Changing the way of learning…

Monthly Current Affairs Capsule

September 2018

PM inaugurates Pashupatinath Dharmashala in

Kathmandu

The Prime Minister, Shri

Narendra Modi, jointly

inaugurated the Pashupatinath

Dharmashala in Kathmandu,

with the Prime Minister of

Nepal, Shri K.P. Oli.

He said the spiritual ties between India and Nepal

have transcended both time and distance. In that

context, he added, he feels delighted to be

inaugurating this Dharmashala.

The Prime Minister said that the temples of

Pashupatinath, Muktinath and Jankidham showcase

Nepal's unity in diversity, besides strengthening its

bonds with India.

AYUSH Minister to inaugurate the Fourth International

Ayurveda Congress

Minister of State, (IC), for AYUSH Shri Shripad Yesso Naik

will be inaugurated the Fourth International Ayurveda

Congress (IAvC) at Netherlands on September 1.

The Minister is visiting Netherlands from September

1-4, 2018 to participate in the Congress jointly

organized by International Maharishi Ayurveda

Foundation, Netherlands; All India Ayurvedic

Congress, New Delhi and the International Academy

of Ayurveda, Pune in association with the Indian

Embassy in the Netherlands.

The congress would focus on promotion and

propagation of Ayurveda in Netherlands and its

neighboring countries of Europe.

A special Seminar is also organized by the Indian

Embassy titled “India-Netherlands collaboration in

Healthcare, including Ayurveda” on 3rd September

2018.

6th East Asia Summit and 15th India-ASEAN Economic

Ministers Meeting held in Singapore

Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu attended the 6th

East Asia Summit- Economic Ministers’ Meeting (EAS-

EMM) and 15th India-ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting

(AEM) in Singapore. Singapore is currently holding the Chair

of ASEAN.

The 6th East-Asia Economic Ministers’ Meeting was

chaired by Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Trade and

Industry, Singapore, and was attended by Economic

Ministers from 10 ASEAN countries and their

eight dialogue partners, Australia, China, India,

Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the Russian

Federation and the United States of America.

The Ministers welcomed the higher global economic

growth forecast for 2018 and took note of the

increasing importance of trade and investment

relations among the EAS economies.

The 6th EAS–EMM was followed by the 15th

ASEAN Economic Ministers - India Consultation. It

was co-chaired by Chan Chun Sing, Minister for

Trade and Industry, Singapore, and Suresh Prabhu,

Minister of Commerce and Industry, India.

India Pavilion at Food and Drink Technology Africa Trade

Show in South Africa

Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) is setting up India

Pavilion at the Food and Drink Technology Africa 2018 trade

show being organized at Gallagher Convention Centre,

Johannesburg, South Africa from 4-6 September, 2018.

The India Pavilion is part of TPCI’s efforts to promote

India’s trade related to food and beverages industry

globally and with special focus on Africa.

Food & Drink Technology Africa (FDT-Africa) - held

biennially in Johannesburg - is the premier beverage

and food event in Southern Africa, tailored to promote

the specific needs of the market.

The trade show covers the entire value chain related

to food and beverages industry and offers solutions to

the challenges and demands of the market in Southern

Africa.

J P Nadda addresses the‘71st Session of the WHO Regional

Committee for South-East Asia'

“India has fast-tracked many

initiatives aimed at achieving all

the core tenets of Universal

Health Coverage i.e,

strengthening health systems,

improving access to free medicines & diagnostics and reducing

catastrophic healthcare spending.”

This was stated by Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of

Health and Family Welfare at the inauguration of the

‘71st Session of the WHO Regional Committee for

South-East Asia,'.

Shri J P Nadda further stated that India on its part

firmly believes in the objective of attainment of the

highest possible level of health, where health is a state

of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social

well-being and not merely the absence of disease or

infirmity.

“Moving toward this objective, we have adopted the

National Health Policy 2017 with the aim to provide

affordable healthcare for all,” Shri Nadda added.

India to take part in tsunami mock drill

India along with 23 other nations, would be participating in a

major Indian ocean-wide tsunami mock exercise (drill) on

September 4 and 5.

The exercise, known as IOWave18, is being

organised by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic

Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

The purpose of exercise is to increase tsunami

preparedness, evaluate response capabilities in each

state and improve coordination throughout the region.

24th RCEP Auckland Round from 17-24th October 2018

In the 6th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

(RCEP) Ministerial Meeting held on 30-31 August, 2018, in

Singapore, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Suresh

Prabhu, led the Indian delegation.

The Ministers acknowledged the good progress made

in the negotiations so far with successful conclusion

of 4 chapters, namely (i) Economic and Technical

Cooperation; (ii) Small and Medium Enterprises; (iii)

Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation; and (iv)

Government Procurement.

The Ministers endorsed ‘The Package of Year End

Deliverables’ and urged the negotiators to intensify

their work with a view to narrowing gaps and finding

balanced outcomes in the negotiations as it moves

forward.

In Goods, the negotiators have been tasked to work on

the ASEAN’s Non-Paper on Trade in Goods Market

Access Negotiations, which is to be considered as the

working assumption paper.

In Services, Suresh Prabhu emphasised on the

importance of maintaining quality and commercially

meaningful offers across all Modes.

In a significant development, all member countries

agreed to establish the linkage between Mode 4/

MoNP and the Services text.

While welcoming this linkage, Union Commerce

Minister urged member countries to make quality

offers by 5th October 2018.

In Investment, the Commerce Minister underlined the

importance of negotiations focussing on the

application of Investor State Dispute Settlement

(ISDS) and mentioned that clarity on its application

would lead to further movement in the Investment

Chapter.

At India’s behest, it was agreed that ISDS will not

apply to MFN and PPR. All member countries are

expected to submit their revised Reservation Lists

without broad sectoral carve outs.

The Ministers directed that the negotiations on all

these issues be intensified during the 24th RCEP

Auckland Round from 17-24th October 2018.

Points to Remember

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

is a mega regional free trade agreement being

negotiated amongst 16 countries, comprising 10

ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,

Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,

Thailand and Vietnam) and six ASEAN FTA

partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan,

Korea and New Zealand.

So far 6 Ministerial Meetings, 5 Inter-sessional

Ministerial Meetings and 23 Rounds of the Trade

Negotiating Committee at the technical level have

been held.

Thaawarchand Gehlot to attend the 3rd ASEM (Asia-

Europe Meeting) Conference

Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister of Social Justice

and Empowerment left for Seoul (Korea).

He is heading a 3-member Indian Delegation to attend

the 3rd ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Conference on

‘Global Ageing and Human Rights of Older Persons’

jointly organised in Seoul during 5th to 7th September,

2018 by the Republic of Korea and the National

Human Rights Commission of Korea.

The Conference will be attended by International

Institutions including the United Nations, Regional

Institutions such as UNESCAP, UNECE, European

Union, ASEAN, GANHRI and also International

NGOs, Experts etc.

U.S. returns two antique statues stolen from India

Two antique statues worth hundreds of thousands of dollars

stolen from India and displayed at two American museums

have been repatriated to India by the US.

The first statue, ‘Lingodhbhavamurti’, a 12th century

granite sculpture depicting an iconic representation of

Lord Shiva, dates back to the Chola dynasty.

Currently valued at about $225,000, it was stolen

from Tamil Nadu and was on display at the

Birmingham Museum in Alabama.

The second phyllite sculpture depicts the bodhisattva

of wisdom, ‘Manjusri’, holding a sword and painted

in gold leaf. This statue was stolen from a temple in

Bihar in the late 1980s.

Facebook to build first Asian data centre in Singapore

Facebook has announced it will pour in more than S$1.4 billion

to construct its first data centre in Asia in Singapore.

The new facility, located at Tanjong Kling (formerly

known as Data Centre Park) in the west of Singapore,

will span 170,000 sq m and will support hundreds of

jobs.

G20 Education Ministers’ and Joint Ministerial Meeting

The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Dr.

Satya Pal Singh lead a high level delegation to the G-20

Education Ministers’ Meeting as well as Joint Ministerial

Meeting held at Mendoza, Argentina on 5th & 6th September,

2018.

It was the first ever meeting of Education Ministers in

the history of G-20.

While speaking on the inaugural day in Educational

Ministerial meeting, Dr Satya Pal Singh, appreciated

and thanked Argentina for hosting an exclusive

meeting of Education Ministers for first time in the

history of G20 Summit.

He said that Education should be the first and

foremost priority area for any society to develop and

for any country to flourish. Therefore, it is most

appropriate to place education at the center of global

agenda.

G-20 Labour & Employment Ministers’ Meeting

Union Minister of State

(Independent Charge) for

Labour& Employment Shri

Santosh Kumar Gangwar, led a

delegation to Mendoza,

Argentina for the G-20 Labour&

Employment Ministers’ Meeting, held on 6-7, September,

2018.

Labour& Employment Minister highlighted India’s

initiatives for promoting skill development like

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and setting up

of Sector Skill Councils and for employment creation

like the Start Up India and the MUDRA scheme.

He added that the process of simplifying and

rationalizing nearly 40 labour laws into 4 labour codes

has been started which would not only lead to

effective enforcement, better compliance but also

ensure universal applicability of various welfare

measures.

India and Czech republic sign five agreements

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, reached the

Czech Republic on September 6, 2018 on the final leg of his

state visit to three European nations – Cyprus, Bulgaria and the

Czech Republic.

He was received by Mr Milos Zeman, the President of

the Czech Republic.

India and the Czech Republic are signing five

agreements as part of President Kovind’s visit.

These are:

Cooperation between the Council for Scientific and

Industrial Research, India, and the Czech Academy of

Sciences

A work plan to support Indo-Czech projects in diverse

areas of science and technology, with the Department

of Science and Technology taking the lead from the

Indian side

A visa waiver agreement for diplomatic passport

holders

Cooperation in laser technology between ELI

Beamlines and the Tata Institute of Fundamental

Research

Cooperation between the Haryana Agricultural

University and the Czech University of Life Sciences

International Literacy Day 2018

International Literacy Day is celebrated annually

on September 8 across the world.

The day was declared by UNESCO on October 26,

1966.

According to UNESCO’s statistics, India’s literacy

rate is 72.1 per cent.

This year International Literacy

Day theme is “Literacy and skill development.”

UN postal agency to issue special Diwali stamp next month

The UN postal agency will issue special stamps here next

month to commemorate the festival of Diwali.

The United Nations Postal Administration will issue

a New York special event sheet on October 19 to

commemorate the Indian festival.

The background of the sheet features the United

Nations Headquarters building illuminated with the

message of “Happy Diwali” to celebrate the spirit of

the festival.

Opening ceremony: INDO-MONGOLIA joint exercise

Nomadic Elephant-2018

Indo-Mongolia joint exercise Nomadic Elephant-2018,

commenced at Mongolian Armed Forces (MAF) Five Hills

Training Area, Ullanbaatar, Mongolia with a brief but

impressive opening ceremony.

The 12 days long joint exercise will be conducted

from 10 Sep to 21 Sep 2018.

Exercise Nomadic Elephant is an annual, bilateral

exercise since 2006 which is designed to strengthen

the partnership between Indian Army and Mongolian

Armed Forces.

Opening Ceremony: BIMSTEC Field Training Military

Exercise

The Inaugural Military Field Training Exercise for the Bay of

Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technological and

Economic Cooperation nations named MILEX-18 scheduled

from 10 September 18 to 16 September 18 started with a Grand

Opening Ceremony on 10 September 18 at Aundh Military

Station.

Contingents of the member nations came together for

the Opening Ceremony.

The aim of the forthcoming exercise is to practice the

BIMSTEC Nations in planning and conduct of

counter terrorist operations.

The exercise schedule is focused upon learning of best

practices, team building & special tactical level

operations in a counter-terrorist environment in semi

urban setting.

Dubai to host India-UAE Partnership Summit

A two-day India-UAE Partnership Summit (IUPS) will be held

in Dubai from October 30.

Second India-UAE Partnership Summit is being

organised by the Business Leaders Forum (BLF).

Vipul, the Consul General of India in Dubai, said "I

am happy that the second edition of the IUPS is being

organised by the BLF this year in partnership with the

consulate.

India focus country in Izmir International Trade Show

The Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) led a75-member

Indian delegation for the ongoing 87th Izmir International

Trade Show in Turkey.

The delegation had several B2B meetings and

business tie-ups with members of the Turkish

business community.

India is the Focus Country in the trade show with a

standalone pavilion named ‘Source India’.

The India Pavilion is a multi-product pavilion,

including companies displaying products like

ceramics, cereals and mechanical appliances.

India ranks 130 in UN's human development index

India climbed one spot to

130 among 189 countries

in the latest human

development index

released by the United

Nations Development Programme.

Within South Asia, India's human development index

(HDI) value is above the average of 0.638 for the

region, with Bangladesh and Pakistan, countries with

similar population size, being ranked 136 and 150

respectively.

In 2016, India's HDI value of 0.624 put it at 131 rank.

India's HDI value for 2017 is 0.640, which put the

country in the medium human development category

Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and

Germany led the ranking, while Niger, the Central

African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi

have the lowest scores.

Suresh Prabhu to participate in G-20, Trade and

Investment Ministerial Meeting in Argentina

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation,

Suresh Prabhu, will participate in the G-20, Trade and

Investment Ministerial Meeting, being held in Mar del Plata in

Argentina on 14th – 15th September 2018.

The meeting will provide an opportunity for a

dialogue on current developments in international

trade and its implications for the global economy.

The Ministerial Meeting will discuss about building

an inclusive trade system that contributes to

sustainable and shared growth.

Trade and investment must benefit all and countries

must jointly address both the opportunities and

challenges of globalization, innovation and

technological advancements.

The Ministerial Meeting will examine the inter

relationship between trade and development with a

special emphasis on the need to promote further

integration of small and medium sized companies into

international trade, and the opportunities posed by the

digital economy and new technologies.

4th Eastern Economic Forum opens in Russia's

Vladivostok

World leaders and business tycoons gathered in Russia's Far

Eastern port city of Vladivostok to discuss cooperation at the

fourth Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

The three-day forum under the theme of "The Far

East: Expanding the Range of Possibilities" has

attracted thousands of attendees from more than 60

countries.

International Day of Democracy: 15 September

In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly resolved to

observe 15 September as the International Day of Democracy.

Its purpose is to promote and uphold the principles of

democracy and invite all member states and

organizations to commemorate the day in an

appropriate manner that contributes to raising public

awareness.

The theme of the 2018 International Day of

Democracy is ‘Democracy under Strain: Solutions for

a Changing World’.

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer:

16 September

September 16 was designated by the United Nations General

Assembly as the International Day for the Preservation of the

Ozone Layer.

This designation had been made on December 19,

2000, in commemoration of the date, in 1987, on

which nations signed the Montreal Protocol on

Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

“Keep Cool and Carry On: The Montreal Protocol” is

the theme for World Ozone Day 2018.

Exercise Aviaindra-18 Commences at Lipetsk (Russia)

Exercise Aviaindra is an Air Force level exercise between

India and the Russian Federation. First Aviaindra was

conducted in 2014 and has been planned as a bi-annual

exercise.

Exercise Aviaindra 18 is being conducted at Lipetsk,

Russia from 17 Sep to 28 Sep 18 and will be

conducted in Jodhpur, India from 10 Dec to 22 Dec

18.

The Indian contingent for Ex Aviaindra departed for

Russia on 15 Sep 18.

Germany launches world’s first hydrogen-powered train

European railway manufacturer

Alstom has launched world's first

hydrogen fuel cell train.

French company said

that the CoradiaiLint

used fuel cells that turn

hydrogen and oxygen into electricity.

In terms of speed, the new train can travel up to 140

kilometers per hour.

International Peace Day 2018

The global community is celebrating the International Day of

Peace. The day is observed on 21 September every year.

The theme for this year is: “The Right to Peace – The

Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70”.

This year, United Nations is celebrating the 70th year

of the declaration of human rights adopted by the

General Assembly.

7th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is organizing the

7th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban Tourism: A 2030

Vision for Urban Tourism, on 16-19 September, in Seoul,

Republic of Korea.

The Summit provides a unique platform to discuss the

key issues shaping the future of urban tourism in the

context of the 2030 Urban Agenda.

Closing ceremony: Indo-kazakhstan Joint exercise kazind

2018

Indian Army and Kazakhstan Army today completed the third

edition of their joint military Exercise KAZIND 2018 in Otar

Military area, Kazakhstan.

The two week long exercise had commenced on 10

Sep 2018.

The primary focus of the exercise was to train and

equip the contingents to undertake joint counter

insurgency and counter terrorist operations in urban

and rural environment under mandate of United

Nations.

AYUSH Information Cell set up at the Indian Embassy in

Romania

Ministry of AYUSH has set up an AYUSH Information Cell at

the premises of the Indian Embassy in Romania to disseminate

authentic information about AYUSH system of medicine and

encourage Ayurveda practice in Romania.

The AYUSH Information Cell, Romania will help to

organise lectures, consultation, conduct seminars,

training courses and facilitate associations of AYUSH

stakeholders for networking conducting meetings,

develop awareness of AYUSH system among public

in Romania.

During the visit to Romania on September 19, 2018,

Vice president of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu digitally

inaugurated the AYUSH Information Cell.

On this occasion, a book on ‘Ayurveda in Romania’

was also released by Vice president.

India ranks 158th among 195 countries in health

care investment

India ranks 158th in the world for its investments in education

and healthcare, a survey of 195 countries has revealed.

It ranks below countries like Sudan, Azerbaijan,

China and Bosnia Herzegovina.

According to the survey, Finland tops the list of 195

countries in the two key sectors.

Exhibition “India - Uzbekistan: Dialogue of Cultures”

inaugurated in the Capital

Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Shri Arun Goel inaugurated the

exhibition “India - Uzbekistan: Dialogue of Cultures” at

National Museum, New Delhi,.

The Exhibition was dedicated to the state visit of the

President of the Republic of Uzbegistan Shavkat

Mirziyoyev to the Republic of India that will begin

early next week.

Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurates air pollution control device

WAYU in Delhi

Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has inaugurated air

pollution control device Wind Augmentation Purifying Unit

(WAYU) at ITO in New Delhi.

The device WAYU is developed by Council of

Science and Industrial Research to mitigate air

pollution at traffic junctions.

Along with particulate matter, the device will remove

poisonous gases such as volatile organic compounds

and carbon monoxide.

First assembly of ISA to be held in India

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is organising the

First Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA); the 2nd

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Renewable Energy

Ministerial Meeting and the 2nd Global Renewable Energy

Investment Meeting and Expo, (REINVEST- 2018) from 2nd to

5th October 2018 in New Delhi.

The three events will be inaugurated in a common

function by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, in

the presence of Mr Antonio Guterres, Secretary

General, United Nations on 2nd October 2018 in

Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

The Business and Technical Sessions of ISA

Assembly, IORA Meet and RE-INVEST 2018 Expo

will be held at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, UP.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA), an Indian

initiative, was launched jointly by Shri Narendra

Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and H.E.

François Hollande, Hon’ble President of France on 30

November 2015 in Paris, France on the side-lines of

the 21st Conference of Parties (CoP 21) to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

NITI Aayog to Organize Conference on Empowerment of

Women SHGs

NITI Aayog is organizing a Conference on Empowerment of

Women SHGs & Organic Farmers Co-operatives from

Dantewada, Bastar Region on September 26 at NITI Aayog in

collaboration with the Tribal Affairs Ministry and Tribal Co-

operative Marketing Development Federation of India,

TRIFED.

Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Jual Oram will inaugurate

the conference.

The conference is a part of the visit of the team of

entrepreneurs from Dantewada to New Delhi to

identify markets opportunity for their products in

urban areas.

UN declares 2019-2028 Nelson Mandela decade of peace

A statue of Nelson Mandela has been unveiled at the United

Nations to honour the late South African leader’s birth.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Mandela’s

birth.

The UN also declared 2019-2028 the “Nelson

Mandela Decade of Peace.

Commerce Ministers of India and Bangladesh hold

Bilateral Meeting in Dhaka

A bilateral meeting was held in Dhaka between Commerce

Minister of Bangladesh, Tofail Ahmed, MP and Commerce &

Industry and Civil Aviation Minister of India, Suresh Prabhu.

Both Ministers noted the significant progress made in

the bilateral relationship under the leadership of

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister

Narendra Modi.

They reiterated their commitment to further

strengthen the bilateral relations on the basis of

friendship, trust and understanding for the mutual

benefit of the people of Bangladesh and India.

World Tourism Day: 27 September

Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Organization

has celebrated World Tourism Day as international

observances on September 27.

This date was chosen as on that day in 1970, the

Statutes of the UNWTO were adopted.

The adoption of these Statutes is considered a

milestone in global tourism.

The purpose of this day is to raise awareness on the

role of tourism within the international community

and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural,

political and economic values worldwide.

The theme of the day in 2018 is "Tourism and the

Digital Transformation".

India ranked 96th among 162 countries on Economic

Freedom Index

In this year’s report on Economic Freedom in the World,

India’s rank improved by a couple of notches.

However, India was still placed 96th among 162

countries.

The report was released by the Centre for Civil

Society (CCS) along with Canada’s Fraser Institute.

Last year, India was placed 98.

Hong Kong and Singapore again topped the index,

continuing their streak as the first and the second

country.

China to host world Internet conference in Nov

China will hold the fifth World Internet Conference (WIC) in

November which is expected to be attended by delegates from

several countries and international organisations.

The conference, scheduled to run from November 7-

9, will be held in the river town of Wuzhen.

This year's WIC is themed "creating a digital world

for mutual trust and collective governance -- toward a

community with a shared future in cyberspace".

World Heart Day 2018: 29 September

World Heart Day is celebrated every year on September

29, Organised by the World Heart Federation.

‘Your heart, my heart’ is the ‘World Heart Day

Theme’ this year.

World Heart Day was created to inform people around

the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world's

leading cause of death.

7th Meeting of National Medicinal Plants Board Held at

New Delhi

The Seventh meeting of

National Medicinal

Plants Board (NMPB)

of Ministry of AYUSH

was held under the

chairpersonship of

Minister of State for

AYUSH, Shri Shripad

Yesso Naik at New Delhi on 30th August 2018.

During the meeting the Minister said that Government

will support as far as possible for development of

medicinal plants sector.

The Board meeting considered various Agenda Items

placed before it for consideration.

8.2 percent Growth of GDP in real terms in Q1 of 2018-19

The Central Statistics Office has released the estimates of GDP

for the first quarter (Q1) of 2018-19.

In line with momentum built in the economy, the

growth of GDP in real terms in Q1 of 2018-19 is 8.2

per cent, reinforcing the high growth of 7.7 per cent

recorded in last quarter of 2017-18.

This growth is broad-based and has been driven by 8.4

per cent growth in consumption expenditure and 10.0

per cent growth in fixed investment.

The latter development is particularly encouraging as

it has come about over an impressive growth of 14.4

per cent in Q4 of 2017-18 and augurs well for future

growth.

