CONTENTS

S. No. Chapter Name Page Nos.

1. Budget 2018-19 1-12

2. International News 13-15

3. National News 16-27

4. Banking 28-32

5. Awards 33-39

6. Appointments 40

7. Summits January 2018 41

8. Indexes 42

9. Committees 43

10. Sports 44-45

11. Military Exercises and Defence Technology

Books and Authors and Deaths 46

12. Science and Technology 47

LIST OF INDIAN CITIES ON RIVERS City River State

Agra Yamuna Western Uttar Pradesh

Ahmedabad Sabarmati Gujarat

Allahabad

At the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati

Uttar Pradesh

Amaravati Krishna Andhra Pradesh

Ashta Parwati Madhya Pradesh

Auraiya Yamuna Uttar Pradesh

Ayodhya Saryu Uttar Pradesh

Badrinath Alaknanda Uttarakhand

Bagalkot Ghataprabha Karnataka

Bangalore Vrishabhavathi Karnataka

Banki Mahanadi Odisha

Bhadravathi Bhadra Karnataka

Bhagalpur Ganges Bihar

Bharuch Narmada Gujarat

Brahmapur Rushikulya Odisha

Budaun Sot Uttar Pradesh

Chakeri Ganges Uttar Pradesh

Chennai Cooum, Adyar Tamil Nadu

Chhatrapur Rushikulya Odisha

Coimbatore Noyyal Tamil Nadu

Cuttack Mahanadi Odisha

Daman Daman Ganga River Daman

Dibrugarh Brahmaputra Assam

Erode Kaveri Tamil Nadu

Etawah Yamuna Uttar Pradesh

Farrukhabad Ganges Uttar Pradesh

Fatehgarh Ganges Uttar Pradesh

Ferozpur Sutlej Punjab

Gaya Falgu (Neeranjana) Bihar

Gorakhpur Rapti Uttar Pradesh

Guwahati Brahmaputra Assam

Gwalior Chambal Madhya Pradesh

Hajipur Ganges Bihar

Haridwar Ganges Uttarakhand

Honnavar Sharavathi Karnataka

Hospet Tungabhadra Karnataka

Hyderabad Musi Telangana

Jabalpur Narmada Madhya Pradesh

Jamalpur Ganges Bihar

Jaunpur Gomti Uttar Pradesh

Kanchipuram Vegavathi, Palar Tamil Nadu

Kannauj Ganges Uttar Pradesh

City River State

Kanpur Ganges Uttar Pradesh

Kanpur Cantonment Ganges Uttar Pradesh

Karad Krishna, Koyna Maharashtra

Karjat Ulhas Maharashtra

Karwar Kali Karnataka

Kolhapur Panchaganga Maharashtra

Kolkata Hooghly West Bengal

Kota Chambal Rajasthan

Kottayam Meenachil Kerala

Kurnool Tungabhadra Andhra Pradesh

Lucknow Gomti Uttar Pradesh

Madurai Vaigai Tamil Nadu

Mahad Savitri Maharashtra

Malegaon Girna River Maharashtra

Mangalore Netravati, Gurupura Karnataka

Mathura Yamuna Uttar Pradesh

Mirzapur Ganga Uttar Pradesh

Munger Ganges Bihar

Murshidabad Hooghly West Bengal

Nanded Godavari Maharashtra

Nashik Godavari Maharashtra

Nellore Pennar Andhra Pradesh

New Delhi Yamuna Delhi

Nizamabad Godavari Telangana

Patna Ganges Bihar

Pune Mula, Mutha Maharashtra

Purnia Koshi Bihar

Rajahmundry Godavari Andhra Pradesh

Rangpo Teesta Sikkim

Rourkela Brahmani Odisha

Sambalpur Mahanadi Odisha

Sangli Krishna Maharashtra

Shimoga Tunga River Karnataka

Shuklaganj Ganges Uttar Pradesh

Srinagar Jhelum Jammu & Kashmir

Surat Tapi Gujarat

Thanjavur Vennaaru, Vadavaaru Tamil Nadu

Thiruchirapalli Kaveri Tamil Nadu

Tirunelveli Thamirabarani Tamil Nadu

Ujjain Shipra Madhya Pradesh

Vadodara

Vishwamitri, Mahi, Narmada

Gujarat

Varanasi Ganges Uttar Pradesh

Vijayawada Krishna Andhra Pradesh

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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1. GENERAL BUDGET 2018-19

BUDGET: The Annual Financial Statement is called Budget.

Article 112 of Indian Constitution deals with Budget.

Finance Ministry is responsible for preparation of Budget and its allocation.

The Total Budget of 2018-19 is 24, 42 213 Crores.

Fiscal deficit 2017-18 is 3.5% of GDP which is equal to 5,94,849 crores.

Economic Growth rate for 2017-18 is 6.5 – 6.75% at Market Prices.

Economic Growth rate for 2018-19 is 7-7.5% at Market Prices.

Fiscal deficit 2018-19 is 3.3% of GDP which is equal to 6,24,276 crores.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Income 2018-19 Budget

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Expenditure 2018-19 Budget

New Announcements in Budget 2018-19

S.

No Budget 2018-19 Description

1. Minimum Support Prices (MSP):

Govt. of India announced MSP for 23

crops based on cost of production.

If Market price is less than MSP, Then

Govt. of India will purchase crops to

benefit farmers.

Government going to increase MSP of crops

at least one and half times of production cost.

MSP = 1 ½ of production cost

At present it is announced only for Kharif season

only.

Rabi season yet to decide.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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2. Agriculture Credit:

Govt. of India provides Crop loans upto 3 lakhs @ 7% Interest rate for the period of one year.

For this purpose 2018-19 budget allocation “11 lakh Crores”.

3. Operation Greens:

To address price Volatility of perishable Commodities like potatoes, onions, Tomatoes to benefit producer and consumer.

Budget allocation for Operation Green is “500 Crores” for 2018-19 year.

4. Highly Specialized Aromatic and

Medicinal plants Cultivation.

200 Crores allocated to aid small and cottage Industries that Manufacturer perfumes, essential oils and associated products.

5. E-NAM: April 2016

E-National Agriculture Market

To connect 585 national agriculture Market through online by March 31-2018. So far 470 are connected.

6. Gramin Agricultural Market (GrAMS) 22,000 Rural Haats to be developed and upgraded into Grameen Agricultural market (GrAMS) for farmers to directly sell to consumers and Bulk purchases.

7. Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure

Fund

2000 Crores funds will be set up to develop Infrastructure in 22,000 (GrAMS) and 585 E-NAM” markets.

8. Kisan Credit Card (KCC):

Started by NABARD in 1998

Now Kisan Credit Card (KCC) is issued only for Crop loans. In Budget 2018-19 proposal to extend KCC to fisheries and Animal Husbandry farmers.

9. Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Fisheries and Aqua Culture Infrastructure development fund (FAIDF) and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure development fund (AHIDF) is announced with Cumulative fund of 10,000 Crores for two sectors.

10. Kisan Sampada Yojana: (May 2017) SAMPADA stands for: Scheme for Agriculture and

Marine processing and Development of

Agriculture.

1400 Crores allocated to this food processing sector.

11. Restructured National Bamboo Mission:

(2018-19 Budget)

Bamboo is called Green gold National Bamboo Mission Launched in 2006, to promote researched development, plantation, Marketing of Bamboo Handicrafts.

Fund: 1290 Crores allocated

12. Farmer Producer Companies (FPC):

(Promoting food processing Industry in India)

Farmer Producer Companies (FPC) having turnover upto 100 Crores, will get 100% deduction in respect of profit for period of 5 years to promote food processing Industries.

From 2018-19 …. Upto 5 years 13. Double the income of Farmers Double the income of farmers by 2022. When India

celebrities 75th

year of Independence. NITI AYOG appointed Ashok Dalway Committee

(2017) to suggest steps how to double income of farmers.

14. To Tackle Air pollution due to Crop

residence

The Special Scheme will be implanted to support effort of governments of “Haryana; “ Punjab”, “ Uttar Pradesh; ‘NCT of Delhi to subsidize Machinery required to in situ Management of crop residence.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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15. MUDRA BANK:

Established: April 2015

Head Quarter : New Delhi

To lend loans to Micro Small-Medium

Enterprises (MSME’s)

Pradan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)

Loan Category -Amount

Shishu – upto Rs.50,000

Kishora – Rs.50,000 to 5 lakhs

Taruna – Rs.5 lakhs to 10 lakhs

2016-17 Target: GOI targeted to Rs.2.44 lakh crores.

2018-19: Target: 3 lakh crores

16. Self-Help groups: (SHG’s)

SHG’s are voluntary groups formed, for self-

employment.

To lend Rs.75000 Crores by March 2019 year as per

budget document.

17. National Rural Livelihood Mission

(NRLM):

Started in 2011.

Providing livelihood opportunities in Rural

India through different activities.

Fund allocated to NRLM is Rs.5750 crores (2018-19).

18. GOBAR-DHAN:

Galvanizing Organic Bio Agro Resources

Dhan

First time announced budget 2018-19.

The objective is to convert cattle dung and solid waste

in farms to compost biogas and bio-CNG.

19. 115 Aspirational Districts Aimed at improving Quality of life in these 115

districts by Investing in Social services like Health,

education nutrition, Skill up-gradation,

financial Inclusion etc. and Infrastructure facilities

like Irrigation, rural electrification, drinking water and

access to toilets.

20. Ekalavya Residentials Schools Scheme: The Government Committed to provide best quality

education to tribal children’s in their own

environment.

To realise this, it has been decided that by year 2022

every block with more than 50% ST population and at

least 20,000 tribal persons will have Ekalavya

residential Schools.

Facilities to preserve local art and culture besides

providing sports skill development.

Pre Nursery to 12th Class.

21. RISE:-

Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in

Education.

To setup investments in research and related

infrastructure in premier educational institutions

including health institutions, a scheme called RISE is

launched.

Total Investment of RISE is 1 lakh Crs by 2022 in

next four years.

RISE scheme is Implemented by Higher Education

funding Agency (HEFA) and it is suitably structured

for funding this initiative.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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22. Prime Minister Research Fellowship

Scheme (PMRFS)

To provide high fellowship amounts to 1000 B-Tech

students to pursue Ph.D in IIT’s and FISC and aimed

at facilating Cutting edge research.

23. Railway University Going to Establish in Vadodara

24. 18 new Schools Planning and Architecture

(SP&A)

Established in IIT’s and NIT’s

25. AYUSHMAN BHARATH (Budget 2018-

19)

To address health holistically in Primary, Secondary

and tertiary care system covering both Prevention and

health promotion.

Health and Wellness Centres (1.5 lakh centres)

Comprehensive health care

Maternal and Child Services

Free essential services

Fund : 1200 Crs allocated

National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS)

It will cover 10 Cr poor families or 50 Crs people.

Coverage upto 5 lakhs a family a year will

provided for secondary and tertiary care

hospitalization.

10 Cr families @5 lakhs per family per year.

Fund allocation: 2000 Crores

Health and Wellness centres + National Health

Protection Scheme (NHPS) together called

Ayushman Bharat.

23. New Announcements (2018-19)

24 New Medical Colleges

One Medical college for every (3) Parliamentary

Constituencies

One Government Medical College in State

Infrastructure:-

Fund Allocation:

2017-18 – 4.94 Lakh Crores

2018-19 – 5.97 lakh Crs

Transport sector: - 1,34,572 Crores

24. NABH Nirman To expand Airport Capacity by more than 5 times to

handle billion trips in a year.

25. Tunnel Government of India announced construction of all

weather tunnel in Sela pass.

Sela pass located in Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh.

Elevation is equal to 4170 mtrs.

This pass will connect Tawang with rest of India.

26. Iconic Tourism Destinations GOI proposal 10 prominent tourist sites as Iconic

Tourism Destinations through holistic Infrastructure

and Skill development.

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27. Digital Infrastructure:

Fund: 3073 Crs

(a) Cyber Physical System

Department of Science-Technology will launch it.

Research in training and Skill development in

following fields.

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Big data

analysis, Digital, Manufacturing , Quantum

Communications

28. WiFi hotspots

Telecom Infrastructure:

To set up 5 lakh WiFi hotspots which will provide

braod band access to 5 Crs rural citizens.

10,000 Crs allocated

29. 5G Test Bed Department of Telecom support establishment of an

indigenous 5G Test Bed at IIT Chennai.

30. Pradan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

(PMUY)

Providing free LPG connections to 5 Crores of BPL

families by 2019.

Launched in Budget 2016-17

2016-17 = 1.5 Crs

2017-18 and 2018-19 = 3.5 Crs

Total = 5 Crs

Now in Budget (2018-19) it is extended to 8 crores

from 5 Crores.

Target: 5 Crores 8 Crores

31. Pradan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana

(PMKSY) Year :- 2015

To provide irrigation facilities, that is

“Har Khet ko paani”.

In Budget (2018-19) – 2600 Crores allocated. This

would provide an assured in 96 deprived irrigation

districts.

32. Relief to Senior Citizens: (60+ years)

1. Post office and

Banks deposits

Exemption of Interest on

Deposit with Banks and post

offices is increased.

Old - New

10,000 - 50,000 Tax Exemption

2.

For all senior

Citizens Medical

Expenditure

limit is Increased

Old New

1. 30,000 50,000

Tax.

exemption

3.

Critical Illness

Exemption

Old New

Above 60 years

senior citizen

60,000 1lakh

Above 80 years

Super senior citizen

80,000 1lakh

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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33. Pradan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana PMVVY is an assured 8% return on Single lump sum

payment of Max.7.5 lakhs for 10 years period to get

pension in every month.

Single Payment: Min: 1.5 lakh Max. = 7.5 lakh

Pension: Min: 1000 Per month Max. 5000 Per

month.

Payment Time period: May 2017- May 2018

Validity: 10 years

What is new now in Budget (2018-19)?

Payment time period extended to March 2020.

Max. Limit increased from 7.5 lakh to 15 lakhs.

34. Long term Capital Gains Tax:

(LTCG)

LTCG @ 10%

1. Short term Less than one year

2. Long term More than one year

Capital gains: In simple terms it is profit earned by an

company on selling of shares (on equity funds.)

LTCG means: Investor paying 10% tax on the gains

made selling shares even after holding for more than one

year period.

Budget (2018-19): Re introduced LCGT @ 10% on

profits more than one lakh.

Example:

If we purchased 1000 shares, each share value is

Rs.200 in Jan 2018.

Total Value = 1000 × 200 = 20,0000

After one year, that is in Jan 2019 we sold our shares

= 1000 share but value increased to 300

= 1000 × 300 = 30,0000

= 30,000 – 20,000 = 10,0000

Profit is capital gain = 10,0000Tax @ 10% =

10,0000×10% = 10,000 Tax.

35. Mutual funds Government of India introduced a tax on distributed

income by equity oriented mutual funds at the rate of

10%.

Long term capital gain Tax = @ 10% on profits above

one lakh.

Equity oriented Mutual funds = @ 10% on distributed

income.

36. Merging of Insurance Companies (2018-

19) Budget

National Insurance company

limited

Merged

into

Single

Insurance

entity United India Assurance

company Limited

Oriental India Insurance

Company Limited

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37. Employee Provident Fund (EPF) = Total formal Jobs in India = 70 lakhs

= EPF contributed by Employee and Employer @ 12% for

every month.

Whats new?

S.No.

1. Govt. Contributing 12% of

wages of new employees in

EPF first three years.

All exept

women @ 12%

for first 3 years

2. Women employee contribution

reduced from 12% to 8% for

first three years.

Women

employees @

8% first year

three years.

38. MSMES

These are classified based on Micro Small Medium

Enterprises Development Act (MSMEDA-2006)

Investment

S.No. Enterprises Industries Servieces

1. Micro < 25 lakhs < 10 lakhs

2. Small 25 lakh-5crs 10lakh-2 crs

3. Medium 5 crs – 10 crs 2 – 5 crs

MSME’S whole turnover is upto 250 crores are

benefit of reduced rate of 25% for 2016-17 financial

year.

With is 99% of MSME’s will be benefit.

Disinvestment 2017-18 disinvestment target of Rs.72,500 crore has been

exceeded and expected receipts of Rs.1,00,000 crore. He

set disinvestment target of Rs.80,000 crore for 2018-19.

Railways Railways Capital Expenditure for the year 2018-19 has

been pegged at Rs.1,48,528 crore

39. Economic Survey Facts (2017-18) Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The final value of Goods-services produced within geographical boundary of India by residents of India a

given financial year is called GDP.

GDP Calculated in two ways

Current Prices Constant Prices

Prices of (2017-18) Prices of base year (2011-12)

GDP at base year prices is called GDP at constant prices.

GDP at 2017-18 year prices is called GDP at Market Prices

Base year: The base year is the year in which prices very stable. Government of India considered (2011-

12) is base year.

GDP Growth rate at constant prices:

= Production of (2017-18) × prices of (2011 – 12) = GDP at “constant” prices

= 2017-18 GDP Growth rate at constant prices is 6.5%

= 2017-18 GDP Growth rate at Market prices is 6.5-6.75%

= 2018-19 GDP Growth rate at Market prices is 7-7.5% (Projected)

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40. Fiscal deficit = Fisc Means = Purse or Wallet

The total expenditure minus total income is called fiscal deficit.

“Total Income” in 2017-18 financial year through taxes and non-taxes.

Total expenditure” how government used total income for development country.

Fiscal Deficit = Total expenditure – Total Income

Fiscal Deficit is always calculated as % of GDP.

= 2017-18 = 3.5% of GDP = 5.94 Lakh crores

= 2018-19 = 3.3% of GDP = 6.24 Lakh crores

3.3% GDP is equal to almost 6.24 lakhs Crs. Which means our expenditure is 6.24 lakh Crs is more

than our total income.

41. Forex Reserves: Foreign exchange

Reserves

Forex Reserves means

1. Foreign currency with RBI

2. Gold with RBI

3. Special Drawing Rights of India (SDR) with IMF

Forex: (1) + (2) + (3) = $ 409 bn

= 2016-17 = $ 370 bn

= 2017-18 = $ 409 bn

Per Capita Income =

Totalincome(2017 18)1,03,219

Totalpopulation

42. Rural Sanitation: Swachch Bharat

Mission

Oct 2, 2014 January 2018

Open defecation in rural Areas, no of people

decreased “from 55 Crs in (2014) to 25 Crs (2018)

So far 296 districts 3,07,349 villages all over India

are open defecation free.

(8) states and (2) UT’s declared completely “ ODF

Free”.

