was Rs 36,336 cr.

Budget Estimates 2009-10

• Freight loading targeted at 882 MT – an increment of 49 MT; number of passengers likely to grow by around 6%.
• Gross Traffic Receipts (GTR) estimated at Rs 88,419 cr i.e. Rs 8,557 cr more than 2008-09.
• Ordinary Working Expenses budgeted at Rs 62,900 cr to cover the full year impact of VI CPC and the payment of 60% arrears due in 2009-10.
• The dividend payable to General Revenues kept at Rs 5,479 cr.
• Budgeted Operating Ratio 92.5%.

Concessions

• ‘Izzat‘- A new scheme for travel with dignity. Issue of concessional MST of Rs 25 for people, with monthly income upto Rs 1,500, in unorganized sector, for travel upto 100 km.
• Press correspondents to get ‘photo identification cum credit cards’ on certification of PIB and other competent authorities instead of existing system of coupons. Concession of 30% to increase to 50% for Press Correspondent. 50% concession for travel with spouse also to be given once a year.
• The existing student concession to be extended to students of Madrasas, higher Madrasas and senior Madrasas.
• Concessional MST available to students in Kolkata will be applicable for travel in Metro Rail Kolkata also.

Special Trains

• ‘Only ladies’ EMU trains to start in Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata sub-urban during office rush hour.
• ‘Yuva Trains‘ – New low-cost, air-conditioned, seated accommodation trains, dedicated specially for young generation and low-income groups.
• ‘Duronto trains‘ – for the first time new Non-stop, point to point train services. Starting with 12 trains.

Other New Train Services

• 57 new train services to be introduced.
• Extension of 27 trains also envisaged.
• Frequency of 13 trains to be increased.

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I am eagerly waiting for the release of Love Aaj Kal. It is first film of Saif Ali Khan’s flim production company Illuminati Films. Love Aaj Kal has Saif and Deepika Padukone in lead roles with Rahul Khanna and Rishi Kapoor in supporting roles. Jab we met fame Imtiaz Ali and is the director of the movie. Love Aaj Kal is actually a remake of Taiwanese film Three Times. The basic theme of the film is love. The movie asks the questions “Is love today different from what it was in the past when lovers like Laila-Majnu or Romeo-Juliet perished in each other’s arms?” These Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet type janam janam ka saath type couples exist only in story books. In the real life, we have to be practical. But there are certain things which don’t change with the passage of time and love is one of them. The film is going to be released on July 31.

Cast ::

Saif Ali Khan as Jai Vardhan Singh/Veer Singh
Deepika Padukone as Meera Pandit
Rishi Kapoor as Veer Singh
Florence Brudenell as Bruce as Jo
Kavi Shastri as Jaat
Vir Das as Shonty
Mandi Sidhu as Colly
Elizabeth Tan as Pae
Manushka Khisty as Kashish
Sagar Arya as Mahesh
Dolly Ahluwalia as Harleen’s Grandmother
Rajendranath Zutshi as Harleen’s Father
Dhiru Dwiwedi as Gattu
Caleb James as Audience
Joshua Bochu as Audience

Love Aaj Kal Songs ::

1. “Twist” Neeraj Shridhar
2. “Chor Bazaari” Neeraj Shridhar, Sunidhi Chauhan
3. “Aahun Aahun” Saleem, Neeraj Shridhar, Suzie Q
4. “Dooriyan” Mohit Chauhan
5. “Ajj Din Chadheya” Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
6. “Thoda Thoda Pyar” Sunidhi Chauhan
7. “Main Kya Hoon” K K
8. “Twist (Remix) (Remixed by – DJ Sanj)” Neeraj Shridhar
9. “Chor Bazaari (Remix) (Remixed by – DJ Sanj)” Neeraj Shridhar, Sunidhi Chauhan
10. “Aahun Aahun (Remix) (Remixed by – DJ Sanj)”

Chor Bazaari Song

Love Aaj Kal Movie Trailer ::

Love Aaj Kal Movie Snaps ::

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Finally IIM Ahmedabad has made the picture clearer for the CAT aspirants as it has declared CAT 2009 is going to be a computer based test (CBT) and not internet based test (IBT). This means that the candidate does not take the test on an internet site. Instead of reading the questions in a paper booklet and darkening the ovals on the answer-sheet, a candidate will read the questions on a computer terminal and choose an answer by clicking on the correct option. Unlike GRE or GMAT, CAT is not going to be a computer adaptive test. The format of the test will remain more or less the same except that a candidate reads question on a computer terminal and clicks on the correct answer.

