Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Countries Having NO trains!!!!!

No railways

Andorra - planned 2009
Bahamas - island
Bahrain - planned 2008
Belize - planned 2007
Bhutan - rail link is expected to come up under Nehru Golden Jubilee project
Burundi - planned 2008
Cape Verde - island
Central African Republic
Chad
Cyprus - island
East Timor - island
Equatorial Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Iceland (see Rail transport in Iceland)
Kiribati - island
Kuwait - planned 2008
Libya (network under construction, see Libyan Railways)
Maldives - island
Malta - island
Mauritius - island
Micronesia - island
Niger
Oman - planned 2008
Papua New Guinea - planned 2007
Rwanda - planned - 2008
Qatar - planned 2008
San Marino - railways Rimini-San Marino until 1944 link Italy to San Marino
São Tomé and Príncipe - island
Seychelles - island
Somalia - Mogadishu-Villabruzzi Railway existed from 1914 to 1941
The Gambia
Trinidad and Tobago - Trinidad Government Railway from 1876 until 1968; Trinidad Rapid Railway now planned
Tuvalu - island
Vanuatu - island
Yemen - planned 2008

Monday, December 21, 2009

TKDL( Traditional Knowledge Digital Library)

Recently India and the US have signed two inter-governmental agreements during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's first state visit to the US. One of them is TKDL Access between Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and US Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO).

Introduction

Since time immemorial, India has possessed a rich traditional knowledge of ways and means practiced to treat diseases afflicting people. This knowledge has generally been passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. A part of this knowledge has been described in ancient classical and other literature, often inaccessible to the common man and even when accessible rarely understood. Documentation of this existing knowledge, available in public domain, on various traditional systems of medicine has become imperative to safeguard the sovereignty of this traditional knowledge and to protect it from being misappropriated in the form of patents on non-original innovations, and which has been a matter of national concern. India fought successfully for the revocation of turmeric and basmati patents granted by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and neem patent granted by European Patent Office (EPO). As a sequel to this, in 1999, the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy-(AYUSH), erstwhile Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H) constituted an inter-disciplinary Task Force, for creating an approach paper on establishing a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL).
The project TKDL was initiated in the year 2001.

TKDL provides information on traditional knowledge existing in the country, in languages and format understandable by patent examiners at International Patent Offices (IPOs), so as to prevent the grant of wrong patents. TKDL thus, acts as a bridge between the traditional knowledge information existing in local languages and the patent examiners at IPOs.

TKDL is a collaborative project between Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology and Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and is being implemented at CSIR. An inter-disciplinary team of Traditional Medicine (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga) experts, patent examiners, IT experts, scientists and technical officers are involved in creation of TKDL for Indian Systems of Medicine.

The project TKDL involves documentation of the traditional knowledge available in public domain in the form of existing literature related to Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga, in digitized format in five international languages which are English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish. Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification (TKRC), an innovative structured classification system for the purpose of systematic arrangement, dissemination and retrieval has been evolved for about 25,000 subgroups against few subgroups that was available in earlier version of the International Patent Classification (IPC), related to medicinal plants, minerals, animal resources, effects and diseases, methods of preparations, mode of administration, etc.

www.tkdl.res.in/

Burj Dubai

Burj Dubai is the tallest man-made structure in the world, surpassing the KVLY-TV Tower in North Dakota as well as Warszawa Radio Mast, the previous tallest structure ever built.

The triple-lobed footprint of the building is based on an abstracted desert flower native to the region.

A subtle reference to the onion domes of Islamic architecture can be found in the building's silhouette when looking up at the lobes from near the base.

The tower will be situated on a man-made lake which is designed to wrap around the tower and to provide dramatic views of it.

Engineers working on the design considered installing triple-decker elevators, which would have been the first in the world. The realized building will use double-decker elevators.

The top of the building will contain a public observation deck and a private club above that.

Although the building's shape resembles the bundled tube concept of the

Willis Tower, it is structurally very different and is technically not a tube structure.

