General Awareness Questions

SDR means Special Drawing Rights.

SDRs are a measure of a country's reserve assets with IMF and, whereas not 'money' in the strict sense, have several characteristics of money as interest-bearing assets, store of value, and means of settling indebtedness.

International financing instrument created in 1970 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to coincide with the disfavor of the US dollar as the principal currency of the world trade. Also called paper gold, an SDR is neither paper nor gold but an accounting entry. It is not backed by any currency or precious metal and is used only among governments and IMF for balance Of payments settlements.

The Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) has successfully created the country’s first smart grid project, which will generate power from renewable sources of energy.  The project will soon be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee, IIEST Director Prof Ajoy Kumar Roy. The smart grid will be synchronised to generate power from solar, wind and vegetable waste resources, depending on the weather conditions and availability of waste products. It is the first of its kind in the country.

Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari is arriving in New Delhi on a five-day visit to India. This will be Bhandari's first foreign trip after assuming the office in October 2015, following the promulgation of the new Constitution in Nepal.

After a span of 20 years, a Hindu politician, Darshan Lal, is set to take the role of a cabinet minister in Pakistan.  The new Prime Minister Shahaid Khaqan Abbasi formulated his cabinet and has appointed 65-year old Lal to lead coordination between four Pakistan provinces.

Lal reportedly used to practice as a doctor in Mirpur Mathelo town in Ghotki district of Sindh province.