Krishna Kutir, a home for 1000 widows inaugurated by

Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

The Minister for Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka

Sanjay Gandhi, alongwith Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh,

Shri Adityanath Yogi inaugurated the widows’ home ‘Krishna

Kutir’ at a function at Vrindavan, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.

Krishna Kutir is a special home for 1000 widows set

up by the Ministry of Women & Child Development

under Swadhar Greh scheme of the Ministry and is the

largest ever facility of its kind created by a

government organization.

The Home for Widows, Krishna Kutir has been

constructed on 1.4 hectare of land through National

Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) at a cost

of 57.48 Crores (including cost of the land) with a

capacity of 1000 inmates.

National Conference being Organised by The Supreme

Court Advocates on Record Association

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the

National Conference being organised by the Supreme Court

Advocates on Record Association in New Delhi om September

1, 2018.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that

India’s judiciary is respected across the world as an

upholder of justice for the defenceless.

It is also true that our judges are overburdened by the

sheer volume of cases. As a consequence, the Indian

legal system is marked by long delays.

He noted that there is a backlog of 3.3 crore cases in

various courts of the country.

Of these, 2.84 crore cases are in the subordinate

courts. Another 43 lakh are in the High Courts and

about 58,000 in the Supreme Court.

Union Home Minister chairs first review meeting of

Department of Official Language

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh chaired first

review meeting of the Department of Official Language of

MHA to discuss the functioning and issues related to

implementation of Hindi language in official work.

The Union Home Minister was appraised, through a

presentation, about the achievements of the

department in promoting and maximum use of Hindi

language in day to day official work and among the

general public.

The Minster was informed that the department has

developed a computer software called “Kanthasth”

for translating the all kinds of official files from

English to Hindi and vice versa to make the

translation work simpler and quicker.

CCI imposes penalty on Karnataka Film Chamber of

Commerce (KFCC)

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found that

KFCC and others have acted in concert and impeded entry and

screening of dubbed movies and in particular the Informant’s

film –“Sathyadev IPS” in State of Karnataka, thereby

violating the provisions of section 3(1) and section 3(3)(b) of

the Competition Act, 2002.

Such anti-competitive practice was found to have an

appreciable adverse effect on competition and

adversely affected the consumers, producers and

exhibitors of dubbed cinema in the State of Karnataka

and resulted in limiting and restricting the market for

dubbed cinemas there.

The Commission also found that KFCC had violated

the provisions of the Act, on earlier occasions too, for

which it had been penalised in Case No.58 of 2012.

Jharkhand's railway station, town to be renamed after

Lord Krishna

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has cleared the Jharkhand

government's proposal to rename a railway station in Garhwa

district after Lord Krishna.

The Raghubar Das-led state government had

proposed that the railway station and Nagar Untari

town should be renamed as Banshidhar Nagar after

Bandshidhar Temple.

The state government wants to develop the town on

the lines of Mathura and Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh

to boost tourism in the city.

Delhi to host international chess tournament for school

kids

The national capital will host an international chess tournament

for school students next year which will be jointly organised

by the governments of Delhi and Moscow, Education Minister

Manish Sisodia said.

Also, there would be a Moscow Festival in Delhi very

soon," he added.

Sisodia is in Moscow representing the Delhi

government at the World Education Summit.

Suresh Prabhu Launches Technology Initiatives for Coffee

Stakeholders

Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh

Prabhu launched Coffee Connect - India coffee field force app

and Coffee KrishiTharanga - digital mobile extension services

for coffee stakeholders at a function.

The mobile app Coffee Connect has been developed

to ease the work of field functionaries and to improve

the work efficiency.

The Coffee KrishiTharanga services are aimed at

providing customized information and services to

increase productivity, profitability, and

environmental sustainability.

India to generate 100 GW solar energy by 2022

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation,

Suresh Prabhu said that demand for energy will increase due to

rapid development taking place in India and fossil fuel is not

going to last forever and therefore there is need for renewable

energy.

He was speaking at afunction of International Solar

Alliance (ISA) Innovation and Investment Forum in

New Delhi.

India has set a target to generate100 GW solar energy

by 2022 for increasing share of carbon free energy in

the energy mix.

National Teachers’ Day: 5 September

Every year, September 5 is observed as Teachers’ Day in India

to mark the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,

who was born on September 5, 1888.

A great scholar, philosopher and a Bharat Ratna

recipient, Dr Radhakrishnan was the first Vice

President and second President of independent India.

On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, students across the

nation honour their teachers and thank them for their

endless efforts in educating them.

Curtain Raiser :Indo-Kazakhstan Joint Exercise KAZIND

2018

Indo-Kazakhstan Joint Army Exercise

'KAZIND' will be conducted between

the Indian and Kazakhstan Army from

10 to 23 Sep 2018 in Otar region,

Kazakhstan.

This is the third joint military

exercise between the two countries which have a

history of extensive cooperation in the defence arena.

The second edition of the exercise was held in India

last year.

The aim of the exercise is to build and promote

bilateral Army to Army relations and exchange skills

and experiences between Kazakhstan Army and the

Indian Army.

Manoj Sinha inaugurates Conference on E- Mobility

A Conference on “E-Mobility in Indian Railways” organized

by Ministry of Railways through Institution of Railways

Electrical Engineers (IREE) in association with NITI Aayog

concluded in New Delhi.

The one-day conference inaugurated by the Minister

of State of Communication (I/C) and Minister of State

of Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha was a pre-cursor to the

“Move: Global Mobility Summit” organized by NITI

Aayog on 7th and 8th Sept.’18.

The International Aviation Summit held in New Delhi

International Aviation Summit in Delhi was organized by the

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), the Airports Authority

India (AAI) and International Air Transport Association.

There was an overwhelming response to the summit

which was attended by more than 700 delegates and

leaders from global aviation fraternity.

India and Bulgaria sign five agreements

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, reached

Bulgaria on September 4, 2018 on the second leg of his state

visit to three European nations – Cyprus, Bulgaria and the

Czech Republic.

President delivered an address at Sofia University on

the theme “Education as an Instrument of Change and

Shared Prosperity”.

India and Bulgaria have signed five agreements during

President Kovind’s visit:

An agreement between Invest India and Invest

Bulgaria

An agreement on cooperation in and facilitation of

tourism

An agreement on enhanced science and technology

cooperation

An agreement on civil nuclear research and

cooperation

An agreement between the Indian Council of Cultural

Relations and Sofia University to promote Hindi

studies

Cabinet approves continuation of Integrated Development

of Wildlife Habitats scheme

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved continuation

of the Centrally Sponsored Umbrella Scheme of Integrated

Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH)beyond the

12thPlan period from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

The Scheme consists of Centrally Sponsored Scheme

of Project Tiger (CSS-PT), Development of Wildlife

Habitats (CSS-DWH) and Project Elephant (CSS-

PE).

The total outlay is Rs. 1731.72 crore as central share

(Rs. 1143 crore for Project Tiger, Rs. 496.50 crore for

Development of Wildlife Habitats and Rs.92.22 crore

for Project Elephant) from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

HRD Minister releases the curriculum on Experiential

Learning – Gandhijis Nai Talim

Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar released the

curriculum on Experiential Learning – Gandhijis Nai Talim in

New Delhi.

This curriculum was brought out simultaneously in 13

languages i.e., Assamese, Tamil, Bengali, Odiya,

Kannada, Malyalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu,

Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi and English in consultation

with the state councils of educational research and

training along with the universities in the country.

IAF & French Air force Conduct Basic Training in India

Indian Air Force (IAF) recently participated in Exercise Pitch

Black 2018 at Darwin, Australia.

Sixteen different nations from across the globe,

including French Air Force (FAF) participated in this

exercise.

On the return leg, Rafale fighter aircraft and transport

aircraft of FAF staged through Air Force Station,

Gwalior and Air Force Station, Agra from 01 – 04 Sep

18.

During the staging period, FAF and IAF carried out

basic joint training, which included fighter sorties by

pilots in their respective aircraft with observers

onboard each other’s transport aircraft supporting the

missions.

Vice President to visit US to participate in 2nd World

Hindu Congress

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu to visit

United States of America on September 8-9, 2018 to address

the 2nd World Hindu Congress being held in Chicago on the

occasion of 125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s

Historic Speech at the Parliament of the World's Religions in

1893.

The Vice President will also participate in a

programme organized by 14 Telugu Associations of

the US at Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago.

He will also participate in bilateral discussions with

several world leaders, who are attending this event, on

the sidelines of this Congress.

31st meeting of Central Hindi Committee concluded

31st meeting of the Central Hindi Committee was held in New

Delhi under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra

Modi.

In his address, the Prime Minister congratulated all

the members of the committee for creative and

practical suggestions.

He stressed that the Hindi language should be spread

through day-to-day conversations and complex

technical terms should be avoided or used negligibly

for official purposes.

‘Source India’ at 87th Izmir International tradeshow in

Turkey

India is the Partner

Country in the 87th

Izmir International

tradeshow which

begins in Turkey from

September 7, 2018.

In this tradeshow India will also be launching a mega

business pavilion ‘Source India’ hosting 75 Indian

companies with the aim of tie-ups in order to increase

India’s exports to Turkey and other neighbouring

countries.

This is part of a series of Source India pavilions that

the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) is

hosting in important tradeshows across the world for

boosting India’s exports.

Centenary of the Battle of Haifa Celebrated

The Embassy of India held a ceremony in Haifa to mark the

Centenary of the Battle of Haifa.

On 23 Sep 1918, Indian soldiers from the Jodhpur,

Mysore and Hyderabad Lancers liberated the city of

Haifa.

The ceremony was attended by a delegation from

India led by Maj Gen VD Dogra and included

personnel from the 61st Cavalry.

Home Minister inaugurates Defence & Homeland Security

Expo and Conference, 2018

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has called upon

the law enforcement agencies to adopt new technologies to

enhance their capacities to contain terror and to counter the

emerging challenges to homeland security.

The Union Home Minister was inaugurating the 3-day

Defence & Homeland Security Expo and Conference

– 2018, organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce

and Industry in association with Ministry of Micro,

Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

Rajnath Singh said that the Government will soon

implement the new Drone Policy which was

announced recently, containing comprehensive

regulations on the use of drones.

India’s First Global Mobility Summit 2018 to be

inaugurated by the Prime Minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate MOVE: India’s

ever first Global Mobility Summit organized by NITI Aayog

at Vigyan Bhawan in the capital on 7th and 8th September.

The focus of the summit is on raising awareness about

various aspects of Mobility and bringing various

stakeholders involved in enhancing mobility across

different platforms.

Representative from various Intergovernmental

Organizations, Academia, Policy Think tanks from

India and abroad, Global leaders from across the

mobility sector such as OEMs, Battery

Manufacturers, Charging Infrastructure Providers,

technology Solution Providers will be sharing their

views on enhancing mobility over the next two days

during the summit.

Six Hundred Global Buyers to Participate Indusfood- II

2019

The Dhaka based India-Bangladesh Chamber of

Commerce (IBCCI) will participate with a strong

contingent of F&B buyers in Indusfood-II 2019 to

source their food and beverage requirements from India.

Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President-IBCCI and former

President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers

of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) made this

announcement following discussions with Ashok

Sethi, Director-Trade Promotion Council of India

(TPCI), at NitolBhaban, in Mohakhali, Dhaka

recently.

TPCI is working to attract maximum buyers from the

SAARC countries to source their food and beverage

related requirements from India. Some of the big

buyers, including supermarket chains, from Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including Iran

and the Commonwealth of Independent States or

Russian Commonwealth (CIS) countries have already

pledged their presence in Indusfood-II.

India Sri Lanka Naval Exercise Slinex-18

Indian Naval Ships Kirch, Sumitra and Cora Divh entered

Trincomalee, Sri Lanka to participate in the sixth edition of

SLINEX 2018, a bi-lateral Naval Exercise between India and

Sri Lanka, from 07 to 13 September 2018.

SLINEX series of bilateral maritime exercises were

initiated in 2005 and since then five successful

engagements have been conducted.

SLINEX over the years has helped both the Navies in

understanding each other's procedures and enhanced

interoperability.

This edition of the exercise will further strength ties

between the two maritime neighbours and contribute

towards maritime security in the region.

Rajnath Singh inaugurates the 6th International Geriatric

Orthopaedic Conference

The Union Home Minister Shri

Rajnath Singh inaugurated the

6th International Geriatric

Orthopaedic Society of India

Conference on the theme

“Increased Longevity with

Reduced Fragility and Enhanced

Mobility”, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister hailed the

Ayushman Bharat Health Protection Scheme

announced by the Prime Minister Shri

Narendra Modi for the benefit of the rural and poor

people.

Under this scheme the Government will provide

affordable healthcare with universal health insurance

to poor and needy people and their families, specially

the elderly, he added.

Prakash Javadekar Inaugurates 4thWorld Summit on

Accreditation

Union Minister for HRD Shri Prakash Javadekar Inaugurates

4th World Summit on Accreditation (WOSA-2018) at New

Delhi.

Speaking on this occasion the Minister said that

‘Ratings and Rankings’ both the quality hallmark for

any educational institutions therefore accreditation

becomes very important.

Points to Remember

The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) is an

autonomous organisation under Ministry of Human

Resource Development engaged in quality assurance

of the programs offered by the professional and

technical institutions in India through accreditation.

World Summit on Accreditation (WOSA) is a

biennial Summit organised by NBA, which provides

platform to stakeholders to share their knowledge and

information on accreditation.

The focus of WOSA 2018 is on “CHALLENGES

AND OPPORTUNITIES IN OUTCOME BASED

ACCREDITATION”.

Ministry of Defence announces aeroshow

The Government has decided to hold the Aero India 2019 in

Bengaluru from 20-24 February 2019.

This five-day event will combine a major trade

exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries

with public air shows.

Besides global leaders and big investors in aerospace

industry, the show will also see participation by think-

tanks from across the world.

It will provide a unique opportunity for exchange of

information, ideas and new developments in the

aviation industry.

Besides giving fillip to the domestic aviation industry

it would further the cause of Make in India.

Two Day Regional Conference on Good Governance

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public

Grievances (DAR&PG), Government of India in association

with Government of Madhya Pradesh is organizing a Regional

Conference on Good Governance with Focus on Aspirational

Districts, in Bhopal.

Delegates from 12 States and 2 UTs will participate

in the Conference. There will be 5 Technical sessions

in the 2-day conference.

The DAR&PG has organized 28 Regional

Conferences till date.

Home ministry sanctions Rs 3,000 cr for special women

safety programme

Public panic buttons and all-women police patrol teams will

soon be launched in eight major cities, including Delhi, under

a special women safety programme for which the home

ministry has approved nearly Rs 3,000 crore.

Transit dormitories for women and children, smart

LED streetlights, one-stop crisis centres, and forensic

and cyber crime cells will be part of the Women Safe

City Project.

It will implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,

Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and

Lucknow from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

Safe city proposals amounting to Rs 2,919.55 crore

were approved under the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ recently.

‘Arogya Yojana to also help counter childhood cancer’

A member of the Niti Aayog, Dr Vinod Kumar Paul said that

the treatment of childhood cancer will be covered under the

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

Dr Paul was speaking at the 10th Annual National

Childhood Cancer Excellence Awards Programme in

the national capital.

According to him, this scheme will provide health

insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to poor families.

India launches new digital bridge with Africa

As part of India's reachout to Africa, the External Affairs

Ministry signed an agreement with the Telecommunications

Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL) to establish a pan-African e-

network between the two nations.

This project, called the e-VidyaBharati and e-

ArogyaBharati Network Project, will serve as a digital

bridge between the two countries, External Affairs

Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

She said that the the Project "is a clear effort by India

to reach out to Africa in the critical areas of education

and health".

PM Modi, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, jointly dedicate

three projects in Bangladesh

Prime Minister Shri

Narendra Modi, the

Prime Minister of

Bangladesh, Sheikh

Hasina, Chief

Minister of West

Bengal - Ms.

Mamata Banerjee,

and the Chief Minister of Tripura - Shri Biplab Kumar Deb,

jointly inaugurated three projects in Bangladesh, via video

conference.

External Affairs Minister of India, Ms. Sushma

Swaraj, and the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, also

joined the video conference from Delhi and Dhaka

respectively.

These include: (a) 500 MW additional power supply

from India to Bangladesh, through the existing

Bheramara (Bangladesh) - Baharampur (India)

interconnection. (b) Akhaura – Agartala Rail Link (c)

Rehabilitation of the Kulaura-Shahbazpur section of

Bangladesh Railways.

Successful Air-to-Air Refuelling of LCA Tejas

In a significant achievement and a major step towards Final

Operational Clearance (FOC) of LCA Tejas, the mid-air

refuelling of ‘wet contact’ trial for LCA Tejas MK-1 was

successfully carried out from an Indian Air Force base.

Before this ‘wet contact’ trial, the ‘dry contact trials’

were successfully conducted on September 04 & 06,

2018 where the Drogue (basket) extended from the

IAF tanker aircraft by a fuel hose, was tracked and

plugged into using the aircraft refuelling probe

without taking fuel.

IAF provided all required support to DRDO including

the tanker aircraft for the successful test flight.

India's first railway varsity starts operations in Vadodara

The first of its

kind university in

the country on the

transport sector,

the National Rail

and

Transportation

Institute (NRTI), started operations this week.

A total of 103 students formed the first batch of this

unique institute. This year it has started with two UG

courses.

Bihar-Nepal bus service launched

Bihar and Nepal are now connected by bus. Bihar Chief

Minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the first bus service between

Bihar and Nepal.

The service will link Bodh Gaya and Patna in Bihar

to Kathmandu and Janakpur in Nepal.

The bus service was commissioned following an

agreement between India and Nepal.

Apsara – U Reactor Becomes Operational at Trombay

“Apsara”, the first research reactor in Asia became operational

in Trombay campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in

August 1956.

After providing more than five decades of dedicated

service to the researchers, the reactor was shut down

in 2009.

Nearly sixty-two years after Apsara came into

existence, a swimming pool type research reactor

“Apsara-upgraded”, of higher capacity was born at

Trombay on 10th September 2018.

The reactor, made indigenously, uses plate type

dispersion fuel elements made of Low Enriched

Uranium (LEU).

By virtue of higher neutron flux, this reactor will

increase indigenous production or radio-isotopes for

medical application by about fifty percent and would

also be extensively used for research in nuclear

physics, material science and radiation shielding.

Curtain raiser: INDO-US joint military exercise Yudh

Abhyas 2018

As part of the ongoing Indo-US defence cooperation, a joint

military training Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 is scheduled to

be conducted in the foothills of Himalayas at Chaubattia in

Uttarakhand from 16 September to 29 September 2018.

This will be the 14th edition of the joint military

exercise hosted alternately by both countries.

The joint exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 will simulate a

scenario where both nations will work together in

counter insurgency and counter terrorism

environment in mountainous terrain under United

Nation charter.

Piyush Goyal launches a web portal “Rail Sahyog”

The Minister of Railways and Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal

launched a web portal www.railsahyog.in.

The web portal will provide a platform for the

Corporates and PSUs to contribute to creation of

amenities at/near Railway Stations through Corporate

Social Responsibility funds.

Delhi, Seoul governments to ink pact for cooperation in

urban regeneration

The Delhi Government and the Seoul Metropolitan

Government are slated to sign an agreement this week for

cooperation in urban regeneration.

The agreement will be signed during Delhi Chief

Minister Arvind Kejriwal's ongoing trip to Seoul.

Kejriwal, along with Urban Development Minister

Satyendar Jain visited the Cheonggyecheon stream in

downtown Seoul to see its transformation.

Sonowal inaugurates Indo-Bhutan Border Centre

Assam Chief Minister

Sarbananda Sonowal has

inaugurated the Indo-

Bhutan Border Centre at

Darranga in Assam's Baksa

district to strengthen

bilateral trade with the

neighbouring country.

The Centre has

decided to construct 264 km of border roads touching

four BTAD districts of the state.

Cabinet approves “Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay

SanraksHan Abhiyan”

Giving a major boost to the pro-farmer initiatives of the

Government and in keeping with its commitment and

dedication for the Annadata, the Union Cabinet chaired by

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved a new

Umbrella Scheme “Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan

Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA).

The Scheme is aimed at ensuring remunerative prices

to the farmers for their produce as announced in the

Union Budget for 2018.

This is an unprecedented step taken by Govt. of India

to protect the farmers’ income which is expected to

go a long way towards the welfare of farmers.

Government has already increased the MSP of kharif

crops by following the principle of 1.5 times the cost

of production.

It is expected that the increase in MSP will be

translated to farmer’s income by way of robust

procurement mechanism in coordination with the

State Governments.

Cabinet approves amendment to National Institute of

Design (NID) Act, 2014

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra

Modi has given its approval for introduction of Bill in

Parliament for amendment of NID Act, 2014 to include the

four new National Institutes of Design (NID) viz. National

Institute of Design, Amaravati/Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh;

National Institute of Design, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh;

National Institute of Design, Jorhat, Assam and National

Institute of Design, Kurukshetra, Haryana within the ambit of

the National Institute of Design Act, 2014 and to declare them

as Institutions of National Importance (INIs) at par with the

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

Some minor amendments to the Act including

consequential amendments considered necessary

namely, to re-name NID Vijayawada as NID

Amaravati and nomenclature of Principal Designer as

equivalent to Professor are also proposed in the Bill.

Establishing new NIDs as Institutions of National

Importance in different geographical regions of the

country will help produce highly skilled manpower in

design which, in turn, will create job opportunities,

both direct and indirect, by providing sustainable

design interventions for crafts, handloom, rural

technology, small, medium and large scale

enterprises; and outreach programmes for capacity,

capability and institution building.

Cabinet approves continuation of Capacity Development

Scheme

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved continuation

of the Capacity Development Scheme for the period 2017-18 to

2019-20 with an outlay of Rs 2,250 crore.

The Capacity Development Scheme is an Ongoing

Central Sector Scheme of MoSPI.

The overall objective of the scheme is to augment

infrastructural, technical as well as manpower

resources for making available credible and timely

Official Statistics for policy makers and public at

large.

Radha Mohan Singh launches Dairy Processing &

Infrastructure Development Fund

Vast opportunities exist today for dairy entrepreneurs and in

order to concretize these opportunities and help double the

income of dairy farmers, Rs 51,077 crore is needed to

operationalize the National Action Plan (Vision-2024),

Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha

Mohan Singh said at the inauguration ceremony of Dairy

Processing & Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) in

New Delhi.

Shri Singh said that as a result of the announcement

of Union Budget 2017-18, the Department of Animal

Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF) started

the Dairy Processing & Infrastructure Development

Fund (DIDF) with an outlay of Rs 10881 crore.

Under this, the first installment of Rs 440 crore is

being given to the National Dairy Development Board

(NDDB).