The design by Skidmore Owings & Merrill replaces a plan to reuse the design for

Grollo Tower, which was proposed in Melbourne a few years earlier.

"Burj" is Arabic for "Tower"

The highest residential floor will be level 109.

An observation deck will occupy the 124th floor.

The building was rotated 120 degrees to allow for less stress from the prevailing winds.

The building sits on a concrete and steel podium with 192 piles descending to a depth of more than 50 metres (164 feet).

A total of 45,000 cubic metres of concrete are used in the foundations with a weight in excess of 110,000 tonnes.

The exterior cladding is of reflective glazing with aluminium and textured stainless steel spandrel panels with vertical tubular fins of stainless steel.

The cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai's extreme summer temperatures.

This is the first world's tallest building since prehistoric times to include residential space.

The official height has not been released, and remains secret. The total height of 808/818 meters is subject to change.

Courtesy--

dOSE -World Heritage Sites

World Heritage Sites - Elephanta Caves

Elephanta Caves ( 1987), Maharashtra

Location-------The Elephanta Caves (180 56’ 20” N; 720 55’ 50” E), taluka Uran, district Raigad is located on island hills about 11 km north-east of the Apollo Bandar, Mumbai and 7 km from the shore of the mainland, approximately covering an area of 7 km in circumference.

The island is named after a colossal elephant found in the island, which is popularly known as ‘Gharapuri’. At present, the statue of elephant is housed at Jijamata Garden in Mumbai. In ancient period, the place is variously identified as Puri which is mentioned in the Aihole inscription of Pulakesin II. It seems, different dynasties held their sway over this island, namely, the Konkan-Mauryas, Trikutakas, Chalukyas of Badami, Silaharas, Rashtrakutas, Kalyani Chalukyas, Yadavas of Deogiri, Muslim rulers of Ahmedabad and then by the Portuguese. The Marathas also had this island under their control and from them it passed into the control of the British.

There are seven cave excavations in the Elephanta group and these are datable from circa 6th – 7th centuries A.D. Among the cave excavations, the Cave 1 is the most impressive which represents the evolved Brahmanical rock-cut architecture. The cave is also famous for the exquisite and vibrant sculptures. On plan it almost resembles the Dumar Lena (Cave 29) of Ellora. The cave has a main entrance on the north with two other openings on the east and west respectively and a central hall with six rows of pillared columns, six in each row except on the western corner, where a shrine of lingam is provided.

On plan, there are three large square recesses divided off by pilasters each of them bearing a gigantic image of a dvarapala. The panel on the east has a figure of ardhanarisvara, a form of Siva with the combined energies of male and female; and on the west figures of Siva and Parvati playing chausar is carved. The central recess holds the most famous and remarkable sculpture of this period known as the Mahesa-murti. It is a colossal bust of the three forms of Siva, the aghora, turbulent and fearsome; tatpurusha, benign and meditative and vamadeva, mild pleasing and lovable. The other notable panels in the main cave are Andhakasuravada murti; cosmic dance of Nataraja; Kalyanasundara murti; Gangadhara murti; Ravana shaking Kailasa and Siva as Lakulisa. A panel depicting Saptamatrikas near the eastern opening is also remarkable.

Open from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.

Closed on Monday

Entrance Fee:
Citizens of India and visitors of SAARC (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives and Afghanistan) and BIMSTEC Countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar) - Rs. 10 per head.

Others: US $ 5 or Indian Rs. 250/- per head

(children up to 15 years free)

Source---http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_whs_elephanta.asp

Friday, December 18, 2009

Gk stuff

This is the GK ebook which contains those key points which never expires. This is last year’s file. I find it on scribd so I am sharing it with you. You shall click on the title of the file to download it directly from SCRIBD.

