General Knowledge for Preparing Various Exams in India Chapter 8

106. Russia will spend more than $50 billion on space research in coming years to reassert its leading positions in the field, said President Vladimir Putin.

107. China’s economic growth slowed to 7.7 per cent in the first quarter, the government said.

108. Thailand and Cambodia took their dispute around ancient temple Preah Vihear to the UN Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ).

109. Greece has secured an aid package worth €8.8billion from the European Union.

110. Telugu novelist Ravuri Bharadwaja was selected for the prestigious Jnanpith award for the year 2012.

111. Odiya novelist Pratibha Ray was also selected for the same award.

112. India had launched a new initiative to double the renewable energy capacity to 55,000 MW by 2017 by exploiting non-conventional energy sources such as solar, wind power and energy from biomass.

113. United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, will visit India from April 22 to May 1. This will be the first visit to assess the overall situation of violence against women in the country.

114. A letter addressed to U.S. President Barack Obama contained a substance that preliminarily tested positive for the deadly poison ricin.

115. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will soon pass a law regulating foreign labour in its member countries. The GCC is a six-member group with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) as its members.

116. The Tripura government has proposed to hold the ‘Beating Retreat’ ceremony at the Akhaura border, as was conducted at the Wagah border in Punjab.

117. Senior IPS officer Aruna Bahuguna will be the new Special Director General of the CRPF, the country’s largest paramilitary force. Ms. Bahuguna will be the first ever woman to occupy the post, which is second only to force’s chief in hierarchy.

118. Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma announced a set of reforms for Special Economic Zones (SEZ), including relaxation of land requirement norms.

119. A Reserve Bank of India audit has found certain ‘aberrations’ at ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, which were accused of money-laundering by an online portal, but no risk of systemic failure was discovered, Banking Secretary Rajiv Takru said.

120. Former President Pervez Musharraf was formally arrested by the Pakistani investigators over the murder of Benazir Bhutto after an Anti-terrorism court directed them to include him in the probe into the 2007 assassination.