Weekly CA Quiz: February 2018 1st week with PDF

Explanation: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 1,500 crore for three years to promote organic farming in Uttarakhand. This is in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of developing Uttarakhand as an organic state which he spelt out during his visit to Kedarnath last year.

Explanation: Indian Railways’ all new 12,000 horsepower electric locomotive — being produced in collaboration with Alstom of France and which can run at speeds of up to 120 kmph — would be rolled out in March when French President Emmanuel Macron visits India.

Explanation: After winning their maiden Ranji Trophy earlier this season, Vidarbha has recorded another first by winning the U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy.

Explanation: Acclaimed Ottanthulal artist Kalamandalam Geethanandan passed away while performing at Avittathur Mahavishnu Temple in Kerala.

 Rwanda has become the first low-income country to provide universal eye care for its 12 million population.

Explanation: Shabnam Asthana has been awarded the ‘Times Power Women of the Year 2017’- Pune for Global PR. These awards were initiated to celebrate the victories of women who have been a great source of inspiration.

Explanation: India has joined Ashgabat Agreement on the establishment of an International Transport and Transit Corridor between the Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The Ashgabat agreement is a Multimodal transport agreement between Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan,  Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and India.

Explanation: In Boxing, five-time world champion M C Mary Kom claimed a gold but the Indian men’s juggernaut was denied a complete sweep by traditional powerhouses Cuba and Uzbekistan on an exciting final day of the India Open Boxing Tournament, in New Delhi.

Explanation: 7th India Energy Congress was held in New Delhi on the theme ‘Energy 4.0- Energy Transition towards 2030“ .

Explanation: The national capital hosted the inaugural India Open International Boxing Tournament for senior men and women from January 28 to February 1 in 2018.

Explanation: The 4th edition of International Young Chef Olympiad (YCO) concluded in New Delhi with Lai Jia Yi from Malaysia winning the top spot and Indian student chef Surya Sekhar Roy Choudhury claiming the second position.

Explanation: The change of name of apex indirect tax policy making body Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) to Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is likely to happen by April after the budgetary exercise gets Parliament nod.

Explanation: Actress Anjana Sukhani, seen in films like “Salaam-e-Ishq”, “Golmaal Returns” and “Allah Ke Banday” has penned a book titled  ‘Hisaab Kitaab’. The book is a how-to book on household budgeting.

Explanation: According to the Economic Survey 2017-18, Maharashtra’s has come out to be one of the largest states in terms of its economic size and prosperity gives it the largest share in India’s exports and the goods and service tax (GST) base. The survey found Maharashtra had the largest share of the tax base at 16 per cent.

Explanation: World Cancer Day is being observed on 4th February every year to raise awareness about cancer, its treatment and to encourage methods of its prevention. The primary goal of the day is to reduce the illness and related deaths by 2020. For 2016 to 2018, the theme for observing World Cancer Day is ‘We Can. I can.’ Under this theme, people are expected to, individually and collectively, understand and work towards lessening the impact and harmful effects of the condition globally.

Explanation: According to Union Budget 2018-19, the government will develop two defence industrial production corridors. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the first corridor will link Chennai and Bengaluru and will pass through Coimbatore and several other industrial clusters.

Explanation: Star Indian shuttler P. V. Sindhu fell to fifth seeded Beiwen Zhang from the US in the women’s singles final of the $350,000 India Open BWF World Tour Super 500 held in New Delhi.

Explanation: Sri Lanka celebrated its 70th Independence Day today (4 February 2018). It was on this day in 1948 that Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, gained independence from 133 years of British colonial rule.

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the two-day Global Investors’ Summit ‘Advantage Assam’ in Guwahati, Assam, a first of its kind initiative in the northeast.

Explanation: Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched  ‘Green Good Deeds’ campaign to sensitise the people and students, in particular, about climate change and global warming.

Explanation: Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal was conferred with V Shantaram Lifetime achievement award at the 15th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films.

Explanation: Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) signed a project agreement with the World Bank, even as the latter entered into a US $ 375 million loan agreement with the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance for Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP).

Explanation: The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley launched CriSidEx, India’s first sentiment index for micro and small enterprises ( MSEs) developed jointly by CRISIL & SIDBI. CriSidEx is a composite index based on a diffusion index of 8 parameters and measures MSE business sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely negative ) to 200 ( extremely positive).

Explanation: India’s leading squash player, Saurav Ghosal jumped five places to No 14 to become the highest ranked Indian in the latest Professional Squash Association (PSA) rankings released. Ghosal beat Joshna Chinappa who slipped three places to No 17 while Dipika Pallikal Karthik remained on 20.

Explanation: World Wetlands Day occurs annually on February 2nd, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971. The theme of World Wetlands Day 2018 is “Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future”.

Explanation: India has lifted the ICC Under-19 World Cup for the record fourth time. They defeated Australia by eight wickets at bay oval at Mount Maunganui in New Zealand, who were also eyeing the title for the fourth time.

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new book – Exam Warriors – launched aims to help students breeze through their examinations. The book reportedly urges young students to tackle their examinations with zeal and energy.

Explanation: Senior-most Indian Information Service (IIS) officer Neelam Kapur was appointed Director-General of Sports Authority of India (SAI). She is at present the Principal Director General of the Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP). It is for the first time that an IIS officer has been appointed as SAI chief.

Explanation: The government has made Permanent Account Number (PAN) mandatory for any entity conducting financial transactions of ₹2.5 lakh or more. Adding that an Aadhaar-like identity number is being developed for enterprises, the government said PAN will also be used as a Unique Entity Number for non-individuals from April 1.

Explanation: The Maharashtra government has approved Ghodazari in Chandrapur district as a new wildlife sanctuary in the state. The sanctuary, in the North East of Tadoba, will include 159 sq km of Brahmapuri forest.

Explanation: India announced a national healthcare scheme for India’s most vulnerable families. The poor would be able to access up to Rs 500,000 a year for hospital cover through the initiative. The government currently provides 30,000 rupees towards healthcare for poor families, but that sum is insufficient to cover most medical procedures.

Explanation: The United Arab Emirates has made a record by opening the world’s longest zip line, measuring 2.83 kms in length. Guinness World Records officials certified the zip line in Ras al-Khaimah.

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Khelo India Games and said it was the first step towards making the country a strong contender at the Olympic level. A revamped version of the original National School Games, Khelo India is an U-17 event which will feature only 16 disciplines which have been identified as most likely to win medals at the Olympic Games. The best 1,000 athletes at the Khelo India Games will get scholarship of Rs 5 lakh every year for a period of eight years.

Explanation: Odisha has bagged ‘Geospatial World Excellence Award-2018’ for successful IT application for tracking of mineral production, dispatch and value accrued on real-time basis through its i3MS web-based software.

Explanation: In Uttar Pradesh, State government in association with UNICEF launched massive door to door campaign DASTAK to eradicate deadly Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and Japanise Encephalitis disease in the state. The war cry of DASTAK is Darwaja khatkhatao, AES aur JE ko bhagao.

Explanation: Young golfer Shubhankar Sharma was elevated from 193 to 72, a gain of 121 spots, in the world rankings making him the highest-ranked Indian in the world.

Explanation: Veteran Telugu actor Lakshmi Devi Kanakala has passed away at the age of 78. She was reportedly suffering from multiple age-related illnesses for the last two months.

Explanation: The central government has approved a project to abate pollution of river Sal at Navelim in Goa at an estimated cost of Rs 61.7 crore.

Explanation: Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades won reelection to second five-year term Sunday, promising to continue economic recovery and the island’s reunification efforts.

Explanation: Central Reserve Police Force were crowned as champions of the 8th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2018 (B Division) after they defeated Kerala Hockey by a margin of 7-0 in the final match of the competition.

Explanation: NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has been granted an extension of his tenure until June 30, 2019. A 1980-batch IAS officer from the Kerala Cadre, Kant was appointed as the CEO of the government’s think tank in 2016, for a two-year term.