General Knowlwdge

Yojana November 2009 Edition

Click on the Magazine to Download it

Monday, December 14, 2009

a LUK aT THE GOVT ScHEMES

Micro Legal Literacy Scheme : Orissa

Details of Micro Legal Literacy Scheme
Particulars	Description
Name of the Scheme	Micro Legal Literacy Scheme
Sponsored by	State Government
Funding Pattern	The funding pattern is managed by the State Government of Orissa.
Ministry/Department	Law
Description	Micro Legal Literacy scheme is an initiative of Orissa State Legal Service Authority. Under this scheme one team have been built for the effective result. They are 1. A Judicial Officer, optional, 2. Two panel lawyers, preferably one from A panel and another from B panel, 3. One lawyer from the area where the micro legal literacy camp is being organized. 4. Councilor or the ward member of the area, 5. Social workers 6. Educationalist. Under this scheme, different camps are arranged to give proper information to the targeted people. This camps have been arranged in different places, they are, Jails, Hospitals, Melas, Festival places, Religious places, Schools, Colleges, Labour colonies, Market places, Pilgrim places and tourist spot. Hutments and slums. A minimum of 4 micro legal literacy camps shall be conducted in a month. A sum of Rs.2000 may be permitted to be spend by each team for conducting one camp.
Beneficiaries	Individual,Women,Children,
Benefits
Eligibility criteria	Children, Women, Labourers, Remand prisoners or convicts, patients etc. are eligible for this scheme.
How to Avail	To avail this scheme, one can contact to the District Authorities or Taluk Legal Services Committees, concerned Department.
Validity of the Scheme
Introduced On	01 / 01 / 2008
Valid Upto	01 / 01 / 2011
Reference URL	http://www.oslsa.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=57

Sunday, December 13, 2009

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (NIRD)

NIRD is governed by a General Council headed by the Union Minister for Rural Development. An eleven-member Executive Council oversees the implementation of policies. The Academic Committee helps in planning the training and research programs. The Director General is the Chief Executive and heads the management team.

NIRD Mission
To examine and analyse the factors contributing to the improvement of economic and social well-being of people in rural areas on a sustainable basis with focus on the rural poor and the other disadvantaged groups through research, action research and consultancy efforts.

To facilitate the rural development efforts with particular emphasis and focus on the rural poor by improving the knowledge,skills and attitudes of rural development officials and non-officials through organising training, workshops and seminars.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (NIRD)

NIRD Mission
To examine and analyse the factors contributing to the improvement of economic and social well-being of people in rural areas on a sustainable basis with focus on the rural poor and the other disadvantaged groups through research, action research and consultancy efforts.

To facilitate the rural development efforts with particular emphasis and focus on the rural poor by improving the knowledge,skills and attitudes of rural development officials and non-officials through organising training, workshops and seminars.

Books written by Pranab Mukherjee

(i) Midterm Poll –1969

(ii) Beyond Survival: Emerging Dimensions of Indian Economy – 1984

(iii) Off the Track –1987

(iv) Saga of Struggle and Sacrifice –1992

(v) Challenges Before the Nation (on Indian National Congress)- 1992.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Yeh GST Kya Hai?

The implementation of goods and services tax (GST) from next financial year will result in the reduction of tax burden for the industrial sector and make it more competitive, a senior official said today.

“The tax burden on industry will come down, which accounts for 25 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) but accounts for 60 per cent of fiscal income. The burden will now be reduced and the industry will become competitive,” V S Krishnan, commissioner (appeals), central excise and service tax, Pune.

However, he said, the situation will be different with services sector. People are arguing for a higher threshold limit for services, which is about Rs 10 lakh now.

The GST regime will help to reduce the incidence of taxation on capital goods which still carries taxes that are are not subject to Cenvat, octroi, SAD and CVD on imported goods, he said addressing a interactive session on ‘First Discussion Paper on GST’, organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), here.

“This is a major reform. The cost of capital goods in the country will fall and it will give a fillip to industry and trade. The cost of capital goods will fall and industry’s modernisation efforts with regards to power, infrastructure among others will benefit,” Krishnan said.

Stating that the introduction of GST is without doubt the most important tax reform legislation in post-Independent India, he said, “This is a game changer and it’s going to have tremendous impact on India’s competitiveness. Our country will become one common market like the US and Europe.”