First Tribal Circuit Project under Swadesh Darshan

Scheme to be inaugurated in Chhattisgarh

Shri. K.J Alphons, the

Minister of State for

Tourism (IC),

Government of India will

be inaugurating the

project “Development of

Tribal Circuit: Jashpur-

Kunkuri- Mainpat- Kamleshpur- Maheshpur- Kurdar-

Sarodadadar- Gangrel- Kondagaon- Nathiya Nawagaon-

Jagdalpur- Chitrakoot- Tirthgarh in Chhattisgarh”

implemented under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Ministry

of Tourism, in Gangrel, Chhattisgarh on 14th September

2018.

This is the second project under the Swadesh Darshan

Scheme being inaugurated in the country.

This project which is to be inaugurated was

sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism in February

2016 for Rs. 99.21 Crores.

The project covers thirteen sites in Chhattisgarh i.e.

Jashpur, Kunkuri, Mainpat, Kamleshpur, Maheshpur,

Kurdar, Sarodadadar, Gangrel, Kondagaon, Nathiya

Nawagaon, Jagdalpur, Chitrakoot, Tirthgarh.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi launches National Scholarship

Portal Mobile App

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas

Naqvi launched the country's first "National Scholarship Portal

Mobile App" (NSP Mobile App).

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Naqvi said that this

"National Scholarship Portal Mobile App" will ensure

a smooth, accessible and hassle-free scholarship

system for students from poor and weaker sections.

He said that all the scholarships are being given

directly into bank accounts of the needy students

under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode through

the National Scholarship Portal which has ensured

that there is no scope for duplication and leakage.

INMAS develops India’s first indigenous anti-nuclear

medical kit

In a major shot in the arm for paramilitary and police forces,

scientists at a central research institute claim to have

developed India’s first indigenous medical kit that may ensure

protection from serious injuries and faster healing of wounds

resulting from nuclear warfare or radioactive leakage.

The kit, developed after two decades of work by the

Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences

(INMAS), has over 25 items, including radio-

protectors that provide 80-90 per cent protection

against radiation.

Developed in India for the first time, it’s a potent

alternative to similar kits that were till now being

procured from strategically advanced nations such as

the US and Russia at much higher prices.

Hindi Divas: 14 September

Hindi Divas or Hindi day is an annual day celebrated on 14

September in India.

On this day in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of

India had adopted Hindi written in Devanagari script

as the official language of the Republic of India.

World chefs' congress on Oct 12-14 in Amritsar

The World Cultural Culinary

Heritage Committee, under

the aegis of the World

Association of Chefs'

Societies (WorldChefs), will

hold the first edition of the

World Heritage Cuisine Summit and food festival from

October 12-14 at the Qila Gobindgarh in Amritsar.

The summit, hosted by the Indian Federation of

Culinary Associations, will celebrate traditional

cuisine with live demonstrations, food tasting,

presentations, panel discussions, master classes by

chefs from around the world in the holy city.

It will focus on inculcating appreciation for food

culture and traditions, good food habits and

sustainable practices.

Uttarakhand ranked best among states in PMGSY

Uttarakhand has been

ranked the best among

states in the country for the

construction of maximum

number of roads under the

PMGSY during 2017-

2018.

The state constructed a maximum of 1,839 kilometre

roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

against a target of 1,500 km set for the year 2017-18.

Uttarakhand has also been ranked second for

connecting 207 habitations with roads against a target

of 172 under the scheme.

Coast Guard commissions patrol vessel 'Vijaya'

The Indian Coast Guard commissioned the indigenously built

patrol vessel 'Vijaya', fitted with advanced navigation and

communication equipment.

The 98-metre ship will be based at Paradip in Odisha

for extensive surveillance in the Exclusive Economic

Zone.

Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra and Coast Guard

Director-General Rajendra Singh took part in the

commissioning ceremony.

India to hold its first global tourism mart from Sep 16

India will hold its first-ever global tourism mart modelled on

the ITB Berlin, the world's largest tourism trade fair.

The mart will be held in Delhi from September 16-18,

said Secretary, Tourism Ministry Rashmi Verma.

The ten major tourist organisations like FHRAI, HAI,

IATO are involved in this mega event.

More than 21 lakh people living with HIV in India

Maharashtra has the highest number of people living with HIV

(PLHIV) in India which is around 3.30 lakh, contributing 15

per cent of total immunodeficiency virus-affected people in the

country which is 21.40 lakh, according to the latest data by

Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

Nationally, around 69.11 thousand PLHIV died of

AIDS-related causes in 2017.

The report "HIV Estimations 2017" released on

Friday compiled by the National AIDS Control

Organisation (NACO) in collaboration with the

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-

National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS) is the

14th round in the series of HIV Estimations under

National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).

PM launches “Swachhata Hi Seva”

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, launched the

‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ Movement, to boost nation wide public

participation in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and catalyse the

fulfilment of Bapu’s dream of a Clean India.

The Swachhata Hi Seva movement aims at generating

greater public participation towards Swachhta.

It is being organized in the run up to the fourth

anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission, on

October 2nd, 2018, which will also mark the

commencement of the 150th year celebrations of

Mahatma Gandhi.

The Prime Minister urged everyone to be a part of this

movement and strengthen the efforts to create a

'Swachh Bharat'.

Power Ministry launches ambitious program on energy

efficiency in Chillers

Ministry of Power, Government of India launched an

ambitious program to encourage the deployment of Energy

Efficient chiller systems in the country.

The Chiller Star Labelling Program has been

formulated by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

The program envisages providing star rating in terms

of its energy performance. Initially, the program is

launched on voluntary basis and will be valid upto 31st

December 2020.

Chillers are used extensively for space conditioning

of buildings and for industrial process cooling

applications.

Narendra Singh Tomar chairs the 20th Central

Employment Guarantee Council meeting in Bhopal

MNREGA is the largest

employment generating scheme

in the country. This scheme is

demand based and provides

employment to 5.5 to 6 crore

people of the country.

This was stated by the

Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati

Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar while

addressing the 20th Central Employment Guarantee

Council (CEGC) meeting that was held in Bhopal.

Shri Tomar said that the scheme is become more

encompassing and 260 types of works have now been

covered under it.

The Union Minister asserted that most of the banking

issues that act as a hindrance for MNREGA wage

payment will be removed through the recently

launched India Post Payments Bank.

Jaipur Literature Festival begins in Houston

Jaipur Literature Festival was begun in Houston with a soulful

music performance followed by stimulating discussions.

The festival is touted as the world’s largest free

literary festival.

The inaugural session also saw Congress leader and

writer Shashi Tharoor discuss his book “Why i am a

Hindu” with writer Namita Gokhale.

The annual festival began in 2006 and is held annually

in Jaipur. This is the first time that it is being held

outside Jaipur.

Hyderabad gets India’s first dog park

Hyderabad is set to get country’s first exclusive dog park.

The park, which is spread over in 1.3 acres, has been

developed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal

Corporation at cost of Rs. 1.1 crore.

The park also has dog training and exercise

equipments.

India-US military exercise begins in Uttarakhand

India and US armies on Sunday began a two-week joint

military exercise in Uttarakhand to hone their tactical and

technical skills in countering insurgency and terrorism in a

United Nation peacekeeping scenario.

Battalion-strong Army personnel from the US and an

equal number from India are participating in 'Exercise

Yudh Abhyas 2018' at Chaubattia in Almora district.

Inaugural Edition of Bimstec Milex-18 Culminates at Pune

The Inaugural Edition of the

BIMSTEC Nations Military

Field Training Exercise i.e.

MILEX - 2018 culminated on

16 September 18 after a

Validation Exercise and an

impressive Closing Ceremony

held at Foreign Training Node, Aundh Military Station, Pune.

The tactical drills showcased during the Validation

Exercise included Hostage Rescue by insertion of

troops from helicopters, Room Intervention as well as

House Clearing Drill as part of Cordon and Search

Operations, Raid on a Terrorist Hideout and

neutralization of Improvised Explosive

Devices(IED).

The entire exercise was monitored and controlled

through the Joint Command Post established with

representatives of the participating contingents.

The Exercise demonstrated the commitment and

capabilities of the participating BIMSTEC National

armies in working closely with each other to eradicate

the menace of terrorism existing in different forms.

Second Flight Test of MPATGM Successful

Indigenously developed Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided

Missile (MPATGM), was successfully flight tested for the

second time from the Ahmednagar range.

All the mission objectives have been met.

The two missions on 15 and 16 September 2018 have

been successfully flight tested for different ranges

including the maximum range capability.

ISRO launches two British earth observation satellites

onboard PSLV-C42

The Indian Space Research Organization has launched its

heavy-weight rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

(PSLV), into orbit carrying two earth observation satellites of

Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology Limited.

PSLV-C42 is carrying two earth observation satellites

of Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology Limited

(SSTL), NovaSAR and S1-4, weighing 450 kg each.

PSLV-C42 is the first fully commercial trip of the

year, breaking a five-month-long lull, for the Indian

Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Dr. Mahesh Sharma releases National Museum Research

Bulletin

The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) and

Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma

released two important publications of the National Museum

(M/o Culture), Sindhu Ghati Sabhyata:Ek Parichay (Hindi) and

the National Museum Research Bulletin Number 10: Special

issue (In House Publication), in New Delhi.

The National Museum Research Bulletin has been

revived after a long gap of 16 years.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sharma congratulated

the efforts of National Museum to revive the research

bulletin which he said will help to generate awareness

about the activities of National Museum.

India – Morocco Tourism Bilateral meeting held in New

Delhi

A bilateral meeting on Tourism Cooperation between India and

Morocco led by the Minister of Tourism, Air Transport,

Handicraft and Social Economy, Kingdom of Morocco, Mr.

Mohamed Sajid and the Minister of State for Tourism (IC),

Government of India, Shri. K. J. Alphons, held in New Delhi.

During this meeting both the Ministers agreed to

enhance the tourism cooperation between India &

Morocco and to work towards increasing tourist

arrivals between both countries.

This meeting was followed by signing of an

agreement of cooperation between the India Tourism

Development Corporation and La Societe Marocaine

D’Ingenierie Touristique, also known as Moroccan

Agency for Tourism development (SMIT).

Piyush Goyal inaugurates the first ever India tourism Mart

2018

The Union Minister for Railways and Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal

inaugurated the ‘first ever’ India Tourism Mart (ITM 2018) in

the presence of Union Tourism Minister, Shri K J Alphons and

the Tourism Minister of Morocco, Mr. Mohamed Sajid, in New

Delhi.

The India Tourism Mart is being organized by the

Ministry of Tourism from 16th to 18th September

2018, in partnership with the Federation of

Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality

(FAITH) and with support of State /UT Governments.

The function was held in presence of the Secretary,

other senior officials of Tourism Ministry and

Chairman/members of FAITH and also delegates

from India and across the world.

Inaugurating the event, Shri Piyush Goyal wished the

best to the Tourism Ministry to reach the ambitious

goal of US$100 billion FTA receipts/year within 5

years.

PM, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, jointly unveil e-

plaques for ground-breaking of two projects

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, and the Prime Minister of

Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, jointly unveiled e-plaques for the

ground-breaking ceremony of two projects, via video

conference.

External Affairs Minister of India, Ms. Sushma

Swaraj, and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas,

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, also joined the

proceedings.

The projects include: (a) India-Bangladesh Friendship

Pipeline (b) Dhaka-Tongi-Joydebpur Railway Project

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister

described the cooperation between the two countries

as an example for the world.

DAC Approves Procurement of Equipment Worth Rs

9,100 Crores

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Raksha

Mantri Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, met and accorded approval

for the procurement of equipment for the Defence Forces

valued at over Rs 9,100 crores.

Pursuing the goal of indigenisation and self-reliance,

the DAC approved procurement of two Regiments of

Akash Missile Systems under 'Buy (Indian)' category

from M/s BDL.

The Missile to be procured is an upgraded version of

the previously inducted Akash missiles and will

include seeker technology, possess 360 degree

coverage and will be of compact configuration with

reduced signature.

The upgraded Akash Weapon System is operationally

critical equipment which will provide protection to

vital assets.

The DAC also accorded approval for progressing

Design and Development of Individual Under Water

Breathing Apparatus (IUWBA) for T 90 Tanks.

Union Home Minister chairs Southern Zonal Council

Meeting in Bengaluru

The 28th meeting of the

Southern Zonal Council was

held under the Chairmanship

the Union Home Minister

Shri Rajnath Singh in

Bengaluru.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of

Karnataka and Puducherry; Deputy Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu; Finance Ministers of Andhra Pradesh

and Kerala Minister for Social Justice &

Empowerment and Minister for Tourism, Karnataka;

Minister for Health, Puducherry and Minister of State

for Home, Govt. of India, Lt. Governor of Andaman

& Nicobar Islands and senior officers from Central

and State Governments.

The Council reviewed the progress of the

implementation of the recommendations made at the

last meeting relating to security to fishermen,

introduction of peninsular tourism trains, uniformity

in allocation of funds in proportion to population of

SC/ST for scholarship for all the courses, optimum

harnessing of renewable energy available in the

Southern States without endangering grid security and

development of Puducherry Airport.

Thereafter, the Council took up issues which relate to

Pulicat lake dispute between Andhra Pradesh and

Tamil Nadu fishermen over fishing rights, menace of

red sander smuggling in the holy Seshachalam hills,

supply of Krishna water to augment the drinking

water supply to Chennai city, issues relating to fishing

in coastal States in Southern Zone, checking of

Antibiotic residues in aquaculture shrimp export,

scheme for modernization of State Police Forces in

the States of Southern Zone, issuance of 'No

Objection Certificate' (NOC) for LPG godown site

plan, issues pertaining to Biofuels programme, etc.

Out of the 27 items discussed today, 22 were resolved

in the meeting.

Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates ‘All India Pension Adalat’

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge)

Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO,

Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and

Space, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the ‘Pension Adalat’.

It was organised by the Department of Pension &

Pensioners’ Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public

Grievances and Pensions, Government of India.

He also presented the ‘Anubhav’ awards 2018 to six

pensioners for their contribution towards creating

institutional memory for the departments.

On the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh also launched a

booklet—“An era of sustained reforms for Central

Government Pensioners” enumerating simplification

of rules and steps initiated to strengthen the Grievance

Portal and make it user friendly.

PM to lay foundation stone for India International

Convention and Expo Centre

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will lay the

foundation stone for India International Convention and Expo

Centre (IICC) at Dwarka, New Delhi, on September 20, 2018.

Located in Sector 25, Dwarka, the Centre would be a

world-class state-of-the-art Exhibition-cum-

Convention Centre, with facilities like financial,

hospitality and retail services.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs.25,700 crores.

The project is implemented by India International

Convention & Exhibition Centre Limited, a 100%

Government owned company under Department of

Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of

Commerce and Industry.

Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna Rolled Out

The ESI Corporation during its 175th Meeting held in New

Delhi under the Chairmanship of Shri Santosh Kumar

Gangwar, Union Minister of State for Labour &

Employment(I/C) has taken some very important decisions

towards improvements in its services and benefits being

provided to Insured Persons and their dependants.

Considering the change in employment pattern and

the current scenario of employment in India which has

transformed from a long term employment to fixed

short term engagement in the form of contract and

temping, the ESI Corporation has approved a Scheme

named “ATAL BIMIT VYAKTI KALYAN YOJNA” for

Insured Persons (IP) covered under the Employees’

State Insurance Act, 1948.

This scheme is a relief payable in cash directly to their

Bank Account in case of unemployment and while

they search for new engagement.

Union Home Secretary launches ‘e-Sahaj’ portal for grant

of Security Clearance

The Union Home Secretary Shri Rajiv Gauba launched an

online ‘e-Sahaj’ portal for grant of Security Clearance.

The portal will facilitate an applicant to submit

application online and also to view the status of his

application from time to time.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Home Secretary

said that with the introduction of online portal, the

process has become standardized, resulting in a

process which will be faster, transparent and easy to

monitor.

Various functionaries can access the application and

documents online and take timely decisions.

ITU South Asia Office and Technology Innovation Centre

to be established in New Delhi

The ITU South Asia Area

Office and Technology

Innovation Centre will be

established in New Delhi.

This was announced by Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary

General (SG) of the International Telecommunication

Union (ITU), during the 4th BRICS Communications

Ministers Meeting held in Durban, South Africa

recently.

ITU is a United Nations specialized agency for

Information and Communication Technologies, with

membership of 193 countries and nearly 800 private

sector entities and academic institutions.

MHA signs MoU with ISRO to set up an Integrated Control

Room for Emergency Response

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Indian Space

Research Organization (ISRO), Department of Space signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up of an

state-of-the-art Integrated Control Room for Emergency

Response (ICR-ER) in Ministry of Home Affairs.

ISRO will render its technical expertise for setting up

of proposed ICR-ER whereas the project will be

executed under overall supervision of MHA.

The proposed Control Room is expected to be

established in next one-and-a-half year.

Successful Flight Test of Prahar

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

successfully flight tested the indigenously developed surface-

to-surface tactical missile ‘Prahar’, from Launch Complex-III,

ITR, Balasore.

Range stations and electro optical systems tracked the

missile throughout its flight.

‘Prahar’ is a contemporary weapon system capable of

carrying multiple types of warheads and neutralizing

a wide variety of targets.

Inaugural Naval Flight Test Seminar held at Goa

The inaugural Naval Flight Test Seminar was held at Goa on

20 Sep 18.

The seminar witnessed some intensive brain-storming

sessions on flight testing fixed and rotary wing

aircraft towards integrating them on the aircraft

carrier and small decks.

There were also a series of papers which were

presented on weapon integration on service aircraft

and towards building and sustaining the training for

Naval Experimental Test Pilots and Flight Test

Engineers.

Health Ministry partners with Dell and Tata Trusts

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, here today exchanged

the MoUs with the Tata Trusts and Dell to provide a

technological platform for nationwide prevention, control,

screening and management program of Non Communicable

Diseases (NCDs).

Smt Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and

Family Welfare presided over the ceremony and also

released the user manual for NCD application under

Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) IT

Solutions.

Vice President returns after successful visit to Serbia,

Malta and Romania

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu was on

an official Visit to Serbia, Malta and Romania from September

14-20, 2018 and returned after a successful official visit.

Some key outcomes:

Support for India’s aspiration to be on UNSC and for

taking forward UN reforms.

Endorsement of India’s stand on terror and support for

early adoption of United Nation’s Comprehensive

Convention on International Terrorism.

Strong support for resuming EU-India trade

agreement after Romania assumes Presidency of EU.

Business Forums generated a good deal of enthusiasm

among the industrialists and businessmen in every

country as they got to listen to the Vice President

about India’s transformative initiatives. The growth

story and the reports from World Bank, IMF quoted

by Vice President enhanced awareness.

The leaders in all the countries expressed unequivocal

admiration for India’s economic growth and were

eager to engage and partner with India politically,

economically and culturally. In Romania, there was a

special interest in Space and Aerospace. Malta

expressed its desire to join the International Solar

Alliance.

There was a clear demand for Parliamentary

friendship groups and frequent visits by

Parliamentarians.

The visit gave an opportunity for the members of

India Diaspora to listen to the Vice President about

the transformative agenda of the government and

encouraged them to think of various ways in which

they can contribute to the country’s development. The

vice President underscored the growing importance of

India on the world stage and drew attention to four

key features that need to be recognised. He called

them 4Ds – Democracy, Demographic dividend,

Demand and Diaspora.

The visit evoked a lot of interest among the top

political leadership and there was an air of bonhomie

in all the meetings. The banquets hosted by the

President of Serbia and Malta as well as by the

President of Senate of Romania provided an

opportunity for sharing views on bilateral and

multilateral issues with rare candour.

The address to the Serbian Parliament was very well

received and the admiration for India as the largest

democracy and a vibrant, well functioning polity was

more than evident in the standing ovation the Vice

President received at the end of his address.

MOUs entered into related to plant protection,

tourism, air services, oil research, diplomatic training

and maritime cooperation.

In all the three countries, there was considerable

interest in Yoga and Ayurveda and in Romania, the

Vice President launched two books on Ayurveda and

inaugurated an Ayurveda Information Centre.

Odisha to name Jharsuguda airport after Veer Surendra

Sai

The Odisha Assembly has passed a resolution unanimously to

name the newly-constructed Jharsuguda airport after noted

freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the

airport on September 22.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Ministry in July had denied

naming the airport after the freedom fighter citing the

absence of a state assembly resolution on this.

PM to launch Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana at

Ranchi

The Prime Minister, Shri

Narendra Modi, will launch

the Pradhan Mantri Jan

Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) at

Ranchi, Jharkhand, on

September 23, 2018.

Under this scheme, over 10 crore families will be

provided health assurance worth Rs. 5 lakh each,

every year.

The Prime Minister will visit an exhibition on the

PMJAY. He will witness a demonstration of activities

such as beneficiary identification, and e-card creation.

On September 24, the Prime Minister will inaugurate

Pakyong Airport, which will bring the State of Sikkim

on the country’s aviation map.

President Inaugurates Centenary Celebrations of

Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the

centenary celebrations of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar

Sabha in New Delhi on September 22, 2018.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that

languages connect people. There are numerous

languages and dialects in India. All of them have their

special nature and beauty. This diversity adds to

India’s culture and well-being.

He said that institutions like the Dakshina Bharat

Hindi Prachar Sabha have played a very important

role in strengthening the emotional unity of our

country. He noted that the Sabha has developed a

network of about 20,000 Hindi campaigners.

Ayushman Bharat to be launched by Prime Minister Shri

Narendra Modi in Ranchi

India takes a giant leap towards providing accessible and

affordable healthcare to the common man with the launch of

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan AarogyaYojana (AB-

PMJAY) by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 23rd

September, 2018 at Ranchi, Jharkhand.

This is the “world’s largest government funded

healthcare program” targeting more than 50 crore

beneficiaries.

Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan

ArogyaYojana (PMJAY) will provide a cover of up to

Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year, for secondary and

tertiary care hospitalization.

Over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families

(approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) will be eligible

for these benefits.

PMJAY will provide cashless and paperless access to

services for the beneficiary at the point of service.

PMJAY will help reduce catastrophic expenditure for

hospitalizations, which impoverishes people and will

help mitigate the financial risk arising out of

catastrophic health episodes.

Entitled families will be able to use the quality health

services they need without facing financial hardships.

When fully implemented, PMJAY will become the

world’s largest fully government-financed health

protection scheme.

3rd edition of MahaBiz 2018 to be held in Dubai

The 3rd edition of acclaimed International Business

Conference ‘MahaBiz 2018’ will be held in Dubai on 12th and

13th October 2018.

MahaBiz is considered a bridge for business

opportunities between Maharashtra state and Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

GCC is a political and economic alliance of six

middle eastern countries. It includes Saudi Arabia ,

UAE , Kuwait , Oman , Bahrain and Qatar.

Assam observed September 22 as Rhino Day

The Assam government observed September 22 as Rhino Day

to generate public awareness on protection of the one-horned

pachyderm.