1. Sikkim 2. Himachal Pradesh 3. Kerala

4. Haryana 5. Uttarakhand 6. Chattisgarh

7. Arunachal Pradesh 8. Gujarat 9. Daman-Diu

10. Chandigarh

43. Share of House holds living in Rented

Houses

Rural Areas – 5%

Urban Areas – 31%

44. House hold Cash Savings (2017-18) House hold savings in the form of each

decreased by 250%.

250% Dip 5 lakhs

Reasons:- After demonetization people savings their

money in the form of physical Assets and financial Assets

rather than cash deposit in banks.

45. Impact of Climate Change on

Agriculture

Agriculture income in Irrigated Area = 15-18%

Decrease

Agriculture income in Rain fed Area = 20-25%

Decrease

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Allocation in Budget 2018-19

S.No. Scheme

In

Crs. S.No. Scheme

In

Crs.

1. National Social Assistance Program 9975 14.

Urban Rejuvenation Mission:

AMRUT and Smart Cities

Mission

1216

2. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Program

55000 15. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana 2000

3.

Umbrella Scheme for Development

of Schedule Castes

5183 16. Crop Insusurance Scheme 13000

4.

Umbrella Programme for

Development of Scheduled Tribes

3806 17. Interest Subsidy for Short Term

Credit to Farmers 15000

5.

Umbrella Programme for

Development of Minorities

4580 18.

Compensation to Service

Providers for creation and

augmentation of telecom

infrastructure-Bharatnet

10000

6. Umbrella Programme for

Development of Other Vulnerable Groups 2287 19. Promotion of Digital payment 596

7. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna 9429 20. Prime Minister Employment

Generation Programme (PMEGP) 1801

8. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna 19000 21. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram

Jyoti Yojana 3800

9. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna(PMAY) 27505 22. Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana

(Rural)- Saubhagya 2750

10. National Rural Drinking Water Mission 7000 23. National Highways Authority of

India including Road Works 70544

11. Swachh Bharat Mission 17843 24. Sagarmala 600

12. National Programme of Mid Day

Meal in Schools 10500 25.

National River Conservation

Programme 770

13. National Livelihood Mission-Ajeevika 6060 26. Khelo India 520

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Ten New findings of Economic Survey 2017-18

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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2. INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. PAKISTAN TO SET UP $1.51 BILLION

HYDROPOWER PROJECT IN POK

Pakistan has decided to set up a new hydropower

project of over 700 megawatts in PoK through

foreign financing at an estimated cost of USD 1.51

billion by 2022.

The Azad Pattan Hydropower Project (APHP)

is a run of river scheme located on Jhelum

River in the Sudhanoti district of Pakistan-

occupied Kashmir and about 90 kilometres

from Islamabad.

The project would be completed by 2022 for

which the authorities have sought an import

tariff at Rs 8.05 per kilowatts.

2. SAUDI ARABIA, UAE INTRODUCE VAT IN FIRST

FOR GULF

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

introduced value-added tax, a first for the Gulf

which has long prided itself on its tax-free.

The five percent sales tax applies to most goods

and services and analysts project that the two

governments could raise as much as $21 billion in

2018, equivalent to 2.0 percent of GDP.

The other four Gulf states, Bahrain, Kuwait,

Oman and Qatar are also committed to

introducing VAT but have delayed the move until

early 2019.

3. INDIA CANCELS $500 MILLION DEAL FOR

ISRAELI ANTI-TANK MISSILES

India has cancelled a $ 500 million deal to buy

1,600 Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel,

the state-owned defence contractor Rafael

Advanced Defence Systems announced.

Spike is a man-portable “fire and forget' missile

that can hit moving targets such as a tank.

India had opted for the Israel's Spike over the

Javelin missiles offered by Washington in

2014.

4. ICELAND BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY TO

ENFORCE EQUAL PAY LAWS

Iceland has become the first country in the world to

legalize equal pay, charting a new history.

Under the new law, companies and government

agencies that employ at least 25 people will be

fined if they can’t prove they pay men and

women equally.

Iceland has been ranked by the World

Economic Forum (WEF) as No. 1 in gender

equality for the past nine years.

5. IRAN BANS ENGLISH FROM BEING TAUGHT

IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Iran has banned teaching the English language in

primary schools, calling the subject a "cultural

invasion".

The education ministry "envisages

strengthening Persian language skills and

Iranian Islamic culture of pupils at the primary

school stage".

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali

Khamenei, has previously expressed concern

about the teaching of English.

6. WORLD'S LARGEST SOLAR THERMAL

PLANT TO BE BUILT IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The world's largest solar-thermal power plant has

been given development approval by the South

Australian government.

Construction on the 150-megawatt Aurora plant, to

be built by utility-scale solar power company Solar

Reserve, will begin in 2018 at an estimated cost of

$509 million.

It will have the capacity to power 90,000 homes

with eight hours of full load storage.

7. Romania's PM Mehai Tudose resigns

Romania's Prime Minister Mehai Tudose resigned

after his party withdrew its support for him amid a

power struggle with the party chairman.

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Social Democratic Party officials said

Development Minister Paul Stanescu would

serve as interim prime minister.

Tudose is the second prime minister ousted by

the Social Democrats since they won

Romania's December 2016 general election.

Romania is a sovereign state located in

Southeastern Europe.

Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the

sixth-largest city in the EU.

Klaus Lohannis is the President of Romania.

Leu is the Currency of Romania.

8. International Solar Alliance Forum

at World Future Energy Summit

In one of its first outreach programmes post-

ratification, the ISA hosted a two Day Event

‘International Solar Alliance Forum’ during 17-18th

January, 2018 at the Future World Energy Summit

(WFES) 2018.

WFES is a signature event of a global initiative,

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, hosted by

Masdar scheduled during 15-18th January,

2018 at Abu Dhabi (UAE).

During the ISA event an ISA Pavilion was also

set up for dissemination of information about

ISA and its activities and programmes.

On receipt of 15 ratifications, the International

Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement

entered into force on the 6th December, 2017

thereby making ISA a de jure treaty based

international intergovernmental organisation.

So far 19 countries have ratified and 48

countries have signed the ISA Framework

Agreement.

9. Boost for NSG membership, India

joins Australia Group

After gaining entry into two export control regimes

- MTCR and Wassenaar, India has joined the

Australia Group (AG), which seeks to ensure that

exports do not contribute to the development of

chemical or biological weapons.

On 19 January 2018 India formally became the

43rd member of the Australia Group (AG).

It is a cooperative and voluntary group of

countries working to counter the spread of

materials, equipment and technologies that

could contribute to the development or

acquisition of chemical and biological weapons

(CBW) by states or terrorist groups.

10. Malta's Valletta becomes Europe's

Capital of Culture

Valletta has been officially inaugurated as the

European Capital of Culture.

Over 140 projects and 400 events have been

planned in 2018 around three main themes:

Island Stories, Future Baroque and Voyages.

With about 6,000 inhabitants, Valletta is the

smallest capital in the European Union.

It is located in a fortress and is a UNESCO

World Heritage Site.

11. WEF launches Global Centre for

Cybersecurity

In a bid to safeguard the world from hackers and

growing data breaches, the World Economic Forum

(WEF) has announced a new Global Centre for

Cybersecurity.

Headquartered in Geneva, the centre will

become operational from March.

Cyber breaches recorded by businesses are on

the rise. In the last five years, these have almost

doubled to an average of 130 breaches per

business in 2017.

12. World Economic Forum Summit in

Switzerland Concludes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned India after

concluding his visit to Davos, Switzerland for

World Economic Forum Summit.

During this visit the Prime Minister delivered a

keynote address at the plenary session of 48th

Annual meeting of world economic forum.

He became the first Indian Prime Minister in

two decades to join the world’s top business

leaders in the Swiss report town of Davos.

Mr Modi outlined climate change, terrorism

and protectionism as 3 Global threats.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

15 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

13. India offers to create digital villages

in ASEAN countries

India has offered to enhance rural connectivity in

fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations

during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi said, “India

offers to undertake a pilot project on rural

connectivity, which would create digital

villages in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and

Viet Nam.”

PM Modi also proposed the ASEAN countries

declare 2019 as the ASEAN-India Year of

Tourism.

14. India Second Cheapest Country to

Live in: Survey

India is ranked second only to South Africa as the

cheapest country to live or retire, according to a

recent survey of 112 countries.

The survey by Go Banking Rates ranked

nations on the bases of four key affordability

metrics provided by online pricing database

Numbeo.

Bermuda, Bahamas, Hong Kong, Switzerland

and Ghana are the five most expensive

countries in the survey respectively.

Table

Wassener Arrangement Australia Group MissileTechnology Control

Regime (MTCR)

Estd: 1996

HQ: Vienna (Austria)

India became 42nd

Member of

Nassener a arrangement in 2017.

Objective

A arrangement on export control for

conventional Arms and Dual-use

Goods and Technologies

Total Members: 42

Estd: 1985

Every year it meets in Paris

(France)

India became 43rd

Member of

Australia group in 2018.

Objective

Export control to stop the spread

of Chemical and biological

weapons

Total Members: 43

Estd: 1987

India became 35th

Member of MTCR

Objective

To check spread of unmanned delivery

systems capable of carrying nuclear

weapons more than 500 kg for more than

300 km.

Total Members: 35

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

16 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

3. NATIONAL NEWS

1. Arunachal Pradesh declared Open

Defecation Free

Arunachal Pradesh has been emerged as the second

state in the Northeast, after Sikkim, to be declared

Open Defecation Free.

The three remaining districts - Upper Subansiri,

Siang and Changlang -- were declared Open

Defecation Free (ODF) officially.

Arunachal has 21 districts and the state attained

the feat much before the national deadline of

October 2, 2019.

2. Centre approves Rs 4,066 cr for

internet in all Panchayats

The government has approved Rs 4,066 crore

for providing internet connectivity to people in all

gram panchayats under BharatNet project, Telecom

Minister Manoj Sinha informed the Parliament.

3. Maneka Gandhi to inaugurated

online portal ‘NARI’ In a big leap forward to empower women, the

Minister of Women & Child Development, Smt

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi has inaugurated an online

portal NARI in New Delhi.

Developed by the Ministry of Women & Child

Development, the portal will provide women

citizens with easy access to information on

government schemes and initiatives for women.

4. UP declares Noida, Yamuna E-way

as electronics manufacturing zone

The Yogi Adityanath government has released

its 'Uttar Pradesh Electronics Manufacturing Policy'

under which Noida, Greater Noida and the Yamuna

Expressway region has been declared as an

electronics manufacturing zone.

A minister said the aim of this policy is to

ensure that the state gets the status of a

favourite investment destination.

The target of the policy is to attract investments

worth Rs 20,000 crore in the ESDM sector and

3 lakh jobs by 2022.

5. Joint Schemes for SC, OBC, Safai

Karamcharis and Disabled Persons

The Government is implementing a Scheme,

namely the Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation

Scheme (DDRS) that provides grant-in-aid to non-

governmental organizations for various projects

relating to rehabilitation of persons with

disabilities.

The objective of the scheme is to enable

persons with disabilities to reach and maintain

their optimal, physical, sensory, intellectual,

psychiatric or social functional levels.

6. Government approves Rs 6,809-cr.

Zojila Pass tunnel project in J&K

The Union Cabinet has approved the construction

of Asia's longest bi-directional Zojila Pass tunnel at

an estimated cost of Rs 6,089 crore, which will

reduce the travel time between Srinagar and Leh to

15 minutes from the current 3.5 hours.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs,

chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

gave its go-ahead to the 14.2-km long tunnel

project in Jammu and Kashmir to provide all-

weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil

and Leh, which remains cut-off from the rest of

India during winters due to heavy snowfall.

7. Cabinet approves MoU between

India and ‘Transport for London’ The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister

Shri Narendra Modi has approved the signing and

implementation of the Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) between Ministry of Road

Transport & Highways and ‘Transport for London’, a statutory body established under the Greater

London Authority Act, 1999 (UK) to improve

Public Transport in India.

The MoU will help to improve the overall

public transport system in the country, improve

passenger services and promote the use of high

capacity buses in India.

It will go a long way in strengthening ties and

promoting bilateral relations between India and

United Kingdom.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

17 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

8. Govt launches Swachh Survekshan

2018

The government has announced the launch of

cleanliness survey for this year as part of Swachh

Bharat Mission.

The Swachh Survekshan 2018 will rank 500

cities on national level which have more than 1

lakh population, while 3,541 cities with less

than 1 lakh population will have State and

Regional ranking.

The 2017 edition was conducted in January-

February 2017 covering 434 Urban Local

Bodies. Indore emerged as the cleanest city in

the country in that survey.

9. Health Ministry launch first digital

Online Oncology Tutorial

Smt Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW) launched the

country’s first digital Online Oncology Tutorial

Series designed by the Tata Memorial Center in

collaboration with the Health Ministry.

The oncology tutorial series aim to train

the doctors across the country to educate them

in early detection, prevention, palliation,

rehabilitation and treatment of various cancers.

This is part of a national program that will be

rolled out across the country by Tata Memorial

Centre in collaboration with state governments.

10. Namami Gange projects worth

Rs. 295 crore approved by NMCG

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has

approved five projects worth Rs. 295.01 crore.

Three projects pertain to sewage management in

West Bengal at an estimated cost of Rs 278.6 crore,

one relates to sewage management in Uttarakhand

at an estimated cost of Rs 4.68 crore and one

project worth Rs 11.73 crore is related to ghat

improvement works in Varanasi.

With these approvals, all projects related to sewage

management in high pollution load towns along

river Ganga have been sanctioned.

11. Rs 372.51 crore sanctioned by

NABARD to Odisha

The NABARD has sanctioned Rs 372.51 crore loan

assistance under the Rural Infrastructure

Development Fund (RIDF) to Odisha towards

irrigation and rural bridge projects for the last

quarter of this fiscal.

A total number of 17,322 lift irrigation projects

including bore wells, shallow tube wells,

digging wells, micro river lifts shall be taken up

with Rs 130.17 crore from the assistance.

This will provide assured irrigation to about

36,440 hectares of agricultural land directly

benefiting about 40,000 farmers of state.

12. Tamil Nadu leads the nation in

higher education enrolment

Tamil Nadu has emerged as the leader in the

country in terms of Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)

in higher education.

The All India Survey on Higher Education report

(2106-2017), released by Minister of Human

Resource Development Prakash Javadekar , saw

the State lead with a GER of 46.9%.

Among Union Territories, Chandigarh recorded

56.1%.

GER for higher education is calculated with

reference to the age group 18-23.

13. Mamata Banerjee launches West

Bengal govt’s official emblem

The West Bengal government has launched its

official emblem in a programme at Nabanna, two

days after getting the approval from the central

government.

The official emblem is conceptualised and

designed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Terming the occasion as historic, she said the

state emblem – the “Biswa Bangla” logo with

Ashoka Pillar of the national emblem – would

be used in all the official works and documents

of the Bengal government from now on.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

18 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

14. Bengaluru most well read city in

India: Survey

Bengaluru has emerged as the most well read city in

India, while Mumbai and Delhi stands at second

and third position, respectively, according to a

survey conducted by Amazon India’s Annual

Reading Trends Reports for 2017.

Among books, ‘Indian Polity (5th Edition)’ ranked as the top selling book on Amazon India

across the country while ‘Sita – Warrior of

Mithila’ emerged as the highest selling fiction

book of 2017.

15. Govt to set up FTII in Arunachal

Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh would get its first Film and

Television Institute, being set up by the union

government as part of tapping the potential of the

North Eastern region, Union Minister Dr Jitendra

Singh said.

This would be the second such one in the

country.

The first Film and Television Institute of India

(FTII) was set up in Pune, an autonomous

institute operating under the Information and

Broadcasting Ministry.

It was established in 1960. Anupam Kher is its

present Chairman.

16. India's first National Park for

differently abled people inaugurated

in Hyderabad

Telangana government has inaugurated country's

first National Park for people with special needs.

Municipal Administration and Urban

Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao

inaugurated the park, which has speech

therapist, physiotherapist, vocational training

instructors for the differently-abled children.

17. Himachal CM announces 24X7

helpline for women

In a significant decision after taking over as

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur

has announced setting up of a 24×7 helpline, called

Gudiya, for women.

Thakur, who was at Press Club Shimla, said

three special crime cells would be set up, one

each at Mandi, Shimla and Kangra, as part of

this initiative.

Officers of these cells will be entrusted with the

task to report cases of crime against women

without any delay.

Gudiya is a nickname given to the 16-year-old

Kotkhai victim of rape and murder during the

rule of the previous Congress government.

18. BSF Launches 'Operation Alert"

Along 200 Km Border

The Border Security Force (BSF) has launched

"Operation Alert" along the over 200 kilometer

long International Border (IB) in Jammu and

Kashmir to curb the increasing movement of

infiltrating terrorists from across the border.

"There are inputs that there is movement of

militants and accordingly, we have declared

'Operation Alert' on the border," Inspector

General of BSF Jammu Frontier, Ram Awatar

told.

19. Annual Haj 2018 agreement

between India and Saudi Arabia

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar

Abbas Naqvi said that Saudi Arabia has given the

green signal for India’s decision to revive the

option of sending Haj pilgrims through sea route

also.

Officials from both the countries will discuss

on all the necessary formalities and

technicalities so that Haj pilgrimage through

sea route can be started in the coming years.

A decision in this regard was taken, during the

signing of bilateral annual Haj 2018 agreement

between India and Saudi Arabia by Shri Naqvi

and Haj and Umrah Minister of Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Dr Mohammad

Saleh bin Taher Benten at Makkah.

Shri Naqvi said that sending pilgrims through

ships will help cut down travel expenses

significantly.

The practice of ferrying Haj pilgrims between

Mumbai and Jeddah by waterways was stopped

from 1995.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

19 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

20. India unveils Pratyush, its

fastest supercomputer yet

India’s supercomputing prowess moved up several

notches after it unveiled Pratyush, an array of

computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8

petaflops.

One petaflop is a million billion floating point

operations per second and is a reflection of the

computing capacity of a system.

Pratyush is the fourth fastest supercomputer in

the world dedicated for weather and climate

research, and follows machines in Japan, USA

and the United Kingdom.

21. Gujarat tops logistics performance

index chart

Gujarat has topped a perception-based index of

mobility of goods and efficiency of logistics chain,

closely followed by Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu

released the report at the third meeting of

Council for Trade Development and

Promotion.

22. Indian Air Force Conquers ‘Seven

Summits’

An expert team of IAF mountaineers had

successfully scaled highest peaks of six different

continents earlier and had recently embarked upon

its culminating expedition to Mt Vinson in

Antarctica to complete Mission Seven Summits.

A five member team led by Gp Capt RC

Tripathi VM(G) was flagged off by Air Chief

Marshal BS Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM

ADC, Chief of Air Staff, on 08 Dec 17.