The first discussion paper gives a clear signal the Centre will implement GST system between April 1, 2010 and April 1, 2011. It may coincide with the Commonwealth Games being held in New Delhi in October 2010, he stated.

The GST system is being introduced as it will reduce interstate trade barriers and create a common market and secondly, it will redress imbalance in taxation between industry and service sectors. Presently, incidence of taxation is 16.5 per cent on goods. This may come down to about 16 per cent. But services sector, which is presently taxed at 10 per cent may witness rise in taxation to 16 per cent with both the states and center taxing at 8 per cent each, Krishnan said.

GST introduction will also see expansion of taxable base in two ways. On the manufacturing side, today excise duty is only charged on goods, which are manufactured.

Therefore, it does not capture all value addition in manufacturing. Only that value addition is taxed, which amounts to manufacture because of the constitutional provisioning. Rethreading of tires, galvanising and repairs are not taxed. There is going to be vast range of value addition. So basically all economic activities will be taxed in the new tax regime, he pointed out.

Source--http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/gst-to-reduce-tax-burdenindustrial-sector/378586/

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

dOSE (HINDUISM)

Yakshagana is a dance drama from coastal Karnataka, India. It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre. Yakshagana is popular in the districts of Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kasaragod district of Kerala.Yakshagana poetry (Yakshagana Padya or Yakshagana Prasanga) is a collection of poems written to form a music drama called Yakshagana.
Yaksha is the name of a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, who are caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology.The feminine form of the word is yakṣī or yakṣiṇī (Pāli: yakkhī or yakkhinī.
In Kālidāsa's poem Meghadūta, for instance, the yakṣa narrator is a romantic figure, pining with love for his missing beloved. By contrast, in the didactic Hindu dialogue of the Yakṣapraśnāḥ ("questions of the Yakṣa"), a dangerous cannibalistic Yakṣa, the tutelary spirit of a lake, threatens the life of the epic hero Yudhiṣṭhira.
According to the Ramayana, Rakshasas were created from Brahma's foot; other sources claim they are descended from Pulastya, or from Khasa, or from Nirriti and Nirrita.
Pulastya was one of the ten Prajapatis or mind-born sons of Brahma , and one of the Saptarishis (Seven Great Sages Rishi) in the first Manvantara.
In Hinduism, Prajapati is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme god viswakarma above the other Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature. Vedic commentators also identify him with the creator referred to in the Nasadiya Sukta.
Vishvakarma is the Hindu presiding deity of all craftsmen and architects. He is the "Principal Universal Architect", the architect who fabricated and designe the divine architecture of the Universe , the Lord of Creation.
Purusha sukta/sookta (puruṣa sūkta) is hymn 10.90 of the Rigveda, dedicated to the Purusha, the "Cosmic Being".
The Rigveda (Sanskrit: ऋग्वेद ) is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts (śruti) of Hinduism known as the Vedas.
Śruti, is a term that describes the sacred texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism and is one of the three main sources of dharma and therefore is also influential within Hindu Law.

