July 2014

Australia approved Adani's Carmichael coal and rail project in Queensland province. Carmichael coal mine has potential reserves that could make it Australia's largest coal mine. The mine is in the Galilee basin which has huge coal reserves that are untapped due to heavy costs of building ports and rail lines to the east coast which is about 500 Km away.

GK: India has 2.5% of earth's landmass, 17% of world population and 8% of world's biodiversity.

NASA's Opportunity rover, which landed on Mars in 2004 set a record for longest off-Earth roving distance of 40 Km. The previous record was held by USSR's Lunakhod 2 rover.

GK: Mars is called Red planet.

Magsaysay Awards 2014

Hu Shuli

Wang Canfa

Saur Marlina Manurung

Omaha Khan Masoudi

Randy Halasan

The Citizen's Foundation

GK: Cells metabolise glucose into energy. However, fructose can be metabolised only in the liver. However, excess energy is stored in the form of fat in the liver. This may lead to fatty liver disease.

Time and Work

1. If a person can do a work in 'x' days, then, he does a work of '1/x' in 1 day.
2. If 'A' can do a piece of work in 'a' days and 'B' can do the same work in 'b' days. Then, 'A' and 'B' can combinedly do the same work in 'ab/(a+b)' days.
3. If 'A' can do a piece of work in 'a' days, 'B' can do the same work in 'b' days and 'C' can do the same work in 'c' days. Then, 'A', 'B' and 'C' can combinedly do the same work in abc/(ab+bc+ca) days.

Solved Problems

1. A can do a piece of work in 16 days and B in 24 days. They take the help of C and three together finish the work in 6 days. If the total remuneration for the work is Rs. 400. The amount (in rupees) each will receive, in proportion, to do the work is: [SSC, 2013]

(A) A:150, B:100, C:150
(B) A:100, B:150, C:150
(C) A:150, B:150, C:100
(D) A:100, B:150, C:100

Ans: (A)
A does more work than B. Therefore, A gets more remuneration than B. Such condition is satisfied only by option A.

Budget 2014-15

IT exemption limit raised from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh.
Investment IT exemption limit under 80C is increased from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1 Lakh.
Defence Spending - Rs. 2.29 lakh crore
Namami Gange - Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission.
Development of Ganga Inland Waterway from Haridwar to Haldia.
Fiscal Deficit - 4.1% of GDP (2014-15), 3.6% of GDP (2014-15), 3% of GDP (2014-15)
Costlier:
Cigarettes, Gutka, Tobacco, Pan-masala, Cold Drinks
Cheaper:
CRT, LCD and LED TVs, 

Profit and Loss

1. CP=Cost Price
2. SP=Selling Price
3. Profit=SP-CP
4. Loss=CP-SP
5. Profit %=((SP-CP)/CP)*100
6. Loss %=((CP-SP)/CP)*100
7. CP=100 SP/(100+Profit%)
8. CP=100 SP/(100-Loss%)
9. SP=(100+Profit%) CP/100
10. SP=(100-Loss%) CP/100
11. Two successive discounts of d₁% and d₂% is equivalent to a single discount of d₁+d₂-(d₁d₂/100).
12. Three successive discounts of d₁% , d₂% and d₃% is equivalent to a single discount of d₁+d₂+d₃-(d₁d₂/100)-(d₂d₃/100)-(d₃d₁/100)+(d₁d₂d₃/10000).
13. When two same items are sold, one at a profit of x% and the other at a loss of x%. Then the transaction incurs a loss %=(x/10)².
14. If false weight is used then profit %=(error/(true value - error))*100.
15. Two successive profits of p₁% and p₂% results in a total profit %=p₁+p₂+(p₁p₂/100)
16. If an item is marked p% above its Costprice and a discount of l% is allowed on the marked price then profit/loss %=p-l-(pl/100)

A dealer buys a table listed at Rs. 1,500 and gets successive discounts of 20% and 10%. He spends Rs. 20 on transportation and sells it at a profit of 20%. The selling price of the table is [FCI, 2012]
A. Rs. 1,320
B. Rs. 1,350
C. Rs. 1,360
D. Rs. 1,380