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The General Knowledge Fact Quiz Book

October 13, 2009 Leave a comment


Description: Arcturus Contributors | Size: 1.6MB | Pages: 386

During the course of our lives, countless snippets of information are stored in the brain: some useful, others merely of interest.
This collection of quizzes tests your knowledge of the world and beyond.
Each round contains ten questions – and you may be astounded at just what you have picked up over the years

Link 1 Or Link 2

Complete list of Bharat Ratna Awardees

October 11, 2009 Leave a comment
S.No Name Birth / death Awarded Notes Indian state or country
1. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 1888–1975 1954 Second President, First Vice President, Philosopher. Tamil Nadu
2. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari 1878–1972 1954 Last Governor-General, Freedom Fighter. Tamil Nadu
3. C. V. Raman 1888–1970 1954 Nobel-prize winning Physicist Tamil Nadu
4. Bhagwan Das 1869–1958 1955 Philosopher, Freedom Fighter Uttar Pradesh
5. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya 1861–1962 1955 Civil Engineer Karnataka
6. Jawaharlal Nehru 1889–1964 1955 First Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter, Author. Uttar Pradesh
7. Govind Ballabh Pant 1887–1961 1957 Freedom Fighter, Home Minister Uttar Pradesh
8. Dhondo Keshav Karve 1858–1962 1958 Educationist, Social Reformer Maharashtra
9. B. C. Roy 1882–1962 1961 Physician, Politician West Bengal
10. Purushottam Das Tandon 1882–1962 1961 Freedom Fighter, Educationalist. Uttar Pradesh
11. Rajendra Prasad 1884–1963 1962 First President, Freedom Fighter, Jurist Bihar
12. Zakir Hussain 1897–1969 1963 Former President, Scholar. Andhra Pradesh
13. Pandurang Vaman Kane 1880–1972 1963 Indologist and Sanskrit scholar Maharashtra
14. Lal Bahadur Shastri 1904–1966 1966 Posthumous, Second Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter Uttar Pradesh
15. Indira Gandhi 1917–1984 1971 Former Prime Minister Uttar Pradesh
16. V. V. Giri 1894–1980 1975 Former President, Trade Unionist. Andhra Pradesh
17. K. Kamaraj 1903–1975 1976 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Chief Minister-Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu
18. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) 1910–1997 1980 Naturalized Indian citizen, Nobel Laureate (Peace, 1979). West Bengal
19. Acharya Vinoba Bhave 1895–1982 1983 Posthumous, Social Reformer, Freedom Figher. Maharashtra
20. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan 1890–1988 1987 First non-citizen, Freedom Fighter. Pakistan
21. M. G. Ramachandran 1917–1987 1988 Posthumous, Chief Minister-Tamil Nadu, Actor. Tamil Nadu
22. B. R. Ambedkar 1891–1956 1990 Posthumous, Architect-Indian Constitution, Leader of Buddhist people of India Maharashtra
23. Nelson Mandela b. 1918 1990 Second non-citizen and first non-Indian, Leader of Anti-Apartheid movement. South Africa
24. Rajiv Gandhi 1944–1991 1991 Posthumous, Former Prime Minister New Delhi
25. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel 1875–1950 1991 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, First Home Minister of India. Gujarat
26. Morarji Desai 1896–1995 1991 Former Prime Minister, Freedom Fighter. Gujarat
27. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1888–1958 1992 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Educator. West Bengal
28. J. R. D. Tata 1904–1993 1992 Industrialist and philanthropist. Maharashtra
29. Satyajit Ray 1922–1992 1992 Legendary Indian Film Director West Bengal
30. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam b. 1931 1997 Former President, Scientist. Tamil Nadu
31. Gulzarilal Nanda 1898–1998 1997 Freedom Fighter, former Prime Minister. Punjab
32. Aruna Asaf Ali 1908–1996 1997 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter. West Bengal
33. M. S. Subbulakshmi 1916–2004 1998 Classical singer. Tamil Nadu
34. Chidambaram Subramaniam 1910–2000 1998 Freedom Fighter, Minister of Agriculture(Father of Green revolution). Tamil Nadu
35. Jayaprakash Narayan 1902–1979 1998 Posthumous, Freedom Fighter, Social Reformer. Uttar Pradesh
36. Ravi Shankar b. 1920 1999 Classical sitar player. west bengal
37. Amartya Sen b. 1933 1999 Nobel Laureate (Economics, 1998), Economist. West Bengal
38. Gopinath Bordoloi 1890–1950 1999 Posthumous, freedom fighter Assam
39. Lata Mangeshkar b. 1929 2001 Play back singer. Maharashtra
40. Ustad Bismillah Khan 1916-2006 2001 Classical Maestro Uttar Pradesh