A candidate will take the test only at designated test venues in about 25 cities across India. Detailed information will be provided in the CAT 2009 advertisement which will come into the market by the later part of August 2009. At the test venue, each candidate will be seated at a desk with a computer terminal and he/she will be provided with a writing pad with numbered pages for calculations.

After the test, candidate will have to leave the pad including all the pages in it at the desk. Also note, the rough-work cannot be done on any other paper/sheet as nothing will be allowed to be taken inside the examination hall. Candidate Testing Fee is Rs. 1,400 (Rs. 700 for SC/ST candidates). Application fees is very high

Also this time most of formalities will be done online so the candidate needs to have a valid email ID. CAT 2009 will be conducted during a ten-day window starting at the end of November 2009. Exact dates will be mentioned in the next advertisement of CAT 2009. And the results are expected to be declared by the end of January 2010. Exact date of result declaration will be informed at a later stage.

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Today, Delhi High Court has given a historical decision on gay and lesbian sex. The decision says that sexual relationship between persons of same sex is not an offence and the section 377 of Indian Penal Code is against fundamental rights of Indian citizens. The Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality was drafted in 1860 and it reads as follows.

“Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

The Delhi High Court’s bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Murlidhar said in its decision “We declare that Section 377 of IPC in so far as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private is violative of Articles 14, 21 and 15 of the Constitution,”

I am completey shocked on this decision. If people like sleeping with child then why don’t this court legalize child sex. If someone loves to sleep with dogs and horses then go ahead legalize sex with animals. Homosexuality is un-natural and it should not be encouraged. This decision is likely to encourage Homosexuality in India which is basically sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the same sex.

In my opinion, Homosexuality is a disease, it is a Psychological and mental problem. Homosexuals should be treated with care and parents should try to make them normal by giving them proper counseling at initial stage of this disorder. It is the worst judgement even given by any Indian Court. What do you think on this issue? Will you support your gay brother or lesbian sister? Feel free to comment.

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Today, Mozilla Corporation has released a new and better version of world’s most popular open source Web browser Firefox. This version of Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in more than 70 different languages. It is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 rendering platform. According to Mozilla engineers the latest Firefox 3.5 is more than 2 times faster than Firefox 3 and 10 times faster than Firefox 2. Within 24 hours of this release, more than five millions copies are already downloaded from the official website of Firefox. United States is leading with more than 1.1 million copies. Other major download centers are UK (170,000), Germany (540,000) and France (225,000).

Some of the salient features of Firefox 3.5 are –

• Speed — It is more than 2 times faster than previous version of Firefox. Going from IE to Firefox is like trading in your minivan for a sports car.
• 
• Support for Private Browsing — Now you can Surf the Web without leaving a single trace. It has introduced Private Browsing feature which when activated, users can surf any site at all with no trace remaining when they are finished: no cookies, no temp files, no forms information and no search information.
• Support for new Web Technologies — Downloadable fonts, CSS media queries, new transformations and properties, JavaScript query selectors, HTML5 local storage and offline application storage.
• Instant Web Site ID — If you are Want to be extra sure about a site’s legitimacy before making the payment then just you need to click on a site favicon for an instant identity overview. You can also check up on suspicious sites, avoid Web forgeries and make sure a site is what it claims to be.
• 
• Anti-Malware — Firefox protects you from viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware. If you accidentally access an attack site, it will warn you away from the site and tell you why it isn’t safe to use.
• 