dOSE - INDIAN NATIONAL FLAG

The Calcutta Flag was one of the first unofficial flags of India. It was designed by Schindra Prasad Bose and unfurled on August 7, 1906 at Parsi Bagan Square (Greer Park), Calcutta. The flag had three horizontal bands of equal width with the top being orange, the centre yellow and the bottom green in colour. It had eight half-opened lotus flowers on the top stripe and a picture of the sun and a crescent moon on the bottom stripe. वन्दे मातरम् Vande Mataram was inscribed in the centre in Sanskrit.
The National Flag of India was adopted in its present form during an ad hoc meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on the 22 July 1947, twenty-four days before India's independence from the British on 15 August 1947.
The national flag, adopted in 1947, is based on the flag of the Indian National Congress, designed by Pingali Venkayya.
The flag is a horizontal tricolour of "deep saffron" at the top, white in the middle, and green at the bottom. In the centre, there is a navy blue wheel with twenty-four spokes, known as the Ashoka Chakra, taken from the Lion Capital of Asoka erected atop Ashoka pillar at Sarnath. The diameter of this Chakra is three-fourths of the height of the white strip. The ratio of the width of the flag to its length is 2:3. The flag is also the Indian Army's war flag, hoisted daily on military installations.
The official flag specifications require that the flag be made only of khadi.
Indian law says that the flag must at all times be treated with "dignity, loyalty and respect". The "Flag Code of India – 2002", which superseded "The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950", governs the display and usage of the flag.
There are a number of traditional rules of respect that should be observed when handling or displaying the flag. When out in the open, the flag should always be hoisted at sunrise and lowered at sunset, irrespective of the weather conditions. The flag may be also flown on a public building at night under special circumstances.
The flag should never be depicted, displayed or flown upside down. Tradition also states that when draped vertically, the flag should not merely be rotated through 90 degrees, but also reversed. One "reads" a flag like the pages of a book, from top to bottom and from left to right, and after rotation the results should be the same.
With other countries-----When the flag is displayed on crossed poles, the Indian flag's pole should be in front and the flag to the right (observers' left) of the other flag. When the United Nations flag is flown along with the Indian flag, it can be displayed on either side of it. The general practice is to fly the flag on the extreme right with reference to the direction which it is facing.
When the flag is displayed with other flags that are not national flags, such as corporate flags and advertising banners, the rules state that if the flags are on separate staffs, the flag of India should be in the middle, or the furthest left from the viewpoint of the onlookers, or at least one flag's breadth higher than the other flags in the group. Its flagpole must be in front of the other poles in the group, but if they are on the same staff, it must be the uppermost flag. If the flag is carried in procession with other flags, it must be at the head of the marching procession, or if carried with a row of flags in line abreast, it must be carried to the marching right of the procession

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

dOSE (mISCELLANEOUS)

Transport Corporation of India (TCI), a logistics solutions provider firm embraces the philosophy of making life better for all. In a CSR initiative to seek the arrest of spread of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) in the Indian trucking community, TCI Foundation, the social arm of TCI is implementing a comprehensive nationwide HIV/AIDS prevention program for long distance truck drivers, called “Project Kavach”. This project is part of the ‘Avahan India’ a nationwide HIV/AIDS Prevention initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
Project Kaisei ("ocean planet" in Japanese) is a scientific and commercial mission to study and cleanup the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a large body of floating debris trapped in the Pacific Ocean by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.First discovered by Charles J. Moore in 1997, the patch is estimated to contain 20 times the density of floating debris compared to the global average.
The National Highways Development Project is a project to upgrade, rehabilitate and widen major highways in India to a higher standard. The project was implemented in 1998. "National Highways" account for only about 2% of the total length of roads, but carry about 40% of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country. This project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The NHAI has implemented US$ 71 billion for this project, as of 2006.
The objective of the Fifth Power System Development Project for India is to strengthen India's electricity transmission system in order to increase reliable power exchange between regions and states. The project will consist of one component, namely regional transmission schemes for strengthening of Western, Northern and Southern region transmission systems, and the interregional power exchange for the national grid. Indeed, the first three schemes are being constructed to meet the demand in the..
The India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited is an apex organization established on 5th January, 2006 under the Companies Act 1956, with the objective of financing major infrastructural projects of India that require huge investments. India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), is a public limited company, owned and controlled by the government of India.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Quiz Questions

wikipedia

QUESTION 1: She was a national swimming champion, a jockey, a Miss India, an actress, and now,
a social activist. Who is being talking about?[hide]
ANSWER 1: Nafisa Ali

QUESTION 2: Which Indian was considered the "father of surgery?"[hide]

ANSWER 2: Sushruta

QUESTION 3: During the British rule of India there were a number of princely families. The
grandson of one of these Princes is now a popular Bollywood actor. Name the Prince in question
(the actor's grandfather).[hide]