Note : No one was awarded the country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007

COUNTRIES AND CAPITALS

September 17, 2009 Leave a comment
Afghanistan Kabul
Albania Tirana
Algeria Algiers
Angola Luanda
Andorra Andorre-la-Vieille
Antigua & Barbuda St.John’s
Argentina Buenos Aires
Armenia Yerevan
Australia Canberra
Austria Vienna
Azerbaijan Baku
Bahamas Nassau
Bahrain Manama
Bangladesh Dhaka
Barbados Bridgetown
Belgium Brussels
Belize Belmopan
Benin Porto Novo
Bermuda Hamilton
Bhutan Thimphu
Bolivia La Paz
Bosniaherzegovina Sarajevo
Botswana Gaborone
Brazil Brasillia
Brunei Bander Seri begawan
Bulgaria Sofia
Burkina faso Ouagadougou
Burundi Bujumbura
Byelorussia Minsk
Cambodia Phnom-Penh
Cameroon Yaounde
Canada Ottawa
Cape Verde Praia
Central African Republic Bangui
Chad N’ Djamena
Chile Santiago
China Beijing
Colombia Bogota
Comoros Moroni
Congo (Formerly French) Brazzaville
Costa Rica San Jose
Coted’ ivoira Abidjan
Croatia Zagrab
Cuba Havana
Cyprus Nicosia
Czechoslovakia Prague (Praha)
Denmark Copenhagen
Djibouti Djibouti
Dominica Roseau
Dominican Republic Santo Domingo
Ecuador Quito
Egypt Cairo
El Salvador San Salvador
Equatorial Guinea Malabo
Eritrea Asmara
Estonia Tallinn
Ethiopia (or Abyssinia) Addis Ababa
Falkland Islands Stanley
Fiji Suva
Finland Helsinki
France Paris
Gabon Libreville
Gambia Banjul
Germany (United) Berlin
Georgia Tbilisi
Ghana Accra
Greece Athens
Grenada St.George’s
Guatemala Guatemala City
Guinea Conakry
Guinea-Bissau Bissau
Guyana Georgetown
Haiti Port-au-Prince
Honduras Tegucigalpa
Hong Kong Victoria
Hungary Budapest
Iceland Reykjavik
India New Delhi
Indonesia Jakarta
Iran Teheran
Iraq Baghdad
Ireland (or Eire) Dublin
Israel Jerusalem
Italy Rome
Ivory Coast Abidjan
Jamaica Kingston
Japan Tokyo
Jordan Amman
Kazakhstan Alma-ata
Kenya Nairobi
Kirghizia Frunze
Kiribati Tarawa
Korea (North) Pyongyang
Korea (South) Seoul
Kuwait Kuwait City
Lao s.P.D.R. Vientiane
Latria Riga
Lebanon Beirut
Lesotho Maseru
Liberia Monrovia
Libya Tripoli
Lithuania Vilnius
Luxembourg Luxembourg
Macao Macao
Macedonia Skopje
Madagascar Antananarivo
Malawi Lilongwe
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
Maldives Male
Mali Bamako
Malta Valletta
Mauritania Nouakchott
Mauritius Port Louis
Mexico Mexico City
Monaco Monaco
Mongolia Ulam Bator
Montserrat Plymouth
Morocco Rabat
Mozambique Maputo
Myanmar (Burma) Yangon
Namibia Windhoek
Nauru Yaren Nauru
Nepal Kathmandu
Netherlands Amsterdam
New Zealand Wellington
Nicaragua Managua
Niger Niamey
Nigeria Abuja
Northern Ireland Belfast
Norway Oslo
Oman Muscat
Pakistan Islamabad
Panama Panama City
Papua New Guinea Port Moresby
Paraguay Asuncion
Peru Lima
Philippines Manila (Quezon City)
Poland Warsaw
Portugal Lisbon
Puerto Rico San Juan
Qatar Doha
Rourkina Fasso (Upper Volta) Quagadougon
Romania Bucharest
Russia Mascow
Rwanda Kigali
San Marino San Marino
Sao Tome and Principle Sao Tome
Saudi Arabia Riyadh
Senegal Dakar
Seychelles Victoria
Sierra Leone Freetown
Singapore Singapore City
Solomon Islands Honiara
Somalia Magadishu
South Africa Pretoria
Spain Madrid
Sri Lanka Colombo
St.Kitts-Nevis Basseterre
St.Lucia Castries
St.Vincent & The Grenadines Kingstown
Sudan Khartoum
Suriname Paramaribo
Swaziland Mbabane
Sweden Stockholm
Switzerland Berne
Syria Damascus
Tadzhikistan Dushanbe
Taiwan Taipei
Tanzania Do doma
Thailand Bangkok
Timor Dili
Togo Lome
Tonga Nuku’alofa
Trinidad and Tobago Port-of-Spain
Tunisia Tunis
Turkey Ankara
Turkmenistan Ashkhabad
Tuvalu Funafuti
Uganda Kampala
Ukraine Kiev
United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi
United Kingdom London
U.S.A. Washington D.C.
Uruguay Montivideo
Uzbekistan Tashkent
Vanuatu Vila
Vatican City State Vatican City
Venezuela Caracas
Vietnam Hanoi
Western Samoa Apia
Yemen (North) Sania
Yugoslavia Belgrade
Zaire Kinshasa
Zambia Lusaka
Zimbabwe Harare
Categories: General Knowledge Tags: ,