• Clear Recent History — You can clear all your private data or just your activity over the past few hours with a few quick clicks. You have full control over what to delete, and then your info is gone for good-on your own computer or the one at your local library.
• Location-Aware Browsing — Now Firefox can tell websites where you’re located so you can find info that’s more relevant and more useful (for example, getting directions or finding restaurants near you).
• Session Restore — You can restart the browser without losing your place after you install an add-on or software update. And, if Firefox or your computer unexpectedly closes, you don’t have to spend time recovering data or retracing your steps through the Web. If you’re in the middle of typing an email, you’ll pick up where you left off, even down to the last word you typed. Session Restore instantly brings back your windows and tabs, restoring text you entered and any in-progress downloads.
• Over 6,000 ways to customize Firefox 3.5 — You can enhance the functionality of this browser by using 6000 different free plugins.
• 
• Firefox Awesome Bar — It provides a quick way to get to the sites you love, even the ones with addresses you only vaguely remember. Type in term into location bar and the autocomplete function includes possible matching sites from your browsing history, as well as sites you’ve bookmarked and tagged in a drop down.
• 
• Tags — You can label a site with names or categories that are meaningful to you. For example, you can label the site rediff.com with the “news” tag as well as the “cricket” tag, plus give indiatimes.com the “news” tag, too. When you enter “news” into the location bar, both sites will be shown as results. A single site can have multiple tags, and there’s no limit to the number of tags you can create. You may not remember the exact name of a site, but with a tag, you’ll be able to find it in a way that makes sense to you.
• Open Video and Audio — Firefox has become the first browser to support open video and audio formats, allowing practically limitless new ways for sites to display rich content. The open formats also allow modern web pages to display media without requiring a plug-in or a proprietary software download.

Download Firefox 3.5 today !

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While searching for top 10 songs, I came to know about the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. It is a list of top 100 songs from the chart’s first 50 years, August 1958 through July 2008. Billboard is a weekly American magazine related to music industry, which maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. In the top 100 list, the songs are based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100. They are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. Today, I am sharing the music videos of top 10 songs from this list.

1. The Twist by Chubby Checker

2. Smooth by Rob Thomas

3. Mack The Knife by Bobby Darin

4. How do I live by LeAnn Rimes

5. Macarena by Los del Río

6. Physical by Olivia Newton-John

7. You light up my Life by Debby Boone

8. Hey Jude by The Beatles

9. We belong Together by Mariah Carey

10. Un-Break my Heart by Toni Braxton

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This test is based on Previous Year Bank PO General Awareness Papers. So this quiz will help you in the preparation of forthcoming Bank PO and Punjab National Bank Management Trainee examinations. Try to solve each and every General Awareness question. For checking your answer, click at the answer button given after every question. I will try to make these quizzes more user-friendly and informative. What is your opinion on such quizzes? Or if you have some suggestion then please feel free post your comments. In this quiz, you have 25 questions. All the questions have been taken from latest Bank PO general awareness examinations.

1. Who amongst the following not belong to political party which is normally referred as left front in Indian Politics?
   a)Prakash Karat
   b)A B Bardhan
   c)D. Raju
   d)T. J Chandrachoodan
   e)M. Veerappa Moily
   

   Answer

2. Federal Reserves is the Central Bank of which of the following nations?
   a)Britain
   b)Japan
   c)India
   d)USA
   e)China
   

   Answer

3. Which of the following is not a measure of the Risk Management in Banks?
   a)CRR
   b)RTGS
   c)SLR
   d)Deposit Insurance
   e)All are the measures of risk management.
   

   Answer

4. An account in which trading of shares in their electronic form is done is called?
   a)NRI Account
   b)Demat Account
   c)Saving Account
   d)Online Banking Account
   e)Current Account
   

   Answer

5. Daiichi Sanyo, which has taken a major stake in India’s Pharma major Ranbaxy is a firm based in?
   a)China
   b)North Korea
   c)Indonesia
   d)Japan
   e)USA
   

   Answer

6. Who amongst the following won the IIFA Award 2009 for best actress?
   a)Priyanka Chopra
   b)Aishwarya Roy
   c)Kareena Kapoor
   d)Konkana Sen
   e)Rani Mukherjee
   

   Answer

7. Which of the following awards is given in the field of Cinema?
   a)Kalidas Samman
   b)Dronacharya Award
   c)Arjun Award
   d)Kalinga Award
   e)Dada Sahab Phalke Award
   

   Answer

8. Who is the author of the book “Toward a Hunger Free World”?
   a)A P J Abdul Kalam
   b)Ashok Lahiri
   c)Amartya Sen
   d)M S Swaminathan
   e)Manmohan Singh

   Answer

9. The investment giant set up by Warren Buffet is?
   a)DSP Merryl Lynch
   b)Berkshire Hathway
   c)GE Capital
   d)Citi Capital
   e)Wal Mart
   

   Answer

10. The National Stock Exchange incorporated in 1992, in terms of transactions holds:
    a)fifth rank in the World.
    b)third rank in the World.
    c)seventh rank in the World.
    d)ninth rank in the World.
    e)does not figure in the top 10.
    

