Business Standard Publishes plagiarised quizzes.

Business Standard has been publishing fortnightly The Strategist Quiz for quiet a long time. But the last quiz was copied verbatim from various quizzing e-groups. Here’s what they have been doing in words of Quinkie moderator Murali, who wrote me a mail with all the details.

Business Standard has been carrying a fortnightly quiz. Most of the questions in this column are plagiarized from the quiz groups, verbatim. Though I wrote to them a few times about this, they never bothered to reply. Though they have a right to choose the person they like to do this quiz for them, the author has been resorting to the shameful act of plagiarism, without acknowledging the source for his questions. Let me know if we can do something so that such practices do not repeat. It’s sickening to see people subsist on the sweat and blood of a few genuine quizzers.

Given below are the Qs appeared in the newspaper for their latest quiz and the source/threads from where the questions have been lifted.

1. What is the name of the memorial that is going to be built to honour the victims of 9/11?

Source: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/qfi/message/2389 (please refer Question Number 1)

2. In aviation, what is ATR?

3. This imaginary line passes through the headquarters of the Swatch company and is the basis of a new time system devised by the company for its new watches. What is this new time system called?

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinkie/message/1776 (refer Question Number 1)

4. Name this young industrialist who has represented India in skeet shooting. He is also a member of the Champion Polo Club of India. He came into the limelight a few years ago in connection with a landmark Supreme Court case.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinkie/message/1776 (refer to Question Number 2)

5. When one eats a pizza in Naples, there is a definitive Indian connection. What is it?

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quiznet/message/7533 (refer to Question number 2)

6. Indian Airlines has IC, Jet Airways has 9W; what is the airline code for Kingfisher Airlines?

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinkie/message/1797 (refer to question number 2)

7. Aristotle Onassis started this National Airline of Greece Â? Olympia. What is more interesting is the name of its Frequent Flyer Program. What is it?

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinkie/message/1804 (refer to question number 5)

8. Royal Little founded Special Yarns Corporation, a Boston textile business, in 1923. It was merged with the Franklin Rayon Dyeing Company in 1928. The resulting Franklin Rayon Corporation moved its headquarters to Providence, Rhode Island, in 1930, and changed its name to Atlantic Rayon in 1938.The company expanded during the Second World War to make parachutes and in 1944 adopted this name to reflect the use of synthetics in its textiles. Between 1953 and 1960, it bought more than 40 businesses, including Bell Helicopter, before banker Rupe Thompson took over in 1960. Identify this company that also makes Cessna aircraft?

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quiznet/message/7545 (refer to question 4)

9. _____ formed the Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des ____________ in 1937. Fill in the blanks.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quiznet/message/7545 (refer to question 5)

10. In Japanese, this brand name means Â?ripening the rice fieldsÂ?. Identify it.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinkie/message/1801 (refer to question 4)

What is more unfortunate is that this quiz was compiled by Mr. Jaspreet Bindra, of Tata tele, who was part of the team that won Brand Equity Quiz(I think last year). Going by his reputation, I expected a little better than shamelessly copying quizzes, from him. At least he should have given credit to the groups from where he picked those questions. And, Business Standard should be careful about the content it publishes.

This year probably has been very bad for quizzing. First there was Mr. Derek O Brien with the farce named Brand Equity quiz, followed by the Tata Crucible which took quizzing to new lows, and then the truth about Parnab Mukherjee.