A State Rhino Project in line with National Rhino

Project will be launched in Assam soon for protecting

the pachyderms from threats of poaching.

PM to inaugurate Sikkim's first-ever airport

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the

Sikkim's first-ever airport on 24th September, 2018.

Built at an estimated cost of over Rs. 605 crore, the

Pakyong airport is a new distinction for the State of

Sikkim which has, in the last three to four years,

achieved the distinction of becoming the first

"Organic State" of India and also the first "Open

Defecation Free" (ODF) State of India.

DEPwD Celebrates ‘International Day of Sign Languages’

“International Day of Sign Languages” was celebrated by

Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre

(ISLRTC) under Department of Empowerment of Persons with

Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and

Empowerment on 23 September.

Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Social

Justice and Empowerment was the Chief Guest on the

occasion.

A special calendar of year 2019 with Sign Languages

designed by ISLRTC was released on the occasion.

Vice President Inaugurates Indian Culinary Institute

The Vice President

of India, Shri M.

Venkaiah Naidu has

said that Indian food

heritage is a mixture

of art and science

and is exceptionally

vast and diverse.

He was

addressing the gathering after inaugurating the Indian

Culinary Institute, Tirupati and two projects in

Nellore and East Godavari Districts of Andhra

Pradesh, implemented under the Coastal Circuit

theme of Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Ministry of

Tourism, Government of India, in Tirupati, Andhra

Pradesh.

Arjun Ram Meghwal inaugurates workshop on National e-

Vidhan Application

Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Water

Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri

Arjun Ram Meghwal presided over the Inaugural Session of

the two-day National Orientation workshop on National e-

Vidhan Application (NeVA), organized by Ministry of

Parliamentary Affairs in New Delhi.

On the occasion, Shri Meghwal also launched the new

website of the NeVA and administered the Swachhata

Pledge to over 200 delelgates, which included senior

officers from Secretariats of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha,

31 Legislative Assemblies and 7 Legislative Councils

from across the country.

The Orientation Workshop would include technical

sessions and group discussions over 2 days, which

would facilitate exposure for the delegates about the

positive attributes of NeVA; deliberations on issues

faced by different State Legislatures in

implementation of e-Vidhan and finding solutions

thereof.

The focus of the workshop would be to encourage all

State Legislatures to move towards e-Vidhan platform

and bring in transparency, accountability and

responsiveness in their conduct of business, through

the use of technology.

4th India International Science Festival to be inaugurated

by President of India

The fourth edition of India International Science Festival will

be inaugurated by President of India in Lucknow on October 6,

2018.

IISF-2018 is expected to be represented by

approximately 10000 delegates including 5000

students, 550 teachers, 200 students from North-East

Region, 20 international delegates and approximately

200 startups.

IISF-2018 with its focal theme “Science for

Transformation” will have 23 special events.

This time the 'Science Village' will also be organized

in the festival.

21st meeting of Central Regional Council held under the

chairmanship of Union Home Minister

Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has said that regional

councils have an important role in resolving issues related to

the public by increasing cooperation between the Center and

the states.

In the 21st meeting of the Central Regional Council

in Lucknow, the Home Minister said that all regional

councils have been made active in the last four years.

He said that 11 meetings were held during the

Regional Councils while 15 meetings of the Standing

Committee were held.

He said that a total of 680 cases were discussed, out

of which 428 were resolved. These issues have been

related to areas like infrastructure, medicine,

education, agriculture and security.

Vice President Inaugurates Smart City Expo India 2018

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said

that the creation of pedestrian non-motorized zones is the need

of the hour curb traffic congestions.

He was addressing the inaugural session of the Smart

City Expo India 2018, in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The object of this three days long expo is to have

discussions among different experts and groups to

utilize benefits of new technology, town planning,

capacity management, challenges before socio-

economic development and development of

networking in the Smart City sector.

Near about 6000 delegates from MNC's of different

countries , researchers , CEO's of different Smart

cities , Mayors and corporates are participating in the

expo.

Cabinet approves financial assistance for Sirhind Feeder

Canal and Rajasthan Feeder Canal

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra

Modi has approved providing Central Assistance of Rs.

620.42 Cr. and Rs. 205.758 Cr. for implementation of relining

of Rajasthan Feeder Canal and Sirhind Feeder Canal

respectively over five years (2018-19 to 2022-23) for Relining

of Sirhind Feeder from RD 119700 to 447927 and relining of

Rajasthan Feeder from RD 179000to 496000 of Punjab.

Implementation of these twin projects would help in

addressing the problem of water-logging in 84800 Ha

of land in Muktsar, Faridkot and Ferozpur districts in

South-West Punjab.

Funding for CA to the Rajasthan Feeder and Sirhind

feeder shall be made through NABARD under

existing system for funding of 99 PMKSY-AIBP

projects under LTIF.

Cabinet approves National Digital Communications

Policy-2018

The Union Cabinet,

chaired by the Prime

Minister Shri Narendra

Modi, has approvedthe

National Digital

Communications

Policy-2018 (NDCP-2018) and re-designation of the Telecom

Commission as the “Digital Communications Commission”.

TheNDCP-2018 envisions supporting India’s

transition to a digitally empowered economy and

society by fulfilling the information and

Communications needs of citizens and enterprises by

establishment of a ubiquitous, resilient and affordable

Digital Communications Infrastructure and Services.

The key objectives of the policy are provisioning of

Broadband for all; creating 4 Million additional jobs

in the Digital Communications sector; enhancing the

contribution of the Digital Communications sector to

8% of India’s GDP from ~ 6% in 2017; propelling

India to the Top 50 Nations in the ICT Development

Index of ITU from 134 in 2017; enhancing India’s

contribution to Global Value Chains; and ensuring

Digital Sovereignty.

These objectives are to be achieved by 2022.

Successful Flight Test of Astra BVR Air-to-Air Missile

Astra, the indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range Air-

to-Air Missile (BVRAAM), was successfully test fired by the

Indian Air Force from Su-30 aircraft, from Air Force Station,

Kalaikunda.

The missile successfully engaged a manoeuvring

target with high precision meeting the mission

objectives.

In the series of trials held to date, Astra has been

launched in the complete Su-30 flight envelope.

The flight test assumes significance as it was part of

the series of final pre-induction trials.

Astra is the best in class weapon system and has

undergone more than twenty developmental trials.

Finance Ministry Launches Mobile Application “ Jan Dhan

Darshak”

Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance

and National Informatics Centre (NIC) has jointly developed

a mobile app called Jan Dhan Darshak as a part of financial

inclusion (FI) initiative .

As the name suggests, this app will act as a guide for

the common people in locating a financial service

touch point at a given location in the country.

While over 5 lakh FI touch points (Bank branches,

ATMs, Post Offices) have been mapped on this App,

approx. 1.35 lakh Bank Mitras would be on-boarded

by 01.12.2018.

Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad to launch Centre of Excellence

for Data Analytics and DigiVaarta

National Informatics Centre (NIC) and National Informatics

Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) have jointly set up a

Centre of Excellence for data analytics to support Government

departments to unlock the hidden potential of the data that they

are generating as part of the governance processes and use it to

improve the overall governance.

Launch of Centre of Excellence for Data Analytics

(CEDA) is being held on 28th September, 2018 by the

Hon’ble Union Minister of Electronics & Information

Technology, Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad in the presence

of Hon’ble Minister of State, Electronics &

Information Technology. The event will be attended

by several dignitaries from the Central Government.

Tribes India launches “Punch Tantra Collection and Ms

Mary Kom as Brand Ambassador”

Tribes India and TRIFED under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs

launched “Punch Tantra Collection and Ms. Mary Kom as

Brand Ambassador of Tribes India” at a function.

Shri Jual Oram, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs

introduced the Indian Sporting Legend and the World

Boxing Champion Ms. Mary Kom as the Brand

Ambassador of “Tribes India” and launched the

“Punch Tantra” Diwali collection.

Four promotional video spots produced by NFDC

featuring Brand Ambassador Ms. Mary Com

promoting Tribal products of Tribes India were also

released on the occasion.

India and the United Nations to sign a Five-Year

Sustainable Development Framework

CEO NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant and United Nations Resident

Coordinator in India, Yuri Afanasiev, will sign the

Government of India-United Nations Sustainable

Development Framework (UNSDF) for 2018-2022, at a

special signing ceremony on September 28 at NITI Aayog

premises.

The signing ceremony would be presided over by

Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar,

Members of NITI Aayog and will be attended by the

heads of UN agencies in India.

Government of India-United Nations Sustainable

Development Framework (SDF) 2018-2022 outlines

the work of UN agencies in India, to support the

achievement of key development outcomes that have

been identified in consultation with the government

and are aligned to the national priorities.

The NITI Aayog is the national counterpart for the

UN in India for the operationalization of the UNSDF.

Nineteen (19) UN agencies have signed on the

UNSDF 2018-2022.

Twenty Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) centres are

being established in the country

Twenty Embryo Transfer Technology Centres are being

established in the country and a proposal of 19 centres has been

approved so far.

This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture and

Farmers Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh.

The Minister further stated that 3000 high genetic

merit bulls of indigenous bovine breeds are being

produced from these centres.

Two of these centres are to be set up in Nagpur and

Pune in Maharashtra.

20th livestock Census to be conducted from 1st October in

all districts of the country

The 20th Livestock Census will be conducted in all districts of

the Indian Union in participation with all States and Union

Territories. States/UTs have been requested to start the census

operations from 1st October, 2018.

The success of this novel initiative is dependent on

full cooperation and commitment from all States/UTs

Governments.

The enumeration will be done in all villages and urban

wards.

Various species of animals (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun,

Yak, Sheep, Goat, Pig, Horse, Pony, Mule, Donkey

Camel, Dog, Rabbit and Elephant)/poultry birds

(Fowl, Duck, Emu, Turkeys, Quail and other poultry

birds) possessed by the households, household

enterprises/non-household enterprises and institutions

will be counted at their site.

High Level Advisory Group Constituted for Trade

The Minister of Commerce & Industry, Suresh Prabhu, has

approved the constitution of a High Level Advisory Group

(HLAG) to make recommendations for identifying and

pursuing opportunities and for addressing challenges in order

to find a way forward in the contemporary global trade

scenario.

The HLAG will consider ways for boosting India’s

share and importance in global merchandise and

services trade, managing pressing bilateral trade

relations and mainstreaming new age policy making.

Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla, Director of Oxus Research and

Investments will chair the HLAG.

High Level Committee Constituted on Corporate Social

Responsibility

A High Level Committee

on Corporate Social

Responsibility – 2018

(HLC-2018) has been

constituted under the

Chairmanship of Shri.

Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs

(MCA) to review the existing framework and guide and

formulate the roadmap for a coherent policy on Corporate

Social Responsibility ( CSR).

The Committee is expected to review the existing

CSR framework as per Act, Rules and Circulars

issued from time to time and recommend guidelines

for better enforcement of CSR provisions.

It will analyze outcomes of CSR

activities/programmes/projects and suggest measures

for effective monitoring and evaluation of CSR by

companies.

Suggestions are also expected on innovative

solutions, use of technology, platform to connect

stakeholders, and social audit.

Constitution of Group of Ministers (GoM)

During the 30th Meeting of the GST Council, the proposal of

the State of Kerala for imposition of Cess on SGST for

rehabilitation and flood affected works was discussed in detail.

The Council decided to constitute a 7-Member Group

of Ministers (GoM) to examine this issue in depth.

Accordingly, the Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun

Jaitley, has approved the constitution of a Group of

Ministers to examine the issue regarding ‘Modalities

for Revenue Mobilisation in case of Natural

Calamities and Disasters’.

Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister of

Bihar is the Convenor of the GoM.

Kolkata launches India’s first flood forecast system

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, with the support of the

Asian Development Bank, has launched the country’s first

flood forecasting and early-warning system.

It will provide real-time data on inundation, rainfall

intensity, temperature, air quality and other climate-

related data

This is expected to help policy-makers make

informed decisions during disasters.

Tripura to set up flute performance research institute

Tripura Government would set up a flute performance research

institute to take out the traditional musical act and its eminence

as a traditional musical instrument across the world, Chief

Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said.

The Chief Minister said there are a huge variety of

bamboo in Tripura and other northeastern states and

with this high quality bamboo, flute can be made to

sell them in the national and international markets.

President of India Inaugurates Mahatma Gandhi

International Sanitation Convention

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the

Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention in New

Delhi on September 29, 2018.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that

achieving universal access to adequate and equitable

sanitation and hygiene by 2030 is a major challenge

in many parts of the world.

Drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene are central to

Sustainable Development Goal 6, especially targets

6.1, 6.2 and 6.3.

Target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals

calls for countries to end open defecation, ensure

everyone has access to a basic toilet and put in place

systems for safe management of excreta.

PM inaugurates Conference on Academic Leadership on

Education for Resurgence

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the

Conference on Academic Leadership on Education for

Resurgence in Vigyan Bhawan in which the Vice-

Chancellors/Directors from more than 350 universities

participated.

The conference was organized jointly by UGC,

AICTE, ICSSR, IGNCA, IGNOU, JNU and SGT

University.

Union Minister for Human Resource Development

Shri Prakash Javadekar and MoS, HRD Dr Satya Pal

Singh were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion the Prime Minister, Shri

Narendra Modi said that when one thinks of

resurgence or revival, the first image that comes to

mind is of Swami Vivekananda, who presented before

the world, the strength of Indian thought.

Suresh Prabhu launched the World Bank Group’s regional

trade report

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation,

Suresh Prabhu, launched the World Bank Group’s regional

trade report “A Glass Half Full-The Promise of Regional Trade

in South Asia” at a seminar organised by FICCI in New Delhi.

Speaking on this occasion the Minister said that the

potential for intra-trade growth in South Asia region

has not been fully tapped as yet.

India’s top three trading partners in South Asia are

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

India’s trade with South Asia is only 3% of its global

trade.

Today India’s trade with the world stands at 637.4

billion USD but with South Asia it stands at only

19.1billion USD.

Trade between India and Pakistan is a paltry USD 2

billion.

PM to launch India Post Payments Bank

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will launch the India

Post Payments Bank (IPPB) at Talkatora Stadium in New

Delhi on September 1st, 2018.

On the day of the launch, IPPB will have 650

Branches and 3250 Access Points spread across the

country. Simultaneous launch events will be held at

these branches and access points.

All the 1.55 lakh Post Offices in the country will be

linked to the IPPB system by December 31, 2018.

RBI cancels the licence of Bhilwara Mahila Urban Co-

operative Bank Ltd

The Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) has cancelled the

licence of Bhilwara Mahila

Urban Co-operative Bank

Ltd., Bhilwara, Rajasthan to

carry on banking business,

with effect from the close of

business on August 31,

2018.

The Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Rajasthan

has also been requested to issue an order for winding

up the bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank.

Consequent to the cancellation of its licence,

Bhilwara Mahila Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd.,

Bhilwara, Rajasthan is prohibited from conducting

the business of banking.

ITI Limited partners with startups to boost manufacturing

ITI Limited signed agreements with leading startups and

original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) covering the

manufacturing of a wide range of ICT-IOT based solutions.

These include civil and military advanced radar

systems, advanced edge router systems, next

generation 5G technology products, data storage and

networking solutions, digital security solutions,

advanced metering solutions, and wi-fi products and

solutions.

National Housing Bank offers Rs 200 cr refinance facility

to Kerala

To provide relief to the households having annual income up

to Rs 3 lakh in rural areas and up to Rs 6 lakh in urban areas in

the floods-hit state of Kerala, National Housing Bank (NHB)

has announced a refinance assistance of Rs 200 crore.

This refinance facility would facilitate concessional

rate of interest for construction/repair and renovation

of houses, through primary lending institutions.

Individual housing loans, which have been disbursed

on or after August 1, 2018 and till June 30, 2019 by

primary lending institutions in rural and urban areas

of Kerala, are covered under this assistance.

India on track to buy 18 bullet trains from Japan for Rs

7,000 crore

India will purchase 18 bullet train sets from Japan at a total cost

of about Rs 7,000 crore in a deal that includes a pledge to

transfer technology for local production.

Each train will have 10 coaches and would be able to

cruise at the speed of 350 km per hour.

The country’s first bullet train is likely to start running

between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by the end of 2022.

The 508-km, high speed train corridor is being built

with Japanese assistance.

Cabinet doubles Jan Dhan accounts overdraft cap to Rs

10,000 from 5,000

Commenting on government's financial inclusion scheme,

Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley said in a significant move, the

cabinet today approved doubling Jan Dhan accounts overdraft

cap to Rs 10,000 from 5,000.

The age for availing entitlements has also been

relaxed from 60 to 65 years.

Jaitley also stated that around 83 per cent of accounts

opened in Jan Dhan are linked with Aadhar.

India and US Hold '2 + 2' Dialogue

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of

Defence Nirmala Sitharaman welcomed Secretary of State

Michael R. Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis

to India on September 6, 2018 for the inaugural India-U.S.

Ministerial 2+2 Dialogue.

They welcomed the launch of the 2+2 Dialogue as a

reflection of the shared commitment by Prime

Minister Modi and President Trump to provide a

positive, forward-looking vision for the India-U.S.

strategic partnership.

Two plus two meeting is a kind of dialogue

mechanism where two important portfolios (say,

Finance and Defence) of the countries taking part in

the meeting.

India and France sign an implementation agreement on

“MOBILISE YOUR CITY”

India and France have signed an implementation agreement on

“MOBILISE YOUR CITY” (MYC) in the presence of Minister

of State (I/C), Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA)

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri and Shri Alexander Ziegler,

Ambassador of France in India.

Mobilise Your City (MYC) is part of an international

initiative which is supported by the French and the

German Governments and was launched at 21st

Conference of Parties (COP21) meeting in December,

2015.

Based on a proposal made by AFD in 2015, the

European Union has agreed to provide funds of Euro

3.5 million through the AFD to contribute to specific

investments and technical assistance components

within the Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme in

India.

HDFC bank most valuable indian brand

Kantar Millward Brown unveiled the Top 75 Most Valuable

Indian Brands as part of its annual Brand Z report.

HDFC Bank is 2018’s most valuable Indian brand

followed by one of the country’s oldest brands, LIC.

IT services major TCS took third place.

The methodology of the study involved examining

both financial performance and extensive consumer

research.

RBI slaps Rs 1 cr fine each on UBI, BoI, Maharashtra Bank

The Reserve Bank in three separate releases said it has imposed

a penalty of Rs 1 crore each on the three banks of Union Bank

of India (UBI), Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra.

The penalty has been imposed taking into account

delay on the part of the bank to detect and report fraud

in an account, it said.

NIIF inks $400 mn agreement with Singapore's Temasek

Singapore government’s Temasek Holdings has agreed to

invest $400 million in the National Infrastructure Investment

Fund (NIIF) in another bet on India’s infrastructure asset

management space.

NIIF, touted as India’s first sovereign investment

vehicle anchored by the government, already has

investors such as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority

along with several large domestic financial

institutions.

With the entry of Temasek, NIIF’s Master Fund is

now one of the largest infrastructure funds in India,

after IDFC Alternatives and ICICI Infrastructure

Fund.

LIC launches group insurance scheme for CDSL demat

account holders

Life Insurance Corporation

of India has signed an

agreement with Central

Depository Services (India)

to provide group insurance

coverage to all eligible demat account holders serviced through

depository participants associated with it.

The facility will be available to demat account holders

between the age of 18 years and 59 years.

CDSL serves more than 15.85 million demat

accounts, which is 48 per cent of the industry.

IPPB ties up with FSS

India Post Payments Bank has tied up with Financial Software

and Systems (FSS), a leading payments technology and

transaction processing systems, to offer a wide range of

banking solutions to financially underserved customer

segments—especially rural households, small and medium

enterprises and women.

FSS will help India Post to provide affordable, quality

banking and payment services to its customers.

It comprises of a comprehensive set of solutions to

bring customers and merchants into the digital

payments mainstream, generating critical network

effects for furthering adoption and usage.

NITI Aayog, Intel and TIFR collaborate for Model

International Center for Transformative AI

NITI Aayog, Intel, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

(TIFR) announced on 7th September that they are collaborating

to set up a Model International Center for Transformative

Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) towards developing and

deploying AI-led application-based research projects.

This initiative is part of NITI Aayog’s ‘National

Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’ Discussion Paper

that focuses on establishing ICTAI in the country

through private sector collaboration.

Based in Bengaluru, the Model ICTAI aims to

conduct advanced research to incubate AI-led

solutions in three important areas – healthcare,

agriculture and smart mobility – by bringing together

the expertise of Intel and TIFR.

It aims to experiment, discover and establish best

practices in the domains of ICTAI governance,

fundamental research, physical infrastructure,

compute and service infrastructure needs, and talent

acquisition.

Cabinet approves MoU on blockchain technology by Exim

Bank

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra

Modi has given its ex-post facto approval for the Memorandum

of Understanding (MoU) on Collaborative Research on

Distributed Ledger and Block chain Technology in the context

of Development of digital economy by Export-Import Bank of

India (Exim Bank).

Participating member banks.under the BRICS

Interbank Cooperation Mechanism are namely Banco

Nacional de DesenvolvimentoEconomico e Social

(BNDES, of Brazil), China Development Bank

(CDB), State Corporation Bank for Development and

Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank, of

Russia) and Development Bank of Southern Africa

(DBSA).

Distributed Ledger/Block chain technology holds

potential for solutions to various challenges being

faced in the financial sector space of the BRICS

nations.

The MoU intends to enhance understanding of

Distributed Ledger/Block Chain technology, through

the joint research efforts to identify areas within

respective business operations where it may have the

potential for applications aimed at enhancing the

operational efficiencies.

Federal Bank inks MOU with Infopark Kakkanad

Federal Bank, which is in the process of formation of a

wholly owned subsidiary company, has executed MOU with

Infopark Kakkanad for leasing space in their campus.

The Bank has already obtained in principle approval

of the Reserve Bank of India for the creation of a

subsidiary company.

The proposed company will integrate and handle all

the back-end operations of the Bank.

Reserve Bank licence for PayU to open NBFC arm

PayU India has received a licence from the Reserve Bank of

India to operate its own non-banking financial company, a

development that will provide a big boost to the Naspers-

owned fintech major in growing its consumer credit business.

The NBFC, PayU Credit, which will be a subsidiary

of PayU, is the latest offering from the company that

looks to expand its suite of credit-focused offerings.

PayU, according to company executives, has an

estimated 4,00,000 merchants on its platform.

RBI cancels licence of Tech Mahindra for issuing pre-paid

cards

The Reserve Bank has cancelled the licence of Tech Mahindra

Limited to issue pre-paid cards following the voluntary

surrender of authorisation by the Noida-based company.

The certificate of authorisation (COA) was issued in

November 2013, the Reserve Bank said in a

statement.

Following the cancellation of the COA, the company

cannot transact the business of pre-paid card issuance.