National Symbols of India

September 17, 2009 Leave a comment
National Flag
The National Flag is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (kesaria) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three. In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel which represents the chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes. The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22 July 1947.Apart from non-statutory instructions issued by the Government from time to time, display of the National Flag is governed by the provisions of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 (No. 12 of 1950) and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 (No. 69 of 1971). The Flag Code of India, 2002 is an attempt to bring together all such laws, conventions, practices and instructions for the guidance and benefit of all concerned.

The Flag Code of India, 2002, took effect from 26 January 2002 and superseded the ‘Flag Code—Indias’ as it existed. As per the provisions of the Flag Code of India, 2002, there are no restriction on the display of the National Flag by members of general public, private organisations, educational institutions, etc., except to the extent provided in the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and any other law enacted on the subject.

 
National Song
The song Vande Mataram, composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji, was a source of inspiration to the people in their struggle for freedom. It has an equal status with Jana-gana-man a. The first political occasion when it was sung was the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress. The following is the text of its first stanza:Vande Mataram!

Sujalam, suphalam, malayaja shitalam,

Shasyashyamalam, Mataram!

Shubhrajyotsna pulakitayaminim,

Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim,

Suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim,

Sukhadam varadam, Mataram!

 
The English translation of the stanza rendered by Sri Aurobindo in prose 1 is:

I bow to thee, Mother,
richly-watered, richly-fruited,
cool with the winds of the south,
dark with the crops of the harvests,
The Mother!
Her nights rejoicing in the glory of the moonlight,
her lands clothed beautifully with her trees in flowering bloom,
sweet of laughter, sweet of speech,
The Mother, giver of boons, giver of bliss.

 

 
National Anthem
The song Jana-gana-mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24 January 1950. It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress. The complete song consists of five stanzas. The first stanza contains the full version of the National Anthem:
 

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he

Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.

Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha

Dravida-Utkala-Banga

Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga

Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga.

Tava shubha name jage,

Tava shubha asisa mange,

Gahe tava jaya gatha,

Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he

Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.

Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,

Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

 
Playing time of the full version of the national anthem is approximately 52 seconds. A short version consisting of the first and last lines of the stanza (playing time approximately 20 seconds) is also played on certain occasions. The following is Tagore’s English rendering of the anthem:

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
dispenser of India’s destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind,
Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is
chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
thou dispenser of India’s destiny.
Victory, victory, victory to thee.

 
State Emblem
The state emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. In the original, there are four lions, standing back to back, mounted on an abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening wheels over a bell-shaped lotus. Carved out of a single block of polished sandstone, the Capital is crowned by the Wheel of the Law (Dharma Chakra) .In the state emblem, adopted by the Government of India on 26 January 1950, only three lions are visible, the fourth being hidden from view. The wheel appears in relief in the centre of the abacus with a bull on right and a horse on left and the outlines of other wheels on extreme right and left. The bell-shaped lotus has been omitted. The words Satyameva Jayate from Mundaka Upanishad , meaning ‘Truth Alone Triumphs’, are inscribed below the abacus in Devanagari script.
 