The team now has returned successfully after

proudly flying the Tricolour and IAF flag on

the highest peak of Antarctica on 25 Dec 2017

at 1845 hrs and thus created yet another

glorious moment for the IAF.

With this, Indian Air Force becomes the first

organisation in India to have completed ‘Seven

Summits’, indeed a rare feat to achieve.

23. Ministry of Railway launches

SFOORTI Application

In a major digital initiative to help plan the traffic

flows and optimize freight operations, Ministry of

Railways have launched Smart Freight Operation

Optimisation & Real Time Information (SFOORTI)

App.

This is an app for Freight Managers which

provides features for monitoring and managing

freight business using Geographic Information

System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.

24. GAIL to Set Up India's 1st Coal-to-

gas Conversion Plant

India's first plant to convert coal to synthetic gas is

to be set up in Odisha under the supervision of

state-run gas transmission utility GAIL, the

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

This synthetic gas is expected to be cheaper

than natural gas," the Minister said.

According to sources here, GAIL has roped in

other public sector undertakings like Coal

India, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers and

Fertilizer Corp of India for the project, which

will generate ammonia synthesis gas from coal.

25. ISRO to launch 100th satellite on 12

January

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

will launch its 100th satellite at 9.29 am on January

12 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-

C40), on its 42nd mission, will carry ‘Cartosat-

2’, a weather observation satellite and 30 other

satellites.

With the countdown for lift-off already

underway, this is ISRO’s first launch in 2018.

It is also the first after the unsuccessful mission

of IRNSS-1H in August last year.

26. PSLV successfully launches 31

satellites in a single flight

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its forty

second flight, successfully launched the 710 kg

Cartosat-2 Series Remote Sensing Satellite along

with 30 co-passenger satellites from Satish Dhawan

Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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This flight is designated as PSLV-C40.

The lift-off of PSLV-C40 occurred at 0929 hrs

(9:29 am) IST from the First Launch Pad.

After a flight lasting 16 minutes 37 seconds, the

satellites achieved the polar Sun Synchronous

Orbit of 503 km inclined at an angle of 97.55

degree to the equator.

In the succeeding seven minutes, Cartosat-2

series satellite, INS-1C and 28 customer

satellites successfully separated from the PSLV

in a predetermined sequence.

The fourth stage of PSLV-C40 fired twice for

short durations to achieve a polar orbit of 365

km height in which India’s Microsat

successfully separated.

After separation, the two solar arrays of

Cartosat-2 series satellite deployed

automatically and ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking

and Command Network (ISTRAC) at

Bengaluru took over the control of the satellite.

The 11 kg INS-1C and the 100 kg class

Microsat, the two Indian co-passenger satellites

of Cartosat-2, are also being monitored and

controlled from ISTRAC, Bengaluru.

The 28 international customer satellites belong

to Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea,

UK and the USA.

27. Delhi’s Teen Murti Chowk renamed

Teen Murti Haifa Chowk

As a symbolic gesture of friendship with Israel,

India renamed the iconic Teen Murti Chowk, a war

memorial, during the visit of Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu.

The new name of the war memorial located in a

roundabout near the Teen Murti Bhavan, the

official residence of the first Indian Prime

Minister Jawaharlal Nehru will be, Teen Murti

Haifa Chowk.

Teen Murti War Memorial has three life-size

bronze statues representing the Hyderabad,

Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers who participated

in the Battle of Haifa for the 15 Imperial

Service Cavalry Brigade.

28. Ministry of Petroleum launches

Saksham 2018 Campaign

The Petroleum Conservation Research Association

(PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum &

Natural Gas has launched month long Saksham

2018 (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav).

Saksham is annual flagship event of PCRA

with active involvement of Oil & Gas PSUs

along with other stakeholders like State

Governments.

During this month long Saksham-2018, various

interactive programs and activities are planned

with the campaign on fuel conservation, getting

a kick-start in a mega inaugural function to be

held at Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi on 16th

January, 2018.

29. List of MoUs signed during the visit

of Prime Minister of Israel to India

MoU on Cyber Security Cooperation between India

and Israel

MoU between the Ministry of Petroleum and

Natural Gas and the Ministry of Energy on

Cooperation in oil and Gas Sector

Protocol between India and Israel on

Amendments to the Air Transport Agreement

Agreement on Film-co-production between

India and Israel

MoU between the Central Council for Research

in Homeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH and the

Centre for Integrative Complementary

Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Center on

Cooperation in the field of Research in

Homeopathic Medicine

MoU between Indian Institute of Space Science

and Technology (IIST) and the Technion-

Israel Institute of Technology for cooperation

in the field ofspace

Memorandum of Intent between Invest India

and Invest in Israel

Letter of Intent between IOCL and Phinergy

Ltd for cooperation in the area of metal-air

batteries

Letter of Intent between IOCL and Yeda

Research and Development Co Ltd for

cooperation in the area of concentrated solar

thermal technologies

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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30. Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurates

Gigabit Connectivity with Sri Lanka

Union Minister for Law and Justice and Electronics

and IT Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad is on an official

visit to Sri Lanka.

On the first day of his visit, he inaugurated the

gigabit connectivity between the National

Knowledge Network of India and LEARN

network of Sri Lanka.

This dedicated high speed internet connectivity

will boost the collaboration among the

academic institutions of India and Sri Lanka.

31. Union Home Minister inaugurates

IWDRI 2018

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh

inaugurated the International Workshop on Disaster

Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) in New Delhi.

The two-day workshop is being organised by

the National Disaster Management Authority

(NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations

Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

Underlining the importance of Disaster

Resilient Infrastructure, Shri Rajnath Singh

said that it creates opportunities for economic

growth and is at the core of sustainable

development.

32. UIDAI to add face verification

option for Aadhaar authentication

The Unique Identification Authority of India, the

Aadhaar-issuing authority, has decided to enable

face recognition as another means of authentication

from July 1, 2018.

The decision comes at a time when problems

arising due to mismatch of biometrics are being

reported about, including those faced by senior

citizens with fading fingerprints.

33. Odisha CM launches Mukhya Mantri

Kalakar Sahayata Yojana

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched

the Mukhya Mantri Kalakar Sahayata Yojana for the

welfare of the artistes in Odisha.

The age limit of the male artistes has been

relaxed from 60 to 50 years of age, and from 50

to 40 years of age for female artists to get

pension.

Currently, 4000 artistes are getting the monthly

pension. However, with the new age relaxation,

around 50,000 artistes will be enlisted and reap

the benefit.

34. Modi lays foundation stone of

Rs 43,000 cr Barmer refinery project

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation

stone of the Rs 43,129 crore refinery project in

Barmer and said it will change the economic

landscape of Rajasthan.

The refinery, a joint venture between Hindustan

Petroleum Corporation Limited and Rajasthan

government, will have the capacity to refine 90

lakh crude oil annually.

Due to be completed by 2022, the project is

expected to bring Rs 34,000 crore to the state

government coffers annually.

35. PM Modi, Israeli PM Netanyahu

dedicate iCreate to the nation

Prime Minister Modi and Israeli Prime Minister

Netanyahu dedicated to the nation, the iCREATE

facility located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

iCreate is an independent Centre created with the

objective of facilitating entrepreneurship through a

blend of creativity, innovation, engineering, product

design and leveraging emerging technologies to

deal with major issues such as food security, water,

connectivity, cybersecurity, IT and electronics,

energy, bio-medical equipment and devices etc.

iCreate aims to develop an ecosystem in India to

generate quality entrepreneurs.

36. Successful Fifth Flight Test of Agni-

5 Ballistic Missile

Long Range Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile,

Agni-5, was successfully flight tested for its full

range from Dr Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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This was the fifth test of the Missile and the

third consecutive one from a canister on a road

mobile launcher.

All the five missions have been successful.

The flight performance of the missile was

tracked and monitored by radars, range stations

and tracking systems all through the mission.

37. Government to set up $350 million

fund to finance solar projects

Government will set up a $350 million fund to

finance solar projects, Power Minister R.K. Singh

said, as the country steps up efforts to achieve its

ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) in

renewable energy by 2022.

India will need at least $125 billion to fund a

plan to increase the share of renewable power

supply in the country's grid by 2022.

The country, which receives twice as much

sunshine as European nations, wants to make

solar central to its renewable expansion.

Installed renewable power capacity is currently

about 60 GW

38. Andhra CM launches e-Pragati

platform

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu

Naidu has launched the e-Pragati CORE platform,

which will be a common portal for all citizen

services online.

As envisioned by the Chief Minister, a single

source of truth and one portal to monitor

everything, from insights to action, will be

enabled by this platform.

39. MEITY launches Cyber Surakshit

Bharat to strengthen Cybersecurity

The Ministry of Electronics and Information

Technology (MeitY), announced the Cyber

Surakshit Bharat initiative in association with

National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and

industry partners at an inaugural event in Delhi.

It will include an awareness program on the

importance of cybersecurity; a series of

workshops on best practices.

Cyber Surakshit Bharat is the first public-

private partnership of its kind and will leverage

the expertise of the IT industry in

cybersecurity.

40. Silvassa tops the List of Cities

selected in Round 4 of Smart Cities

Shri Hardeep S. Puri , Minister of State (I/C) for

Housing & Urban Affairs has announced the Round

4 winning cities of National Smart Cities

Challenge.

The Minister informed that Silvassa from

Dadar & Nagar Haveli has topped the list of

winning cities in this round of competition.

Other winning cities are –

Erode, Tamil Nadu

Diu, Daman & Diu

Biharsharif, Bihar

Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh

Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh

Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh

Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and

Kavaratti, Lakshwadeep

41. Maitre-2 bus services to connect

India and Bangladesh

Maitre-2, the second passenger bus to Kolkata via

Dhaka is started from Agartala, Tripura, to give a

boost to the trans-border relationship between India

and Bangladesh.

Recently, the Maitre-2 buses were flagged off

by Tripura Road Transport Corporation

Chairman Rajendra Reang and MLA Ratan Das

in Agartala.

The first Maitre bus service was launched in

the year 2015.

42. Delhi launches Girl Child Week

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched Girl

Child Week programme to celebrate the girl child

and spread awareness on gender equality.

The Girl Child Week is held from 18 January to

24 January 2018.

24 January is celebrated as National Girl Child

Day.

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43. Centre to declare 2018 as ‘National

year of millets’ Nutrient-rich millets have got a boost with the

Union government deciding to declare 2018 as the

‘national year of millets’. This decision has been taken following a

request by Karnataka, which is the country’s

leader in the millet sector.

At the inauguration of the three-day

international trade fair of organics and millets,

Union Statistics and Programme

Implementation Minister D.V. Sadananda

Gowda said the Union Agriculture Ministry

had already completed the formalities in this

regard.

44. Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva

Abhiyan (PMSMA) Crosses One

Crore Mark

Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and

Family Welfare expressed heartfelt gratitude to the

Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for his

un-daunting support to the Pradhan Mantri

Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), as the

programme crossed one crore mark in antenatal

check-ups.

The Union Health Minister stated that Hon’ble

Prime Minister of India had envisioned that 9th

of every month, symbolizing the 9 months of

pregnancy, should be dedicated to pregnant

women.

The PMSMA programme was launched in

2016 to fulfil his vision and ensure

comprehensive and quality antenatal checkups

to pregnant women across India.

45. Centre bans import of pet coke for

trading purpose in Delhi and NCR

As part of measures to control air pollution, the

Union environment ministry has banned import of

pet coke for purpose of trading in Delhi and its

neighbouring states.

It has notified do's and don'ts for its sale and

use in cement plants and other end user

industrial units, including refineries.

The ministry listed 13 points to regulate use of

pet coke which is one of the key sources of air

pollution in the region.

The notification was issued in compliance with

the 2017 Supreme Court order.

46. AP-Zurich sign sister state

agreement

The Andhra Pradesh Government and the Canton of

Zurich have signed a letter of intent, to promote

mutual prosperity and development.

The agreement was signed in the presence of

Chief Minister Naidu by Finance Minister

Yanamala Ramakrishnudu and Government

Counselor Minister Carmen Walker Spah for

sister state relation.

This will bring the State of Andhra Pradesh and

Canton of Zurich closer and ensure that a

framework is created, which supports the

exchange between both the parties.

47. AYUSH Minister lays foundation

stone for Homeopathy Research

Institute

The Minister of State (IC), for AYUSH, Shri

Shripad Yesso Naik laid the foundation stone for

Central Research Institute (CRI) in Jaipur on 22nd

January 2018.

This will be the third CRI under the aegis of

Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy

(CCRH), an autonomous body of Ministry of

AYUSH for undertaking scientific research in

Homoeopathy, with 23 institutes across the

country.

The institute is also contributing to the

Swasthya Rakshan Program at five adopted

villages.

48. Raipur organises nation's first

'Kachra Mahotsav'

The Raipur Municipal Corporation in Chhattisgarh

has organised the India’s first garbage festival that

in Raipur.

The aim is to increase awareness, use the waste

generated in the city creatively and to showcase

multiple techniques for reusing things that are

labelled as garbage.

The three-day festival was filled with

workshops, talks, performances and also some

interesting installations.

49. Maharashtra to launch weather

advisory system for farmers

The Maharashtra government is all set to introduce

a system to issue daily district-wise weather

advisory to farmers across the state.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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The system has a capacity to generate weather

alerts for every ten minutes, if required.

The state is taking a step forward to explore the

possibility of issuing weather advisory for

farmers to minimise their crop losses due to

adverse weather conditions," Agriculture

Commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh told.

50. Khandu inaugurates World War II

Memorial Museum in Arunachal

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu

inaugurated the World War II Memorial Museum in

the state’s Changlang district bordering Myanmar.

Built by the Union Culture Ministry, the Rs

2.25 crore museum in memory of those who

laid down their lives in WWII is located

adjacent to the historic Stilwell Road.

Khandu visited the war memorial where

remnants of the war, personal belongings of the

soldiers and others involved were preserved.

51. International Conference on

‘Inclusion of Persons with

Disabilities in the Election Process’

Flagging off the 8th National Voters Day

Celebrations scheduled to be held on 25th January

2018, Election Commission of India (ECI) hosted a

one-day International Conference on the subject

‘Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the

Election Process’ in New Delhi.

52. SARAS PT1N makes its maiden

flight

SARAS PT1N (14 seater) designed and developed

by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-

NAL), a frontline aerospace research laboratory,

has successfully made its maiden flight.

Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr.

Harsh Vardhan, has congratulated the scientists

of CSIR-NAL and other agencies involved in

the successful maiden flight.

The aircraft took off at about 11 a.m from HAL

airport and flew for about 40 minutes at the

maximum height of 8500 ft at the speed of 145

knots.

53. Rapid Reporting System for the

Scheme for Adolescent Girls

launched

Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child

Development, Shri Rakesh Srivastava launched the

Phase -1 i.e. the beneficiary module of the Rapid

Reporting System for the Scheme for Adolescent

Girls - a web based on line monitoring for the

Scheme for Adolescent Girls in New Delhi.

This Portal has been developed in collaboration

with National Informatics Centre (NIC).

54. Nitin Gadkari to lay the foundation

stone for Ghazipur Intermodal

Terminal

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways,

Shipping and Water Resources, River Development

& Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari, will lay

the foundation stone for an Intermodal Terminal at

Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

The Rs 155 Cr terminal is being constructed by

the Inland Waterways Authority of India as part

of the World Bank aided Jal Marg Vikas

Project on river Ganga or the NW-I, that aims

to augment the navigational capacity of the

river.

The terminal is expected to provide between

5000 direct and indirect jobs. The first phase of

the terminal construction is expected to be

completed by April, 2020.

55. India to host 16th International

Energy Forum meet

The 16th International Energy Forum (IEF)

Ministerial meeting will be held in New Delhi on

April 10 to 12.

It will be hosted by Government of India in

New Delhi and co-hosted by the Government

of China and South Korea.

Representatives from 92 countries will be

participating in the conference, including 72

member countries of IEF and 20 guest

countries.

India had last hosted the IEF ministerial

conference in 1996.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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56. 7th Asia Steel International

Conference from Feb 6

The 7th Asia Steel International Conference will be

held in Bhubaneswar from February 6 to 9.

Tata Steel, in association with the Indian

Institute of Metals, announced it.

The last Asia Steel conference was held in

2015 at Yokohama, Japan.

This major conference is held every three years

and provides a platform for exchange of

knowledge on various aspects of the global

steel industry.

57. National Voters' Day: 25 January

In order to encourage more young voters to take

part in the political process, Government of India

has decided to celebrate January 25 every year as

'National Voters' Day'.

It started from January 25, 2011 to mark

Commission's foundation day.

This year, National Voters' Day theme is

'Accessible Elections'.

58. Jammu & Kashmir Student

Exchange Programme ‘Maitreyi

Yatra’ concludes

The closing ceremony of Jammu & Kashmir

Student Exchange programme ‘Maitreyi Yatra’ was

held at National Bal Bhawan.

The Student Exchange Programme organized

by Ministry of Human Resource development

provides a good opportunity for the youth of

J&K to be acquainted with culture, language

and development story of different parts of the

country.

Union Minister for Human Resource

Development Shri Prakash Javadekar was the

chief guest for the function.

59. Ministry of Highways signs MoU

with IL&FS for construction of Zojila

tunnel

An MoU was signed between National Highways

and Infrastructure Development Corporation

(NHIDCL) under the Ministry of Road Transport &

Highways, and M/S IL&FS Transportation

Networks Ltd for construction of the 14.150 km

long, 2-lane bi-directional Zojila Tunnel in Jammu

& Kashmir .

This would be India’s longest road tunnel and

the longest bi-directional tunnel in Asia.

The construction of this tunnel will provide all

weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil

and Leh and will bring about all round

economic and socio-cultural integration of

these regions.

60. Kolkata becomes first Indian metro

to get a floating market

Kolkata is now witness to a floating market, the

first of its kind across any metro.

The market, as the name suggests, will be

located on a water-body with boats doubling up

as shops.

The market, located on the eastern fringes of

the city, was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief

Minister Mamata Banerjee and it is now open

to the public.

61. India is the leading country in

coconut production

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers

Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that the

Coconut Development Board’s (CDB) major

schemes are focusing on coconut production,

productivity, processing for coconut products, value

addition, marketing, and export promotion in Bihar.

The Minister said this on the occasion of the

inauguration of the Farmers’ Training Centre

cum Regional Office Building of Coconut

Development Board in Patna.

The Minister said that India is leading in the

global coconut production and productivity.

He said that the annual coconut production is

2395 crore from 20.82 lakh hectare and the

productivity is 11505 coconuts/hectare.