ANSWER 3: Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi

QUESTION 4: Which India city got its name because of the presence of a large number of banyan
trees in that area?[hide]

ANSWER 4: Vadodara

QUESTION 5: This person paid the highest individual income tax in the mid 1990's — apart from
also featuring in advertisements that exhorted people to pay income taxes. Who?[hide]
ANSWER 5: Mithun Chakraborty

QUESTION 6: Which character, according to the Hindu mythology is said to have offered
herself/himself as food to a lion in order to prevent it from attacking a cow?[hide]
ANSWER 6: Dileepa, ancestor of Rama, as recounted in Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa.

QUESTION 7: Which district can claim to have produced the maximum number of Bharat Ratnas,
how many of them and who are they?[hide]
ANSWER 7: Ratnagiri District, with the following awardees :
Dhondo Keshav Karve
Pandurang Vaman Kane
B. R. Ambedkar

QUESTION 8: Which Indian politician was acting PM twice but never became the a Prime Minister?[hide]

ANSWER 8: Gulzarilal Nanda

QUESTION 9: How many Indians have won the Junior Singles' Event at Wimbledon? Name them.[hide]

ANSWER 9: Three Indians: Ramanathan Krishnan in 1954, his son Ramesh Krishnan in 1979, and Leander Paes in 1990

QUESTION 10: What connects M. S. Swaminathan, Verghese Kurien and Raja Ramanna,
the men behind the green, white and nuclear revolutions of India?[hide]

ANSWER 10: All three of them have won Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan awards.

QUESTION 11: A famous Indian personality was misplaced accidentally by the hospital staff when
he was born. This was found by his uncle because he had noticed a deformity in the baby on the first day.
Name this famous person whose life would have been different but for his uncle.
[hide]
ANSWER 11: Sunil Gavaskar

QUESTION 12: Name the Indian athlete who lost a medal in an Olympic event by 100th of a second?[hide]
ANSWER 12: Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha (P.T. Usha), in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

QUESTION 13: Who was the first Non-Congress Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and what party
did he represent?[hide]
ANSWER 13: Choudhary Charan Singh, Bharatiya Lok Dal in 1967

QUESTION 14: When was the practice of pre-censoring movies introduced in India and by which
act?[hide]
ANSWER 14: In 1918, with the cinematograph act.

QUESTION 15: He is supposed to be a prophet who migrated to Kashmir around 2000 years ago
and is believed to be the fifth advent of Buddha in some accounts. Who is being talking about?[hide]
ANSWER 15: Yuz Asaf

QUESTION 16: Which university is regarded (at least by some) to be the oldest in the world?[hide]

ANSWER 16: Takshashila

QUESTION 17: When the Babri Mosque was demolished in 1992, the Government of India asked the
Rajputana Rifles to go to Ayodhya and control the situation there. For the first time in history, a regiment refused to follow the government order citing a very strange but valid reason. What was the reason given by Rajputana Rifles for not obeying government's order?[hide]
ANSWER 17: Their battle cry was "Raja Ram Chandra ki Jai", that is, "Victory to Lord Rama. Their presence could have been perceived as favouring a community.

QUESTION 18: Who can be regarded as India's first rap singer and what is the song?[hide]
ANSWER 18: Ashok Kumar's Railgadi

QUESTION 19: Who is the most famous child of Prakash and Prem Peshawaria?[hide]
ANSWER 19: Kiran Bedi

QUESTION 20: P.T.Usha is probably most famous for losing out an Olympic track and field
Gold medal by a whisker in 1984. Lesser known is the fact that two other athletes from Kerala had also competed in the finals of a track and field event in the same Olympics. Who all?[hide]
ANSWER 20: 4X400m women's relay - M. D. Valsamma and Shiny Abraham (now Wilson) were the two other athletes from Kerala in the team. Vandana Rao, a non-Keralite completes the quartet.

