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Friday, May 19, 2006

Page One: General Studies Preliminary Paper 2006

As on page 2 series B
General Studies Preliminary Paper May 14, 2006
Time Allowed: Two Hours
MM: 150
Total Questions: 150


1. Which one of the following countries is not a member of ASEAN?
a. Vietnam
b. Brunei Darussalam
c. Bangladesh
d. Myanmar

Ans. c. Bangladesh

Authentication Verification Validation Elaboration

The full form of ASEAN is Association of South East Asian Nations. It has presently 10 members viz. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It is a political, economic and cultural organization of Southeast Asia. The Association was formed on August 8, 1967 by four countries namely Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines. It was an act of solidarity against the communist expansion in Vietnam. However, latter Vietnam (mainland) was included as a member of association.

The seat of the Association is Jakarta (Indonesia).

For further details refer to
ASEAN on Wikipedia

ASEAN Home Page


Category: International Relations: Political Science

2. Consider the following statements in respect of India’s advanced satellite INSAT – 4A:
1. INSAT – 4A was launched in December 2005 from New Mexico.
2. The European commercial launch service provider Arianespace was associated with the launch of INSAT – 4A.
3. Tata-Sky a digital cable service provider is associated with DTH television broadcasting services from INSAT-4A.

Which of the statements given above are correct?
a. 1, 2 and 3
b. 1 and 2 only
c. 2 and 3 only
d. 1 and 3 only

Ans. C. 2 and 3, only.

Authentication Verification Validation Elaboration
Well it is true that INSAT-4A was launched on December 22, 2005 but not from New Mexico. It was launched from Kourou, French Guiana as per the press release of ISRO. Kourou (Territory of France-Europe) is on the North coast of South America and an Atlantic coast.

TATA-Sky (Earlier Space TV and now a joint venture of TATA and STAR group) has leased 12 KU Band of INSAT 4A before it launch for beaming 1500 channels through DTH (Direct to Home). The agreement was signed in November 2005 before the launch.


For further Reference:
Kourou and French Guiana on Wikipedia
ISRO Home page and Wikipedia
Press Release of ISRO
INSAT 4A by ISRO


Category: Science and Technology: Physics

3. Match List I (Person with List II (Organization/Area of World) and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists:

List I
(Person)
List II
(Organization/
Area of Work)
A.Chanda Kochhar1Advertising
B.Amrita Patel2.Banking
C.Indra Nooyi3.Diary Development
D. Piyush Pandey4.Pepsi Co


Code:
ABCD
(a)2143
(b)4321
(c)2341
(d) 4123


Ans. C. A2 B3 C4 D1

Authentication Verification Validation Elaboration
Chanda Kochhar is Executive Director, Retail Banking of ICICI Bank Ltd. She belongs to those elite women executives (Kalpana Morparia, DMD, Madhabbi Puri-Buch Senior GM, Shikha Sharma CEO ICICI Prudential, Lalita D Gupte JMD, Renuka Ramnath, CEO, ICICI Venture) who dominates ICICI Bank and its subsidiaries. It is a gossip that Chanda Kochhar may succeed K. V. Kamath as CEO. Remember Parikh of HDFC Bank for your GS Paper B. (source: Business Today Special Issue, March 12, 2006 and ICICI Bank website. Photo)
Amrita Patel, the daughter of former Finance Minister H. Y. Patel, succeeded the illustrious Dr. V. Kurien (The Amul Man) as a Chairperson of National Diary Development Board. (Source: Business Today, Photo, Short Biography )
Indra Nooyi, the most illustrious among the four mentioned in this question is presently senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer of Pepsico. (Source: Business Today, IIM Calcutta, Yale School of Management, )
Piyush Pandey is the Group President of Ogilvy and Mather Advertising Agency (High Rating) and National Creative Director. (Source: Business Today. Photo and detail. For his award winning creations works

Special Note: Remember these ladies: Indra Nooyi, Chanda Kochhar, Kaplana Morparia, Madhabbi Puri-Buch, Shikha Sharma, Lalita Gupte, Renuka Ramnath, Zia Moody (Last year GS 2005) Renu Karnad ED, HDFC, Vinita Bali of Britannia Industries, Kiran Majumdar of Biocon (last year GS) Neelam Dhawan MD, Microsoft India, Swati Piramal of Nicholas Piramal and Preetha Reddy of Apollo Hospitals Group especially for their Health Tourism initiatives and Health services outsourcing. These persons may be there in G. S. Paper B.


Category: Business and Economy: Indian Business Personalities

4. To which one of the following processes is the term CMYK related?
(a) Railway signalling
(b) Navigation
(c) Offset printing
(d) Electronic voting machine

Ans. C. Offset Printing

Authentication Verification Validation Elaboration

CMYK is a subtractive colour model used in colour printing. CMYK stands for four colours. C is Cyan. M is for Magenta. Y is for Yellow. K stand for Key which is for black. It is also written as YMCK or CYM.

Further Reference:
A good article is at Wikipedia.
Another good article is at Webopedia.
Another reference is at Answer.com with additional references from the books.
Next impressive article is at IT encyclopedia.

Category: Science: Physics

5. Consider the following statements:
1. Kofi Annan-the UN Secretary General is from Nigeria.
2. Kofi Annan is the first UN Secretary General to be appointed from the ranks of the United Nations staff.
3. Kofi Annan was appointed for a second term to the office of the UN Secretary General.

Which of the following statements given above are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Ans. C. 2 and 3, only
Authentication Verification Validation Elaboration
Kofi Annan is from Ghana. He is the seventeenth General Secretary of the United Nations. His second term will end on December 21, 2006.
Source: Biography United Nations
Fascinating Observation: The order of the assertions on Kofi Annan is in the same order as it is given in the biography mentioned in the source. Similar thing has been observed in case of Q7. Both the questions are in nature of a history of an institution or a person.
Category: International Personality: Political Science.
6. Which one of the following countries is not a participating team in the Football World Cup-2006 to be held in Germany in July 2006?
(a) Russia
(b) Togo
(c) Ivory Coast
(d) Switzerland
Ans. a. Russia
Authentication Verification Validation Elaboration
Russia was eliminated by Portugal in qualification round. There are 32 teams in 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany or simply Football World Cup 2006. It will be played between June 9 to July 9 2006.
The next 2010 FIFA Football World Cup will be played in South Africa. However, South Africa team was eliminated during qualifying rounds and is not playing this cup.
Source: There are large number of sources. However, the good ones are those which are hosted by established TV channels or Newspapers. The above information is gathered from Wikipedia. Other Source BBC.
An Observation:
Football World Cup will remain important even for General Studies Mains. Any Comment.
Category: Sports: Events: Game: World Tournaments
7. Consider the following statements:
1. The Nobel Prize Awarding Ceremony takes place on December 10 of every year.
2. The Nobel Prize for Literature was added later on to the other five areas – Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Peace and Economics.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Ans. a. 1 only
Authentication Verification Validation Elaboration
It was Prize in economic science which was later constituted in 1968 and given in 1969 onwards. It was established when Bank of Sweden made a large donation to the Nobel foundation. It was decided later, that no new prize will be constituted.
The date December 10 is date of death of Alfred Nobel who had died in 1896. However, the Nobel Foundation and the prizes were constituted in 1900. The Nobel Foundation was constituted on June 29, 1900.
Source: Nobel Prize Org History.
An Observation: There is always a question on Nobel Prize or related to prizes equivalent to Nobel Prize like Japan Prize, Koyoto Prize, Booker Prize etc. This time, it a question on Nobel Prize History. Such questions had appeared earlier also.
Category: General Knowledge: World Cultural Affairs Prizes and Awards.

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