    Answer

11. Who is the author of the book “Long Walk to Freedom”?
    a)Sonia Gandhi
    b)Jawaharlal Nehru
    c)Nelson Mandela
    d)L K Advani
    e)None of these
    

    Answer

12. Who amongst the following is not a banking or finance related term?
    a)Credit wrap
    b)EMI
    c)Held to Maturity
    d)Exposure Limit
    e)Diffusion
    

    Answer

13. The next Non-Aligned Movement Summit 2009 is scheduled to be held in?
    a)India
    b)Egypt
    c)Brazil
    d)South Africa
    e)Russia
    

    Answer

14. The State Bank of India recently opened its 10000th branch in Puduvyal (TamilNadu). Only a bank in China has more branches than State Bank of India in the world. What is the name of that Chinese Bank?
    a)Shanghai Commercial Bank
    b)Bank of China
    c)China Banking Corporation
    d)Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
    e)None of these
    

    Answer

15. Who amongst the following is the current National Security Advisor of India?
    a)R K Narayanan
    b)M K Narayanan
    c)J N Dixit
    d)Brijesh Mishra
    e)None of these
    

    Answer

16. Who amongst the following is the current National Security Advisor of USA?
    a)James Jones
    b)John McCain
    c)Stephen Hadley
    d)Thomas E. Donilon
    e)None of these

    Answer

17. Many times we read a term CBS used in banking operation. What is the full form of the letter ‘C’ in the term ‘CBS’?
    a)Core
    b)Credit
    c)Continuous
    d)Complete
    e)None of these
    

    Answer

18. Balmiki Prasad Singh has taken over as Governor of?
    a)Goa
    b)Bihar
    c)Meghalaya
    d)Sikkim
    e)Punjab
    

    Answer

19. Which of the following is known as ‘Himadari’?
    a)It is India’s Space Craft launched to study the moon.
    b)It is India’s first Research Station in Arctic Region.
    c)It is new battle tank produced by India.
    d)It is new warship inducted in the Indian Navy recently.
    e)None of these.
    

    Answer

20. Who is the current Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission?
    a)Raja Ramanna
    b)Anil Kakodar
    c)R S Lahoti
    d)A S Ahluvalia
    e)None of these
    

    Answer

21. Who is the Director of CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation)?
    a)Prakash Sharma
    b)A K Antony
    c)Ashwini Kumar
    d)Joginder Sharma
    e)R S Sharma
    

    Answer

22. Who won the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award for “Unaccustomed Earth” ?
    a)Salman Rushdie
    b)Kiran Desai
    c)Shashi Tharor
    d)Madhur Kirthy
    e)Jhumpa Lahiri
    

    Answer

23. Which of the following is the only company without the “Navratana Status”?
    a)Maruti Udyog Ltd.
    b)Power Grid Corporation of India Limited
    c)Rural Electrification Corporation Limited
    d)Shipping Corporation of India Limited
    e)Steel Authority of India Limited
    

    Answer

24. Who amongst the following is the President of Nasscom?
    a)Som Mittal
    b)Narayan Murthy
    c)Azim Premji
    d)Devang Mehta
    e)Pramod Desai

    Answer

25. Who amongst the following was India’s official candidate for the post of UNO’s Secretary General?
    a)Shyam Saran
    b)C. Rangarajan
    c)Shashi Tharoor
    d)Vijay Nambiar
    e)M. Veerappa Moily
    

    Answer

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General knowledge and Current Affairs constitute a major part of all competitive examinations. Now you need not to worry. abhisays.com is always there to help you. Now we have exciting general awareness series to help you to crack the paper of General Awareness. I strong believe that my Quiz series on General Awareness will definitely help UPSC, State PSC, SSC, Bank PO,Railways(RRBs)aspirants. These quizzes are also very handy for students preparing for various Quiz competitions. Now these quizzes are more user friendly as for knowing the answer you have to click the answer button. This means that you can take your time in guessing the right answer. Also, now no need to use your hand to hide the answers while guessing the correct answer.

Who has recently became the first ever Indian to win a World Championship Badminton ?