Iconic Time Magazine Sold for $190 Million in Cash

Time Magazine is being sold by Meredith Corp. to Marc

Benioff, a co-founder of Salesforce, and his wife.

Meredith announced that it was selling Time

magazine for $190 million in cash to Benioff, one of

four co-founders of Salesforce.

The Benioffs are purchasing Time personally, and the

transaction is unrelated to Salesforce.com, where

Benioff is chairman and co-CEO and co-founder.

Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank, BoB to merge: Govt

The government said state-owned Bank of Baroda, Vijaya

Bank and Dena Bank will be merged to create the country’s

third largest lender as part of efforts to revive credit and

economic growth.

The move follows top lender State Bank of India last

year merging with itself five of its subsidiary banks

and taking over Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the merger will

make the banks stronger and sustainable as well as

increase their lending ability.

This merger will create third largest bank in India.

Agreement signed between Heavy Water Board and

Greenstar Fertilizers Limited

An agreement has been

entered between Heavy

Water Board (HWB)

and Greenstar

Fertilizers Limited for

routing of phosphoric

acid through Solvent

Extraction Plant,

Tuticorin and supply of utilities and chemicals.

Heavy Water Board, a constituent unit of DAE, has

diversified its activities and is pursuing bulk

production of various special materials required for

DAE.

This includes Nuclear Grade Solvents, Enriched

Boron Compounds, Nuclear Grade Sodium and D

Labeled compounds.

Greenstar Fertilizers Limited is a leading

manufacturer and marketer of fertilizers in India.

Greenstar manufactures phosphatic fertilizers at

Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

India Post Payments Bank, Bajaj Allianz join hands ‘to

provide insurance to all’

State-owned India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and private life

insurer Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co Ltd (BALIC) have

entered into a strategic partnership to provide life insurance

solutions.

This partnership will leverage IPPB’s last mile reach

for building awareness about life insurance.

Both the companies came together to formally sign

the Corporate Agency Agreement.

ICICI Bank teams up with HealthAssure to offer tailor-

made facilities for NRI customers

ICICI Bank has tied up with health aggregator HealthAssure to

provide tailor-made healthcare services to the bank’s NRI Pro

and Premia savings account holders and their family members.

With HealthAssure, customers will get a ‘Health

Pass’, a personal concierge facility with a host of

exclusive healthcare benefits in India.

Benefits include discounts of up to 50 per cent on

check-ups and consultations with specialists at over

3,000 primary health-care centres in more than 1,000

cities in India.

India signs Loan Agreement with the World Bank for US$

74 Million for Uttarakhand

A Loan Agreement for IBRD Credit of US$74 million

equivalent for the Uttrakhand Workforce Development Project

(UKWDP) was signed with the World Bank.

The Project objective is to improve the quality and

relevance of training at priority Industrial Training

Institutes (ITIs) and to increase the number of labor-

market-relevant workers through short term training

in Uttrakhand.

BRICS bank approves USD 525-million loan for infra

projects in Madhya Pradesh

The New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries

has approved a USD 525-million loan to Madhya Pradesh for

infrastructure projects.

The Board of Directors of the NDB approved a USD

350-million loan for the Major District Roads Project

II of Madhya Pradesh and USD 175 million for

building and upgrading 350 bridges.

PPF, NSC, other small savings to give higher interest

Small saving schemes such as Public Provident Fund (PPF),

National Savings Certificates and Post Office Deposit Scheme

will fetch more in the three months period starting October 1.

PPF and NSC will earn interest at 8 per cent while

Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, which has a tenure

of five years, will fetch 8.7 per cent.

PNB drags Lanco Vidarbha Thermal Power to NCLT

Lanco Vidarbha Thermal Power Limited, a subsidiary of

Lanco Infratech Limited, now faces proceedings in the

National Company Law Tribunal with the Punjab National

Bank dragging it to the tribunal in Hyderabad for resolution.

The diversified Lanco group’s woes seem to continue

with Lanco Infratech Limited already on liquidation

process and another group entity tackling legal

proceedings and the Vidharbha unit is now taken to

NCLT, Hyderabad.

Petitioning the NCLT Hyderabad bench, the PNB has

pleaded to take the case for the Corporate Insolvency

Resolution Plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Code.

IRDAI panel to examine fintech issues

IRDAI has constituted a committee, comprising its officials as

well as senior executives of a few insurers, to study regulatory

issues fin-tech poses for insurance.

Besides in a fast evolving financial technology

landscape, the move comes amid the authority’s

emphasis on adopting a regulatory sandbox approach

to experiment with fin-tech solutions.

With IRDAI Chief General Manager Randip Singh

Jagpal as the chairperson, the committee would

identify key regulatory issues and gaps pertaining to

fin-tech in insurance.

Jharkhand govt inks MoU with NICL for Ayushman

Bharat Scheme

The Jharkhand government has signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with National Insurance Company Ltd

to provide medical facilities to the people of the state under the

Centre’s flagship health scheme – Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

The scheme will be launched nationally by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi from Ranchi on 23

September.

As per information received, Jharkhand government

and National insurance company have signed a MoU

for quality and timely medical treatment to the

citizens.

Corporation Bank inks pact with NeSL

Corporation Bank has signed an information utility (IU)

agreement with National e-Governance Services Ltd (NeSL) to

share financial and security information under IBBI (IU)

Regulation 2017.

NeSL serve the needs of the banking system by

providing data to insolvency professionals,

adjudicating authority and the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Board of India.

BSNL inks deal with Softbank, NTT to roll out 5G, IoT

service

State-run telecom firm BSNL has inked a pact with Japan's

Softbank and NTT Communications to roll out 5G and internet

of things technology in India.

Under the agreement with Softbank, BSNL will look

at collaborating with the Japanese firm for its satellite

constellation

BSNL has signed agreement with Nokia and Cisco as

well for developing 5G ecosystem.

Cabinet clears proposal to convert GSTN into govt entity

The Union Cabinet

cleared a proposal to

convert GST Network

(GSTN), which

provides IT

infrastructure for the

new indirect tax

regime, into a 100 per cent government-owned company.

Briefing about the decisions taken in the Cabinet

meeting, the finance minister said after restructuring

of GSTN, ownership will be equally divided between

the Centre and states.

Shares for each state will be worked on pro-rata basis.

Currently, the Centre and states together hold 49 per

cent stake in the GST Network.

The remaining 51 per cent is held by five private

financial institutions -- HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd,

ICICI Bank Ltd, NSE Strategic Investment Co and

LIC Housing Finance Ltd.

Axis Bank, VCAT tie up to provide banking services to

start-up firms

Private sector lender Axis Bank has tied up with Venture

Catalysts (VCAT) to provide corporate banking services to

start-up companies.

As an added benefit, Axis Bank will also waive off

banking transaction fee for the first two years for

start-ups at the bootstrapping stage.

As part of the tie-up, VCAT will provide mentoring

to hone business ideation, apart from incubating and

providing support to upcoming start-ups.

India, Japan sign Agreement for Construction of Mumbai-

Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project

Two Loan Agreements were signed between India and Japan

on Japanese Official Development Assistance loan for

Construction of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project

(I) of Yen 89.457 billion (Rs.5591 crore approx.) and Kolkata

East-West Metro Project (III) of Yen 25.903 billion (Rs.1619

crore approx.).

India and Japan have had a long and fruitful history of

bilateral development cooperation since 1958.

In the last few years, the economic cooperation

between India and Japan has steadily progressed.

This further consolidates and strengthens the Strategic

and Global Partnership between India and Japan.

Rail Heritage Digitisation Project of Indian Railways in

collaboration with Google Arts & Culture

Minister of Railways and Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal has

launched “Rail Heritage Digitisation Project” of Indian

Railways in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture here

today through video-conferencing.

The project is a landmark effort, first of its kind in this

part of the globe, to showcase country’s Rail Heritage

to National and International audience in an online

story-telling platform.

MoHUA partners with Google to launch #LooReview

Campaign

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the aegis of

Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM – U), has partnered

with Google to launch the Loo Review campaign to encourage

all local guides in India to rate and review public toilets on

Google Maps.

This campaign is part of a feature which allows all

citizens to locate public toilets in their cities on

Google Maps, Search and the Assistant and also

provide feedback on the same.

500+ cities in India with more than 30,000 toilets with

the name of “SBM Toilet” are currently live on

Google Maps.

One of the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission

– Urban (SBM - U) is to provide sanitation coverage

through public toilet facilities across cities in India for

achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.

With around 3400cities already having achieved ODF

status, and other cities gearing up towards the same,

there is now a need to ensure that the ODF status is

sustained through continuous usage and proper

maintenance of public toilets.

NITI Aayog and Oracle sign a Statement of Intent to pilot

drug supply-chain using blockchain.

In order to fight the growing problem of counterfeit drugs in

India, NITI Aayog and Oracle signed a Statement of Intent

(SoI) to pilot a real drug supply-chain using blockchain

distributed ledger and Internet of Things (IoT) software.

Apollo Hospitals and Strides Pharma Sciences will

partner in this effort.

The major advantages of blockchain software will be

its ability to allow the sharing of information across

the drug supply chain securely.

RBI bars Bandhan Bank from opening branches

The RBI has barred the bank from opening new branches and

put a freeze on the remuneration of Bandhan Bank MD and

CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh.

The bank can open branches with the prior approval

of the RBI.

The RBI pulled up Bandhan Bank for its failure to

bring down the promoter holding to 40 per cent, as

mandated in the licensing norms for universal banks.

RBI clears Rana Kapoor’s reappointment as YES Bank

MD

The Reserve Bank of

India gave its approval

for the re-appointment

of Rana Kapoor “till

further notice” as the

Managing Director and

CEO of the Yes bank.

However, the bank’s shareholders had proposed re-

appointment of Kapoor for a three-year term from

September 1.

Sunil Mehta elected IBA Chairman

Sunil Mehta, Managing Director and CEO, Punjab National

Bank, was elected as the Chairman of Indian Banks’

Association (IBA) for the year 2018-19 at the association’s

managing committee meeting held on August 31.

Dinabandhu Mohapatra, Managing Director and

CEO, Bank of India, has been elected as IBA’s

Deputy Chairman.

R Madhavan assumes charge as HAL CMD

R Madhavan took over as Chairman and Managing Director of

defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) from T

Suvarna Raju.

Prior to this, he was heading the Accessories Division

of HAL at Lucknow as an Executive Director.

Binoy Kumar Assumes Charge of Secretary in Steel

Ministry

Binoy Kumar, IAS (TG:83) has taken over as Secretary,

Ministry of Steel, Government of India.

He had been posted as Officer on Special Duty in the

Ministry since 21st May 2018.

Prior to this, Binoy Kumar held the post of Special

Secretary, Logistics, in the Department of Commerce,

where he continued to hold additional charge till 31st

July 2018.

Tahira Safdar becomes first woman to head a Pakistan

high court

Justice Tahira Safdar was sworn in on as the first woman chief

justice of a Pakistani high court.

Justice Safdar was sworn in as the chief justice of

Balochistan High Court at a ceremony held at the

Governor House in Balochistan.

She made history in 1982 when she became the first

woman civil judge in Balochistan.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi to take charge as the new Chief

Justice of India

Justice Ranjan Gogoi is

set to take over as the new

Chief Justice of India on

October 3, 2018.

His name has

been

recommended for the post by Chief Justice of India

Dipak Misra to the government.

Justice Gogoi is expected to take oath on October 3.

He is slated to retire on November 17, 2019.

ICICI Bank reappoints Chanda Kochhar on board of

ICICI Securities

ICICI Bank has reappointed Chanda Kochhar as a director on

the board of ICICI Securities during its annual general meeting.

This, for all intents and purposes, finalises Kochhar's

another stint at the ICICI Securities board, as the

ICICI Bank holds 80 per cent stake in its broking arm.

Kochhar has been on leave since July 19, following

an independent probe initiated by ICICI Bank into

allegations of conflict of interest levelled against her.

Arif Alvi elected new Pakistan president

Dr Arif Alvi, a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan and

one of the founding members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

party, was elected as the new President of Pakistan.

The 69-year-old former dentist defeated Pakistan

Peoples Party candidate Aitzaz Ahsan and the

Pakistan Muslim League-N nominee Maulana Fazl ur

Rehman in a three-way contest to become the 13th

president.

Of the 430 votes cast via a secret ballot in the National

Assembly and Senate, Alvi received 212 votes.

India retains WHO Regional Director position

India has retained the top WHO position in South-East Asia

Region with DrPoonam Khetrapal Singh unanimously re-

elected as Regional Director for another five-year term

beginning February 2019.

The elections were held at the ongoing Regional

Committee meeting of WHO South-East Asia.

Dr Singh is the first woman to have been elected to

the position of Regional Director for WHO South-

East Asia Region after an illustrious career in the

Indian civil service, World Bank and WHO.

SIAM Elects Rajan Wadhera As New President

The Executive Committee of the Society of Indian Automobile

Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex body of the Indian

automotive industry, elected Rajan Wadhera as its new

President.

He is also the President - Automotive Sector,

Mahindra & Mahindra.

He succeeds Abhay Firodia, Chairman, Force Motors

Ltd.

Wadhera has been SIAM's Vice President till now.

Bimal Jalan heads panel to select next CEA

The government has appointed a panel under former Reserve

Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan to select the next chief

economic adviser in the finance ministry.

Apart from Jalan, secretary of the department of

personnel and training C Chandramouli and economic

affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg will be

members of the panel.

Current CEA Arvind Subramanian resigned from his

post before his tenure ends in May 2019 citing

personal reasons.

Amitabh Chaudhry appointed CEO & MD of Axis Bank

Ending the speculation around the appointment of its next head

once Shikha Sharma demits office, Axis Bank chose Amitabh

Chaudhry, 54, as the next CEO.

He will take over as MD & CEO for 3 years from

January 1, 2019 and will remain in office till

December 31, 2021.

Chaudhry has been with HDFC Standard Life since

January 2010 and is widely credited for the insurance

company's sucessful IPO earlier this year.

SBI appoints Anshula Kant as Managing Director

State Bank of India has said the Government has appointed

Anshula Kant as Managing Director of the Bank.

The appointment is with effect from the date of Kant

taking over charge of the post and till the date of her

attaining the age of superannuation.

Prior this appointment, Kant was the bank's Deputy

Managing Director.

With this appointment SBI now has four MDs - PK

Gupta, DK Khara and Arijit Basu.

Alibaba's Jack Ma to hand chairman's role to CEO Daniel

Zhang next year

Jack Ma will step down as executive chairman of Alibaba

Group Holding Ltd. in exactly 12 months time with Chief

Executive Officer Daniel Zhang to succeed him at Asia’s most

valuable company.

Jack will remain on the board until Alibaba’s annual

meeting of shareholders in 2020

A former English teacher, Jack Ma started

Alibaba.com in 1999 as a business-to-business

marketplace with 17 co-founders.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi appointed as next Chief Justice of

India

The President of India has appointed Justice Ranjan Gogoi as

the next Chief Justice of India.

He will assume the office of Chief Justice on 3rd

October, 2018 after the retirement of the current

Chief Justice, Justice Dipak Misra.

He was appointed as Chief Justice of Punjab &

Haryana High Court on 12th February, 2011.

He was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court

of India on 23rd April, 2012.

Vibha Padalkar appointed HDFC Life MD and CEO

HDFC Standard Life Insurance has appointed Vibha Padalkar

as its new Managing Director and CEO for a period of three

years.

Before her elevation, Padalkar was the insurer’s

Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer.

Her elevation comes after Amitabh Chaudhry

resigned as the chief of HDFC Standard Life

Insurance to join Axis Bank as Managing Director

and CEO.

National Insurance gets new CMD

Tajinder Mukherjee has been appointed as the new Chairman

and Managing Director of National Insurance Company

Limited (NIC).

She took charge from September 14.

Prior to her joining the NIC, she was the General

Manager and Chief Underwriting Officer of New

India Assurance.

Prashant Kumar takes charge as SBI CFO

State Bank of India said Prashant Kumar has taken charge as

the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Bank.

Before Kumar, Anshula Kant, who has been

promoted as Managing Director of SBI, was the CFO.

Prior to this appointment, Kumar was designated as

Deputy Managing Director (HR) & Corporate

Development Officer of India's largest bank.

Moutaz Mousa Abdallah becomes Sudan’s new PM

Moutaz Mousa Abdallah has become the Sudan’s new Prime

Minister. A 21-member cabinet was sworn in at the presidential

palace in Khartoum.

Mousa Abdallah is also holding the finance portfolio

in a bid to revive the country’s ailing economy.

Sudan has been grappling with an acute foreign

exchange shortage and inflation above 65 percent for

several months.

Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma signed as

ambassadors of Skill India Campaign

Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma have been signed on to

promote and endorse the Skill India Mission, chaired by the

Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Varun and Anushka will dedicate time to promote

India's skilled talent and their fine work by engaging

with them across different parts of the country.

Govt appoints MDs, CEOs in ten nationalised banks

Cabinet committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

has appointed MDs and CEOs of ten state-owned banks.

These are:

Mrutyunjay Mahapatra: Syndicate Bank

Padmaja Chundru: Indian Bank

Pallav Mohapatra: Central Bank of India

J Packirisamy: Andhra Bank

Karnam Shekhar: Dena Bank

S S Mallikarjuna Rao has been appointed MD and

CEO of Allahabad Bank

A S Rajeev: Bank of Maharashtra.

Atul Kumar Goel: UCO Bank

S Harishankar: Punjab & Sind Bank

Ashok Kumar Pradhan: United Bank of India.

Govt appoints four members to local boards of RBI

Rakesh Jain and Sachin Chaturvedi are among four people

appointed members in local boards of the Reserve Bank of

India (RBI).

Jain and Chaturvedi have been appointed as member

in Southern local board and Eastern local board of the

central bank.

Revathy Iyer and Raghvendra Narayan Dubey have

been appointed as member in Northern local board of

the central bank.

Kalraj Mishra appointed chairman of House panel

on defence

A Former minister in the Narendra Modi government, Kalraj

Mishra, replaced former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhuvan

Chandra Khanduri as the chairman of the parliamentary

Standing Committee on Defence.

There are 24 parliamentary standing committees, of

these 16 are under the administrative control of the

Lok Sabha and eight under the Rajya Sabha.

Jaya Prada appointed goodwill ambassador for Nepal

tourism

Former Member of Parliament and Bollywood actress Jaya

Prada has been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the

promotion of Nepal tourism.

The appointment is for a period of four years.

Tourism is an important source of revenue and

employment generation in Nepal. India is the biggest

source market for Nepal tourism.

The Nepal government has also decided to observe

the year 2020 as the 'Visit Nepal Year' and has set a

target of attracting two million international visitors.

B. S. Mubarak appointed as next Ambassador of India to

Republic of Guatemala

Shri B. S. Mubarak (IFS:2001) has been appointed as the next

Ambassador of India to the Republic of Guatemala.

He is expected to take up the assignment shortly. He

is presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External

Affairs.

Anil Kumar Chaudhary appointed as new SAIL chairman

Anil Kumar Chaudhary has been appointed as the new

chairman of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

Chaudhary, at present, has been serving as the

Director (Finance) in the country's largest steel

making company.

The post of SAIL chairman fell vacant on June 30

with the retirement of P K Singh.

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih wins presidency polls in Maldives

Maldivian presidential challenger Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has

beaten incumbent Abdulla Yameen.

Results released by the Elections Commission

showed Solih had secured 58.3 percent of the popular

vote as opposed to the incumbent, President Yameen,

who garnered less than 42 percent of the votes.

SC constitutes committee over prison reforms

The Supreme Court has constituted a three-member committee

to recommend measures on prison reforms.

The committee, headed by apex court's Justice (retd.)

Amitava Roy will look into the problems in prisons

across the country and suggest measures to tackle

them.

Government officials will also assist the committee

and submit a report before the top court in a stipulated

time period.

Anil Khosla to be appointed as new Vice Chief of Air Force

Air Marshal Anil Khosla will be appointed as the new Vice

Chief of the Indian Air Force.

Air Marshal R Nambiar, who is currently serving as

the Deputy Air Chief, is all set to be designated as the

Commander-in-Chief of Eastern Air command which

is headquartered at Shillong.

The position of Commander-in-Chief of Western Air

Command, on the other hand, will be handed over to

Air Marshal HS Arora.

Rajni Kant Misra appointed BSF chief, S S Deswal to head

SSB

Senior IPS officers Rajni Kant Misra and S S Deswal were

appointed director general of the Border Security Force (BSF)

and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) respectively.

Misra, a 1984-batch IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh

cadre, is at present serving as the SSB chief.

Deswal, a 1984-batch IPS officer of the Haryana

cadre, will head the SSB in place of Misra.

Govt constitutes Lokpal search committee

The Centre constituted an eight-member search committee, to

be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana

Prakash Desai, to recommend the chairperson and members of

the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.

The search committee is a major step towards setting

up of the Lokpal. The committee will start its

functioning soon.

Vikram Misri next ambassador to China

The government has notified that Vikram Misri would be the

new Indian envoy to Beijing.

A 1989-batch IFS, Misri is presently the Ambassador

of India to Myanmar.

He would be taking over the responsibility from

Gautam Bambawale, who retires this year.

Ajit Mohan appointed Facebook India MD

Facebook has announced the appointment of Ajit Mohan as the

Managing Director and Vice President of of its India wing.

Ajit has served as chief executive of Hotstar, a

streaming platform owned by Twenty-First Century

Fox’s Star India arm, since April 2016

Mumbai neurosurgeon named for Dr B.C. Roy award

Eminent neurosurgeon Dr B.K.

Misra has been named for this

year's prestigious Dr B.C. Roy

National Award as an Eminent

Medical Person of the Year.

The highest medical

honour of India,

instituted by the Medical Council of India in 1962, it

will be given away by President Ram Nath Kovind on

July 1 next year, the National Doctors Day.

Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das receive Bharatiya Manavata

Vikas Puraskar

Actors Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das were among 13 others

who were awarded the Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar for

their contribution to the society and championing the cause of

equity, social justice and human welfare.

Organised by private media company Daily Indian

Media, the ceremony witnessed eminent personalities

from politics, business, academics and entertainment.

'Sarala Puraskar' for poet Satrughna Pandav

Noted Odia poet Satrughna Pandav will be honoured with the

prestigious 'Sarala Puraskar' for his poetry collection 'Misra

Dhrupad'.

The 'Sarala Puraskar' was instituted by eminent Odia

industrialist late Dr Bansidhar Panda and late Ila

Panda in 1979 and awarded by the Indian Metals

Public Charitable Trust(IMPaCT).

The 39th edition of the award was announced by the

Sarala Puraskar Committee at its meeting.

India-born student Rajalakshmi Nandakumar to get 2018

‘Young Scholar’ award

Rajalakshmi Nandakumar, an India-born woman scholar in the

US, has been chosen for a prestigious award for her work to

help detect potentially life-threatening health issues using

smartphones.

She has been selected for the 2018 Marconi Society

Paul Baran Young Scholar award.

Nandakumar, studying at the University of

Washington, has created a technology that turns an

ordinary smartphone into an active sonar system

capable of detecting physiological activities, such as

movement and respiration, without requiring physical

contact with the device.

Manoj Jhalani, AS & MD (NHM) selected for UNIATF

Award

Shri Manoj Jhalani, Additional Secretary & Mission Director

(NHM), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has been

conferred with the prestigious UN Interagency Task Force

(UNIATF) Award for his outstanding contribution towards

prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

and related Sustainable Development Goals.

It is in recognition of Government of India’s efforts

made in the field of prevention and control of Non-

Communicable Diseases.

National Programme to control NCDs has been scaled

up by more than eight times in the past four years and

covers all the 36 States/Union Territories now.

Poet, writer Sawai Singh Shekhawat to be honoured with

Meera Puruskar

Jaipur-based poet and writer Sawai Singh Shekhawat will be

honoured with Meera Puruskar by Rajasthan Sahitya

Academy for his contribution to Hindi literature.

President of the academy Indushekhar Tatpurush

informed that Shekhawat was selected for the Meera

award, which is the highest award of the academy.

6 AAI-run airports bag international awards

Six aerodromes of the Airports Authority of India have bagged

seven international awards.

The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards 2017

were presented by the Airports Council International

(ACI) at the Customer Excellence Global Summit at

Halifax, Canada, on September 12.

The winning airports are Lucknow, Indore,

Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune airports.

PNB wins Hindi implementation award

State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) bagged the “Rajbhasha

Kirti” award for outstanding performance in implementing the

Official Language Policy during 2017-18.

The award, under the category of ‘Nationalised Banks

and Financial Institutions in Region A’, was presented

by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu to PNB Chief

Executive and MD Sunil Mehta.

Dr. Raghupati Singhania conferred with civilian honour of

Mexico

Chairman and MD, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., Dr. Raghupati

Singhania has been conferred with 'Mexican Order of the Aztec

Eagle', the highest honour accorded to non-nationals by the

Government of Mexico.

Melba Pría, Ambassador of Mexico to India presented

the award to Dr. Singhania on behalf of the President

of Mexico on the eve of 128th National Day of

Mexico.

The top honor is in recognition of Dr. Singhania's

exemplary leadership, his noteworthy services

towards humanity and his efforts to strengthen

bilateral ties between India and Mexico.

Kerala Tourism wins two Pacific Asia Travel Association

gold awards

Kerala Tourism walked

away with two

prestigious gold awards

of the Pacific Asia

Travel Association

(PATA) for its

innovative marketing campaigns.

Kerala Tourism got the first gold for its 'Yalla Kerala'

travel advertisement print media campaign in the Gulf

countries.

The second gold award came for an innovative poster

Kerala Tourism had developed for the third edition of

the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).

Delhi airport gets top honour at ASQ Awards 2017

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has bagged

the title of Best Airport to handle over 40 million passengers

per annum (MPPA) by the Airport Service Quality (ASQ)

Awards 2017.

According to the statement, the Delhi airport is now

the seventh busiest airports in Asia and among the top

20 busiest airports across the world.

INSV Tarini crew bestowed with Tenzing Norgay Award

All-women crew of INSV Tarini has bagged the prestigious

Tenzing Norgay National Adventure award for beating the

odds in water with their enduring skills and sailing across the

world for eight long months.

The award is the highest national recognition for

outstanding achievements in the field of adventure on

land, sea and air.

The women Navy officers had spent as many as 194

days at sea as part of a mission under the Navika Sagar

Parikrama project that began in September last year.

The crew was also bestowed with Nav Sena Medal on

the occasion of 72nd Independence Day.

Kohli, Chanu to receive Khel Ratna on September 25

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and world champion

weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will receive the prestigious Rajiv

Gandhi Khel Ratna on September 25, the sports ministry

announced.

The list of awardees:

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Virat Kohli and

Mirabai Chanu.

Arjuna Awards: Neeraj Chopra, Jinson Johnson and

Hima Das (athletics); N. Sikki Reddy (badminton);

Satish Kumar (boxing); Smriti Mandhana (cricket);

Shubhankar Sharma (golf); Manpreet Singh and

Savita (hockey); Ravi Rathore (polo); Rahi Sarnobat,

Ankur Mittal and Shreyasi Singh (shooting); Manika

Batra and G. Sathiyan (table tennis); Rohan Bopanna

(tennis); Sumit (wrestling); Pooja Kadian (wushu);

Ankur Dhama (para-athletics); Manoj Sarkar (para-

badminton).

Dronacharya Awards: C. A. Kuttappa (boxing);

Vijay Sharma (weightlifting); A. Srinivasa Rao (table

tennis); Sukhdev Singh Pannu (athletics); Clarence

Lobo (hockey, lifetime); Tarak Sinha (cricket,

lifetime); Jiwan Kumar Sharma (judo, lifetime); V. R.

Beedu (athletics, lifetime).

Dhyan Chand Awards: Satyadev Prasad (archery);

Bharat Kumar Chetry (hockey); Bobby Aloysius

(athletics); Chougale Dadu Dattatray (wrestling).

Lucknow Metro First From India To Get This

International Award

The Lucknow Metro Rail

Corporation (LMRC) has

become the first ever

metro rail corporation

from India to bag the

International 'Royal

Society For The

Prevention Of Accidents' (RoSPA) Award.

LMRC has been given the Silver Award for its Phase

1A (North-South Corridor) in the

Project/Infrastructure category for the year 2018.

Assamese film Village Rockstars is India’s official entry to

Oscars 2019

Assamese film Village Rockstars is India’s official entry for

Oscars 2019 in the Best Foreign Language film category.

The announcement was made by the Film Federation

of India (FFI).

The Rima Das film was also named Best Feature Film

at the 65th National Film Awards.

AP, Odisha & Madhya Pradesh are Three Best Performing

States in Ease of Living Index

Andhra Pradesh has topped the charts among States in terms of

“Ease of Living Index” rankings launched by the Ministry of

Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

It was followed by Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.

The three States were awarded best performing

States at the National Dissemination Workshop on

Ease of Living Index, 2018.

Croatia’s Luka Modric wins FIFA Best Men's Player of the

Year award

Real Madrid and Croatian midfielder Luka Modric ended a

decade-long dominance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

on the FIFA Best Men's Player Award as he take the trophy at

an award ceremony in London.

Modric had a brilliant summer where he helped Real

Madrid win a record third consecutive Champions

League title and then went on to guide Croatia to their

first ever World Cup final.

Croatia came up short in the final losing 4-2 to young

French team but Modric was award the Best Player of

the tournament award.

PM Modi gets UN's 'Champions of the Earth' award

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded with the

UN’s highest environmental honour, bestowed upon five other

individuals and organisations, for his leadership of the

International Solar Alliance and pledge to eliminate single use

plastic in India by 2022.

Six of the world’s most outstanding environmental

changemakers have been recognised with the

Champions of the Earth Award, the UN’s highest

environmental honour.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Modi have

been jointly recognised in the Policy Leadership

category for their pioneering work in championing the

International Solar Alliance.

Cochin International Airport has also been honoured

this year with the award for Entrepreneurial Vision,

for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy.

AAI’s Ahmedabad and Indore Airports awarded as Best

Airports under National Tourism Awards

Airports Authority of

India’s Devi Ahilya Bai

Holkar Airport, Indore

and Sardar Vallabhbhai

Patel International

Airport, Ahmedabad

were conferred with the

prestigious National Tourism Awards 2016-17 at a glittering

award function on World Tourism Day.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport,

Ahmedabad received the Best Airport Award in

Major Cities category and Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar

Airport, Indore received the Best Airport Award in

‘Rest of India’ category for promotion of Tourism at

these airports.

The award was presented by Minister of State

(Independent Charge) for Tourism, Shri K.J. Alphons.

Asian Games 2018: India finish with 69 medals

India finishes 8th with a

final tally of 69 medals –

15 gold, 24 silver and 30

bronze, at Asian Games

2018.

China topped

the tally with

289 medals

including 132 gold.

Japan finishes second while Republic of Korea

secured third place.

The 2018 Asian Games, officially known as the 18th

Asian Games were held in Jakarta-Palembang 2018

from 18 August to 2 September 2018 in the

Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.

Japan's swimmer Ikee named Asian Games' MVP

Japan's young swimmer Rikako Ikee was named the 2018

Indonesia Asian Games' Most Valuable Player (MVP) after

winning 6 gold and 2 silver medals.

The 18-year-old Japanese won the 50m and 100m

freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly as well as the

4x100m freestyle and medley relays.

The teenager is the first female winner of the award,

which has been presented at every Games since the

1998 edition in Bangkok.

Alastair Cook retires from international cricket

Alastair Cook, England's leading Test run-scorer, is to retire

from international cricket after fifth Test against India, the 33-

year-old has annoucned.

Cook, who will play his 161st test on 7 September, is

the sixth highest scorer in test cricket with 12,254

runs, including 32 centuries.

The left-handed opening batsman captained England

in 59 tests.

Subramaniam Badrinath Retires From All Forms Of

Cricket

Former India and Tamil Nadu batsman Subramaniam

Badrinath has announced his retirement from all forms of

cricket.

With 7,850 runs under his belt, Badrinath finished as

the sixth-highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy.

His career-best being the 250 that he scored against

Mumbai in 2009.

The 38-year-old batsman scored 10,245 first-class

runs from 145 games, including 32 centuries.

Fast bowler RP Singh retires from cricket

Former India fast bowler

RP Singh has announced

his retirement from

Cricket.

His international

career spanned

six years and the

pacer played 82 matches across all three formats and

picked up over 100 wickets.

He was one of the heroes of India’s 2007 World T20

triumph and played a major role in India’s Test win

over Australia at Perth in that year.

India Blue win Duleep Trophy

India Blue thrashed defending champion India Red by an

innings and 187 runs in the final to win the Duleep Trophy.

Spinners Deepak Jagbir Hooda (5 for 56) and Saurabh

Kumar (5 for 51) needed just 10.5 overs on the fourth

day to bundle out India Red for 172 in the second

innings.

The Duleep Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket

competition played in India.

It is named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji.

Assam government makes Hima Das as Sports

Ambassador of state

Assam government has made Asian Games medalist Hima Das

as the Sports Ambassador of the state.

Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal has handed over

the letter to Hima at a function in Guwahati.

The Chief Minister also announced to develop 500

village stadiums in the state.

US Open 2018: Novak Djokovic beats Juan Martin del

Potro to win title

Novak Djokovic produced an impeccable performance to beat

Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open final and win his 14th

Grand Slam title.

The 31-year-old Serb won 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to earn

his third triumph in New York and equal American

great Pete Sampras' haul of major trophies.

Djokovic, who won Wimbledon in July, will climb to

fourth in the world after back-to-back Grand Slam

victories.

Only great rivals Roger Federer (20) and Rafael Nadal

(17) have won more.

Osaka claims US Open title after beating Serena

Naomi Osaka became Japan's first Grand Slam singles

champion by thumping Serena Williams 6-2 6-4 in a

controversial U.S. Open final.

Williams was given a game penalty for her outburst,

which followed racquet smashing and another code

violation as Osaka won 6-2 6-4 in New York.

Osaka, 20, kept her focus to become the first Japanese

to win a Grand Slam.

Sardar Singh announces retirement from

international hockey

Former India Hockey captain Sardar Singh has announced his

retirement from international hockey after an illustrious career

spanning 12 years.

The 32-year-old made over 350 international

appearances for India and captained the national team

for eight long years from 2008 to 2016.

He received the Arjuna award in 2012 and Padma Shri

in 2015.

Mumbai Marathon gets IAAF gold label

The Tata Mumbai Marathon, to be held on January 20, 2019,

was accorded the gold label by the International Association of

Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The 16th edition of the race became the only gold

label marathon in the country and joined the elite list

of marathons in Asia.

The USD 405,000 event is set to witness over 46,000

participants running across six race categories.

SAFF Cup: Maldives beats India 2-1 to win title

India's quest for an eighth South Asian Football Federation

Cup title ended as it suffered a 1-2 defeat against Maldives in

the summit clash.

India, the defending champions, largely dominated

the match with better ball possession and more shots

at the opposition goal but the Maldives team scored

from the few chances it got to lift the winners' trophy

for the second time.

Maldives had also won the title in 2008 edition which

it co-hosted.

India to host the Women’s Boxing World C’ships

The Women’s Boxing World Championships, to be hosted by

India after more than a decade, will be held from November

15-24, 2018, in New Delhi.

The teams will have to be in the national capital by

November 13, with the competition starting two days

later.

The marquee tournament was last held in India in

2006 and remains the best for the country in terms of

performance.

India had topped the medal tally with four Gold, three

Silver and one Bronze medal.

8th Asian Yoga Sports Championship

Thiruvananthapuram is all

set to play host to the 8th

Asian Yoga Sports

Championship, which will

be held at the Jimmy

George indoor stadium

from September 27 to 30.

The event will

witness around 500 participants representing 14 Asian

countries showcasing their yoga skills.

India pip Bangladesh to win Asia Cup for 7th time

India beat Bangladesh by three wickets to win their seventh

Asia Cup title in a pulsating last-ball finish.

Chasing 223 runs to win, India scored the winning run

of the last ball of the match.

Shikhar Dhawan was declared Man of the tournament

while Liton Das was declared man of the match.

The first Asia cup was held in 1984 in Sharjah. India

is the most successful team in the history of the Asia

cup, winning it 7 times.

Jain monk Tarun Sagar passes away at 51

Popular Jain monk Tarun

Sagar passed away at

Radhapuri Jain Temple in

east Delhi after a prolonged

illness. He was 51.

Born on 1967 in

Madhya Pradesh’s

Damoh as Pawan Kumar Jain, he chose to live the life

a monk at a tender age of 13 after getting inspired by

the sermons of another popular monk Acharya

Pushpdant Sagar.

Tarun Sagar, unlike other Jain monks, openly

interacted with politicians and has delivered sermons

at the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 2010

and in Haryana Legislative Assembly in 2016.

Former footballer Arthur Pereira dead

Former Maharashtra football player Arthur Pereira died in

Mumbai. He was 70.

Pereira toured Russia as a striker with the Indian team

in 1971.

He also represented Maharashtra in the national

championships for the Santosh Trophy from 1971 to

1976.

Writer Brij Katyal passes away

Veteran film writer Brij Katyal, who penned the story of Shashi

Kapoor-Nanda hit “Jab Jab Phool Khile”, passed away at a

hospice in suburban Bandra.

One of the most accomplished writers of the film

industry, Katyal also has writing credits to his name

in many TV serials such as “Dillagi”, “Saans” and

“Pal Chhin”, both directed by Neena Gupta.

His stint in movies also include “Ajooba” and “Yeh

Raat Phir Na Aayegi”, among others.

India’s first woman IAS officer Anna Malhotra dies at 92

India’s first woman IAS officer post-Independence, Anna

Rajam Malhotra, died at her residence in suburban Andheri.

She was 91.

Malhotra joined the civil services in 1951 and opted

for the Madras cadre.

She married R N Malhotra, who served as the

Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1985 to

1990.

She is also known for her contribution in setting up

the country’s modern port Jawaharlal Nehru Port

Trust (JNPT) near Mumbai. She was the chairperson

of the JNPT during the execution.

Former Union minister Shantaram Potdukhe passes away

Former Union minister and Congress leader Shantaram

Potdukhe died at a hospital following brief illness. He was 86.

Potdukhe was a Union minister of state for finance in

the Narasimha Rao-led government.

He was a four-time MP from Chandrapur in eastern

Maharashtra.

Filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi passes away

Filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi passed away after a long battle with

kidney cancer. She was 64.

Kalpana Lajmi was known for directing acclaimed

movies like Rudaali, Darmiyaan and Daman.

Kalpana’s last directorial was the 2006 film Chingari.

Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang passes away

Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang, one of the country’s top

three leaders, died after an illness. He was 61.

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led

by the president, prime minister and Communist Party

chief.

Quang was appointed to the role in April, 2016.

Pandit Tulsidas Borkar passes away

The legendary harmonium artiste Pandit Tulsidas Borkar

passed away in Mumbai on 28 September 2018, after a brief

illness. He was 83.

Born in Borim, Goa, on 18 November 1934, Borkar

was conferred the Padma Shri in 2016 for his

contributions to Indian music.

PM releases book to mark one year in office of Vice

President Venkaiah Naidu

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, released the book

“Moving On, Moving Forward – A Year in Office” to mark

one year in office of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.

He also presented the first copy of the book to the

Vice President of India.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that

he had the opportunity to work with Shri Venkaiah

Naidu for several years.

He said that Shri Naidu laid emphasis on

responsibility (Karyabhaar), above all else.

Vice President Releases Book ‘Constitutionalizing India:

an Ideational Project’

The Vice President of

India, Shri M. Venkaiah

Naidu has said that we

should salute the

constitution-framers for

giving us a constitution

that strengthened

parliamentary democracy

and stood the test of times, even as it evolved through several

amendments.

He was addressing the gathering after releasing the

Book ‘Constitutionalizing India: an Ideational

Project’ authored by Shri Bidyut Chakrabarty.

The book reveals how the ideas with completely

different socio-economic roots competed with each

other in the making of a Constitution which was

acceptable to all.

Q:1 In which of the following city the Prime Minister, Shri

Narendra Modi, jointly inaugurated the Pashupatinath

Dharmashala with the Prime Minister of Nepal, Shri K.P. Oli?

Banaras

Mathura

Kathmandu

Kirtipur

Janakpur

Q:2 Fourth International Ayurveda Congress held in which of

the following country?

India

Russia

Japan

China

Netherlands

Q:3 Who is the Minister of State for AYUSH?

Dr. Harsh Vardhan

Shripad Yesso Naik

Narendra Singh Tomar

Jual Oram

Inderjit Singh Rao

Q:4 What is the Growth percent of GDP in real terms in Q1

of 2018-19?

7.8

8.4

8.0

Current Affairs Quiz

7.6

8.2

Q:5 On which of the following date the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi has launched the India Post Payments Bank

(IPPB) at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi?

September 3rd, 2018

September 2nd, 2018

September 1st, 2018

August 31st, 2018

August 30th, 2018

Q:6 Who has been re-appointmented as the Managing

Director and CEO of the Yes bank?

Rana Kapoor

Rajiv Lall

Kishor Kharat

Parvez Ahmad

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh

Q:7 Who has been elected as the Chairman of Indian Banks’

Association (IBA) for the year 2018-19?

Dinabandhu Mohapatra

Aditya Puri

Sunil Mehta

Shikha Sharma

Kishor Kharat

Q:8 Who has been named for this year's prestigious Dr B.C.

Roy National Award as an Eminent Medical Person of the

Year?

Dr B.K. Misra

Dr A. G. K. Gokhale

Dr S Natarajan

Dr Naresh Trehan

Dr M G Bhat

Q:9 On the day of the launch how many branches IPPB had

across the country?

480

780

560

650

750

Q:10 At which of the following city 7th Meeting of National

Medicinal Plants Board Held?

Mumbai

Pune

New Delhi

Hyderabad

Chennai

Q:11 Where did 6th East Asia Summit and 15th India-ASEAN

Economic Ministers Meeting held?

Manila

Vietnam

Bangkok

Singapore

Myanmar

Q:12 By whom is Krishna Kutir, a home for 1000 widows

inaugurated?

Maneka Gandhi

Yashvant Sinha

Kirti azad

L.K. advani

Murli Manohar joshi

Q:13 Who inaugurated National Conference being Organized

by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association?

Narendra Modi

Deepak Mishra

Ram nath kovind

Sushma swaraj

Rajnath Singh

Q:14 RBI cancels the license of which district’s Mahila Urban

Co-operative Bank Ltd.?

Jhalawar

Alwar

Pratapgarh

Bhilwara

Nagore

Q:15 Who took over as Chairman and Managing Director of

defense PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)?

T. Krishnan

R. Madhvan

J.S. Reddy

Narendra Joshi

Nilima Srivastav

Q:16 In which ministry has Binoy Kumar Assumed Charge of

Secretary?

Ministry of home affairs

Ministry of railway

Ministry of agriculture

Ministry of steel

Ministry of coal

Q:17 Who has become first woman to head a Pakistan high

court?

Salma Siddiqi

Tahira Safdar

Zoya Khan

Roobina Khurshid

Sara Ali Safdar

Q:18 How many medals has India achieved in Asian games

2018?

65

69

62

65

63

Q:19 Where did popular Jain monk Tarun sagar pass away?

Madhya Pradesh

Gujarat

Delhi

Bihar

Jharkhand

Q:20 Where did Asian games 2018 held?

Indonesia

Malesia

Philippines

China

Singapore

Q:21 In which of the following city Food and Drink

Technology Africa Trade Show 2018 will be organised?

Cape Town

Johannesburg

Nairobi

Durban

Pretoria

Q:22 Who chaired the first review meeting of the Department

of Official Language?

Rajnath Singh

Narendra Modi

Suresh Prabhu

Prakash Javadekar

Piyush Goyal

Q:23 Whose name has been recommended for New Chief

Justice of India by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra to the

government?

Justice Ranjan Gogoi

Justice Madan Lokur

Justice Kurian Joseph

Justice Arun Kumar Mishra

Justice R. Banumathi

Q:24 Who has been reappointed as a director on the board of

ICICI Securities?

Rajnish Kumar

Rajeev Rishi

Jatinder Bir Singh

Chanda Kochhar

Pawan Kumar Bajaj

Q:25 Rikako Ikee belongs to which of the following game?

Wrestling

Boxing

Rowing

Shooting

Swimming

Q:26 Recently who has been awarded the Bharatiya Manavata

Vikas Puraskar for her contribution to the society?

Priyanka Chopra

Aishwarya Rai

Madhuri Dixit

Shabana Azmi

Kajol

Q:27 Who was named the 2018 Indonesia Asian Games' Most

Valuable Player'?

Shinobu Ota

Yui Ohashi

Rikako Ikee

Daiya Seto

Hiroto Inoue

Q:28 How many persons were awarded the Bharatiya

Manavata Vikas Puraskar for their contribution to the society

and championing the cause of equity, social justice and human

welfare?

18

13

10

8

6

Q:29 Who released the book “Moving On, Moving Forward –

A Year in Office” to mark one year in office of Vice President

Venkaiah Naidu?

Ram Nath Kovind

Deepak Mishra

Narendra Modi

Rajnath Singh

Suresh Prabhu

Q:30 Who is the president of South Africa?

Jacob Zuma

Cyril Ramaphosa

Nelson Mandela

Malusi Gigaba

Pravin Gordhan

Q:31 International chess tournament for school kids will be

held in which of the following Indian city?

Mumbai

Hyderabad

New Delhi

Pune

Ahmedabad

Q:32 How much refinance assistance has been announced by

National Housing Bank to provide relief to the households

having annual income up to Rs 3 lakh in rural areas and up to

Rs 6 lakh in urban areas in the floods-hit state of Kerala?

Rs 1200 crore

Rs 2200 crore

Rs 800 crore

Rs 700 crore

Rs 200 crore

Q:33 International cricketer Alastair Cook belongs to which

of the following country?

South Africa

England

Zimbabwe

Netherlands

New Zealand

Q:34 Indian sportsmen Subramaniam Badrinath belongs to

which of the following game?

Hockey

Cricket

Badminton

Shooting

Archery

Q:35 Former footballer Arthur Pereira passed away. He was

belonged to which of the following state?

Gujarat

Tamil Nadu

Assam

West Bengal

Maharashtra

Q:36 Who is the Union Minister of Health and Family

Welfare?

Suresh Prabhu

Dr. Harsh Vardhan

J P Nadda

Dr. Mahesh Sharma

Hardeep Singh Puri

Q:37 71st Session of the WHO Regional Committee for

South-East Asia held in which of the following country?

Singapore

Indonesia

India

Malaysia

Vietnam

Q:38 What is the name of tsunami mock drill exercise,

organised by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic

Commission (IOC) of UNESCO?

IOWave18

TsunamiWave

IOCtsunami

IOCWave18

None of these

Q:39 The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has cleared the

Jharkhand government's proposal to rename a railway station

after Lord Krishna. This station located in which of the

following district?

Palamu

Hazaribagh

Garhwa

Bokaro

Ranchi

Q:40 Where is the capital of Russia?

Paris

Moscow

Bern

Ottawa

Berlin

Q:41 In which of the following country 6th Regional

Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial

Meeting held?

Laos

Malaysia

Philippines

India

Singapore

Q:42 Which mobile app has been launched for Coffee

Stakeholders to ease the work of field functionaries and to

improve the work efficiency?

Coffee Connect

Coffee Krishi

Coffee Tharanga

Coffee Wave

None of these

Q:43 India has set a target to generate how much solar energy

by 2022 for increasing share of carbon free energy in the

energy mix?

80 GW

50 GW

200 GW

100 GW

500 GW

Q:44 National Teachers’ Day observed on which of the

following date?

5 October

10 September

5 September

10 October

4 September

Q:45 What is the name of Indo-Kazakhstan Joint Army

Exercise?

Yudh Abyas

Desert Strike

KAZIND

Hind Shakti

Ekuverin

Q:46 From which country India will purchase 18 bullet train

sets at a total cost of about Rs 7,000 crore?

China

Japan

USA

Germany

South Korea

Q:47 Who has been elected new president of Pakistan?

Imran Khan

Arif Alvi

Nawaz Sharif

Yousaf Raza Gillani

Mamnoon Hussain

Q:48 Recently RP Singh has announced his retirement. He

belongs to which of the following sports?

Golf

Hockey

Cricket

Tennis

Wrestling

Q:49 Where is the capital of Kazakhstan?

Baku

Astana

Nassau

Kabul

Havana

Q:50 Who is the Minister of State of Railways?

Suresh Prabhu

Piyush Goyal

Manoj Sinha

Dharmendra Pradhan

Dr. Mahesh Sharma

Q:51 In which of the following country 3rd ASEM (Asia-

Europe Meeting) Conference on ‘Global ageing and Human

Rights of Older Person’s being held?

Japan

Germany

South Korea

China

France

Q:52 Recently in which city the International Aviation

Summit held?

New Delhi

Pune

Mumbai

Chennai

Hyderabad

Q:53 Who has been re-elected as WHO Regional Director in

South-East Asia Region?

Tedros Adhanom

Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab

Dr. Shin Young-soo

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti

Q:54 Who is the author of the Book ‘Constitutionalizing

India: an Ideational Project’?

M. Venkaiah Naidu

Shashi Tharoor

Bidyut Chakrabarty

Rajeev Bhargava

Vandana Shiva

Q:55 South-East Asia Regional Director Dr Poonam

Khetrapal Singh belongs to which of the following country?

Singapore

India

Brunei

Vietnam

Thailand

Q:56 What is the central share for Project Tiger from 2017-18

to 2019-20?

Rs. 1143 crore

Rs. 496.50 crore

Rs. 1731.72 crore

Rs.92.22 crore

Rs.592 crore

Q:57 What is the capital of Bulgaria?

Manama

Bogota

Sofia

Malabo

Budapest

Q:58 Recently President Ram Nath Kovind visited which of

the following country?

Czech Republic

USA

Germany

Japan

South Korea

Q:59 Who is the Union HRD Minister?

D.V. Sadananda Gowda

Prakash Javadekar

Ravi Shankar Prasad

Jagat Prakash Nadda

Thaawar Chand Gehlot

Q:60 What is the central share for Development of Wildlife

Habitats from 2017-18 to 2019-20?

Rs. 1143 crore

Rs. 496.50 crore

Rs. 1731.72 crore

Rs.92.22 crore

Rs.592 crore

Q:61 US returned ‘Lingodhbhavamurti’, a 12th century

granite sculpture depicting an iconic representation of Lord

Shiva. This statue was belonged to which dynasty?

Chola dynasty

Pal dynasty

Lodhi dynasty

Khilji dynasty

Slave dynasty

Q:62 In which of the following country Facebook will build

its first Asian data centre?

India

Singapore

Japan

China

Malaysia

Q:63 2nd World Hindu Congress will held in which of the

following country?

India

Japan

Nepal

USA

Germany

Q:64 87th Izmir International tradeshow held in which of the

following country?

Iran

Iraq

Turkey

Afghanistan

Germany

Q:65 The Embassy of India held a ceremony in Haifa to mark

the Centenary of the Battle of Haifa. Haifa is located in which

of the following country?

Iran

Japan

Israel

Russia

Kenya

Q:66 What is the new overdraft cap of Jan Dhan accounts?

Rs 8,000

Rs 7,000

Rs 7,500

Rs 12,000

Rs 10,000

Q:67 The inaugural 'two-plus-two dialogue' between India

and the US held in which of the following city?

Washington

Chicago

Mumbai

New Delhi

Chennai

Q:68 Who will inaugurate India’s First Global Mobility

Summit 2018?

Ramnath Kovind

Justice Deepak Mishra

Narendra Modi

Sushma Swaraj

Rajnath Singh

Q:69 In which city 31st meeting of the Central Hindi

Committee was held?

Kanpur

Allahabad

Surat

New Delhi

Pune

Q:70 Which is the Partner Country in the 87th Izmir

International tradeshow?

Japan

India

Germany

Iran

Iraq

Q:71 The first ever G-20 Education Ministers’ Meeting held

in which of the following city?

New Delhi

Paris

Berlin

Mendoza

Shanghai

Q:72 Who is the President of the Czech Republic?

Ashraf Ghani

Abdul Hamid

Charles Savarin

Jimmy Morales

Milos Zeman

Q:73 Who is the Director of Trade Promotion Council of India

(TPCI)?

Ashok Sethi

Abdul Matlub Ahmad

Rajeev Kumar

Suresh Prabhu

Ramesh Trivedi

Q:74 What is the name of India-Sri Lanka Naval Exercise?

SIMBEX

SLINEX

DIMDEX

Malabar

Milan

Q:75 Who did inaugurate the 6th International Geriatric

Orthopaedic Conference?

Jagat Prakash Nadda

Rajnath Singh

Dr. Harsh Vardhan

Ravi Shankar Prasad

Sushma Swaraj

Q:76 India has signed an implementation agreement on

“MOBILISE YOUR CITY" with which of the following

country?

Japan

England

France

South Korea

Singapore

Q:77 According to Kantar Millward Brown which is the most

valuable Indian brand?

TCS

LIC

SBI

HDFC Bank

Reliance

Q:78 Who has been elected the president of the Society of

Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM)?

Abhay Firodia

Ranjit Yadav

Rajan Wadhera

Ayukawa

Kamlesh Kumar

Q:79 Who won Duleep Trophy 2018?

India Blue

India Red

India Green

India White

None of these

Q:80 Naval Exercise Slinex-18 is being held in which of the

following country?

India

Japan

USA

South Korea

Sri Lanka

Q:81 When is ‘International Literacy Day’ celebrated?

18 September

8 august

8 September

28 July

11 September

Q:82 When will the United Nations Postal Administration will

issue a New York special event sheet to commemorate the

Indian festival?

9 October

19 December

29 November

19 October

9 November

Q:83 Where did Union Minister for HRD Shri Prakash

Javadekar Inaugurate 4th World Summit on Accreditation

(WOSA-2018)?

Bangalore

Bhopal

Udaipur

New Delhi

Ahmedabad

Q:84 In which city, The Government has decided to hold the

‘Aero India 2019’ from 20-24 February 2019?

Chennai

Bhubaneshwar

Bengaluru

New Delhi

Vadodara

Q:85 Who has been made Sports Ambassador of Assam by

state government?

Indra Bora

Ravindra Chetri

Hima Das

Arvind guha

Gajendra Das

Q:86 Who has been appointed CEO & MD of Axis Bank ?

Sujit Roy

Arvind Chaturvedi

Somendra Mukherji

Amitabh Chaudhary

Vinesh Sharma

Q:87 Who is current chief economic adviser in the finance

ministry?

Bimal Jalan

Arvind Subrahmanyam

Amitabh Chaudhary

Sujoy Mukherjee

Vineet Chaturvedi

Q:88 On which bank RBI slaps Rs 1 crore fine?

Union Bank of India

Bank of India

Maharashtra Bank

All of the above

None of the above

Q:89 Under which former Reserve Bank of India governor,

the government has appointed a panel to select the next chief

economic adviser in the finance ministry?

Raman garg

Vivek Sinha

Bimal Jalan

Mahendra Prajapati

N.K. Singh

Q:90 Who is chief Minister of Assam State?

Hagrama Mohilary

Atul Bora

Himanta Biswa

Ranjit Dutta

Sarbananda Sonowal

Q:91 In which of the following city the Department of

Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG),

Government of India in association with Government of

Madhya Pradesh organized a Regional Conference on Good

Governance with Focus on Aspirational Districts?

Indore

Bhopal

Ratlam

Gwalior

Shivpuri

Q:92 Recently how much amount has been sanctioned by

Home ministry for special women safety programme?

Rs 5,000 cr

Rs 4,000 cr

Rs 8,000 cr

Rs 3,000 cr

Rs 7,000 cr

Q:93 Recently who has been appointed as Managing Director

of the State Bank of India by the Government of India?

Ajay Banga

Anshula Kant

K. V. Kamath

Rana Kapoor

Usha Ananthasubramanian

Q:94 Who will be next executive chairman of Alibaba Group

Holding Ltd?

Robin Li

Daniel Zhang

Lei Jun

Li Shufu

Liang Wengen

Q:95 Who will be honoured with the prestigious 'Sarala

Puraskar' for his poetry collection 'Misra Dhrupad'?

Srinibash Udgata

Satrughna Pandav

Haraprasad Das

Ranjit Hoskote

Abhay Kumar

Q:96 Tennis Player Naomi Osaka belongs to which of the

following country?

South Korea

China

Japan

England

Switzerland

Q:97 Who is the winner of US Open 2018?

Juan Martin del Potro

Rafel Nadal

Roger Federer

Novak Djokovic

Kevin Anderson

Q:98 Who is the winner of US Open Women 2018?

Naomi Osaka

Serena Williams

Maria Sharapova

Petra Kvitová

Simona Halep

Q:99 Tennis Player Juan Martin del Potro belongs to which of

the following country?

USA

Argentina

Serbia

Switzerland

China

Q:100 Where is the headquarters of National Infrastructure

Investment Fund?

New Delhi

Chennai

Mumbai

Hyderabad

Pune

Q:101 What is the name of INDO-MONGOLIA joint

exercise?

Emerald Mercury

Nomadic Elephant

Desert Strike

Ajeya Warrior

Hind Shakti

Q:102 Recently Which of the following bank has tied up with

Financial Software and Systems (FSS) to offer a wide range of

banking solutions to financially underserved customer

segments—especially rural households, small and medium

enterprises and women?

ICICI Bank

HDFC Bank

India Post Payments Bank

Bank of Baroda

PNB

Q:103 What is the name of the Military Field Training

Exercise for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral

Technological and Economic Cooperation nations?

MILEX-18

BIMSTEC-18

SLINEX-18

DIMDEX-18

None of these

Q:104 Which Insurance Corporation of India has signed an

agreement with Central Depository Services (India) to provide

group insurance coverage to all eligible Demat account holders

serviced through depository participants associated with it?

HDFC Standard Life Insurance

Kotak Life Insurance

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

Life Insurance Corporation of India

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

Q:105 Who is the Prime Minister of Bangladesh?

Abdul Hamid

Hamid Karzai

Sheikh Hasina

Bidhya Devi Bhandari

Khadga Prasad Oli

Q:106 How much additional power will be supplied from

India to Bangladesh through the existing Bheramara

(Bangladesh) - Baharampur (India) interconnection?

1500 MW

800 MW

300 MW

1200 MW

500 MW

Q:107 Who is Chief Minister of Tripura?

Pema Khandu

Raghubar Das

Lal Thanhawla

Pawan Kumar Chamling

Biplab Kumar Deb

Q:108 Recently India has launched new digital bridge with

which of the following country?

Nepal

Sri Lanka

Pakistan

Africa

Germany

Q:109 In Arogya Yojana how much health insurance cover

will provide to poor families?

Rs 2 lakh

Rs 3 lakh

Rs 2.5 lakh

Rs 8.5 lakh

Rs 5 lakh

Q:110 Where is the capital of Mongolia?

Monaco

Managua

Ulaanbaatar

Abuja

Rabat

Q:111 In which of the following city Second India-UAE

Partnership Summit will be held?

New Delhi

Mumbai

Dubai

Abu Dhabi

Sharjah

Q:112 Which is the focus country in 87th Izmir International

Trade Show?

Turkey

Iran

Japan

China

India

Q:113 Who flagged off the first bus service between Bihar and

Nepal?

Nitish Kumar

Narendra Modi

K P Sharma Oli

Lalji Tandon

Rajnath Singh

Q:114 Where is India's first railway university?

New Delhi

Vadodara

Mumbai

Chennai

Hyderabad

Q:115 “Apsara”, the first research reactor of Asia is located in

which of the following city?

Pune

Chennai

Kudankulam

Trombay

Kota

Q:116 INDO-US joint military exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018

will be held in which of the following state?

Tamil Nadu

Rajasthan

Gujarat

Himachal Pradesh

Uttarakhand

Q:117 Who is the Minister of Railways and Coal?

Suresh Prabhu

Nitin Gadkari

Ananth Kumar

Piyush Goyal

Jagat Prakash Nadda

Q:118 Who has been selected for the 2018 Marconi Society

Paul Baran Young Scholar award?

Rajalakshmi Nandakumar

Ananda Theertha Suresh

Dinesh Bharadia

Himanshu Asnani

None of these

Q:119 With which institute NITI Aayog and Intel has

collaborated to set up a Model International Center for

Transformative Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) towards

developing and deploying AI-led application-based research

projects?

IIT Kharagpur

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

IIT Bombay

IIT Kanpur

Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

Q:120 Where is Bhabha Atomic Research Centre located?

Pune

Trombay

New Delhi

Hyderabad

Bangalore

Q:121 With which city Delhi government will ink a pact for

cooperation in urban regeneration?

Paris

Tokyo

Beijing

Seoul

Berlin

Q:122 Who has inaugurated the Indo-Bhutan Border Centre at

Darranga in Assam's Baksa district to strengthen bilateral trade

with the neighbouring country?

Sarbananda Sonowal

Narendra Modi

Tshering Tobgay

Tshering Yangdon

Ram Nath Kovind

Q:123 The Union Cabinet has given its approval for

introduction of Bill in Parliament for amendment of NID Act,

2014 to include how many new National Institutes of Design

(NID) within the ambit of the National Institute of Design Act,

2014?

5

8

3

7

4

Q:124 How much amount has been approved for continuation

of the Capacity Development Scheme for the period 2017-18

to 2019-20 by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs?

Rs 3,350 crore

Rs 2,250 crore

Rs 1,450 crore

Rs 2,850 crore

Rs 5,350 crore

Q:125 In which year Sardar Singh did receive the Padma Shri?

2015

2013

2014

012

2016

Q:126 The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval

for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on

Collaborative Research on Distributed Ledger and Block chain

Technology in the context of Development of digital economy

by............

Exim Bank

RBI

SBI

NHB

NABARD

Q:127 Who has been conferred with the prestigious UN

Interagency Task Force (UNIATF) Award for his outstanding

contribution towards prevention and control of non-

communicable diseases?

Manoj Jhalani

Kailash Saini

Dinesh Sankhala

Rajeev Sharma

Rakesh Sharma

Q:128 In which year Sardar Singh did receive the Arjuna

award?

2015

2013

2014

2012

2016

Q:129 Where is the Capital of South Korea?

Pyongyang

Seoul

Busan

Jakarta

Tokyo

Q:130 What is the currency of Bhutan?

Dinar

Ruble

Ngultrum

Real

Krone

Q:131 In which state did First Tribal Circuit Project under

‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ got inaugurated?

Jharkhand

Bihar

Odisha

Chattisgar

Manipur

Q:132 Which Poet, writer of jaipur to be honoured with

‘Meera Puruskar’?

Man singh rajavat

Sawai Singh shekhawat

Rajendrs Rathore

Virendra singh sisodiya

Manmohan shekhawat

Q:133 Who has been appointed MD and CEO of HDFC Life?

Kavita subrhmanyam

Vidhya chaturvedi

Vibha Padalkar

Kirti narayan

Bhoomi sankhla

Q:134 Who has been appointed as next ‘Chief Justice of

India’?

Ranjan gogoi

Rajesh Mehta

N.K. Mishra

Rakesh Garg

Somendra mukharjee

Q:135 With which company did Federal Bank ink MOU?

Elgi Equipments

Rane holdings

Infopark Kakkanad

Nava Bharat ventures

Ador Fontech

Q:136 Which institution developed India’s first indigenous

anti-nuclear medical kit?

BARC

INMAS, New Delhi

HBNI, Mumbai

IIT, Madras

SNE, Gandhinagar

Q:137 Recently, Which Mobile app was launched by Mukhtar

Abbas Naqvi?

National Scholarship Portal Mobile App

National Security Portal Mobile App

National Sports Portal Mobile App

National health Portal Mobile App

National education Portal Mobile App

Q:138 Who is chief minister of chattisgar?

Raghubar das

Raman singh

Nitish kumar

Naveen patnaik

Shivraj singh chauhan

Q:139 Who is Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare?

Jagat prakash nadda

Ravi Shankar Prasad

Radha Mohan Singh

Prakash javedkar

Mukhtakr Abbas naqvi

Q:140 Which department does Mukhtakr Abbas naqvi belong

to?

Ministry of consumer affairs

Ministry of minority affairs

Ministry of skill development affairs

Ministry of human resource

Ministry of textile

Q:141 What is the rank of India in UN's human development

index 2017?

123

136

120

115

130

Q:142 G-20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting is

being held in which of the following country?

Argentina

Germany

Japan

USA

Norway

Q:143 Hindi Divas is observed on which date?

14 September

10 September

10 May

08 November

4 July

Q:144 First edition of the World Heritage Cuisine Summit and

food festival will be held in which of the following city?

New Delhi

Mumbai

Amritsar

Jodhpur

Pune

Q:145 Which state has been ranked the best among states in

the country for the construction of maximum number of roads

under the PMGSY during 2017-2018?

Rajasthan

Gujarat

Madhya Pradesh

Uttarakhand

Tamil Nadu

Q:146 Recently which indigenously built patrol vessel fitted

with advanced navigation and communication equipment has

been commissioned by the Indian Coast Guard?

Jeet

Prahar

Sufal

Vijaya

Lakshya

Q:147 In which of the following city first Indian global

tourism mart will be held?

New Delhi

Mumbai

Jodhpur

Agra

Chennai

Q:148 How many aerodromes of the Airports Authority of

India have bagged international awards at the Customer

Excellence Global Summit at Halifax, Canada?

4

5

3

6

2

Q:149 Recently Brij Katyal passed away. He was belonged to

which of the following field?

Journalism

Sports

Science

Writing

Politics

Q:150 Where is the capital of Argentina?

Santiago

Buenos Aires

Vienna

Gaborone

Bogota

Q:151 In which city of Russia did ‘4th Eastern Economic

Forum’ open?

Moscow

Sochi

Vladivostok

Saint Petersburg

Volgograd

Q:152 When is ‘International Day of Democracy’ celebrated?

25 September

15 September

10 October

15 November

5 August

Q:153 Which program is being organized in the run up to the

fourth anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission, on October

2nd, 2018?

Swachta Hi Lakshya

Swachta Hi Srijan

Swachta Hi Seva

Swachta Hi Aasha

Swachta Hi Manjil

Q:154 Which Marathon gets IAAF gold label?

Mumbai

Chennai

Delhi

Hyderabad

Lucknow

Q:155 Which bank won ‘Hindi implementation award’?

UBO

Canara Bank

ICICI bank

SBI

PNB

Q:156 Who has been appointed new CMD of National

insurance?

Narendra chaturvedi

Dinesh basu

Tajinder Mukharjee

Somesh upadhyay

Virendra mukharjee

Q:157 In which city did Narendra Singh Tomar chair the ‘20th

Central Employment Guarantee Council meeting’?

Bangalore

Pune

New Delhi

Vadodara

Bhopal

Q:158 What is currency of Russia?

Ruble

Pound

Euro

Dolor

Yen

Q:159 What is the figure of HIV affected People in India

according to the latest data by Health and Family Welfare

Ministry?

32 lakh

15 lakh

28 lakh

21 lakh

10 lakh

Q:160 Chillers are used in-

Heating

Cooling

Trading

Irrigation

Cooking

Q:161 Where did ‘Jaipur Literature Festival 2018’ begin?

London

Hongkong

Singapore

Brazil

Houston

Q:162 Which city of India is set to get country’s first exclusive

dog park?

Ahmadabad

New Delhi

Mumbai

Chennai

Hyderabad

Q:163 In which state did India-US military exercise begin?

Himachal Pradesh

Uttarakhand

Jammu Kashmir

Rajasthan

Punjab

Q:164 Where did Inaugural Edition of ‘Bimstec Milex-18’

Culminate?

Mumbai

Pune

Bhopal

Hyderabad

Ranchi

Q:165 From where did indigenously developed Man Portable

Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) successfully flight

tested for the second time?

Raipur

Gandhinagar

Dehradoon

Ahmadnagar

Patna

Q:166 Onboard which vehicle did ISRO launch two British

earth observation satellites?

PSLV-42

PSLV-37

PSLV-46

PSLV-28

PSLV-40

Q:167 Which payment gateway of India has received a license

from the Reserve Bank of India to operate its own non-banking

financial company?

PayU

PaySimple

PayPal

Paytm

SecurePay

Q:168 Of which company did RBI cancel license for issuing

pre-paid cards?

Infosys

Wipro

TCS

Tech Mahindra

IBM

Q:169 Who is the winner of SAFF cup 2018?

India

Maldives

Malaysia

Sri lanka

Indonesia

Q:170 Where is Houston situated?

U.K.

China

Japan

U.S.A.

Mauritius

Q:171 International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone

Layer is observed on which of the following date?

16 September

18 September

10 September

10 July

18 July

Q:172 Recently in which of the following city India –

Morocco Tourism Bilateral meeting held?

Chennai

Mumbai

Chandigarh

New Delhi

Pune

Q:173 Which of the following Bank will be merged with Bank

of Baroda to create the country’s third largest lender as part of

efforts to revive credit and economic growth?

Allahabad Bank and Dena Bank

Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank

Andhra Bank and Vijaya Bank

Syndicate Bank and Dena Bank

UCO Bank and Vijaya Bank

Q:174 Who is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of State

Bank of India?

Prashant Kumar

Rajnish Kumar

Arijit Basu

P. K. Gupta

B. Venugopal

Q:175 Heavy Water Board (HWB) has signed an Agreement

with which of the following company for routing of phosphoric

acid through Solvent Extraction Plant, Tuticorin and supply of

utilities and chemicals?

National Fertilizers Ltd

Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited

Greenstar Fertilizers Limited

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd

Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited

Q:176 By whom first ever India tourism Mart 2018 has been

inaugurated?

Raj Nath Singh

Arun Jaitley

Piyush Goyal

Nitin Jairam Gadkari

Ravi Shankar Prasad

Q:177 Who is the Minister of State for Culture (Independent

Charge)?

Anant Geete

Jual Oram

Dharmendra Pradhan

Dr. Mahesh Sharma

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Q:178 Where is the capital of Morocco?

Port Louis

Rabat

Bamako

Riga

Rome

Q:179 Montreal Protocol was signed in which of the following

year?

2000

2005

1987

1995

1993

Q:180 Where is the headquarters of Bank of Baroda?

New Delhi

Mumbai

Pune

Chennai

Vadodara

Q:181 In which of the following city the 28th meeting of the

Southern Zonal Council was held under the Chairmanship of

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh?

Bengaluru

Chennai

Hyderabad

New Delhi

Mumbai

Q:182 Recently which of the following bank has signed an

agreement to provide insurance to all with Bajaj Allianz?

HDFC Bank

BOB

SBI

India Post Payments Bank

Andhra Bank

Q:183 Which bank has tied up with health aggregator

HealthAssure to provide tailor-made healthcare services to the

bank’s NRI Pro and Premia savings account holders and their

family members?

HDFC Bank

Axis Bank

ICICI Bank

IPPB

SBI

Q:184 Who is the new Prime Minister of Sudan?

Omar al-Bashir

Ahmed Ouyahia

Moutaz Mousa Abdallah

Armen Sarkissian

Michel Temer

Q:185 Recently who has been signed as ambassador of Skill

India Campaign?

Varun Dhawan

Anushka Sharma

Rahul Dravid

Aksay Kumar

Both A and B

Q:186 Recently who has been conferred with 'Mexican Order

of the Aztec Eagle', the highest honour accorded to non-

nationals by the Government of Mexico?

Kailash Satyarthi

Anil Agarwal

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Dr. Raghupati Singhania

Rahul Bhatia

Q:187 Which state's tourism department has won two

prestigious gold awards of the Pacific Asia Travel Association

(PATA) for its innovative marketing campaigns?

Rajasthan

Assam

Manipur

Goa

Kerala

Q:188 India’s first woman IAS officer post-Independence,

Anna Rajam Malhotra, passed away recently. She was

honoured with the Padma Bhushan award in which of the

following year?

1993

1989

1996

2005

1978

Q:189 Where is the capital of Sudan?

Khartoum

Cairo

Kampala

Asmara

Tripoli

Q:190 Who did inaugurate ‘All India Pension Adalat’?

Narendra Modi

Ram Nath Kovind

Rajnath Singh

Dr Jitendra Singh

Sushama Swaraj

Q:191 Exercise Aviaindra is an Air Force level exercise

between India and :

Japan

Germany

Bangladesh

Russia

Afghanistan

Q:192 Where will the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi,

will lay the foundation stone for IICC in New Delhi?

Karol bag

Chankyapuri

Vaishali

Dwarka

Greater Kailash

Q:193 Which is India’s first all women Crew?

INSV Tridevi

INSV Tarnag

INSV Tarini

INSV Trisha

INSV Tejasvini

Q:194 Which airport gets top honor at ASQ Awards 2017?

Chennai

Calcutta

Kochi

Jaipur

Delhi

Q:195 For which state has India signed Loan Agreement with

the World Bank for US$ 74 Million?

Himachal Pradesh

Kerala

Uttarakhand

Odisha

Bihar

Q:196 Where will ITU South Asia Office and Technology

Innovation Centre be established?

Bangalore

Gurgaon

Noida

Delhi

Hyderabad

Q:197 Which portal has been launched by Union Home

Secretary for grant of Security Clearance?

E sahaj

E secure

E surksha

E saral

E sugam

Q:198 Exercise Aviaindra will be conducted in which district

of Rajasthan?

Jaisalmer

Jodhpur

Badmer

Bikaner

Sri ganganagar

Q:199 Who is Union Minister of State for Labour &

Employment?

Rao Indrajeet singh

Dr. Jintendra Singh

Dr. Mahesh Sharma

Santosh kumar Gangwar

R.K. Sinha

Q:200 What is full form of ITU?

International Telecommunication Union

International Telegram Union

Internal Telecommunication Union

Integral Topology Union

International Technocrat Union

Q:201 Which country has launched world’s first hydrogen-

powered train?

Japan

China

Germany

Scotland

Russia

Q:202 With which organization has MHA signed MoU to set

up an Integrated Control Room for Emergency Response?

DRDO

IIS

IIT Khadagpur

ISRO

Ministry of Science of Technology

Q:203 Recently, of which indigenously developed surface-to-

surface tactical missile has DRDO successfully flight tested?

Aakrman

Dhava

Prahar

Yudh

Hamla

Q:204 Where did Inaugural Naval Flight Test Seminar held

on 20 sep. 2018?

Kochi

Goa

Chennai

Lakshadweep

Andaman Nicobar

Q:205 Health Ministry partners with which company to

provide a technological platform for nationwide prevention

from Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs)?

Dell

HP

Samsung

Lenovo

Acer

Q:206 For infra projects in which state has BRICS bank

approved USD 525-million loan?

Uttar Pradesh

Bihar

Rajasthan

Madhya Pradesh

Kerala

Q:207 Which sport does Mirabai Chanu belong to?

Shooting

Archery

Weightlifting

Boxing

Wrestling

Q:208 How many members to local boards of RBI did Govt.

appoint?

3

6

7

5

4

Q:209 Recently, Govt. appointed MDs, CEOs in how many

nationalized banks?

12

8

10

14

7

Q:210 Which player along with Virat kohli is to get ‘Rajiv

Gandhi khel ratn award’ on 25 sep.?

Neeraj chopra

Hima Das

Ravi rathore

Mirabai chanu

Manoj sarkar

Q:211 When is ‘International Peace Day’ celebrated?

18 September

21 October

20 august

21 September

28 September

Q:212 Where is 7th UNWTO Global Summit on Urban

Tourism organized?

Korea

Sudan

Georgia

Vietnam

Bhutan

Q:213 In which city will PM launch ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan

Arogya Yojana’?

Kanpur

Raipur

Ranchi

Bhopal

Lucknow

Q:214 Which Metro from India has become first to Get the

International Award?

Chennai

Calcutta

Jaipur

Delhi

Lucknow

Q:215 PNB drags which Thermal Power to NCLT?

Vindyanchal

Mundra

Talcher

Sipat

Lanco vidarbha

Q:216 What is capital of Serbia?

Pyongyang

Belgrade

Juba

Khartoum

Bahrin

Q:217 Recently which representative of India has returned

after successful visit to Serbia, Malta and Romania?

Prime minister

President

Vice President

Foreign minister

Minister of external affairs

Q:218 Odisha to name Jharsuguda airport after whose name?

Veer mahendra Sai

Veer sukhvir Sai

Veer surendra Sai

Veer somendra Sai

Veer narendra Sai

Q:219 Who is chief minister of Jharkhand?

Raghubar Das

Raman singh

Nitish kumar

Shivraj singh chouhan

Manohar lal khattar

Q:220 What is the full form of NCLT?

National company legal tribunal

National corporation law tribunal

National company law tribunal

National company law trading

National collegiums law tribunal

Q:221 The 4th Asian Para Games 2022 will be hosted by

which country?

India

China

Japan

Russia

Mongolia

Q:222 Which of the following countries will be the strategic

partner of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)?

Iraq

Iran

Saudi Arabia

Afghanistan

India

Q:223 Indo-kazakhstan Joint exercise ‘Kazind 2018’ was held

in which of the following region?

Otar

Uttarakhand

Madhya Pradesh

Almaty

Astana

Q:224 The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind,

inaugurated the centenary celebrations of the Dakshina Bharat

Hindi Prachar Sabha in New Delhi. Who is the founder of this

Sabha?

Subhas Chandra Bose

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Sarojini Naidu

Lala Lajpat Rai

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Q:225 Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan

AarogyaYojana has been launched by Prime Minister Shri

Narendra Modi in which city?

Gurgaon

Ranchi

Noida

Agra

Surat

Q:226 The 3rd edition of International Business

Conference ‘MahaBiz 2018’ will be held in which of the

following city?

Dubai

Berlin

New York

Johannesburg

New Delhi

Q:227 Which state observed ‘September 22’ as Rhino Day?

West Bengal

Assam

Odisha

Nagaland

Sikkim

Q:228 Recently which state government has signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National

Insurance Company Ltd to provide medical facilities to the

people of the state under the Centre’s flagship health scheme –

Ayushman Bharat Yojana?

Haryana

Karnataka

West Bengal

Jharkhand

Kerala

Q:229 Corporation Bank has signed an information utility

(IU) agreement with National e-Governance Services Ltd

(NeSL) to share financial and security information under IBBI

(IU) Regulation 2017. Where is the headquarters of

Corporation Bank?

New Delhi

Mangalore

Bangalore

Noida

Mumbai

Q:230 Assamese film ‘Village Rockstars’ is India’s official

entry for Oscars 2019 in the Best Foreign Language film

category. Who is the director of the film?

Anurag Kashyap

Karan Johar

Mani Ratnam

Rima Das

Ashutosh Gowariker

Q:231 Where is the headquarters of Oil and Natural Gas?

Bhopal

Dehradun

Mathura

Surat

Chennai

Q:232 Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Jharsuguda

Airport in which state?

Sikkim

Assam

Jharkhand

Goa

Odisha

Q:233 Which of the following is the first "Open Defecation

Free" (ODF) State of India?

Haryana

Sikkim

Assam

Uttar Pradesh

Goa

Q:234 Pakyong airport which was recently in the news is

located in which state?

Assam

Sikkim

West Bengal

Odisha

Telangana

Q:235 Recently ‘International Day of Sign Languages’ was

celebrated by which of the following Department?

Department of Empowerment of Persons with

Disabilities

Department of Commerce

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion

Department of Public Enterprises

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research

Q:236 Who has been appointed the chairman of House panel

on defence?

Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri

Kalraj Mishra

P. Sathasivam

Anurag Thakur

Jagdish Singh Khehar

Q:237 Recently who has been appointed Goodwill

Ambassador for the promotion of Nepal tourism?

Amitabh Bachhan

Jaya Prada

Ranveer Singh

Irfan Khan

Sunny Deol

Q:238 Which country will host the Women’s Boxing World

Championships, 2018?

India

Germany

UK

Russia

China

Q:238 कौन सा दशे महिला मकु्केबाजी हिश्व चैहपियनहशि, 2018 की मजेबानी करेगा?

भारत

जममनी

यूके

रूस

चीन

Q:239 Recently Kalpana Lajmi passed away. She was related

to which field?

Bollywood

Politics

Sports

Science

Medical

Q:240 Tran Dai Quang, recently passed away, was the

President of which country?

China

Vietnam

Sri Lanka

Laos

Indonesia

Q:241 Recently the Vice President of India inaugurated Indian

Culinary Institute in which of the following city?

Varanasi

Tirupati

Kolhapur

Mathura

Ujjain

Q:242 The 4th India International Science Festival will held

in which of the following city?

Hyderabad

Lucknow

Mumbai

Jalandhar

Agra

Q:243 Recently 21st meeting of Central Regional Council was

held under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister in which

of the following city?

Bhopal

Lucknow

Allahabad

Nagpur

Indore

Q:244 Which of the following company has inked a pact with

Japan's Softbank and NTT Communications to roll out 5G and

internet of things technology in India?

Airtel

Jio

BSNL

Vodafone Idea Limited

Tata DOCOMO

Q:245 Recently B. S. Mubarak has been appointed as next

Ambassador of India to which of the following country?

Republic of Guatemala

Mexico

Venezuela

Canda

Spain

Q:246 Recently Anil Kumar Chaudhary has been appointed

as the new chairman of which of the following Public Sector

Undertaking?

GAIL

SAIL

NALCO

ONGC

IOCL

Q:247 Recently Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won presidency

polls. He is related to which country?

Sri Lanka

Maldives

Myanmar

Afghanistan

Indonesia

Q:248 Which of the following three States have been awarded

best performing States on Ease of Living Index, 2018?

Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Kerala

Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Kerala

Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat and Punjab

Haryana, Jharkhand and Bihar

Q:249 Which of the following state has got first rank in terms

of “Ease of Living Index” rankings launched by the Ministry

of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)?

Gujrat

Uttar Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Goa

Madhya Pradesh

Q:250 The first India International Science Festival was held

in which of the following city?

Mysore

Raipur

Lucknow

New Delhi

Ahmedabad

Q:251 The Aral Sea is located between which two countries?

Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan

Q:252 Recently Ministry of AYUSH has set up an AYUSH

Information Cell at the premises of the Indian Embassy in

which of the following country?

Romania

Spain

Bulgaria

Kazakhstan

UK

Q:253 What is the rank of India among 195 countries in health

care investment according to survey?

185

158

123

69

82

Q:254 Shavkat Mirziyoyev is the president of which of the

following country?

Tajikistan

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Q:255 Recently Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has

inaugurated air pollution control device 'WAYU' in New Delhi.

What is the full form of 'WAYU'?

Wind Augmentation Purifying Unit

Wind Augmentation Refining Unit

Wind Automatic Refining Unit

Wind Automatic Purifying Unit

Wind Augmentation Pollution Unit

Q:256 The First Assembly of International Solar Alliance

(ISA) will be held in which city?

Hyderabad

Bhopal

Paris

New Delhi

Lyon

Q:257 NITI Aayog is organizing a Conference on

Empowerment of Women Self Help Groups & Organic

Farmers Co-operatives in which of the following city?

Dantewada

Bhopal

Saharanpur

Mangalore

Vishakhapatnam

Q:258 The Supreme Court has constituted a tcommittee to

recommend measures on prison reforms.Who will head the

committee?

Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan

Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad

Justice Ranjana Desai

Justice Amitava Roy

Justice Vikramajit Sen

Q:259 Who will be appointed as new Vice Chief of Indian Air

Force?

R Nambiar

HS Arora

Anil Khosla

Arup Raha

Pankaj Saran

Q:260 Who has won the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year

award, 2018?

Cristiano Ronaldo

Lionel Messi

Luka Modric

Paulo Dybala

Neymar

Q:261 Recently which decade has been declared as Nelson

Mandela decade of peace by United Nation?

2018-2027

2019-2028

2020-2029

2021-2030

2022-2031

Q:262 The bilateral meeting of Commerce Ministers of India

and Bangladesh was held in which of the following city?

Dhaka

New Delhi

Kolkata

Chittagong

Barisal

Q:263 Recently the Vice President of India has inaugurated

Smart City Expo India 2018 in which of the following city?

New Delhi

Jaipur

Hyderabad

Chennai

Bangalore

Q:264 Recently a successful flight test of 'Astra' was recently

launched. What is 'Astra'?

Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile

Artillery Gun

Submarine

Intercontinental missile

Land to air missile

Q:265 Air Force Station, Kalaikunda which was recently in

the news is located in which state?

Gujrat

West Bengal

Rajasthan

Goa

Odisha

Q:266 Recently a mobile application “Jan Dhan Darshak” was

launched by Central Ministry. This application has been jointly

developed by which of the following?

Department of Financial Services and National

Informatics Centre

National Informatics Centre and SBI

SBI and Department of Financial Services

Department of Financial Services and SEBI

SEBI and RBI

Q:267 Which of the following metro has become the 2nd

largest Metro Rail network in India?

Delhi Metro

Kolkata Metro

Jaipur Metro

Hyderabad Metro

Lucknow Metro

Q:268 Where is the headquarters of New Development Bank?

New Delhi

Beijing

Shanghai

Kolkata

Chennai

Q:269 Recently which Ministry has launched “Jan Dhan

Darshak” mobile application?

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Ministry of Home Affairs

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of External Affairs

Ministry of AYUSH

Q:270 Recently Central Cabinet has cleared proposal to

convert GSTN into government entity. Currently what is the

stake of the Centre and states together in the GST Network?

100

51

49

74

26

Q:271 On which date the World Tourism Day is celebrated

globally?

27 September

28 September

26 September

25 September

24 September

Q:272 What is the theme of the World Tourism Day, 2018?

Sustainable Tourism – a Tool for Development

Tourism and the Digital Transformation

Tourism for all – promoting universal accessibility

One billion tourist’s one billion opportunities

Tourism and world

Q:273 Which Indian airport has received the best Airport

award in ‘Rest of India’ category for promotion of tourism?

Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore

Cochin International Airport, Kochi

Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai

Jaipur International Airport

Q:274 Recently who has been named as Brand Ambassador

of Tribes India?

Mira Bai Chanu

Mary Com

Irom Sharmila

Hema Das

Rajni Kant

Q:275 Recently which private sector bank has tied up with

Venture Catalysts (VCAT) to provide corporate banking

services to start-up companies?

ICICI

HDFC

Axis Bank

Yes Bank

Kotak Mahindra Bank

Q:276 Recently who has been appointed director general of

the Border Security Force (BSF)?

S S Deswal

Rajni Kant Misra

OP Singh

Rajesh Ranjan

Pankaj Saran

Q:277 Recently Central Government has constituted Lokpal

search committee under the chairmanship of which of the

following?

Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai

Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar

Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha

Justice T. S. Thakur

Justice K. G. Balakrishnan

Q:278 Which Indian leader has been bestowed by United

Nation's 'Champions of the Earth' award?

Rahul Gandhi

Narendra Modi

Maneka Gandhi

Rajendra Singh

Sunderlal Bahuguna

Q:279 Recently which Indian Airport has won United Nation's

Environment Award?

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport,

Ahmedabad

Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport, Indore

Cochin International Airport, Kochi

Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai

Q:280 The 8th Asian Yoga Sports Championship is being held

in which city?

Bhubaneswar

Thiruvananthapuram

New Delhi

Dharamshala

Lucknow

Q:281 Which country has topped on Economic Freedom

Index, 2018?

Singapore

Hong Kong

Iceland

New Zealand

Canada

Q:282 What is the rank of India on Economic Freedom Index,

2018?

130

96

104

82

112

Q:283 Which country will host the 5th World Internet

Conference?

Japan

China

India

Canada

Germany

Q:284 How many Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT)

centers are being established in the country according to

Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare?

12

15

20

26

39

Q:285 The Minister of Commerce & Industry has approved

the constitution of a High Level Advisory Group (HLAG) to

make recommendations for identifying and pursuing

opportunities and for addressing challenges in order to find a

way forward in the contemporary global trade scenario. Who

will head this Advisory Group?

Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla

Prakash Kumar Singh

Anil Kumar Chaudhary

Asit Kumar Jana

K Durga Prasad

Q:286 Recently a High Level Committee on Corporate Social

Responsibility – 2018 (HLC-2018) has been constituted under

the Chairmanship of which of the following to review the

existing framework and guide and formulate the roadmap for a

coherent policy on Corporate Social Responsibility?

Dr. Sanjay Kumar Pandey

S. P. Bhatia

Anshu Bhardwaj

V.S. Bhandari

Injeti Srinivas

Q:287 Recently the Union Finance Minister has approved the

constitution of a Group of Ministers to examine the issue

regarding ‘Modalities for Revenue mobilization in case of

Natural Calamities and Disasters’. Who is the convener of the

Group of Ministers?

Shivraj Chauhan

Sushil Kumar Modi

Vijay Rupani

Yogi Adityanath

Nitish Kumar

Q:288 Recently Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has

partnered with Google to launch a campaign to encourage all

local guides in India to rate and review public toilets on Google

Maps. What is the name of this campaign?

#GiveReview

#TakeReview

#LooReview

#CleanReview

#ToiletReview

Q:289 Recently the government has notified that Vikram

Misri would be the new Indian envoy to which country?

Vietnam Indonesia

Egypt Iran

Somalia

Q:290 Recently India has won Cricket Asia Cup for 7th time

by beating which country?

Afghanistan Bangladesh

Pakistan Hong Kong

Sri Lanka

Q:291 World Heart Day is celebrated every year on which

date?

September 29

September 27

September 28

September 25

September 30

Q:292 What is the theme of World Heart Day 2018?

Depression: Let's talk

Small bite, Big threat

Urbanization and health

Your heart, my heart

Share the power

Q:293 Which of the following city has launched the country’s

first flood forecasting and early-warning system with the

support of the Asian Development Bank?

Kochi Kolkata

New Delhi Jaipur

Bangalore

Q:294 Which state to set up flute performance research

institute?

Assam

Tripura

Uttar Pradesh

Haryana

Nagaland

Q:295 Recently the President of India has inaugurated

Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention in which

city?

Jaipur New Delhi

Hyderabad Lucknow

Jodhpur

Q:296 The RBI has barred which bank from opening new

branches and put a freeze on the remuneration of Managing

Director and Chief Executive Officer for its failure to bring

down the promoter holding to 40 per cent?

PNB SBI

Bandhan Bank Bank of Baroda

ICICI

Q:297 Recently who has been appointed Managing Director

and Vice President of Facebook India?

Ajit Mohan

Kamlesh Nilkanth Vyas

Satya S. Tripathi

Dr. G Satheesh Reddy

K S Srinivas

Q:298 Recently Pandit Tulsidas Borkar passed away. He was

a

Pakhavaj artist

Harmonium artist

Flutist

Tabla player

Ghatam artist

Q:299 Which one of the following is not the part of World

Bank Group?

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

International Finance Corporation

International Centre for Settlement of Investment

Disputes

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Q:300 India’s trade with South Asia is only how much

percentage of its global trade?

7% 12%

9% 3%

6%