General Awareness Questions

The GVK group-run Mumbai airport has become the world’s busiest amongst the single-runway facilities by handling 837 flights a day or one in 65 seconds on an average in fiscal 2017.

The 112-feet tall bust of ‘Adiyogi’ Lord Shiva at the Isha Yoga Foundation has been declared the world’s largest bust by the Guinness Book of World Records. The Guinness had announced this on its website. The bust at the Isha Yoga Foundation on the outskirts of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 February.

There are two major forms of democratic government.

I. Parliamentary
II. Presidential

The citizens elect the leaders in democratic government.

The main difference is legislative and executive branches.

Executive - head of government
Legislative - how laws are made

I. Parliamentary democratic government : (example - United Kingdom )

1. Parliament = Legislature (Laws)
2. Parliament controls the power
3. Head of government is a prime minister chosen by the legislature
4. Prime minister and cabinet are members of the legislature
5. Prime minister answers to the legislature (fusion of powers)
6. The government will stay in office for a specified period unless the prime minister loses support of the majority on an important vote.
7. If this occurs- the P.M. must resign and elections are held immediately.

II. Presidential democratic government : (example - United States of America)

1. The executive and legislative branches are separate bodies elected independently by the citizens.
2. Separation of Powers
3. There are checks and balances where each branch can overrule the other.
4. The president answers to the voters, not the legislature.
5. The people elect the president, and elections are held at set intervals.

China's amphibian aircraft, which is stated to be the world's largest, has successfully passed engine tests and is expected to make its maiden flight in the first half of the year 2017.

The gold prices in India are determined according to the international market in the following way:

- The price of gold in USD is taken as a base price. Depending on the value of indian rupee as compared to USD (eg- 1 USD= ₹63), the price of gold is converted into rupees.

- The import duties on gold are added to obtain the final price of gold.

• Gold is a global commodity. In the international market, the price of gold is determined by the forces of demand and supply. Higher demand leads to higher price and vice versa. Higher supply leads to lower price and vice versa.