Answer

Who has been appointed as the new chief of the RSS (Rastriya Swaymasewak Sangh)?

Answer

Bringing a speedy resolution to the knotty affair of finding a defence lawyer for the lone survining 26/11 gunman , Mohammad Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab’ , who has been appointed as his new lawyer by the special sessions court at the Arthur Road Jail ?

Answer

Who is the new Prime Minister of Malaysia?

Answer

Who is the new President of Master Card, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa region?

Answer

Who is the author of “The Audacity of Hope”?

Answer

What is the date of International Literacy Day?

Answer

Who has taken over Marrill Lynch?

Answer

What is the name of Israeli Intelligence agency?

Answer

Recently ONGC acquired Imperial Energy for USD 1.9 Billion . Imperial energy belongs to which country?

Answer

What is SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio)?

Answer

What is CRR (Cash reserve Ratio)?

Answer

What are Demand Liabilities?

Answer

What are Time Liabilities?

Answer

What is RTGS?

Answer

What is NEFT?

Answer

Who is the first Indian woman to fly a MIG 35?

Answer

Who has written the biography of Benazir Bhutto “Goodbye Shahzadi”?

Answer

Who has written the novel “Sea of poppies”?

Answer

Name the place where Lord Mahavira died.

Answer

In which state Raniganj Coal Mine is situated?

Answer

National Old Age Pension (NOAP) Scheme comes under which Ministry?

Answer

Who is the newly appointed Chairman of competition commission of India?

Answer

Who has written the book” Aspects of the Black Economy in India”?

Answer

For the first time in its 650-year history, the University of Cambridge has appointed a woman as the University Librarian. What is her name?

Answer

When was the International Monetary Fund (IMF) established?

Answer

Who is known as the ‘Father of Economics’?

Answer

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For competitive examinations in India, General Awareness is very important. If you are not good in General Awareness you can’t clear Bank PO, Civil Services, State Civil Services, Railways exam, NDA, CDS etc.  To help my readers in General Awareness section, I have created “General Awareness” category in abhisays where I will post General Knowledge and Current Affairs questions with their answers. So here comes the General Awareness Quiz 1.

1. Who is the current Secretary-General of the United Nations?
2. Who is the vice-president of India?
3. Who has become the first woman Prime Minister of Iceland on 1st Feb, 2009?
4. This actor has broken the Guiness World Record for maximum public appearances in 12 hours while promoting his latest film. Give the name of the actor and the film.
5. Who is the president of Libya and Chairman of the African Union?
6. Who is the author of the well-known book “Linear Systems”?
7. Who is the new Election Commissioner of India?
8. Kalpana Chawla was killed during the crash of a US space Shuttle. What was its name?
9. Who is the President of Iran?
10. What is the name of the protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on treaty is intended to achieve “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system?
11. Who is the first Indian to go to both the North and South Pole?
12. Who is the first woman President of Liberia?
13. Which nation was the winner of World Cup Football 2006?
14. Who is the president of France?
15. Who is the president of South Africa?
16. Who is the Secretary-General of Commonwealth of Nations?
17. Who is the author of “A Golden Age”?
18. Who was appointed as the Federal Chief Information Officer in the Barack Obama’s administration in March, 2009?
19. Who is the Prime Minister of Israel?
20. Who is the Prime Minister of Pakistan?
21. Under his command, India won 1971 war against Pakistan. He died last year. Name the person.
22. Who is the CEO of CitiGroup?
23. Who is the CEO of Pepsi Co.?
24. Who won the Australian Open Tennis (Men) Championship?
25. Who is the Prime Minister of Zimbwae?
26. Who is the current representative of India to the United Nations?
27. Who is the Prime Minister of Nepal?
28. Who is the managing director and CEO of BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange)?
29. What is the maximum number of candidates an (Electronic Voting Machine)EVM can support?
30. Who is the CEO of Mahindra Satyam?
31. Who is the author of “Between the Assassinations”?
32. Who is the president of International Cricket Council?
33. Who is the Chief Justice of India?
34. Who is the Governor of Reserve Bank of India?
35. Who is the Attorney General of India?
36. Who is the CMD of State Bank of India?
37. Who is the President of FICCI?
38. Who is the Chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC)?
39. Who is the Chairman of ISRO?
40. Who is the Chairman of Finance Commission of India?
41. Which company’s famously punchline is ‘The Network is the Computer’?
42. What is the currency of Mexico?
43. What does the letters XP stand for in the product Microsoft XP?
44. Who is the vice-president of USA?
45. Which country is the largest producer of natural rubber in the world?
46. Which two male tennis players have won 14 grand slam titles in their career?
47. What was the name of State Bank of India before Independence?
48. Recently China has become world’s third biggest economy, replacing an European country. What is the name of that country?
49. Who is the biggest city of India, in terms of Population?
50. Which Hindi film actor won Filmfare best actor award for 8 (maximum) times?