National Calendar
The national calendar based on the Saka Era, with Chaitra as its first month and a normal year of 365 days was adopted from 22 March 1957 along with the Gregorian calendar for the following official purposes:

(i) Gazette of India,
(ii) news broadcast by All India Radio,
(iii) calendars issued by the Government of India and
(iv) Government communications addressed to the members of the public.

Dates of the national calendar have a permanent correspondence with dates of the Gregorian calendar, 1 Chaitra falling on 22 March normally and on 21 March in leap year.

 
National Flower
Lotus (Nelumbo Nucipera Gaertn) is the National Flower of India. It is a sacred flower and occupies a unique position in the art and mythology of ancient India and has been an auspicious symbol of Indian culture since time immemorial.India is rich in flora. Currently available data place India in the tenth position in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity. From about 70 per cent geographical area surveyed so far, 47,000 species of plants have been described by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).
 
National Bird
The Indian peacock, Pavo cristatus, the national bird of India, is a colourful, swan-sized bird, with a fan-shaped crest of feathers, a white patch under the eye and a long, slender neck. The male of the species is more colourful than the female, with a glistening blue breast and neck and a spectacular bronze-green train of around 200 elongated feathers. The female is brownish, slightly smaller than the male and lacks the train. The elaborate courtship dance of the male, fanning out the tail and preening its feathers is a gorgeous sight.

 
National Animal
The magnificent tiger, Panthera tigris is a striped animal. It has a thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes. The combination of grace, strength, agility and enormous power has earned the tiger its pride of place as the national animal of India. Out of eight races of the species known, the Indian race, the Royal Bengal Tiger, is found throughout the country except in the north-western region and also in the neighbouring countries, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. To check the dwindling population of tigers in India, ‘Project Tiger’ was launched in April 1973. So far, 27 tiger reserves have been established in the country under this project, covering an area of 37,761 sq km.
 
National Fruit
A fleshy fruit, eaten ripe or used green for pickles etc., of the tree Mangifera indica, the mango is one of the most important and widely cultivated fruits of the tropical world. Its juicy fruit is a rich source of Vitamins A, C and D. In India there are over100 varieties of mangoes, in different sizes, shapes and colours. Mangoes have been cultivated in India from time immemorial. The poet Kalidasa sang its praises. Alexander savoured its taste, as did the Chinese pilgrim Hieun Tsang. Mughal emperor Akbar planted 100,000 mango trees in Darbhanga, Bihar at a place now known as Lakhi Bagh.
 
National Tree
Indian fig tree, Ficus bengalensis, whose branches root themselves like new trees over a large area. The roots then give rise to more trunks and branches. Because of this characteristic and its longevity, this tree is considered immortal and is an integral part of the myths and legends of India. Even today, the banyan tree is the focal point of village life and the village council meets under the shade of this tree.
Categories: General Knowledge Tags: ,

Countries and National Emblems

September 17, 2009 1 comment
Symbol Emblem
Australia Kangaroo
Bangladesh Water Lily
Barbados Head of a trident
Belgium Lion
Canada White Lily, Flower emblem: maple leaf
Chile Condor and heumul (small American deer)
Denmark Beach
Dominica Sisserou Parrot
Germany Eagle/Corn flower
France Lily
Guyana Canje pheasant
India Lioned Capitol
Iran Rose
Ireland Shamrock (Harp)
Israel Candelabrum
Italy White Lily
Ivory Coast Elephant
Japan Chrysanthemum
Hong Kong Bauhinta (Orchid tree)
Lebanon Cedar tree
Luxembourg Lion with crown
Mongolia The Soyombo (symbol for freedom and independence)
Netherlands the Lion
New Zealand Southern cross, Fern, Kivi
Norway Lion
Pakistan Crescent, Jasmine
Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise
Poland Eagle
San Marino Feathers
Spain Eagle, Flower Emblem: Pomegranate
Senegal Baobab tree
Sierra Leone Lion
Sri Lanka Lion
Sudan Secretary Bird
Swaziland Lion and Elephant
Syria Eagle
Trinidad and Tobago Humming bird
Turkey Crescent and Star
United Kingdom Rose
USA Golden Rod, Bald Eagle
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Bird
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