General Awareness Questions

Achal Kumar Jyoti (64), a retired 1975 IAS Officer batch of Gujarat Cadre, is the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), who took over as the head of the Election Commission in New Delhi on today. He succeeded Dr Nasim Zaidi. Jyoti will continue as the Chief Election Commissioner till January 17, 2018. Prior to this appointment, he was Election Commissioner of India. A CEC or an EC can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

Agronomy deals with the methods which provide favourable environment to crop for higher productivity.

Luanda, the capital of Angola, has topped the list of most expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer’s 23rd annual Cost of Living Survey. Hong Kong has acquired 2nd position, followed by Tokyo, Zurich, Singapore, Seoul and Geneva. From India, Mumbai is the most expensive city for expatriates that has ranked 57th on the list, followed by New Delhi (99), Chennai (135), Bangalore (166) and Kolkata (184). The Mercer’s survey includes 209 cities across five continents. The world’s least expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer’s survey, are Tunis (209), Bishkek (208) and Skopje (206). Mercer’s authoritative survey is one of the world’s most comprehensive, and is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

The capital of Bangladesh “Dhaka” is the world’s most crowded city with a population density of 44,500 people per square kilometre, released by World Economic Forum (WEF), citing UN Habitat data. According to UN Habitat data, of the top 10 most densely populated cities in the world, six are in Asia, three are in Africa and one is in South America. India’s financial capital Mumbai, home to 31,700 people per square kilometre has acquired second place, where as Kota in Rajasthan with 12,100 people per square kilometre was ranked seventh. Others in the list include Medellin in Columbia (3rd), Manila in Philippines (4th, 14,800), Casablanca in Morocco (5th, 14,200), Lagos in Nigeria (6th, 13,300), Singapore (8th, 10,200) and Jakarta in Indonesia (9th, 9,600).

1. Pinaka is a multi barrel rocket launcher developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Army.

2. The system has a maximum range of 40 km for Mark-I and 75 km for Mark-II, and can fire a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds.

3. The system is mounted on a Tatra truck for mobility.

4. Actually, the meaning of Pinaka is Shiv Dhanush.