Answers ::

1. Ban Ki Moon
2. Hamid Ansari
3. Johanna Singurdadottir
4. Abhishek Bachchan for the movie Delhi 6
5. Muammar Qaddafi
6. Thomas Kailath
7. Navin Chawla
8. Columbia
9. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
10. Kyoto Protocol
11. Ajeet Bajaj
12. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
13. Italy
14. Nicolas Sarkozy
15. Jacob Zuma
16. Kamlesh Sharma
17. Thamima Anam
18. Vivek Kundra
19. Benjamin Netanyahu
20. Yusuf Raza Gilani
21. Sam Manekshaw
22. Vikram Pandit
23. Indra Nooyi
24. Rafael Nadal
25. Morgan Tsvangirai
26. Nirupam Sen
27. Madhav Kumar Nepal
28. Madhu Kannan
29. 64
30. C P Gurnani
31. Arvind Adiga
32. David Morgan
33. K G Balakrishnan
34. D. Subbarao
35. G E Vahanvati
36. O P Bhatt
37. Mr. Harsh Pati Singhania
38. S K Thorat
39. G. Madhavan
40. Dr. Vijay Kelkar
41. Sun Microsystems
42. Peso
43. Experience
44. Joe Biden
45. Malaysia
46. Pete Sampras and Roger Federer
47. Imperial Bank of India
48. Germany
49. Mumbai
50. Dilip Kumar

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Michael Jackson is no more. He was an American biggest Pop Singer, entertainer and businessman. He was also known as the King of Pop. He made his debut onto the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1969, and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group. His 1982 album Thriller is the world’s best-selling record of all time and other albums are also among the world’s best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995). Today in the memory of this great artist, I have compiled his all time Top 13 Songs.

1. Thriller — This song made him King of Pop.

2. “Black or White” is from Michael Jackson’s album Dangerous, released in October 1991. This song is a mix of hard rock, dance and rap. Written, composed, and arranged by Jackson with the rap lyricist Bill Bottrell. The aim of this song to promote racial unity.

3. “Beat It” won Jackson two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. It was also nominated for Song of the Year along with Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. Rolling Stone ranked it 337 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

4. “Man in the Mirror” was a number 1 super hit for Michael Jackson when released in 1988. It is one of Jackson’s most critically acclaimed songs and it was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

5. Billie Jean — A dance-pop R&B song by Michael Jackson.

6. “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough“, released in July 1979, is the debut single from Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall album. It was his first solo album.

7. We are the world — This song is title song of 1985 album “We Are the World”. It contains US superstars charity recording for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia.

8. “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” is a popular ballad by singers Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett. This song is also written and composed by Michael Jackson.

9. Bad — This song was the second of five Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit singles from the album Bad, and was his seventh number-one single overall.

10. ABC — One of the first songs by Michael Jackson with his brothers.

11. Say, say say with Paul McCartney

12. “The Girl is mine” with Paul McCartney

13. They don’t care about us — One of the most controversial pieces Michael Jackson ever composed

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The King of Pop is no more. He was pronounced dead after arriving at a Los Angeles hospital in full cardiac arrest. He was 50. He remains the greatest entertainer of recent times. Entering popular music charts in early 1980s, he was the first African-American artist to gain constant airplay on MTV when Billie Jean, the music video in which the common people saw the Moonwalk for the first time, topped the charts. Before going solo he used to perform in The Jackson Five which was one of the biggest pop-music phenomena of the 1970s. Under the production of Quincy Jones he released his first solo album Off The Wall in 1979.

Off The Wall reached number three on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified for 7 million shipments in the US and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37% of wholesale album profit. In 1982 he came up with Thriller which is cited as having sold between 47 and 109 million copies worldwide. It won a record breaking seven Grammy awards in 1984. During this era The New York Times wrote: In the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else.

Bad was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic/CBS Records. It was highly anticipated and was a substantial commercial success despite having lower sales than Thriller. The album release was followed by the Bad World Tour which lasted for one and a half years. Jackson broke a Guinness World Record when 504,000 people attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. In 1988, Jackson released his first autobiography, Moon Walk, which reached the top position in The New York Times best sellers’ list. These were the years when his success led to his being dubbed the “King of Pop”. President Senior Bush presented the singer with The White House’s special “Artist of the Decade” award in recognition of Jackson’s musical influence in the 1980s.

Jackson co-produced and released Dangerous in 1991. It became his second to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, where it spent the next four consecutive weeks. The album’s music videos were among the most costly and innovative of their time. Several of the music videos taken from the Dangerous album had complex storylines and dance sequences, and featured cameo appearances by celebrities. The music video of Black or White was originally over ten minutes long, premiering simultaneously on November 14, 1991 on MTV, VH1, BET, and FOX.

The video featured one of the earliest examples of computer-generated morphing. The last four minutes of the video also induced much controversy, as it depicted Jackson smashing store windows and destroying a car with a crowbar. The year 1993 saw him being accused of child abuse by Evan Chandler. On January 25, 1994 Jackson settled a civil suit out of court. The accusation together with many other controversies had a negative effect on his commercial appeal in the following years.

He released the double album series HIStory in 1995 which won a Grammy. His final studio album, Invincible, was released in October 2001, six years after the release of HIStory. The sales for Invincible were notably low compared to his previous releases, due in part to a diminishing pop music industry, the lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. In 2003, Jackson was charged with seven counts of child sexual abuse and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in order to commit that felony.

The episode received much media attention and marked one of the most vulnerable phases of his life. On June 13, 2005, the People Vs Jackson jury found Jackson not guilty on all charges. During a publicity press conference given in March 2009, Jackson made suggestions of possible retirement. His shocking death has caused an outpour of grief among fans not seen since the deaths of Elvis Presley and John Lennon. His absence will be genuinely felt for years to come.

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GRE stands for Graduate Record Examination. It’s a commercially run standardized test whose scores are used by many graduate schools in the U.S. and a few other nations as an admission criterion. The exam is administered by ETS (Educational Testing Service). As such admissions in graduate schools depend on a combination of various factors like undergraduate performance, letters of recommendation and scholastic achievements and the level of emphasis that different schools put on GRE scores may vary but a poor GRE score may drastically narrow down your options.

The exam is divided into three parts – There’s also an experimental section but its score is not included in the reported score sheet.

Analytical Writing: This consists of an issue task and an argument task. In the former you’ll be asked to write an essay on one of two given topics. The allotted time is 45 minutes. There’s not much you can do to prepare for it before you’ve actually seen the topics. The idea is to plan wisely before actually typing your answer. I’d say think of three to four connected themes and write a paragraph on each of them. Logical clarity is more important here than sophisticated handling of English language. Of course grammatical mistakes count and you’re best advised not to be too adventurous here. The latter task consists of an argument. It could be a paragraph on, say, why tobacco should be banned (Are you kidding?). You’ll be asked to write a critique on this piece in thirty minutes. These (obviously) need not be your honest views. All that matters is that your essay should be relevant not only to the issue in hand but also to what the given piece has to say about it. You may support the logic behind it (if there is one) or criticize it and/or suggest improvements. The crux of the matter is: You need not be an expert on the subject at hand. The topics are almost always chosen so as to represent issues that most college students should be aware of irrespective of the field in which they are majoring.

Verbal Ability: The verbal section consists of multiple choice questions about analogies, antonyms, sentence completions, and reading comprehension passages. The key to achieving a good score here is good vocabulary. It could have been cultivated throughout your life span or only two months before the exam. It doesn’t matter. The point is when you see those words staring at your face you should be able to identify the correct option. Educated guessing could do wonders and you’re encouraged to do so but don’t just trust your luck. Memorize the Barron’s word list – Buy a copy, hard or soft. But then there are also the comprehension passages which could be a deciding factor between an okay score and an excellent score. The word of the day is: Practise. Don’t panic when you see a long passage. Work your way through it. Fool yourself into believing that the contents of the passage are interesting. Good concentration ability is very helpful here. Always keep in mind that the scores in verbal section are much lower than those in the quantitative section. It may happen that you might leave the exam venue thinking that you completely screwed this section but you might not.

