Daily GK Updates - 25th March, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.  Financial Technology (Fintech) Conclave held in New Delhi :  NITI Aayog organised the Financial Technology (Fintech) Conclave 2019 on financial technologies at Dr Ambedkar International Center, New Delhi The Conclave was inaugurated by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. The objective of the conclave is to shape India’s continued ascendancy in FinTech, build the narrative for future strategy and policy efforts, and to deliberate steps for comprehensive financial inclusion.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. WEF’s global Energy Transition index: India ranks at 76th position :  India has been ranked at 76th position among 115 countries in the global energy transition index. Overall, India has moved up two places from 78th last year. China is ranked even lower than India at 82nd position, though it ranks very high at seventh place in the world for regulation and political commitment. Sweden remains on the top in the index. Switzerland and Norway ranked at second and third position respectively in the index. Among major economies, the United Kingdom (UK) is ranked seventh. Singapore has been ranked thirteenth, while Germany, Japan and the US have bagged the seventeenth, eighteenth and the twenty-seventh place respectively.

2. Sri Lanka President hands over a proposal to declare Tripitaka as World Heritage :  Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena handed over a proposal seeking to declare the Theravada Tripitaka as a UNESCO World Heritage. The Theravada Tripitaka (sacred scripture of Buddhists) was declared as a National heritage of Sri Lanka by President in January this year. Buddha’s preaching was propagated through the word to mouth for generations till the Tripitaka was finally written down in Sri Lanka about 100 years BC.

3.  World’s Largest e-Waste Recycling Hub : The World’s Largest e-Waste Recycling Hub has opened at the Dubai Industrial Park, Dubai.This is 120 million dirhams project which is backed by the Swiss Government Export Finance Agency.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Disinvestment Target of Indian Government :  Government of India has exceeded its Disinvestment target for 2018-19 by 5000 crore and it has touched 85000 crore. The Government set a Disinvestment target of 90000 crore for the next fiscal year (2019-20). Disinvestment can also be defined as the action of an organisation (or government) selling or liquidating an asset or subsidiary. It is also referred to as ‘divestment’ or ‘divestiture.’ In most contexts, disinvestment typically refers to sale from the government, partly or fully, of a government-owned enterprise.

SPORTS:

1.Latest World Badminton Rankings :  Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen at 76th and Riya Mookerjee at 94th are in the top-100 among Men’s and Women’s singles respectively. Kento Momota of Japan is leading the men’s single chart. Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei is leading the women’s single chart. KIDAMBI Srikanth at 7th is the Highest Ranked Indian.

Daily GK Updates - 22nd November, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.  Gujarat launches an intensive project to conserve Gir lions : The Gujarat government has launched Rs. 351-crore project for the conservation of the Gir lions.The project is launched in the backdrop of the Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) outbreak that claimed 23 Asiatic lion lives in their only dwelling Gir National park in Saurashtra.This intensive project will also include an emergency ambulance van akin to the 108 emergency services.

 2. J&K Assembly dissolved after rival alliances stake claim to form govt : Jammu and Kashmir Governor ‘Satyapal Malik’ dissolved the State Assembly after rival alliances staked claim to form the government.Earlier, the state assembly was kept in suspended animation so that political parties could explore the possibility of forming a new government.The Governor's rule was imposed in the state on 19th June for a 6-month period following the collapse of the PDP-BJP oalition government after BJP withdrew its support.The State will now be placed under President's rule on December 20 after the six months tenure of Governor's rule comes to an end.

3. Union HRD Minister launches ‘Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC)’Program of MHRD’s : The Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar has launched (through video conferencing) the ‘Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) program under Innovation cell of MHRD in New Delhi.It is a significant step in institutionalising innovation and developing a scientific temperament in the country.The HRD ministry has established an “Innovation cell” at AICTE with a purpose to systematically foster the culture of Innovation in all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the country.The objective of the formation of a network of Institution’s Innovation Councils (IICs) is to encourage, inspire and nurture young students by exposing them to new ideas and processes resulting in innovative activities in their formative years.

4. PM Modi laid the foundation stones of City Gas Distribution projects : Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stones of City Gas Distribution (CGD) projects in 129 districts from New Delhi.It will herald the availability of convenient, environment-friendly and cheaper natural gas for almost half of the country's population spread across 26 States and Union Territories.Till September 2018, 96 cities and in different parts of the country were covered for development of CGD networks.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. South Korean Kim Jong-yang elected as Interpol president : South Korea Kim Jong Yang has been elected as the Interpol President for a two-year term.The decision was taken at the 87th General Assembly of the Agency in Dubai (first time) UAE.He replaced Meng Hongwei (Deputy Minister of Public Security of China) who is alleged to have resigned via an undersigned postal letter (in October 2018) after his detention and disappearance by Chinese authorities on corruption charges.

2.  President Kovind meets Australian PM Scott Morrison in Sydney :President Ram Nath Kovind met Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Sydney to facilitate bilateral investment flow in both countries.Five MoUs were exchanged in the field of disability sector, education, trade-investment, scientific cooperation, agriculture and on higher education focussing on PhD by both nations.The MoUs were exchanged by High Commissioner of India to Australia Ajay M Gondane and High Commissioner of Australia to India Harinder Sidhu.