Explanation: Taxi aggregator Uber reinforced its commitment to road safety by announcing a slew of measures and initiatives. As part of its ongoing efforts to encourage road safety awareness, Uber will be jointly promoting road safety messaging on the Uber app and social media through Ministry of Road Transport and Highways co branded materials and mediums.

Explanation: Reiterating its commitment to make the web a safer place for everyone, Google India announced its collaboration with NCERT to integrate a course on “Digital Citizenship and Safety” in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) curriculum in schools.

Explanation: India successfully test-fired its short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-1 with a strike range of over 700 km from a test range off the Odisha coast. It was launched as a part of a periodic training activity by the Strategic Forces Command of the Army to consolidate operational readiness.

Explanation: The Haryana government has launched the ‘Gobardhan Yojana’ to provide for the sale of organic manure and cow urine with an aim to benefit farmers. A provision of Rs 11 crore has been made to provide benefits of various projects under this scheme.

Explanation: Taking prime minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India initiative forward, a chat based job search mobile app ‘Empzilla’, first ever of its kind in the country, is being launched that will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost effective.

Explanation: The Centre has released ₹65,000 crore to States and union territories under the special assistance to scheduled castes sub plan till January end of the current fiscal. The amount is more than 80 per cent of the total allocation of ₹80,000 crore made under the Special Central Assistance to SC Sub Plan for 2017-18.

Explanation: MobiKwik, a issuer-independent digital financial services platform and mobile wallet announced the launch of Magic – a digital platform for end-to-end corporate processes, rewards and reimbursements.

Explanation: Business tycoon Elon Musk’s SpaceX has created history by successfully launching the Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful operational rocket in the world, into outer space.

Explanation: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its key interest rate unchanged at 6 per cent for the fourth time in succession at its final bi-monthly monetary policy review of the fiscal, citing concerns about the inflationary push by rising global crude oil prices. Repo Rate: Unchanged at 6% and Reverse Repo Rate: Unchanged at 5.75%

Explanation: Indian women’s cricket team pacer Jhulan Goswami has become the first woman in the world to take 200 wickets in ODI cricket. Goswami achieved the feat playing in her 166th ODI against South Africa.

Explanation: To speed up retail transmission by banks of the central bank’s cuts in the lending rate, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it will link the Base Rate with the Marginal Cost of Funds-based Lending Rate (MCLR) from the next fiscal. The RBI introduced the MCLR from April 1, 2016, as a system working in tandem with its policy rates, which commercial banks have been slow in accepting, preferring to continue with the Base Rate regime.

Explanation: The union government has allocated Rs 5,252 crore in the Union Budget 2018-19 for railway projects in the state as against the state’s demand for Rs 6,500 crore. It received Rs 150 crore more compared with last year’s budget, which is the highest ever allocation for Odisha in any Budget pertaining to railways.

Explanation: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed that the estimated inflation for first half of the next fiscal would stand at 5.1 to 5.6 percent. However, RBI Governor Urjit Patel noted that it may ease to 4.6 percent, likely in the second half.

Explanation: Kathakali maestro Madavoor Vasudevan Nair has passed away. He was 89. He was a recipient of several awards including Padma Bhushan.

Explanation: The President of India Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the 88th Mahamastakabhisheka Utsav of Lord Gomateshwara in Hassan district of Karnataka. Mahamastakabhisheka of Gommateshwara, who is also known as Bahubali takes place once in 12 years.

Explanation: The development of 800 MW advanced ultra super critical thermal power plant project got Rs 100 crore for next year from the Department of Heavy Industry with a target to finalise the turbine design, as per 2018-19 budget papers.

Explanation: According to the report by BMI Research, a unit of Fitch Group, India’s fiscal deficit is expected to come in at 3.5 per cent of GDP in financial year 2018-19, as policymakers seek to promote economic growth by reducing the pace of fiscal consolidation.

Explanation: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under its scheme “Development of Solar Cities” has approved/sanctioned 60 Cities including 13 Pilot and 5 Model Cities up to 12th Five-year Plan period.

Explanation: Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate: Unchanged at 6.25%
Bank Rate: Unchanged at 6.25%
Cash Reserve Ratio: Unchanged at 4%
Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): Unchanged at 19.5%