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Vol. XXX No. 8, August 16-31, 2020
Quizzin’ with Ramanan
Quizmaster V.V. Ramanan’s first 10 questions are on current affairs and next 10 on Bharat Ratna winners.
1. Which prominent European country is planning to issue a coin in honour of Mahatma Gandhi to mark his 150th birth anniversary?
2. The 75th anniversary of the deployment of ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’ was observed recently. What were they?
3. Which Union ministry has been renamed as Ministry of Education?
4. NASA recently launched ‘Perseverance’. What is it?
5. After which two legends has the new trophy for the West Indies-England Test series been named?
6. Which diplomat-turned-minister has authored The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World?
7. Name the initiative, launched by WHO, UNDP, UNAIDS among others, that aims to share legal documents from over 190 countries to help states establish and implement strong legal frameworks to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
8. The former king of which European country has decided to leave the nation and go into exile?
9. Between which two States did the first Kisan Rail services, to transport perishable goods, run recently?
10. In which Asian capital did a catastrophic blast, driven by tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate, kill more than 135 people
recently?
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11. In which year was the Bharat Ratna first awarded and who were the inaugural recipients.
12. After which natural thing is the Ratna medallion shaped?
13. What firsts do Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi have with regards to award?
14. Since its inception, how many people have been bestowed with the honour (till 2019): 46, 47, 48?
15. Name the only two individuals to be given the Bharat Ratna before they became First Citizens?
16. Which film personality was the first to receive the coveted honour?
17. As of July 2020, who is the oldest living Bharat Ratna?
18. Apart from Nelson Mandela, who is the only other non-Indian citizen to get the honour?
19. This Indian freedom fighter’s name was announced for a ‘posthumous’ award but was not conferred because of controversies. Who?
20. Name the two residents of Chennai honoured with the award in 1998.
Answers to Quiz1. United Kingdom, 2. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, 3. Ministry of Human Resource Development, 4. The Mars rover that will explore the red planet from Feb. 2021 onwards, 5. Sir Viv Richards and Sir Ian Botham, 6. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, 7. COVID-19 Law Lab (www.COVIDLawLab.org), 8. King Juan Carlos of Spain, 9. Maharashtra (Devlali) and Bihar (Danapur), 10. Beirut.
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11. C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and C.V. Raman were honoured in 1954, 12. Peepul (Ficus religiosa) leaf, 13. First posthumous and lady awardee, 14. 48, 15. S. Radhakrishnan and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, 16. MGR, 17. Lata Mangeshkar, 18. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, 19. ‘Netaji’ Subhas Chandra Bose, 20. M.S. Subbulakshmi and C. Subramaniam.