Coconut contributes to about Rs.27900 crore to

the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

62. Himachal CM launches women

safety helpline and mobile app

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur

has launched 24X7 ‘Gudiya’ helpline, named after

16-year old rape and murder victim of Kotkhai.

Chief Minister also launched ‘Shakti Button’- a

mobile app linked to police control rooms for

ensuring the safety of women in the state.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Any women at the time of an untoward incident

can press the red button on the mobile app and

an alert will immediately reach the police

response team.

Also, the Chief Minister also launched

Hoshiyar Singh help line on toll free number

1090.

63. 21st edition of India International

Seafood Show opens in Goa The 21st edition of the biennial India International

Seafood Show opened in Margao in South Goa.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar inaugurated

the three-day flagship trade event.

It is being organized by the Marine Products

Export Development Authority (MPEDA and

the Seafood Export Association of India

(SEAI).

64. Government to set up apex cyber

crime coordination centre

To deal with cyber crimes such as financial frauds,

circulation of communal and pornographic

contents, the Union Home Ministry is planning to

set up an apex coordination centre and has asked

states to establish a similar mechanism in every

district.

It has also released Rs 83 crore for setting up of

a cyber forensic training laboratory-cum-

training centre for police officials in each state.

The funds were given under the Cyber Crime

Prevention against Women and Children

Scheme.

The apex centre - Indian Cyber Crime

Coordination Centre (I4C) - would be set up in

Delhi.

65. Siddheshwar Swami turns down

Padma Shri

Karnataka-based seer, Siddheshwar Swami, wrote a

letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express

his unwillingness to accept the prestigious Padma

Shri award.

In the letter, he mentioned that he was grateful

to the Indian government, but he has little

interest in awards.

According to media reports, he has clarified

that his refusal has nothing to do with politics.

He has never accepted honours in his life.

He even refused to receive Hon. Doctorate

Award announced by Karnataka University a

few years back.

66. ‘Aadhaar’ is Oxford’s first Hindi

word of the year

The Hindi Word of the Year for 2017 is

'AADHAAR'. This was announced by Oxford

Dictionaries at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

'Aadhaar' also becomes the first Oxford

Dictionaries Hindi Word of the Year.

The accompanying shortlisted words include

Notebandi, Swachh, Vikaas, Yoga and

Bahubali.

67. First ever 'Khadi Haat' inaugurated

in Delhi

Marking the 69th Republic Day celebrations, Khadi

and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and

New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) have

launched the first ever 'Khadi Haat' in the country.

The Khadi Haat was inaugurated on January 25

by Union Minister of State Giriraj Singh in

Connaught Place, New Delhi.

New Delhi Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi,

KVIC Chairman V K Saxena and NDMC

Chairman Naresh Kumar were present on the

occasion.

68. Acid attack victims to get quota in

central government jobs

People with autism, mental illnesses, intellectual

disability and victims of acid attacks will now get

quota in central government jobs.

In case of direct recruitment, four per cent of

the total number of vacancies, up from the

existing three per cent, in groups A, B and C

shall be reserved for people with benchmark

disabilities.

Benchmark disability means a person with not

less than forty per cent of a specified disability.

69. 3-day international bird festival at

Dudhwa National Park

A three-day international bird festival will be held

at the Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh from

February 9 with nearly 200 leading ornithologists

expected to attend.

Eminent documentary maker Mike Pandey

would act as the brand ambassador of the

festival.

During the three-day event, the bird experts

would visit various parts of Dudhwa to gather

information about the 450 bird species existing

there.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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70. Over Rs 5 lakh crore allocated for

Bharatmala project

President Ram Nath Kovind said that Rs 5,35,000

crore have been allocated for the Bharatmala

Project aimed at boosting road connectivity in the

country.

About 53,000 km of national highways have

been identified to increase efficiency of the

national corridor.

Bharatmala is an umbrella programme of the

Centre that seeks to improve efficiency of road

traffic movement in the country by bridging

critical infrastructure gaps.

71. International spice conference in

Jaipur from Feb 4-7

The third edition of international spice conference

will be held at Jaipur from February 4 to 7.

Over 750 delegates from various countries,

including representatives of international spice

associations, policy makers, and farmers, are

expected to participate in the four-day meet.

The central theme of the 2018 conference

would be 'Managing Disruptions through

Transformation and Collaboration'.

72. Stree Swabhiman Initiative

launched for Women Health and

Hygiene

The Information Technology and Electronics

Ministry of the country has announced to launch the

new scheme initiative under Stree Swabhiman

Drive.

The new initiative has been introduced by the

Ministry and CSC to ensure and maintain

perfect health for Women and at the same time

to maintain Health Hygiene.

73. Prime Minister to launch Khelo India

School Games in the Capital

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will launch the

first Khelo India School Games at Indira Gandhi

Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on January 31, 2018.

The Khelo India programme has been

introduced to revive the sports culture in India

at the grass-root level by building a strong

framework for all sports played in our country

and establishing India as a great sporting

nation.

Talented players identified in priority sports

disciplines at various levels by a High-Powered

Committee will be provided annual financial

assistance of Rs. 5 lakh per annum for 8 years.

The Khelo India School Games are being held

from 31st January to 8th February, 2018 in

New Delhi.

Under-17 athletes have been invited to

participate across 16 disciplines.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

28 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

4. BANKING

1. Ripple becomes second-largest crypto currency by market cap

Ripple surged nearly 56 percent to an all-time high, surpassing ethereum as the second-largest cryptocurrency by

market capitalization.

Officially called XRP, ripple climbed 55.9 percent to a record high of $2.23, according to Coin Market Cap.

The digital currency had a market cap of $86.3 billion, surpassing ethereum's $73 billion.

2. Nabard, SBI sign MoU with NGOs for financing of JLGs in Bengal

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and State Bank of India (SBI) have jointly

signed an MoU with non-government organisations (NGOs) from West Bengal for financing of 2,500 Joint

Liability Groups (JLGs), or informal credit group of farmers.

The agreement was with five NGOs for promotion of JLGs in Purulia, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur,

Burdwan and North 24 Parganas districts of the state.

SBI's Chief General Manager, Kolkata circle, Partha Pratim Sengupta said JLGs are basically are credit groups

of small and marginal farmers who do not have proper title to their farmland.

3. GOI announces launch of 7.75% Savings (Taxable) Bonds, 2018

Government of India has announced to launch of 7.75% Savings (Taxable) Bonds, 2018 commencing from

10th January 2018 to enable resident citizens/HUF to invest in a taxable bond, without any monetary ceiling.

The Bonds are open to investment by individuals (including Joint Holdings) and Hindu Undivided

Families. NRIs are not eligible for making investments in these Bonds.

The Bonds will be issued for a minimum amount of Rs.1,000/- (face value) and in multiples thereof.

Accordingly, the issue price, will be Rs.1,000/- for every Rs.1,000/- (Nominal).

There will be no maximum limit for investment in the Bonds.

The Bonds will have a maturity of 7 years carrying interest at 7.75% per annum payable half- yearly. The

cumulative value of Rs. 1,000/- at the end of seven years will be Rs. 1,703.

4. APGVB introduces Desktop ATMs in rural India

In a trendy initiative, the Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB) has operationalised it’s first desktop

ATM at Kasibugga in Mandi Bazar of Warangal.

The mini-ATM within the branch premises will facilitate customers to withdraw small amounts.

At the same time regular bank account holders can withdraw money and do other banking activities.

The model will be scaled up to 100 in the near future, said Narasi Reddy, Chairman.

5. RBI to issue new Rs 10 currency notes

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will shortly introduce new Rs 10 currency notes under the Mahatma Gandhi

series.

The old Rs 10 banknotes will remain legal.

The central bank has already printed around 1 billion pieces of the new Rs 10 banknotes.

The new banknotes will have chocolate brown colour as the base and will also bear the picture of Odisha’s Konark Sun Temple on the reverse side.

6. Paytm Payments Bank, IndusInd tie-up for fixed deposit facility

Paytm Payments Bank has partnered Induslnd Bank to introduce a facility to create a fixed deposit when the

customer balance exceeds Rs1 lakh at the end of day.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Paytm Payments Bank customers can redeem their deposits instantly, anytime without paying any pre-

closure or miscellaneous charges and can earn up to 6.85% annual interest.

Additionally, if a customer becomes a senior citizen before the maturity period, the account will be auto

renewed under the senior citizen scheme.

7. TIHCL gets RBI nod to operate as NBFC

Telangana Industrial Health Clinic Ltd (TIHCL), a State government initiative, has got RBI clearance to register

and function as a non-banking finance company (NBFC).

It will be the first State promoted and co-financing NBFC, according to B Yerram Raju, TIHCL’s advisor

and director.

TIHCL was floated in 2017 with a corpus of Rs.100 crore, which included contributions from the State and

Central governments, financial institutions, industrial units and high networth individuals.

8. IndusInd Bank to roll out battery-powered payment cards

IndusInd Bank and Dynamics Inc announced plans to introduce the first battery-powered, interactive payment

cards in the Indian market in 2018.

The new IndusInd Bank card from Pennsylvania-based Dynamics has multiple buttons that let the consumer

use a single card to pay in multiple ways.

9. India top borrower from China-sponsored AIIB in 2017

India has emerged as a top borrower from the China-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

with USD 1.5 billion worth of loans last year and USD three billion more in the pipeline.

Next to India, Indonesia has emerged as the second largest borrower with about USD 600 million loans.

India is the second largest share holder in the bank which has an authorised capital of USD 100 billion.

China is the largest shareholder with 26.06 per cent voting shares in the bank. India is the second largest

shareholder with 7.5 per cent followed by Russia 5.93 per cent and Germany with 4.5 per cent.

Its headquarters is in Beijing. Jin Liqun is the president of AIIB.

AIIB has 61 members. It was established on 25 December 2015.

10. IDFC Bank, Capital First announce the merger

IDFC Bank has announced its merger with the Mumbai-based Capital First, which has more than 5 million

customers in retail and small and medium enterprises.

Shareholders in Capital First will receive 139 shares of the bank for every 10 shares held, the lender said in a

stock exchange filing.

The deal is conditional on central bank and other regulatory approvals.

Vaidyanathan, currently Chairman and MD of Capital First, will succeed Rajiv Lall as MD and CEO of the

combined entity.

11. Italy to ‘partner’ in Bengal Global Business Summit

Italy will participate as a partner country in the upcoming Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) for the

second year in a row.

A delegation of over 30 companies from Italy, mostly from transport, infrastructure, metals and leather

sectors, will be present at the two-day annual investment summit to be held on January 16 and 17.

The delegation, headed by Italian Ambassador to India Lorenzo Angeloni, will open the celebrations for the

70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. With around 61 million inhabitants it is the fourth most

populous EU member state.

Its Capital is Rome. Euro is the currency of Italy.

Sergio Mattarella is the president of Italy while Paolo Gentiloni is the Prime Minister.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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12. Haryana to set up NBFC for efficient management of funds

The Haryana government has decided to form a non-banking financial company (NBFC) — Haryana State

Financial Services Limited — to act as an in-house treasury manager for efficient management of surplus funds

of State public enterprises and autonomous bodies.

The NBFC will provide better deposit rates on overnight funds of State government entities.

Besides, it would provide better deposit rates throughout the year to State government entities, said State

Finance Minister Abhimanyu.

The NBFC would enable quick and hassle-free lending and create financial discipline among the State

government entities.

13. Bank of Baroda partners with Invoicemart as TReDS partner

Digital invoice discounting marketplace - Invoicemart has tied up with state-run lender Bank of Baroda to

discount invoices for MSMEs.

Buyers and sellers registered on the marketplace will now be able to access funding from Bank of Baroda.

Invoicemart is a joint venture between Axis Bank Ltd and mjunction services ltd.

TReDS is an online mechanism that helps MSMEs unlock working capital without the hassle of applying for

loans.

Recently Government of India advised all public sector banks and undertakings to get registered on TReDS

platforms.

14. Mauritius largest source of FDI in India, says RBI

Mauritius was the largest source of foreign investment in India, followed by the US and the UK, according to a

census by the Reserve Bank.

Singapore and Japan were the next two sources of foreign direct investment (FDI), said the Reserve Bank of

India.

15. AU Small Finance Bank inks MoU with LIC to offer PMJJBY scheme

Banking finance company AU Small Finance Bank has signed an MoU with LIC to offer Pradhan Mantri Jeevan

Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), a company official said.

Under the MoU, LIC will give a life cover of Rs 2 lakh in case of death to the customer at a nominal

premium of Rs 330 per annum.

The aim is to provide best services to the customers under one roof, MD and CEO of the company, Sanjay

Agarwal said in a statement.

The Hindu Business Line

16. ONGC acquires 51.11pc of Govt stake in HPCL

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in India, has

acquired the government’s shareholding of 51.11 per cent in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)

ONONGC Board on January 19, 2018 considered the proposal and approved acquisition of the entire 51.11

per cent shareholding at a cash purchase consideration of Rs 473.97 per share with a total acquisition cost of

Rs 36,915 crore.

17. Mercedes-Benz becomes first to launch BS-VI, locally made car

German auto major Mercedes-Benz unveiled a BS-VI-compliant S Class produced at its Pune facility, more than

two years ahead of the government deadline of April 2020 for switching to new emission norms.

Along with the unveiling of the new car, the company also received the certificate of compliance to the

CMVR (Central motor vehicles rule) from the Automotive Research Association of India.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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18. CBI registers Rs. 80-cr bank fraud case against PNB officials

The CBI has registered 22 cases against officials of Punjab National Bank relating to fraud in bank loans

processed by them on the basis of forged documents causing a loss of over Rs. 80 crore to the bank.

The cases relate to four branches of the bank in Bhopal and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

It said the bank alleged in its complaint that the officials had fraudulently sanctioned and disbursed loans to

private persons dealing in coal business from 2011 to 2016

19. IOB, NHB tie up for rural housing push

Indian Overseas Bank has signed an MoU with National Housing Bank for the Rural Housing Interest Subsidy

Scheme (RHISS) of the Ministry of Rural Development.

The aim of the RHISS is to provide subsidy for housing loans taken by those living in rural areas for

construction and modifications of their dwelling units.

The interest subsidy under the scheme is 3 per cent for a loan amount of Rs 2 lakh for 20-year tenure.

20. WEF to set up C4IR in Mumbai in partnership with RIL

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in partnership with India’s most valued firm Reliance Industries (RIL) has

agreed to set up a new Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in Mumbai.

This would be first (C4IR) opened outside Silicon Valley at San Francisco, which is already home to several

exciting developments in the digital space.

21. Japan’s Development Loan Assistance to India for an amount of Yen 45 billion

The Government of Japan has committed JICA Official Development Assistance loan for an amount of Yen 45

billion (Rs.2587 crore approx.) for the project.

The Notes in this regard were exchanged between Mr. S. Selvakumar, Joint Secretary, Department of

Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India and H.E. Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of

Japan to India on Japanese official development assistance loan for Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage

Project (Phase 3) (I).

This Project will provide residents of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) area especially in 110

villages with safe and stable water supply and sewerage services by carrying-out construction of water

treatment plant and sewage treatment plants thereby improving living conditions of the residents as well as

the investment environment in the concerned areas in BBMP in the State of Karnataka.

India and Japan have had a long and fruitful history of bilateral development cooperation since 1958. In the

last few years, the economic cooperation between India and Japan has steadily progressed.

This further consolidates and strengthens the Strategic and Global Partnership between India and Japan.

22. Centre to infuse over Rs. 88,000 cr in PSU banks this fiscal

The Centre has announced that it would infuse over Rs. 88,000 crore as capital in public sector banks this fiscal,

including Rs. 80,000 crore through recapitalisation bonds and Rs. 8,139 crore as budgetary support.

Financial Services Secretary Rajeev Kumar said that banks would have to first accept and adopt the reforms

package finalised by the Finance Ministry.

The recapitalisation bonds will be non SLR status and non-tradeable.

23. Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks to offer Atal Pension Yojana

To strengthen the existing channels of APY distribution, it is felt that these new Payments Banks and Small

Finance Banks will provide a boost to the outreach of subscribers under APY .

Participation in APY not only builds a pensioned society but also adds sustainable fee income to Banks by

way of attractive incentive for mobilizing APY @ Rs 120-150 for each Account.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a Government of India's Old Age Pension Scheme being implemented

through all Banks across the country as per the mandate received from the Ministry of Finance and

monitored periodically at PMO.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi had launched the Social Security Scheme on 9th May 2015 and

dedicated the First Ever Guaranteed Pension Product to the people of the country.

FISCAL DEFICIT

Target for fiscal consolidation specially in a pre-election year can carry a high risk of credibility.

Current account deficit for 2017/18 expected to average 1.5-2 pct of GDP.

INFLATION, POLICY RATES

Persistently high oil prices remain a key risk, to affect inflation.

If inflation doesn't deviate from current levels policy rates can be expected to remain stable.

Average CPI inflation seen at 3.7 pct in 2017/18.

The Department of Economic Affairs, Finance Ministry of India presents the Economic Survey in the

parliament every year, just before the Union Budget.

It is prepared under the guidance of the Chief Economic Adviser, Finance Ministry.

It is the ministry's view on the annual economic development of the country.

24. India and World Bank sign $100 Million Project for Tamil Nadu

The Government of India and the World Bank have signed a $100 million Loan Agreement that is expected to

promote rural enterprises, facilitate their access to finance, and create employment opportunities for youth,

particularly women, in selected blocks of Tamil Nadu across 26 districts, directly benefitting over 400,000

people.

The Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project will create an enabling environment for producer

organizations and enterprises to promote businesses across select value chains. Based on the analysis,

communities will identify commodities and subsectors in the value chain for preparing business plans.

Thirty percent of the financing for these business plans will be through a matching grant program from the

project and the remaining 70 percent will be leveraged from other financial institutions.

25. India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) sign $250 Million Loan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $250 million loan to finance

the construction of 6,254 kilometers all-weather rural roads in the States of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya

Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal under the Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Program (PMGSY).

The First Tranche Loan is part of the $500 million Second Rural Connectivity Investment Program for India

approved by the ADB Board in December 2017.

The program is aimed at improving rural connectivity, facilitating safer and more efficient access to

livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural communities through improvements to about 12,000

kilometers Rural Roads across the 5 States.

26. SBI inks information utility pact with NeSL

State Bank of India said it has signed an Information Utility (IU) agreement with National E-Governance

Services Ltd (NeSL) to share financial and security information under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of

India (IU) regulation 2017.

NeSL is the first IU registered with IBBI.

