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GYANM GENERAL AWARENESS – JUNE 2019 3

GENERAL AWARENESS

JUNE 2019 Vol. 7, Issue 12

A PUBLICATION OF GYANM EDUCATION & TRAINING INSTITUTE PVT. LTD.

SCO 13-14-15, 2ND FLOOR, SEC 34-A, CHANDIGARH

Contents

CURRENT AFFAIRS Feb. to April 2019 03-42

BULLET NEWS Nov. 2018 to Jan. 2019 43-53

LATEST 100 GK MCQs 54-61 SBI CLERK PRELIMS

Model Test Paper 62-74

CURRENT GK BYTES 75-100

FIGURES TO REMEMBER

REPO RATE (04.04.2019) 6.00% REVERSE REPO RATE 5.75% MARGINAL STANDING FACILITY RATE

6.25%

STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO (w.e.f 13-04-2019)

19.00%

CASH RESERVE RATIO 4.00% BANK RATE 6.25% BASE RATE(s) (of various banks)

8.95 to 9.40%

INDIA’s RANK IN

Start-up Ecosystem Rankings 17th

World Press Freedom Index 140th

Global Energy Transition Index 76th

Inclusive Internet Index 47th

UN World Happiness Report 140th

International IP Index 36th

Digital Civility Index 7th

Bloomberg's Innovation Index 54th

Global Corruption Index 78th Global Trust Index 2nd Global Talent Competitive Index 80th EIU Global Democracy Index 41st Gender Gap Index 2018 108th Global Passport Index 69th Ease of Doing Business Index -WB 77th Attracting and Retaining Talent 53rd Adoption of E-payments 28th Nation Brands -2018 Report 9th Global Hunger Index 103rd Global Pension Index 33rd

NATIONAL NEWS

APRIL

RUSSIA HONOURS INDIAN PRIME MINISTER

Russia conferred its highest civil decoration - “The Order of St Andrew the Apostle” on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his exceptional services in promoting privileged strategic partnership between the two countries. This special honour is awarded to prominent statesmen, public figures and those working in the fields of science, culture and arts in recognition of their exceptional services in promoting prosperity and glory of Russia. INDIA TOPS IN RECEIVING REMITTANCES According to the latest edition of the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, India retained its position as the world’s top recipient of inward remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping $ 79 billion back home in 2018. India is followed by China ($ 67 billion), Mexico ($ 36 billion). Remittances grew by more than 14 per cent in India, probably on account of heavy amount sent by the migrants during flooding disaster in Kerala. AYUSH AND CSIR JOIN HANDS FOR RESEARCH The Union Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) signed a MoU for cooperation in research and education in areas of traditional systems of medicine and its integration with modern science. 100 YEARS OF JALLIANWALA BAGH April 13 this year marks the 100 years of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre that claimed over 1,000 lives and left over 1200 wounded. On the fateful afternoon of April 13, 1919, the troops under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer fired ruthlessly into a crowd of Indian civilians who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar for a peaceful meeting to protest against the Rowlatt Act.


INDIAN POPULATION ESTIMATED AT 1.36 BN

According to a recent report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA), India’s population grew at an average annual rate of 1.2% between 2010 and 2019 to 1.36 billion, more than double the annual growth rate of China. In comparison, China’s population stood at 1.42 billion in 2019, growing from 1.23 billion in 1994, a growth of hardly 0.62 percent. TCS TO TRANSFORM INDIA POST The Department of Posts has tied up with India's largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services, with a view to transform its 1,50,000 offices network into a multi-service digital hub. It will modernise the delivery of mail and packages, enhance customer experience, and launch innovative services that will drive new revenues. IIT MADRAS TOPS THE NIRF RANKINGS Ministry of HRD released the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) report on April 8 in New Delhi. The report ranked the top educational institutes of India in nine categories as under:

Overall best Institute Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Best University Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru Best Engineering Institute Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Best Management Institute

Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru

Best Medical Institute AIIMS, New Delhi Best Architecture Institute Indian Institute of Technology,

Kharagpur (WB) Best College Delhi University's Miranda House Best Law College National Law School, Bangalore Best Pharmacy Institute Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

INDIA MOVES UP IN STARTUP RANKINGS India jumped 20 spots to secure 17th position among 100 countries in Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019 released by StartupBlink, a global startup research group based at Zurich, Switzerland. It was ranked 37th spot last year. It takes into consideration startup ecosystems of 1,000 cities and 100 countries for the ranking. The rankings are topped by USA, followed by UK and Canada. INDIA RANKED 140th IN PRESS FREEDOM In the World Press Freedom Index 2019, released by Reporters Without Borders, Norway has secured top position among 180 countries of the world. The Paris based NGO works to document and combat attacks on journalists around the world. India was placed pretty low at 140th spot.

Indonesia released a special commemorative stamp on the theme of Ramayana to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of its diplomatic ties with India.

MARCH

17th GENERAL ELECTIONS FROM APRIL 11

The Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on March 10 announced the dates for the largest festival of democracy in the world - the general elections to elect the 17th Lok Sabha of the country. The 90 crore voters of 29 states and 7 Union territories will elect 543 Lok Sabha members in seven phases from 11th April to 19th May. The counting will be held on the 23rd of May. 10.35 lakh polling stations would be set up this time as against about 9 lakh in 2014. All booths will have the ‘voter verifiable paper audit trail’ (VVPAT) machines along with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the entire country with effect from March 10, the date of announcement of the polls. Among other things, the model code of conduct bars the government from announcing any policy move that may impact voters’ decision.


EC PLACES ORDER FOR INDELIBLE INK

The Election Commission placed an order for 26 lakh indelible ink vials of 10 cc each, worth Rs 33 crore with the Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd, Mysore, a government of Karnataka undertaking. It is the only authorised manufacturer of indelible ink for the EC. The ink is prepared based on a secret chemical formula developed by the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi and is exported to several other countries also. LARGE NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS ON ‘cVIGIL’ The Election Commission launched last year in July an Android-based mobile application 'cVIGIL' (citizens’ vigil), using which a person can secretly send to it geotagged videos and photos of illegal money being distributed or a hate speech being made during polls or instances of unauthorised postering / banners or any other violation of ‘code of conduct’ during elections. The identity of the informer can be kept confidential. Election Commission is receiving thousand of complaints on the app. FACT SHEET ON ELECTORAL ROLL DATA 2019 There are 89.78 crore registered voters. Out of this, 16.63 lakh are from armed forces Uttar Pradesh has largest number of voters: 14.41 cr. Malkajgiri in Telangana is the constituency with

largest number of voters – over 31.83 lakh voters Lakshadweep constituency has smallest number of

voters – less than 0.50 lakh Over 1.51 crore voters are in the age group 18-19 yrs. The Electors Photo Identity Card coverage of 99.36

percent has been achieved till date. The Elector/Population Ratio is 631 per thousand and

Gender Ratio is 958.

PRESIDENT MAKES A 3 NATION TOUR President Ram Nath Kovind made a three-nation visit to Croatia, Bolivia and Chile that began with visit to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia on March 25. He was honoured with the Grand Order of King Tomislav with Sash and Grand Star by the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. On March 29 President reached Bolivia. President of Bolivia Evo Morales honoured him with the highest State honor of Bolivia, “Cóndor de Los Andes en el Grado de Gran Collar”. Bolivia also signed the framework agreement to join the International Solar Alliance, becoming its 74th member. On March 31, he reached Santiago, capital of Chile. On his journey back home, the President made a transit halt in South Africa, to pay tributes to the late former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Croatia Capital: Zagreb, Currency: Croatian kuna Bolivia Capital: Sucre, Currency: Bolivian boliviano. Chile Capital: Santiago, Currency: Chilean peso.

GUINEA PRIME MINISTER VISITS INDIA Prime Minister of Guinea Dr. Ibrahima Kassory Fofana came to India on a ten day official visit from March 16 to 25. He addressed the inaugural session of 14th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Partnership Project in New Delhi. Guinea is a country in West Africa. President: Alpha Conde Capital: Conakry Currency: Guinean Franc NAIDU TOURS PARAGUAY & COSTA RICA Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu made a two nation visit to Paraguay and Costa Rica. The 8-day tour aimed at strengthening bilateral ties with the two Latin American countries. The tour began with an official meeting with the Paraguay President Mario Abdo Benitez. Later, he visited Costa Rica to hold bilateral meet with the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada. Paraguay capital: Asunción Currency: Paraguayan guaraní Costa Rica capital: San Jose Currency: Costa Rican colon


SC REFERS AYODHYA DISPUTE TO MEDIATION

The Supreme Court referred the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya to mediation and appointed former top court judge Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Chennai-based advocate Sriram Panchu as mediators to find an amicable solution to the problem. Justice Kalifulla will be the chairperson of the panel.

INDIA GETS ITS FIRST LOKPAL Former Supreme Court judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose has been appointed as the country's first Lokpal by the President of India who also administered the oath of office to him. His name was finalised and recommended by the Selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister. The Lokpal office, the anti-corruption watchdog, will have four judicial and four non-judicial members. The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, which envisages appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013. MICROSOFT TO PUSH FOR SWACHH BHARAT Global IT major Microsoft has partnered with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to promote its project ‘Sangam’ aimed at promoting Swachh Bharat Mission in India. Sangam is a cloud-hosted, mobile-first community learning platform. Through this partnership, over 110,000 municipal functionaries have been successfully trained on best sanitation practices across 4000 plus cities in India.

THE KUMBH MELA ENTERS GUINNESS BOOK The Kumbh Mela that concluded on March 4 on Mahashivratri made it to the Guinness World Records in three sectors: the largest traffic and crowd management plan the biggest painting exercise of public sites under

paint my city scheme the biggest sanitation and waste disposal

mechanism

NO DISTANCE LEARNING PROG IN AGRI The University Grants Commission has prohibited imparting distance degree programmes (correspondence course) in agriculture on the ground that a degree programme in agriculture is technical in nature and it requires practicals or laboratory courses. It may be noted that similarly other professional programmes such as medicine, engineering, and architecture, are not permitted to be offered in distance learning mode. US TO SUPPORT 6 NUCLEAR PLANTS IN INDIA

India and the United States have agreed to build six nuclear power plants in India, in an effort to boost bilateral civil nuclear energy cooperation. The US also reaffirmed its strong support of India’s early membership in the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group. FIRST EVER “DICTIONARY OF MARTYRS” In a first ever attempt to compile the names of our martyrs; Government released a “Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle” (1857-1947). The five-volume dictionary contains account of the martyrs from India’s First War of Independence in 1857, to India’s freedom struggle in 1947. Each of these five volumes contains zone wise information of over 13,500 martyrs from all over India. PAK TO OPEN SHARADA PEETH CORRIDOR Pakistan has approved a proposal to open the Sharada Peeth Corridor for Hindu pilgrims to allow Hindu pilgrims from India to visit ancient Sharada Peeth temple located in PoK in Sharda village, about 130 kms north of Srinagar. Kashmiri Pandits consider Sharada as their “kuldevi” or principal deity.


INDIA GROUNDS BOEING 737 AIRCRAFTS

India decided to ground all the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts used by the country's airlines in light of the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash involving this plane that killed 157 people near Bishoftu, just six minutes after its take off from the International airport of Addis Ababa. Several other countries around the world also grounded the aircraft as a safety measure. INDIA IMPROVES IN ENERGY TRANSITION India has moved up two places to rank 76th on a Global Energy Transition Index released by Geneva-based World Economic Forum. It ranked 115 economies on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability. Sweden remains at the top, followed by Switzerland and Norway in the top three. The study shows that fossil fuels’ share of total primary energy supply at 81 percent has remained constant over the past three decades. INDIA RANKS 47th ON INTERNET INDEX The London based business research group ‘Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released the ‘Inclusive Internet Index 2019’ covering 100 countries which represent 94% of the world’s population and 96% of global GDP. The countries were ranked on the basis of the scores of availability, affordability, relevance and readiness aspects of availability of internet network. Sweden topped the index, followed by Singapore and the USA. India was ranked 47th in the index.

INDIA SLIPS TO 140th RANK IN HAPPINESS Indians are not as happy in 2019 as they were in 2018 as the country figures at 140th place, seven steps down from last year, on this year’s UN World Happiness Report. Finland topped the list for the second year in a row, followed by Denmark and Norway at 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. People in war-torn South Sudan are the most unhappy with their lives. GURUGRAM MOST POLLUTED IN WORLD As per the World Air Quality Report 2018 released by IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace, seven of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world are in India. Gurugram topped the list, followed by Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida, and Bhiwadi in the top six worst-affected cities.

A new visa agreement with Maldives provides for liberal visa policy for Maldivians seeking medical treatment and education in India.

A unique museum ‘Azaadi Ke Diwane’, dedicated to the unsung heroes of the country’s freedom struggle, was opened in the Red Fort premises in New Delhi.

The National Green Tribunal slapped a fine of Rs 500 crore on German auto major Volkswagen for damaging the environment through the use of “cheat device” in its diesel cars in India.

The 16th edition of BioAsia 2019, Asia’s largest biotechnology and life-sciences forum, was held in Hyderabad, Telangana from Feb 25 to 27.

FEBRUARY

INDIA WELCOMES ARGENTINEAN PRESIDENT Argentinean President Mauricio Macri arrived in New Delhi on a three day official visit. Several agreements were signed during the visit. He also addressed the Plenary Session of India-Argentina Business Forum in Mumbai. He signed the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to become the 72nd member country.


PM HONOURED WITH “SEOUL PEACE PRIZE”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Seoul on a two-day (Feb 21-22) visit to South Korea. He was conferred “Seoul Peace Prize” in recognition of his dedication to international cooperation, global growth and human development. He held bilateral talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. PRINCE SALMAN VISITS INDIA Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in India on a two day (Feb.19-20) official visit. During his visit he signed the International Solar Alliance, making Saudi Arabia the 73rd member of the group. As a good will gesture, the Prince announced release of 850 Indian prisoners. He assured investment of $ 100 billion in various sectors of Indian economy. INDIA’s FIRST WAR MEMORIAL India got its first war memorial, built up in New Delhi, just next to the grand monument of the India Gate. It has a layout with four concentric circles — ‘Amar Chakra’ or Circle of Immortality, ‘Veerta Chakra’ or Circle of Bravery, ‘Tyag Chakra’ or Circle of Sacrifice, and ‘Rakshak Chakra’ or Circle of Protection.

The memorial comprises of graphic panels and stone murals along with busts of the 21 awardees of Param Vir Chakra. It includes a central obelisk, an eternal flame and six murals depicting famous battles fought by the Army, IAF and Navy in a covered gallery. The names of 25,942 battle casualties have been inscribed on the Granite plates fixed across 16 walls.

NATIONAL SALT SATYAGRAHA MEMORIAL The National Salt Satyagraha Memorial at Dandi village in district Navsari, Gujarat was dedicated to the nation on January 30 by the Prime Minister on Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary. The memorial is a tribute to the 80 marchers who accompanied Mahatma Gandhi from Sabarmati to Dandi in 1930. The 24-day Salt March led by Mahatma Gandhi began on March 12, 1930 and continued till April 6, 1930. Not only did it get national and international recognition, it also shook the Britishers with its strong message of nonviolence. WORLD CSR CONGRESS HELD IN MUMBAI The 8th World Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Congress was held in Mumbai. The Congress promotes Entrepreneurship, Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Social Development. The theme of the year 2019 is ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ to focus on corporate strategies, innovation, and strategic alliances.

INDIA HOSTS ASIA LPG SUMMIT The 2019 Asia LPG summit was held in New Delhi in association with the World LPG Association. The 2 day event focused on ‘LPG – Energy for Life.’ It may be noted that India is the second largest consumer of LPG in world, next only to China. ‘GIBI’ TO BE MASCOT OF CMS-COP 13 The govt announced the Great Indian Bustard as the mascot named ‘Gibi’ for the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) to be held in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat in Feb. 2020. CMS-COP 13 is a global platform of over 120 countries for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory species and their habitats. BEST MARCHING CONTINGENT ON JAN 26 The Gorkha Brigade Contingent was selected as the Best Marching Contingent among the three services in this year's Republic Day Parade. CRPF contingent was adjudged Best Marching Contingent among paramilitary forces and other auxiliary marching contingents.


INDIA JUMPS TO 36th RANK ON IP INDEX

India has jumped eight places to 36th position on the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, which analysed the IP climate in 50 global economies. The US, the UK, Sweden, France and Germany remained the top five economies on the index, like last year. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE HITS 45 YEAR HIGH As per the “Periodic Labour Force Survey” conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), India’s unemployment rate hit a 45 year high of 6.1% in 2017-18. It is the first comprehensive survey on employment conducted by a govt agency after demonetization. Unemployment is higher in urban areas at 7.8% as compared to 5.3% in rural areas of the country. INDIA 2nd LARGEST PRODUCER OF STEEL

India replaced Japan as the world’s 2nd largest steel producing country, registering a production of 106.5 MT in 2018, slightly more than 104.3 MT of Japan. China remained the largest producer, accounting for more than 51% of production at 928 MT, according to the data released by the World Steel Association. INDIA RANKS 7th IN DIGITAL CIVILITY Internet users in India are more likely to encounter fake news online than the global average. The survey conducted by Microsoft in 22 countries shows that as many as 64 percent of the Indians surveyed have encountered fake news as against the global average of 57 percent. The Digital Civility Index by Microsoft placed India at 7th rank, indicating a better level of online civility in the country.

INDIA RANKS AMONG TOP 60 ECONOMIES In the Bloomberg’s 2019 list of most innovative countries in the world - Innovation Index - 2019, for the first time ever, India made it to the index of top 60 economies. India was placed at 54th spot with a score of 47.93 out of 100. South Korea continues to top the Index for the sixth time in a row with a total score of 87.38, followed by Germany and Finland. The Index analyses dozens of criteria using seven metrics, including research and development spending, manufacturing capability and concentration of high-tech public companies. NEGATIVE MARKING BAD IN LAW In a huge relief to a number of students who fail to qualify to enter into prestigious institutions like IITs due to negative marking, Madras High Court ruled against negative marking in competitive examinations saying they are bad in law. The court observed that negative marking acts only as "a bolt in the brain development" of students and prevents them from making intelligent guesses. INDIA IMPROVES ITS CORRUPTION RANKING

According to the annual Global Corruption Index compiled by global watchdog Transparency International, India has improved its ranking in 2018 by three points and moved to 78th position with a score of 41 in a list of 180 countries. Denmark was declared as the least corrupt with a score of 88, followed by New Zealand. Somalia was at the bottom of the list with a low score of 10.

Bangladesh signed a MoU with Indian government for training its 1800 Civil Servants at the National Centre for Good Governance in New Delhi.

The 4th India-ASEAN Expo and Summit was held on February 21-23, 2019 in New Delhi, co-organised by the Ministry of Commerce and FICCI.

The last session of 16th Lok Sabha came to an end on 13th of February, 2019. Speaker of the house, Ms. Sumitra Mahajan delivered the valedictory address.

The 5th International Dam Safety Conference was held in Bhubaneswar as a joint initiative of the Govt of India, state of Odisha and the World Bank.


NEWS FROM STATES

APRIL

GUWAHATI IS FIRST GREEN RAILWAY STATION

The Guwahati Railway Station in Assam has become the first ever railway station in the Indian Railways to get an ISO certification for Environment Management System from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for “providing passenger amenities in a clean and green environment.” TRIPURA RANKS HIGH IN CHILD MARRIAGES A study by a team of University of Oxford based on the data from the National Family Health Survey (2015-16), reveals that Tripura occupies the second position in India in terms of child marriages among girls between 15-19 years of age. As per “Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006”, both women under 18 and men under 21 cannot legally get married. Parents or older spouses can be punished with up to two years in prison for coordinating or allowing arrangements that ignore these restrictions. ANTI TERROR GROUP SET UP IN J&K The Government constituted a Multi Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group (MDTMG) to ensure concerted action against terror financing and other terror related activities in the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The group will meet on a weekly basis and submit its action report regularly to the Union Home Ministry. The MDTMG will have representatives from the State Police, Intelligence Bureau, CBI, National Investigation Agency and Income Tax Department.

CPCB ORDERS CLOSURE OF POLLUTING UNITS The Central Pollution Control Board has ordered the Haryana State Pollution Control Board to identify and immediately shut industrial units in Yamunanagar, Panipat and Kundli which are not complying with the norms prescribed under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, thereby polluting Yamuna River. GI TAG FOR 5 COFFEE VARIETIES Five varieties of Indian coffee have been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. The approval was accorded by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The five varieties include three from Karnataka - Coorg Arabica, Chikmagalur Arabica and Baba Budangiri Arabica while Wayanad Robusta is from Kerala and Araku Valley Arabica is from Andhra. COUNTRY’s 1st BIRD PARK OPENS IN MUMBAI

India’s first exotic bird park ‘Essel World Bird Park’ has been launched by EsselWorld Leisure Pvt. Ltd, in Mumbai. The Park is spread over 1.4 acres of land and surrounded by flora and fauna. It is home to over 500 exotic birds from more than 60 species of flying, terrestrial and aquatic birds and has 200 species of special plants and trees for the birds.

Telangana topped in e-Learning training, covering over 20,000 staff during 2018-19 in a project of the Deptt. of Personnel and Training of the HRD ministry.

'Kandhamal Haldi', a variety of turmeric indigenous to southern Odisha, got the GI tag from Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai.

MARCH

INDORE REMAINS CLEANEST CITY Swachh Survekshan 2019 covered all 4247 Urban Local Bodies in the country, making it the largest such cleanliness survey in the world. Indore bagged the cleanest city award for third straight year. The second and third positions were grabbed by Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Mysore in Karnataka, respectively. The ‘Cleanest Big City’ award has been bagged by Ahmedabad, Gujarat. New Delhi Municipal Council area got the cleanest small city award. Gauchar in Uttarakhand was adjudged the Best Ganga Town.


“PRANAM” TO TAKE CARE OF PARENTS

Assam launched the PRANAM Commission to monitor issues related to the protection of parents of state government employees. The Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring (PRANAM) Bill, stated to be the first-of-its-kind bill in the country, aims to protect elderly parents of government employees in their times of need. SPECIAL STAMP RELEASED ON ICE STUPA The Indian Department of Post released a ‘special stamp cover on Ice Stupa’ at a function organised at the Ice Stupa site at Gangles Village in Leh in J&K. Ice Stupas, also known as artificial glaciers, are being built with an aim to reduce the problem of water shortage, faced by Ladakhi farmers due to receding of glaciers. These are built by saving winter water, which otherwise flows waste, in a cone-shaped stupa that does not melt easily. ASSAM PRONE TO ‘CLIMATE CHANGE’ RISK Indian scientists have developed a common framework for the assessment of climate change vulnerability in all the states in the Himalayan region. Vulnerability refers to level of the inherent risks a district faces, primarily by virtue of its geography and socio-economic situation. The assessment shows that on a scale of 0 to 1, “Vulnerability Index” is the highest for Assam (0.72) and Mizoram (0.71). Sikkim is the least vulnerable state with the index being 0.42.

ERODE TURMERIC & SIRSI SUPARI GET GI TAG Erode turmeric (of Tamil Nadu) was granted Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the GI Registry, Chennai. Erode turmeric is specially developed plant that produces both, finger and bulb variety.

The ‘Sirsi Supari’ (Areca Nut or betel nut) was also granted GI tag. It is grown in Sirsi and adjoining areas of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka.

The traditional handmade Marayoor Jaggery from the Marayoor town in Idukki district of Kerala, also got the GI tag.. SOUTHERN COAST RAILWAY - NEW ZONE Railway Minister announced formation of a new zone of the Indian Railways in Andhra Pradesh. Named Southern Coast Railway, it will be the 18th railway zone of the country and will be headquartered at Visakhapatnam. The new zone will comprise the existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions that currently fall under the South Central Railway.

Bank Purpose Amount in ($

Million) World Bank for Uttarakhand Disaster

Recovery Project for reconstruction of bridges, road

and river bank protection works in the state

$96

World Bank for the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) to boost incomes of rural women

across 13 states in India.

$250

The Asian Infrastructure

Investment Bank

for financing the Andhra Pradesh Rural Roads Projects.

$455

Asian Development

Bank

for improving drainage infrastructure in Dibrugarh town

of Assam.

$26

The Asian Development

Bank

To operationalize two new lines of the Mumbai Metro Rail System.

$926

FEBRUARY

ANDHRA GETS AQUA FOOD PARK Country’s first Mega Aqua Food Park was commissioned at Tundurru Village in West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh. Named Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park, it will be operationalised exclusively for fish and marine products processing. DD CHANNEL ‘ARUN PRABHA’ LAUNCHED A new 24x7 satellite television channel of Doordarshan was launched in Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh. Named the DD ‘Arun Prabha’, it is Doordarshan’s second channel for the north-eastern region, after the first channel named ‘DD North East’.


‘KALA GHODA’ - LARGEST CULTURAL OF FEST

The Kala Ghoda festival, India’s largest multi-cultural street festival was held in Mumbai from Feb 2 to 10 to celebrate its 20 years of art and culture through cinema, theatre, dance, literature, and sculpture. This large multicultural festival draws attention to this unique and beautiful area in Mumbai. ASSAM BEST IN BUDGET FORMULATION In a survey of the best practices followed by states in the budget formulation and implementation, conducted by the global firm ‘Transparency International’, Assam was placed at the top, followed by Andhra Pradesh. SWADESH DARSHAN SCHEME IN SIKKIM The first project under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the Ministry of Tourism was launched at the Zero Point, Gangtok, Sikkim. The scheme aims at development of theme based tourist circuits in the country. WORLD BANK LOAN FOR SHIMLA The World Bank to give $40 million loan to Himachal Pradesh to help bring clean and reliable drinking water to the residents of the Greater Shimla area, who have been facing severe water shortages and water-borne epidemics over the last few years. The 79th Indian History Congress was hosted by the

Barkatullah University, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh from Feb 26 to 28

Country’s second Tulip garden will come up over 50 hectares of forest land in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand at a cost of Rs 50 crore.

Kerala has become the first State to set up a Price Monitoring and Research Unit to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Price Control Order.

Bihar became first state to raise a special dog squad to detect liquor consignments to check its smuggling as there is complete ban on liquor in Bihar.

The 40th International Annual Desert Festival was held on the sand dunes in Jaisalmer with thousands of tourists participating in the colourful event.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

APRIL

WAGES REVISED UNDER MGNREGA SCHEME The Rural Development Ministry revised the wages under the MGNREGA scheme from April 1 for the year 2019-20. The wages paid under the Scheme are linked with the Consumer Price Index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL).

Different states have different wage rates. Wages in Haryana are highest at Rs. 284 per day while they are lowest in Bihar and Jharkhand at Rs. 171 per day.

MARCH

MORE JOB RESERVATION FOR KASHMIRIS The Union Cabinet approved the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Amendment Order, 2019. Once notified, this will pave the way for giving the benefit of promotion in service to the SCs, STs and also extend the reservation of up to 10 per cent for the economically weaker section in educational institution and public employment in addition to the existing reservation in the state. The Cabinet also approved the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Ordinance, for providing reservation to the persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border, at par with persons living in areas adjoining actual line of control.


SCHEME TO PROMOTE FOOD PROCESSING

The Government of India plans to launch Gram Samridhi Yojana, a Rs 3,000 crore scheme funded by the World Bank. The scheme will be implemented by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in order to strengthen the unorganised food processing sector concentrated in rural areas. ‘STARS’ FOR FUNDING SCIENCE PROJECTS On the occasion of the National Science Day on Feb 28, HRD ministry launched ‘STARS’ or Scheme for Translational and Advanced Research in Science. The scheme will provide Rs 250 crore for funding around 500 science projects. It will be coordinated by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. VAN DHAN SCHEME TO FIX MSP FOR TRIBALS The Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched the Van Dhan scheme for announcing Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and Development of Value Chain of MFPs. The Scheme will offer remunerative MSP for 50 commercially viable items to the Tribals. Almost 5.5 crores tribals residing in the dense forest areas of the country will benefit from the scheme. JI-VAN YOJANA TO PROMOTE BIOFUELS The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the ‘Pradhan Mantri Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran (JI-VAN) Yojana’ for providing financial support to the Integrated Bioethanol Projects. The project aims at reducing import of Petroleum fuel by promoting use Biofuels instead. It will also help in achieving the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets through progressive substitution of fossil fuels.

SCHEME TO PROMOTE AGRI EXPORTS The government launched “Transport and Marketing Assistance” scheme for providing financial assistance for transport and marketing of agriculture products to boost their export in Europe and North America. Under the scheme, the government would reimburse a certain portion of freight charges and provide assistance for marketing of agricultural produce. ‘E-DHARTI’ APP FOR DIGITAL LAND RECORDS Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched e-Dharti app where all the three modules- Conversion, Substitution and Mutation related to land properties have been made online in the Land and Development Office. NATIONAL COMMON MOBILITY CARD

For facilitating seamless travel through different metros and other transport systems across the country, govt launched ‘One Nation, One Card’ Model from Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The ‘National Common Mobility Card’ introduced by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs can also be used for retail shopping and purchases. CBSE INTRODUCES THREE NEW SUBJECTS The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to introduce artificial intelligence (AI), early childhood care education and yoga as new subjects in the school curriculum for the senior secondary classes from the upcoming academic session. CBSE LAUNCHES ‘SHIKSHA VANI’ PODCAST APP The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) launched a new podcast app 'Shiksha Vani' to disseminate crucial information to students and parents in a timely manner. The first episode is based on the evaluation process of Class 10 and 12 board examinations.

This will help all the students to understand as to how their completed papers will be evaluated. Podcast: is a digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device.


DL & RC TO BE ISSUED AS CARDS ONLY

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to do away with the paper or booklet-based driving licence or registration certificate. These documents (DL and RC) will now be issued as plastic cards in a uniform standard format across the country. The cards be either made of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) or of Polycarbonate. STATES MAY USE THE ‘ENEMY PROPERTIES’ The Centre has allowed state governments to put to public use some enemy properties. Enemy properties are those properties that were left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan since the partition in 1947 and to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war and took citizenship of Pakistan and China. There are over nine thousand such properties left behind by Pakistani nationals and over one hundred by Chinese nationals. AIIMS TO BE CONVERTED IN UNIVERSITY The Union Cabinet approved the implementation of Master Plan to convert AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), New Delhi into a world class Medical University. The project will provide highly specialized state of the art healthcare to the patients. The Cabinet also approved setting up of new AIIMS at village Manethi, near Rewari in Haryana, some 120 kms away from Delhi. This will be the 22nd AIIMS of the country, set up under the “Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana”.

‘SHREYAS’ TO SKILL THE GRADUATES The ‘Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills’ (SHREYAS) launched for providing industry apprenticeship to fresh graduates of 2019. The scheme aims to skill non-technical students of BA, BSc. BCom courses. The scheme aims to boost the employment skills of Indian youth by providing them with ‘on the job work exposure’ through the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and the National Career Service (NCS).

FEBRUARY

FARMERS GET 1st INSTALLMENT OF Rs. 2,000 The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN) was formally launched from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh on Feb. 24. On the launch day itself, the first instalment of Rs 2,000 was directly credited to the bank accounts of selected beneficiary farmers of 24 States and the UTs.

A sum of Rs 2,021 crore was transferred into the bank accounts of 1,010,6,880 eligible farmers. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under the Scheme is being done through the Public Finance Management System (PFMS), a web-based payment and MIS IT application of the Government. GST CUT ON UNDER CONSTRUCTION HOUSES The GST Council slashed GST rate on under-construction residential properties and the affordable housing projects. In case of non-affordable houses, the GST rate has been brought to 5 percent, from the present 12 percent. In case of affordable houses, the GST rate has been reduced to 1 percent, from 8 percent at present. RAIL DRISHTI DASHBOARD LAUNCHED Railways launched Rail Drishti Dashboard to keep people informed about the work going on in the Railways across the country. It will allow monitoring of the various ongoing railway services, including operations in IRCTC kitchens through live video. The dashboard will also provide live status of reserved and unreserved passengers travelling on trains besides providing the exact location of trains at any point of time. People can give suggestions and comments through the dashboard to improve the services provided by railways.


PENSION SCHEME FOR WORKERS

The Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan scheme became operational w.e.f. 15 February. Under the scheme, workers of the unorganised sector will receive a minimum assured pension of 3,000 rupees per month, after attaining the age of 60 years. The workers whose monthly income is 15,000 rupees per month or less and are in the entry age group of 18 to 40 years, are eligible for the scheme. The scheme is voluntary and contributory on a 50:50 basis where contribution equal to amount contributed by the beneficiary shall be made by the Central Government. ‘SWAYATT’ LAUNCHED FOR START-UPS Government launched an online initiative SWAYATT on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through e-Transactions. This will bring together the key stakeholders within the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem to the national procurement portal GeM. ‘KUSUM’ FOR PROMOTING SOLAR PUMPS The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, approved the launch of ‘Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan’ - KUSUM with the objective of providing financial and water security to farmers.

The scheme aims at providing subsidy and bank finance to farmers for setting up local renewable energy power plants of capacity upto 2 MW and promoting use of solar powered agricultural water pumps up to 7.5 HP.

Central and State governments, each will provide 30 per cent subsidy and banks will provide 30 percent finance, leaving only 10% burden on farmer.

‘NYAYA BANDHU’ TO SPREAD LEGAL AID Union Law Ministry launched a tele-law mobile application ‘Nyaya Bandhu’. The application is an online legal advice and consultation service, especially for people living in far-flung areas, across the country. It will implemented through 73,000 paralegal volunteers of National Legal Service Authority and State Legal Services Authorities in the country who will be associated under Tele-Law service. OPERATION DIGITAL BOARD LAUNCHED Government has launched Operation Digital Board to provide better digital education in schools. Under the initiative, seven lakh classrooms of 9th, 10th and 11th standards and two lakh classrooms of colleges and Universities will be equipped with digital boards in the next three years. This will revolutionize the education system in the country with different kinds of digital teaching materials, quality lectures and other facilities. 3 NEW INITIATIVES FOR WOMEN SAFETY

Ministry of women and child development launched three significant initiatives to promote the safety of women in their living spaces, working spaces and the public spaces. The initiatives are - Emergency Response Support System (pan India single no. 112), Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences (ITSSO) and Safe City Implementation Monitoring Portal. MINIMUM WAGE SHOULD BE RS 375/DAY The Anoop Satpathy committee set up by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment for “Determining the Methodology for Fixation of the National Minimum Wage” submitted its report to the Government. It recommended the fixation of need based National Minimum Wage at Rs 375 per day or Rs 9,750 per month, irrespective of sectors, skills, occupations and rural-urban locations for a family comprising of 3.6 consumption units. It also recommended to introduce an additional house rent allowance or city compensatory allowance of Rs 55 per day or Rs 1,430 per month for urban workers, over and above the National Minimum Wage.


CREDIT LINKED CAPITAL SUBSIDY SCHEME

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Technology Upgradation Scheme (CLCS-TUS) with a total outlay of 2900 crore rupees. The scheme aims to facilitate technology up-gradation for improvement in quality of products by MSMEs. This will lead to enhancement in productivity, reduction in waste and inculcate Zero Defect & Zero Effect (ZED) practices in manufacturing processes. CLOUD OBSERVATORY IN UTTARAKHAND The Himalayan Cloud Observatory, only second of its type in the country, is being set up in Tehri district of Uttarakhand. The observatory aims to forecast and monitor cloudburst incidents in the Himalayan region and help to minimize the damages caused by them. ‘INDIA SIZE’ LAUNCHED FOR READYMADES Government launched the ‘India Size’ project in Mumbai to arrive at a standard Indian Size for the ready-to-wear clothing industry. A first-of-its-kind project in the history of the country, it aims to match the lines of the standardised sizes available in countries such as the USA and the UK. The India size project will benefit manufacturers, consumers and generate data which will help tap into the potential of the sector. RASHTRIYA KAMDHENU AAYOG The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for the establishment of Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog for conservation, protection and development of cows and their progeny. This will lead to the growth of the livestock sector which is more inclusive; benefit women, and small and marginal farmers.