Quantitative Ability: This consists of a bunch of (around 28) multiple choice questions on high school mathematics. Allotted time is 45 minutes. If you have a science/math background (at say 10+2 level) you should be fine. If you don’t, try solving the plethora of questions in one of the many problem books on the subject – I recommend Barron. A score of 800/800 is very common here. And this is almost always a high scoring exam. I’d therefore advise against overconfidence. Do your computations sincerely and you’ll be amply rewarded.

There are standard demo testing softwares (e.g. by Kaplan and Barron) which you should try on your pc before the day of the exam. The scores might not mean much but those hours may boost up your confidence.

Do post your queries here if you’ve any.

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According to Wikipedia, Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or inventions. In India, engineering is one of the most popular career option after 10+2. If you are doing engineering from any prestigious college then you will have a brighter future. India is now one of the fastest developing economies of world as it is developing industrially and technically, so there is huge requirement for skilled engineers. As a result, many engineering colleges have opened to meet the rising demands of the industry. Some of them are really good and are providing world class education and facilities. Admission to most of the engineering colleges is done through different entrance examinations conducted throughout the country. But for getting quality engineering education getting admission to the right college is very important.

1. IIT Delhi
2. IIT Kharagpur
3. IIT Kanpur
4. IIT Chennai
5. IIT Mumbai
6. IIT Roorkee
7. BITS Pilani
8. IT BHU
9. IIT Guwahati
10. Vellore Institute of Technology
11. NIT Surathkal
12. College of Engineering, Anna University
13. NIT Warangal
14. PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore
15. Delhi College of Engineering
16. IIIT Hyderabad
17. NIT Tiruchirapalli
18. NSIT Delhi
19. MNNIT Allahabad
20. NIT Calicut
21. NIT Rourkela
22. College of Engineering, Pune
23. BIT Mesra, Ranchi
24. RV College of Engineering, Bangalore
25. Nirma Institute of Technology, Ahmedabad

Source :: India Today Ranking 2009

But in my opinion some of the colleges which really deserve place in this list are ::

• NIT Bhopal
• NIT Jaipur
• NIT Nagpur
• NIT Kurukshetra
• IIIT Allahabad
• Jadavpur University , Faculty of Engg & Tech., Calcutta
• Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad
• Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh
• Dhirubhai Ambani IICT, Gandhi Nagar
• P.E.S. Institute of Technology, Bangalore
• Bengal Eng and Science University , Shibpur
• NIT Jalandhar
• Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala

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These days Indian Job market is flooded with vacancies of Probationary Officers in Public Sector Banks. But most of the PO aspirants are not fully aware of responsibilities of a Bank PO. Today we will discuss the role and responsibilities of a Probationary Officer in banks. A Bank Probationary Officer is the starting level recruitment for bank officers. Good communication skills and an ability to resolve conflicts calmly are normal expectations from a Bank PO. Job profile of a Probationary Officer is General Banking, administration and paper work in bank and any other work assigned by senior management. Actually a Bank PO can be asked to do anything related to banking till the completion of its probation period. During training or probation period they are trained for accounting, marketing, finance, investment as well as billing.

Normally after the confirmation the Bank PO becomes Assistant Bank Manager and may be posted in any branch across the country to handle daily customer transaction like passing a cheque, cash management, draft issuance etc. One of the main responsibilities of a Bank PO are handling the loan department, the mortgage and finance divisions of the bank. Handling customer complaints and related issues is also the responsibility of the Bank PO. It means dealing with complaints over issues such as charges, discrepancies in accounts, or even in complaints with service at the bank. After some years of experience and suitable talent they can be involved in planning, marketing, budgeting, processing of loan , investment management etc.

Now let us take an example of a successful Bank PO. Yeah, I am talking about the current CMD (Chairman and Managing Director) of State Bank of India, O. P. Bhatt. He started his career as a probationary officer in State Bank of India in 1972. He also served as the Managing Director of State Bank of Travancore from January 2005 to April 2006. He was one of the nominees of CNN – IBN Indian of The Year 2007 in the Business category and was finally declared the winner on January 22, 2008.

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