Daily Current Affairs Updates Quiz - 17 February 2013

1. The 14th meeting of the "BASIC ministerial meeting on climate change" concluded on 16th Feb 2013 in Chennai, India. The joint statement issued at the conclusion said that the developing countries, including the BASIC nations, had done much to raise the global ambition by voluntarily presenting their national mitigation actions at the international level and agreed to a regime of transparency of actions. BASIC stands for Brazil, South Africa, India and China. Indian Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests further addes that, "All developed countries have to improve their commitment to battling climate change, raise their ambitions, raise the entire issue of climate change based upon the principle of historical responsibilities and of previous emissions." Who is India's Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests?
[Category: India Environment Current Affairs]
[A] Vayalar Ravi
[B] Mani Shankar Aiyer
[C] Jairam Ramesh
[D] Jayanthi Natarajan


2. India and Bangladesh took a significant step towards finalizing a land boundary agreement (LBA) on 16 Feb 2013, with visiting foreign minister Salman Khurshid and his counterpart in Bangladesh exchanging strip maps of the boundary areas. The two sides also signed three other agreements like a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the Akhaura-Agartala rail link, establishment of an India-Bangladesh Foundation and an amendment to the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) to bring it in line with OECD requirements. Who is the Bangladeshi counterpart of Salman Khurshid?
[Category: Latest National Current Affairs]
[A] Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir
[B] Begum Motia Chowdhury
[C] Dipu Moni
[D] Nurul Islam Nahid


3. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday, 16 Feb 2013, announced that his government had sent its recommendation for inclusion of ______ Most Backward Castes (MBC) in Scheduled Caste (SC) list, to the Centre on Friday. Akhilesh also declared April 5 as public holiday to mark the birth anniversary of Maharaja Nishad Raj.
[Category: Politics Current Affairs]
[A] 17
[B] 15
[C] 13
[D] 11


4. The Board of Directors of global conglomerate, General Electric (GE), has inducted Francisco D'Souza into its board. The 44-year-old D'Souza, the son of a career diplomat, will be the youngest director on the board of GE, a 120-year-old conglomerate whose other independent directors include Alan Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, and Rochelle B Lazarus, chairman emeritus of Ogilvy & Mather. D'Souza joins a growing list of Indian-origin executives occupying board seats at global corporations. Ratan Tata and Infosys' NR Narayana Murthy were on the boards of Fiat and HSBC respectively, while Naina Lal Kidwai serves as a director at Nestle. Francisco D'Souza is the CEO of which company?
[Category: Business News Current Affairs]
[A] Capgemini
[B] Cognizant
[C] iGate
[D] MindTree


5. With a towering height of 70 feet, the world’s tallest statute of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled on Friday, 15 Feb 2013. ‘Bapu’ is seen standing affectionately with two children on either side in the bronze statue constructed in the state. Funded by the state government, the Rs 10 crore statue, inclusive of a 30-feet-high pedestal, has been built by Delhi-based sculptor Ramsutar and Sons. With this, the Parliament statue in New Delhi where the ‘Father of the Nation’ is in a meditating pose, becomes the second tallest Gandhi statue with a height of 16 feet. Where did this statue come up?
[Category: India Updated Current Affairs]
[A] Rajghat, New Delhi
[B] Sabarmati, Gujarat
[C] Patna, Bihar
[D] Mumbai, Maharashtra