DIPP NAME CHANGED TO DPIIT The government has notified changing the name of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, and has enhanced its role. The new agency will work for the promotion of internal trade, facilitating Ease of Doing Business, and matters relating to start-ups. EPFO INTEREST RATE HIKED TO 8.65% The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the retirement fund manager under the Union Labour Ministry, raised the interest rate on Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) by 10 basis points to 8.65 percent for 2018-19.

ECONOMY & INDUSTRY

APRIL

INDIA TO GROW BY 7.5% - WORLD BANK

The World Bank’s latest report on South Asia says that India’s GDP growth is expected to accelerate moderately to 7.5% in fiscal year 2019-20, driven by continued investment strengthening, particularly private-improved export performance and resilient consumption. BSE TIES UP WITH MOSCOW EXCHANGE BSE (earlier known as Bombay Stock Exchange) and India International Exchange (India INX) have signed a MoU with Moscow Exchange (MOEX) to connect investor community and companies in both countries besides allowing a capital formation platform. FLIPKART RANKED AS THE ‘BEST EMPLOYER’ Online marketplace Flipkart beat Amazon to emerge as the most sought after employer where Indian professionals want to work and stay, according to a new LinkedIn report "2019 Top Companies". Hotel aggregator OYO secured third position. LinkedIn ranks companies based on four pillars: interest in the company; engagement with employees; job demand; and employee retention.


RELIANCE RETAIL CROSSES 1 TRILLION MARK

For the fiscal 2018-19, Reliance Retail -- the retail arm of RIL -- reported revenue of Rs 1.30 lakh crore, an 88.68 per cent growth, and the highest by any retailer in India. It also became the first Indian retailer to cross the 10,000-plus stores milestone, operating 10,415 retail stores in over 6,600 cities.

i-PHONE 7 TO BE ASSEMBLED IN INDIA Tech giant Apple has announced to start the assembling of iPhone 7 in India. The phones will be assembled at its supplier Wistron’s facility in Bengaluru. Taiwanese industrial major Wistron already assembles iPhone 6S in its Bengaluru plant. INDIA USA TO EXCHANGE TAX REPORTS India and the US signed an agreement for exchange of country-by-country (CbC) reports. This will give huge relief to subsidiaries of US-headquartered companies in the taxation-related matter. The arrangement will facilitate automatic exchange of the reports filed by the parent companies of the multinational enterprises in the respective jurisdictions pertaining to the years commencing on or after January 1, 2016.

MARCH

ICF CHENNAI BECOMES NO 1 IN WORLD The Integral Coach Factory at Chennai, Tamil Nadu manufactured around 3,000 coaches in April - March 2019, putting it among the largest railcar builders in the world. Top Chinese manufacturers produce around 2,600 coaches a year. The ICF churned out coaches for the India’s fastest train Vande Bharat also.

GDP GROWTH SLOWS DOWN TO 6.6% India’s economic growth in the quarter ended 31st December, 2018 slowed to 6.6%, the lowest in the last six quarters, as per the data released by the Central Statistics Office, New Delhi. The growth rate is much as lower compared to 7.7 % achieved in the same quarter last year. Accordingly, the GDP growth during 2018-19 is now estimated at 7% as compared to 7.2% achieved in 2017-18. The slowdown was led by agriculture, which is estimated to grow at 2.7%, against the earlier estimate of 3.8%. The size of the economy in terms of nominal GDP is now estimated to be Rs. 190.54 lakh crore. JET AIRWAYS CHAIRMAN STEPS DOWN In a milestone development in the Indian aviation sector, the Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal stepped down from the board of the Indian carrier he founded 25 years ago, in a bid to save the airline from bankruptcy. Saddled with debt of more than $1 billion, Jet has been on the brink of collapse, and had to ground flights as it struggled to pay lenders, suppliers, pilots and leasing companies. The banks, lead by SBI will now issue a loan of Rs 1,500 crore to meet Jet’s obligations and form an interim management committee to oversee operations.

SPICEJET JOINS IATA AS MEMBER Indian low-cost airlines SpiceJet has become the first Indian budget carrier to join the IATA - International Air Transport Association. The IATA has over 290 airlines as members. The membership of IATA will allow SpiceJet to explore and grow its collaborations with international member airlines of IATA. INDIAN I T CORRIDOR LAUNCHED IN CHINA India launched its third IT corridor in China at Xuzhou to facilitate partnerships between Indian and Chinese companies. The corridor will facilitate match-making between Indian companies wanting to collaborate with companies in China. The earlier two corridors are at Dalian and Guiyang cities.


HDFC BANK CROSSES 6 TRILLION MARKETCAP

HDFC Bank became the first bank to cross the Rs 6 trillion market capitalization mark. Overall, it is the third Indian firm—after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)—to achieve this milestone.

The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council is going to set up ‘India Jewellery Park’ with an investment of Rs.14,467 crore at Navi Mumbai on the outskirt of Mumbai.

FEBRUARY

INDIA CONVERTS DIESEL LOCO INTO ELECTRIC Under ‘Make in India’ initiative, Indian Railways has created history by converting a diesel locomotive into electric locomotive for the first time in the world. A first of its kind notable initiative, this was made possible by the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi. The converted loco will have power of 10,000 HP, 92% more than diesel engine, adequate to haul a load of up to around 5000 tonnes with speed upto 60-70 kmph. NEW POLICY FOR E-COMMERCE PLAYERS Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade announced a new set of policy rules formed for the regulation of business of e-commerce companies. The new policy came into effect From Feb.1, 2019.

It bars online retailers from selling products through vendors in which they have an equity interest and they cannot enter into exclusive deals with brands for selling products only on their platforms. It also restricts variety of deep discounts offers that violate a level playing field for others.

BANKING & FINANCE

APRIL

RBI LOWERS REPO RATE TO PUSH GROWTH On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its meeting on April 4 decided to reduce the policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.0 percent from 6.25 percent with immediate effect.

The decision was in line with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, while supporting the growth of economy.

Consequently, the reverse repo rate stands adjusted to 5.75 per cent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.25 per cent. The reserve ratios remain unchanged; CRR at 4 percent and SLR at 19.0 percent. RBI DIVESTS FULLY IN NHB AND NABARD

Based on the recommendations of second Narasimham Committee, 1998, that RBI cannot hold interests in the entities that it regulates, the Reserve Bank has divested its entire stake in National Housing Bank and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and transferred it to the government of India. Now both these institutions are fully owned by the government. Mr. M. Narasimham was the 13th Governor of RBI RBI FIXES WMA AT RS.75,000 CRORE The RBI in consultation with the government of India has set the limits for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the first half of the financial year 2019-20 (April 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019) at Rs 75000 crore. WMA is the temporary loan facility provided by the RBI to the center and state governments. It was introduced in 1997 to meet any temporary mismatches in the receipts and payments of the government.


RBI GUIDELINES FOR CURRENCY CHESTS

RBI has come out with guidelines for banks to set up new currency chests, which include minimum area of 1,500 square feet for strong room. The RBI said that the new chests should have a processing capacity of 6.6 lakh pieces of banknotes per day. Chests situated in the hilly/ inaccessible places, should have processing capacity of 2.1 lakh pieces of banknotes per day. RBI BEGINS INTEREST EASING CYCLE The Reserve Bank has become the first central bank in the Asia-Pacific region to begin an explicit interest rate easing cycle. This is reflected from the fact that in the four months of 2019, the RBI has cut policy interest rates twice by 0.25% each to a one-year low of 6%. RBI MODIFIES NPA GUIDELINES RBI has advised that henceforth, banks should disclose divergences that may arise if “the additional provisioning for NPAs assessed by RBI exceeds 10% of the reported profit before provisions and contingencies of the bank. HDFC MUTUAL FUND RANKED AT TOP According to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd has secured the top spot among mutual funds, with average assets under management of Rs3.42 trillion. CANARA BANK GETS EMV CARDS ACI Worldwide, the global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, announced that Canara Bank has become first Indian bank to successfully roll out EMV (Europay-Mastercard-Visa) card acquiring across its ATM network. The EMV cards contain a special chip that makes them more secure. RBI had directed all the banks to issue only EMV cards after December 31, 2018.

HDFC BANK RANKED BEST IN INDIA In a survey by the Forbes magazine to select the best bank, HDFC Bank emerged as India's No. 1 bank. The survey did not measure financial performance rather, customers were asked to rate banks on overall recommendation and satisfaction. ICICI Bank and DBS Bank were placed at 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. PAPERLESS ACCOUNT OPENING FOR NRIS The IDBI Bank has launched the ‘NRI-Insta-Online’ account-opening process for NRIs residing in Financial Action Task Force (FATF) member countries to facilitate account opening without submitting paper documents. All the required documents can simply be uploaded on Bank’s website and after due verification, the account will be opened avoiding the physical visit of the customer to the branch. VIJAYA BANK/DENA BANK BECOME HISTORY

The merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with the Bank of Baroda became operational wef April 1. All branches of the former two banks will now function as branches of BoB. Post the merger, BoB has become the third largest bank in the country. ISLAMIC BANK OFFERS ‘CHAT BANKING’ Emirates Islamic, bank in Dubai has become first Islamic bank in world to offer Chat Banking services to its customers via WhatsApp. The bank’s customers will now be able to conduct daily banking activities via WhatsApp in a seamless and hassle-free manner.

HDFC Bank has been adjudged as the 'Best Digital Bank' in the country at the Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2019.

MARCH

3 MORE BANKS OUT OF PCA RBI allowed three more banks — Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank, from the public sector, and Dhanlaxmi Bank from the private sector out from the prompt and corrective action (PCA) framework. Earlier, such restrictions were taken off Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Maharashtra. There are another six banks that are still under PCA framework.


IDBI BANK IS NOW PRIVATE BANK

The RBI has notified that IDBI Bank has been categorised as a private sector lender following acquisition of majority stake by Life Insurance Corporation. In January, LIC completed the process of picking up a controlling 51% stake in the nearly crippled IDBI Bank. RBI NOTIFIES ‘D-SIBs’ FOR 2018 The RBI has advised that the SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank continue to be in the category of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) for 2018. D-SIBs are required to maintain higher capital as compared to other banks. A systemically important bank is one whose performance is critical for the entire system. INDIA SIGNS BSA WITH JAPAN Reserve Bank of India and Bank of Japan have signed a Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA). The arrangement provides for India to access $75 billion. India can access this fund for the purpose of maintaining an appropriate level of balance of payments or short-term liquidity, whenever the need there be. RBI FINES PNB Rs. 2 CRORE The RBI has slapped a penalty of Rs 2 crore on Punjab National Bank for non-compliance of regulatory directions with regard to SWIFT operations. SWIFT is global messaging software used for transactions by financial entities.

PNB TOPS IN ‘REFORMS AGENDA’ According to the BCG-IBA Report, Punjab National Bank secured the top spot among all public sector banks in the implementation of ‘Reforms agenda’, leaving behind Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India at second and third spot, respectively. The study measured the performance of each PSB on 140 objective metrics across six themes, including customer responsiveness, credit offtake, and digitalisation. SBI LINKS SAVINGS RATE TO REPO RATE In a first-of-its kind move that will ensure faster transmission of monetary reliefs announced by the RBI, the State Bank of India announced linking of its savings deposits rates and short-term loans rates to the RBI’s repo rate, wef May 1, 2019. The move would help speed up the monetary transmission process wherein lenders pass on RBI’s rate cuts as well as hikes to borrowers. SBI OFFERS CARDLESS CASH WITHDRAWAL The State Bank of India launched a first of its kind new service called ‘YONO Cash’ for its customers to facilitate withdrawal of money from ATMs without using debit cards. The facility is available over 16,500 of its ATMs through the 'You Only Need One' mobile app platform.

TASK FORCE FOR OFFSHORE RUPEE MARKETS The RBI constituted an eight-member task force headed by Usha Thorat former Deputy Governor to look into issues related to the offshore rupee markets and recommend appropriate policy measures to ensure the stability of the external value of the rupee.

The RBI imposed fine totaling to Rs 8 crore on three banks — Karnataka Bank, United Bank of India and Karur Vysya Bank — for non-compliance of directions on Swift messaging software.

The Finance Ministry released a new Rs 20 coin. Made in copper, zinc and nickel, the coin has 12-edged polygon (dodecagon) shape with a diameter of 27mm and weighs 8.54 grams.

IFFCO Tokio General Insurance has launched India’s first ‘bank locker protector policy’, with a plan to protect the contents of a bank locker such as jewellery, title documents, and other valuables.


FEBRUARY

3 BANKS TAKEN OUT OF PCA

The RBI has decided to allow three public sector banks — Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce — to exit the PCA framework (Prompt Corrective Action) following capital infusion by the government and a decline in net non-performing asset ratio. This has reduced the number of banks under PCA from 11 to 8. According to Finance Ministry, three to four more banks are expected to come out of PCA in next six months. The PCA framework is triggered when a bank breaches one of the three risk thresholds, and crossing 6% net NPAs is one of them. TAMIL NADU GRAMA BANK Government has decided to merge two regional rural banks (RRBs) - Pallavan Grama Bank and Pandyan Grama Bank in Tamil Nadu to form the Tamil Nadu Grama Bank. As per the Finance Ministry notification, the new entity will be effective from April 1. The new bank will be under the sponsorship of Indian Bank with head office in Salem. LIMIT RAISED FOR COLLATERAL FREE LOANS RBI has hiked the limit of collateral (additional security) free agricultural loans from one lakh to 1.6 lakh. The decision has been taken in view of the overall inflation and rise in the agricultural input costs since 2010 when the limit was last revised. This will also lead to enhanced coverage of small and marginal farmers in the formal credit system.

WOMEN’s LIVELIHOOD BONDS LAUNCHED World Bank, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), jointly launched new social impact bonds exclusively for women, called Women’s Livelihood Bonds, with an initial corpus of Rs 300 crore. The bonds will enable individual women entrepreneurs in sectors like food processing, agriculture, services, and small units to borrow around Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh at an annual interest rate of around 13% to 14% or less for a period of 5 years. NEW REGULATORY BODY FOR IFSCS The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a unified authority that would regulate all the financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSC), such as the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar. This is to be done through the International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019. An IFSC is aimed at encouraging Indian companies that are conducting business in foreign financial centres such as London and Singapore, to bring such business to India. NO SERVICE CHARGES FOR KCC

Indian Banking Association has issued advisory requesting banks to waive off the processing, documen - tation, inspection and all other service charges for Kisan Credit Card and crop loans upto 3 lakh rupees. There are over 21 crore small and marginal farmers in the country. These farmers are the most affected during times of floods, droughts, and other natural calamities.

‘BULK’ DEPOSIT LIMIT RAISED TO 2 CRORE The RBI has decided to raise the criteria for 'bulk deposits' for banks to Rs 2 crore from the current Rs 1 crore, to provide more operational freedom to bankers to raise funds. Interest rate on bulk deposits is marginally higher than smaller-amount fixed deposits for similar maturity period.

The RBI transferred Rs. 28,000 crore as a part of its profit to the government, as interim dividend for the half year ending December 31, 2018.


DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

APRIL

ARMY GETS ADVANCED ‘DHANUSH’ GUNS

The Ordnance Factory Board handed over the first batch of six Dhanush artillery guns to the Army at a special ceremony held at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Dhanush, produced at the Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur, is the indigenously upgraded version of the Swedish Bofors gun procured in the 1980s. It is a 155 mm, 45-calibre towed artillery gun with a range of 36 to 38 km. GRSE FIRST TO DELIVER 100 WARSHIPS Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata became the 'first Indian shipyard' to build and deliver 100 warships to the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Mauritius Coast Guard. The 100th warship was the landing craft utility 'IN LCU L-56' handed over to Indian Navy. GRSE is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence. USA TO SELL SEAHAWKS TO INDIA USA has confirmed sale of 24 multi-role MH-60 ‘Romeo’ Seahawk helicopters built by the Lockheed Martin Corporation to India at an estimated cost of $2.4 billion (Rs.16,500 crore). It is considered as the world's most advanced maritime helicopter. Designed for hunting submarines as well as knocking out ships and conducting search-and-rescue operations at sea, these helicopters would replenish India’s ageing fleet of British-made Sea King helicopters.

WARSHIP IMPHAL LAUNCHED The Indian Navy launched guided missile destroyer war ship named ‘Imphal’ at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai. The ship features cutting-edge advanced technology and is comparable to the best ships of similar class anywhere in the world. ‘VEER PARIVAR APP’ FOR CRPF MARTYRS Government launched ‘Veer Parivar App’ for families of CRPF personnel killed in the line of duty. The app will act as an interface between the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) authorities and the next of kin of the slain personnel. It will render all assistance to the families of the martyr such as issuance of ex gratia, pensionary benefits and all information regarding the welfare schemes introduced for them by the government.

INS Kozhikode, the minesweeper warship of Indian Navy was decommissioned in an elegant ceremony held at Naval Jetty, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. It served the navy for almost 30 years.

INS Kolkata and INS Shakti - Two warships of Indian Navy, took part in the International Fleet Review in Qingdao, China as part of 70th Anniversary celebrations of People's Liberation Army Navy.

India successfully test-fired its first indigenous long-range subsonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay' from a test range in Odisha. The all-weather missile has a 1,000-kilometre strike range.

Bold Kurukshetra–2019: A joint exercise between Indian and Singapore Military forces was held in Babina Cantonment in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh from April 8 to 10.

IN – VPN BILAT EX: The bilateral maritime exercise held between the Indian Navy and Vietnam Peoples’ Navy near Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.

AUSINDEX 19: Bilateral exercise between navies of India and Australia held near Visakhapatnam coast, Andhra Pradesh from April 2 to April 16 with focus on anti-submarine warfare.

The biannual (half yearly) Army Commanders’ Conference was held in New Delhi from April 8 to 14. The conference is chaired by the Chief of the Army Staff.


The Army Ordnance Corps celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of the Battle of Kangla Tongbi, also known as Battle of Imphal, on April 7 at Kangla Tongbi War Memorial near Imphal, Manipur. The ‘Fire & Fury Corps’ of Indian Army has successfully built the longest suspension bridge named ‘Matiri Bridge’ over the Indus River in the Leh-Ladakh region in a record time of 40 days. DRDO’s EMISAT PUT INTO ORBIT The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on April 1 put into orbit the Emisat, an electronic intelligence satellite for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) alongwith 28 other international satellites, of which 24 were from USA, two from Lithuania and one each from Spain and Switzerland. ‘YUVIKA’ TO SHARE SPACE TECH ISRO has launched a special programme named “Young Scientist Programme” or Yuva Vigyani Karyakram (YUVIKA) for school children. The programme is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on space technology, space science and space applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of space activities. WORLD's LARGEST AIRCRAFT The world's largest aircraft by wingspan and largest all-composite aircraft took to the air for the first time on April 13. Named Stratolaunch, it has been built by the Scaled Composites of USA. Its wingspan is 385 feet and weighs over 3,40, 000 kg. It can carry payloads of up to 250,000 kg in the form of externally carried rockets and satellites on its reinforced central wing, from where they will be launched into low-Earth orbit.

MOST POWERFUL ROCKET LAUNCHED The space venture of Elon Musk - SpaceX successfully launched its new and improved Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It is the world's most powerful operation rocket with 27 engines firing at liftoff. It placed into orbit ‘Arabsat-6A’, a Saudi Arabian communication satellite weighing 5,900 kg. WORLD's 1st ARMED AMPHIBIOUS DRONE China has successfully tested the world's first armed amphibious drone boat named ‘Marine Lizard’ which can be used in land assault operations and is capable of forming a combat triad with aerial drones and other drone ships. It can be remotely controlled with the help of satellites and has operational range of 1200 km.

FIRST-EVER IMAGE OF A BLACK HOLE Astronomers have taken the first-ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy known as 'Messier 87' (M87), around 50 million light years away. The image was captured by a network of eight telescopes across the world. It shows an intensely bright 'ring of fire' surrounding a perfectly circular dark hole. CHINA LAUNCHES DATA SATELLITE China successfully launched Tianlian II-01- the first of its new-generation data relay satellites into orbit that will provide data relay, measurement and control services for its manned spacecraft. The satellite was launched by a long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province on March 31. HAYABUSA-2 CREATES A CRATER The Japanese Hayabusa-2 spacecraft successfully dropped an explosive charge on the asteroid Ryugu to create an artificial crater there. The spacecraft will later return to gather samples from the gouged depression. Scientists believe these samples could help them better understand how Earth and the other planets were formed in the early Solar System.


WORLD's FIRST 3D PRINTED HEART

Researchers from Tel Aviv University, Israel have succeeded in making world's first 3D printed vascularised engineered heart using a patient's own tissues and biological materials. They managed to produce an entire heart, complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers. This first prototype is the size of a rabbit’s heart but researchers hope to stimulate the printed heart into functioning like a real one. 5G NETWORK OPERATIONAL IN SOUTH KOREA South Korea became first nation in world to launch full-fledged 5G mobile networks in the country. The superfast communications heralded by fifth-generation wireless technology will facilitate near-instant connectivity in smart phones - 20 times faster than the existing 4G. The 5G's hyper speed can connect one million devices within a one square kilometre zone simultaneously. It will promote self-driving vehicles that send data traffic to one another in real time, industrial robots, drones and other elements of the Internet of Things. The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have joined hands to map, validate and protect smaller wetlands in coastal regions. Russia has successfully tested the world’s first floating nuclear power plant- ‘Akademik Lomonosov’, a subsidiary of Rosatom Nuclear Corporation. Reactors of this floating atomic block were launched in Nov. 2018.

YouTube has confirmed that India has become its largest and fastest growing market with more than 265 million monthly active users in India. Nepal successfully launched its first satellite NepaliSat-1 into space from Virginia in the United States. The satellite was developed by the Nepalese scientists. Sri Lanka’s first satellite ‘Raavana-1’ was launched into space from NASA’s Flight Facility in Virginia, USA. Google launched a new cloud based platform - ‘Anthos’ that allows users to run applications from anywhere, in unmodified form, on existing on-premise hardware or on the public cloud.

MARCH

ANTI SATELLITE MISSILE TESTED

India has become the fourth nation in the world after United States, China and Russia to demonstrate anti-satellite missile capability by shooting down a live satellite. An anti-satellite weapon A-SAT, developed by DRDO, successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit, under the ‘Mission Shakti’. INDIA SECOND IN ARMS IMPORT Sweden-based think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual report for the five-year period (2014-2018) titled ‘Trends in International Arms Transfers-2018’. As per this report, India was the world’s second largest importer of major arms in 2014-18 and accounting for 9.5 percent of the global total. Almost 58 percent of this came from Russia. Saudi Arabia ranked number one with 12 percent share. Among exporters, USA was at the top, accounting for 36 percent of total exports, followed by Russia at 21 percent. ICGS VIJIT VISITS INDONESIA Indian Coast Guard Ship 'Vijit' became the first-ever Coast Guard ship to visit Sabang, Indonesia. The crew will have interaction with officials of Bakamla (Indonesian Coast Guard), Indonesian Armed Forces and the local civil administration aimed at strengthening the bilateral ties with Indonesia.


BSF PUTS ELECTRONIC FENCE ON BD BORDER

The BSF launched the project BOLD-QIT - Border Electronically Dominated QRT (quick reaction team) Interception Technique on India-Bangladesh border in Dhubri District of Assam where River Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh. In this area there are vast char lands (sand bars) and innumerable river channels thus making border guarding a daunting task especially during rainy season. NAVY LAUNCHES NBCTF FOR TRAINING Indian Navy launched its Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Training Facility (NBCTF) at INS Shivaji in Lonavala, near Pune, Maharashtra. The NBCTF, christened "Abhedya" (impenetrable in Sanskrit), will help train personnel of naval ships fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical detection & protection systems. INDIA TO MANUFACTURE AK-203 RIFLES India signed a deal with a Russian firm Concern Kalashnikov to manufacture 7.5 lakh AK-203 rifles, the latest version of the AK-47 rifles. They will be produced at the Indian Ordnance Factory at Korwa in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. RUSSIA TO PROVIDE NUCLEAR SUBMARINES India signed a $ 3 billion deal with Russia for leasing a nuclear-powered attack submarine for the Indian Navy for a period of 10 years. The Akula class submarine (Chakra III) will be delivered by 2025.

OPERATION SAHAYATA TO HELP MOZAMBIQUE Indian Navy launched 'Operation Sahayata' to provide medical relief to the cyclone-hit African nation Mozambique. The Navy deployed its ships Sujata, Sarathi and Shardul to carry out humanitarian and disaster relief activities.

The DRDO successfully test-fired the indigenously developed guided rocket system ‘Pinaka’ at Pokhran in Rajasthan.The rockets have range of 80 to 90 kms.

The annual joint exercise 'Mitra Shakti-VI' was held between the troops from Sri Lanka and India in Diyatalawa, Sri Lanka from March 26 to April 8.

Exercise Al Nagah, the bilateral joint exercise between army units of India and Oman was held from March 12 to 25 in Jabel Al Akhdar Mountains in Oman.

The 33rd edition of the India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (Ind-Indo Corpat) was held near Andaman & Nicobar Islands from March 19 till April 4.

The Indian Army held a 10-day military exercise AFINDEX - Africa-India Field Training Exercise with armed forces of 17 African nations at Aundh near Pune in Maharashtra.

India and Bangladesh conducted a 14 day joint

military exercise “Sampriti 2019” at Tangail in Bangladesh.

BSF and Border Guards Bangladesh conducted ‘Mainamati Maitree Exercise 2019’ as a ‘Confidence Building Measures’ between two border guards.

IIT DELHI DEVELOPS MEDICAL TEST KIT Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and nano technology based electronic hardware system that can detect mechanically malaria, tuberculosis, intestinal parasite, and cervical cancer in milliseconds from the blood sample. This will facilitate healthcare access in resource-constrained areas which have limited access to human specialists. ‘SWAGAT’ FOR SEEMLESS COMMUTING Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a defence public sector undertaking, launched SWAGAT - the Automatic Fare Collection Gating System. SWAGAT is compliant with the National Common Mobility Card ecosystem for hassle-free commute across various modes of transport in India.


YOUNG SCIENTIST PROGRAMME

The ISRO launched a special programme for school children called Yuva Vigyani Karyakram or Young Scientist Programme for imparting basic knowledge on space technology, space science and space applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of space activities. BRAILLE LAPTOP FOR VISUALLY- IMPAIRED The researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi have created India's first Braille laptop for the visually- impaired. The laptop is named Dot Book, and it has a feature-packed, affordable Braille display. The laptop has 10-cell refreshable Braille Cell modules. THE INTERNET COMPLETES 30 YEARS March 12 marked completion of 30 years of the World Wide Web, an invention that changed the future of the human world. The credit for creating the modern day web goes to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist working at Europe's CERN lab - a massive nuclear physics laboratory in Switzerland. Initially in 1989, Lee envisioned "a large hypertext database with typed links," named “Mesh,” to share information amongst multiple computers. Later, using the HTML language, he developed the HTTP application, and WorldWideWeb.app— the first Web browser and page editor. By 1991, the external Web servers were up and running.

FIRSTEVER SELFIE FROM SPACE Israel's first lunar lander, named Beresheet sent back a selfie taken from a distance of 37,600 kilometers with the Earth clearly visible in the background. It marks an important milestone in the space history as it is the first in-space selfie. APPLE TO LAUNCH VIRTUAL CREDIT CARD Tech giant Apple has announced launch of virtual credit card in tie-up with Goldman Sachs Group. The Apple Card will have no numbers or CVN numbers for security reasons. It will sync with iPhone users' Apple Wallet and work through its payment system Apple Pay. APP ‘BOLO’ TO HELP HINDI/ENGLISH READING Tech giant Google unveiled a new app 'Bolo' that aims to help children in primary school learn to read in Hindi and English. The free app, which has been launched in India first, uses Google's speech recognition and text-to-speech technology. The app features an animated character 'Diya', which encourages children to read stories aloud and helps if the child is unable to pronounce a word.

FEBRUARY

INDIA RECEIVES CHINOOK HELICOPTERS The first batch of four Chinook military helicopters for the Indian Air Force arrived at the Mundra port in Gujarat. Supplied by the American aerospace major Boeing, they will be ferried to Chandigarh, where they will be formally inducted into the Indian Air Force. The CH-47F Chinook is a multi-role, vertical-lift platform, which is used for transporting troops, artillery, equipment and fuel with carrying capacity of up to 10 tonnes.

Indian army contingent took part in the Cobra Gold military exercise co-hosted by the Thailand and the United States from Feb 12 to 22 in northern Thailand.

The 12th edition of Asia's premier Air show 'Aero India-2019' was held at Yelahanka Air Force Station, Bengaluru.


Indian Air Force conducted mega exercise ‘Vayu Shakti’ in Pokhran, Rajasthan to establish the firepower capability of indigenously developed platforms and efficacy of missiles.

Indian Army showcased its artillery firepower by using ultralight Howitzers and indigenous Swathi weapon-locating radar at the annual Exercise Topchi held at Deolali Camp near Nashik, Maharashtra.

INS Trikand, the frontline warship of the Indian Navy, participated in a multi-national training exercise ‘Cutlass Express 2019’ held near Seychelles in Indian Ocean.

In Rajasthan, Jaipur based Sapta Shakti Command of Indian Army conducted “Exercise Rahat”, a joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise.

SAMSUNG LAUNCHES FOLDING SMARTPHONE Samsung unveiled at San Francisco a smartphone that unfolds to become a tablet, becoming the first major manufacturer to offer the feature. The Galaxy Fold serves as a smartphone with a 4.6-inch display and opens like a book to become a 7.3-inch tablet. It is also the first smartphone for fifth-generation -- or 5G--wireless networks. INDIA's FIRST 'FULLDOME 3D THEATRE’

India's first 'fulldome 3D Digital Theatre' was inaugurated at the Science City, Kolkata. The new system is capable of screening high resolution, full dome, and digital 2D/3D content by utilising six high-end projectors in a 23-meter diameter dome. SYSTEM TO CONVERT THOUGHTS INTO VOICE Scientists from Columbia University, USA have, for the first time created an artificial intelligence (AI) based system that directly translates thoughts into intelligible, recognisable speech. This will help people who cannot speak, regain their ability to communicate with others. India’s first Humanoid Police Robot named KP-BOT,

ranked as Sub-Inspector (SI), was inducted at the Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

ISRO launched successfully its communication satellite GSAT-31 from Kourou in French Guiana on board the Ariane-5 rocket.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

APRIL

WORLD OBSERVES ‘EARTH HOUR’

On March 30, cities around the world marked Earth Hour by turning off lights at their local time 8:30 p.m.till 9.30 pm in a call for global action on climate change. The campaign is headed by the NGO World Wildlife Fund. It calls for greater awareness about minimising the use of fossil fuels that produce carbon gases and lead to global warming. Beginning in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has spread to more than 180 countries, with tens of millions of people joining in for support. BRUNEI INTRODUCES SHARIA LAW Brunei became the first nation in South East Asia to introduce harsh new Sharia laws that make offences such as rape,adultery and homsexuality punishable by stoning to death. The new measures also cover a range of other crimes, including punishment for theft by amputation. It also introduces public flogging as punishment for abortion and criminalises exposing Muslim children to the beliefs and practices of any religion other than Islam. The decision to push ahead with the punishments has sparked alarm around the world too, with the United Nations labelling them cruel and inhumane. THE WORLD BANK GETS NEW PRESIDENT David Malpass, US President’s nominee to lead the World Bank, won unanimous approval from the executive board of the Bank. Malpass said he would uphold the bank’s commitment to reducing poverty in the poorest countries and to fight climate change. With 189 member countries, the World Bank Group, having headquarters in Washington DC, USA, is a unique global partnership fighting poverty worldwide through sustainable solutions by providing funds for development projects of its member countries.


WORLD ECONOMY TO GROW BY 3.3% - IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its report “World Economic Outlook 2019” has projected that global growth will be 3.3% in 2019, down from 3.6% in 2018 and 4% in 2017. This lower projection is due to lower global expansion in the second half of 2018 caused by U S - China trade tensions, macro-economic stress in Turkey and Argentina and tighter credit policies in China. RWANDA GOES IN FOR 100 DAYS MOURNING Rwanda, a tiny landlocked country in Central East Africa began on April 7 one hundred days of national mourning to pay homage to over 800,000 people slaughtered in a genocide that shocked the world about 25 years back. The killings began on April 7, 1994 after the killing of then President, a Hutu leader, in an aircraft attack which sparked ethnic conflict against local Tutsi and Hutu communities that lasted for about 100 days.

MALAWI TRIES FIRST MALARIA VACCINE

The world's first-ever malaria vaccine was launched in a pilot project in Malawi, a small country in south east Africa. The vaccine, known as RTS,S, (trade name Mosquirix) will be made available to children up to 2 years of age. Two other countries, Ghana and Kenya will introduce the vaccine soon. About 93% of the world's malaria-related deaths in 2017 occurred in Africa.

JAPAN TO BEGIN NEW IMPERIAL ERA Japan has declared ‘Reiwa’ as the name of its new imperial era that will begin on May 1, 2019 when the new Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. He will succeed his father Emperor Akihito, who abdicated the empire on April 30, 2019, putting an end to three decades long ‘Heisei’ era. VENEZUELA IMPOSES ELECY RATIONING Venezuela announced 30 days of electricity rationing from April 1 as part of steps taken to deal with the deep economic crisis being faced by the country. Crippled infrastructure, little investment in the power grid, poor maintenance, all contributed to electricity problems. During the cut period, the working hours will be shortened in the offices and schools will be closed. With no electricity, pumping stations can’t work, causing acute water scarcity.

EU PASSES BAN ON SINGLE USE PLASTICS

European Parliament voted with good majority to ban single-use plastic products. It includes plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans. It also prescribed that by 2025, plastic bottles should be made of 25% recycled content, and by 2029, 90% of them should be recycled. India was made the Guest of Honour country at the

2019 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) held in UAE from April 24-30.

Saudi Arabia announced that it will be hosting the G20 summit in November 2020 in its capital Riyadh. This would be the first G20 summit in the Arab world.

The World Allergy Organization organized the World Allergy Week 2019 globally from 7-13 April 2019. The theme for the event was "The Global Problem of Food Allergy".

In New Zealand, Parliament has voted to ban all types of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles following the Christchurch attacks wherein 50 persons were killed by a fanatic gunman.

Bolivia signed the framework agreement to join the International Solar Alliance as its 74th member.

MARCH

OECD LOWERS WORLD GROWTH RATE TO3.3% The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, has again cut its 2019 forecast for global economic growth due to ongoing trade tensions and Brexit uncertainty. In its report Economic Outlook it lowered its forecast to 3.3 per cent for this year, down from the 3.5 per cent it predicted in November, 2018 which was itself a downgrade from a previous 3.7%.


US & ALLIES LIBERATE SYRIA FROM IS

US-backed forces in Syria announced on 23rd March that they have liberated the last area held by the Islamic State (IS) in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, declaring victory over the extremist group and the end of its self-declared Islamic caliphate. The fight by the US and its partners to liberate Syria from the IS spanned five years and killed untold numbers running in to lakhs, of fighters and civilians. Five years ago, IS controlled 88,000 square km of territory stretching from western Syria to eastern Iraq. BRITISH PARLIAMENT TO DELAY BREXIT The British Parliament rejected the Brexit deal for a second time, plunging the UK into a state of uncertainty, just two weeks ahead of the country's divorce from the European Union. The House of Commons voted against the deal by 391 votes to 242. Later, they voted to seek a delay to the 29th of this month's deadline for the UK to exit the European Union (EU). The delay in the Brexit process would now require the unanimous approval of all 27 remaining EU member states. The UK had voted to leave the EU in a referendum in June, 2016. VIENA IS THE MOST LIVEABLE CITY The global human resource consulting firm, Mercer released its annual Quality of Living Survey 2019 to rank the most liveable cities has placed Austria’s capital city Vienna at the number one spot, for the 10th year in a row. In India, Hyderabad and Pune, at a joint rank of 143, continue to be the most liveable cities.

49 KILLED IN NEW ZEALAND SHOOTOUT A gunman killed 49 persons and injured 20 in attacks at two mosques in the Christchurch city in New Zealand. The mosques were packed with worshippers gathered for Friday prayers. He live-streamed the attacks on Facebook for 17 minutes using an app. The shooter, arrested by the police, is a 28-year-old Australian citizen Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a diehard extremist filled with anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas. Capital: Wellington PM: Ms. Jacinda Ardern LARGEST E-WASTE RECYCLING PLANT The world’s largest e-waste recycling plant has been opened in Dubai Industrial Park, Dubai by ‘Enviroserve’ company with a total cost of $5 million. It will recycle annually over 100,000 tonnes of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, IT asset disposition, refrigerant gas and specialized waste.

HANOI SUMMIT ENDS IN A DRAW After eight months of their historic summit in Singapore, the US President Trump and the Supreme leader of North Korea (official name Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Kim Jong-Un met once again in for a two day summit (Feb 27-28) in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. However, the two leaders failed to reach a formal deal at the Summit as the Trump refused North Korean demand to lift all international sanctions till Korea confirms complete denuclearisation.

MALAYSIA JOINS THE ICC Malaysia has become the 124th member of the International Criminal Court, headquartered at The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC is the world’s only permanent war crimes court and aims to prosecute the worst abuses when national courts are unable or unwilling.

BRAZIL HOLDS FIRST BRICS SHERPA MEETING The first BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Sherpa meeting was held in Curitiba, Brazil under the Presidency of Brazil. The Indian delegation was led by T S Tirumurti, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.


AMERICA SLASHES VISA DURATION FOR PAKIS The United States reduced the visa duration for Pakistani citizens from five years to just three months. The new visa policy will be applicable to both civilians and Pakistani journalists. The move comes after Pakistan took reciprocal steps in May 2018 in modifying the visa policy for US citizens. Oslo, the capital city of Norway is set to become the

world’s first city to install wireless, induction-based charging stations for its fleet of electric taxis to have a zero-emission cab system by the year 2023.

Batman, popular hero of Detective Comics, celebrated its 80th birthday on March 30, just three days after the related Comic book will reach issue no. 1000.

FEBRUARY

LAST 4 YEARS WERE HOTTEST - UN

The UN’s World Meteorological Organisation has said that 2018 was the fourth warmest year in the recorded history. It confirmed that the last four years were the hottest since global temperature measurements began, indicating towards continuing long-term climate change.

US-RUSSIA EXIT NUCLEAR TREATY US President Donald Trump announced on February 1 his country’s decision to pull out of the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which it had signed with Russia during the Cold War. In response the Russia too announced the very next day, its decision to quit the treaty. The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty prevents the two superpowers from possessing, producing or test-flying ground-launched nuclear cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres. It was signed by former leaders Ronald Reagan and M. Gorbachev in 1987. WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMIT, DUBAI The 7th session of the World Government Summit was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). More than 4,000 people from 140 countries participated in the event. The summit aims at shaping the future generation of governments by bringing the public and private sectors together.

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PERIODIC TABLE

The United Nations announced 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements to highlight its first publication in 1869. The periodic table was first designed by the Russian scientist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev. The Table lists all the known 118 chemical elements in the world as per their atomic number and weight and assigns a unique alphabetic symbol like "C" for carbon, "H" for hydrogen and "O" for oxygen, etc. MACEDONIA JOINS NATO AS 30th MEMBER NATO Allies signed the accession protocol with the Republic of North Macedonia to admit it as its 30th member. Last month’s accord with Greece to change the name of the former Yugoslav republic to ‘Republic of North Macedonia’ ended one of the world’s longest diplomatic disputes, paving the way for it to join NATO and the European Union, ending the Greek objection. UK STARTS INSTEX CHANNEL The United Kingdom along with other European nations such as Germany and France on January 31, 2019 set up a new transaction channel called ‘INSTEX’ (instrument in support of trade exchanges) that will allow companies to continue trading with Iran despite US sanctions. The payment channel will create a possibility for the European countries to conduct business transactions with Iran. UAE AND SAUDI LAUNCH DIGITAL CURRENCY The central banks of the UAE and Saudi Arabia have launched a common digital currency called "Aber", which will be used in financial settlements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies.


FRANCE TO INTRODUCE ‘PARENT 1/2’

Schools in France will be replacing the words 'mother' and 'father' with 'parent 1' and 'parent 2' on official forms in an attempt to be more inclusive to LGBT families. It is an attempt to tackle discrimination against same-sex parents. FIRST US BANK TO LAUNCH CRYPTOCURRENCY JP Morgan Chase, the bank that moves more than $6 trillion around the world every day for corporations in its massive wholesale payments business, has launched a cryptocurrency of its own, named ‘JPM Coin’. The digital token created by engineers at the New York-based bank aims to instantly settle payments between its clients. Cryptocurrencies are used successfully to move money between the bank and a client which usually runs on a blockchain technology.

Abu Dhabi has decided to include Hindi as the third official language used in its courts, alongside Arabic and English, to improve people’s access to justice.

PERSONS IN NEWS

APRIL

Amartya Sen: The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has announced the creation of the Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies, named in honour of the India-born economist, philosopher, and Nobel laureate, who was Professor of Economics at LSE from 1971-82.

Prof. Gagandeep Kang: She has become the first Indian female scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in the UK fellowship's 358-year-history. The 56-year-old is the Executive Director of Translational Health Science and Technology Institute at Faridabad, Haryana.

Shah Rukh Khan: The Bollywood star was conferred honorary doctorate in Philanthropy from The University of Law, London. The actor received the merit during a graduation ceremony held at the Barbican in London.

Omar al-Bashir: President of Sudan was ousted and arrested by the Sudan's army in a sudden development of events that followed months of nationwide protests against him. He was ruling the country for past 30 years. However, his failure to control high inflation and deep economic crisis , turned the people against him.

Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder was arrested by the London police from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange took refuge in the embassy seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped. Ecuador said it withdrew Mr Assange's asylum after his repeated violations of international conventions.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika: Algerian President resigned after weeks of mass protests. The eighty-two-year-old leader was in power for 20 years and was under mounting pressure to step down since his decision to seek a fifth term.

MARCH

Mukesh Ambani: Richest Indian with worth jumping to $50 billion, jumped six positions to rank 13th on Forbes World's Billionaire list released recently. E-commerce giant Amazon founder Jeff Bezos remains the world's richest person with assets swelling to $131 billion.

Dipa Karmakar, Indian gymnast was selected as role model for new series of Barbie dolls launched to mark the 60th anniversary of the Barbie doll made by Mattel Company of USA.

Nursultan Nazarbayev Kazakhstan's President abruptly announced his resignation from the position on March 19, 2019 after remaining in power for nearly three decades. His sudden resignation raises uncertainty over the future course of the nation. The 78 year old charismatic leader was praised for maintaining stability and ethnic peace in Kazakhstan and for modernizing the nation's oil industry. Kylie Jenner: 21 year old iconic artist of her family’s American reality TV show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” was named the youngest self - made billionaire of all time by Forbes magazine, thanks to the booming cosmetics company she founded 3 years ago.


FEBRUARY

P V Sindhu: Badminton star became the first woman to fly the Light Combat Aircraft, the Tejas. She did a 40- minute sortie at the Aero India show in Bengaluru. It was done by Ministry of defence to celebrate women achievers in aerospace.

Hina Jaiswal: Flight Lieutenant from Chandigarh, became the first Indian Woman Flight Engineer of the Indian Air Force (IAF). She was commissioned in the IAF’s engineering branch in 2015. Pope Francis: The supreme global head of Christianity, visited Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), becoming the first pontiff to visit the Arabian peninsula. The Pope visited the UAE on the invitation of the Crown Prince to take part in an interfaith Conference.

APPOINTMENTS

APRIL

Karnam Sekar: Appointed as the new Managing Director and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank

Prof. Najma Akhtar: Appointed as the first woman vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. It is a central university formed under an act of parliament.

Vikram Kirloskar: CMD of Kirloskar Systems Ltd., and vice-chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, elected as President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2019-20.

Keshav Murugesh: CEO of WNS Global Services Group appointed as the Chairman of NASSCOM - The National Association of Software and Services Companies, for 2019-20.

Vipin Anand: Appointed as the Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India. It may be noted that Chairman of LIC is M R Kumar.

Manu Sawhney: Appointed as the CEO of the International Cricket Council, Dubai

David Malpass: Elected as the President of the World Bank, Washington DC, USA.

Abdelkader Bensalah: Elected as the new President of Algeria.

Benjamin Netanyahu: Won the election of Prime Minister of Israel for record 5th time.

Zuzana Caputova: Elected as first woman President of Slovakia

Volodymyr Zelenskiy: Elected as the President of Ukraine. He is a famous comedian by profession.

MARCH

Vice Admiral Karambir Singh Nijjar: Appointed as the next Chief of Indian Navy in the rank of Admiral. He will succeed Admiral Sunil Lanba who retires on 31st of May this year.

Subhash Chandra Garg: Appointed as the Union Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

Ajit Kumar Mohanty: Distinguished scientist appointed Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai.

Bhagwan Lal Sahni: Appointed as the chairman of the newly constituted National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).

Hasmukh Adhia: Former Finance Secretary appointed as non-executive chairman of Bank of Baroda.

Pramod Sawant: BJP leader elected as the next Chief Minister of Goa, after the sad demise of Manohar Parrikar.

M.R. Kumar: Appointed as the chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

Pranav R Mehta: Became the first Indian to hold the post of the President of Global Solar Council (GSC), Washington D.C., USA. A visionary in the field of solar energy, he is the chairman of National Solar Energy Federation.

Mohammad Shtayyeh: Appointed as the new Prime Minister of Palestine.

Muhammadu Buhari: Re-elected as the President of Nigeria.

FEBRUARY

Pramod Chandra Mody: Appointed as the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

Rishi Kumar Shukla: IPS officer of 1983 batch from Madhya Pradesh Cadre appointed as the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI.


P V Bharathi: Took over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporation Bank.

Justice DK Jain (retd.): Appointed by the Supreme Court as the first Ombudsman for the BCCI - Board of Control of Cricket in India.

AWARDS & HONOURS

APRIL

The Order of St Andrew the Apostle: The highest civil decoration of Russia conferred upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his exceptional services in promoting privileged strategic partnership between the two countries.

The Order of Zayed: The highest civilian decoration of United Arab Emirates was conferred upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recognising his outstanding contribution to international leadership and strengthening relations with the UAE.

Saraswati Samman 2018: Telugu poet K Siva Reddy selected for this prestigious literary award for his collection of poetry titled ‘Pakkaki Ottigilite’. Instituted by the KK Birla Foundation, it carries a cash prize of Rs.15 lakh, a citation and a plaque. The award is given annually for an outstanding literary work in any Indian language and published during the last 10 years.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga ‘Namami Gange’ won the distinction of “Public Water Agency of the Year” by Global Water Intelligence at the Global Water Summit in London.

AIMA Managing India Award: Won by Indian Oil Corporation for outstanding PSU of the year.

Pravasi Bharatiya Samman: Swiss-based NRI scientist Dr Rajendra Joshi was conferred with the Award by the President of India in recognition of his valuable contribution in promoting the honour and prestige of India abroad.

MARCH

The 64th Filmfare awards were declared on March 23 at Jio Garden, Mumbai. Best Film: Raazi by Meghna Gulzar Best Actor (Female): Alia Bhatt, Raazi Best Actor (Male): Ranbir Kapoor, Sanju Best Director: Meghna Gulzar, Raazi

Vyas Samman 2018: Hindi writer Leeladhar Jagudi (from Uttarakhand) selected by the KK Birla Foundation for this prestigious award for outstanding work in Hindi literature, for his collection of poems “Jitne Log Utne Prem”. It carries a cash prize of Rs 4 lakh.

34 get S S Bhatnagar prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes awarded to 34 budding scholars in New Delhi. It is the most coveted national recognition bestowed upon young scientists and engineers to honour their research and developmental work in India. Dr Bhatnagar was a renowned scientist in the field of Chemistry. A Padma Bhushan awardee, he was known as “father of research laboratories” in India.

Commonwealth Youth Award: A social entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, Padmanaban Gopalan, founder of No Food Waste, won the award for the Asian region at a ceremony at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. His initiative runs a geo-mapping platform, which allows users to drop food at specified “hunger spots”. So far they have recovered over 6.5 lakh meals in 14 cities.

Golden Peacock Innovative Product Award: ACKO General Insurance, a new-age digital insurance company was awarded the coveted award for their contextual micro insurance product -“Ola Ride Insurance”.

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India won the First Prize in the category of TV Cinema Spot at the prestigious international Golden City Gate Tourism Awards held at Berlin, Germany.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize: Japanese architect Arata Isozaki won the prize for 2019. Considered as “the Nobel of Architecture,” it is bestowed annually by Chicago’s Pritzker family through its Hyatt Foundation.

Templeton Prize: Awarded to Marcelo Gleiser, a college professor from USA who says he is a religious agnostic but whose work has focused on the links between science and the mysteries of creation. 60 year old native of Brazil is the first Latin American to win this $1.45 million prestigious spiritual prize given by the USA based John Templeton Foundation. The Templeton Prize is an annual award granted to a living person who, in the estimation of the judges, "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works

Abel Prize: University of Texas professor Karen Uhlenbeck has become the first woman to win this prestigious prize. The 76-year-old mathematician was awarded for the impact of her work on "analysis, geometry and mathematical physics". Modelled after the Nobel Prize, the Abel Prize is presented by the King of Norway and carries a $700,000 cash award.

Global Teacher Prize 2019: Peter Tabichi, 36, a science teacher from remote village in Kenya’s Rift Valley has been crowned the world’s best teacher and awarded a $1million prize, beating 10,000 nominations from 179 countries. He donates 80% of his salary to help poorer students. The prize is given by the London based Varkey Foundation.


FEBRUARY

EY Entrepreneur of the Year: Siddhartha Lal, MD & CEO, Eicher Motors, has been selected for this award.

Ernst & Young Lifetime Achievement Award: Conferred upon Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Ltd

National Film Development Corporation (NFDC): Selected by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for their exemplary work towards promotion of SC/ST entrepreneurs.

OSCAR AWARDS DECLARED The 91st Academy Awards, popularly known as Oscar Awards, were conferred on February 24 at famous Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA. Best Picture — Green Book by Peter Farrelly, USA Best Director — Alfonso Cuarón for Roma Best Actor — Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody Best Actress — Olivia Colman for The Favourite Guneet Monga's film 'Period. End of Sentence' won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject.

BAFTA AWARDS ANNOUNCED The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards were declared on Feb 10 at Royal Albert Hall, London. The top awards included: Best Film: Roma by Alfonso Cuarón Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón for Roma Leading Actress: Olivia Colman for The Favourite Leading Actor: Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody

61st Grammy Awards honouring the best in the music industry were presented at a ceremony in Los Angeles, USA on Feb 10. Record of the Year: This Is America by Childish Gambino Album of the Year: Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves Song of the Year: This Is America (lyrics) by Donald Glover and Ludwig Goransson Best New Artist: Ms. Dua Lipa, British singer Best Pop Solo Performance: Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?) by Lady Gaga Best Pop Vocal Album: Sweetener by Ariana Grande Best Rap Album: Invasion Of Privacy by Cardi B Best Music Video: This Is America by Childish Gambino

Dan David Prize 2019: Noted Indian historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam was selected for this prestigious $ one million prize for his work on inter-cultural encounters between Asians, Europeans and people of North and South America during the early modern era. Three Dan David prizes are given every year in Israel in the categories of Past, Present and Future to people around the world who have made outstanding contributions to humanity in the fields of science, technology, culture or social welfare.

Martin Ennals Award (for human rights): Conferred upon Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee and human rights defender, who spent nearly six years detained by the Australian Government on Manus Island. The Award is an annual prize for human rights advocates given by a jury of 10 of the world's leading human rights NGOs.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

APRIL

Martyrdom to Freedom by Rajesh Ramachandran Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

MARCH

I Have Become The Tide by Githa Hariharan Half the Night is Gone by Amitabha Bagchi The Third Pillar by Raghuram G Rajan Every Vote Counts-The Story of India’s Elections by Navin Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid When All Is Said by Anne Griffin Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi Becoming - Memoir of former US First Lady Michelle Obama

FEBRUARY

Undaunted: Saving the Idea of India by P Chidambaram, former Finance Minister Indian Fiscal Federalism by Y. V. Reddy and G. R. Reddy Bridging East & West: Romain Rolland and Rabindranath Tagore correspondence - compiled by Chinmoy Guha Coming Out as Dalit by Yashica Dutt Virtus in Arduis - I did it my way by Parthasarathi Shome The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides The Lost Man by Jane Harper Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

OBITUARY

APRIL

Pradeep Choubey: Renowned Hindi poet and humorist died of a cardiac arrest in his hometown Gwalior, MP. He was 70. His elder brother, Shail Chaturvedi was also a very famous humorist poet.


MARCH

Manohar Parrikar: Former Defence Minister and four time Chief Minister of Goa, lost the battle of life fighting the pancreatic cancer. He was 63. He was the first IITian to become a Chief Minister and was known for his utter simplicity and excellent administrative skills.

Andre Previn: Legendary composer and pianist passed away at the age of 89 in Manhattan, New York, USA. He was a 10-time Grammy Award winner and had won 4 Oscars for his composition.

FEBRUARY

Raj Kumar Barjatya: Veteran Bollywood film producer and father of filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya, passed away in Mumbai at the age of 77 years. He was popularly and affectionately known as Raj Babu and helmed several Bollywood hits such as ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’, ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’, ‘Vivah’, ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’. All these films were directed by his son Sooraj Barjatya.

Namvar Singh: Noted Hindi writer and critic passed away in New Delhi, at the age of 92. He was the first chairman of JNU's Centre of Indian Languages. He authored over dozen books including 'Kavita Ke Naye Pratiman', 'Chhayavad' and 'Dusri Parampara Ki Khoj' among others.

Gordon Banks: One of the world’s most famous goalkeepers passed away at the age of 81 in England. He was named FIFA Goalkeeper of the year six times and earned 73 caps for England between 1963 and 1972.

PLACES IN NEWS

APRIL

Tashigang: The Himachal Pradesh village at an altitude of 15,256 feet has now become the highest polling station in the world. Situated about 29 km from the India-China border, the polling station covers two villages, Tashigang and Gate. Sri Lanka: Around 300 people were killed and more than 400 injured in a series of bomb blasts targeting churches across the country and three five-star hotels in Colombo during Easter services on April 21. The attacks by suspected extremists were quite coordinated and were targeted at minority Christians as well as foreign nationals.

Tripoli: Fighting between rival Libyan forces for control of capital Tripoli has been raging for several days. The death toll rose to at least 220, including combatants and civilians since the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) declared a major military offensive to take over the capital earlier this month.

Notre-Dame Cathedral: A massive fire consumed the 850 year old ancient Cathedral in Paris on April 15, stunning France and the world. Fortunately, the firefighters could save the main bell towers and outer walls from collapse before bringing the blaze under control. The French President announced to launch a campaign to rebuild the cathedral, which is considered to be among the finest examples of French Gothic cathedral architecture.

London: It has become the first city in the world to implement 24x7 Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) norms as per which vehicles will have to meet tough emissions standards or face a charge. Introduction of the ULEZ aims to reduce toxic air pollution and protect public health.

Sharjah: Popular as the cultural capital of UAE, the Arabian city has been designated as the World Book Capital for 2019 by UNESCO, with the slogan "Read - you are in Sharjah".

Phayeng: The village in Imphal West district of Manipur has become India’s first carbon-positive settlement. This means it earns more carbon credits than carbon emitted by it, slowing accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and mitigating effects of climate change.

Singapore's Changi Airport has been crowned the world's best aviation hub for the seventh time in a row, according to the Skytrax World Airport Awards.

MARCH

Astana/Nursultan: Kazakhstan's parliament voted to rename the country's capital Astana as Nursultan in honour of longtime ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev, a day after he resigned as president.

Cyclone Idai: Around 1,000 feared dead in Mozambique and in neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi after tropical cyclone Idai tore through the three southern African countries. Several other persons went missing after the storm brought strong winds, heavy rains and flash flooding.

FEBRUARY

Golaghat: The district in Assam was in news as over 190 persons were killed there and in adjoining Jorhat district due to consumption of illicit brew, called ‘hooch’ locally. Majority of the poisoning victims were tea garden workers of Golaghat district. Many more people were hospitalized and thus number of deaths might further go up.

Dubai International Airport: The airport retained its position as the world's busiest airport for international customers for the fifth consecutive year, handling over 89 million passengers in 2018. India remained the biggest source of users, accounting for more than 12.2 million travellers.


SPORTS WORLD

APRIL

Bajrang Punia, 25 year old wrestler regained the world number one spot in the men's 65 kg freestyle category, as per the latest rankings issued by United World Wrestling on April 17.

Mithali Raj, Indian women's cricket team captain has been named the goodwill ambassador of Team India at the Street Child Cricket World Cup.

Meena Kumari Maisnam won gold in the 54 kg category in the Boxing World Cup at Cologne, Germany.

WISDEN CRICKETERS’ ALMANACK - 2019 Cricketer of the year (men): Virat Kohli. Cricketer of the year (women): Smriti Mandhana Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, popularly called Wisden or Bible of Cricket is a 154 year old treasury of cricket data, published annually from London.

Santosh Trophy: The Services team emerged as winner of the popular Football trophy after defeating Punjab team in the finals played in Ludhiana, Punjab.

ISSF World Cup in Beijing: Indian team could win only two gold medals at the international shooting event.

Asian Athletics Championships, Doha: India ended at the fourth spot in the medals tally with 3 Gold, 7 Silver and 7 Bronze. Bahrain topped the table with 11 Gold, 7 Silver and 4 Bronze.

INDIA TOPS ICC TEST RANKINGS India secured the top spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings, winning prize of $1 million for the third consecutive year and retained the ICC Test Championship Mace. New Zealand and South Africa were ranked second and third, respectively.

Graham Reid, veteran Australian hockey player named as the new chief coach of the Indian men's hockey team by Hockey India.

Saurav Ghosal became the first Indian squash player in the men’s category to enter the top 10 in latest Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings, being placed at 10th spot. In women’s category, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal had earlier reached top 10 in the world rankings.

Praful Patel, President of All India Football Federation has become the first Indian to be elected as a member of the FIFA Executive Council, Zurich, Switzerland.

INTERNATIONAL

Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix for team Mercedes at Manama in Bahrain, a tiny island country in the Persian Gulf. He also won the Formula One’s 1,000th world championship race - Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, China.

Malaysia Open Badminton Championship, Kuala Lumpur Men’s title won by Chinese badminton ace Lin Dan Women’s title won by Taiwanese top seed Tai Tzu-ying

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: South Korea won the hockey tournament by defeating India in the finals played at Ipoh, Malaysia. Belgium topped the world football rankings released by FIFA, closely followed by France on second spot, while Brazil was placed at third spot. India rose two points and got 101st rank.

MARCH

ASIAN AIRGUN CHAMPIONSHIPS,TAOYUAN, TAIWAN Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary, created a new world record while securing gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. Yash Vardhan and Shreya Agrawal bagged three gold medals each in 10 mt air rifle events - individual, team and mixed. India finished with 25 medals that included 16 gold, five silver and four bronze.

Pooja Dhanda claimed gold in the 59 kg category in Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tournament in Ruse, Bulgaria. Bajrang Punia also won gold medal in 65 kilogram freestyle category in the same tournament.

Deepak Singh, National boxing champion won gold while five others claimed silver medals in the Makran Cup in Chabahar, Iran.

Kavinder Singh Bisht won the gold in the 56 kg-category while Shiva Thapa and three others claimed silver medals at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Helsinki, Finland.


India scored its 500th ODI victory by beating Australia at Nagpur. India played their first ODI in 1974 and have played 963 matches since then.

For the first time in nine years, two India bowlers, Jhulan Goswami (first) and Shikha Pandey (fifth), joined the top five clubs in the latest ICC women's cricket rankings for ODI bowlers. Among batswomen, Smriti Mandhana retained her number one spot.

Irfan K T of India qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as he secured 4th position at the Asian Race Walking Championship at Nomi in Japan.

South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship: India lifted the cup for fifth time in a row, defeating host Nepal in the final by 3-1 in Biratnagar, Nepal.

AMBANI RICHEST SPORTS TEAM OWNER As per the Forbes' List of World's Richest Sports Team Owners, Mukesh Ambani, CMD of Reliance Industries topped the list with a net worth of around $50 billion.

INTERNATIONAL

Valtteri Bottas (Finland) of team Mercedes won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne.

Roger Federer claimed the 100th ATP title of his career after winning the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Afghanistan's cricket team on March 18 recorded its maiden Test win after beating Ireland by seven wickets in a one-off game at Dehradun in Uttarakhand.

Afghanistan scored the highest-ever total in T20s, scoring 278 playing against Ireland in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

Special Olympics World Games 2019 were held from March 14 to March 21 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The games made history by welcoming a record-breaking 200 nations ahead of the Games. India bagged 368 medals - 85 Gold, 154 Silver and 129 Bronze. These games are held for the sports persons who are intellectually impaired. The next Special Olympic Games are set to take place in Sweden in 2021.

In Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, Indian youth team finished second in the overall medals tally with a total of 26 medals including eight gold, nine silver and nine bronze medals. China topped the overall medals tally with 31 medals that included 12 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals. T-10 – NEW FORMAT OF CRICKET In a new development in Cricket, the Abu Dhabi will be hosting an exclusive T10 Cricket League (matches with only 10 overs a team) for the next five years in the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, starting with the 2019 season.

YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships was held at Birmingham in England. Men’s Singles: Kento Momota (Japan) Women’s Singles: Chen Yufei (China)

FIFA (International Federation of Football Associations) has confirmed that India will host the Women's World Cup 2020. President of FIFA: Gianni Infantino FIFA HQ: Zurich, Switzerland

FEBRUARY

S. Mirabai Chanu, world champion Indian weightlifter won the gold medal at the EGAT Cup in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Manpreet Singh, captain of Indian Hockey team was selected for the “Player of the Year” award by the Asian Hockey Federation.

Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta lifted the Cannes International Open trophy by defeating Pier Luigi Basso of Italy in the finals played at Cannes, France.

The ISSF (International Shooting Sports Federation) World Cup 2019 was held at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi from Feb. 23 to 27. Apurvi Chandela won the gold medal in the women's 10-metre air rifle event setting a new world record. 16 year-old Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold in men’s 10m air pistol, also creating a new world record. Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker claimed gold in 10-metre air pistol mixed team event at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi

9th Sr. Women's Hockey National Championship: Railway Sports Promotion Board won the event by defeating Madhya Pradesh 5-0 in the finals played in Hissar, Haryana.

Senior Men's National Hockey Championship: Railways won the meet by defeating Punjab in finals played in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.

83rd edition of Senior National Badminton Championships was held in Guwahati. Saina Nehwal won Women's singles Title and Sourabh Verma bagged Men's singles crown.

Irani Cup (cricket): Ranji champions Vidarbha beat Rest of India in Nagpur to retain the title.

85th Ranji Trophy: Defending champions Vidarbha won the title, beating Saurashtra in the summit clash held at Nagpur, Maharashtra.

4th Pro Wrestling League: Haryana Hammers won the finals beating defending champions Punjab Royals at Greater Noida, UP.

P V Sindhu: Olympic and World Championship silver medallist has signed a whopping four-year sports sponsorship deal of Rs 50 crore with Chinese sports brand Li-Ning.


Smriti Mandhana was ranked number one in the updated ICC ODI batting rankings for women cricketers.

Indian captain Mithali Raj became the first woman cricketer in the world to play 200 ODIs. The 36-year-old is also the highest run-getter in ODIs with 6,622 runs at an average of 51.33, including seven hundreds.

INTERNATIOAL

Jamie Chadwick from England made history by becoming the first female driver to win the MRF challenge title in F2000 premier class after scoring a triple win in the final round in Chennai.

Chris Gayle, the explosive batsman from Jamaica (West Indies) now has 477 sixes to his name, highest ever in the world, leaving Afridi behind who had smashed 476 sixes. He achieved the feat playing against England in Kensington on Feb 20. He also announced his retirement from ODIs after ICC World Cup 2019.

2019 LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS Sportswoman of the Year: Simone Biles, Gymnast from USA Sportsman of the Year: Novak Djokovic, Tennis star from Serbia Team of the Year: Football World Cup winner French team.

The International Hockey Federation announced Players of the Year for 2018: Female Player of the Year: Eva de Goede from Netherlands Male Player of the Year: Arthur van Doren of Belgium

Qatar Open Cup (Tennis) - Elise Mertens from Belgium defeated Simona Halep of Romania to win the finals held in Doha, Qatar.

DAYS & DATES

APRIL

April 2: World Autism Awareness Day The day is meant to raise awareness about autism, a developmental disorder which impairs your ability to communicate and interact. It is a complex neuro behavioural condition which causes problems with language and communication skill, particularly in young children.The theme for this year is “Assistive Technologies, Active Participation”.

April 4: International Mine Awareness Day Organized across the world to foster the establishment and development of national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and explosive remnants of war constitute a serious threat to the safety, health and lives of the civilian population. The theme for this year is "United Nations Promotes SDGs – Safe Ground – Safe Home".

April 04: World Health Day Observed all around the world to commemorate the founding of World Health Organisation - WHO on this day in 1948. It is an opportunity to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. The theme for this year is ‘Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere’.

April 5: National Maritime Day Celebrated every year to mark the beginning of Indian shipping that started on this day in 1919 when the SS Loyalty, the first ship of The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd travelled from Mumbai to London. The theme for this year is “Indian Ocean-An ocean of opportunity”.

April 6: Hindu New Year Several parts of the country celebrated beginning of traditional Hindu Lunar New Year on April 6. It is the first day of the lunar month of Chaitra. Festivals of Chaitra Sukladi (north India), Ugadi (Andhra and Telangana), Gudi Padwa (Maharashtra), Cheti Chand (by Sindhis), Navreh (Kasmir) and Sajibu Cheiraoba (Manipur) are being celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety.


April 6: International Day of Sport for Development and Peace Observed across the world to commemorate the inauguration of the first ever Olympic games of the modern era on this day in Athens, Greece in 1896. The day aims to spread awareness about the positive influence that sports can have on the advancement of human rights and economic development. April 10: World Homoeopathy Day The day is observed to commemorate the birth anniversary (April 10, 1755) of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann.

April 11: National Safe Motherhood Day

Observed to raise awareness about the proper healthcare of women and maternity facilities to pregnant and lactating women. The theme for this year is "Midwives for Mothers". April 12: Intr. Day of Human Space Flight Observed across the world with UN support to celebrate the anniversary of the first ever human space flight undertaken by Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet Union citizen on board spaceship Vostok-3KA on this day in 1961. The day is an opportunity to reaffirm the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of States and peoples. April 13/14: Baisakhi Festivals The nation celebrated harvest festivals on 13/14 April across the country to mark harvesting of Rabi (winter) crops. On this day farming community pays tribute to God for the abundant harvest and also prays for future prosperity. In many parts, it is also celebrated as the beginning of the solar New Year - first day of Baisakh. It also marks the foundation day of ‘Khalsa Panth’ - the modern form of Sikh religion. The festival has different names in different parts of the country like Vaisakhi (North India), Vishu (Kerala), Rongali Bihu (Assam), Naba Barsha/Poila Boisakh (Bengal), Puthandu (Tamil Nadu).

April 17: World Haemophilia Day

Celebrated every year to raise awareness about hemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. It is an initiative of ‘World Federation of Haemophilia’. It is an inherited condition that causes bleeding for a long time after injury or surgery and painful swelling of the joints either after injury or even without injury. This year’s theme is “Outreach and Identification”.

April 18: World Heritage Day Also known as the ‘International Day for Monuments and Sites’, it is observed across the world to create awareness among the people to conserve and protect the valuable assets and cultural heritage across the world. The theme for the day this year was ‘Rural Landscapes’.

April 21: Civil Services Day On this day civil servants re-dedicate themselves to work and live for the cause of citizens. It was on this day in 1947 that Sardar Patel addressed the first batch of civil servants in independent India. The civil services were introduced in India in late 1780’s by then Governor General Warren Hastings and later more reforms were done by his successor Charles Cornwallis, known as the "Father of Civil Services in India".

April 22: Earth Day Observed worldwide to raise concern about issues like climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides to name a few. The campaign is supported by the Washington, USA based NGO, Earth Day Network. This year’s theme is – Protect Our Species.


April 23: The World Book and Copyright Day

Observed across the world to highlight the power of books and to promote UNESCO’s vision of knowledge societies that are inclusive, pluralistic, equitable, open and participatory for all citizens. The Day pays tribute to books and authors by encouraging everyone to discover the pleasure of reading. This year, UNESCO designated Sharjah as the World Book Capital for 2019.

April 24: National Panchayati Raj Day This day marks the passing of Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24 April 1993, providing constitutional validity to Panchayats as 'Institutions of self-government'. Panchayati System works at three levels - Gram Panchayat at village level; Panchayat Samiti at Block level and Zila Parishad at district level.

April 25: World Malaria Day People around the globe observe this day to raise awareness and funds for the treatment and prevention of Malaria. This year, the theme for the day is “Zero malaria starts with me” and it is being hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

April 26: World Intellectual Property Day Observed across the world to spread awareness about the role that intellectual property rights like patents, trademarks, industrial designs and copyrights play in encouraging innovation and creativity. The day is supported by the Geneva based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialised agency of UNO. The theme for this year is “Reach for Gold: IP and Sports”.

MARCH

March 3: World Wildlife Day Observed every year to spread awareness about wildlife. The theme for this year is ‘Life below water: for people and planet’, which corresponds to the 14th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of UNO which is 'Life below water'. March 7: Jan Aushadhi Diwas Government has decided to celebrate March 7 as the Janaushadhi Diwas to create awareness about the use of generic medicines available at much cheaper rates. Currently, over 5050 Jan Aushadhi stores across 652 districts are providing quality medicine at the affordable price. The Jan Aushadhi medicines have played a big role in bringing down the out-of-pocket expenditure of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases in India.

March 8: International Women's Day

It is an occasion to celebrate the progress made by women in all walks of life. It is also the perfect time to acknowledge the extraordinary role played by women over the years. This year’s women’s day theme is “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”. A campaign has also been launched with the theme: #BalanceforBetter.

March (14): The World Kidney Day Observed on the second Thursday of March to create awareness about preventive behaviors, about risk factors, and about how to live with a kidney disease. The theme for this year’s celebrations was “Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere”.

March (5): World Sleep Day The day is observed annually on the Friday before the March Equinox on the Earth, when the subsolar point appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator, heading northward as seen from Earth.

The day aims to raise awareness regarding sleep disorders and promote their prevention and management.The theme this year is 'Healthy Sleep, Healthy Aging'.


March 15: The World Consumer Rights Day

Observed across the world to promote basic rights of consumers and to ensure that these rights are respected and protected. This year, the Day called for access to secure internet for all. The Day encouraged better consumer protection online. The theme for this year is “Trusted Smart Products”. March 18: The Global Recycling Day Observed across the world to help recognise, and celebrate the importance recycling plays in preserving the precious primary resources. The theme for this year was ‘Recycling into the Future’. The Day is organised by the Global Recycling Foundation.

March 20: International Day of Happiness Celebrated with UN support as a way to recognize the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world. This year the focus will be on what we have in common, rather than what divides us. The theme for this year is 'Happier Together', focusing on what we have in common.

March 20: The World Sparrow Day The Day is observed every year to raise awareness about the birds and their role in our life. The theme this year has been kept 'I Love Sparrows' with the hope that more people will celebrate the relationship between people and sparrows.

March 21: The International Day of Forests The day is observed every year to raise awareness on how sustainably managed forests provide a wide array of contributions in our life. The theme selected for this year is ‘Forests and Education: Learn to Love Forests’. Forests cover roughly one third of the Earth's land mass.

March 22: World Water Day The day is celebrated world wide with an aim to tackling the water crisis by addressing the reasons why so many people are being left behind. It also aims to achieve the UN’s sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6: Clean Water And Sanitation) - water for all by 2030. The theme for this year is “Leaving no one behind”. The campaign this year is - “Whoever you are, wherever you are, water is your human right”.

March 23: Shaheed Diwas or Martyr's Day Observed every year to pay homage to the great revolutionary fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev who sacrificed their lives for the country. It was on this day in 1931, that these three revolutionaries were hanged to death in the Lahore Central Jail and were later cremated at Hussainiwala on the banks of River Sutlej, near Pakistan border in district Ferozepur.

March 23: World Meteorological Day Ever year, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) celebrates this day to commemorate its founding day. This year, the theme is “The Sun, the Earth and the Weather”. This recognises the critical role that the Earth’s nearest star plays in what transpires on the planet.

March 24: World Tuberculosis Day Observed every year to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB (tuberculosis), and to step up efforts to end the global epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch discovered the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes TB. The theme this year is, 'It's time'.

March 27: World Theatre Day Initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute, Paris it is celebrated annually by ITI Centres and the international theatre community across the world. Various national and international theatre events are organized to mark this occasion.

ALL THE NEWS ITEMS IN THIS MAGAZINE HAVE BEEN SOURCED FROM VARIOUS NEWS PAPERS AND GOVT. PRESS RELEASES.


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NATIONAL NEWS

JANUARY

The 106th Indian Science Congress was hosted by Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar with the theme ‘Future India: Science and Technology’.

The 15th edition of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas was held at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh from Jan 21 to 23. The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind

Jugnauth was the Chief Guest of the event. The day commemorates the return of

Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa in Bombay on January 9, 1915.

Social activist Nanaji Deshmukh, Music maestro Bhupen Hazarika and former President Pranab Mukherjee have been awarded with country's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna.

The President approved conferment of 112 Padma Awards that included 4 Padma Vibhushan, 14 Padma Bhushan and 94 Padma Shri Awards.

The nation celebrated its 70th Republic Day with a grand military parade at Rajpath in New Delhi. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was

the Chief Guest on the occasion. Tripura bagged 1st prize for the state tableau

depicting 'Empowering Rural Economy the Gandhian Way'.

The Railways has named India’s first locomotive-less semi-fast Train 18 as Vande Bharat Express. It will ply from the New Delhi to Varanasi.

The National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) was inaugurated in Mumbai on January 19.

The Home Ministry has notified that Aadhaar cards will be valid travel documents for Indians under 15 and over 65 travelling to Nepal and Bhutan.

In a first, the Global Aviation Summit 2019 with the theme “Flying for all” was organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation from January 15-16 in Mumbai.

Oxford Dictionaries declared ‘Nari Shakti’ as the Hindi word for the year 2018.

The 26th National Children's Science Congress was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

DECEMBER

India’s longest rail-road bridge, connecting the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra near Dibrugarh in eastern Assam, was thrown open to public. The 4.94 km Bogibeel Bridge has double rail track on the lower deck and a 3-lane road on top deck.

India and the United Arab Emirates signed a pact on currency swap to enable the two countries paying for trading in their own currency.

South Korean nationals will now be allowed visa on arrival, a special privilege available till now to Japanese only.

NOVEMBER

Prime Minister went to Argentina to attend the G-20 summit of Heads of Nations at Buenos Aires, Argentina on Nov 30.

The foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor was laid at village Mann of district Gurdaspur near Indo Pak border. It will provide a safe passage from Dera Baba

Nanak in India to Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, just 4 km away.

Railways plans to use aircraft-like air pressurised coaches in its trains for the Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line along the India-China border.

Bullet News (November 2018 – January 2019)

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India’s first Inland Waterways Container Terminal started on River Ganga at Ramnagar near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

The 49th International Film Festival of India, IFFI 2018 was held in Goa. The Country of Focus this year was Israel and Jharkhand was the State of Focus. Dan Wolman, filmmaker from Israel was

given the Lifetime Achievement Award. Film from Ukraine, Donbass, directed by

Sergei Loznitsa won the Golden Peacock for Best Film.

The 182 meter Statue of Unity, built in honour of Sardar Patel was unveiled on Sadhu Bet Island at Kevadiya in Narmada district of Gujarat.

Govt has clarified that NRIs can file RTI applications to seek governance-related information. Earlier only resident Indians could file RTI application.

Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's epic masterpiece film 'Pather Panchali' has been included in BBC's 100 best foreign language films list.

NEWS FROM STATES

JANUARY

The Defence Minister inaugurated the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor in Tiruchirappalli This will be the country's second defence

industrial corridor after the first one was launched in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, August last year.

The Telangana Forest Department has decided to set up an armed “State Tiger Protection Force” to protect the wildlife.

The Ardh Kumbh Mela started on Makar Sankranti, January 15 in Prayagraj (Allahabad) and concluded on Maha Shivratri, March 4, 2019.

India’s longest 300-meter single lane steel cable suspension bridge was inaugurated in Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge has been built across the Siang

River at Yingkiong in Upper Siang district and has been named Byorung Bridge.

Gujarat has become first state in India to announce the benefits of 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections of general category.

Six states – UP, Haryana, HP, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand signed an agreement for Renukaji Dam Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project.

It is to be built on Giri River, a tributary of river Yamuna, in Sirmour District of Himachal Pradesh.

3 islands in Andaman Nicobar were renamed as a tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose who hoisted tricolour there 75 years ago. The Ross Island was renamed as Netaji Subhas

Chandra Bose Dweep, the Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep and the Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep.

The Union Home Ministry approved the Uttar

Pradesh government’s proposal to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj.

The 42nd Indian Social Science Congress was held at KIIT University campus in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Madhya Pradesh has declared Kuno wildlife sanctuary as a national park for translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir in Gujarat.

DECEMBER

The NITI Aayog released the Baseline Report of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2018. Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu were ranked as Front Runner states.

Amongst the best-performing police stations, Kalu police station near Bikaner in Rajasthan was adjudged best in the country.

Gujarat has emerged as the best performing state in the Startup Ranking 2018 as per the National Report on States' Startup Rankings.

J&K was put under President's rule from Dec 19, marking end to six months of Governor's rule.

The Nagaland organised the annual Hornbill Festival from December 01 to 10 to showcase the rich traditions and the vibrant culture of Nagaland.

The Railway is constructing the world’s tallest girder railway bridge in Manipur across river Ijai near Noney with a pillar height of 141 meters.

HP became the first state to launch a single emergency number ‘112’ which will connect to police, fire, health and other help lines.

World’s tallest statue - ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat has slowly become one of India’s top tourist spots, attracting around 30,000 visitors every day.

The country’s first music museum will be set up in Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu.


International Gita Mahotsav was held in Kurukshetra, Haryana from 07 to 23 December. The Mauritius was the partner country this year.

With the beginning of Kannur international Airport in Kerala, the state has become the first state to have four international airports.

The government cleared a proposal to implement the Shahpur Kandi Dam Project in Punjab on the River Ravi with a Central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore.

NOVEMBER

India's first 'Justice City' is being built in Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati.

The 136-kilometer long six-lane Kundli-Manesar-Palwal section of the Western Peripheral Expressway near Delhi has been thrown open for traffic.

The United Nations has selected Uttar Pradesh's Noida and Greater Noida to participate in its Global Sustainable Cities 2025 initiative.

GOVT INITIATIVES

JANUARY

The online campaign ‘WebWonderWomen’ launched in collaboration with Twitter and Breakthrough to honour the exceptional achievements of women.

The Constitution 124th (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed to amend Article 15 and 16 through 103rd amendment in the constitution. It provides 10% reservation to economically

weaker sections in the Gen category in direct recruitments and admission in higher educational institutions.

The EWS will include people earning less than Rs 8 lakh annually.

“Womaniya on GeM” launched on Government e Marketplace [GeM] to enable women entrepreneurs to sell their products online. They can sell handicrafts and handloom, jute

and coir products, and office furnishings, directly to various Govt ministries, deptts. and institutions.

'Samantha Express’- A special tourist train will cover prominent places associated with Dr BR Ambedkar and Gautam Buddha.

The Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to amend the Citizenship Act,

1955 to make illegal migrants eligible for Indian citizenship. This will cover Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain,

Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, provided their stay in India is over 6 years.

‘Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan (disaster management) Puraskar’ started to reward persons working for disaster relief operations. The award will include a cash prize of Rs. 51

lakh. Two new TV channels launched for promoting

science and technology. ‘DD Science’ will be relayed by the Doordarshan and ‘India Science’ will be internet based online channel.

FSSAI has asked all the food businesses to not to use recycled plastics and newspapers to wrap food articles, by July 1, 2019.

The Ministry for Information & Broadcasting has decided to share All India Radio News with private FM broadcasters, free of cost, initially till 31.5.19.

DECEMBER

A new national honour 'Sardar Patel Award for

National Integration' for national unity on the pattern of Padma Awards, to be started soon.

Government has decided to hike its contribution to NPS (National Pension Scheme) to 14 per cent from existing 10 per cent.

The government launched Bhasha Sangam to introduce school students to 22 Indian languages that are listed in the schedule VIII of the Constitution.

Union Home Ministry launched a Twitter handle named '@CyberDost' to spread awareness about cybercrimes and normal precautions to be taken.

NOVEMBER

Project Grand Challenge launched on the Startup India Portal to invite innovative ideas based on AI, Internet, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain, etc.

HRD Ministry launched LEAP and ARPIT programmes for online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty. LEAP: Leadership for Academicians Programme ARPIT: Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching

The Union Cabinet approved that 100 per cent of the food grains and 20 percent of sugar shall be mandatorily packed in diversified jute bags.


The Government has appointed Akhilesh Ranjan, IRS as Convenor of the Task Force for drafting a New Direct Tax Legislation.

The sexual harassment complaints portal ‘SHe-Box’ with all the Central Ministries, Departments and 653 districts across 33 states/UTs.

PAiSA -Portal for Affordable Credit and Interest Subvention Access launched for processing interest subvention on bank loans to beneficiaries under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana.

The Global Cooling Prize, an international competition launched to incentivize the development of a cheaper residential cooling technology.

‘Utsonmobile’ app launched to provide ‘Unreserved Mobile Ticketing’ facility for seamless booking of unreserved tickets in Railways.

‘Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme’ launched for attracting youth to cooperative business ventures.

Operation Greens launched to ensure availability of Tomato, Onion and Potato throughout the country round the year without price volatility.

ECONOMY

JANUARY

As per the Central Statistics Office data, the average per capita annual income doubled in 7 years, from Rs 0.63 lakh in 2011-12 to Rs 1.25 lakh in 2018-19.

In a “massive relief” to small businesses, the GST Council doubled the limit for exemption from GST to Rs 40 lakh (from earlier Rs 20 lakh) for all small businesses.

Small traders and businesses paying 1% tax on the turnover under composition scheme, the limit has been raised by 50% to Rs.1.5 crore.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) became the first Indian private sector company to report a quarterly profit of more than Rs 10,000 crore.

DECEMBER

NTPC - National Thermal Power Corporation crossed the milestone of generating 5 trillion units of electricity as on November 30.

India Ports Global Ltd. formally took over the operations of Iran’s Shaheed Behesti port in

Chabahar, opening a trade route between India and central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.

Budget carrier IndiGo has become the first domestic airline to have 200 aircraft in its fleet.

NOVEMBER

Foundation stone for India’s largest Dry Dock was laid at Cochin Shipyard in Kerala.

The 38th India International Trade Fair was held in New Delhi with the theme ‘Rural Enterprises in India.’

Afghanistan was the Partner Country, while Nepal was the Focus Country and Jharkhand was the Partner State in the Fair.

The National Projects Construction Corporation Limited (NPCC) has been conferred with the status of Miniratna: Category –I by the Union Government.

BANKING & FINANCE

JANUARY

The RBI appointed a committee headed by former SEBI chairman U.K. Sinha to review and propose long-term solutions for revival of MSME sector.

RBI has constituted a high level committee headed by UIDAI’s former Chairman Nandan Nilekani on Deepening of Digital Payments.

The RBI released guidelines on tokenisation for various card transactions, including from debit and credit cards. Tokenisation improves security of the

payment system by replacing actual card details with a unique alternative code called ‘token’.

The Cabinet approved to increase the authorized capital of Exim Bank to Rs 20,000 crore, from Rs 10,000 crore at present.

Nepal’s Central Bank has banned the use of Indian currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 denominations.

The govt amalgamated three Regional Rural Banks - Punjab Gramin Bank, Malwa Gramin Bank and Sutlej Gramin Bank - into a single RRB - Punjab Gramin Bank, wef Jan 1, 2019.

A commemorative silver coin of Rs 350 and a stamp was released on the 352nd birth anniversary of the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji.


DECEMBER

RBI formed expert committee to decide the appropriate size of reserves that it should maintain and the dividend it should give to the govt. The committee shall be headed by Dr. Bimal Jalan.

The RBI has announced to reduce the statutory liquidity ratio – SLR to 18% from 19.5% at present.

It will be slashed in a phased manner, reducing 25 basis points every quarter beginning January, 2019.

On the eve of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 94th birth anniversary, a Rs. 100 commemorative coin was released in the memory of the former premier.

NOVEMBER

A coin of Rs 75 released on the occasion of 75th anniversary of the hoisting of Tricolour for the first time by Subhash ch Bose at Port Blair.

RBI to set up a digital Public Credit Registry to capture details of all borrowers, including wilful defaulters and also the pending legal suits.

Sashakt India Asset Management company formed to resolve the problem of bad loans of over Rs 500 crore in public sector banks.

IndusInd Bank launched ‘Nexxt Credit Card’ with a choice of payment options such as EMI, Reward Points or Credit at the push of a button, on the card.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

JANUARY

A new airbase 'INS Kohasa' has been made operational in the Andaman and Nicobar territories near Diglipur.

The second edition of the India-Myanmar bilateral army exercise, IMBEX 2018-19 was held at Chandimandir cantt near Chandigarh.

The Union Cabinet approved Rs. 10,000 crore for the Gaganyaan project by ISRO to send three Indian astronauts in space.

The ISRO launched the UNNATI (UNispace Nano-satellite Assembly and Training by ISRO) programme for on nanosatellite development.

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity completed 15 years of its touchdown on the surface of Mars.

IIT Hyderabad announced country’s first full-fledged graduation programme in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from the new academic session.

DECEMBER

The Indian Air Force created history by flying its transport aircraft AN-32 using aviation turbine fuel (ATF) blended with 10% biofuel (Jatropha oil).

The Indian Navy inducted its first “deep submergence rescue vehicle” (DSRV) in Mumbai, joining the select nations that have this type of vehicle.

SHINYUU Maitri-18: Bilateral air exercise held with the Japanese Air Self Defence Force by the Indian Air Force at A F Station Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Indian and US air force units conducted a 12-day joint exercise 'Cope India 2019' in West Bengal from December 3 to 14.

Naval forces from India and the United Kingdom held a joint exercise ‘KONKAN’ near Goa coast to share best practices of each other.

Troops from China and India held a joint 14-day drill ‘Hand in Hand’ near Chengdu city in southwest China to improve their capabilities in fighting terrorism.

The ISRO launched satellite GSAT-7A onboard GSLV-F11 to immensely enhance the communication network of the Indian Air Force.

The ISRO launched GSAT-11, its heaviest ever (5854 kg) satellite from Kourou Launch Zone, French Guiana in South America.

Google has unveiled ‘Google Shopping’, a dedicated search engine intended to provide an immersive and improved online shopping experience.

NOVEMBER

The Army inducted 3 new artillery gun systems, M777 A2 Ultra Light Howitzers, K-9 Vajra-Tracked Self Propelled Guns and 6x6 Field Artillery Tractors.

‘Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti’ launched to enhance self-reliance by boosting the IPR (Intellectual Property Right) culture in defence industry.


The decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat will now be converted into India’s first-ever maritime museum-cum-marine adventure centre.

It will be established by the Maharashtra government near Nivati rocks in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra.

INS Tarangini, the sail training ship of Indian Navy, returned to Kochi base after 7 month long voyage named “Lokayan 18”, across the world.

India’s first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant completed its “first deterrence patrol" by firing nuclear missile.

IIT Madras designed India’s first indigenous micro processor named ‘Shakti’. It will reduce dependency on imported microchips and risk of cyber attacks.

India launched its sophisticated earth observation hyperspectral imaging satellite HysIS successfully onboard PSLV-C43 rocket.

ISRO’s launched the advanced communication satellite GSAT-29, its heaviest ever satellite weighing 3423 kg to facilitate high speed internet connections.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, set a record for the closest approach to the sun, reaching within 4.27 crore km of Sun, moving at 2.47 lakh kmph.

NASA's robotic InSight lander successfully touched down on the red planet Mars, after a supersonic plunge through its rose-hued atmosphere on Nov 26.

NASA's legendary Kepler space telescope retired after running out of fuel. It discovered over 2,600 exoplanets outside our Solar System since 2009.

INTERNATIONAL

JANUARY

The United States and Israel officially quit the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

The Annual Meet of the World Economic Forum (WEF) was held in Davos, Switzerland. World leaders from various walks of life participated in the event.

The UNESCO has announced that the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will be the World Capital of Architecture for 2020.

The parliament of the Republic of Macedonia voted on January 11 to change their country’s name to the “Republic of North Macedonia.

DECEMBER

As per the Climate Change Performance Index, Sweden topped the index in terms of controlling release of greenhouse gases. India was ranked at 11th place.

Delegates from nearly 200 nations took part in the COP 24 to the UNFCCC at Katowice, Poland.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) approved India’s proposal to observe the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets.

France witnessed four nationwide demonstrations against fuel tax rises, high living costs and other issues.

The rallies became known as the "yellow vest" or "gilets jaunes" movement because protesters wore the high-visibility yellow jackets.

Afghanistan has overtaken Iraq to become the world’s deadliest country for terrorism, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index 2018.

The European Central Bank launched a new digital payment system aimed at letting banks settle payments instantly across Europe.

Named ‘TIPS’ (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement) system, it will facilitate instant transfer Euros.

Qatar announced its withdrawal from the oil cartel OPEC - Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase its own oil production outside the cartel’s constraints.

Merriam-Webster, the noted American dictionary has chosen “Justice” as its 2018 word of the year, driven by the churning news cycle over months and months.

Cambridge Dictionary has named "nomophobia" -- the "fear or worry at the idea of being without your mobile phone or unable to use it" as word of the year.

NOVEMBER

The 33rd edition of the ASEAN Summit was held in Singapore on Nov 12-13, attended by leaders of 10 member countries.

Maldives cabinet has approved a proposal to rejoin the Commonwealth, two years after withdrawing from the 53-nation grouping.

The Republic of Seychelles launched the world’s first Sovereign Blue Bond, a financial instrument designed to support sustainable marine projects.


Oxford Dictionaries has chosen “toxic” as its annual ‘Word of the Year’, arguing that it was “the sheer scope of its application that has made it the standout choice”.

The world's largest airport with a capacity to serve 90 million passengers per year was thrown open to public in Istanbul, Turkey.

UN Postal System issued stamps with image of Diyas (clay lamps) to mark the celebration of Deepawali.

PERSONS IN NEWS

JANUARY

Arunima Sinha: The first female amputee to have conquered Mt Everest, created yet another record as she became world's first woman amputee to climb Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica.

Satyarup Siddhanta: Became the first Indian and youngest, (35yrs/262days) man to climb the seven highest peaks and volcanic summits across all continents, the last being Antarctica's highest volcano point, Mount Sidley.

DECEMBER

Dr. Urjit Patel: RBI Governor stepped down from his post on Dec 10, citing personal reasons. His three year term was to end on Sep 23, 2019. Jamal Khashoggi: Saudi journalist, who was murdered in October at his country’s Istanbul consulate, was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year”, along with other persecuted journalists dubbed as “guardians” of the truth.

NOVEMBER

Hima Das, Asian Games gold medalist in sprint from Assam has been appointed as UNICEF India’s Youth Ambassador. Nahid Afrin: Popular singer of Assam appointed as the first 'Youth Advocate' of the northeastern region by the UNICEF to fight for child rights.

APPOINTMENTS

JANUARY

Sudhir Bhargava: Appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari appointed as the Judge in the Supreme Court.

Kumar Rajesh Chandra: Senior IPS officer appointed as the Director General of the Sashastra Seema Bal.

Gita Gopinath: India born Economist became the first woman to join International Monetary Fund as its Chief Economist.

Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah: Elected as Malaysia's new king by the members of the country's royal families.

Stefan Lofven: Re-elected as the PM of Sweden.

Su Tseng-chang: Appointed as the PM of Taiwan.

Felix Tshisekedi: Elected as the President of Congo, Africa.

Sheikh Hasina: Re elected as the Bangladesh Prime Minister after her party Awami League achieved landslide victory in recent general elections.

DECEMBER

4 NEW CHIEF MINISTERS ELECTED Ashok Gehlot Rajasthan Kamal Nath Madhya Pradesh Bhupesh Baghel Chhattisgarh Zoramthanga Mizoram K. Chandrasekhar Rao Telangana (re-elected)

Shaktikanta Das: Appointed as the 25th Governor of RBI. He is the former Union Finance Secretary.

Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian: Appointed as the new Chief Economic Advisor to the Govt of India, for a period of 3 years.

A M Naik: Appointed as the Chairman of National Skill Development Corporation.

Arvind Saxena: Appointed as the new Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Pranab Kumar Das: Appointed as chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

Harsh Vardhan Shringla: Appointed as the Ambassador of India to the United States of America.

Brijendra Pal Singh: Noted producer-director, famous for his TV serial ‘CID’, appointed as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Ueli Maurer: Elected as the new President of Switzerland.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: Sworn in as the new President of Mexico.


NOVEMBER

Sunil Arora: Appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India by the President of India.

Ajay Bhushan Pandey: Appointed as the new Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

Ashok Kumar Gupta: Appointed as the Chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Voreqe Bainimarama: Re-elected as the Prime Minister of Fiji, a small island country in South Pacific Ocean.

Jair Bolsonaro: Elected as the new President of Brazil.

Michael D Higgins: Re-elected as the President of Ireland

AWARDS & HONOURS

JANUARY

Ashoka Chakra: Country's highest peacetime gallantry award was conferred posthumously upon Lance Naik Nazir Ahmed Wani, 38-year-old pro-government militant-turned-soldier.

Gandhi Peace Prize, 2018 Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of Nippon Foundation, Japan and Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organization for Leprosy Elimination. The prize carries a cash award of Rs one crore, a plaque and citation.

Saraswati Samman, 2017: Awarded to noted Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra for his poetry collection in Gujarati named “Vakhar”.

Philip Kotler Presidential Award: Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the first edition of the prestigious global award for his outstanding leadership for the nation.

The 76th GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS were delivered at a grand ceremony at Beverly Hills, California, USA on Jan 07, 2019. Best Picture: Bohemian Rhapsody by Bryan Singer Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron for Roma Best Actress, Drama Glenn Close, The Wife Best Actor, Drama Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

DECEMBER

Jnanpith Award 2018: Veteran English writer Amitav Ghosh has been honoured with this year's Jnanpith Award. Knight of the Legion of Honour: (Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur) The highest French civilian award conferred upon tech tycoon and philanthropist Azim Premji for his contribution to developing the IT industry in India and his economic outreach in France. Sonam Kapoor: Popular actress has been named People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India's Person of the Year for 2018 for promoting various animal welfare activities. Glinka World Soil Prize: Considered as the highest honour in the soil science profession, awarded to Rattan Lal, a distinguished Professor at the Ohio State University, USA. UN Human Rights Prize: Pakistan’s renowned social activist Asma Jahangir was posthumously honoured by the UN with its prestigious prize. Miss World 2018: Vanessa Ponce de Leon of Mexico Miss Universe 2018: Catriona Elisa Gray from Philippines won the title. Miss India Worldwide 2018: Punjab-born Indian-American Shree Saini won the title in USA.

NOVEMBER

Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development - 2018 Conferred upon Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi based NGO, for its pioneering work of over almost four decades in environmental education and protection. “Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca”: JNU's Hispanic Studies professor Shyama Prasad Ganguly won Mexico's highest civilian honor (Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle) accorded to foreign nationals. Knight of the Legion of Honour: France's highest civilian honour conferred upon Jawahar Lal Sarin, President of the governing body of Alliance Francaise, French Cultural Centers in India; and upon tech tycoon and philanthropist Azim Premji for his contribution to developing the IT industry in India and his economic outreach in France.


Golden Peacock Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance: Won by the Rural Electrification Corp. Ltd, the state-owned ‘Navratna’ financier in the power sector. World Agriculture Prize: Awarded to Prof. MS Swaminathan, chief architect of India’s Green Revolution. Miss International 2018: Mariem Velazco of Venezuela won the crown in Tokyo, Japan Miss Earth 2018: Nguyễn Phương Khánh of Vietnam won the crown at Manila, Philippines Miss Grand International: Miss Paraguay Clara Sosawon the crown in Yangon, Myanmar.

OBITUARY

JANUARY

Kader Khan: Veteran actor-writer passed away in Toronto, Canada in a hospital after struggling for months for life. Mrinal Sen: Legendary filmmaker, Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee, winner of 12 international awards, passed away at the age of 95 in Kolkata. George Fernandes: Former Union Defence Minister, founder of Samta Party, passed away in Delhi after fighting with various health related issues for long. Krishna Sobti: Eminent Hindi author and essayist passed away in Delhi. She was 93. Ramakant Achrekar: Veteran cricket coach, who trained Sachin and Vinod Kambli, among many other star cricketers, passed away following a heart attack.

DECEMBER

Mushirul Hasan: Eminent historian and former Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University passed away in Delhi after struggling with several ailments. Sulagitti Narasamma: Known as the midwife of Krishnapura, a remote village in Karnataka, the Padma Shri awardee social worker passed away in Bengaluru at the age of 98. George H W Bush: Former American President passed away at the age of 94 in Houston, USA.

NOVEMBER

Brigadier Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (retd): Famous as the hero of the historic 1971 battle of Longewala in the Thar desert, against Pakistan, died at 78 in Chandigarh, fighting cancer. Alyque Padamsee: Widely called the Brand Father of Indian advertising, died in Mumbai at the age of 90 fighting several ailments.

Ananth Kumar: Senior BJP leader, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister and of Chemicals and Fertilizers, died in Bengaluru after battling lung cancer for several months.

Stan Lee: Founder of Marvel Comics Empire, died in Los Angeles fighting multiple ailments. He was 95. He was known for creation of iconic superheroes like Spider-Man, The Hulk, Iron man, and Thor who now dominate the world's movie screens.

PLACES IN NEWS

JANUARY

Brumadinho: In Brazil, death toll from a dam burst at an iron ore mine in Brumadinho, claimed over 60 lives with more than 305 people missing. Hidalgo: More than 110 persons were killed in a massive fire explosion at an illegally tapped oil pipeline in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, Mexico. Storm Pabuk: In Thailand, tropical storm Pabuk caused flash floods and blackouts on Jan 5, affecting nearly 30,000 people. Storm Usman: The tropical depression destroyed infrastructure and displaced more than 40,000 people in Philippines.

DECEMBER

Phethai: Cyclone 'Phethai' wrecked havoc in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh Kaiga: The indigenously developed Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karnataka has set a new world record among all the operating nuclear power stations, with one of its units operating uninterrupted for 941 days as on Dec 10, 2018. Carita: A volcano-triggered tsunami left over 400 people dead and hundreds more injured around Carita in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait.


Butembo: City in eastern Congo suffered the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, reporting hundreds of cases of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.

NOVEMBER

Gaja cyclone: The severe cyclonic storm Gaja crossed the Tamil Nadu coast near Nagapattinam on Nov 16 with ferocious winds and torrential rainfall. Paradise, Sierra Nevada: The wild fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in South Western USA became the most destructive individual wildfire in California’s history, claiming over 80 lives and left around 1,000 missing.

SPORTS WORLD

JANUARY

D Gukesh - Boy from Tamil Nadu became the youngest Indian to win the Grand Master title at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days. Ankita Raina, India’s top ranking tennis star won the International Tennis Federation’s $25,000 Women's tournament in Singapore.

Virat Kohli created history by becoming first ever cricketer to win all the three top most honours - Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year, the ICC Men's Test Player of the Year and the ICC ODI Player of the Year - for his performances in 2018.

Smriti Mandhana has been named as the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year. She has also been named as the ICC Women's ODI Player of the Year

M C Mary Kom attained number one position in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) latest world rankings, becoming first Indian to achieve this top rank.

Jasprit Bumrah, 25-year-old fast bowler became the highest international wicket-taker across all formats in 2018. He took a total of 78 wickets in the calendar year.

Indian cricket team created history by winning their first ever series on Australian soil beating the home team 2-1 in Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The second edition of Khelo India Youth Games was held in Pune, Maharashtra from Jan 9 to 20.

Maharashtra topped the medal tally with 111 medals, including 37 golds. Srihari Nataraj, Karnataka swimmer won the record 7 gold medals in swimming, highest in the Games.

Abhinav Shaw, the ten year old shooter from Asansol, West Bengal, became the youngest gold medallist at the Games. Birendra Prasad Baishya, President of the Indian Weightlifting Federation has been named Chef de Mission for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

INTERNATIONAL

Roger Federer won the Hopman Cup for a record third time, playing for Switzerland in Perth, Australia. AUSTRALIAN OPEN, year’s first Grand Slam of Tennis concluded in Melbourne, Australia. Men's Singles title: Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Rafael Nadal of Spain to win his record 7th Australian Open title. Women's Singles title: Naomi Osaka of Japan beat Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic to become the first Japanese player to win the Australian Open The International Cricket Council (ICC) has admitted USA Cricket as its 105th member. It is the 93rd Associate Member of ICC.

DECEMBER

P V Sindhu: Ace Indian shuttler lifted the prestigious World Tour Finals trophy at Guangzhou, China. Shubhankar Sharma, 22, emerged as the youngest Indian to win the 2018 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion golf title.

Vedangi Kulkarni from Pune became the fastest Asian to cover the globe on cycle. FIH Hockey World Cup 2018: Belgium won the prestigious Cup for the first time, defeating the Netherlands (Holland) in the final played in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Abhinav Bindra, India’s only Olympics gold medal winner in a solo sport, has become the first Indian to be awarded the Blue Cross, the highest honour in the sport of shooting, given by the Athletes Committee of ISSF - International Shooting Sport Federation.

"Meethoileima" (par excellent queen): The Manipur government honoured legendary boxer MC Mary Kom with this award for winning record breaking sixth gold medal at the AIBA World Women Boxing championships. Manika Batra won the 'Breakthrough Table Tennis Star' award at the prestigious International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Star Awards in Incheon, South Korea.


INTERNATIONAL IAAF Athlete of the Year-2018 Male: Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya's world marathon record holder Female: Caterine Ibarguen, high jump, long jump and triple jump champion from Colombia IAAF: International Association of Athletics Federations

Luka Modric, star footballer from Croatia, playing for Real Madrid, won the coveted Ballon d'Or award for 2018, ending over 10 years reign of Ronaldo and Messi.

Ada Hegerberg of Norway won the first Ballon d'Or award for the best woman player in football.

Golden Shoe Award: Lionel Messi, the Argentinian star footballer won the award for record fifth time for scoring highest - 34 goals in 68 games playing for Barcelona in 2018.

Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the World Chess Championship for the fourth time in a row in finals played in London.

NOVEMBER

MARY COM CREATES WORLD RECORD MC Mary Kom created history by winning her sixth World Champion-ship Gold medal at the Women's World Boxing Championship held in New Delhi.

Bhavani Devi became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Sabre event in the Senior Commonwealth Fencing Championship 2018 held in Canberra, Australia.

Pankaj Advani, India's ace cueist won the IBSF billiards crown in Yangon, Myanmar, taking his overall tally of world titles to 20.

Angad Vir Singh Bajwa became the first Indian to win a gold medal in skeet competition in the 8th Asian Shotgun Championship in Kuwait.

Mithali Raj became India’s highest T20 run-getter, including men and women when she totalled 2,283 T20 runs under her belt.

Bajrang Punia was ranked number one in the world in the 65 kg category by the United World Wrestling.

INTERNATIONAL Simone Biles: 21 year old US gymnast became the first-ever gymnast to win 20 World Championships gold medals. She is also reportedly the first woman in 30 years to have a medal in all six gymnastic events.

Women's World T20 Championship: Australia lifted the title for the fourth time by beating England at Antigua, West Indies.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Undaunted: Saving the Idea of India by P Chidambaram, former Finance Minister Indian Fiscal Federalism by Y. V. Reddy and G. R. Reddy Bridging East & West: Romain Rolland and Rabindranath Tagore correspondence - compiled by Chinmoy Guha Coming Out as Dalit by Yashica Dutt Virtus in Arduis - I did it my way by Parthasarathi Shome The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides The Lost Man by Jane Harper Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From by Tony Joseph Things to Leave Behind by Namita Gokhale We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World by Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner Pakistani social activist The Wicked King by Holly Black An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden Changing India by Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister. Making of New India: Transformation under Modi Government by Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs. Of Counsel by Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Advisor The Republican Ethic - A collection of speeches of President R N Kovind. Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield Milkman by Anna Burns, winner of Man Booker Prize The Future of Capitalism by Paul Collier North of Dawn by Nuruddin Farah


Model Test For General / Economy / Banking Awareness

APRIL GK TEST - 01 1) IN – VPN BILAT EX, the bilateral maritime

exercise was held between the Indian Navy and which other country's Navy? a) Vietnam b) Sri Lanka c) Myanmar d) South Korea e) Japan

2) In the World Press Freedom Index 2019, released by Reporters Without Borders, _____ has secured top position among 180 countries? a) Sweden b) Switzerland c) Norway d) Finland e) Denmark

3) In which country fighting between local rival forces for control of capital Tripoli has been raging for several days, claiming hundreds of lives? a) Syria b) Libya c) Yemen d) Iraq e) Iran

4) Recently President of All India Football Federation has become the first Indian to be elected as a member of the FIFA Executive Council, Zurich, Switzerland. What is his name? a) Radha Mohan Singh b) Praful Patel c) Rajeev Desai d) Baichang Bhutiya e) None of these

5) Which Algerian President resigned after weeks of mass protests? The eighty-two-year-old leader was in power for 20 years and was under mounting pressure to step down. a) Liamine Zeroual b) Abdelaziz Bouteflika c) Ali Kafi d) Mohamed Boudiaf

e) Abdelkader Bensaleh 6) Which country has become the first nation in

South East Asia to introduce harsh new Sharia laws that make offences such as rape adultery and homsexuality punishable by stoning to death. a) Indonesia b) Malaysia c) Brunei d) Cambodia e) None of these

7) Which Bank has been categorized as a private sector lender following the acquisition of majority stake by Life Insurance Corporation? a) UCO Bank b) Vijaya Bank c) Corporation Bank d) IDBI Bank e) State Bank of India

8) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) named State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and ________________________ as D-SIBs, which in other words mean banks that are too big to fail. a) HDFC Bank b) Bank of Baroda c) Axis Bank d) Punjab National Bank e) HSBC Bank

9) The companies contributing to the Swachh Bharat campaign can claim tax rebate under the CSR guidelines. The acronym CSR stands for a) Corporate Social Responsibility b) Common Social Responsibility c) Cumulative Social Rejuvenation d) Community Social Responsibility e) None of these

10) Free and Compulsory Elementary Education to all children in the age group 6-14 years is a Fundamental Right granted by the ________ amendment to the Constitution. a) 76th b) 86th

c) 56th d) 72nd e) 78th


11) Which country became first nation in world to launch full-fledged 5G mobile networks in the country. The superfast communications heralded by fifth-generation wireless technology will facilitate near-instant connectivity in smartphones- 20 times faster than the existing 4G. a) Japan b) USA c) South Korea d) Singapore e) None of these

12) Who has become the first Indian squash player in the men’s category to enter the top 10 in latest Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings, being placed at 10th spot. a) Saurav Ghosal b) Puneet Mehra c) Rahul Chandok d) Vijay Joshi e) None of these

13) Recently wages have been revised under MGNREGA scheme by the Rural Development Ministry. Which of the following states has highest wage rate? a) Punjab b) Haryana c) Gujarat d) Kerela e) None of these

14) Which country has won the hockey tournament to lift Sultan Azlan Shah Cup by defeating India in the finals played at Ipoh, Malaysia? a) Netherland b)Australia c) Pakistan d)South Korea e) None of these

15) Which country has imposed electricity rationing as part of steps taken to deal with the deep economic crisis being faced by the country. a)South Africa b)Phillipines c)Iran d)Venezuela e)North Korea

16) YONO is an integrated digital banking platform offered by State Bank of India (SBI) to enable users to access a variety of financial and other services such as taxi bookings, online shopping, or medical bill payments. YONO stands for- a) You Only Need Only b) You Only Need One c) You Only Nation One d) Yahoo Only Need One e) You Only Never One

17) Reserve Bank of India has provided no objection to ________________ for the proposed acquisition of Gruh Finance. a) Lakshmi Vilas Bank b) Bandhan Bank c) IDFC Bank d) Kotak Mahindra Bank e) India Post Payments Bank

18) Which of the following is the highest civilian award given by the government in India? a) Ashok Chakra b) Bharat Ratna c) Padam Vibhushan d) Gandhi Peace Prize e) None of these

19) What is the full form of URJA? a)Urban Jyoti Abhiyan b)Useable Jyoti Abhiyan c)Urban Jyoti Affordable LED d)Ujala Yojana for all e) None of these

20) Which country has topped ICC test rankings, winning prize of $1 million for the third consecutive year and retained the ICC Test Championship Mace. a) Australia b) West Indies c) India d) Sri Lanka e) New Zealand

21) Which Bank has been adjudged as the 'Best Digital Bank' in the country at the Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2019? a) SBI b) HDFC Bank c) ICICI Bank d) PNB e) None of these

22) Which company became the 'first Indian shipyard' to build and deliver 100 warships to the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Mauritius Coast Guard? a) Tata shipbuilders b) Reliance Marine Industries c) Mazagaon Dock d) Garden Reach Shipbuilders e) None of the above

23) Who has been appointed as the CEO of the International Cricket Council, Dubai? a) Rahul Johri b) Rahul Dravid c) Manu Sawhney d) Sourav Ganguly e) Kapil Dev

24) Which of the following Bank has signed a pact with the Bank of China to boost business opportunities recently? a) ICICI Bank


b) Punjab National Bank c) State Bank of India d) HDFC Bank e) Axis Bank

25) The Reserve Bank of India has slapped a penalty of ____________________ on Punjab National Bank for non-compliance of regulatory directions with regard to SWIFT operations. a) Rs 5 crores b) Rs 7 crores c) Rs 11 crores d) Rs 2 crores e) Rs 14 crores

26) The budget can be introduced in the _______ of Parliament. a) Lower/ upper house b) Upper house only c) Lower house only d) There is no fixed procedure e) None of these

27) Which article in the Indian Constitution deals with the Annual Financial Statement? a) Article 112 b) Article 110 c) Article 123 d) Article 108 e) Article 110

28) The University Grants Commission (UGC) has prohibited imparting distance degree programmes (correspondence course) in which of the following disciplines? 1. Agriculture 2. Medicine 3. Engineering 4. Architecture a) Only 1 b) Only 2 c) Only 1, 3 d) All of these e) None of these

29) Which tech giant has announced launch of virtua l credit card in tie-up with Goldman Sachs Group. The Card will have no numbers or CVN numbers for security reasons. a) Huawei b) LG c) Samsung d) Apple e) Google

30) Researchers of which institute have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and nano technology based electronic hardware system that can detect mechanically malaria, tuberculosis, intestinal parasite, and cervical cancer in milliseconds from the blood sample. a)IIT Madras b)IIT Delhi c)IIT Bombay d)AIIMS New Delhi e) None of these

31) Bank of Baroda has signed an MoU with agriculture services companies to develop an

agriculture digital platform ___________________ which will provide online solutions for agricultural requirements. a) Baroda Khet b) Baroda Krishi c) Baroda Farmer d) Baroda Kisan e) Baroda Sichai

32) Which country released a special commemorative stamp on the theme of Ramayana to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of its diplomatic ties with India? a) Indonesia b) Malaysia c) Myanmar d) Sri Lanka e) Nepal

33) Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel International Airport is located in which state? a) Gujarat b) Punjab c) Maharashtra d) Karnataka e) Rajasthan

34) No money can be withdrawn from the _________ without prior parliamentary approval. a) Consolidated Fund of India b) Provident Fund of India c) Contingency Fund of India d) Public Account e) None of these

35) Kaziranga National Park is located in which state? a) Gujarat b) Rajasthan c) Kerala d) Assam e) Bihar

36) Recently the National Youth Parliament Festival 2019 was held part of celebrations of youth day. What was the theme of this Festival? a) Young Generation: A Guiding Light b) Youth for Digital India c) Be the Voice of New India and Find solutions and contribute to policy d) Celebrating Diversity in Unity e) India Youth for Skill, Development and Harmony

37) With a view to recognize and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives, the Government of India presents National Awards on e-Governance every year. Which of the following applications has won the National e-Governance Awards 2019? a) Rail Connect mobile


b) e-Dharti c) Nyaya Bandhu d) Map My India e) None of these

38) Which of the following states has launched the PRANAM (The Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring) Commission for welfare of parents of state government employees? a) Madhya Pradesh b) Uttar Pradesh c) Assam d) Haryana e) Bihar

39) Which picture received the Oscars 2019 Best Picture award in Los Angeles, California? a) La La Land b) Arrival c) Fences d) GreenBook e) Lady Bird

40) Which of the following states has decided to form dog squad in the police department to detect liquor smuggling across the state? a) Maharashtra b) Haryana c) Bihar d) Uttar Pradesh e) Punjab

41) Which public sector bank has sold stake in its housing finance arm to General Atlantic Group and Varde Partners for Rs 1,851 crore at Rs 850 per share? a) Punjab National Bank b) Canara Bank c) State Bank of India d) Allahabad Bank e) Bank of Baroda

42) Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) stated that it will charge customers for UPI transactions starting 1st of May 2019. Where is the headquarters of Kotak Mahindra Bank? a) Bengaluru b) Hyderabad c) Chennai d) Mumbai e) Cochin

43) The mission of the OECD is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. What is the full form of OECD? a) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Dividend b) Office of Economic Chambers and Development c) Organisation for Economic Council and Development d) Office for Economic Co-operation and Development

e) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

44) For the first time, which organisation has decided to use a new tool to enhance liquidity in the system by bringing $5 billion from the banks in a swap deal that is capable of injecting around Rs. 35,000 crores into the system? a) Securities and Exchange Board of India b) Reserve Bank of India c) National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development d) Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India e) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

45) Which of the following state’s Police has inducted India’s first Humanoid Police Robot ‘KP-BOT’? a) Bihar Police b) Assam Police c) Kerala Police d) Gujarat Police e) Karnataka Police

46) Who has won the ‘CEO of the year’ award at the 8th World Corporate Social Responsibility Congress -2019 held in Mumbai? a) Rana Kapoor b) Soumitro Chakraborty c) Aneel Bhusri d) Pat Gelsinger e) None of these

47) Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated country's first “National War Memorial” in which city of India? a) New Delhi b) Pune c) Mumbai d) Ranchi e) Jammu

48) Which organization has launched "Young Scientist Programme" for the ninth standard school children? a) National Council of Educational Research and raining (NCERT) b) Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) c) Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) d) Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) e) None of these

49) Which of the following states has announced the year 2019 as ‘Jalavarsha (year of water)’? a) Tamil Nadu b) Kerala c) Odisha d) Punjab e) Karnataka

50) Fitch Ratings cut India’s economic growth forecast for the current financial year starting 01st April 2019, to ___________ from its previous estimate of 7.00% on weaker than expected momentum in the economy. a) 6.30% b) 6.50% c) 6.70% d) 6.80% e) 6.20%


APRIL GK TEST - 02

1) World Haemophilia Day is observed on April 17 to raise awareness about hemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders. Haemophillia affects which function of the body? a) Blood circulation b) Nervous system c) Pulmonary veins d) Arterial system e) None of these

2) Which country was made the Guest of Honour country at the 2019 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) held in UAE from April 24-30? a) Saudi Arabia b) Qatar c) India d) Iran e) Iraq

3) Google and Apple blocked the access to highly popular video app 'TikTok' on their app stores from April 16. This App belongs to which country? a) Taiwan b) Japan c) China d) Vietnam e) Indonesia

4) Which Indian women cricketer has been named the goodwill ambassador of Team India at the Street Child Cricket World Cup? a) Harmanpreet Kaur b) Mithali Raj c) Smriti Mandhana d) Poonam Raut e) Jhulan Goswami

5) Which of the following mobile apps has been launched by the ‘Google’ to help children in primary school to learn to read in Hindi and English? a) CVIGIL b) Bolo c) Kaho d) Hike e) None of these

6) The RBI in consultation with the government of India has set the limits for WMA for the first half of the financial year 2019-20 (April 2019 to September 2019) at Rs 75000 crore. What is the full form of WMA? a) Ways and Means Advances b) Ways and Means Account c) Ways and Means Amount d) Ways and Means Assets e) Ways and Means Annual

7) As per the World Bank, India’s GDP growth is expected to accelerate moderately to _____________ in Fiscal Year 2019-2020, driven by continued investment strengthening, particularly private-improved export performance and resilient consumption. a) 7.7% b) 7.9% c) 7.5% d) 7.8% e) 7.6%

8) The government has retained the interest rate for General Provident Fund (GPF), Contributory Provident Fund and other related schemes at ____________ per cent for the first quarter of the current financial year. a) 8.00% b) 8.50% c) 7.50% d) 9.00% e) 7.00%

9) The five-nation group BRICS has established its own developmental bank called a) BRICS Development Bank b) BRICS World Bank c) New BRICS Bank d) New Development Bank e) None of these

10) Which of the following countries has become the 124th member of the International Criminal Court (ICC)? a) Israel b) Libya c) China d) Qatar e) Malaysia

11) What is the theme of the International Women’s Day 2019? a) Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change b) Re-Thinking Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality c) Women in the Changing World of Work d) Equality for Women is Progress for All e) Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives

12) Who has been appointed as the Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)? a) Mohan Bansal b) Puneet Jain c) Shekar Basu d) Ajit Kumar Mohanty e) None of these

13) Which of the following ministry has launched the project BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) in Assam?


a) Ministry of Home Affairs b) Ministry of External Affairs c) Ministry of Environment d) Ministry of Foreign Affairs e) None of these

14) India’s first monorail system is fully operational in which city? a) Chennai b) Kolkata c) New Delhi d) Mumbai e) None of these

15) Which organisation has inked an agreement to invest USD 50 million in solar energy project developer Avaada Energy Pvt Ltd to help the company scale up rapidly? a) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development b) Asian Development Bank c) International Monetary Fund d) Association of Southeast Asian Nations e) Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

16) State-run power giant National Thermal Power Corporation has inked a term-loan agreement with _______________ to raise Rs 2,000 crore, which would be used to part finance its capital expenditure. a) HDFC Bank b) Bank of Baroda c) Canara Bank d) Punjab National Bank e) State Bank of India

17) What is the Capital of Iran? a) Qatar b) Doha c) Kabul d) Tehran e) Dubai

18) Who has been appointed the new Prime Minister of Palestine? a) Rami Hamdallah b) Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar c) Mohammed Shtayyeh d) Saeb Erekat e) Mahmoud Aloul

19) Which of the following cities will host the 14th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave 2019 on India-Africa Project Partnerships? a) Chennai b) New Delhi c) Pune d) Ranchi e) Chandigarh

20) Who is the first recipient of the 'Bhagwan Mahavir Ahimsa Puraskar' given by the Akhil Bharatiya Digambar Jain Mahasamiti?

a) Virat Kohli b) M S Dhoni c) Abhinandan Varthaman d) A R Rahman e) Hrithik Roshan

21) What is the rank of India in the World Economic Forum report on Energy Transition Index (ETI)? a) 10th b) 76th c) 84th d) 105th e) None of these

22) The BSE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with __________________ with an objective to strengthen the BSE Startups platform. a) Punjab National Bank b) Bank of Baroda c) Canara Bank d) HDFC Bank e) State Bank of India

23) In a bid to further improve the cash position of banks, RBI has tweaked LCR norms to provide an additional 2% window to lenders. What is the full form of LCR? a) Lender Coverage Ratio b) Liquidity Cash Ratio c) Liquidity Common Ratio d) Liquidity Coverage Rate e) Liquidity Coverage Ratio

24) Which of the following Bank has entered into an MoU with Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company to distribute the latter’s life insurance products recently? a) Yes Bank b) Kotak Mahindra Bank c) Karnataka Bank d) South Indian Bank e) HDFC Bank

25) Mission Indradhanush is designed to a) Vaccinate all children against seven common diseases b) Ensure timely supply of water for farm operations c) Opening public health centres in rural areas d) Ensure equal rights for the LGBTQ community e) None of these

26) The world’s largest e-waste recycling plant has been opened by ‘Enviroserve’ company with a total cost of $5 million in which city? a) London b) Paris c) Dubai d) New-York e) New Delhi


27) An anti-satellite weapon A-SAT, developed by DRDO, successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit, under the ‘Mission Shakti’. How many countries (including India) have successfully conducted the Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile test till date? a) Five b) Four c) Three d) Two e) None of these

28) Which Islamic Bank has announced the launch of Chat Banking services for customers via WhatsApp, marking a global first in the Islamic banking sector? a) Emirates Islamic b) Dubai International Bank c) Abu Dhabi Bank d) Doha Islamic Bank e) Muscat Islamic

29) The Reserve Bank of India came out with guidelines for banks to set up new currency chests, which include a minimum area of 1,500 square feet for strong room. The new chests should have a processing a capacity of ________________ pieces of banknotes per day. a) 7.8 lakh b) 4.2 lakh c) 5.3 lakh d) 6.6 lakh e) 15.9 lakh

30) Recently which of the following Banks has partnered with credit profiler CreditVidya to improve the lender’s customer experience? a) Yes Bank b) RBL Bank c) Karnataka Bank d) South Indian Bank e) HDFC Bank

31) Which organisation has launched a 5G Use Cases Lab for banking and financial sector recently? a) NHB b) BRBNMPL c) RBI d) SEBI e) IDRBT

32) The UAN scheme is applicable to a) EPFO subscribers b) PPF subscribers c) NPS subscribers d) PPP model e) None of these

33) Where is the headquarters of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)? a)Hyderabad b)New Delhi c)Kochi d)Ahmedabad e)none of these

34) Which Bank has launched ‘NRI-Insta-Online’ account opening process for NRIs residing in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) member countries? a) HDFC Bank b) Bank of Baroda c) State Bank of India d) IDBI Bank e) Axis Bank

35) ACI Worldwide, a global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, announced that _________________ has successfully rolled out major new functionality to support EMV cards across its ATM network? a) State Bank of India b) Bank of Baroda c) Canara Bank d) IDBI Bank e) Axis Bank

36) Where is the headquarters of ISRO? a) Bengaluru b) Delhi c) Hyderabad d) Mumbai e) Chennai

37) Agha Khan Cup is related to which game? a) Hockey b) Cricket c) Football d) Badminton e) Basketball

38) Which of the following schemes has been launched by Union HRD ministry for providing industry apprenticeship opportunities to graduates from arts discipline? a) Param b) Shreyas c) Pariksha d) Aditya e) None of these

39) What is the India’s rank in The Facebook Inclusive Internet Index (3i) 2019? a)54th b)47th c)68th d)36th e) None of these

40) IDRBT is an institution exclusively focused on developing banking technology. What is the full form of IDRBT? a) Institute for Development & Research in Branches Technology b) Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology c) Institute for Department & Research in Banking Technology d) Indian Department for Research in Banking Technology e) Institute for Development & Revenue in Banking Treaty


41) Which of these is NOT a government scheme? a) AMRUT b) APY c) SAMMAN d) HRIDAY e) None of these

42. Who has become the first Indian to hold the post of the President of Global Solar Council (GSC), Washington D.C., USA. A visionary in the field of solar energy, he is also the chairman of National Solar Energy Federation? a)Pranav R Mehta b)Rahul Johri c)Chandrasekhar Swamy d)Abhishek Kant e)none of these

43) Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) was established in 1964 by an Act to provide credit and other financial facilities for the development of the fledgling Indian industry. Its new version IDBI Bank is a ___________ bank. a) Private Sector Bank b) Nationalized Bank c) Public Sector Bank d) Small Finance Bank e) Foreign Bank

44) What is the currency of Russia? a) Riyal b) Euro c) Ruble d) Dollar e) None of these

45) Who has been appointed as the Chairman of the newly constituted National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC)? a)D P Agrawal b) Sandeep Bakhshi c) Bhagwan Lal Sahni d) P C Hota e) Rajni Razdan

46) Which of the following cities has received the India’s “Cleanest Big City Award” in Swachh Survekshan 2019 awards? a) Bengaluru b) Ahmedabad c) Indore d) Patna e) Hyderabad

47) Who among the following is the co-winner of the 2019 Missile Systems Award? a) S N Singh b) Anil Kumar Jha c) G. Satheesh Reddy d) Devendra Prasad e) Mohan Dev

48) Which of the following is/are NOT true of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana? 1. The scheme is designed to achieve the government’s goal of Comprehensive Financial Inclusion. 2. The account holders are not required to maintain any minimum balance in their accounts.

3. Every account holder gets a RuPay Debit Card free of charge to facilitate transactions, besides a free accident cover. 4. The government contributes Rs. 1000 initially towards every account to ensure that it has at least some balance. a) 2, 3 b) 4 Only c) All statements are correct d) 1, 4 e) None of these

49) PM Ujjwala yojana is related to? a) LPG connections b) LED bulbs c) Renewable Energy d)Gas Cylinders e) None of these

50) National Maritime Day is celebrated every year to mark the beginning of Indian shipping that started on this day in 1919. When is this day celebrated? a)April 5 b)April 2 c)March 27 d)March 15 e)None of these

ANSWER KEY APRIL GK TEST - 01

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 A 2 C 3 B 4 B 5 B 6 C 7 D 8 A 9 A 10 B

11 C 12 A 13 B 14 D 15 D 16 B 17 B 18 B 19 A 20 C 21 B 22 D 23 C 24 C 25 D 26 C 27 A 28 D 29 D 30 B 31 C 32 A 33 A 34 A 35 D 36 C 37 A 38 C 39 D 40 C 41 A 42 D 43 E 44 B 45 C 46 B 47 A 48 D 49 E 50 D

ANSWER KEY APRIL GK TEST - 02

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 A 2 C 3 C 4 B 5 B 6 A 7 C 8 A 9 D 10 E

11 A 12 D 13 A 14 D 15 B 16 C 17 D 18 C 19 B 20 C 21 B 22 D 23 E 24 C 25 A 26 C 27 B 28 A 29 D 30 B 31 E 32 A 33 B 34 D 35 C 36 A 37 A 38 B 39 B 40 B 41 C 42 A 43 A 44 C 45 C 46 B 47 C 48 B 49 A 50 A

GENERAL AWARENESS – JUNE 2019 62

SBI CLERK-PRE EXAM (MODEL TEST PAPER)

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE Directions (Q. 1 – 15): What will come in place of question mark (?) in the following questions?

1) [(3024 189 )1/2 + (684 19)2] = (?)2 + 459 a) -27 b) -29 c) 31 d) 841 e) 108

2) 4.4 times 165

of 30% of 216 = ?

a) 81.9 b) 83.7 c) 87.3 d) 89.1 e) None of these 3) (0.0729 0.1)3 (0.081 x 10)5 x (0.3 x 3)5 =

(0.9)?+3

a) 1 b) 2 c) 4 d) 7 5) None of these 4) (√? %of √ퟏퟕퟔퟒx 5) = 149.8 – 112 a) 18 b) 18 c) 324 d) 24 e) None of these 5) (27)2 x 6 9 + (7)3 + 71 = (?)3 – 431 a) 11 b) (13)3 c) 13 d) (11)2 e) None of these Directions (Q. 6 – 10): In the following questions, three equations numbered, I, II and III are given. You have to solve all the equations either together or separately, or two together and one separately, or by any other method and give answer a) If x < y = z b) If x < z c) If x < y > z d) If x = y > z e) If x = y = z or if none of the above relationship can

be established 6) I. 7x + 6y + 4z = 122

II. 4x + 5y + 3z = 88 III. 9x +2y + z = 78 7) I. 7x + 6y = 110 II. 4x + 3y = 59 III. x + z = 15

8) I. x =

4

1129636 2

1

II. 2y + 3z = 33

III. 6y + 5z = 71 9) I. 8x + 7y = 135 II. 5x + 6y = 99 III.9y + 8z = 121 10) I. (x + y)3 = 1331 II. x – y + z = 0 III. xy = 28 Directions (Q. 11 – 15) : What will come in place of question mark (?) in the following number series? 11) 17 19 33 (?) 129 227 a) 64 b) 73 c) 67 d) 72 e) None of these 12) 35 256 451 620 763 (?) a) 680 b) 893 c) 633 d) 880 e) None of these 13) 18 139 868 917 (?) 1051 a) 1042 b) 1036 c) 942 d) 996 e) None of these 14) 2890 (?) 1162 874 730 658 a) 1684 b) 1738


c) 1784 d) 1672 e) None of these

15) 14 1004 1202 1251.5 1268 (?) a) 1267.5 b) 1276.25 c) 1324.5 d) 1367.25

e) None of these Directions (Q. 16 – 20): Study the following information carefully to answer the questions that follow: There are two trains, Train A and Train B. Both trains have four different types of coaches, viz General, Sleeper, First class and AC. In Train A, there are total 700 passengers. Train B has thirty percent more passengers than Train A. Twenty per cent of the passengers of Trains A are in General Coach. One fourth of the total number of passengers of Train A are in AC coach. Twenty three percent of the passengers of Train A are in sleeper Coach. Remaining passengers of Train A are in First Class Coach. The total number of passengers in AC Coach in both the trains together is 480. Thirty percent of the number of passengers of Train B are in Sleeper Coach. Ten percent of the total passengers of Train B are in First Class Coach. The remaining passengers of Train B are in General Coach. 16) What is the ratio of the number of passengers in

First Class Coach of Train A to the number of passengers in Sleeper Coach of Train B?

a) 13 : 7 b) 7 : 13 c) 32 : 39 d) Data inadequate e) None of these

17) What is the total number of passengers in the General Coach of Train A and AC coach of Train B together?

a) 449 b) 459 c) 435 d) 445 e) None of these 18) What is the difference between the number of

passengers in the AC Coach of Train A and the total number of passengers in Sleeper and First Class Coach together of Train B?

a) 199 b) 178 c) 187 d) 179 e) None of these 19) The total number of passengers in General

Coaches of both the trains together is approximately what percentage of the total number of passengers in Train B?

a) 35 b) 42 c) 46 d) 38 e) 31 20) If the cost per ticket of First Class Coach is Rs.

450, what will be the total amount generated from First Class Coach of train A?

a) Rs. 1,00,080 b) Rs. 1,08,000 c) Rs. 1,00,800 d) Rs. 10,800 e) None of these

Directions (Q. 21-25): Study the table carefully to answer the question that follow.

Number of animals in grasslands of four different countries in five different years.

YEAR COUNTRY

South Africa China Sri Lanka England

Tiger Lion Bear Tiger Lion Bear Tiger Lion Bear Tiger Lion Bear

1990 145 156 250 320 346 436 280 468 255 423 342 234

1995 134 165 354 445 256 542 354 354 343 368 136 345

2000 120 135 324 583 325 454 433 345 545 354 267 456

2005 110 184 285 466 475 322 343 324 546 562 235 567

2010 160 224 264 411 535 534 535 532 453 349 345 324

21) What is the average of the number of tigers in the grassland of Sri Lanka over all the years together?

a) 386 b) 389 c) 369 d) 276 e) None of these

22) What is the difference between the total number of lions and bears in the grassland of England in the year 2005 and the number of tigers in the grassland of South Africa in the year 1995?


a) 597 b) 558 c) 677 d) 668 e) None of these 23) The total number of animals together in the

grassland of china in the year 1990 is approximately what percent of the total number of bears in the grassland of Sri Lanka over all the years together?

a) 44% b) 56% c) 41% d) 47% e) 51% 24) If 35 percent of the total number of animals in

the grassland of China in the year 2010 died due to an epidemic, how many animals remained in the grass land of China in the year 2010?

a) 976 b) 952 c) 986 d) 962 e) None of these 25) What is three-fourths of the total number of

lions in the grasslands of all the four countries in the year 2000?

a) 848 b) 868 c) 804 d) 824 e) None of these 26) Sushant spent 18% of the monthly salary on

buying electronic goods and 32% of the monthly salary on repair work in his house. Out of the remaining amount he invested 42% in fixed deposits. If he was left with Rs. 12,325, how much is his annual salary? a) Rs. 5,18,000 b) Rs. 5,02,600 c) Rs. 5,15,600 d) Rs. 5,00,200 e) Rs. 5,10,000

27) When 2/5 of a number is added to 169, it

becomes thrice of itself. What is the number? a) 50 b) 90 c) 45 d) 65 e) 80

28) A alone can finish a piece of work in 42 days. B

is 20% more efficient than A. In how many days A and B working together can finish the same piece of work? (in days)

a) 51112

b) 51312

c) 11512

d) 11119

e) 111112

29) Ashish has Rs. 10 notes and Rs. 20 notes only. If

the number of Rs. 20 notes is twice the number of Rs. 10 notes and the total amount he has is Rs. 3,250, what is the total number of notes that he has? a) 180 b) 174 c) 195 d) 145 e) 165 ANS. C

30) Vessel A contains 36 litres of mixture of milk

and water and vessel B contains 80 litres of mixture of milk and water. The respective ratio of milk and water in vessel A is 3 : 2 and the respective ratio of milk and water in the vessel B is 7 : 3. If 18 litres of mixture is taken out from vessel B and added to vessel A, how many litres of water will be there in vessel A? a) 21.4 b) 19.8 c) 17.6 d) 20.4 e) 18.8

Directions: (31-35): Study the following graph carefully and answer the questions given below:

Consumption of paneer, chicken and mutton (in kg) in various hotels in the year 2014

31) What is the average consumption of Mutton

in all the hotels together? a) 440 kg b) 420 kg c) 430 kg d) 400 kg e) 450 kg


32) What is the ratio of the amount of Paneer, Chicken and Mutton consumed in Hotel B to that consumed in Hotel D? a) 26 : 47 b) 21 : 26 c) 26 : 21 d) None of these e) 21 : 47

33) The amount of Chicken consumed in Hotel B

is approximately what per cent of the amount of Paneer consumed in all the hotels together? a) 27% b) 28% c) 30% d) 35% e) 25%

34) What is the average amount of Paneer,

Chicken and Mutton consumed in all the hotels? a) 1300 kg b) 1240 kg c) 1100 kg d) 1340 kg e) 1245 kg

35) What is the ratio of the amount of Paneer

consumed in Hotel B and C to that of Mutton consumed in Hotel D and E together? a) 19 : 16 b) 19 : 35 c) 16 : 19 d) 16 : 35 e) 35 : 19

REASONING ABILITY Directions (Q. Nos. 36 to 40): Study the following information to answer the given questions. Twelve cars viz Mercedes, Swift, Santro, Accord, Innova, Polo, Punto, Figo, Civic, City, Ferrari and Landrover are parked in two parallel rows containing six cars each, in such a way that there is an equal distance between adjacent cars. The cars parked in row – 1 are parked in such a manner that the driver seated in the cars would face the South. In row – 2, cars are parked in such a manner that the drivers seated in these cars would face the North. Therefore, in the given parking arrangement each car parked in a row faces another car of the other row. (i) Mercedes being a big car must be parked at one of the extreme ends. Mercedes is parked second to the left of Santro. Santro faces Figo.

(ii) Punto and Innova are parked immediately next to each other. Neither is parked next to Figo or Santro. (iii) Civic is parked in such a manner that its driver when seated in the parked car would face South. Civic is parked third to the left of Polo. (iv) City is parked in such a manner that it faces Ferrari. Ferrari is parked second to the left of Landrover. Landrover faces North and is not parked next to Figo. (v) Swift is parked third to the right of Ferrari and faces Innova. (Note Left and right parking directions are with reference to the driver as if the driver is seated in the car.) 36) How many cars are parked between Santro

and Civic? a) One b) Two c) Three d) Four e) Both cars are parked in different rows

37) Polo is related to Ferrari in the same way as

Innova is related to Accord. To which of the following is City related to, following the same pattern? a) Mercedes b) Innova c) Santro d) Punto e) Landrover

38) Which of the following cars are parked at

extreme ends of the rows? a) Landrover, Punto b) Innova, Polo c) Polo, Accord d) Landrover, Innova e) Ferrari, Swift

39) Which of the following cars faces Polo?

a) Mercedes b) Civic c) Landrover d) Punto e) Accord

40) Which of the following is true regarding Figo? a) A driver seated in the parked Figo would face North b) Swift is parked second to the right of the car facing Figo. c) Punto and Ferrari are parked immediately next to Figo d) Mercedes and Accord are parked at the extreme ends of the row in which Figo is parked e) None is true


Directions (Q. Nos. 41 to 46): Study the following information carefully to answer the given questions. Eight people are sitting in two parallel rows containing four people each, in such a way that there is an equal distance between adjacent persons. In row – 1 A, B, C and D seated and all of them are facing South. In row – 2 E, F, G and H are seated and all of them are facing North. Therefore, in the given sitting arrangement each member seated in a row faces another member of the other row. Each one of them also has different profession, viz. Engineer, Doctor, Teacher, Pilot, Businessman, Banker, Lawyer and Builder but not necessarily in the same order. B sits second to right of the Builder. G faces the immediate neighbour of the Builder. Only one person sits between G and the Pilot. Two persons sit between H and the Lawyer. D faces the immediate neighbour of the Pilot. Only one person sits between the Teacher and C. Teacher does not sit at any of the extreme ends. Immediate neighbour of D faces the Doctor. E faces the Engineer. F is not the Banker. 41) Who amongst the following sit at extreme

ends of the rows? a) B and the Pilot b) C and the Builder c) The Builder and G d) G and the Engineer e) A, G

42) Who amongst the following is the Banker?

a) A b) B c) C d) E e) G

43) Who is/are seated between the Lawyer and

the Doctor? a) Pilot only b) G and the Businessman c) F, E d) Businessman and the Banker e) No one

44) Who amongst the following faces the Businessman? a) A b) Doctor c) F d) Teacher e) Builder

45) Which of the following is true regarding G? a) D faces G b) The pilot is an immediate neighbour of G c) G faces the person who is second to left of the Banker

d) G is the Doctor e) G sits at one of the extreme ends of the line

46) F is related to Builder in the same way as H

is related to Banker based on the given arrangement. To who amongst the following is G related to, following the same pattern? a) Businessman b) Teacher c) Lawyer d) Engineer e) Pilot

Directions (Qs. 47– 48): P, Q, R, S, T went on a picnic. P is the son of Q but Q is not the father of P. R is the son of S, who is the brother of P. T is the wife of S. 47) How is P related of S?

a) Nephew b) Brother c) Father d) None of these e) Can't be determined

48) How many males are present in this group?

a) 1 b) 2 c) 3 d) 4 e) None of these

Directions (Q. 49 - 53): In these questions, the relationship between different elements is shown in the statements. The statements are followed by two conclusions. Give answer: a) if only conclusion I is true. b) if only conclusion II is true. c) if either conclusion I or II is true. d) if neither conclusion I nor II is true. e) if both conclusion I and II are true. 49) Statements: T < R U; L > U K; P R

Conclusions: I. K R II. L > R a) if only conclusion I is true. b) if only conclusion II is true. c) if either conclusion I or II is true. d) if neither conclusion I nor II is true. e) if both conclusion I and II are true.

50) Statements: H = I R; M R < S

Conclusions: I. M = I II. M > I a) if only conclusion I is true. b) if only conclusion II is true. c) if either conclusion I or II is true. d) if neither conclusion I nor II is true.


e) if both conclusion I and II are true. 51) Statements: D > H N; S > I H

Conclusions: I. N S II. I < D a) if only conclusion I is true. b) if only conclusion II is true. c) if either conclusion I or II is true. d) if neither conclusion I nor II is true. e) if both conclusion I and II are true.

52) Statements: P O < I; P > Y > M

Conclusions: I. Y I II. O > M a) if only conclusion I is true. b) if only conclusion II is true. c) if either conclusion I or II is true. d) if neither conclusion I nor II is true. e) if both conclusion I and II are true.

53) Statements: A B > C F; Z < C D < E

Conclusions: I. A > Z II. F < E a) if only conclusion I is true. b) if only conclusion II is true. c) if either conclusion I or II is true. d) if neither conclusion I nor II is true. e) if both conclusion I and II are true.

54) Statements:

Some carpets are books. All books are pens Some pens are cartons. All cartons are notebooks. Conclusions: I. Some cartons are carpets II. Some cartons are books III. Some pens are carpets. IV. Some notebooks are pens. a) Only I and II follow b) Only II and III follow c) Only III and IV follow d) Only I and III follow e) None of these

55) Statements:

Some paints are bottles Some bottles are brands Some brands are colours All colours are erasers. Conclusions: I. Some paints are brands II. Some erasers are bottles

III. Some erasers are brands IV. Some bottles are colours a) None follows b) Only III follows c) Only II and IV follow d) Only IV follows e) Only I, II and III follow

56) Statements:

Some boxes are triangles All spheres are triangles All Circles are boxes. All triangles are quadrilaterals. Conclusions: I. Some quadrilaterals are boxes. II. Some quadrilaterals are triangles III. Some triangles are spheres. IV. No Circle is quadrilateral. a) Only I follows b) Only II follows c) Only I, II and III follow d) Only III follows e) All follow

57) Statements: All plastics are trees. Some trees are buildings Some buildings are windows Some windows are papers. Conclusions: I. Some papers are plastics II. Some buildings are papers III. No paper is tree IV. Some trees are windows. a) Only I follows b) Only II follows c) Only I and IV follow d) Only III follows e) None follows

58) Statements: All rings are phones. All phones are spoons. Some phones are files All files are covers Conclusions: I. Some files are rings II. Some covers are spoons. III. Some spoons are phones IV. Some rings are covers a) Only II and IV follow b) Only I, II and III follow


c) Only I and II follow d) Only II and III follow e) None follows

Directions: (59-63): Study the following information to answer the given questions. Seven people P, Q, R, S, T, U, and V stay in a building that has seven floors. Only one person stays on one floor. The ground floor is numbered 1, the floor above it, number 2 and so on and the top most floor is numbered 7, V stays on the ground floor, T stays on an odd numbered floor. Q stays on a floor immediately below T floor. There is a gap of two floors between P's and T's houses. R stays on a floor immediately above S’s stays on any floor which is below the floor on which T stays. 59) Who amongst the following stays on the

topmost floor? a) P b) T c) R d) S e) None of these

60) Who amongst the following stays on the

fourth floor? a) Q b) U c) S d) R e) None of these

61) Who amongst the following stays on the floor

which is exactly between the floor on which P stays and the floor on which Q stays? a) U b) R c) T d) S e) None of these

62) Which of the following is true as per the

information provided? a) P stays on the floor which is immediately above the floor on which U stays. b) U stays on the floor which is immediately below the floor on which R stays. c) T stays on the fifth floor. d) R stays on the third floor. e) None is true.

63) How many floors are there between the floors on which V stays and the floor on which S stays? a) Three b) None c) More than three d) One e) Two

64) In a row of 29 boys, Rajendra is at

seventeenth position from the left and while Harendra is seventeenth from the right end. How many boys are there between Rajendra and Harendra? a) 6 b) 3 c) 5 d) Cannot be determined e) None of these

65) Forty boys are standing in a row facing the

North. Raghu is 11th from the left and Rajiv is 31st from the right end of the row. How far away will Laxman, who is third to the right of Raghu in the row, be from Rajiv? a) 3rd b) 4th c) 5th d) None of these e) Can't be determined

Directions (66-70): Study the information and answer the given question. In a certain code language 'prepare for your exam’ is written as, xn nt oz wl' 'hard work for prepare’ is written as, 'nt ml oz tk' 'prepare your studies well' is written as, 'sd jk nt xn' 'work well best results’ is written as, 'ds lu jk ml' 66) What is the code for 'best‘ in the given code

language? a) lu b) ml c) sd d) ds e) Either ds or lu

67) In the given code language 'nt’ is the code of

which word? a) prepare b) your c) hard d) work e) exam

68) What may be the code for 'exams are hard'

in the given code language? a) wl ml tk b) zr tk ko c) wl xn tk d) tk zr wl e) ke wl xn

69) What is the code for 'studies for' in the given

Code language? a) ds sd b) jk sd c) jk xn d) oz jc e) oz sd


70) What is the code for 'well' in the given code language? a) xn b) nt c) wl d) jk e) ml

ENGLISH LANGUAGE Directions: Each question below has two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Choose the set of words for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole. 71) Most of the ______ that sprang up near the

logging camps were ______ affairs, thrown together in a hurry because people needed to live on the job. a) houses, protracted b) homes, unobtrusive c) huts, nomadic d) settlements, ramshackle e) tents, banal

72) The possum is _______ the venom of snakes in

the rattlesnake subfamily and thus views the reptiles not as _____ enemies but as a food source. a) defenseless against, natural b) vulnerable, mortal c) impervious to, lethal d) conscious of, potential e) sensitive to, deadly

73) Mr. X’s former editors remember him as a

_______ man whose _______ and exhaustive reporting was worth the trouble. a) congenial, wearisome b) domineering, supercilious c) meticulous, research-based d) diligent, garbled e) sensitive to, deadly

74) The number of vultures has ______ because

the encroachments of humans on their territory have caused them to _______ their customary breeding places. a) dwindled, shun b) diminished, locate c) increased, accept d) multiplied, alter e) progressed, flee

75) That Jennifer’s newest film is No. 1 at the box office this week is a testament to the star’s _______ power and not to the reviews, which were ______ at best. a) staying, average b) drawing, modest c) star, superb d) unique, indifferent e) ongoing, sarcastic

Directions: In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage, against each five words are suggested. One of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case. A National Horticulture Mission is proposed to be launched with a goal to (76) horticulture production by 2021 – 22. States have been (77) to join (78) with the Centre in launching this mission and establish a State Level Cooperative Society for promoting horticulture. Farmers will be (79) to (80) into oilseeds through promotion of superior seed-technology and through an (81) policy of price support. A model law on (82) of agricultural produce has been circulated and so far, ten States have (83) legal or (84) action for ‘direct marketing’ and ‘contract farming’ arrangements in line with the model law. The Budget urged all the States to (85) the model law at an early date. 76) a) double b) sell off

c) channelize d) market e) mobilize

77) a) noticed b) dedicated

c) found d) invited e) reported

78) a) along b) products

c) hands d) themselves e) them

79) a) granted b) authorized

c) empowered d) encouraged e) paid

80) a) involve b) invest

c) look d) turn e) diversity


81) a) exact b) appropriate c) independent d) encouraging e) expensive

82) a) marketing b) investment

c) distribution d) storage e) harvesting

83) a) prohibited b) enforced

c) precipitated d) speculated e) initiated

84) a) informal b) administrative

c) penal d) conforming e) legitimate

85) a) clarify b) elaborate

c) enact d) explain e) interpret

Directions : Rearrange the following six sentences (A), (B), (C), (D), (E) and (F) in the proper sequence to form a meaningful paragraph and then answer the questions given below. A. The history of mankind is full of such fighting between communities, nations and people. B. From the primitive weapons of warfare, man has advanced to the modern nuclear weapons. C. Ever since the dawn of civilization, man has been fighting with man. D. A modern war is scientific in character, but the effect is the same, wiping human existence from the earth. E. The only difference now seems to be in the efficiency of the instruments use to kill each other. 86) Which of the following should be the FIRST

sentence? a) A b) B c) C d) D e) E

87) Which of the following should be the

SECOND sentence? a) A b) B c) C d) D e) E

88) Which of the following should be the THIRD

sentence? a) A b) B c) C d) D e) E

89) Which of the following should be the FOURTH sentence? a) A b) B c) C d) D e) E

90) Which of the following should be the FIFTH

(LAST) sentence? a) A b) B c) C d) D e) E

Directions : Which of the phrases (a), (b), (c) and (d) given below each sentence should replace the word/phrase printed in bold in the sentence to make it grammatically correct? If the sentence is correct as it is given and no correction is required, mark (e) as the answer. 91) The US Secretary of state made it clear that

time running out for diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme and said that the talks aimed at preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon would resume in April. a) runs out b) was running out c) ran out d) run e) No correction required

92) While the war of the generals rage on,

somewhere in small town India, wonderful things are happening, quietly but minus fanfare. a) rage b) raging c) rages on d) raged on e) No correction required

93) According to WWF, the small island nation of

Samoa was the first in switch off its lights for the Earth Hour. a) first to switch of b) the first to switch off c) the first of switch off d) first in switch of e) No correction required

94) The campaign is significant because not just

the youths are directly appealing to the world but because their efforts challenge the chimera of normalcy in the area. a) not just because b) just not because c) not just d) because just e) No correction required


95) The doctor’s association has threatened to go on indefinite strike support of their teachers. a) on supporting to b) to supporting c) for support d) in support of e) No correction required

Directions: Read the passage carefully and then answer questions 96 to 100 based on what is stated as implied in the passage. Alzheimer’s disease impairs a person’s ability to recall memories, both distant and as recent as a few hours before. Although there is no cure yet for the illness, there may be hope for a cure with a protein called nerve growth factor. The protein is produced by nerve cells in the same region of the brain where Alzheimer’s occurs. Based on this relationship, scientists from the University of Lund in Sweden and the University of California at San Diego designed an experiment to test whether doses of nerve growth factors could service the effects of memory loss caused by Alzheimer’s. Using a group of rats with impaired memory, the scientist gave half of the rats doses of nerve growth factor while giving the other half a blood protein as a placebo, thus creating a control group. At the end of the four-week test, the rats given the nerve growth factor performed equally on rats with normal memory abilities. While experiments do not show that nerve growth factor can stop the general process of deterioration caused by Alzheimer’s, they do show potential as a means to slowing the process significantly. 96) According to the passage, where is the nerve

growth factor produced in the body? a) In the pituitary gland b) In nerve cells in brain c) in red blood cells in the circulatory system d) In nerve cells in the special column e) None of these

97) The word impairs is most similar to which of

the following? a) affects b) destroys c) enhances d) diminishes e) Improve

98) Which of the following can be inferred from

the passage? a) Alzheimer’s disease is deadly.

b) The experiments did show some benefits derived from new growth factors. c) The experiment did not show any significant benefits from nerve growth factor. d) More work needs to be done to understand the effects of nerve growth centre. e) None of these

99) The passage most closely resembles which

of the following patterns of organization? a) Chronological b) Statement and illustration c) Alphabetical order d) Sequential e) None of the above

100) Which of the following is closet in meaning to the word deterioration? a) depression b) deduction c) decline d) disconnection e) Submit

ANSWER KEY

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 B 2 D 3 A 4 E 5 A 6 A 7 C 8 E 9 E 10 E

11 C 12 D 13 A 14 B 15 B 16 C 17 D 18 E 19 B 20 C 21 B 22 D 23 E 24 D 25 C 26 E 27 D 28 D 29 C 30 B 31 B 32 C 33 A 34 B 35 C 36 E 37 C 38 C 39 A 40 B 41 A 42 C 43 E 44 E 45 D 46 B 47 B 48 C 49 E 50 C 51 B 52 B 53 E 54 C 55 B 56 C 57 E 58 D 59 B 60 E 61 A 62 D 63 B 64 B 65 B 66 E 67 A 68 D 69 E 70 D 71 D 72 C 73 C 74 A 75 B 76 A 77 D 78 C 79 D 80 B 81 B 82 A 83 E 84 B 85 C 86 C 87 A 88 B 89 D 90 E 91 B 92 C 93 B 94 A 95 D 96 B 97 D 98 B 99 B 100 C

EXPLANATIONS

1. b) (16)1/2 + (36)2 = ?2 + 459 or, ?2 = 4 + 1296 – 459 = 841 or, ? = ± 29

2. d) 21610030

1654.4

= 1.898.641654.4


3. a) (0.729)3 (0.81)5 x (0.9)5 = (0.9)?+3 or, [(0.9)3]3 [(0.9)2]5 x (0.9)5 = (0.9)?+3 or, (0.9)9 (0.9)10 x (0.9)5 = (0.9)?+3 or, (0.9)9-10+5 = (0.9)?+3 or, (0.9)4 = (0.9)?+3 ? = 1

4. e) 8.37542100

?

or, 8.37210%? of

%?100

2108.37

%?%18 = 3.24

5. a) (729 x 6 9) + 343 + 71 + 431 = ?3 or, 486 + 343 + 71 + 431 = ?3 or, ?3 = 1331 = (11)3 or, ? = 11 6. a) 7x + 6y + 4z = 122……(i) 4x + 5y + 3z = 88…….(ii) 9x + 2y + z = 78……..(iii) From (i) and (ii), 5x – 2y = 14…….(iv) From (ii) and (iii), 23x + y = 146…….(v) From (iv) and (v), x = 6, y = 8

putting the value of x and y in eqn (i), we get z =8 x < y = z

7.c) 7x + 6y = 110 …(i) 4x + 3y = 59 …(ii) x + z = 15 …(iii) from eqn (i) and (ii), x = 8, y = 9 put the value of x in eqn (iii) then, z = 7

x < y > z 8.e) x = 4/142/12 )6()6(

x = )...(666 i 2y + 3z = 33 …(ii) 6y + 5z = 71 …(ii) From eqn (ii) and (iii), Y = 6 and z = 7 x = y< z 9.e) 8x + 7y = 135 …(i) 5x + 6y = 99 …(ii) 9y + 8z = 121 ….(iii) From eqn (i) and (ii) X = 9 and y = 9 Putting the value of y in eqn (iii) Z = 5 x = y > z 10.e) (x + y)3 = 1331

or x + y = 11 … (i) (x + y)2 = 121 (x – y)2 + 4xy = 121 x – y = 3 … (ii)

[value of xy from eqn (iii)] From eqn (i) and (ii), x = 7, y = 4 Put the value of x and y in the eqn x – y + z = 0 7 – y + z = 0 3 + z = 0 z = –3 11.c) 17 19 33 67 129 227 +2 +2+12 +14+20 34+28 62+36 12.d) 35 256 451 620 763 880 221 195 169 143 117 -26 -26 -26 -26 13.a) 18 139 868 917 1042 1051 112 93 72 53 32

14.b) 2890 1738 1162 874 730 638 1152 576 288 144 72 15.b) 14 1004 1202 1251.5 1268 1276.25 +990 +9905 +1984 +49.53 +16.5 2 16-20): Train A (700) Train B (910) Gen coaches 140 241 Sleeper coaches 161 273 First class 224 91 AC coaches 175 305 16.c 17.d 18.e 19.b 20.c

21.b) 3895

1945

22.d) 23.e) %44.5110021421102

24.d) 1480 x 96210065

25.c) 1072 x 804

43

26. (e) 29 = 12325 100 = 29

12325 100

Annually salary = 42500 12 = 510000

100%

E.G = 18% House 32% 50% = Pension

Timed depots 42% of 50 58% of 50 = 12325


27.(d) 52 x + 169 = 3x

x = 169 135 = 65

28. (d) A B Eff. 5 6 Total work = 42 5

Time taken by A + B = 11

542 = 19111

29. (c) Notes value Rs. 10 Rs. 20 Qty. 1 : 2 Total Amount 10 1 + 20 2 = 50 50 = 3250

3 = 350

3250 = 195

( Total no. of nodes in ratio = 1 + 2 = 3) 30. (b)

After added 18 of mixture B in vessel A. Total water in vessel A = 14.4 + 1.8 3 = 19.8

31. (b) 5

550400500450200

32. (c) 400350300450300550

33. (a) 100450300250550500

300

34. (b) (500+450+200550+300+450+250+450+500+300+350+400+450+500+550) 15

35. (c) 550400250550

(36 - 40):

(41 - 46):

(47 - 48):

47) b): Brother

48) c): 3

(49 - 53): 49) e): T < R ≤ U ≤ K ˄ P L 1) K ≥ R 2) L > R 50) c):

either (i) or (ii) H = I ≤ R < S M

1) M = I x 2) M > I x 51) b): D > H ≥ N I ˄ S

1) N ≤ S x 2) I < D 52) b): M < Y < P ≤ O < I

1) Y ≤ I x 2) O > M 53) e):

Z ˄ A ≥ B > C ≥ F D ˄ E 1) A > Z

Vessel Vessel B 36

M 3

W 2

:

80

M 7

W 3

:

21.6

14.4

56 24

5 = 36

10 = 80

10 = 18 1 = 1.8


2) F < E

54) c):

1) x 2) x 3) 4)

55) b):

1) x 2) x 3) 4) x

56) c):

1) 2) 3) 4) X

57) e):

1) x 2) x 3) x 4) x 58) d):

1) x 2) 3) 4) x

(59 - 63):

7 – T 6 – Q

5 – U 4 – P 3 – R 2 – S 1 – V

64) b):

Harender position from Left = Total + 1 – position from right = 29 + 1 – 17 = 13 left = 3 boys are there between Rajendra & Harendra i.e. 14L, 15L, 16L

65)

Laxman position from Right = Total + 1 – position from left of Laxman = 40 + 1 – 14 = 27 Right 4 position away.

(66 - 70): Prpare for your exam xn nt oz wl Hard work for prepare nt ml oz tk Prepare your studies well sd jk nt xn Work well best results ds lu jk ml Well – jk Work – ml Best/results = Either ds or lu Prepare = nt For = oz Your = xn Exam = wl Studies = sd Hard = tk 66) e): best = either ds or lu 67) a): nt = prepare 68) d): exams are hard = wl tk zr 69) e): studies for = sd oz 70) d): well – jk


Latest G.K.Bytes

APRIL - 2019 1) World Intellectual Property Day is observed on

April 26, supported by specialized UN agency WIPO. What is WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization

2) Where are the headquarters of World Intellectual Property Organization: Geneva, Switzerland

3) The world's first-ever malaria vaccine was launched recently in a pilot project in________ , a small country in south east Africa: Malawi

4) What is the name of the first ever malaria vaccine launched recently: RTS, S, (trade name Mosquirix)

5) The World Malaria Day is observed on which date: April 25

6) What is the theme of this year's World Malaria Day: Zero malaria starts with me

7) The Reserve Bank has become the first central bank in the Asia-Pacific region to begin an explicit interest rate easing cycle. What does it implies: Gradual reduction of Repo Rate

8) _________ has been appointed as the new Managing Director and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank: Karnam Sekar

9) In the recently concluded Asian Athletics Championships in Doha, what was India's rank in medal tally: 4th

10) Volodymyr Zelenskiy, recently elected as the President of Ukraine, is famous _______ by profession: Comedian

11) Which country has successfully tested the world’s first floating nuclear power plant- ‘Akademik Lomonosov’: Russia

12) We celebrate April 24 as the National Panchayati Raj Day. Which amendment of constitution provided constitutional status to Panchayati Raj System: 73rd

13) There are how many tiers in the Panchayati Raj System: Three

14) What are the three tiers of the Panchayati Raj institutions: (i) Gram Panchayat (ii) Gram Samiti (iii) Zila Parishad

15) The Reserve Bank has divested its entire stake in which of its two organizations: National Housing Bank and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

16) After disinvestment by RBI, which authority is the

is the sole owner of NHB and NABARD: Govt. of India

17) Which country released a special commemorative stamp on the theme of Ramayana to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of its diplomatic ties with India: Indonesia

18) Which institution has announced the creation of the Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies, named in honour of noted economist and Nobel laureate: London School of Economics

19) Martyrdom to Freedom is a famous book written by which author: Rajesh Ramachandran

20) "Lost Roses" is a best seller novel written by which author: Martha Hall Kelly

21) What is the name of the latest novel authored by Della Owens: Where the Crawdads Sing

22) The Union Ministry of AYUSH and CSIR signed a MoU for cooperation in research and education in areas of traditional systems of medicine. What is full form of CSIR: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

23) Headquarters of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research are located at which place: New Delhi

24) The acronym AYUSH stands for what? Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy

25) UNESCO has designated ______ as the World Book Capital for 2019: Sharjah

26) Headquarters of UNSECO are located at which place: Paris, France

27) Which international day is celebrated on April 23 to highlight the power of books: The World Book and Copyright Day

28) Santosh Trophy is associated with which sports: Football

29) Which team won this year's Santosh Trophy: Services

30) The Department of Posts has tied up with which IT company for complete digitalization and modernization of India Post: TCS

31) Which retail company in India has become the first retail company to cross 1 trillion revenue mark: Reliance Retail

32) Reliance Retail has become 1st retail company in India to operate more than _____ stores across the country: 10,000


33) In Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019 released by StartupBlink, India has been placed at which rank: 17th

34) ________ has been ranked at no. 1 in the Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019: USA

35) Which international organization supports the celebrations of World Haemophilia Day: World Federation of Haemophilia

36) World Haemophilia Day is observed on which date: April 17

37) Which country was the Guest of Honour country at the 2019 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF): India

38) Which day is observed worldwide on April 22 to raise concern about issues like climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, pollution, etc.: Earth Day

39) What is the theme of this year's Earth Day: Protect Our Species.

40) Name the 25 year old wrestler who regained the world number one spot in the men's 65 kg freestyle category: Bajrang Punia

41) We celebrate which international day on April 18 to create awareness among the people to conserve and protect our cultural heritage: World Heritage Day

42) The RBI recently issued its first bank notes signed by its new Governor, in which denomination: 50

43) In which country around 300 people were killed and more than 400 injured in a series of bomb blasts: Sri Lanka

44) Civil Services Day is observed on April 21. Which British Governor General is credited with introduction of civil services in India: Warren Hastings

45) Which Bank has launched ‘NRI-Insta-Online’ account opening process for NRIs, without their visit to India: IDBI Bank

46) ________ bank has become first Indian bank to successfully roll out EMV format for its debit/credit cards: Canara Bank

47) What is the full form of EMV: Europay-Mastercard-Visa

48) What is the special feature of EMV cards: They are chip based which makes them very secure

49) _________ has been named the goodwill ambassador of Team India at the Street Child Cricket World Cup: Mithali Raj

50) With which country India held the bilateral maritime exercise IN – VPN BILAT EX: Vietnam

51) Who is the first Indian female scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in the UK: Prof. Gagandeep Kang

52) In the World Press Freedom Index 2019, which country has been placed at the top: Norway

53) India has been placed at ______ rank in the World Press Freedom Index: 140th

54) Which country has announced to host the G20 summit in November 2020: Saudi Arabia

55) Two warships of Indian Navy, INS Kolkata and INS Shakti took part in the International Fleet Review in______, China: Qingdao

56) What was the name of the first satellite launched recently by Sri Lanka: Raavana-1

57) Nepalese scientists developed their first satellite named ______ that was launched successfully by NASA: NepaliSat-1

58) The Indian Navy launched guided missile destroyer war ship _____ at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai: Imphal

59) Researchers from Tel Aviv University, Israel have succeeded in making world's first 3D printed vascularised engineered model of which part of human body: Heart

60) Which country recently successfully tested the world's first armed amphibious drone boat named ‘Marine Lizard’: China

61) India’s first exotic bird park ‘Essel World Bird Park’ has been opened at which place: Mumbai

62) A massive fire consumed the 850 year old ancient Cathedral in Paris on April 15, stunning France and the world. Can you name it: Notre-Dame Cathedral

63) Name the bilateral exercise that was held between navies of India and Australia near Visakhapatnam coast: AUSINDEX 19

64) The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has joined hands with which organization to map, validate and protect smaller wetlands in coastal regions: ISRO

65) Who has been appointed as the first woman vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia: Prof. Najma Akhtar

66) Where in India we have the central university Jamia Millia Islamia: Delhi

67) Who organized the World Allergy Week 2019 globally from 7-13 April 2019: World Allergy Organization

68) Name the renowned Hindi poet and humorist who died of a cardiac arrest in his hometown Gwalior, MP: Pradeep Choubey

69) India successfully test-fired its first long-range subsonic cruise missile. What is its name: Nirbhaya

70) What is the approximate strike range of the Nirbhaya missile: 1000 kms

71) What is the name of the world's largest aircraft that took to the air for the first time on April 13: Stratolaunch

72) INS Kozhikode, the warship of Indian Navy that was decommissioned recently was which type of


warship: Mine sweeper 73) Who won the Formula One’s 1,000th world

championship race - Chinese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton

74) Meena Kumari Maisnam won gold in the 54 kg category in the ______ World Cup in at Cologne, Germany: Boxing

75) Meena Kumari Maisnam hails from which state of India: Manipur

76) Entire India celebrates the harvest festival on 13/14 April to mark the harvesting of which season crop: Rabi

77) In which state of India Baisakhi festival is celebrated by the name of Vishu: Kerala

78) In the state of Assam, Baisakhi festival is celebrated by which name: Rongali Bihu

79) In which part of India people celebrate Baisakhi by the name of Puthandu: Tamil Nadu

80) April 13 this year marks the 100 years of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. The gathering there was protesting against which British Act: Rowlatt Act

81) What was the name of the Colonel who ordered firing on the peaceful gathering in Jallianwala Bagh: Colonel Reginald Dyer

82) Which authority ordered the Haryana State Pollution Control Board to identify and immediately shut polluting industrial units in Yamunanagar, Panipat and Kundli: Central Pollution Control Board

83) Which space company recently launched world's most powerful operation rocket with 27 engines firing at liftoff: Space X

84) What is the name of world's most powerful operation rocket: Falcon Heavy

85) Name the Saudi Arabian communication satellite weighing 5900 kg launched by the Falcon Heavy rocket: Arabsat-6A

86) Which Ganga cleansing programme won the distinction of “Public Water Agency of the Year” at the Global Water Summit in London: Namami Gange

87) Google launched a new cloud based platform - _______ that allows users run applications from anywhere, in unmodified form: Anthos

88) Which PSU won the AIMA Managing India Award for outstanding PSU of the year: Indian Oil Corporation

89) In a survey by the Forbes magazine in India to select the best bank, ______ was ranked at no. one: HDFC Bank

90) The Order of St Andrew the Apostle is the highest civil decoration of which country: Russia

91) Recently Russia honoured which Indian dignitary with its highest civil decoration: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

92) On April 12, 1961 who undertook the first-ever human space flight: Yuri Gagarin

93) Yuri Gagarin was the citizen of which country: Russia

94) World over April 12 is celebrated as what day to commemorate space flight of Gagarin: International Day of Human Space Flight

95) Saraswati Samman is awarded for honouring outstanding work in which field: Literature

96) Saraswati Samman is awarded for outstanding work of literature in which language: Any one of the 22 languages recognized by Constitution

97) Saraswati Samman is conferred by which organization: KK Birla foundation

98) What is the cash component of the Saraswati Samman: Rs. 15 lakh

99) K Siva Reddy, winner of Saraswati Samman 2018, is a prominent author of which language: Telugu

100) "It shows an intensely bright 'ring of fire' surrounding a perfectly circular dark hole". What is this: First-ever image of a black hole

101) According to a recent report by UNPFA, India’s population stood at 1.36 billion in 2019. What is UNPFA: United Nations Population Fund

102) Abdelkader Bensalah has been elected as the new ______ of Algeria: President

103) Who is Julian Assange who was in news recently: Co-founder of Wikileaks

104) Why was Mr. Assange was in news recently: He was arrested by the London police from the Ecuadorian embassy in London

105) In which African country the national army conducted a coup to over throw the President: Sudan

106) What is the name of the Sudanese President over thrown by its army: Omar al-Bashir

107) Government launched which app for the benefit of the families of CRPF personnel killed in the line of duty: ‘Veer Parivar App’

108) According to data released by the AMFI, which is the largest mutual fund of India: HDFC Mutual Fund

109) What is the full form of AMFI: Association of Mutual Funds in India

110) Which bank in Dubai has become first Islamic bank in world to offer Chat Banking services to its customers via WhatsApp: Emirates Islamic

111) _______ has become the first city in the world to implement a 24x7 Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) norms: London

112) As per the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack - 2019, who has been named as the 'Cricketer of the Year' in both, Men and Women category: Virat Kohli, Smriti Mandhana

113) What is the popular nick name of the Wisden


Cricketers’ Almanack: Bible of Cricket 114) As per the recent data released by YouTube,

_________ has become its largest and fastest growing market with more than 265 million monthly active users: India

115) Bold Kurukshetra – 2019 was a joint exercise held between Indian and which other country's military force: Singapore

116) Joint military exercise Bold Kurukshetra - 2019 was held at Babina Cantonment. Where is this place: Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh

117) __________ has been become the first ever railway station in the Indian Railways to get an ISO certification for Environment Management System from the National Green Tribunal: Guwahati Railway Station

118) In which of its report The International Monetary Fund has projected that global growth will be 3.3% in 2019: World Economic Outlook 2019

119) As per various global reports, trade tensions between which two countries are having negative impact on global growth: USA and China

120) Who won the election of Prime Minister of Israel for record 5th time: Benjamin Netanyahu

121) The Army Ordnance Corps recently celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of the Battle of Kangla Tongbi at which place: Imphal, Manipur

122) Malaysia Open Badminton Championship was held at which place: Kuala Lumpur

123) Graham Reid, the new chief coach of the Indian men's hockey team hails from which country: Australia

124) The first batch of 6 indigenously produced Dhanush artillery guns work inducted in Indian army. Which factory manufactured these guns: Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur

125) What is the strike range of Dhanush Artillery guns: 36 to 38 km

126) According to the latest edition of the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, _____ is the world’s top recipient of inward remittances from its diaspora: India

127) The RBI has directed banks that new currency chests should have minimum area of _____ square feet for strong room: 1,500

128) The RBI has said that the new currency chests should have a processing capacity of _____ lakh pieces of banknotes per day: 6.6

129) Ministry of HRD released the NIRF report on April 8 in New Delhi. What is full form of NIRF: National Institutional Ranking Framework

130) As per NIRF ranking which higher education institution has been ranked as the "Overall Best Institute": IIT Madras

131) NIRF has ranked _________, Bengaluru as the best university in India: Indian Institute of Science

132) Which Indian college has been ranked at No. 1 by the NIRF: Miranda House, Delhi

133) April 10 is celebrated as the birthday of the founder of Homoeopathy. Who was he: Dr. Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann

134) The biannual Army Commanders’ Conference 2019 was held in New Delhi. Who chairs this conference: Chief of the Army Staff

135) Which international day is observed to commemorate the inauguration of the first ever Olympic games of the modern era on April 6 in Athens, Greece in 1896: International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

136) Which village in Manipur has become India’s first carbon-positive settlement: Phayeng

137) Who has become the first Indian to be elected as a member of the FIFA Executive Council: Praful Patel

138) Praful Patel is the _______ of All India Football Federation: President

139) Which African country began on April 7 one hundred days of national mourning to pay homage to over 800,000 people slaughtered in a genocide in 1994: Rwanda

140) India observes April 5 as the National Maritime Day to commemorate which historical event: Beginning of Indian shipping (commercial) on this day in 1919

141) Hayabusa-2 spacecraft successfully dropped an explosive charge on the asteroid Ryugu to create an artificial crater there. This is which country's spacecraft: Japan

142) World Health Day is observed on which date: April 4

143) World Health Day commemorates which historical event: Founding of World Health Organisation - WHO in 1948

144) Shah Rukh Khan, the Bollywood star was conferred honorary doctorate in Philanthropy by the University of Law in which city: London

145) Which country topped the world football rankings released by FIFA in April: Belgium

146) BSE and India INX have signed a MoU with which Russian exchange for connecting investors of the two countries: Moscow Exchange

147) Keshav Murugesh, CEO of WNS Global Services Group has been appointed as the Chairman of NASSCOM. Expand the acronym NASSCOM: National Association of Software and Services Companies

148) Who is Vikram Kirloskar, recently elected as President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2019-20: CMD of Kirloskar Systems Ltd., and vice-chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor

149) Who has been elected as the President of the


World Bank: David Malpass 150) Where are the Headquarters of the World Bank:

Washington DC, USA 151) David Malpass is a citizen of which country: USA 152) How many countries are the member of World

Bank: 189 153) The popular Hindu festival of Chaitra Sukladi

marks which event: It is the first day of the lunar month of Chaitra

154) Chaitra Sukladi is celebrated by which name in Andhra and Maharashtra, respectively: Ugadi, Gudi Padwa

155) The RBI recently fixed the WMA limits for the first half of the FY 2019-20 at Rs. 75,000 crore. What is WMA: Ways and Means Advances

156) What is the purpose of Ways and Means Advances: Temporary loan facility provided by the RBI to the center and state governments

157) Who has been appointed as the Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India: Vipin Anand

158) Name the present Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India: M. R. Kumar

159) Which international day is observed on April 4 to spread awareness about dangers of explosive mines: International Mine Awareness Day

160) RBI recently lowered Repo Rate by 25 basis points to 6.0 percent. How it will impact economic growth: It is likely to improve

161) With the recent lowering of Repo Rate, what are the new MSF rate and Bank Rate: Both 6.25 percent

162) The "Order of Zayed" is the highest civilian decoration of which country: United Arab Emirates

163) UAE recently honoured which noted statesman with the Order of Zayed: PM Narendra Modi

164) Who became the first Indian squash player in the men’s category to enter the top 10 in latest Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings: Saurav Ghosal

165) According to a new LinkedIn report "2019 Top Companies", _______ is the most sought after company where Indian professionals want to work and stay: Flipkart

166) _______ became first nation in world to launch full-fledged 5G mobile networks in the country: South Korea

167) _______ became the first nation in South East Asia to introduce harsh new Sharia laws: Brunei

168) Name the Algerian President who resigned after weeks of mass protests against him: Abdelaziz Bouteflika

169) Indian Army has successfully built the longest suspension bridge named ‘Matiri Bridge’ over

______ River in the _____ region: Indus; Leh Ladakh 170) Which South American country signed the

framework agreement in March end to join the International Solar Alliance: Bolivia

171) 'Kandhamal Haldi', an indigenous variety of turmeric recently got the GI Tag. It is from which state: Odisha

172) Which country has confirmed sale of 24 multi-role MH-60 ‘Romeo’ Seahawk helicopters to India: USA

173) Which multinational company makes the Seahawk helicopters: Lockheed Martin Corporation

174) Japan has declared ______ as the name of its new imperial era that will begin on May 1, 2019: Reiwa

175) What is the name of the new Emperor of Japan: Crown Prince Naruhito

176) Name the Indian who has been appointed as the CEO of the International Cricket Council, Dubai: Manu Sawhney

177) ______ successfully launched Tianlian II-01 - the first of its new-generation data relay satellites: China

178) Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. became the 'first Indian shipyard' to build and deliver 100 warships. It is located at which place: Kolkata

179) World over, April 2 is celebrated as the World Autism Awareness Day. Autism refers to which disability: A complex neuro behavioural condition which causes problems with language and communication skill, particularly in children

180) ________ has been adjudged as the 'Best Digital Bank' in India at the Asiamoney Best Bank Awards: HDFC Bank

181) Tech giant Apple has announced to start the assembling of which of its mobile phones in India: iPhone 7

182) Which country ranked first in ICC test rankings, for the third consecutive year: India

183) Which country announced 30 days of electricity rationing from April 1 as part of steps taken to deal with its deep economic crisis: Venezuela

184) Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is associated with which sports: Hockey

185) ___________ won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup by defeating India: South Korea

186) Which country hosts the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on regular basis: Malaysia

187) Yash Vardhan and Shreya Agrawal bagged three gold medals in individual, team and mixed event at an Asian championship in which sports: 10 mt air rifle shooting

188) Which Ministry revised the wages under the


MGNREGA scheme from April 1 for the year 2019-20: Rural Development Ministry

189) Which state has fixed highest wages under MGNREGA scheme for the year 2019-20: Haryana (Rs. 284)

190) Bihar and _______ have lowest per day wages of Rs. 171 under MGNREGA for 2019-20: Jharkhand

191) Which multinational grouping voted with good majority to ban single-use plastic products in member countries: European Union

192) Name the Swiss-based NRI scientist who has been conferred Pravasi Bharatiya Samman this year: Dr. Rajendra Joshi

193) On March 30, cities around the world marked Earth Hour by turning off lights at their local time ____ p.m. till _____ pm: 8:30, 9.30

194) Zuzana Caputova has been elected as first woman ______ of Slovakia: President

195) The ISRO on April 1 put into orbit satellite Emisat for what purpose: Electronic intelligence satellite for DRDO

196) On April 1, ISRO launched 29 satellites, out of which 24 satellites from one country. Name it: USA

197) Singapore's _____ Airport has been crowned the world's best aviation hub for the seventh time in a row: Changi

198) ________ has launched a special programme named “Young Scientist Programme” or Yuva Vigyani Karyakram (YUVIKA) for school children: ISRO

199) Coorg Arabica, Chikmagalur Arabica, Baba Budangiri Arabica, Wayanad Robusta and Araku Valley Arabica are five varieties of ______ that have been granted GI-Tag recently: Coffee

200) Name the village in HP which has become the highest polling station in the world at an altitude of 15,256 feet: Tashigang

201) Which country honoured our President with its highest civilian honour “Cóndor de Los Andes en el Grado de Gran Collar”: Bolivia

202) President Shri Kovind, on his journey back home from Chile, made a transit halt in South Africa to pay tributes to which great statesman: Nelson Mandela

MARCH - 2019 203) India has become the ______ nation in the world to

demonstrate anti-satellite missile capability by shooting down a live satellite: Fourth

204) What is the name of the Anti Satellite missile developed by the DRDO: A-SAT

205) Name the mission under which the DRDO successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit: Mission Shakti

206) The UGC has prohibited imparting correspondence course in which subject on the ground that it is technical in nature and requires

practical or laboratory courses: Agriculture 207) "Becoming", is a famous book related to which

global celebrity: Former US First Lady Michelle Obama

208) What is the title of the latest book by Raghuram G Rajan released in March: The Third Pillar

209) Name the teenage shooting stars who created a new world record while securing gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the 12th Asian Airgun Championship in Taoyuan, Taiwan: Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary

210) President Kovind was recently honoured with the Grand Order of King Tomislav by which country: Croatia

211) Tech giant Apple has announced launch of a virtual credit card in tie-up with which global financial company: Goldman Sachs Group

212) Which IIT has developed a superfast medical test kit using Nano Technology and Artificial Intelligence: IIT Delhi

213) The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to introduce three new subjects in the school curriculum for the senior secondary classes. Name these subjects: Artificial Intelligence (AI), early childhood care education and yoga

214) After opening of Kartarpur corridor, the Pakistan recently announced opening of another corridor for a Hindu temple. What is the name of this corridor: Sharada Peeth Corridor

215) Which community considers Goddess Sharada as their “kuldevi” or principal deity: Kashmiri Pandits

216) Which city of Norway is set to become the world’s first city to install wireless, induction-based charging stations for its fleet of electric taxis: Oslo

217) The RBI has slapped a penalty of Rs. 2 crore on Punjab National Bank for non-compliance of regulatory directions in which regard: SWIFT operations

218) What is the full form of SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication

219) World Theatre Day is observed on which day of March: 27th

220) Which organization supports the celebrations of World Theatre Day: International Theatre Institute, Paris

221) Why March 23 has been selected as World Meteorological Day: Itis the founding day of the World Meteorological Organization

222) Which international day has adopted “The Sun, the Earth and the weather” as the theme for the year 2019: World Meteorological Day

223) The Shiksha Vani podcast app has been launched by which organization: CBSE


224) What is the purpose of the Shiksha Vani App: To disseminate crucial information to students and parents in a timely manner

225) Which Unit of the Indian Railways recently became the largest producer of rail coaches in the world: Integrated Coach Factory

226) Integrated Coach Factory of Indian Railways is located at which place: Chennai

227) India celebrates Shaheed Diwas on March 23 to pay homage to which martyrs: Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev

228) Where in India is the memorial devoted to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, the place where they were cremated: Hussainiwala, Distt Ferozpur, Punjab

229) Which is the first Indian budget airline to become member of IATA: SpiceJet

230) What is the full form of IATA:International Air Transport Association

231) Name the only factory in India that is authorized to produce indelible ink used in elections to put a mark on the fingers: Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd, Mysore

232) The secret formula for producing the indelible ink has been developed by which organisation? National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi

233) As per the Global Energy Transition Index released by Geneva-based World Economic Forum, _______ has been placed at number one spot: Sweden

234) As per the Global Energy Transition Index, India has been placed at _____ rank among 115 countries: 76th

235) The Indian Navy deployed its ships Sujata, Sarathi and Shardul to carry out humanitarian and disaster relief activities in which country: Mozambique

236) Exercise Al Nagah, the bilateral joint exercise was held between army units of ____ and India: Oman

237) Exercise Al Nagah was conducted at which place: In Jabel Al Akhdar Mountains in Oman

238) Global Teacher Prize is awarded by which organization: Varkey Foundation, London

239) What is the cash component given in the Global Teacher Prize: $ 1 million

240) Who is the winner of the 2019 Global Teacher Prize: Peter Tabichi, Kenya

241) March 24 is celebrated as an International Day to spread awareness about which dreaded decease: Tuberculosis

242) Tuberculosis, an infectious decease is caused by which bacteria: Mycobacterium tuberculosis

243) Which scientists is credited with the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in 1882: Dr. Robert Koch

244) Who has been appointed as the next Chief of Indian Navy: Vice Admiral Karambir Singh Nijjar

245) What is the rank of the Chief of Indian Navy: Admiral

246) India lifted the SAFF women's cup for ______ time in a row: Fifth

247) What is the full form of SAFF: South Asian Football Federation

248) Which country hosted South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship: Nepal

249) Templeton Prize is awarded for excellence in which field: Human Values and Spiritualism

250) What is the cash component of the Templeton Prize: $1.45 million

251) Who is the winner of the Templeton Prize 2019: Marcelo Gleiser

252) The International Day of Forests is observed on which day of March: 21st

253) Forests cover roughly ______ % of the Earth's land mass: 33%

254) What is the theme of this year's International Day of Forests: Forests and Education: Learn to Love Forests

255) March 20 is observed every year to raise awareness about the role of which common bird in our life: Sparrow

256) What is the theme for this year's World Sparrow Day: I Love Sparrows

257) The 33rd edition of the India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (Ind-Indo Corpat) was held at which place: Near Andaman & Nicobar Islands

258) Which international prize is considered as Nobel of Mathematics: Abel Prize

259) Abel Prize is presented by King of which country: Norway

260) What is the cash component of the Abel Prize: $ 7 lakh

261) Name the professor from the University of Texas who became the first woman to win the Abel Prize: Karen Uhlenbeck

262) Which international day is celebrated worldwide on March 22 with an aim to tackling the water crisis: World Water Day

263) “Leaving no one behind” is the theme for this year's _____ day: World Water Day

264) The International Day of Happiness is observed on which date: March 20

265) What is the theme of this year's International Day of Happiness: Happier Together

266) As per the UN World Happiness report, citizens of ______ feel most happy in the world: Finland

267) What is India's rank in the latest UN World Happiness report: 140th


268) Special Olympics World Games 2019 were held from March 14 to March 21 in which country: UAE, Abu Dhabi

269) The Special Olympic World Games are organized for which category of sports persons: Intellectually impaired

270) The next Special Olympic Games are set to take place in _______ in 2021: Sweden

271) India bagged a record ______ medals at the Special Olympic World Games: 368

272) Which country recently changed the name of its capital in the honour of its longtime ruler who resigned recently: Kazakhstan

273) What is the new name of the capital (Astana) of Kazakhstan: Nursultan

274) Which International Day is observed across the world to help recognise, and celebrate the importance of recycling: Global Recycling Day

275) Global Recycling Day is observed on which day of March: 18

276) What is the name of mobile app of the Election Commission where anyone can post photos / videos of any violation of code of conduct: cVIGIL

277) Who has been appointed as the first Lokpal of India: Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose

278) Who is the appointing authority for the Lokpal: The President

279) The Lokpal is administered the oath of office by which authority: The President

280) The equivalent of the Lokpal at the state level is designated at _____: Lokayukt

281) What is the name for Lokpal in English: Ombudsman

282) What is the role of the office of Lokpal: To look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants

283) How many judicial and non judicial members are there in the office of Lokpal: 4 each

284) VyasSamman isconferredfor excellence in which field: Hindi Literature

285) Which organization awards the Vyas Samman: KK Birla Foundation

286) Who is the winner of Vyas Samman 2018: LeeladharJagudi

287) What is the name of the book for which LeeladharJagudi won the Vyas Samman: Jitne Log UtnePrem

288) The Indian Department of Post released a special stamp cover on Ice Stupa. It is found at which place: Gangles Village in Leh in J&K

289) What is the purpose of forming Ice Stupas: Water conservation

290) Irfan K T of India qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in which sports category: Race Walking

291) In the coming general elections, which state has

the largest number of voters: Uttar Pradesh 292) As per the Quality of Living Survey 2019 by

Mercer, _____ has secured no. 1 spot for the 10th year in a row: Vienna, Capital of Austria

293) Which Indian cities have secured joint 143rd rank, highest among Indian cities, in the Quality of Living Survey 2019: Hyderabad and Pune

294) In terms of vulnerability to the risks of climate change, recently which Himalayan state has been assessed as most vulnerable: Assam

295) Which bank launched a first of its kind new service called ‘YONO Cash’ for its customers to facilitate withdrawal of money from ATMs without using debit cards: State Bank of India

296) What is the full form of YONO: You Only Need One

297) Which IT major has partnered with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to promote its project ‘Sangam’ aimed at promoting Swachh Bharat Mission in India: Microsoft

298) As per the Forbes' List Of World's Richest Sports Team Owners, who has been placed at the top: Mukesh Ambani

299) Mukesh Ambani, ranked as the No. 1 in the list of World's Richest Sports Team Owners, is the owner of which team: Mumbai Indians (IPL Cricket Team)

300) ______ has been elected as the next Chief Minister of Goa: Pramod Sawant

301) Why a new Chief Minister was elected in Goa when there were no elections: Due to the sad demise of earlier CM Manohar Parrikar

302) In which African country cyclone Idai claimed hundreds of lives: Mozambique

303) Who won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne: Valtteri Bottas

304) Valtteri Bottas, ace formula driver hails from which country: Finland

305) Manohar Parrikar, who passed away recently, remained chief minister of Goa for how many times: Four

306) The Asian Youth Athletics Championships were hosted by which country: Hong Kong

307) What was the rank of Indian team in the Asian Youth Athletics Championships where it secured 26 medals: 2nd

308) Which country topped the medal tally in the Asian Youth Athletics Championships: China

309) The RBI has named which 3 banks in the category of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) for 2018: SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank

310) D-SIBs are required to maintain ______ capital as compared to other banks: Higher

311) Which country has been named by FIFA for hosting the Women's World Cup 2020: India


312) What is the full form of FIFA: International Federation of Football Associations

313) In which country a diehard extremist filled with anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas shot down 50 worshipers in local mosques: New Zeeland

314) Which International Day is observed on March 15 to promote basic rights of consumers: The World Consumer Rights Day

315) What is the theme of this year's World Consumer Rights Day: Trusted Smart Products

316) Which world day is observed annually on the Friday before the March Equinox on the Earth: World Sleep Day

317) M.R. Kumar has been appointed as the chairman of which apex national organization: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

318) The RBI has notified which Bank as a ‘private sector’ lender following acquisition of majority stake in it by LIC: IDBI Bank

319) Pranav R Mehta became the first Indian to hold the post of the President of Global Solar Council. Where are its headquarters: Washington D.C., USA

320) India and the _____ have agreed to build six American nuclear power plants in India, in an effort to boost bilateral civil nuclear energy cooperation: USA

321) Which global day is observed on the second Thursday of March to create awareness about issues related to kidney: The World Kidney Day

322) The theme for this year’s World Kidney Day celebrations was _________: Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere

323) Erode turmeric was granted Geographical Indication (GI) tag recently. It is in which state: Tamil Nadu

324) The ‘Sirsi Supari’ (Areca Nut or betel nut) that was granted the GI-tag recently, is a product of which state: Karnataka

325) Which Indian bank became the first bank to cross the Rs 6 trillion market capitalization mark: HDFCBank

326) YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships were held at which place: Birmingham in England

327) Name the badminton player who is the 1st Japanese to win Men's Singlestitle at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships: KentoMomota

328) Which Indian sports person has been selected as role model for new series of Barbie dolls launched to mark the 60th anniversary of the Barbie doll: DipaKarmakar

329) The DRDO successfully test-fired the indigenously developed ___________ ‘Pinaka’ at Pokhran in Rajasthan: Guidedrocket system

330) Following aEthiopian Airlines crash, which plane was grounded all over the world for safety considerations: Boeing 737 Max 8

331) India launched its third IT corridor in China at ______ to facilitate partnerships between Indian and Chinese companies: Xuzhou

332) Which Union Ministry won the First Prize in the category of TV Cinema Spot at the prestigious international Golden City Gate Tourism Awards: The Ministry of Tourism

333) ACKO General Insurance won the Golden Peacock Innovative Product Award for which of its innovative product: Ola Ride Insurance

334) What do we call the properties that were left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan since the partition in 1947 and to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war: Enemy properties

335) Why the enemy properties were in news recently: Govt.allowed states to put these properties to public use

336) March 12 marked completion of 30 years of the World Wide Web. Who is credited with its invention: Sir Tim Berners-Lee

337) As per the annual report by SIPRI, ______ is the largest importer of major arms after Saudi Arabia: India

338) Which country is the largest exporter of major arms accounting for 36 per cent share: USA

339) What is the full form of SIPRI: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

340) Kavinder Singh Bisht won the gold in an international competition recently in which sports: Boxing

341) The current general elections are which number in series: 17th

342) The general elections will elect how many Members of Parliament (MPs): 543

343) Who is the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India: Sunil Arora

344) The CEC announced that 2019 elections will be conducted through VVPAT machines. What is VVPAT: Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail

345) In how many states assembly elections will also be held along with Lok Sabha elections: Four

346) The Pritzker Architecture Prize is given by which foundation: Hyatt Foundation, Chicago

347) Name the Japanese architect who won this year's Pritzker Prize: Arata Isozaki

348) Which traditional and handmade product from Marayoor town in Idukki district of Kerala, has been granted the coveted GI tag: Marayoor Jaggery

349) India signed a $ 3 billion deal with ______ for leasing a nuclear-powered attack submarine for the Indian Navy: Russia


350) International Women's Day is observed on which date: March 8

351) #BalanceforBetter is a campaign launched to celebrate which international day: International Women's Day

352) Subhash Chandra Garg has been appointed as the Union _____ Secretary: Finance

353) Which bank announced linking of its savings deposits rates and short-term loans rates to the RBI’s repo rate: State Bank of India

354) Which Bank agreed to provide a 26 million dollar loan to provide additional financing for improving drainage infrastructure in Dibrugarh town of Assam: Asian Development Bank -ADB

355) Which country's first lunar lander, named Beresheet sent back a first of its kind selfie taken from a distance of 37,600 kilometers: Israel

356) Where in India ‘India Jewellery Park’ is being set up with an investment of Rs.14,467 crore: Navi Mumbai

357) In a first ever attempt to compile the names of our martyrs, Government released a “Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle”. It covers which period: 1857-1947

358) The National Green Tribunal slapped a fine of Rs. 500 crore on which automobile company for damaging the environment through the use of “cheat device” in its diesel cars in India: Volkswagen

359) Malaysia has become the 124th member of the ICC headquartered at The Hague, Netherlands. What is ICC: International Criminal Court,

360) The Finance Ministry released a new Rs.20 coin made in copper, zinc and nickel. What is its shape: 12-edged polygon

361) Govt. has decided to do away with the paper or booklet-based driving licence or registration certificate with what other form: Plastic Cards

362) The Supreme Court referred the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya to mediation. Who is the head of the mediation panel: Justice Kalifulla

363) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched e-Dharti app for what purpose: To facilitate online execution of Conversion, Substitution and Mutation related to land properties

364) The United States reduced the visa duration for ______ citizens from five years to just three months: Pakistani

365) The government launched “Transport and Marketing Assistance” scheme for providing financial assistance for transport and marketing of _____ products: agriculture

366) Bharat Electronics Ltd. launched SWAGAT - the Automatic Fare Collection Gating System for what purpose: To facilitatehassle-free commute

across various modes of transport in India 367) Who is Kylie Jenner, 21, named the youngest self-

made billionaire of all time by Forbes magazine: American TV artist and business woman

368) A unique museum ‘AzaadiKeDiwane’, dedicated to the unsung heroes of the country’s freedom struggle, was opened at which place: Red Fort premises in New Delhi

369) Tech giant Google unveiled a new app 'Bolo' that aims to help children in primary school learn what: To read in Hindi and English

370) The OECD has cut its 2019 forecast for global economic growth to 3.3% due to ongoing trade tensions and Brexit uncertainty. The OECD stands for: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

371) Where is the headquarters of OECD: Paris, France

372) Ajit Kumar Mohanty, distinguished scientist has been appointed Director of which apex national scientific organization: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

373) The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is located at which place: Mumbai

374) Swachh Survekshan2019, covering all 4247 Urban Local Bodies in the country, ranked which city at the top: Indore

375) Government has decided to celebrate March ____ as the JanaushadhiDiwas to create awareness about the use of generic medicines available at much cheaper rates: 7

376) According to the Delta ranking report released by NITI Aayog, Hailakandi district has become the top aspirational district. It is in which state: Assam

377) The world celebrates the World Wildlife Day every year on March 03. What is the theme for this year: Life below water: for people and planet

378) Who has been appointed as the chairman of the newly constituted National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC): Bhagwan Lal Sahni

379) Mukesh Ambani, richest Indian with worth jumping to $50 billion, jumped six positions to rank _____ on Forbes World's Billionaire list: 13th

380) India scored its 500th ODI victory by beating which team at Nagpur: Australia

381) As per the World Air Quality Report 2018, which Indian city has been ranked most polluted in the world: Gurugram, Haryana

382) The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched ‘National Common Mobility Card’ for what purpose: For facilitating seamless travel through different metros and other transport systems across the country

383) The ISRO launched a special programme


"YuvaVigyaniKaryakram" for imparting scientific knowledge to which category of persons: School Children

384) The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank sanctioned a loan of $455 million for financing the Andhra Pradesh Rural Roads Projects. Where is its headquarters: Beijing

385) The Government of India plans to launch Gram Samridhi Yojana for what purpose: To strengthen the unorganised food processing sector concentrated in rural areas

386) Which international financial body has agreed for the funding of Gram Samridhi Yojana: World Bank

387) Which insurance company has launched India’s first ‘bank locker protector policy’: IFFCO Tokio General Insurance

388) India signed a deal with a Russian firm Concern Kalashnikov to manufacture which weapon in India: AK-203 rifles

389) India will manufacture 7.5 lakh AK-203 rifles at which Indian ordinance factory: At Korwa in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh

390) For the first time in nine years, two India bowlers joined the top five club in the latest ICC women's cricket rankings for ODI bowlers. Can you name them: JhulanGoswami (first) and Shikha Pandey(fifth)

391) Which Indian woman cricketer has been ranked No. 1 in ICC women's cricket rankings for ODI: Smriti Mandhana

392) The BSF recently launched the project BOLD-QIT - Border Electronically Dominated QRT (quick reaction team) Interception Technique on which part of Indian border: District Dhubri in Assam on Bangladesh Border

393) The researchers of the IIT, Delhi have created India's first Braille laptop for the visually- impaired. What is its name: Dot Book

394) Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) conducted a three days joint exercise under what name: ‘MainamatiMaitree Exercise 2019’

395) The KumbhMela that concluded on March 4 on which auspicious day:Mahashivratri

396) The RBI constituted a task force headed by ______, former Dy. Governor to look into issues related to the offshore rupee markets: Usha Thorat

397) _______ claimed the 100th ATP title of his career after winning the Dubai Tennis Championships: Roger Federer

398) Name the female and male Indian wrestlers who won the gold in Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tournament: Pooja Dhanda and Bajrang Punia

399) On the occasion of the National Science Day on Feb 28, HRD ministry launched ‘STARS’ scheme.

The acronym STARS stands for what: Scheme for Translational and Advanced Research in Science

400) Which apex Indian institute has been designated as the coordinator for the STARS scheme: Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru

401) The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes were recently awarded to 34 budding scholars in which field: Science and Technology

402) The Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched the Van Dhan scheme for what purpose: To provide Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce to Tribals

403) According tothe BCG-IBA Report, which Bank secured the top spot among all public sector banks in the implementation of ‘Reforms agenda': Punjab National Bank

404) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the JI-VAN Yojana for providing financial support to the Integrated Bioethanol Projects. Expand the acronym JI-VAN: JaivIndhan- VatavaranAnukoolfasalawasheshNivaran

405) HasmukhAdhia, former Finance Secretary has been appointed as non-executive chairman of which bank: Bank of Baroda

406) India celebrates National Science Day on which date: February 28

407) The National Science Day is dedicated to the honour of which great scientist: Sir CV Raman

408) Sir CV Raman won the Nobel prize in 1930 in which field: Physics

409) As per the Inclusive Internet Index 2019, ______ is the best country in terms of availability, affordability and readiness of internet network: Sweden

410) India was ranked ____ in the Inclusive Internet Index 2019: 47th

411) Deepak Singh is the current national champion of which sports: Boxing

412) RBI signed a Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) for $75 billion with central bank of which country: Japan

413) The summit meet between the US President Trump and the Supreme leader of North Korea was held at which place: Hanoi, Vietnam

414) What is the official formal name of North Korea: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

415) The Union Cabinet approved the upgradation of which AIIMS into a world class Medical University: New Delhi

416) Under which central scheme the 22nd AIIMS of the country is being setup at village Manethi, near Rewari in Haryana: Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana

417) Govt. launched the SHREYAS scheme for


providing industry apprenticeship to which category of persons: Tonon-technical students of BA, BSc. BCom courses

418) What is the expansion of the term SHREYAS: Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills

419) Which state launched the PRANAM Commission to monitor issues related to the protection of parents of state government employees: Assam

420) The PRANAM Commission has been setup under the PRANAM Bill passed by the Assam state. Expand the acronym PRANAM: Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring

421) Which country scored the highest-ever total in T20s, scoring 278 playing against Ireland in Dehradun: Afghanistan

422) Which African country has re-elected Muhammadu Buhari as its President: Nigeria

423) India conducted a 14 day joint military exercise “Sampriti 2019” with which country: Bangladesh

424) Railway Minister announced formation of a 18th zone of the Indian Railways in Andhra Pradesh. What is the name of new zone: Southern Coast Railway atVisakhapatnam

FEBRUARY - 2019 425) Indian Air Force used which fighter jets to carry

out surgical strike on Balakot: Mirage - 2000 426) GST council has slashed GST on non-affordable

houses to ____percent, from the present 12 percent: 5

427) In case of affordable houses, the GST rate has been reduced to _____ percent, from 8 percent at present: 1

428) Under which scheme the first instalment of Rs 2,000 was directly credited to the bank accounts of selected beneficiary farmers of 24 States and the UTs on Feb 24: Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN)

429) Railways launched ______ Dashboard to keep people informed about the work going on in the Railways across the country: Rail Drishti

430) _______ has become the first state in the country to have raised a special dog squad to detect liquor consignments: Bihar

431) Which Indian Bank in collaboration with World Bank, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) launched Women's Livelihood Bonds: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

432) Individual women entrepreneurs can borrow up to Rs. ______ under Women's Livelihood Bonds: Rs. 3 lakh

433) Who has been selected for the “Player of the Year” award by the Asian Hockey Federation: Manpreet Singh

434) Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won which international title recently: Cannes International Open trophy

435) The 79th Indian History Congress was hosted by the Barkatullah University in which place: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

436) India got its first War Memorial, established in New Delhi, just next to which grand monument: India Gate

437) The National War Memorial has been built up with a layout of ______ concentric circles: Four

438) Which Indian entry won the Oscar for the Best Documentary Short Subject category: Period. End of Sentence

439) Who is the producer of the film Period, “End of Sentence”: Guneet Monga

440) Which film won the Oscar for the Best Picture category: Green Book

441) The Oscar for the Best Director was won by which person: Alfonso Cuarón

442) ApurviChandela and Saurabh Chaudhary, each won gold medal in which international event: The ISSF (International Shooting Sports Federation) World Cup 2019

443) What is the title of the book launched recently, written by P Chidambaram, former Finance Minister: Undaunted: Saving the Idea of India

444) Name the title of the novel written by Jane Harper that was released in February 2019: The Lost Man

445) The EPFO raised the interest rate on Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) by ______ basis points to 8.65 percent for 2018-19: 10

446) Who has been appointed as the first Ombudsman for the BCCI - Board of Control of Cricket in India by the Supreme Court: Justice DK Jain (retd.)

447) India’s first Humanoid Police Robot named KP-BOT, ranked as Sub-Inspector (SI), was inducted at :: ThiruvananthapuraPolice , Kerala

448) Which IT giant company recently launched world's first folding smart phone: Samsung

449) What is the name of the first folding smart phone launched by Samsung: The Galaxy Fold

450) The 12th edition of Asia's premier Air show 'Aero India-2019' began at Yelahanka Air Force Station. Where is this venue: Bengaluru

451) Govt. launched KUSUM programme with what objective:Providing financial and water security to farmers

452) What is the full form of KUSUM: KisanUrja Suraksha evamUtthaanMahabhiyan

453) There are how many components in the KUSUM scheme: Three

454) The central govt. and the state govt., each will provide __________ per cent subsidy for financing of


solar agriculture pumps under KUSUM scheme: 30

455) Prince Salman who visited India in 3rd week of February, is Deputy Crown Prince of which country: Saudi Arabia

456) Saudi Arabia recently became ____ member of the International Solar Alliance: 73rd

457) Government launched an online initiative SWAYATT on the Government e Marketplace (GeM). Write its full form: Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through e-Transactions

458) The World Day of Social Justice is celebrated on which day: February 20

459) Which UN organization supports the promotion of The World Day of Social Justice: International Labour Organization

460) What is the theme of this years' World Day of Social Justice: "If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice"

461) Indian Railways has created history by converting a diesel locomotive into electric locomotive for the first time in the world. Which railway organization achieved this feat: DieselLocomotive Works, Varanasi

462) Which Union Ministry launched the Nyaya Bandhu app for spreading the coverage of legal aid: Law Ministry

463) Government launched which major initiative recently to provide better digital education in schools, colleges and universities: OperationDigital Board

464) Which international day is observed on February 21, with support from UNESCO for preserving the linguistic diversity: International Mother Language Day

465) South Korea honoured our Prime Minister with an international peace award. Can you name it: Seoul Peace Prize

466) Martin Ennals Award is conferred for outstanding work in which field: Human Rights

467) Who is the winner of the Martin Ennals Award for 2019: Abdul Aziz Muhamat

468) Which country plans to replace the words 'mother' and 'father' with 'parent 1' and 'parent 2' on official forms in an attempt to be more inclusive to LGBT families: France

469) Who has been selected as the Laureus Sportswoman of the year: Simone Biles

470) Who is Simone Biles: Star gymnast from USA 471) Who has been selected as the Laureus Sportsman

of the year: Novak Djokovic 472) Novak Djokovic hails from which country: Serbia 473) Which international team won the "Laureus team

of the year" award for 2019: Football World Cup winner French team

474) Name the noted Hindi writer and critic who passed away recently: Namvar Singh

475) Which is the first major US Bank that launched a crypto currency of its own: JP Morgan Chase Bank

476) What is the name of the crypto currency launched by the JP Morgan: JPM Coin

477) The crypto currency operations are usually based on which technology: Blockchain

478) The International Hockey Federation announced which player as the Female Player of the Year 2018: Eva De Goede, Netherlands

479) The International Hockey Federation announced which player as the Male Player of the Year 2018: Arthur van Doren of Belgium

480) The RBI Board approved an early transfer of Rs. 28,000 crore to the government on what account: Interim dividend for the half year ending December 31, 2018

481) Which Indian company signed a $1.5 billion annual deal with USA to import 3 million tonnes of crude oil in the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2019: Indian Oil Corporation

482) 9th Senior Women's Hockey National Championship was held at which place: Hisar, Haryana

483) Which team won the 9th Senior Women's Hockey National Championship: Railways

484) _____ won the 83rd edition of Senior National Badminton Championships: SainaNehwal

485) Irani Cup is associated with which sports: Cricket 486) Which team won the 2019 Irani Cup: Vidarbha 487) Who was the head of the committee setup for

"Determining the Methodology for Fixation of the National Minimum Wage": Anoop Satpathy

488) Anoop Satpathy committee recommended the fixation of need based National Minimum Wage at Rs. _______ per day: 375

489) Which series of Lok Sabha came to an end on 13th February, 2019: 16th

490) Who has been appointed as the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT): Pramod Chandra Mody

491) Indian Army showcased its artillery firepower at the annual Exercise Topchi. It was held at which place: Deolali Camp near Nashik, Maharashtra

492) Siddhartha Lal has been declared as the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018. He heads which company: Eicher Motors

493) What is the name of the pension scheme launched for the workers of the unorganised sector: Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan scheme

494) What is the amount of the minimum pension assured under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi


Maan-Dhan scheme: Rs. 3,000/- 495) To be eligible for pension under Pradhan Mantri

Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan scheme, a persons salary should not exceed _______ rupees: 15,000/-

496) Only workers in the age group of _____ to _____ are eligible for joining the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan scheme: 18 to 40

497) The 7th session of the World Government Summit was hosted by which city in West Asia: Dubai

498) World Radio Day is observed all over the world on February 13. It is supported by which UN organization: UNESCO

499) The CCEA approved the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Technology Up-gradation Scheme for what purpose: To facilitate technology up-gradation for improvement in quality of products by MSMEs

500) Often, we read in the newspapers that MSMEs should aim at achieving ZED practices in manufacturing processes. What is the full form of ZED: zero defect and zero effect

501) Dan David Prize is given in which country: Israel 502) Sanjay Subrahmanyam won the Dan David Prize

2019. He is associated with which field: History 503) What is the name of the new 24x7 satellite

television channel of Doordarshan launched in Itanagar: Arun Prabha

504) The Himalayan Cloud Observatory, only second of its type in the country, has been set up at which place: Tehri, Uttarakhand

505) Which Indian city shall be hosting the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) in Feb 2020: Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat

506) Which big bird has been selected as the mascot for the CMS-COP 13: Great Indian Bustard

507) What name has been given to the mascot for the CMS-COP 13: Gibi

508) Which UAE emirate has decided to include Hindi as the third official language used in its courts, alongside Arabic and English: Abu Dhabi

509) Which country signed an MoU with Indian government for training its 1800 Civil Servants at the National Centre for Good Governance in New Delhi: Bangladesh

510) The Grammy awards are conferred to recognize outstanding performances in which field: Music

511) Which city hosted the 61st Grammy Award on February 10: Las Angeles (USA)

512) Which musical creation won the Grammy "Record of The Year": This is America

513) Grammy for the "Album of the Year" was won by which Album: Golden Hour

514) The BAFTA award are given to recognize excellence in which field: Cinema and TV

515) What is the full form of BAFTA: British Academy of Film and Television Arts

516) Which film won the BAFTA award for the best film: Roma

517) Alfonso Cuaron won the BAFTA award for best director for which film: Roma

518) Which city hosted the Senior Men's National Hockey Championship: Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh

519) ________ won the Senior Men's National Hockey Championship: Railways

520) The first batch of four heavy lift transport helicopters from USA was recently received in India. Can you name this helicopter: CH-47F Chinook

521) The first unit of four Chinook helicopters will be stationed at which Air Force base: Chandigarh

522) The International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, which analysed the IP climate in 50 global economies, placed India at which rank: 36th

523) Which country ranked No. 1 in the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index: USA

524) Name the former world champion Indian weightlifter who won the gold medal at the EGAT Cup: S. MirabaiChanu

525) Which Indian badminton star signed a whopping four-year sports sponsorship deal of Rs. 50 crore with Chinese sports brand Li-Ning: P V Sindhu

526) Which UN organization has said that 2018 was set to be the fourth warmest year in recorded history: World Meteorological Organisation

527) Where are the headquarters of the World Meteorological Organisation: Geneva, Switzerland

528) Which Indian corporate was conferred with the Ernst & Young Lifetime Achievement Award: Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Ltd

529) The Digital Civility Index by Microsoft placed India at which rank: 7th

530) China is the largest consumer of LPG in the world. Which county is next to it: India

531) Besides 'India Size' which are the other two most popular global world sizes: UK Size and USA Size

532) The RBI has decided to raise the criteria for 'bulk deposits' for banks to Rs. _____ crore from the current Rs. 1 crore: Two

533) The 85th edition of the prestigious Ranji Trophy was won by Vidarbha by beating which team: Saurashtra

534) The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog for what purpose: For conservation, protection and development of cows

535) The United Kingdom along with other European nations such as Germany and France set up a new


transaction channel. What is the name of this channel: ‘INSTEX’ (instrument in support of trade exchanges)

536) The Kala Ghoda festival, India’s largest multi-cultural street festival was held at which place: Mumbai

537) ________ has become the first State to set up a Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices: Kerala

538) Which Indian state was placed at the top in a survey to study the best practices followed by states in the budget formulation and implementation: Assam

539) ISRO launched successfully GSAT-31 from Kourou in French Guiana on board the Ariane-5 rocket. What type of satellite it was: Communication satellite

540) Which two super powers announced their decision to pull out of the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty: USA and Russia

541) Who became the first pontiff to visit the Arabian peninsula (Abu Dhabi): Pope Francis

542) The United Nations announced 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table. It is a table of which items: Chemical elements

543) How many chemical elements have been listed in the Periodic Table: 118

544) The Periodic Table lists all the known 118 chemical elements in the world as per their _____ and _____: Atomic number and weight

545) The Periodic Table assigns a unique alphabetic symbol to every element. What is the symbol for Hydrogen and Oxygen: H and O

546) Which international day is celebrated every year to raise global awareness on the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet: World Wetlands Day

547) World Wetlands Day is observed on which date: February 02

548) Which player ranked number one in the updated ICC ODI batting rankings for women cricketers: Smriti Mandhana

549) Which govt. department announced a new set of policy rules formed for the regulation of business of e-commerce companies: DPIIT

550) What is the full form of DPIIT: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

551) Which country became the 30th member of the defence organization NATO: Republic of North Macedonia

552) Indian Banking Association has issued advisory requesting banks to waive off the processing, documentation, inspection and all other service charges for which farmer loan scheme: Kisan

Credit Card and crop loans uptoRs.3 lakh 553) Who has been appointed as the new Director of

the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI: Rishi Kumar Shukla

554) Which High Court recently ruled against negative marking in competitive examinations saying they are bad in law: MadrasHigh Court

555) The first project under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme was launched at the Zero Point. Where is this place: Gangtok, Sikkim

556) Which scheme was launched for integrated development of theme based tourist circuits in the country in 2014-15: Swadesh Darshan Scheme

557) Country’s second Tulip garden is to be setup in Pithoragarh district of which state: Uttarakhand

558) India recently replaced Japan as the world’s _____ largest steel producing country: 2nd

559) _____ is the largest producer of steel in the world: China

560) ________ Airport retained its position as the world's busiest airport for international customers for the fifth consecutive year: Dubai

561) In the Innovation Index - 2019 compiled for top 60 economies of the world, India figured for the first time, at what rank: 54

562) _______ continues to top the Innovation Index for the sixth time in a row: South Korea

563) Prime Minister dedicated to the nation the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial at which place: Village Dandi, District Navsari, Gujarat

564) Mahatama Gandhi carried out the famous Dandi march from which place: Sabarmati

565) ________ became the first woman cricketer in the world to play 200 ODIs: Mithali Raj

566) The central banks of the _____ and ______ have launched a common digital currency called "Aber": UAE, Saudi Arabia

567) According to the annual Global Corruption Index, India has improved its ranking to _____ place: 78th

568) Which contingent was selected as the Best Marching Contingent among the three services in this year's Republic Day Parade: Gorkha Brigade Contingent

569) _______ won the prize for best Marching Contingent among paramilitary forces in this year's Republic Day Parade: CRPF

JANUARY – 2019 570) January 30 Martyr Day of Mahatma Gandhi is

observed as which special day in India: Anti Leprosy Day

571) International Day of Education is observed on which date: January 24

572) Which state has established an armed “State Tiger Protection Force” (STPF) to protect the Tigers:


Telangana 573) Which international day is observed on last

Sunday of January to achieve the target of zero cases of leprosy-related disabilities: World Leprosy Day

574) What is the formal name given to the India's fastest train T18: Vande Bharat

575) The train Vande Bharat Express will run between which two cities: NewDelhi - Varanasi

576) Oxford dictionaries declared ________ as the Hindi word for the year 2018: ‘Nari Shakti’

577) Ace shuttler SainaNehwal recently won which international title for the first time: Indonesia Masters, Jakarta

578) Australian Open, year’s first Grand Slam of Tennis was held in which city: Melbourne

579) __________ won the Men's single title of Australian Open for the record 7th time: Novak Djokovic

580) Who became the first woman Japanese player to win the singles title at Australian Open: Naomi Osaka

581) India celebrated its _________ Republic Day on January 26, 2019: 70th

582) Cyril Ramaphosa was the Chief Guest on this year's Republic Day Parade. Who is he: President of South Africa

583) Contingent of which paramilitary force created history on becoming the first ever all women contingent to take part in Republic Day Parade: Assam Rifles

584) Special tourist train named ______ has been started to visit places linked with Dr. Ambedkar: Samantha Express

585) What is the title of the recent book by Malala Yousafzai: We Are Displaced:- My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World

586) Who is the author of the popular book "The Wicked King": Holly Black

587) The Union Government Instituted an annual award titled ‘Subhash Chandra Bose AapdaPrabandhanPuraskar' for what purpose: To reward persons engaged in disaster management

588) NASA's Mars rover named ____________completed 15 years of its touchdown on the surface of Mars: Opportunity

589) Name the famous women folk singer who has been listed for awarding of Padma Vibhushan: Teejan Bai

590) Who is A M Naik whose name figures in the four Padma Vibhushan declare this year: Chairman of Larsen & Toubro

591) Former CAG V K Shunglu has been awarded which Padma award this year: Padam Bhushan

592) Name the iconic face of MDH spices who has been

decorated with the Padma Bhushan: Mahashay Dharam Pal Gulati

593) What is the full name of Bharat Ratna Awardee Nanaji Deshmukh: ChandikadasAmritrao ‘Nanaji’ Deshmukh

594) Nanaji Deshmukh established India’s first university devoted to rural development. Name this university: ‘ChitrakootGramoday Vishwavidyalaya, Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh

595) India has moved up one position to rank _______ on the Global Talent Competitive Index released by the World Economic Forum: 80th

596) Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has been elected as _______ new king by the members of the country's royal families: Malaysia

597) National Voters Day is observed on which date: January 25

598) What is the theme of this year's National Voters Day: No Voter to be left behind

599) Which two satellites were launched successfully by ISRO on board its rocket PSLV C 44: Kalam-Sat and Microsat R

600) Ashoka Chakra, country's highest peacetime gallantry award was conferred posthumously upon Lance Naik _________.: Nazir Ahmed Wani

601) National Girl Child Day is observed on which date: January 24

602) Virat Kohli created history by becoming first ever cricketer to win all the three top most ICC honours. Name these awards: Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the year

603) Which national institution announced country’s first and only the third globally full-fledged graduation programme in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology: IIT Hyderabad

604) Which neighbouring country in India has banned use of Indian currency notes of Rs.2,000, Rs.500 and Rs.200 denominations: Nepal

605) Name the India’s topranking tennis star won the International Tennis Federation's $25,000 Women's tournament in Singapore: Ankita Raina

606) As per the Global Trust Index, released by the World Economic Forum, ________ is the most trusted country in the world: China

607) As per the Global Trust Index, released by the World Economic Forum, India has been placed at which rank: Second

608) India will host the 14th session of the Conference of Parties to the UNCCD in Oct 2019. What is UNCCD: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

609) The Home Ministry has notified that from now onwards ____________ will be valid travel documents for Indians under 15 and over 65 travelling to Nepal and Bhutan: Aadhaar cards


610) In the ‘Khelo India’ Youth Games concluded on January 20, which state topped the medal tally: Maharashtra - 228 Medals

611) In which Indian state is first Defence Industrial Corridor of Indialocated: Uttar Pradesh

612) The Vibrant Gujarat Summit was hosted by which city in Gujarat: Gandhinagar

613) The annual meet of WEF is always held at one particular city of Switzerland. Can you name it: Davos

614) The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has announced that the Brazilian city of ___________will be the World Capital of Architecture for 2020: Rio de Janeiro

615) Name the Bharat Rattan Awardee scientist who has been conferred Sheikh Saud International Prize for Materials Research: CNR Rao

616) The Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas is observed on which date: January 9

617) The Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas is observed on January 9 to commemorate which historical event: Return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa in 1915

618) The National Museum of Indian Cinema, NMIC country's first museum devoted to cinema, was inaugurated in which city: Mumbai

619) The government will soon set up over 460 more Eklavya Model Residential Schools across the country. What is the objective of these schools: Providing free education to tribal students

620) An Eklavya Model Residential School has to be setup in every block of the country having more than ______ percent ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons: 50

621) The ISRO launched the UNNATI (UNispace Nano-satellite Assembly and Training by ISRO) programme with what objective: To promote capacity building on nanosatellite development

622) The Union Cabinet has approved the recapitalization of Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) to the tune of Rs ________crore: 6,000

623) Govt. has approved to increase the authorized capital of Exim Bank to Rs. _______ crore, from Rs. 10,000 crore at present: 20,000

624) Global chemical giant BASF has signed a MoU with the Adani Group to invest €2 billion (Rs. 16,000 crore) for what purpose: To set up a mega chemical plant in Gujarat at Mundra port complex

625) The BASF company is based in which country: Germany

626) Name the private sector Indian company which became first to report a quarterly profit of more than Rs 10,000 crore: Reliance Industries Ltd

(RIL) 627) The Ministry of Finance constituted a Group of

Ministers (GoM) headed by Sudhir Mungantiwar to review the GST related issues relating to lotteries. Who is Mr. Mungantiwar: Finance Minister of Maharashtra

628) The Election Commission of India launched Voter Awareness Forum (VAF) across the country with what objective: To promote informed and ethical electoral participation

629) Name the boy from Tamil Nadu who became the youngest Indian(and second youngest in the world) to win the Grand Master title at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days: D Gukesh

630) Name the young mountaineer from Kolkata who conquered Antarctica's highest volcano point, Mount Sidley: SatyarupSiddhanta

631) What is the name of the global prize having a cash award of Rs. One crore, instituted by the govt. of India in the honour of Mahatma Gandhi: Gandhi Peace Prize

632) Who is the winner of the Gandhi Peace Prize 2018: YoheiSasakawa

633) The government launched two TV channels devoted to science and technology. What is their name: DD Science, India Science

634) Which Union Ministry organised 9th International Micro Irrigation Conference in Aurangabad, Maharashtra: Ministry of Water resources and River Development

635) Government e Marketplace [GeM] has launched “Womaniya on GeM” initiative with what objective: To enable women entrepreneurs to sell online handicrafts, home décor and office furnishings, directly to various Govt outfits

636) India and the five Central Asia nations held their first ever India-Central Asia Dialogue on January 13 at which place: Samarkand, Uzbekistan

637) A country in North of Greece changed its official name by passing a resolution in its parliament. Name this country: Republic of North Macedonia

638) Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports launched the National Youth Parliament initiative with what objective: To capture the voice of youth on national issues

639) Abhinav Shaw, the ten year old boy from Asansol, West Bengal, became the youngest gold medalist at the Khelo India Youth Games, in which sports: Shooting

640) Karnataka swimmer Srihari Nataraj was in news for which of her achievement at the Khelo India Youth Games: Winningrecord 7 gold medals in swimming, highest in the Games

641) The Indian army celebrates the Army Day on which date: January 15


642) The Army Day is observed on January 15 to commemorate which historical event: Handing over of charge of Indian Army to Indian General in 1949 on this day

643) Who was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army: Lt Gen K M Cariappa

644) Name the Indian dignitary who was honoured with the first edition of the prestigious global award - Philip Kotler Presidential Award: Narendra Modi

645) Who is Philip Kotler, founder of the global Presidential Award: Veteran professor of Marketing, known as Father of Modern Marketing

646) What is the name of the popular festival of harvest celebrated on 14/15 January: Makar Sakranti

647) What is the astronomical importance of the Makar Sakranti: It marks the end of winter solstice as the Sun enters the Capricorn (Makar) on this day

648) A commemorative silver coin of Rs. 350 and a stamp was released n the 352nd birth anniversary of which Sikh Guru: Tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji

649) The 11th edition of EIU Global Democracy Index 2018 was topped by which country: Norway

650) India was placed at which rank in the 11th edition of EIU Global Democracy Index 2018: 41st

651) Which day is celebrated across the country on January 12 to promote youth related activities to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda: National Youth Day

652) What was the name of Guru of Swami Vivekananda: Ramakrishna Paramhansa

653) What was the original name of Swami Vivekananda: Narendra Nath Datta

654) The world's largest spiritual gathering - The Ardh-Kumbh started on which festival and will continue till which festival: Makar Sankranti-Jan 15, Maha-Shivratri - March 4

655) Holding of Kumbh-Mela is associated with which incident in Puranas: Samudra Manthan

656) _________has become first state in India to announce the benefits of 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections of general category in educational institutions and government jobs from Jan 14: Gujarat

657) Six states - Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand signed an agreement for construction of which multipurpose hydroelectric project: Renuka Ji Dam

658) Renuka Ji Dam is to be constructed on which river and at which place: On river Giri, Near Sirmour District, Himachal Pradesh

659) India’s longest 300-meter single lane steel cable suspension bridge was inaugurated in which state: Arunachal Pradesh

660) Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched which programme to tackle the increasing air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner: National Clean Air Programme

661) Which day is celebrated across the world on January 10 to popularize and promote the use of Hindi Language: World Hindi Day

662) Which star player from Egypt has been named as the 2018 Confederation of African Football Player of the Year: Mohamed Salah

663) The sea planes will be operated under the UDAN Scheme of the govt. The acronym UDAN is stands for what: UdeDesh ka AamNagrik

664) Col. Ranveer Singh Jamwal, the adventure loving Colonel has become the first Army officer for which achievement: Havingscaled the seven highest mountain summits in each of the seven continents

665) In a “massive relief” to small businesses, the GST Council doubled the limit for exemption from GST to Rs. ________ lakh from Rs. 20 lakh earlier :40

666) The turn over limit for small traders and businesses paying 1 percent GST on the turnover has been increase to Rs. ____ crore: 1.5

667) Who has been named India's Chef de Mission for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Birendra Prasad Baishya

668) What is the current position held by Birendra Prasad Baishya in Indian sports: President of the Indian Weightlifting Federation

669) As per the Henley Passport Index 2019 which passport has been ranked as the world's most powerful passport in 2019: Japan

670) As per the Henley Passport Index 2019, Indian passport enjoys ________ rank having friendly access to only 61 countries: 79th

671) Who is the first Indian to achieve number one position in the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) latest world rankings: MC Marry Kom

672) A report by World Economic Forum says that ________ is set to become the world's third largest consumer market behind only USA and China by 2030: India

673) A recent amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955 seeks to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from 3 countries, eligible for Indian citizenship: Name these three countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan

674) Govt. launched an online campaign, ‘WebWonderWomen’ with what objective: To discover and celebrate the exceptional


achievements of women working for social change via social media

675) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has admitted which country as its 105th member: USA

676) Which tennis star created the record of having won the Hopman Cup for a record third time: Roger Federer

677) As per the December-end data released by Association of Mutual funds in India (AMFI), which mutual fund is largest AMC in India: HDFC Mutual Fund

678) A special court in Mumbai declared which person as the first FEO in India: Vijay Mallya

679) What is the full form of FEO: Fugitive Economic Offender

680) Which country's spacecraft, has made the first-ever landing on the far side of the moon, the side that perpetually faces away from the Earth: China

681) The Ministry for Information & Broadcasting has decided the sharing of All India Radio News with which other media outfit: Private FM broadcasters

682) The latest data released by the CSO shows that the income earned by an average Indian doubled in 7 years, from Rs 63,642 per year in 2011-12 to Rs _____ lakh in 2018-19: 1.25 lakh

683) Kumar Rajesh Chandra, senior IPS officer has been appointed as the Director General of which force: Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)

684) As per the Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report released by the World Bank, which country is expected to retain its position as the fastest growing major economy in a world of slowing growth: India

685) The RBI recently released guidelines on introducing which new process for various card transactions, including from debit and credit cards: Tokenisation

686) New food packing guidelines by FSSAI prohibit use of which items for wrapping food articles: Recycled plastics and newspapers

687) RBI has constituted a high level committee headed by UIDAI’s former Chairman __________ on Deepening of Digital Payments: Nandan Nilekani

688) Recently which articles of constitution have been amended to provide for 10% reservation to EWS in general category:Article15 and Article 16

689) To be eligible for 10% reservation, annual family income should be less than Rs. ____ lakh: 8

690) Families that have agriculture land above _____ acre are not eligible for 10% EWS reservation: 5

691) The recent amendment to the constitution providing for 10% reservation to EWS in general category is ______ amendment of the constitution: 103rd

692) __________, India born Economist became the first woman to join International Monetary Fund as its Chief Economist: Gita Gopinath

693) Name the Indian fast bowler who became the highest international wicket-taker across all formats in 2018, claiming 78 wickets: JaspritBumrah

694) The Union Home Ministry approved the Uttar Pradesh government’s proposal to rename Allahabad as _________: Prayagraj

695) Who became world's first woman amputee to climb Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica: Arunima Sinha

696) Which state of India topped ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ rankings given by Asia Competitiveness Institute, Singapore: Andhra Pradesh

697) The RBI has recently formed UK Sinha committee for what purpose: To propose long-term solutions for revival of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector

698) The Golden Globe Awards are conferred to recognize excellence in________: Cinema and TV

699) The Golden Globe Awards are given in which country: USA

700) The Bohemian Rhapsody won the Golden Globe Awards in which category: Best Picture, Drama

701) Alfonso Cuaron won the Golden Globe award for Best Director for which film: Roma

702) Indian cricket team created history by winning their first ever series on Australian soil. What was the name of this series: Border-Gavaskar Trophy

703) What is the objective of celebrating World Braille Day on January 4: To generate awareness for and promote fully the human rights of visually-impaired

704) Who has been named as the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year and also as the ICC Women's ODI Player of the Year: SmirtiMandhana

705) Who has been re-elected as the Bangladesh Prime Minister after her party Awami League achieved landslide victory in recent general elections: Sheikh Hasina

706) Which two countries officially quit the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with the close of 2018: USAand Israel

707) The 106th edition of Indian Science Congress-2019 was hosted by_________ in Jalandhar: Lovely Professional University

708) What was the theme of the 106th edition of Indian Science Congress-2019: Future India: Science and Technology

709) Who has been appointed as the head of the Central Information Commission: Sudhir


Bhargava 710) At which place in India 3 islands were renamed as

a tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: Andaman & Nicobar

711) For which major project of ISRO the Union Cabinet approved a budget of Rs. 10,000 crore: Gagan-yaan Project

712) What is the main objective of the Gaganyaan Project: To send three Indian astronauts in space for up to seven days by 2022

713) Madhya Pradesh has declared Kuno wildlife sanctuary as a national park for translocation of which endangered animal: Asiatic lions from Gir in Gujarat

714) The 26th National Children's Science Congress was held in____________, Odisha: Bhubaneswar

715) Niti Aayog released the 2nd Delta Ranking of the Aspirational Districts Programme. Which are AspirationalDistricts: 115 most backward districts of the country

DECEMBER – 2018 716) The birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee on December 25 is celebrated as which special day: Good Governance Day

717) Indian firm India Ports Global Ltd. recently formally took over the operations of Shaheed Behesti port at which place: Chabahar, Iran

718) Name the Dronacharya awardee boxing coach who has taken over as India's chief boxing coach: C A Kuttappa

719) RBI has appointed ________ to head the committee that will decide on the appropriate size of reserves that the central bank should maintain: Dr. Bimal Jalan

720) In which state did its own new High Court started functioning from Jan 1, 2019: Andhra Pradesh

721) The Andhra Pradesh High Court is ______ High Court of the country: 25th

722) Name the PM of Bhutan who came to India on a 3 day visit: Dr. LotayTshering

723) ___________ police station near Bikaner in Rajasthan has been adjudged best in the country: Kalu

724) National Farmers Day is observed on which date: December 23

725) Burundi, a tiny country in north west of Tanzania, was in news recently for what reasons: It changed its capital to city of Gitega

726) What is the name of India’s longest rail-road bridge opened recently: Bogibeel Bridge

727) Bogibeel bridge has been built across which river: Brahmaputra

728) The Bogibeel bridge connects which two states of North East India: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh

729) India observes the National Consumer Day on which date: December 24

730) What is the name of the Act that defines consumer rights: The Consumer Protection Act, 1986

731) What is this year's theme of the National Consumer Day: Timely Disposal of Consumer Complaints

732) Which state launched Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA), to provide farmers Rs 10,000 a year for their crops: Odisha

733) The New York best seller "Queen of Air and Darkness" is a book written by which author: Cassandra Clare

734) "Once Upon A River" is a popular novel written by which author: DianeSetterfield

735) Which day is observed to honour the birthday of legendary Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan: National Mathematics Day

736) National Mathematics Day is observed on which date: December 22

737) What is the name of the new national honour to be instituted for promoting national integration: Sardar Patel Award for National Integration

738) The Prime Minister recently released a Rs. 100 commemorative coin in the honour of which great statesman: Atal Bihari Vajpayee

739) Vedangi Kulkarni from Pune became the fastest Asian in which context: Covering the globe on cycle

740) The country’s first music museum is to be set up at which place: Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu

741) What is the nick name of the heavenly body discovered recently that is farthest from the Sun in our solar system: Farout

742) Globally which day is observed on December 18 to support the cause of migrants: International Migrants Day

743) What is the theme of this year's International Migrants Day: Migration with Dignity

744) India has been ranked _______ in World Economic Forum (WEF) Gender Gap Index 2018, compiled for 149 countries: 108th

745) Which country has been ranked at No. 1 for minimizing the Gender Gap among her citizens: Iceland

746) The International Tennis Federation (ITF) named Serbia’s ________ as the 2018 ITF World Champion- Men: Novak Djokovic

747) Who has been named as the 2018 ITF World Champion- Women: Simona Halep

748) Simona Halep hails from which country: Romania 749) Pranab Kumar Das has been appointed as

chairman of the CBIC. What is its full form: Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs

750) Golden Shoe Award is given in recognition of which achievement: Scoring highest football


goals in the year in Europe 751) Who won the Golden Shoe Award 2018 by scoring

34 goals: Lionel Messi 752) Who is the winner of this year's UN Human Rights

Prize: LateAsma Jahangir 753) Who was Asma Jahangir: Pakistan’s renowned

social activist 754) ________ has been appointed as the new coach of

the Indian women's cricket team: W. V. Raman 755) Recently which Indian state was put under

Presidents rule: Jammu & Kashmir 756) As per the Startup Ranking 2018 released by the

Ministry of Commerce and Industry, ________ emerged as the best performing state: Gujarat

757) ________ has been appointed as the Ambassador of India to the United States of America: Harsh Vardhan Shringla

758) The IAF recently tested flying which aircraft with biofuel mixture: AN-32 Transport Aircraft

759) Which biofuel was used to mix with the aviation turbine fuel in a recent test on AN-32 aircraft: Jatropha oil

760) The finals of the FIH Hockey World Cup 2018 were played in which city: Bhubaneswar, Odisha

761) The Belgium won the Hockey World Cup 2018 by defeating which country: Netherlands

762) Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karnataka was in news for what reasons: For setting world record of operating uninterrupted for 941 days

763) Merriam-Webster, the noted American dictionary has chosen _______ as its 2018 word of the year: Justice

764) Catriona Elisa Gray from Philippines won which international beauty crown recently: Miss Universe 2018

765) PV Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win which prestigious badminton trophy: WorldTour Finals Trophy

766) Why we celebrate Vijay Diwas on December 16: To mark the victory of Indian forces over Pak forces in 1971 war

767) _________ has been elected as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot

768) Bhupesh Baghel has recently been elected as Chief Minister of which state: Chhattisgarh

769) _________ has been elected as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Kamal Nath

770) What is the name of the recently elected Chief Minister of Mizoram: Zoramthanga

771) K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been re-elected as the Chief Minister of which state: Telangana

772) What is the name of the new search engine launched by Google for online shopping lovers: Google Shopping

773) ________ won the 'Breakthrough Table Tennis Star'

award at the ITTF Star Awards in Incheon, South Korea: Manika Batra

774) The Aga Khan Gold Cup is associated with which sports: Hockey

775) As per the Climate Change Performance Index - 2019, what is India's rank in terms of controlling release of greenhouse gases: 11th

776) As per the Climate Change Performance Index - 2019, _______ is the best country in terms of controlling release of greenhouse gases: Sweden

777) What is the name of apex constitutional body formed for development of policies and strategies to reduce the energy use: Bureau of Energy Efficiency

778) National Energy Conservation Day is observed on which date: December 14

779) The government has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by ___________to vet the recommendations of a high-level panel on stressed power projects: ArunJaitely

780) Who is the winner of this year's JnanpithAward:Amitav Ghosh

781) Amitav Ghosh is a famous writer of which language: English

782) What is the amount of cash award given in the Jnanpith Award: Rs. 11 lakh

783) Which UN organization supports the celebration of the International Universal Health Coverage Day on December 12: WHO - World Health Organization

784) Who has been appointed as the new President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune: BP Singh

785) BP Singh is the producer / director of which famous TV serial: CID

786) Legendary boxer MC Mary Kom was recently honoured with Meethoileima award by which state: Manipur

787) The Indian Navy inducted its first DSRV for what purpose: To conduct submarine rescue operations

788) What is the full form of DSRV: Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle

789) The International Anti-Corruption Day is observed around the world on which date: December 09

790) The Northeast Frontier Railway is constructing the world’s tallest girder railway bridge in which state: Manipur

791) Which International Day is observed on December 11 to encourage sustainable development in mountains: International Mountain Day

792) PrathameshMaulingkar,boy from Goa created history by becoming the first Asian/Indian to win___________ title: Mr. Supranational


793) The Time magazine named _______ as the "Person of the Year" for 2018: Jamal Khashoggi

794) Who has been appointed as the new Governor of RBI: S. Das

795) With the beginning of Kannur international Airport, ________ has become the first state to have four international airports: Kerala

796) _________ form the largest diaspora in terms of sending remittances to their country, a whopping $ 80 billion in 2018: Indians

797) Which international day is observed on December 10 to commemorate Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Human Rights Day

798) What is the approximate range of the ICBM Agni-V: 5000 kms

799) What is the full form of ICBM: Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile

800) Government has decided to hike its contribution to NPS (National Pension Scheme) to ______ per cent from existing 10 per cent: 14

801) Shubhankar Sharma, 22, the youngest Indian to win the 2018 Asian Tour Order of Merit Champion, is associated with which sports: Golf

802) The government cleared a proposal to implement the Shahpur Kandi Dam Project in which state: Punjab

803) The Shahpur Kandi Dam Project is being built on which river: Ravi

804) Which carrier has become the first domestic airline to have 200 aircraft in its fleet: IndiGo

805) Which country witnessed month long "Yellow Vests" demonstrations against fuel tax rises, high living costs and other issues: France

806) The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Council of the United Nations approved India’s proposal to observe the year _______ as the International Year of Millets: 2023

807) Maharashtra launched project SMART in 10,000 villages to achieve sustainable farming. What is the full form of SMART: State of Maharashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation

808) Vanessa Ponce de Leon of Mexico won which coveted international beauty crown recently: Miss World 2018

809) To commemorate induction of its first submarine, the Indian Navy celebrates December 9 as what day: Submarine Day

810) The NITI Aayog recently launched 'AI 4 All Global Hackathon' to explore new frontiers in which field: Artificial Intelligence

811) Which country plans to make all public transportation free to minimize traffic congestion: Luxembourg

812) Which Union Ministry won the Skoch Award for National Significance for promoting 73 GW renewable energy capacity in the country:

Ministryof New and Renewal Energy 813) Who has been appointed as the new Chief

Economic Advisor to the Govt of India, for a period of 3 years: Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian

814) Which national day is observed on December 07, to express gratitude to the martyrs as well as the men and women in uniform: Armed Forces Flag Day

815) Who is Eliud Kipchoge, the winner of this year's IAAF Athlete of the year - male award: World marathon record holder from Kenya

816) Name the jump queen from Colombia who won this year's IAAF Athlete of the year - female award: CaterineIbarguen

817) Which country has overtaken Iraq to become the world’s deadliest country for terrorism, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index 2018: Afghanistan

818) Based on the results of a popular vote, Cambridge Dictionary has named ________ as the Word of the Year, 2018: Nomophobia

819) What is the meaning of "nomophobia": Fear of being without mobile phone

820) With which country India recently signed a pact on currency swap to enable the two countries to trade in their own currency: United Arab Emirates

821) The RBI has announced to reduce the statutory liquidity ratio to___ percent from 19.5 percent at present in a phased manner: 18

822) The RBI has announced to reduce the SLR by ___ basis points, at quarterly intervals, beginning January 2019: 25(100 basis points =1%)

823) What will be the likely effect of reduction in SLR on quantum of bank loans: They are likely to increase

824) Which day is observed on December 6 all around the world to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil: World Soil Day

825) The European Central Bank launched a new digital payment system - TIPS recently. Write full form of TIPS: Target Instant Payment Settlement

826) The ISRO successfully launched GSAT-11, its heaviest ever satellite from which space port: Kourou Launch Zone, French Guiana in South America

827) What is the main function of the GSAT-11 satellite: Providing enhanced high speed broadband services in remote rural areas

828) Which Maharatna company recently crossed the milestone of generating 5 trillion units of electricity as on November 30 since its inception in Nov 1975: NTPC-National Thermal Power Corporation


829) Which Arabian county recently announce its withdrawal from the oil cartel OPEC: Qatar

830) What is the full form of OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

831) The Headquarters of OPEC are located in which city: Vienna, Austria

832) Which star footballer won the coveted Ballon d'Or award for 2018: Luka Modric(Croatia)

833) A N Jha has been appointed as the ___________ in Ministry of Finance: Finance Secretary

834) Indian Navy Day marks the crucial victory of the Indian navy on which enemy port: Karachi, Pakistan

835) _______ has become the first state in the North East to launch common emergency number ‘112’: Nagaland(Himachal Pradesh was first in India)

836) Who is the first Indian to be elected to the seven member Judges Committee of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF): Pawan Singh

837) Delegates from nearly 200 nations took part in the two week long COP 24 (conference of parties) at which place: Katowice, Poland

838) COP 24 made efforts to find ways to implement the provisions of which important climate treaty: 2015 Paris treaty

839) December 03 aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society. What is formal name of this day: International Day of Persons with Disabilities

840) ____________ became the first Indian state to launch a single emergency number ‘112’: Himachal Pradesh

841) Which 3 countries recently signed the USMCA trade agreement: USA, Mexico and Canada

842) This day provides an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and to show support for people living with HIV. Name this day: World AIDS Day

843) World AIDS Days is observed on which date: December 01

844) What is the theme for this year's World AIDS Day: Know Your Status

845) The Blue Cross, the highest honour in the sport of shooting, has recently been conferred on which Indian sports person: Abhinav Bindra

846) Which initiative has been launched to introduce school students to 22 Indian languages listed in the Constitution: Bhasha Sangam

847) Which state organizes Hornbill festival to showcase its rich culture, traditions and rituals: Nagaland

848) Name the grand master who won the World Chess Championship for the fourth time in a row: Magnus Carlsen, Norway

849) Azim Premji, IT tycoon was recently honoured with highest civil award of France. Name the award: Knight of the Legion of Honour

850) A collection of speeches of President R.N.Kovind has been published as a book under which title: The Republican Ethic

851) What is the title of the book written by former PM Manmohan Singh, released in December 2018: Changing India

NOVEMBER – 2018 852) International Day for Elimination of Violence

against Women is observed on which date: November 25

853) What is the theme of this year's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: “Orange the World: #HearMeToo”.

854) “Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca” is one of the highest civilian honour of which country: Mexico

855) Name the Indian honoured this year with the “Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca”: Prof. Shyama Prasad Ganguly

856) What is the professional status of Prof. Shyama Prasad Ganguly: He is professor of Hispanic Studies at JNU, New Delhi

857) As per the India Skills Report 2019, _______ state has the highest employability levels, followed by Rajasthan and Haryana: Andhra Pradesh

858) As per the India Skills Report 2019, which group out of B.Tech/BE and MBAs, has higher employability levels of over 63%: B.Tech/BE

859) India observes the Constitution Day on which date: November 26

860) The Constitution of India was implemented from which date: January 26, 1950

861) Team from which country won the Women's World T20 Championship: Australia

862) Nahid Afrin, popular singer of Assam has been appointed as the first 'Youth Advocate' of the northeastern region by which UN organization: UNICEF

863) The ‘SHe-Box’ portal has been created for what purpose: To report complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace

864) The ‘SHe-Box’ portal has been created by which Union Ministry: The Ministry of Women and Child Development

865) The United Nations Environment conferred the Asia Environment Enforcement Award on which Indian organization: Wildlife Crime Control Bureau

866) Who is the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir: SatyaPal Malik

867) What is the name of the highest international body of the world for accurate and precise measurements: General Conference on Weights and Measures


868) What is the approximate location of the tiny island country Papua New Guinea: North of Australia in South Pacific Ocean

869) Subroto Cup is associated with which sports: Football

870) Which team lifted the Subroto Cup International Football Tournament - Junior: Bangladesh Krida Shiksha Prothishtan

871) Where in India is being constructed country's first "Justice City": Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh

872) Who is the youngest ever (14 years) goodwill ambassador of UNICEF, appointed on the occasion of World Children’s Day: Millie Bobby Brown

873) Who is Millie Bobby Brown: Popular star of hit Netflix series “Stranger Things”

874) World / Universal Children’s Day is observed on which date: November 20

875) Which UN organization supports the celebration of World Children's Day: UNICEF

876) Name the winner of this year's Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development: Centre for Science and Environment

877) The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development is awarded by which organization: Indira Gandhi Trust, New Delhi

878) What is the amount of cash prize given in the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development: Rs. 25 lakh

879) Wasim Jaffer became the first Indian batsman to touch the 11,000-run figure in which national tournament: Ranji Trophy

880) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved 100% mandatory packaging of which item in Jute bags: Foodgrains

881) Which committee has suggested creation of a new asset management company to resolve high value NPAs: Sunil Mehta Committee

882) What is the name of the proposed new asset management company to resolve high value NPAs: Sashakt India Asset Management

883) What is the cut off limit for NPA cases to be handled by the Sashakt India Asset Management: Above Rs. 500 crore

884) Prime Minister Modi recently inaugurated KMP expressway. What is KMP: Kundli - Manesar - Palwal

885) KMP expressway is aimed to reduce considerably vehicular pollution in which area: Delhi

886) In a global annual ranking of 63 countries in developing, attracting and retaining talent, what is the rank of India: 53rd

887) Name the country that has decided to re-join the Commonwealth Group after a gap of 2 years: Maldives

888) Who is the current head of the Commonwealth

Group: Queen Elizabeth II 889) The government launched the Grand Challenge on

the Startup India Portal for what purpose: To invite innovative ideas based on Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain and other cutting-edge technology to reform Government processes

890) What is the aim of launching the Grand Challenge: Improving the India’s ranking in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ to within 50, from 77 at present

891) Which Bank launched ‘Nexxt Credit Card’ which empowers customers with a choice of payment options such as EMI, Reward Points or Credit at the push of a button, on the card: IndusInd Bank

892) Who has been appointed as the new Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance: Ajay BhushanPandey

893) The Ayush Ministry celebrated the India's first Naturopathy Day on which date: November 18

894) What is the full form of Ayush: Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy

895) Supported by the UNO, the World Toilet Day is celebrated across the world on which date: November 19

896) Out of 17 SDGs, which number Sustainable Development Goal of UNO aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of sanitation and water for all by 2030: 6th

897) Which player became India’s highest T20 run-getter, including men and women, scoring 2,283 T20 runs: Mithali Raj

898) Which Ministry has decided to set up 1,023 fast- track courts to dispose of pending cases of rape of children and women and cases under POCSO Act: The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development

899) The Union Ministry of Women and Child Developmentproposes to use which fund to fast track cases of rape of children and women under POCSO: Nirbhaya Fund

900) NguyễnPhươngKhánh of Vietnam won which international beauty crown recently: Miss Earth 2018

901) Who has been crowned the Miss International 2018: MariemVelazcoof Venezuela

902) Oxford dictionaries selected which word as the 'Word of the Year': Toxic

903) Name the Barcelona star footballer who was named La Liga Player of the Year for 6th time: Lionel Messi

904) November 16 is celebrated as the International Day for ___________ all over the world: Tolerance

905) Which national day is observed on November 16 to honour the existence of free and responsible


press in India: The National Press Day 906) Why November 16 has been selected to celebrate

the National Press Day: It was on this day in 1966 that the Press Council of India started functioning

907) Ministry of Agriculture launched the ‘YuvaSahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme’ for what purpose: To attract the youth to launch cooperative business ventures

908) HRD Ministry launched which programme for online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty:ARPIT

909) What is the full form of ARPIT: Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching

910) What was the name of the joint military exercise between India and Russia held in November 2018: Indra 2018

911) Who has been appointed as UNICEF India’s Youth Ambassador: Hima Das

912) Who is Hima Das: First Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at an international track event-400 mt race

913) On November 14, ISRO launched its heaviest ever satellite. Can you name it: GSAT-29

914) The GSAT-29 was launched by which heavy lift rocket: GSLV-Mark III

(GSAT- Geo-synchronousSatellite) (GSLV-Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle ) 915) The GSAT-29 shall be used for what purpose: To

facilitate high speed internet connections for better communications with the Village Resource Centres established by the ISRO

916) Notes of a Dream is the autobiography of which famous celebrity: A.R. Rehman

917) ‘Kingdom of Ash’ is a chart buster book by which author: Sarah J. Mass

918) An international day is observed on November 14 to generate awareness about the escalating health threat posed by a very widespread decease. Can you name it: Diabetes

919) What is the theme of this year's world Diabetes Day: Family and Diabetes

920) Why November 14 has been selected for observing the world Diabetes Day: The day marks the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922

921) Ministry of Finance has decided to release a commemorative coin of Rs.75 to mark which historic event: 75th anniversary of the hoisting of Tricolour for the first time by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at Port Blair

922) A National Data Repository is being planned for storing all the geo-scientific data of hydrocarbon resources in the country. It will facilitate which

activity: Exploration and production activities of oil & gas in Indian sedimentary basins

923) Which day is observed on November 12 to commemorate the first and last visit of the Mahatma Gandhi to the studio of All India Radio, Delhi: The Public Service Broadcasting Day

924) Knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian honour was recently conferred upon which Indian: Jawahar Lal Sarin

925) Who is Jawahar Lal Sarin: President of the governing body of Alliance Francaise, French Cultural Centers in India

926) ___________ has been appointed as the Chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI): AshokKumar Gupta

927) India’s first Inland Waterways Container Terminal started on River Ganga at which place: Ramnagar near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh

928) This waterway will link Varanasi with which important sea port: Haldia in West Bengal

929) India celebrates National Education Day every year on which date: November 11

930) November 11 is celebrated as the National Education Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of which great scholar and freedom fighter: Maulana AbulKalam Azad

931) What was the status of Shri Azad in the independent India: 1st Education Minister

932) Name the 24 year old star Indian wrestler who was ranked number one in the world in the 65 kg category: Bajrang Punia

933) World Science Day for Peace and Development is observed on which day of November: 10th

934) What was the theme of this year's World Science Day: Science, A Human Right

935) Birthday of Madam Marie Curie, November 7 is observed as National Cancer Awareness Day. What was her contribution to treat cancer: Discovery of Radio Activity by her is an important tool in fighting cancer

936) Which state has approved a proposal to pay Rs. 25000 one time lump sum to every girl graduating in state in 2018 and onwards: Bihar

937) Which country has agreed to supply K-9 Vajra-Tracked Self-Propelled Guns in knocked down form: South Korea

938) The Union Cabinet approved amendment to the Central Universities Act- 2009 for setting up of a Central Tribal University in which state: Andhra Pradesh

939) India’s first indigenous nuclear submarine INS _______ completed its “first deterrence patrol" by successfully firing its maiden "live" nuclear-tipped missiles: Arihant

940) Which former warship will now be converted into India’s first-ever maritime museum-cum-marine


adventure centre: INS Viraat 941) Name the Indian institute that has developed the

India’s first indigenous microprocessor named ‘Shakti’: IIT Madras

942) Name the 21 year old US gymnast who became the first-ever gymnast to win 20 World Championships gold medals: Simone Biles

943) Which day is observed every year on Dhanvantari Jayanti (Dhanteras) to promote awareness about the usage of Ayurveda in day to day life: NationalAyurveda Day,November 5

944) The Reserve Bank has initiated the process for setting up a digital Public Credit Registry for what purpose: To capture details of all borrowers and also the pending legal suits to check financial delinquencies in the banking system

945) The world's largest airport terminal "under one roof" with a capacity to serve 90 million passengers per year was thrown open to public in which city: Istanbul, Turkey

946) The Ministry of Railways launched the ‘Utsonmobile’ app for what purpose: To provide ‘Unreserved Mobile Ticketing’ facility for booking of unreserved tickets

947) As per the Ease of Doing Business Index by World Bank, India jumped 23 places to reach which rank: 77th

948) ______ is the best country as per the Ease of Doing Business Index by World Bank: New Zealand

949) Which international day is observed on October 31 to work together for planned and sustainable urban life: World Cities Day

950) INS Tarangini, the sail training ship of Indian Navy recently completed which big mission: Completedseven-month long voyage named “Lokayan 18”, across the world

951) The Supreme Court in a landmark verdict prohibited the plying of 15 year or more old petrol and 10 year or more old diesel vehicles in which area: Delhi NCR (National Capital Region)

952) Which country launched the world’s first Sovereign Blue Bond to support sustainable marine and fisheries projects of the country: Seychelles

953) Name the NASA's legendary space telescope that retired after running out of fuel needed for further science operations: Kepler

954) Name the tiny island where world's tallest statue-Statue of Unity has been erected: Sadhu Bet Island

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