The company has been set up by 17 financial institutions, including State Bank of India, Life Insurance

Corporation of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

33 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

5. AWARDS

ICC Awards 2018: Full List of the Winners

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year - Virat Kohli (India)

ICC Test Cricketer of the Year - Steve Smith (Australia)

ICC M ODI Cricketer of the Year - Virat Kohli (India)

ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year - Hasan Ali (Pakistan)

ICC Associate Cricketer of the Year - Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)

ICC T20I Performance of the Year - Yuzvendra Chahal (6-25 v England for India)

David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year – Marais Erasmus

ICC Spirit of Cricket - Anya Shrubsole (England)

ICC Fans Moment of the Year - Pakistan stun India to win the ICC Champions Trophy 2017

The Test and ODI teams of the year were also introduced, with Virat Kohli being named the captain of both the

sides.

The full list of winners of the Golden Globes 2018

Best actress in a limited series or television movie: Nicole Kidman

Best supporting actor in a motion picture (drama): Sam Rockwell

Best supporting actor in a series, limited series or TV film: Alexander Skarsgård

Best actor (comedy/musical): James Franco

Best animated film: Coco

Best foreign film: In the Fade

Best film director: Guillermo del Toro

Best actress in a film (comedy/musical): Saoirse Ronan

Best film (comedy/musical): Lady Bird

Best actor (drama): Gary Oldman

Best actress (drama): Frances McDormand

Best film (drama): Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018: Complete list of winners

Best Film: 'Hindi Medium'

Critics' Award for Best Film: 'Newton'

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female): Vidya Balan for 'Tumhari Sulu'

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male) : Irrfan Khan for 'Hindi Medium'

Critics' Award for Best Actor (Male): Rajkummar Rao for 'Trapped'

Critics' Award for Best Actor (Female): Zaira Wasim for 'Secret Superstar'

Best Director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari for 'Bareilly Ki Barfi'

Best Debut Director: Konkona Sensharma for 'A Death in the Gunj'

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male): Rajkummar Rao for 'Bareilly Ki Barfi'

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female): Meher Vij for 'Secret Superstar'

Best Original Story: Amit Newton for 'Newton'

Best Actor (Male) in a Short Film: Jackie Shroff for 'Khujli'

Best Actor (Female) in a Short Film: Shefali Shah for 'Juice'

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

34 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

People's Choice Award for Best Short Film: 'Anahut'

Best Short Film (Fiction) : 'Juice'

Best Short Film (Non Fiction): 'Invisible Wings'

Best Playback Singer (Male): Arijit Singh for 'Roke na ruke naina' - 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania'

Best Playback Singer (Female): Meghna Mishra for 'Nachdi phira' - 'Secret Superstar'

Best Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya for 'Ullu ka pattha' - 'Jagga Jasoos'

Lifetime Achievement Award: Mala Sinha and Bappi Lahiri

Padma Vibhushan 2018

S.No. Name Field State

1. Shri Illaiyaraja Art-Music Tamilnadu

2. Shri Ghalam Mustafa

Khan Art-Music Maharashtra

3. Shri Paremeswaran

Parameswaran

Literature and

Education Kerala

Padma Bhushan 2018

S.No. Name Field State

4. Shri Pankaj Advani Sports- Billiards

/Snooker

Karnataka

5. Shri Philipose Mar

Chrysostom

Others-

Spiritualism

Kerala

6. Shri Mahendra Singh Dhoni Sports-Cricket Jharkhand

7. Shri Alexander Kadakin

(Foreigner/Posthumous)

Public Affairs Russia

8. Shri Ramachandran

Nagaswamy

Others-

Archaeology

Tamil Nadu

9. Shri Ved Prakash

Nanda (OCI)

Literature and

Education

USA

10. Shri Laxman Pai Art-Painting Goa

11. Shri Arvind Parikh Art-Music Maharashtra

12. Ms. Sharda Sinha Art-Music Bihar

Padma Shri 2018

Sl.

No Name Field State

13. Shri Abhay Bang (Duo) Medicine Maharashtra

Ms. Rani Bang (Duo) Medicine Maharashtra

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Sl.

No Name Field State

14. Shri Damodar Ganesh Bapat Social Work Chhattisgarh

15. Shri Prafulla Govinda Baruah Literature and Education- Journalism

Assam

16. Shri Mohan Swaroop Bhatia Art-Folk Music Uttar Pradesh

17. Shri Sudhanshu Biswas Social Work West Bengal

18. Ms. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu Sports- Weightlifting

Manipur

19. Shri Pandit Shyamlal Chaturvedi Literature and Education- Journalism

Chhattisgarh

20. Shri Jose Ma Joey Concepcion III (Foreigner)

Trade & Industry Philippines

21. Ms. Langpoklakpam Subadani Devi Art-Weaving Manipur

22. Shri Somdev Devvarman Sports-Tennis Tripura

23. Shri Yeshi Dhoden Medicine Himachal Pradesh

24. Shri Arup Kumar Dutta Literature and Education

Assam

25. Shri Doddarange Gowda Art-Lyrics Karnataka

26. Shri Arvind Gupta Literature and Education

Maharashtra

27. Shri Digamber Hansda Literature and Education

Jharkhand

28. Shri Ramli Bin Ibrahim

(Foreigner) Art-Dance Malaysia

29. Shri Anwar Jalalpuri

(Posthumous)

Literature and Education

Uttar Pradesh

30. Shri Piyong Temjen Jamir Literature and Education

Nagaland

31. Ms. Sitavva Joddati Social Work Karnataka

32. Ms. Malti Joshi Literature and Madhya Pradesh

Education

33. Shri Manoj Joshi Art-Acting Maharashtra

34. Shri Rameshwarlal Kabra Trade & Industry

Maharashtra

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Sl.

No Name Field State

35. Shri Pran Kishore Kaul Art Jammu and

36. Shri Bounlap Keokangna Others- Architecture

Laos

(Foreigner)

37. Shri Vijay Kichlu Art-Music West Bengal

38. Shri Tommy Koh (foreigner) Public Affairs Singapore

39. Ms. Lakshmikutty Medicine- Traditional

Kerala

40. Ms. Joyshree Goswami Literature and Assam

Mahanta Education

41. Shri Narayan Das Maharaj Others- Spiritualism

Rajasthan

42. Shri Pravakara Maharana Art-Sculpture Odisha

43. Shri Hun Many Public Affairs Cambodia

(Foreigner)

44. Ms. Nouf Marwaai Others- Yoga Saudi Arabia

(Foreigner)

45. Shri Zaverilal Mehta Literature and Gujarat

Education- Journalism

46. Shri Krishna Bihari Mishra Literature and West Bengal

Education

47. Shri Sisir Purushottam Art-Cinema Maharashtra

Mishra

48. Ms. Subhasini Mistry Social Work West Bengal

49. Shri Tomio Mizokami Literature and Japan

(Foreigner) Education

50. Shri Somdet Phra Maha Others- Spiritualism

Thailand

Muniwong

(Foreigner)

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Sl.

No Name Field State

51. Shri Keshav Rao Literature and Madhya Pradesh

Musalgaonkar Education

52. Dr Thant Myint – U Public Affairs Myanmar

(Foreigner)

53. Ms. V Nanammal Others-Yoga Tamil Nadu

54. Ms. Sulagitti Narasamma Social Work Karnataka

55. Ms. Vijayalakshmi Art-Folk Music Tamil Nadu

Navaneethakrishnan

56. Shri I Nyoman Nuarta Art- Sculpture Indonesia

(Foreigner)

57. Shri Malai Haji Abdullah Social Work Brunei

Bin Malai Haji Othman Darussalam

(Foreigner)

58. Shri Gobaradhan Panika Art-Weaving Odisha

59. Shri Bhabani Charan Public Affairs Odisha

Pattanaik

60. Shri Murlikant Petkar Sports- Swimming

Maharashtra

61. Shri Habibullo Rajabov Literature and Tajikistan

(Foreigner) Education

62. Shri M R Rajagopal Medicine- Palliative

Kerala

Care

63. Shri Sampat Ramteke Social Work Maharashtra

(Posthumous)

64. Shri Chandra Sekhar Rath Literature and Odisha

Education

65. Shri S S Rathore Civil Service Gujarat

66. Shri Amitava Roy Science and West Bengal

Engineering

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

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Sl.

No Name Field State

67. Shri Sanduk Ruit Medicine- Nepal

(Foreigner) Ophthalmology

68. Shri R Sathyanarayana Art-Music Karnataka

69. Shri Pankaj M Shah Medicine- Oncology

Gujarat

70. Shri Bhajju Shyam Art-Painting Madhya Pradesh

71. Shri Maharao Raghuveer Literature and Rajasthan

Singh Education

72. Shri Kidambi Srikanth Sports-

Badminton Andhra Pradesh

73. Shri Ibrahim Sutar Art-Music Karnataka

74. Shri Siddeshwara Swamiji Others-

Spiritualism Karnataka

75. Ms. Lentina Ao Thakkar Social Work Nagaland

76. Shri Vikram Chandra Science and Uttarakhand

Thakur Engineering

77. Shri Rudrapatnam Art-Music Karnataka

Narayanaswamy

Tharanathan (Duo)

Shri Rudrapatnam Art-Music Karnataka

Narayanaswamy

Thyagarajan (Duo)

78. Shri Nguyen Tien Thien Others-

Spiritualism Vietnam

(Foreigner)

79. Shri Bhagirath Prasad Literature and Uttar Pradesh

Tripathi Education

80. Shri Rajagopalan Vasudevan Science and Tamil Nadu

Engineering

81. Shri Manas Bihari Verma Science and Bihar

Engineering

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

39 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

Sl.

No Name Field State

82. Shri Panatawane Gangadhar Literature and Maharashtra

Vithobaji Education

83. Shri Romulus Whitaker Others-Wildlife Tamil Nadu

Conservation

84. Shri Baba Yogendra Art Madhya Pradesh

85. Shri A Zakia Literature and Edu. Mizoram

S. No Award Person Country

1. World economic forum (WEF) Crystal

Award-2018

Sharukh Khan

(Bollywood)

Cate Blanchett

(Hollywood)

Sir Elton Jhon

(Musician)

India

2. India’s first all women Railway station Mumbai India

3. The best cleanliness railway station Khozikode Kerala

4. USA president Donald Trump a Medal of

Bravery Afghanistan

5. Best Central governor in Asia pacific Ravimenon Singapore

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

40 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

6. APPOINTMENTS

National Appointments

1. Vijay Kesha Gokhale - Foreign Secretary of India

2. Rajinder Khanna - Deputy National Secretary Advisor

3. Salil Parekh - CEO and Managing Director of Infosis

4. Anandiben patel - Governor of Madya Pradesh

5. Sudeep Lakhtakia - Director General (DG) of National Security Guards (NSG)

6. Om Prakash Rawat - Chief Election Commissioner

7. Sunil Arora - Election Commissioner

8. Ashoka Lavasa - Election Commissioner

9. Dilip Asbe - Managing director and CEO of National Payment Corporation of

India. (NPCI)

10. A.R. Rehman (music director) - Ambassidor of Sikkim

11. Kajol (Bollywod Actress) - Ambassidor of Swachch Aadat Swachch Bharat

12. K. Sivan - Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairmen

13. Indu Malhotra - First women laywer who appointed as Supreme Court Judge

14. Vijay Kumar - Managing Director and CEO of National Commodities Derivatives

Exchange [NCDEX]

15. Anil Khanna - Chairmen of Finance Commission of the Olympic Association

16. Usha Anantha Subramanyam - First Women Chairmen of Indian Bank’s Association

17. Dilip Chenoy - Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)

Direction General

18. Somnath - Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)-Thiruvanthapuram

International Appointments

1. Viorica Dancila - Romania First Female Prime Minister

2. Soumeylou Maiga Boubeye - Mali Prime Minister

3. Sunny Verghese (Singapore) - Chairmen of World Business Council for Sustainable development

(WBSCD)

4. Sauli Niinisto - Finland President [2nd

time]

5. Jerome. H. Powel - Chairmen of Federal Reseve of USA

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

41 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

7. SUMMITS JANUARY 2018

S.No Name Place/Country

1. Science film festival (3rd

Edition) Goa

2. Second Birds Film Festival Goa

3. National Conference of Public sector Banks and

Regional Rural Banks (RRB’s)

New Delhi

4. Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Parliamentarian

Conference

New Delhi

5. International Conference on Disaster Resilient

Infrastructure

New Delhi

6. Raisina Dilogue (Geopolitical Summit (2018) New Delhi

7. 60th India International Garment Fair New Delhi

8. 18th Air India Whips Conferences Udaiypur (Rajastan)

9. International Kites festival (Jan 15) Ahmedabad

4. Shanghai cooperation organisation (SCO) Military

Cooperation

Beijing

10. 10TH

Global forum for food and Agriculture Berlin (Germany)

11. World Energy Summit (2018) Abudhabi (UAE)

12. International Solar Alliance Forum (2018) Abudhabi (UAE)

13. Fourth International Science Festival Lucknow

14. Indian Science Congress Manipal University

15. Defense expo-2018 Chennai

16. International Dam Safety Conference Tiruvananthapuram

17. World Economic Forum (WEF-2018) Davos (Switzarland)

18. Conference of DGP’s and IGSP Tekanpur (Madya Pradesh)

19. 4TH

International Conference on Dharma-Damma Rajgir (Bihar)

20. National youth Festival 2018 (Vivekananda Birthday) Noida (Uttar Pradesh)

21. Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahostav-2018 (7th edition) Bengalore

22. Economic Democracy Conclave Thane (Maharastra)

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

42 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

8. INDEXES INDEXES

S.No. Index Name/Report First Rank India Rank

1. World Peace Index Sweden 90th

2. Global Index of Talent Competiveness (GTI) 2017 Switzerland 81th

3. Global business optimism Country (Trusted Country) China 3rd

4. Inclusive Development Index Norway 62nd

5. Oxform Wealth Report (Reward work-not wealth)

World 83% wealth is in

hands of 1% of population

6. More number of Billionaries USA 3rd

7. Wealthiest Nations USA 6th

8. More number of Highnetworth Individuals USA 9th

9. Global Democracy Index Norway

Last 167th

North Korea 42th

10. Manufacturing Index Japan 30th

11. Environmental Performance Index Switzerland 177th

New Salaries of Judges

From January 2018

President 5 Lakhs

Vice President 4 Lakhs

Governor 3.5 Lakhs

Chief Justice of India Rs. 2,80,000

Supreme Court Judge Rs. 2,50,000

Chief Justice of High Court Rs. 2,50,000

High court Judge Rs. 2,25,000

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

43 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

9. COMMITTEES

S.No Name Purpose

1. A.B. Mathur Interlocuter for talks with United Liberation fron of Assam (ULFA)

2. Shiv Narayan Dingra To reinvestigate 186 anti-sikh riots cases from 1984

3. Umesh sinha To review section 126 of people representation Act-1951 in view of expansion of

social Media

4. B.R. Sharma Guidelines to frame playing of National Anthem in Theartres.

5. V.K. Saraswat How to extract Methane from Coal

6. Arbind Modi To review Income Tax Act 1961

7. Vijay Garg Validity of Crypto currencies in India

8. Janak raj To review Implementation of Marginal cost of Lending rate (MCLR)

9. Arun Jaitley a) Merger of public sector Banks

b) Merger of ONGC and HPCL

c) Revival of old ports in India

Government Announces Details Of Electoral Bonds For Political Funding

The Union Government has announced details of electoral bonds for political funding that can be routed by donors to

political parties. The electoral funding.

Electoral bonds will be bearer instrument in nature of promissory note and an interest-free banking instrument. These

can be redeemed only through the registered accounts of a political party in a prescribed time frame. It aims at

rooting out current system of largely anonymous cash donations made topolitical parties which lead to generation of

black money in the economy.

Denominations: Electoral bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of Rs.1,000, Rs.10,000, Rs.10 lakh, and

Rs.1 crore from any of the specified branches of State Bank of India (SBI).

Purchasers: A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond. The purchaser is

allowed to buy electoral bonds only on due fulfilment of all extant KYC norms and by making payment from a bank

account. It will not carry the name of the payee.

Validity: It will have a life of 15 days during which they can be used to make donations to registered political

parties. The bond can be encashed by an eligible political party only through a designated bank account with the

authorized bank.

The electoral bonds will be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in months of January, April, July and

October with additional 30 days to be specified by Central government in year of general election so that this does

not become a parallel currency.

Eligibility: Political parties that have secured not less than 1% of votes polled in last general election to Lok Sabha

or Assembly can avail funding through this bonds.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

44 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

10. SPORTS

1. Indian golfer Shiv Kapur wins Royal

Cup at Pattaya

Indian golfer Shiv Kapur won the Royal Cup at

Pattaya, which is his third Asian Tour title of 2017.

The 35-year-old, who had just one win in

almost 11 years till April this year, has now

won three times in last eight months

Kapur first won on Asian Tour in his debut

season in December 2005, but it took more than

11 years and four months for the next Asian

Tour win, which came in April 2017.

2. Ranji Trophy: Vidarbha beat Delhi to

win maiden title

Vidarbha claimed their maiden Ranji Trophy after

beating Delhi by nine wickets in the final of India's

premier domestic tournament in Indore.

Chasing a target of 29, Vidarbha completed the

task with loss of skipper Faiz Fazal's wicket.

The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class

cricket championship played in India between

teams representing regional and state cricket

associations.

Mumbai is the most successful team in the

Ranji Trohy winning the title 41 times.

3. Shahzar Rizvi Wins Men's 10m Air

Pistol Gold

Shooter Shahzar Rizvi ended a brilliant 2017 by

winning the Men's 10m Air Pistol Gold at the 61st

National Shooting Championship (NSCC), at the

Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi.

4. Meghalaya signs deal to host

National Games in 2022

The Meghalaya government, the Indian Olympic

Association and the Meghalaya State Olympic

Association has signed the host city contract to hold

the 39th National Games in the state in 2022.

The mega sports event will coincide with the

50th year of Meghalaya's statehood.

5. Yusuf Pathan Suspended by BCCI

After Dope Violation

In a shocking revelation, all-rounder Yusuf Pathan

had failed a dope test during a domestic match last

season.

The member of the 2011 World Cup winning

side has been suspended for the violation.

Pathan had provided a urine sample as part of

the BCCI’s anti-doping testing program during

a domestic T-20 competition on 16th March

2017 in New Delhi.

His sample was subsequently tested and found

to contain Terbutaline.

Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited

both In & Out of Competition in the WADA

Prohibited List of Substances.

6. Aanchal Thakur gives India its 1st

international medal in skiing

Manali resident Aanchal Thakur made history by

winning India's first-ever international medal in

skiing.

The 21-year-old clinched bronze in the coveted

Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup organised by the Federation

Internationale de Ski in Turkey.

She won the medal in the slalom race category.

7. Sarjubala Devi claims gold in

National Women’s Boxing

Championship

Former world silver-medallist Sarjubala Devi

(48kg), representing Manipur, claimed the gold as

well as the best boxer trophy in the National

Women’s Boxing Championships..

8. Hyderabad Hunters claim maiden

title in PBL 3

Hyderabad Hunters overcame a fighting Bengaluru

Blasters 4-3 in a thrilling summit clash to claim

their maiden title at the third Premier Badminton

League (PBL) in Hyderabad.

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

45 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

9. 24 hours sports radio channel

launched

India’s first online radio channel dedicated to

broadcasting sports content including live updates

and chat commentaries 24×7 was launched.

The internet radio channel, launched by Sports

Flashes, will provide special sports

programmes, experts comments, sports news

and updates for over 400 sports events from

around the world including Premier League,

IPL and the FIFA World Cup.

10. Brazil football legend Ronaldinho

retires

Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldinho has

formally confirmed his retirement from football,

more than two years since his last appearance as a

professional.

The 37-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain

and Barcelona star, a key member of the Brazil

side which won the World Cup in 2002, last

played in 2015.

Ronaldinho made 97 appearances, scoring 33

goals, including two in the 2002 World Cup.

He was awarded the Ballon D'Or in 2005.

11. Blind Cricket World Cup: India beat

Pakistan to retain title

India retain Blind Cricket World Cup title after

beating arch-rivals Pakistan by two wickets in a

thrilling final played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium

in UAE.

Chasing a huge 308-run target in 40 overs,

India romped home in the penultimate over of

the match.

Earlier, riding on Badar Munir's fine half-

century, Pakistan scored 307/8 to give India big

target in the final of the fifth edition of the

tournament.

12. Sandeep Lamichhane becomes first

Nepal player to get IPL contract

Sandeep Lamichhane became the first cricketer

from Nepal to land a deal an IPL contract when he

was picked by Delhi Daredevils in the ongoing

players auction.

The 17-year-old, the only Nepal player in the

IPL auction, was sold at his base price of Rs 20

lakh.

13. Sunil Chhetri’s birthday to be

celebrated as Delhi’s Football Day

Football Delhi honoured the Indian football captain

Sunil Chhetri and announced his birthday to be

celebrated as Delhi’s Football Day.

The 33-year-old Sunil has appeared in 97

International matches for India and scored 56

goals for the national team since his first

appearance in 2005.

Football Delhi also decided to celebrated

Coach Santosh Kashyap’s birthday ‘June 12′ as Football Delhi’s Coach Education Day.

Australia Open 2018 Winners (Tennis)

Category Winner Runner Up

Men’s

Singles

Roger Federer

Switzerland

Marlin Cilic (Croatia)

Women’s

Singles

Caroline

Wozniacki

(Denmark)

Simona Halep (Romania)

Men’s

Doubles

Oliver Marach

(Austria) & Mate

Pavic (Croatia)

Rober Farah (Colombia)

& J. Cabal (Colombia)

Women’s

Doubles

Kristina

Mladenovic

(France) & Times

Babos

(Hungary)

Elena Vesnina (Russia) &

Ekaterina Makarova

(Russia)

Mixed

Doubles

Carbriela

Dabrowski

(Canada) & Mate

Pavic (Croatia)

Rohan Bopanna (India) &

Times Babos (Hungary)

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

46 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

11. MILITARY EXERCISES & DEFENCE

TECHNOLOGY

MILITARY EXERCISES S.No Name Countries Place

1. VINBAX-2018 India-vietnam Bilateral Army exercise Jabalpur

2. Vajra-Prahar Indo-US Joint Military exercise Seattle (USA)

3. Ekuverin India-Maldives Belagavi (KA)

4. Vigilant Ace USA- South Korea South Korea

5. Ajeya Warrior India-UK Bikaner (Rajastan)

BOOKS & AUTHORS S.No. Book Author

1. Imperfect Autobiography of Sanjay Manjrekar

2. Speaking Truth to power P. Chidambaram

3. Zakir Hussain: A life in Music Nasreen Munni Kabir and Zakir Hussain

4. Dilli Meri Dill: Before and after 1998 Sheela Dikshit (Former Delhi CM)

5. Chinas India war BERTIL LINTNER

6. Tracking the Indian Economy C. Ranga Rajan

7. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump white House Maichel Wolf

8. 2G saga unfold A. Raja

DEATHS

S.No. Person Field

1. D.N. Sahay Chhattisgarh first governor

2. Supriya devi Bengali Actress

3. Krishna Kumari Telugu, Tamil, Kannada Actress

4. Doodhnath singh Hindi writer

5. Raghnath Jha Former Union Minister

6. Budhadev Dasgupta Sarod Maestro

7. Anwar Jalalpuri Urdu poet

8. Shri Vallabh vyas Bollywood actor

9. Peter Sutherland (Ireland) Former director of world Trade Organisation (WTO)

10. Mort walker (USA) Cartoonist

11. Inguard Kampard Founder of IKEA furniture company

12. Elizabeth Hawley (USA) Journalist who investigated chronicling summits of Himalaya

Current Affairs February 2018 – Digest

47 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

12. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. Pratyush

The world Pratyush means Sun.

Pratyush is India’s first High performance computer.

Speed is 6.8 petaflops.

India place in world is 4th

place, first, USA

Place: Pune

Use: Meterological departmental calculate Humidity Sunlights, Ocean etc.

2. LIGO Lab

Laser Interfero Meter Gravitational observatory (LIGO) will establish in India by 2024.

Place: Hingol: District (Maharashtra)

This is third LIGO in the world, other two are Hanford (USA), Lousiana (USA).

3. AGNI-5

Agni-5 is Inter continental ballistic Missile (ICBM) with range of 5000 km.

Agni-5 is surface to surface Missile

India described it as “Peace Weapon”.

4. Advanced Air Defence (AAD)

Advanced Air Defence is Supersonic Interceptor Missle.

*****

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

48 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

PRACTICE BITS (CURRENT AFFAIRS)

1. The world’s largest Human genome research

project of 10,0000 people was launched by _

(a) India (b) U.S.A (c) Israel

(d) Germany (e) China

2. Who is elected as Liberia president?

(a) Antonio Gutter (b) Ellen Jhonson

(c) Dilma Resouff (d) George weah

(e) Yingluch Shinawatra

3. RBI granted permission to first foreign owned

Asset reconstruction company (ARC) is from USA

is ___

(a) KKR&CO (b) Rabo (c) Hathway

(d) Alchemist (e) Duetsche

4. Indian History congress begun in ___

(a) Hyderabad (b) Bengaluru (c) Chennai

(d) Kolkata (e) Jaipur

5. Which countries are chief guest for Republic Day

2018 in India

(a) BRICS (b) ASEAN (c) SAARC

(d) BIMSTEC (e) G-20

6. Which Bank has entered agreement with state run

National-e-Governance services limited (NCSL) for

utilizing, INFORMATION UTILITIES (IU’S)

services under Insolvency Bankruptcy code (I &

BC-2016)?

(a) SBI (b) ICICI

(c) Allahabad bank (d) UCO Bank

(e) Bank of India

7. India’s first Mobile application for transacting in

virtual currencies is launched by which dealer

(a) Petro (b) Pluto (c) Venus

(d) Mars (e) Ajanta

8. Iconic character Bug Bunny and Elmer Fudd

animations designed by Bob givens passed away

recently he belongs to which country?

(a) Germany (b) USA (c) France

(d) Australia (e) Japan

9. World mining conference-mining today-2018 is

going to held which city of India?

(a) Hyderabad (b) Bhopal (c) Dhanbad

(d) Ranchi (e) Kolkata

10. Siang river flows in which state of India, whose

water recently turned into Black colour?

(a) Manipur (b) Assam

(c) Arunachal Pradesh (d) Nagaland

(e) Mizoram

11. Vidarbha defeats which team to win Ranjitrophy

for the first time?

(a) Gujarath (b) Hyderabad (c) Delhi

(d) Tamil Nadu (e) Mumbai

12. Who is appointed as New Chief of Indian council

of cultural relations [ICCR] for the period of 3

years?

(a) Vijay Tilak

(b) Vinay sahasrabuddhe (c) Romila Thapar

(d) Ramachandra Guha (e) None of the above

13. Which country banned solo climbing of Mt.

Everest?

(a) China (b) India (c) Nepal

(d) Pakistan (e) Afghanistan

14. Israel and USA filed a notice to withdraw it’s

membership from which organization?

(a) UNICEF (b) UNESCO (c) WTO

(d) WIPO (e) WMO

15. NASA’S solar mission-2018 is named as __

(a) Helios (b) Kepler (c) OSIREX

(d) Parker solar (e) Wide Angle

16. Udayamitra.in is a portal to lend loans to Micro-

small-Medium enterprises (MSMEs) is launched by

__

(a) RBI (b) NABARD (c) SIDBI

(d) SBI (e) MUDRA Bank

17. Lok Sabha passed, “Insolvency and Bankruptcy

code 2016” amendment bill in Dec 2017, As per

new act which of the following persons are barred

to file resolution plan and to participate in

liquidation process?

(a) Wilfull defaulters

(b) disqualified directors

(c) Company (or) management whose NPA are

pending for more than one year

(d) All the above (e) None of the above

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

49 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

18. Govt of India adviced public sector Banks (PSB’S)

to open intensive branches for which sector to lend

loans

(a) MSME (b) Hydel power (c) Roads

(d) Textile (e) Solar power

19. Under-19 cricket world cup going to held in which

country (Feb:2018)

(a) Australia (b) Newzealand (c) India

(d) Pakistan (e) Kenya

20. The tenure of chairmen and Members (1+4) of

National Anti-profiteerring Authority (NAA)?

(a) 3 years (b) 2 years (c) 4 yrs

(d) 1 yrs (e) 5 yrs

21. The portal launched by ministry of women and

child development, which provide access to

information on govt schemes to women is __

(a) STREE (b) SHAKTI (c) NARI

(d) SABALA (e) DEVI

22. The first Gulf countries to introduce value added

tax (VAT) is __

(a) Oman, Saudi Arabia (b) UAE, Qatar

(c) Oman, Qatar (d) UAE, Kuwait

(e) Saudi Arabia, UAE

23. Who is appointed as New Foreign Secretary?

(a) Vijay Ram (b) Jai Shankar

(c) Vijay Gokhale (d) Vikas Swaroop

(e) Vijay Goel

24. Who is best known for his translation of Shlokas of

Bhagvad Gita into Urdu verse, was passed away

recently?

(a) Gulzar (b) Mirza Ghalib

(c) Anwar Jalalpuri (d) Mohammed Shafiq

(e) Siraj Khadri

25. The committee appointed to study how to extract

methane from coal by Govt of India.

(a) Amitabkant (b) V.K. Saraswat

(c) Sushma Pandey (d) Ramesh Chand

(e) Srivastava

26. Royal cup related to which sport?

(a) Football (b) Golf (c) Rugby

(d) Valley ball (e) Basket ball

27. In which state, of the first time 1.9crs people are

legally recognized as citizens?

(a) Assam (b) Nagaland (c) Tripura

(d) Manipur (e) Arunachal Pradesh

28. Which country stopped military fund to Pakistan

from 2018 onwards?

(a) USA (b) Russia (c) China

(d) Germany (e) Israel

29. Electoral bond is a ___

(a) Promisory note with interest rate

(b) Bill of exchange with interest rate

(c) Promisory note without any interest rate

(d) Bill of exchange of without any interest rate

(e) None of the above

30. The purpose of electoral bond is ___

(a) Political parties gets more fund

(b) More transparency in funding of political

parties

(c) More profits to banks

(d) To prevent conversion of black money to white

money

(e) All the above

31. Which political parties eligible to get donations in

the form of electoral bonds?

(a) All registered political parties

(b) All registered and unregistered political parties

(c) The political parties which secured at least 2%

of votes in previous parliament (or) Assembly

election

(d) The registered political party which secured not

less than 1% of votes in previous parliament

(or) Assembly elections.

(e) None of the above

32. The minimum and maximum value of electoral

bonds is __

(a) 1000, 10 Lakhs (b) 1000, 5 crs

(c) 10,000, 10 Lakhs (d) 10000, 1 crs

(e) 1000 ,1 cr

33. The validity of electoral bonds is __

(a) 12 days (b) 10 days (c) 15 days

(d) 18 days (e) 25 days

34. Who are eligible to purchase bonds to donate fund

is political parties?

(a) Only citizens of India

(b) Only a body in corporate in India

(c) A citizen of India (or) A body in corporate in

India

(d) Residents of India only

(e) None of the above

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

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35. India’s first largest solar roof top project

commissioned in Amritsar (12 MW) and now

GAIL started 2nd

largest solar roof top project in

which place __ (5.76 MN)

(a) Patna (Bihar) (b) Pata (U.P)

(c) Jaipur (RJ)

(d) Chandigarh (Punjab) (e) Barmer (RJ)

36. Equatorial Guinea, Ivory coast, Kuwait, peru,

Poland, Netherlands formally joined as non-

permanent members in unite nation security council

(UNSC), then total UNSC non-permanent

members, and tenure, total permant members

respectively __

(a) 10, 3 yrs, 5 (b) 5, 3 yrs, 5 (c) 10, 3 yrs, 6

(d) 10, 2 yrs, 5 (e) 8, 2yrs, 5

37. Whistle language commonly called “Bird language” used as means of communication by villagers in

remote northern Turkey, Now UNESCO recognized

Bird languages as __

(a) UNESCO Heritage site

(b) Intangible Cultural Heritage

(c) Endangered language (d) Save language

(e) None of the above

38. Pakistan State Bank allowed which currency for

Bilateral trade and investment activities with

Pakistan.

(a) Euro (b) Yuan (c) Yen

(d) Pound (e) Franc

39. Which Bank partnered with Rajasthan Govt to

promote start up culture

(a) AXIS Bank (b) HDFC Bank (c) ICICI Bank

(d) SBI Bank (e) None of the above

40. G. Sathiyan has become India’s highest ranked

player in latest ITTF ranking’s, he is related to

which sports?

(a) Boxing (b) Tennis

(c) Table Tennis (d) Bridge

(e) Polo

41. The committee appointed for Revival of ports in

India is headed by _____

(a) Nitin Gadkari (b) Arun Jaitley

(c) Subash Garg (d) Yashwant Sinha

(e) Suresh Meena

42. As on Dec 30:2017, Ten Public Sector Banks (PSB)

me under Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) of RBI,

now 11th is under PCA, what is the name of Bank?

(a) Canara Bank (b) Bank of Baroda

(c) Allahabad Bank (d) Vijaya Bank

(e) Dena Bank

43. India singed land boarder agreement with which

country for free movement of people across boarder

in 2018 __

(a) Bangladesh (b) Pakistan (c) Nepal

(d) Sri Lanka (e) Mynmar

44. Ajit Doval is a National security Adviser, now how

is appointed as Deputy national security adviser

(a) Jaishankar

(b) Shivashankar Menon

(c) Rajinder Khanna (d) Harilal

(e) Dalbir Singh

45. Health Ministry and Tata Memorial centre launches

India’s first digital online tutorial series for early

detection, prevention, education of which disease.

(a) Cancer [oncology] (b) Diabetis

(c) Asthma (d) Kidney dialysis

(e) Pregnency problems

46. Which Bank launched desktop ATM to withdraw

small amount at low cost?

(a) Telangana Grameena Bank

(b) APGVB (c) Karnataka Bank

(d) NABARD (e) SIDBI

47. WHO approved which vaccine of India based

Bharat Biotech company to sell in 128 countries

(a) Jaundice (b) Typhoid (c) Dengue

(d) Malaria (e) Ebola

48. Finance Ministry approved proposal to infuse ---

amount in six weak public sector banks (PSB’s) as

a part of recapitalization plan to bloster capital

adequacy ratio

(a) 5777 crs (b) 5755 crs (c) 7577 crs

(d) 5757 crs (e) 7557 crs

49. Centre approved Jal Vikas Marg project to develop

infrastructure along national water way-I which

connect Allahabad (UP) to Haldia (West Bengal) in

Ganger river, what is the total fund of project?

Which is Bank supporting it?

(a) 5369 crs; ADB

(b) 5369 crs; world Bank (c) 6953 crs; AIIB

(d) 65369 crs; BRICS Bank (e) None of the above

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

51 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

50. Zojila tunnel tube construction is approved by

central govt with cost of 6809 crs and length of

tunnel is 14.2 km, this tunnel connects which places

in Jammun and Kashmir?

(a) Jammu to Srinagar (b) Leh to Kargil

(c) Srinagar to leh (d) Jammu-Kargil

(e) None of the above

51. Central statistical organization (CSO) estimated

growth rate for Indian economy for year 2017-18 is

(a) 7.1% (b) 6.7% (c) 6.5%

(d) 6.2% (e) 6.9%

52. RBI is ready to release new 10 Rupee note in

chocolate colour and which image is printed on

backside of note?

(a) Hampi temple (b) Konark temple

(c) Mahabalipuram (d) Tanjore

(e) Taj Mahal

53. Which state hosting science film festival – 2018 in

January?

(a) Goa (b) Karnataka (c) Tamil Nadu

(d) Telengana (e) Andhra Pradesh

54. The state of art national knowledge network (NKN)

for sharing scientific databases and remote access to

research facilities is an agreement between which

countries excluding Pakistan?

(a) BIMSTEC (b) SAARC (c) ASEAN

(d) UNO (e) SCO

55. Identify wrong match?

(a) 37 National Games-2018-Dehradun (UK)

(b) 38 National Games-2019-Amaravate (AP)

(c) 39 National Games-2022-Meghalaya

(d) 39 National Games-2020- Meghalaya

(e) None of the above

56. First country in the world to impose penalty on

companies which are not paying equal amount of

salaries to men and women?

(a) Ireland (b) Iceland

(c) Northern Ireland (d) Catalonia

(e) Virgin Island

57. As CSO estimation, the gross value added (GVA)

projected for 2017-18 year is __

(a) 6.6% (b) 6.1% (c) 6.4%

(d) 6.5% (e) 7.1%

58. Which section of Indian penal code (IPC) treats

women as commodity owned by her husband and

violates the constitutional concepts of Geneder

equality and sentivity?

(a) 490 (b) 497 (c) 468

(d) 420 (e) 369

59. Who is named as Best Banker in Asia-pacific

region by London based Magazine. He was

Director of Monetary Authority of Singapore

(MAS)

(a) Kabaliswaran (b) Ravimenon

(c) Chandra Gupta (d) Shivagami

(e) Pradyamhna

60. Paytm payment tied with which bank to provided

fixed deposit facility if it is exceeding 1 lakh per

day__

(a) IndusInd (b) AXIS Bank

(c) SBI Bank (d) Bank of Baroda

(e) Bank of India

61. Telangana Industrial Health clinic limited got

approval from RBI, to establish__

(a) Cooperative Bank

(b) Regional Rural Bank (c) NBFC

(d) Small Finance Bank (e) Payment Bank

62. Defence Ministry cleared Army procuremet

contract worth of ___ crores for Navy and Army

(a) 2420 crs (b) 3240 crs (c) 335 crs

(d) 2650 crs (e) 2560 crs

63. John young who passed away recently belongs to

which field?

(a) Space research (b) Mining

(c) Physics (d) Technocrat

(e) Football player

64. Hopman cup related which sport?

(a) Table Tennis (b) Tennis

(c) Golf (d) Rugby

(e) Football

65. Govt of India launched a sport scheme to encourage

youth towards sports, what is name of that scheme?

(a) Jeeto India (b) Bharat Sports

(c) Khelo Bharat (d) Khelo India

(e) Khelo-Jeeto

66. Bilaspur Dam constructed on which River?

(a) Son (b) Banas (c) Chambal

(d) Ganga (e) Yamuna

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

52 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

67. India-ASEAN PRAVAS Bharatiya Diwas

celebrated in ___

(a) Thailand (b) Singapore (c) Malaysia

(d) India (e) Laos

68. On Jan-6 Bitcoin, tounched highest value, of

(a) $10,000 (b) $15000 (c) $17000

(d) $12000 (e) $11000

69. Which country gave green signal for India’s

decision to revive sending Haj Piligrims through

sea route, which was stopped in 1995 and restarted

from 2018?

(a) Qatar (b) Saudi Arabia

(c) Kuwait (d) Bahrain

(e) UAE

70. First state in India to launch High Risk pregnancy

portal?

(a) Punjab (b) Haryana

(c) Telangana (d) Andhra Pradesh

(e) Madhya Pradesh

71. India’s first Film and Television institute of India

(FTII) was established in Pune, now govt approved

2nd

FTII for which state?

(a) Nagaland (b) Meghalaya

(c) Arunachal Pradesh (d) Haryana

(e) Kerala

72. The size of new Rs. 10 note is ___

(a) 63 × 125 mm (b) 63 × 125cm

(c) 63 × 123 cm (d) 63 × 123mm

(e) 63 × 140mm

73. The colour of new Rs. 10 note is ___

(a) Bright yellow (b) Magenta

(c) Brown (d) Chocolate brown

(e) Light blue

74. The best movie of 75th

Golden Globe Awards 2018

is __

(a) The shape of water (b) Gary oldman

(c) Lady Bird (d) In the fade

(e) Three billboards outside Ebbing

75. Legendary astronaut who walked on the moon and

go into space as a part of Appollo, Gemini Space

shuttle programs and first to fly in space for six

times. He was passed away recently, who is he?

(a) Jhon Maichel (b) Maichel Disowza

(c) Robert William (d) John Young

(e) William peter

76. As per Finance Ministry report, the total no of

accounts in which more than 100 crs of Non-

performing Assets (NPA’S) are there?

(a) 1500 (b) 1450 (c) 1463

(d) 1700 (e) 1859

77. A. R. Rehman is appointed as Ambassador of

which state?

(a) Nagaland (b) Sikkim

(c) Arunachal Pradesh (d) Himachal Pradesh

(e) Tamil Nadu

78. Which state stands first place in Logistics index

released by Ministry for commerce and Industry?

(a) Andhra Pradesh (b) Madhya Pradesh

(c) Maharashtra (d) Gujarath

(e) Telangana

79. 1st WTO director who passed away recently in

Ireland is __

(a) Pascal Lamy (b) Adrueu Azouley

(c) Irina Bokava (d) Peter Sutherland

(e) Robert Jhony

80. Saksham Yadav who passed away very recently in

road accident, related to which sport?

(a) Power lifting (b) Snooker

(c) Golf (d) Kabaddi

(e) Boxing

81. World’s largest Ice festival held at __

(a) Harbin (China) (b) Beijing

(c) Seoul (Korea) (d) Quebec (Canada)

(e) Oslo (Norway)

82. New online vendor registration system is launched

by which department?

(a) Railways (b) Roadways (c) Airways

(d) Ports (e) Tollgates

83. India’s first Multi-Petaflop super computer is __

(a) PARAM (b) CHANAKYA

(c) PRATYUSH (d) PRAYOG

(e) JEEVAN

84. First person of Indian origin (PIO) Parliamentary

conference held in __

(a) Mumbai (b) Chennai

(c) New Delhi (d) Kolkata

(e) Hyderabad

85. Who made history as she won India’s first ever

International medal in skiing [Brozne medal]

(a) Anukshita (b) Anu Mehta

(c) Anchal Thakur (d) Sachin

(e) Arunima

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

53 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

86. World Bank projected India’s economic growth for

2017-18 is __

(a) 6.7% (b) 6.5% (c) 7.3%

(d) 7.4% (e) 7.2%

87. Foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in single

brand retail through automatic route is __

(a) 49% (b) 51% (c) 100%

(d) 26% (e) 74%

88. FDI in construction sector through Automatic route

is ___

(a) 49% (b) 51% (c) 26%

(d) 74% (e) 100%

89. Foreign airlines allowed to invest upto ___ under

approval route in Air India

(a) 26% (b) 49% (c) 74%

(d) 29% (e) 100%

90. Who is appointed as Director & CEO of National

Payment Corporation Of India (NPCI)

(a) Dilip Asbe (b) Subburaju

(c) Kutumba Rao (d) Ajay Bushan Pandey

(e) None of these

91. The Matunga Sub-urban railway station become

India’s first all women railway station, is located in

which city?

(a) Chennai (b) Mumbai (c) Kolkata

(d) Kochi (e) New Delhi

92. Filpkart phone Pe inks pact with which mobile

wallet company?

(a) Free charge (b) Zip pay (c) Paytm

(d) Oxygen (e) Mobiquick

93. Which Bank tied with National scheduled caste

finance and development corporation (NSFDC) to

provide financial assistance to persons of scheduled

castes

(a) BOB (b) PNB (c) SBI

(d) HDFC (e) ICICI

94. Cabinet has taken decision to close Tungabadhra

steel products limited, which is located in

(a) Andhra Pradesh (b) Tamil Nadu

(c) Maharashtra (d) Karnataka

(e) Telangana

95. International Dharma-Damma conference started in

which place?

(a) Patna (Bihar) (b) Rajgir (Bihar)

(c) Sanchi (U.P) (d) Vidisha (M.P)

(e) Saranath (M.P)

96. Who is appointed as New Chairmen of ISRO?

(a) K. Sriram (b) K. Sivan

(c) Kiran Kumar (d) Gourithapa (U. P)

(e) Matangi Mahesh (M.P)

97. UIDAI introducing which ID to strengthen privacy

and security of Aadhar Data?

(a) Aadhar ID (b) JAMID

(c) Virtual ID (d) Social security ID

(e) None of the above

98. According Bloomberg Billionaries Index, who is

Richest person of world?

(a) Jaffer (b) Jeff Bezos

(c) Bill Gates (d) Warren Buffet

(e) Carlos

99. Who is appointed as Geneva based world Business

council for sustainable development (WBSCD)

Ambassidor?

(a) Sunny Verghese (b) Sriram

(c) Indra Nooyi (d) Paul Polman

(e) Rata Tata

100. 2018-winter Olympics going to held in which

country?

(a) South Korea (b) Japan (c) Indonesia

(d) Russia (e) Australia

101. Head Quarts of Wassener Arrangement is __

(a) Hague (b) Geneva (c) Vienna

(d) Newyork (e) Washington

102. Lohri festival celebrated in which state of India?

(a) Bihar (b) Punjab (c) Assam

(d) Nagaland (e) Mizoram

103. IPC section 377 deals with ______

(a) Criminalisation of natural sex

(b) Decriminalisation of LGBT sex

(c) Criminalisation of LGBT sex

(d) Death sentence for unnatural sex

(e) None of the above

104. Even parliament member get some amount of

money development their constituencies which is

called Member of Parliament local Area

development fund (MPLADS), what is the amount

of MPLAD per year?

(a) 2 crs (b) 3 crs (c) 5 crs

(d) 8 crs (e) 4 crs

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

54 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

105. PSLV-40 placed 31 satellites in orbit, 28 satellites

from six countries and three satellites of India, what

are Indian satellites?

(a) CARTOSAT-1B, INRSS-IA, IMS

(b) CARTOSAT-2, IRNSS-1B, IMS-I bus

(c) CARTOSAT-2, IRNSS-B, IMS-I bus

(d) CARTOSAT-2, INS-1C, IMS-I bus

(e) None of the above

106. First capital is a NBFC, now it is merged into

which bank?

(a) ICICI (b) IDBI (c) HDFC

(d) IDFC (e) AXIS

107. 5th Bilateral Technical Meeting on co-operation in

the field of traditional systems of medicine between

Govt of India and which country was held in New

Delhi?

(a) Thailand (b) Malaysia (c) Singapore

(d) Laos (e) Vietnam

108. First battery powered interactive payment cards to

Indian market in 2018

(a) Indus Ind Bank (b) AXIS Bank

(c) ICICICI Bank (d) IDBI

(e) IDFC

109. Which railway station has become the first railway

station in the country to have a sanitary napkin

vending machine which is named as “HAPPY

NARI” (a) Mumbai (b) Bhopal

(c) Secundrabad (d) Habibgunj

(e) Erode

110. Baldev raj who passed very recently he belong’s to

which field?

(a) Actor (b) Writer

(c) Politician (d) Space scientist

(e) Nuclear Physicist

111. After Hong Kong, China providing internet services

in which country and it is 2nd

country?

(a) Bhutan (b) Myanmar (c) Nepal

(d) Pakistan (e) Bangladesh

112. First woman lawyer to be appointed as judge of

Supreme Court without becoming High Court

judge?

(a) Prithi Sen (b) Indu Malhotra

(c) Indira Dutt (d) Saumitri Sen

(e) None of the above

113. “IRON FIST” is a joint military drill of USA, and

Japan held in ___

(a) Osaka (b) Seoul (c) California

(d) Texas (e) Tokyo

114. Top borrower from china based Asian

Infrastructure investment Bank (AIIB) with $1.5

billions and $3 billions in the pipeline is __

(a) China (b) India (c) Indonesia

(d) Japan (e) Vietnam

115. 4th

India-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on

Agriculture and Forestry held in __

(a) Jaipur (b) Singapore city (c) Bankok

(d) New Delhi (e) Ahmedabad

116. India signed a MOU with which country to enable

the return of illegal Indian Migrants within a month

of their detection by authorities abroad.

(a) USA (b) UK (c) Sudan

(d) Canada (e) Australia

117. “India International Exchange” listed first bond on

it’s Global Securities Market which was started by

(a) BSE (b) NSE (c) MCX

(d) Wall street (e) None of the above

118. Federal Bank has signed strategic partnership with

Hedge equalities limited for providing which

services to NRI

(a) Portfolio Investment scheme

(b) Health services (c) Insurance services

(d) Pass Port services (e) Banking services

119. The World Economic forum (WEF) has ranked

India at 30th

position on a global manufacturing

Index, and which country stands in first place

(a) China (b) Japan

(c) South Korea (d) USA

(e) Germany

120. Johnson & Johnson company panthers with which

state govt on Health Services?

(a) Maharashtra (b) Telangana

(c) Andhra Pradesh (d) Karnataka

(e) Tamil Nadu

121. India has contributed $50,000 to UN ENVOY’S

OFFICE which is located in?

(a) Washington (b) New York

(c) Berlin (d) Paris

(e) Geneva

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122. Charu Rohatgi passed away recently she belong’s

to which field?

(a) Actress (b) Politician

(c) Puppetry (d) Hindustani Music

(e) Carnatic Music

123. Hifae city is located in which country?

(a) India (b) Israel (c) Pakistan

(d) Germany (e) Syria

124. Smart freight operation optimisation & real time

information [SFOORTI] App is launched by __

(a) Indian railways (b) Indian Airlines

(c) India Meteorological Dept

(d) Indian army (e) Indian Navy

125. “Ship for world youth leaders” is headed by

(a) Sri Ram (b) Sri Teja

(c) Sri Krishanaveni (d) Ramesh

(e) Tejaswini

126. Whose image is printed in World Health

Organisation calendar-2018 form India? [Health

worker from Himachal Pradesh]

(a) Soumya (b) Geetha Verma

(c) Geetha Krishna (d) Shalini Pandey

(e) Sushma

127. First women sikh MP who is appointed in “shadow

cabinet” of UK?

(a) Preeti Kaur (b) Parbinder Kaur

(c) Jagmit singh (d) Kamala Harris

(e) Renu Desoy

128. World sweet festival held in __

(a) Hyderabad (b) Mumbai

(c) Chennai (d) New Delhi

(e) Kolkata

129. FDI limit in Indian Airlines is ___

(a) 51% (b) 76% (c) 74%

(d) 49% (e) 26%

130. Romania Prime Minister Mihai Tudose resigns after

loosing party support, what is the currency of

Romania?

(a) Forint (b) Kuna (c) Leu

(d) Euro (e) Zloty

131. Israel Prime Minister is Benjamin Netanyahle and

currency is shekel, president of Israel is __

(a) Antonio Gutter (b) Romio Mitti

(c) Reuven Rivlin (d) Justin Treadeu

(e) Stephen Harper

132. Union Sports Minister is Rajyavardhan Rathore is

elected from which constituency?

(a) Rajasthan (Rural) (b) Jaipur (Urban)

(c) Jaipur (Rural) (d) Bikaner

(e) Jaisalmer

133. PM Modi inaugurates Rajasthan’s first oil refinery

which is established in __

(a) Jaipur (b) Bikanir (c) Barmer

(d) Pushkar (e) None of the above

134. The India-Israel Industrial R&D and technological

innovation fund (IAF) was established. What is the

amount of (IAF)?

(a) $ 60 million (b) $ 40 million

(c) $ 80 million (d) % 100 million

(e) None of the above

135. BBIN is a Motor vehicle agreement for free

movement of vehicles among four countries? Then

BBIN stands for __

(a) Bhutan-Bangladesh-India-Sri Lanka

(b) Bhutan-Bangladesh-India-Nepal

(c) Burma-Bangladesh-India-Nepal

(d) Bhutan-Bangladesh- Indonesia-Nepal

(e) None of the above

136. In Jan:2018, India signed cyber security agreement

with which country?

(a) Belgium (b) Israel (c) China

(d) Finland (e) Nepal

137. International workshop on Disaster Resilient

infrastructure held in__

(a) Tokyo (b) Sendai (c) New Delhi

(d) Jakarta (e) Berlin

138. The book ‘IMPERFECT” is an autobiography of

which cricketer?

(a) Sunil Gavaskar (b) Sourav Ganguly

(c) Rahul Dravid (d) Sanjay Manjrekar

(e) Rabin Singh

139. Union govt allocated how much amount of fund to

provide network connectivity in Northeast India?

(a) 20,000 crs (b) 10,000 crs

(c) 30,000 crs (d) 15000 crs

(e) None of the above

140. Which country has become the first country to be

connected to India’s National Knowledge network

through a Gigabyte optical fibre network

(a) Nepal (b) Bhutan

(c) Sri Lanka (d) Afghanistan

(e) Myanmar

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

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141. Raghunath Jha who passed away very recently

belongs to which field [Bihar]?

(a) Movies (b) Music

(c) Politician (d) Painting

(e) Cartonist

142. Ronaldinho is a football player, who announced his

retirement, he is from which country?

(a) Portugal (b) Brazil

(c) Argentina (d) Germany

(e) Spain

143. Who is appointed as MD & CEO of NCDEX?

(a) Vijay Kumar (b) Sushil

(c) Sudhakar (d) Hasmukh Adhia

(e) Shaktikant Das

144. India sent proposal to united nations to declare

2018 year is International year of ___

(a) Rice (b) Wheat (c) Potato

(d) Millets (e) Carrot

145. “I create centre” is an innovation centre launched in

Ahmedabad by India and __

(a) U.K (b) Israel (c) USA

(d) Singapore (e) Japan

146. Which of the following is India’s inter continental

ballistic missile (ICBM)

(a) Agni I (b) Agni III (c) Agni II

(d) Agni IV (e) Agni V

147. Mukhyamantri Kalakar Sahayata Yojana (MMKSJ)

is an assistance to artists in state, 1200 per month is

launched by which state?

(a) M.P (b) U.P (c) Telangana

(d) Odisha (e) Jharkhand

148. Shanghai cooperation organization Military

meeting held in__

(a) New Delhi (b) Mascow (c) Astana

(d) Beijing (e) None of the above

149. The first Indian bank to cross Rs. 5 trillion Market

capitalization is __

(a) ICICI (b) HDFC (c) AXIS

(d) SBI (e) YES

150. JOJO white (USA) who is passed away, recently,

he was famous player of which game?

(a) Football (b) Baseball

(c) Tennis (d) Basketball

(e) None of the above

151. TReDS stands for Trade Receivables Discounting

system, Now “Invoicemart” tied with which bank to

provide TReDS to Micro small medium enterprises

(MSMES)

(a) Bank of India (b) Bank of Baroda

(c) SBI (d) Union Bank of India

(e) Indian Bank

152. Who is selected as ICC captain of year 2017 and

ICC ODI player of 2017?

(a) Smith (b) Virat Kohli

(c) Ashim Hamla (d) Alster cook

(e) None of the avove

153. ICC Test cricketer of the year 2017 is __

(a) Virat Kohli (India)

(b) Anya Shrubosle (England)

(c) Hasan Ali (Pakistan)

(d) Steve smith (Australia)

(e) None of the above

154. International solar alliance (ISA) conference held at

(a) Mascot (b) Abudhabi (c) Mumbai

(d) Paris (e) Berlin

155. Who is appointed as Governor of Madhya Pradesh?

(a) Kalyan singh (b) N.N. Vohra

(c) Kesarinath (d) Anandiben Patel

(e) J. R. Zeliang

156. Australia group (AG) is a organization to prevent

multiplication of bio-chemical weapons now India

became __ member of AG

(a) 42 (b) 44 (c) 43

(d) 46 (e) 47

157. First state in India to announce public cloud policy

is __

(a) Kerala (b) Telangana

(c) Maharashtra (d) Gujarath

(e) None of the above

158. The fund announced by Govt of India to produce

renewable energy of 175 GW by 2022 year?

(a) $250 million (b) $350 million

(c) $200 million (d) $180 million

(e) $150 million

159. Who is appointed as CMD of security printing and

minting corporation of India limited (SPMCIL)

(a) Anurag Agarwal (b) Selva Kumar

(c) Anurag Thakur (d) Anurag Kashyap

(e) None of the above

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

57 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

160. YES Bank tied with which energy solutions to

cofinance solar projects in India?

(a) Impulse (b) Surya

(c) AMplus (d) Helious

(e) None of the above

161. India Ratings and Research has projected India

economic growth rate for 2017-18 is __

(a) 6.4% (b) 6.7% (c) 6.5%

(d) 6.9% (e) 7%

162. The Geo political Dialogue known as Raisina

Dialogue started in __

(a) Tel Aviv (b) Ahmedabad (c) New Delhi

(d) Chennai (e) Mumbai

163. World largest Air Purifier started in which country?

[xinghzu city]

(a) China (b) Japan

(c) South Korea (d) Thailand

(e) Kenya

164. Convention on International trade in Endangered

species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) is located

in __

(a) New York (b) Washington

(c) Paris (d) Geneva

(e) Gland

165. As per RBI report, the largest source of FDI into

India is ____

(a) USA (b) UK (c) Maritius

(d) Maldives (e) Japan

166. Smart cities project started by Government of India

in 2015 to construct 100 smart cities with the cost

of 50,000 crs for 5 years. The 100th smart city is __

(a) Kohima (b) Karimnagar (c) Shillong

(d) Amritsar (e) Itanagar

167. The first Indian who is elected Switzerland

parliament is ___

(a) George whales (b) Nicholas Samuel

(c) Kamala Harris (d) Leo Vardekar

(e) None of the above

168. India won blind cricket world cup by defeating

which country?

(a) Pakistan (b) Australia

(c) Bangladesh (d) China

(e) None of the above

169. The first Indian Women appointed as Trade and

Business secretary of USA is ___

(a) Jerome powell (b) Manisha singh

(c) Kirtilal (d) Kamla Harris

(e) NikkiHaley

170. Chandi lahiri who passed away recently, belongs to

which field?

(a) Music (b) Politician (c) Cartoonist

(d) Painting (e) Architect

171. “ The Heart fullness way” book authored by

(a) Ramnath Kovind (b) Kamalesh D. Patel

(c) Shashi Tharoor (d) Arvind Adiga

(e) Arundhati Roy

172. Jaipur based AU small finance bank tied with

which Insurance Company?

(a) Metlife (b) Paribas (c) SBI life

(d) L.I.C (e) None of the above

173. The only Aircraft carrier of India is INS

Vikramadiya is formally affliated to which

regiment?

(a) West Bengal (b) Bihar

(c) Odisha (d) Maharashtra

(e) Kerala

174. The India’s first Indigenosly built Aircraft carries

enters into Navy by 2020. What is name of aircraft

carrier

(a) INS Vikram (b) INS Vikrant

(c) INS Vikramaditya (d) INS Vishal

(e) INS Tarini

175. Who is appointed as Chief Election Commissioner

(a) Achal Kumar Jyothi (b) Prakash Karat

(c) Om Prakash Rawat (d) Sunil Arora

(e) Shashi Tharoor

176. Election commission is a three member body

consists of one chief election commissioner and

two election commissioners, who is appointed as

new election commissioner in Jan 2018

(a) Sunil Arora (b) Ashok Lavasa

(c) Vinod Roy (d) Qureshi

(e) None of the above

177. RBI proposed on Idea of “LSTA” an online

platform to sell bad loans, then LSTA stands for _

(a) Loan synthesis and Trading Agency

(b) Loan syndication and Trading Agency

(c) Loan syndication and Technology Agency

(d) Loan syndication and Technology Association

(e) Loan syndication and Trading Association

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178. Paytm launched an application called “Paytm for

Business” to enable ____

(a) Paytm mall

(b) Develop paytm business

(c) Digital payment to online commerce

(d) Small-medium business to accept digital

payment

(e) None of the above

179. Credit Rating Agencies like CIBIL, Equifax,

Experian are regulated by ___

(a) Finance Ministry (b) SEBI

(c) RBI (d) IRDAI

(e) None of the above

180. 20 MLA’s of Aam Aadmiparthy (AAP) are

disqualified on which ground____

(a) Defected to other party

(b) Not submitted election expenditure

(c) For hold office of profit

(d) All the above

(e) None of the above

181. Olympic games 2020 going to held in Japan. What

is name of Mascot of 2020 Olympics?

(a) Zabawaka (b) Rhino

(c) Yuru-kyara (d) Skyra

(e) None of the above

182. 43rd

World economic forum (WEF) summit is

going to held in which city 23-26 Jan 2018.

(a) Beijing (b) Geneva (c) Davos

(d) Berlin (e) Paris

183. The tribal festival known as “NagobaJatara” is

celebrated in which state of India?

(a) Chattisgarh (b) Jharkhand

(c) Telangana (d) Madhya Pradesh

(e) Odisha

184. India ranked 62nd place in an Inclusive

development Index of world Economic forum

(WEF), which country ranked first ___

(a) Japan (b) Denmark

(c) Norway (d) Sweden

(e) Iceland

185. Ayush ministry lays foundation stone for

Homeopathy research Institute in __

(a) Jabalpur (b) Jamnagar (c) Jaipur

(d) Bhopal (e) Patna

186. The growth rate Projected by International

monetary fund (IMF) to Indian economy for 2018-

19 year is -

(a) 7.2% (b) 7.6% (c) 7.9%

(d) 7.4% (e) 6.9%

187. Who is appointed as Federation of Indian chambers

of commerce and Industry [FICCI] director general

(a) Rana Kapoor (b) Rajiv

(c) Dilip chenoy (d) Shakar Ayyar

(e) None of the above

188. Which Indian honoured with crystal award of world

economic forum (WEF)

(a) Salman Khan (b) Shah Rukh Khan

(c) Anushka Sharma (d) Vidya Balan

(e) Irfan Khan

189. 2018-Women world – T20 will be hosted by

(a) Australia (b) England

(c) India (d) West Indies

(e) None of the above

190. Hugh Masekela is a composer and singer who

passed recently belongs to which country?

(a) South Africa (b) Indonesia

(c) India (d) Egypt

(e) France

191. As per “PWC Survey”, the most attractive market

for investment is USA and Rank of India is ___

(a) 6th

(b) 5th

(c) 8th

(d) 10th

(e) 3rd

192. OIL and natural gas corporation [ONGC) head

quarters is -

(a) Mumbai (b) Dehradun (c) Ahmedabad

(d) Chennai (e) Kolkata

193. World income inequality report titled as “Reward

work, not wealth” is released by -

(a) United nations (b) IMF

(c) World Bank (d) Oxform

(e) World economic forum

194. Switzerland stands first place in Global Index of

talent competitiveness Index, the rank of India is -

(a) 62 (b) 92 (c) 85

(d) 81 (e) 79

195. Who is appointed as Director of “Vikram Sarabhai” Space centre

(a) Salvamani (b) K. siva Kumar

(c) S. Somanath (d) K.S. Kiran kumar

(e) Shiva Raaj

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

59 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

196. Ursula k. Le Guin is passed away recently. She

belongs to which field?

(a) Actor (b) Writer (c) Politician

(d) Singer (e) Cartoonist

197. Indian overseas Bank (IOB) tied with National

Housing Bank (NHB) for Rural Housing Interest

subsidy Scheme (RHISS) for 2 lakhs for 20years

period. What is the subsidy?

(a) 4% (b) 3% (c) 5%

(d) 2% (e) 1%

198. SAG aims at empowering school adolescert girls of

11 to 14 years of Improving their nutritional and

Health standards, then SAG stands for ___

(a) Skill Agumentation for girls

(b) Scheme for Adolescent girls

(c) Scheme for all girls

(d) Scheme for Actual girls

(e) None of the above

199. India going to host 16th

International energy forum

(IEF) meet in which city?

(a) Jaipur (b) New Delhi (c) Jabalpur

(d) Hyderabad (e) Mumbai

200. Rakhi Halder related to which sport?

(a) Weight lifting (b) Judo (c) football

(d) Hockey (e) Tennis

201. World Bank lending how much amount of loan to

uttarakhand to increase access to imported Water

supply project for 5 years

(a) $120 million (b) $ 100 million

(c) $80 million (d) $75 million

(e) $ 90 million

202. Expand NIIF?

(a) National Investant Institute fund

(b) National Investment and Investant Forum

(c) National Investment and Infrastructure fund

(d) National Infrastructure and Investment fund

(e) None of the above

203. Under recapitalization of banks, how much amount

Infused into 20 PSB’s through recapitalization

bonds for 2017-18 year --

(a) 1.35 lakh cr (b) 80,000 crs

(c) 88,139 crs (d) 2.11 lakh crs

(e) None of the above

204. Kirshna Kumari who passed away recently belongs

to which field?

(a) Writer (b) actress (c) Politician

(d) Doctor (e) Yoga

205. “IL Take care” mobile app to cover outpatient

expenditure of all customers launched by __

(a) ICICI Lambard (b) ICICI Metlife

(c) LIC (d) PNB Paribas

(e) SBI Life

206. First 100% Indian made vaccine qualified

preliminary test of World Health Organisation is

Rotavaccine, which is manufactured by --

(a) Reddy’s (b) Sun Pharma

(c) Pfizer (d) Bharat Biotech

(e) Accenture

207. Switzerland stands first place in environmental

performance Index (EPI), India rank is __

(a) 182 (b) 177 (c) 179

(d) 181 (e) 195

208. Operation “Olive banch” launched by which

country in Afrin region of Syria against Islamic

state (IS) terrorists

(a) USA (b) Iran (c) Turkey

(d) Syria (e) None of the above

209. Zozilla tunnel is India’s longest road tunnel and

Asia’s largest bidirectional tunnel, which will

connect Srinagar, Kargil and Leh in Jammu-

Kashmir, the length of tunnel is __

(a) 15 km (b) 16 km (c) 14 km

(d) 17 km (e) 13 km

210. Which Gulf country granted Amnesty to illegal

residents who are living in that country?

(a) Saudi Arabia (b) Kuwait

(c) Qatar (d) Bahrain

(e) None of the above

211. India-ASEAN relations based on 3C formula which

stands for __

(a) Connectivity, Coordination, Culture

(b) Connectivity, Commerce, Coordination

(c) Connectivity, Commerce, Culture

(d) Connectivity, Commerce, Cooperation

(e) None of the above

212. Finance Ministry going to announce tight norms to

recover NPA’s of above __

(a) 100 crs (b) 150 crs (c) 250 crs

(d) 300 crs (e) 400 crs

213. The first women chairmen of Indian Bankers

Association is __

(a) Arundhati Bhattacharya

(b) Shika Sharma (c) Chandakochar

(d) Usha Anantha Sumbramayam

(e) None of the above

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

60 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

214. First Indian Metro to get a floating Market in the

form of Boats is __

(a) Bengaluru (b) Chennai (c) Kochi

(d) Mumbai (e) Kolkata

215. Which banks will issue Atal pension Yojana (APY)

for the people in between (18-40) years of age to

get minimum pension of Rs. 1000, max: 5000 per

month after 60 years completion is __

(a) Universal Banks

(b) Small Finance Banks

(c) Payment Banks

(d) Regional Rural Bank

(e) All the above

216. Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana (MGKSY)

is launched by which state, to provide Inclusive

growth for distressed people in state?

(a) Himachal Pradesh (b) Punjab

(c) Kerala (d) Bihar

(e) None of the above

217. Which state launched “SHAKTI’ app for women

safety?

(a) A.P (b) U.P (c) M.P

(d) H.P (e) Telanana

218. India agreed to setup centre of IT excellence in

which country?

(a) Vietnam (b) Thailand (c) Combodia

(d) Loas (e) Mynmar

219. Which countries released firstever commemorative

stamps with pictures of Sanchistupa and Thein Mu

pagoda

(a) India-Combodia (b) India-Thailand

(c) India-Indonesia (d) India-Vietnam

(e) India-Laos

220. Supriya Devi who passed away very recently

belongs to which field?

(a) Pollitician (b) Writer (c) Actress

(d) Social activist (e) None of the above

221. Elizabeth Hawley who passed away very recently is

famous ------- person from U.S.A?

(a) Engineer (b) Doctor (c) Mountineer

(d) Actress (e) Lawyer

222. Recently which country cloned the Monkies?

(a) India (b) China (c) Australia

(d) USA (e) Japan

223. Australian open women singles own by Caroline

Wozniacki against Simona Halep (Romania)

Caroline Wozniacki belongs to which country?

(a) Spain (b) Australia (c) Denmark

(d) Sweden (e) Italy

224. The total no. of Grandslams won by Roger Federes

highest in the world?

(a) 19 (b) 15 (c) 18

(d) 20 (e) 21

225. Mahadayi river dispute is between which states?

(a) MH-Goa (b) TN-KA (c) Goa-KA

(d) KA-MH (e) AP-Orissa

226. As per Economic survey (2017-18), the expected

growth rate of Indian Economy for 2017-18 year is

(a) 6.5% (b) 6.75% (c) 6.25%

(d) 6.65% (e) 6%

227. The fiscal deficit target of India for 2017-18

financial year is ---- % of GDP

(a) 3.5% (b) 3.2% (c) 4%

(d) 3% (e) 2.8%

228. The total foreign exchange reserves of India as per

Economic Survey (2017-18) is ---

(a) $ 370 bn (b) $ 409 bn (c) $350 bn

(d) $360 bn (e) $410 bn

229. The first Nepal cricketer who got contract of IPL?

(a) Sandeep Lamichchane (b) Rajesh

(c) Pashupath (d) Himanshu

(e) None of the above

230. The highest award in Music field in the world is

Grammy Award. Grammy Awards 2017, best

Album of the 2017 year is ---

(a) 24 K Magic

(b) Feel that what u feel (c) Bruno Mars

(d) That what is like (e) Shape of you

231. IKEA Furniture Company (1943), top most

furniture company of word. The founder of this

company was passed away recently who is he?

(a) Jerome Powell (b) Inguard Kampard

(c) IKEA Mistry (d) Mort Walker

(e) William Smith

232. Mort Walker [USA] who passed away recently

belongs to which field?

(a) Writer (b) Cartoonist

(c) Politician (d) Space

(e) None of the above

233. Oxford dictionary’s Hindi word of 2017 is ---

(a) Notebandi (b) Gorakshak (c) Metron

(d) Aadhar (e) None of the above

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

61 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

234. The GDP growth for 2018-19 projected as per

Economic survey (2017) is ---

(a) 7% (b) 6.75% (c) 7-75%

(d) 8% (e) 6.9%

235. As per “Gobanking Rates” reports, the cheapest

country to live is South Africa. What is the rank of

India?

(a) 5th

(b) 2nd

(c) 3rd

(d) 10th

(e) 12th

236. As per “Gobanking Rates” reports, the costliest

country to live is ---

(a) Bermuda (b) Hongkong (c) Austria

(d) Germany (e) None of the above

237. The first military exercise between India and

Vietnam is called (VINBAX-2018) held in which

place?

(a) Jaipur (b) Hanoi (c) Jabalpur

(d) Shillong (e) None of the above

238. International Bird festival will be held at

DUDHWA National Park (Feb 9-12-2018) Which

is located in ---

(a) H.P (b) U.P (c) A.P

(d) Uttarkhand (e) Telangana

239. Mobile payment company paytm and Alibaba

Group owned AGTech holdings Ltd launched

Gaming platform know as ---

(a) Game point (b) Gamepind

(c) Gamemind

(d) AlibabaGame world (e) None of the above

240. US-India strategic partnership forum (USISPF) to

promote business between USA-India will be

headed by ---

(a) Narayan Murthy (b) Vishal Sikka

(c) Nikki Haley (d) Nisha Biswal

(e) Shantanu Narayan

241. Best Parliamentirian of 2017 in India is ----

(a) Gulam Nabi Azad

(b) Bhartruhari Mahatab (c) Najma Heptulla

(d) L. K. Advani (e) Hukmudev Narayan

242. Yash Chopra Memorial Award-2017 is given to ---

(a) Latha Mageshkar (b) Asha Bhosle

(c) Irfan Khan (d) Amitabacchan

(e) Shreya Goshal

Current Affairs February 2018 - Digest

62 IACE (Indian Academy of Competitive Exams) www.iace.co.in Toll Free: 1800-270-9975, Ph: 9533200400

ANSWER KEY

1 b 2 c 3 e 4 c 5 A 6 b 7 b 8 c 9 b 10 c

11 c 12 b 13 c 14 b 15 d 16 c 17 d 18 a 19 b 20 b

21 c 22 e 23 c 24 c 25 b 26 b 27 a 28 a 29 c 30 b

31 d 32 e 33 c 34 c 35 b 36 d 37 b 38 b 39 b 40 c

41 b 42 c 43 e 44 c 45 a 46 b 47 b 48 c 49 b 50 c

51 c 52 B 53 a 54 b 55 d 56 b 57 b 58 b 59 b 60 a

61 c 62 a 63 a 64 b 65 d 66 b 67 b 68 c 69 b 70 b

71 c 72 d 73 d 74 e 75 d 76 c 77 b 78 d 79 d 80 A

81 a 82 a 83 c 84 c 85 C 86 c 87 c 88 e 89 b 90 a

91 b 92 a 93 b 94 d 95 b 96 b 97 c 98 b 99 a 100 a

101 c 102 b 103 c 104 c 105 d 106 d 107 b 108 a 109 b 110 e

111 c 112 b 113 c 114 b 115 d 116 b 117 a 118 a 119 b 120 a

121 b 122 a 123 b 124 a 125 b 126 b 127 a 128 a 129 d 130 c

131 c 132 c 133 c 134 b 135 b 136 b 137 c 138 d 139 b 140 c

141 c 142 b 143 a 144 d 145 b 146 e 147 d 148 d 149 b 150 d

151 b 152 b 153 d 154 b 155 d 156 c 157 c 158 b 159 b 160 c

161 c 162 c 163 a 164 b 165 c 166 c 167 b 168 a 169 b 170 c

171 b 172 d 173 b 174 b 175 c 176 b 177 e 178 d 179 c 180 c

181 c 182 c 183 c 184 c 185 c 186 d 187 c 188 b 189 d 190 a

191 b 192 b 193 d 194 d 195 c 196 b 197 b 198 b 199 B 200 a

201 a 202 c 203 b 204 b 205 a 206 d 208 b 208 c 209 c 210 b

211 c 212 c 213 d 214 e 215 e 216 b 217 d 218 c 219 d 220 c

221 c 222 b 223 c 224 d 225 c 226 b 227 b 228 b 229 a 230 c

231 b 232 b 233 d 234 c 235 b 236 a 237 c 238 b 239 b 240 e

241 b 242 b

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