3. ConMac 2018 starts in Kathmandu : Nepal’s Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth has inaugurated an exhibition of construction equipment and technology- ‘ConMac 2018’ at Bhaktapur (near Kathmandu) in Nepal.The Embassy of India in Nepal and CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) jointly organized this exhibition of construction equipment and technology- ‘ConMac 2018’.The objective of the exhibition is to further enhance high-level engagements between construction industry of the two countries.

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. Centra Government and the World Bank sign USD 310 million loan agreement for JPSIP : The Union Government of India and the World Bank have signed a USD 310 million Loan Agreement for Jharkhand Power System Improvement Project (JPSIP) to provide reliable, quality, and affordable 24x7 electricityto the citizens of Jharkhand.The Project is part of the Government of India’s Power for All program launched in 2014.The plan envisages addition of over 4.5 GW generation capacities by 2022 (including a significant share of 1.5 GW from solar energy), through a mix of Private and Public-sector investments.

DEFENCE:

1. India-USA joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ commences in Jaipur : India, US Joint Special Forces Exercise 2018 named ‘Vajra Prahar’ commenced at Mahajan Field Firing Range (MFFR), Bikaner in Rajasthan.The 12 days exercise was called between Special Forces of both countries to deal with operations for counter-terrorism and is being done at the unit as well as sub-unit levels.US Army is represented by the contingent of one officer and 10 Other Ranks from Special Forces Group of United States Pacific Command.

IBPS CWE PO/ MT (Officer Scale 1) 2014 Exam Analysis

IBPS CWE PO/ MT (Officer Scale 1) 2014 Exam Analysis

The much-awaited examination of Probationary Officers (PO) conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) started from October 11, 2014. As usual it was an online examination.

We would like to mention that this time too, IBPS lived up to its expectation of having a surprise element or in other words “something new” in the pattern of the examination. Most of the students found the questions in the examination to be more of indirect than direct.

Let us understand the pattern first.

Paper Pattern:

Number of questions: 200 questions

Time: 2 hours

Sections: Five

Marking Pattern:  (a) 1 mark for every correct answer (b)  -0.25 for every incorrect answer

Our Analysis:
As per the feedback that we got from various sources, our own inputs and after having a detailed discussion with the student fraternity, we present a crisp and clear analysis.

Section	Total Questions	Max. Marks	Level of Difficulty	Good Attempts	Good Score
Reasoning	50	50	Moderate-Easy	27-31	23-27
English Language	40	40	Moderate-Easy	28-31	23-27
Maths	50	50	Moderate – High	20-23	17-19
General Awareness	40	40	Easy	22-25	18-20
Computer Knowledge	20	20	Very Easy	13-15	11-12
Total	200	200		110-125	92-105

Sectional Cutoff  (Expected) -

Subject	General	OBC	SC	ST
Reasoning	10-13	6-9	6-9	6-9
English Language	6-9	3-6	3-6	3-6
Maths	6-9	4-6	4-6	4-6
General Awareness	8-11	6-8	6-8	6-8
Computer Knowledge	7-10	5-7	5-7	5-7
Overall cutoff on total score	61-70	60-68	59-64	32-38

Analysis of the questions asked in different sections:

Reasoning  
The questions in this section were relatively easy.

There were many questions from Critical Reasoning area. As usual, the questions on Sitting Arrangements  (linear – one of the set was related to arrangement on floors) were in good number too.

Questions from Syllogism and Inequalities formed another important area.

Questions from Directions, Input-Output and Statement-Conclusions were also found.

English Language
Again a relatively easy section.

Max Weightage: Reading Comprehension (20 questions – 2 sets – 10 questions from each set)

Important Areas:

Cloze Test: 10 questions  - Easy

Parajumbles: 5-10 questions – Easy to Moderate

Other questions: Vocabulary based questions, Sentence Correction questions were also found.

Maths

This section can be classified as difficult to moderate.

Questions from Data Interpretation (DI) were seen in good numbers in some of the examination slots. Even the questions which followed DI were mostly indirect. There were 3-4 sets in most of the examination slots. Each set had approximately 5 questions. DI was in the form of Tables, Pie-charts and Bar charts, amongst others.

Other questions were from Data Sufficiency, Percentage, Time, Speed & Distance, Geometry, Mensuration, Number Series (Odd One Out), Simple and Compound Interest and Linear Equations.

General Awareness
Unlike most of the previous IBPS examination wherein most of the questions were from Banking, this year surprisingly saw many questions based on current affairs.

Questions from Banking were found too.

Most of the questions were manageable if a student has read newspaper regularly.

Computer Knowledge
The questions in this section were relatively easy. Questions Hardware, Networking and Software were asked. Many questions were related to MS Office, particularly MS Excel and shortcuts in MS Excel.

Concluding..

Overall, the paper can be rated to be of moderate difficulty level. An overall score of 70 (for general category) should be good enough to get a call for the interviews.

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by us on the basis of inputs received by us and our own discretion. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information. 

Keep growing!

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh