Monday 17 October 2016

BRICS - 2016

BRICS - 2016

BRICS is a group of five major emerging economies, comprising 43% of the world population, having 37% of the world GDP and 17% share in the world trade. South Africa was the last country which have joined the group in 2010 and completed the group as BRICS.




History of BRICS.

Earlier four nations joined hand to form a group in order to give a recognition to the world rising economic powers.The acronym BRIC (Brazil,Russia,India and China) was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, "The World Needs Better Economic BRICs" on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and would be amongst the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so. BRIC started after the meeting of the Leaders of Russia, India and China in St. Petersburg on the margins of G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The 1st BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on 16 June 2009.After inclusion of South Africa , it attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China on 14 April 2011.  

BRICS Initiative

The BRICS Forum, an independent international organisation encouraging commercial, political and cultural cooperation between the BRICS nations. BRICS works on the two important pillars - issues of mutual interest through meetings of Leaders as well as of Ministers of Finance, Trade, Health, S&T, Education, Agriculture, Communication, Labour, etc. and practical cooperation in a number of areas through meetings of Working Groups/Senior Officials.

8th BRICS summit concluded in India on 16th oct 2016 with the adoption of the Goa Declaration which pledged opposition to the terrorism. 

The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship was Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions. 

During Indias BRICS Chairmanship, BRICS adopted the five-pronged approach:

(i) Institution building to further deepen, sustain and institutionalise BRICS cooperation 
(ii) Implementation of the decisions from previous Summits 
(iii) Integrating the existing cooperation mechanisms 
(iv) Innovation,i.e.,new cooperation mechanisms and
(v)Continuity,i.e.,continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms.


In a strongly worded statement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “the most serious direct threat to our economic prosperity is terrorism. Tragically, its mother-ship is a country in India’s neighbourhood.”

According to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “the most serious direct threat to the economic prosperity is terrorism ".The declaration called for resolution of the civil war in Syria, in accordance with the “legitimate aspirations of the people of Syria” and sought action against U.N.-designated terrorist groups like IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.

The Goa Declaration also called for all nations to counter radicalism, and block sources of financing international terrorism, “including through organised crime by means of money-laundering, drug trafficking, criminal activities, dismantling terrorist bases and countering misuse of the Internet including social media by terror entities through misuse of the latest Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)”



BRICS has emerged one of the successful organisation which have attracted other nations also to join hand and work on the foot mark for the development of their respective economy. Presence of China and India has made this group powerful in terms of economy and military powers. Recently on 26 september 2016, The Department of Science and Technology under the BRICS - grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - framework organized the first 'Young Scientists Conference' in Bengaluru. The conference will see 50 young scientists meet over the next four days.  The BRICS Young Scientist Forum  (BRICS - YSF) was started last year. On the Ocassaion of 8th BRICS summit at Goa , U-17 Football Tournament, Youth Summit, Young Diplomats’ Forum, Film Festival etc were organised to promote the culture , Sport and communication and enhanced people-to-people (P2P) contacts of BRICS member states, especially youth.



From India's prospective BRICS is an important platform in term of development of its markets.Co-operation on the economic front is one of the focus areas of India’s policy towards BRICS. India can also penetrate into African Markets with the help of BRICS organisation.India need to decide how she can utilize the BRICS platform at an international arena.


ALL THE BEST

What Could Be Your Strategy Now?

Hello Friends,

In this article, we will talk about those who are feeling low as the English section was tampered a little in PO Pre exam. Yesterday 4 shifts of IBPS PO Preliminary Exam 2016 got over and it left all the students stranded with a lot of questions in mind. Well, this time it was not Reasoning or Quant. This time the story was different just because of English Section. Rather than playing with the level much, IBPS decided to play with the composition of the section.

Before we proceed further, I would like to ask a few questions and want you to realize the answer. How much used to be your normal attempts in English Section? How much your attempts got affected due to this? When the time allotted for this section is least, then what could be the major imapct? Now realise the answers and start thinking.


Friends, we always anticipate Quant and Reasoning to get twisted. But this time, English was chosen to be the surprising one. With the omission of Antonyms/Synonyms and introduction of 5 more Error Detection Question can make you feel the essence of knowing Grammar. Yes friend, with the time allotted for this section by most of us, it is not feasible to attempt the Reading Comprehension and one can only save himself by attempting the Error questions. The questions are not tough, but the fear of getting it wrong makes it more complex.

So, how could we get it done and that too right?

Well, its totally absurd to go through whole Grammar section and that too in the short span. Well, you need to be selective on topics that were asked in he exam. Out of 10 Error questions, you can do 5-6 with just few chapters of Grammar. The topics are:
i) Subject-Verb Agreement
ii) Preposition
iii) Noun/Pronouns
iv) Conjunctions
v) Tenses

These topics will help you get through the Grammar portion that has been asked in the examination. Apart from these, Para Jumbled sentence is a decent one and one could easily attempt the First and Last sentence in the sequence. So we have arranged 8 questions that can be done easily. Now coming to the Cloze test, you can attempt 3-4 out of the 7 questions asked. And these attempts in cloze test will totally depend on your vocab ability. 
Let's see how you can approach the cloze test.

Cloze test is nothing but a paragraph of an article from the news papers. The first and foremost thing that one should observe is the 'THEME'. And to get the theme, you need to read 3-4 lines before you start opting for the words. Once you get the theme, then you would see that whether the theme is Positive or Negative or Sarcastic. 

Let's take an example where the passage talks about the "BREXIT". All the articles related to BREXIT will talk about Britain Leaving EU. Now, you can clearly see that theme is the separation of a country from group of countries. So, the blanks will have the words that will help Britain getting separated. In exam you will also find blanks, where words will fit attaching the Britain but that will be against the theme. So you need to be careful about it.

With all of this, you can easily attempt 11-13 Questions and that too accurately. This is it, you can move on to the next section. And if you can do more according to your strategy, then go for it.


All the Best For your Prelims Exam!!


English Quiz For IBPS Exam 2016

Directions (1-10): In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.

It is a pity that we do not have good books on banking written by Indian authors (1) to the steady growth of literature on the subject in other countries especially, the J.K. whose banking laws and (2) are very much akin to those of our country. And students studying in our universities and the millions of bank employees appearing or various banking examinations have to depend (3) on books written by foreign authors. As these books mainly real with the problems of banking industry of foreign countries the (4) of the banking scene in India and the various legal (5) and banking procedures remains very weak. To (6) the bank employees and the university students no have opted for (7) courses in banking with different aspects of theory and practice of banking we should have good and (8) textbooks. The book under review, written by experienced and (9) banker, on banking law based on reading Indian cases, will be found very useful by students banking as a (10) guide to the principles of banking law.

Q1.
(a) corresponding
(b) following
(c) emphasise
(d) correcting
(e) paving

Q2.
(a) products
(b) notes
(c) initiatives
(d) procedures
(e) processes

Q3.
(a) upon
(b) still
(c) rarely
(d) until
(e) slightly

Q4.
(a) core
(b) application
(c) understanding
(d) knowledge
(e) purpose

Q5.
(a) aspects
(b) experts
(c) books
(d) loops
(e) lapses

Q6.
(a) saddle
(b) decorate
(c) promote
(d) load
(e) equip

Q7.
(a) expensive
(b) tough
(c) detailed
(d) specialised
(e) optional

Q8.
(a) voluminous
(b) many
(c) seasoned
(d) shining
(e) authentic

Q9.
(a) qualified
(b) rich
(c) merchant
(d) desired
(e) consulting

Q10.
(a) powerful
(b) ready
(c) comprehensive
(d) prescribed
(e) learned

Directions (11-15): Each question below has two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

Q11. He knew that a war of liberation __________ great spirit, great sacrifice, __________ and patience.
(a) forced…peace
(b) encouraged…demand
(c) compelled…money
(d) boost…fear
(e) demanded…courage

Q12. Management has __________ a half forgotten idea; the individual is __________ in directing decisions, skill and services.
(a) constituted…purposive
(b) invented…vulnerable
(c) rediscovered…crucial
(d) developed…objective
(e) devised…subjective

Q13. You can do franchising if you are __________ to shut your __________ to many things.
(a) willing…eyes
(b) opt…ears
(c) skilled…window
(d) blind…vision
(e) helpless…thoughts

Q14. The __________ of an organization depends on several factors, the __________ of leadership is the most important.
(a) effectiveness…quality
(b) delivery…amount
(c) power…paucity
(d) ambience…judgement
(e) strength…gender

Q15. History is __________ with examples of strong nations __________ the weak ones.
(a) complete…require
(b) organized…advocating
(c) written…asserting
(d) replete…dominating
(e) taught…propagating


Solutions
S1. Ans.(a) 
Sol. Corresponding- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S2. Ans.(d) 
Sol. Procedures- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S3. Ans.(b) 
Sol. Still- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S4. Ans.(c) 
Sol. Understanding- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S5. Ans.(a) 
Sol. Aspects- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S6. Ans.(e) 
Sol. Equip - fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S7. Ans.(d) 
Sol. Specialized- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S8. Ans.(e) 
Sol. Authentic - fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S9. Ans.(a) 
Sol. Qualified- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S10. Ans.(c) 
Sol.  Comprehensive- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S11. Ans.(e) 
Sol.  demanded…courage- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S12. Ans.(c) 
Sol.  rediscovered…crucial - fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S13. Ans.(a) 
Sol.  willing…eyes - fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S14. Ans.(a) 
Sol.  effectiveness…quality-- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

S15. Ans.(d) 
Sol.  replete…dominating- fits in the context of the sentence correctly.

Daily GK Update: 17th October, 2016

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty: October 17
i. The United Nations' International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed on October 17 each year since 1993.
ii. This year's theme is moving from humiliation and exclusion to participation: Ending poverty in all its forms. 


China launches its longest manned space mission
i. China today launched the two-man Shenzhou 11 space mission, which is its longest-ever manned space mission.
ii. The two astronauts will spend about a month in China's recently-launched experimental space lab, Tiangong 2. While China claims its space programme is for peaceful purposes.

Ashok Leyland launches first India-made electric bus
i. Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland today launched - Circuit - the first “Made in India” electric bus. 
ii. The bus with a minimum seating capacity of 35 to a maximum of 65 can run up to 120 kilometres on a single recharge under standard test conditions.

Cipla signs deals to set up first biosimilars units in South Africa
i. Indian pharmaceutical major Cipla has signed a memorandum of agreement for South Africa’s first biosimilars manufacturing facility to be set up at a cost of nearly USD 91 million. 
ii. The agreement with KwaZulu-Natal Dube Trade Port Special Economic Zone for Cipla BIOTEC’s new facility was concluded on the margins of BRICS Summit in Goa.

ICC announces first-ever women's World T20 in 2020
i. The International Cricket Council has decided to organise the first ever ICC Women's World T20 event in 2020. 
ii. A decision to this effect was taken at the ICC Board meetings which concluded in Cape Town. 
iii. Cricket Australia, hosts for the men's and women's ICC World Twenty20 in 2020.

US Navy commissions most advanced stealth destroyer Zumwalt
i. US Navy has commissioned its largest, most expensive and technologically advanced destroyer, Zumwalt. 
ii. The 610-foot-long ship, commissioned in Baltimore also has an advanced power plant and weapon systems. 
iii. The Zumwalt, costing nearly USD 4.4 billion.

Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat retains WBC Asia welterweight title
i. Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat outpunched Australia’s Ben Kite to retain the WBC welterweight Asia title. 
ii. The 24-year-old prevailed 120-110, 119-109, 115-113 in an unanimous decision for the gruelling 12-round contest against his 26-year-old rival.

Amandeep Singh appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva
i. Indian foreign service, 1992 batch officer,  Shri Amandeep Singh Gill  has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva, announced by the Ministry of external affairs on 16 October 2016.

C Radhakrishnan selected for Mathrubhumi Literary award
i. Eminent writer C Radhakrishnan has been selected for the Mathrubhumi Literary Award in recognition of his contribution to the field of literature. 
ii. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 2 lakh, a citation and a statuette.