QUESTION 21: Which film comedian is widely regarded as the first film comedian to receive the
Padma Shri from the Government of India? Also mention the year.[hide]
ANSWER 21: Relangi Venkata Ramaiah

QUESTION 22: Link the following.
Lenovo
Airtel
Cole Porter
and the words Cash Mountain
[hide]
ANSWER 22: The link is Kaun Banega Crorepati. Lenovo is the sponsor for the famous "Computerji" on the Indian version. Airtel is also a sponsor for KBC2. Cole porter wrote a song with that title. A proposal that became the TV show with that title was originally called Cash Mountain

QUESTION 23: Although mute, this resident of Kolkata received visitors from across India, and
around the world. At the time of his death within the last five years he was one of the oldest residents of Kolkata. What was his name?[hide]
ANSWER 23: Adwaita: An Aldabra Seychelles tortoise of Kolkotta (255 yrs old).

QUESTION 24: Connect Anthony Gonsalvez, Anand Babu, and Subbiah Rajarathinam.[hide]
ANSWER 24: Amar Kabaddi. Anthony Gonsalves was a character in Amar Akbar Anthony, Anand Babu in Amar Prem. Subbiah Rajarathinam plays Kabbadi, which has the three forms Surjeevani, Gaminee and Amar.

QUESTION 25: At what location is it said that Lord Vishnu made an offering to Lord Siva of an eye?[hide]
ANSWER 25: Kashi

DOSE (IMPORTANT EVENTS DURING WORLD WAR 1)

The 1916 Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War, with more than one million casualties, and also one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The Allied forces attempted to break through the German lines along a 25-mile (40 km) front north and south of the River Somme in northern France. One purpose of the battle was to draw German forces away from the Battle of Verdun; however, by its end the losses on the Somme had exceeded those at Verdun. While Verdun would bite deep in the national consciousness of France for generations, the Somme would have the same effect on generations of Britons. The battle is best remembered for its first day, 1 July 1916, on which the British suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead — the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army to this day.
The Battle of Verdun, fought from 21 February to 19 December 1916 around the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in northeast France, was one of the most important battles in World War I on the Western Front. The battle was fought between the German and French armies.
The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was the peace treaty which officially ended World War I between the Allied and Central Powers and the German Empire. After six months of negotiations, which took place at the Paris Peace Conference, the treaty was signed as a follow-up to the armistice signed in November 11th, 1918 in the Compiègne Forest (which had put an end to the actual fighting). Although there were many provisions in the treaty, one of the more important and recognized provisions required Germany to accept full responsibility for causing the war and, under the terms of articles 231-247, make reparations to certain countries that had formed the Allies.
The Brusilov Offensive was the greatest Russian feat of arms during World War I, and among the most lethal battles in world history. It was a major offensive against the armies of the Central Powers on the Eastern Front, launched on June 4, 1916 and lasting until early August. It took place in what today is Ukraine, in the general vicinity of the towns of Lemberg, Kovel, and Lutsk. The offensive was named after the Russian commander in charge of the Southwestern Front, Aleksei Brusilov.
The Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 was a decisive engagement between the Russian Empire and the German Empire in the first days of The Great War, fought by the Russian First and Second Armies and the German Eighth Army between August 17 and September 2, 1914. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army.
The Battle of Arras was an offensive during World War I by forces of the British Empire between 9 April and 16 May 1917. British, Canadian, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras.
The Armenian Genocide — also known as the Armenian Holocaust, "Great Calamity" (Մեծ Եղեռն) or the Armenian Massacre — refers to the forced mass evacuation and related deaths of hundreds of thousands to over a million Armenians, during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire.
The Battle of Jutland (Battle of the Skagerrak); was the largest naval battle of World War I, and the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war.
The First Battle of the Marne (also known as the Miracle of the Marne) was a World War I battle fought from September 5 to September 12, 1914. It was a Franco-British victory against the German army under German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.
The Battle of Gallipoli (sometimes referred to as the first D-Day) took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli from April 1915 to January 1916 during the First World War. A joint British and French operation was mounted in order to eventually capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides.