gradestack clerk mains capsule

8/19/2019 Gradestack Clerk Mains Capsule

1/51

1 | P a g e

Now get GK updates, quizzes and notifications on mobile


2/51

2 | P a g e


GK DIGEST for IBPS Clerk 2015 Mains Exam

Dear readers,

This GK Digest is a complete docket of important news and events that occurred in last 4 months (SeptembeDecember 2015). The GK Digest is important and relevant for all competitive exams like IBPS RRB, IBPS PIBPS Clerk, SSC, Insurance and UPSC Exams.

Banking, Economics & Financial News

RBI in the News

1.

RBI Keeps repo rate unchanged - On 2nd December 2015, the Reserve Bank of India in 5th bi – monthly policy reviewkey policy interest rates were kept unchanged on the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomisituation in the country.

Current Policy & Reserve Rates: 1.Repo Rate 6.75% (changed)

2.Reverse Repo 5.75% (changed)

3.CRR(Cash Reserve ratio) 4.00% (unchanged)

4.SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio) 21.50% (unchanged)

5.MSF (Marginal Standing Facility) 7.75% (changed)

6.Bank Rate 7.75% (changed)

Basis points - ‘one’ Basis Point is a unit equivalent to 0.01% i.e. 1/100th of a percent.

2. RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan elected as Vice-Chairman on BIS Board - With this, he became the first Indian toelected to this position in the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Note: At present, Jens Weidmann is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is also the head of Bundesbank, theGerman banking regulator.

3. Deepak Singhal appointed Executive Director of Reserve Bank of India - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appoinDeepak Singhal as the Executive Director (ED). He replaced K K Vohra who will now look after the Deposit Insurance aCredit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).

4. Shaktikanta Das nominated on RBI Central Board of Directors - Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das

nominated as a Director to the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).5. RBI proposed marginal cost of funds methodology to calculate Base Rate – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed a new methodology to calculate Base Rate (Base Rate). It is based on margincost of funds methodology. The new methodology is aimed at bringing uniformity among BRs of banks so that they wibe more sensitive to any changes in policy rates of the RBI like Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLRetc.Under the proposed methodology, the components of Base Rate will include cost of funds, negative carry on CRR/SLRun-allocable overhead costs and average return on net worth. It will be effective from 1 April 2016.


3/51

3 | P a g e


Base Rate

• It is defined as the minimum interest rate of a bank below which it is not viable to lend. • It was introduced on 1 July 2011 by the RBI.• It replaced the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR), the interest rate which commercial banks charged the ir mostcredit worthy customer.

6. Banks are free to fix interest rates on gold deposit scheme: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to fix theown interest rates on gold deposits under the Gold Monetisation Scheme.

Key points – (i) As per the RBI guidelines, Banks are free to set interest rate such as principal and interest on the deposit denominatein gold.(ii) Designated banks will accept gold deposits under the – Short Term Bank Deposit (1-3 years), Medium (5-7 years) anLong term (12-15 years) Government Deposit Schemes.(iii) Short term bank deposits will be applicable cash reserve ratio (CRR) and statutory liquidity ratio (SLR).(iv) There is no bar for maximum gold deposit but the minimum deposit at one time should be raw gold equivalent to 3grams of 995 fineness standard.

(v) The raw gold should be in the form of coins, bars, jewellery excluding stones and other metals Individual banks willdetermine the provision for premature withdrawal subject to a minimum lock-in period and along with the penalty.

7.

RBI declared Priority Sector Lending norms for Regional Rural Banks

Key points of the norms:

(i) Priority Sector Lending (PSL) target was increased to 75 percent of total outstanding from the existing 60 percent.(ii) The revised target will be effective from 1 January 2016.(iii) Medium enterprises, social infrastructure and renewable energy were included under PSL category.(iv) Agri-Loans: Loans to individual farmers, for the purpose of PSL, was increased to 50 lakh rupees from the present lakh rupees against pledge/ hypothecation of agricultural produce (including warehouse receipts) for a period notexceeding 12 months.(v) Aggregate limit loan was doubled to 2 crore rupees per borrower in the case of loans, among others, to corporate

farmers, farmers’ producers organisations/ companies of individual farmers, farmers partnership firms/ co -operativesengaged in agriculture and allied activities.(vi) Housing Loans: The RBI has lowered the quantum of loans that will qualify as PSL. Against the earlier limit of 25lakh rupees, loans to individuals up to 20 lakh rupees only are considered as PSL as per revised guidelines.

Note: As on March 2015, there were 56 RRBs operating in the country with a network of 20059 branches. They cover 6notified districts in 26 states and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

8. NPCI to function as the central unit for Bharat Bill Payment Systems: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India decided to grant in principle approval to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) tfunction as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) in Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

The BBPS is an integrated bill payment system which will function as a tiered structure for operating the bill paymentsystem in the country with a single brand image providing convenience of anytime anywhere bill payment to customers

9. RBI granted in-principle approval to three applicants for setting up TReDS

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted in-principle approval to three applicants to set up and operate Trade ReceivabDiscounting System (TReDS). The three organisations have been asked to set and operate TReDS in accordance to theGuidelines issued on 3 December 2014 under the Payment and Settlement System (PSS) Act 2007.


4/51

4 | P a g e


Organisations to which in-principle approval was granted are

• NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Limited (NSICL) and Small Industries Devel opment Bank of India (SIDBI), Mum• Axis Bank Limited, Mumbai • Mynd Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon, HaryanaBackground –

(i) In the Union Budget for 2015-16 the Union Finance Minister had highlighted the need for and use of TReDS forimproving flow of funds to MSME sector by reducing the receivables realisation cycles.

(ii) TReDS will allow SMEs to post their receivables on the system and get them financed. This will not only give themgreater access to finance but will also put greater discipline on corporates to pay their dues on time.

10. SBI & ICICI Systemically Important Banks – RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) designated State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank Ltd, the country’s two largest lendeas Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs). The banks have been named Domestic Systemically ImportantBanks (D-SIBs), with SBI falling in bucket three while ICICI Bank is in bucket one.

Systemically Important Bank – Systemically important bank or a bank that is ‘too big to fail’ is one whose failure wi llhave nationwide or worldwide impacts. A bank failure is a scenario in which the bank or financial institution is unable tpay its depositors or fulfill its financial obligations.

11. RBI formed Financial Inclusion Fund with 2000 crore rupees corpus : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) formed a sinFinancial Inclusion Fund (FIF) with a corpus of 2000 crore rupees. The fund was formed by merging the FinanInclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF). This fund will support the developmental apromotional activities covered under the financial inclusion initiatives.Note:Key Facts –

FIF has been established as a single entity (fund) by merging Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial InclusTechnology Fund (FITF).It will provide support for funding the setting up and operational cost for running financial inclusion and LiteraCentres.One of its major objectives will be enhanced investment in Green Information and Communication Technology (IC

solution.It will be administered by the reconstituted Advisory Board constituted by Union Government and will be maintainby NABARD.

Note: The Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF) were constituted in the y2007-08 for a period of five years with a corpus of 500 crore rupees each to be contributed by Government of India (GORBI and NABARD in the ratio of 40:40:20.

Eligible Institutions that can seek support from Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF)• Financial Institutions viz, Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks and NABARD.• Eligible institutions with whom banks can work for seeking support from the FIF:-

Non Government Organisations

Self-Help GroupsFarmer's ClubsFunctional CooperativesIT enabled rural outlets of corporate entities.Well-functioning PanchayatsRural Multipurpose kiosks / Village Knowledge CentresCommon Services Centres (CSCs) established by Service Centre Agencies (SCAs) under the National e-Governance P(NeGP).Primary Agricultural Societies (PACs)


5/51

5 | P a g e


12. RBI to Issue Rs. 500, Rs. 1000 Bank Notes with Enhanced Features - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue Rs. 5and Rs. 1,000 bank notes with additional features to aid the visually impaired in identification. To help visually impaiperson in easy identification of bank notes, RBI decided to add two more features in Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 bank notes.Major Points –

The new Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 denomination bank notes will have numerals in both the numbering panelsascending size from left to right, while the first three alpha-numeric characters will remain constant in size.Further, Rs. 500 denomination bank notes will have five angular bleed lines in three sets of 2-1-2 lines on obverse in both, the upper left and the right hand edge of the bank note.

While, Rs. 1,000 bank notes will have six angular bleed lines in four sets of 1-2-2-1 lines on the obverse in both, upper left and right hand edge of the bank notes.Further, both kind of bank notes will have enlarged identification mark with a circular shape for Rs. 500 andiamond shape for Rs. 1,000 near the left edge of the currency.

13. RBI to issue Rs 5 coin on golden jubilee of 1965 Indo-Pak war - The Reserve Bank of India will shortly put icirculation Rs 5 coins to commemorate golden jubilee of Indo-Pak War 1965. "The coins will be legal tender as providedThe Coinage Act 2011.Note:

The new coin in the obverse will bear Lion Capital of Ashoka Pillar in the centre with Satyamev Jayate inscribed belit.On the reverse it will bear image of 'Amar Jawan' monument along with the design of olive leaves branch on its left a

right sides at the center, with the inscription "veerata aur balidan" in Devnagri script on the left upper periphery a"VALOUR AND SACRIFICE" in English on the right upperperiphery.

14. RBI granted 'in-principle' approval to the 10 applicants to set up Small Finance Banks. The central bank received 72 applications for setting up small finance bank licences.

Names of selected applicantsAu Financiers (India) Ltd., Jaipur Capital Local Area Bank Ltd., Jalandhar Disha Microfin Private Ltd., Ahmedabad Equitas Holdings P Limited, Chennai ESAF Microfinance and Investments Private Ltd.,Chennai Janalakshmi Financial Services Private Limited,Bengaluru

RGVN (North East) Microfinance LimitGuwahati Suryoday Micro Finance Private Ltd., Navi MumbUjjivan Financial Services Private Ltd., BengalurUtkarsh Micro Finance Private Ltd., Varanasi

The “in-principle” approval granted will be valid for 18 months to enable the applicants to comply with the requiremeunder the Guidelines and fulfil other conditions as may be stipulated by the RBI.

Small Banks - The purpose of the small banks will be to provide a whole suite of basic banking products such as depoand supply of credit, but in a limited area of operation. The aim of small banks is to increase financial inclusion in country. The small bank shall be registered as a public limited company under the Companies Act, 2013.

Committee on Small Banks - The applications will be analyzed and evaluated by an External Advisory Committee (EA

The EAC for small banks will be chaired by Usha Thorat , former deputy governor, RBI

Eligibility - Resident individuals with 10 years of experience in banking and finance, companies and Societies willeligible as promoters to set up small banks.

Key points Capital requirement - The minimum paid-up capital requirement for small banks is Rs. 100 crore. As per the guidelines, the promoters' initial minimum contribution will be at least 40 % of the minimum capital, to

locked in for a period of 5 years. Small banks will offer both deposits as well as loan products. They cannot set up subsidiaries to undertake non-banking financial services activities.


6/51

6 | P a g e


The maximum loan size and investment limit exposure to single/group borrowers/issuers would be restricted to 1per cent of total capital funds.

Loans and advances of up to Rs 25 lakhs, primarily to micro enterprises, should constitute at least 50 per cent of theloan portfolio.

For the first three years, 25 per cent of branches should be in unbanked rural areas. The foreign shareholding in the bank would be as per the extant FDI policy. For the initial three years, prior approval will be required for branch expansion.

15.

RBI granted 'in-principle' approval to 11 Payment Banks applicants- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19 August 20granted in-principle approval to 11 payment banks applicants under the Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks.

11 Payment Banks applicants which includes – 2 Telecom companies Vodafone and Airtel; 1 Non-banking financial company - Cholamandalam Distribution Services Ltd; 2 Large conglomerates Reliance Industries and Aditya Birla Nuvo; 2 Individuals - Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, and Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of S

Pharmaceuticals . The Department of Posts, Fino Paytech, Tech Mahindra and National Securities Depository Ltd also made the cut.

Note: The Reserve Bank received 41 applications for payments banks. Of the 41 entities that applied for a licence, prominent names that did not make it in this round include Future Group Founder Kishore Biyani, Videocon d2h a

MG George Muthoot.

Payment Banks - The main objective of payment banks is to increase financial inclusion in the country via a primary foon domestic payments services by providing small savings accounts. Payments banks will be used only for transaction deposits purposes. Unlike small banks, payments banks cannot lend money.

Committee on Payment Banks - These applications are analyzed and evaluated by an External Advisory Commit(EAC). The EAC Committee for Payment Banks is chaired by Dr. Nachiket Mor, Director, Central Board of the ReseBank of India.

Key Points: Capital requirement - The minimum paid-up capital requirement for payments banks is Rs. 100 crore.

The Reserve Bank grants a license for commencement of banking business under Section 22(1) of the BankingRegulation Act, 1949.

RBI's “in-principle” nod will be valid for a period of 18 months, during which time the applicants have to comply withe requirements under the Guidelines and fulfill the other conditions as may be stipulated by the Reserve bank.

As per the guidelines, the promoters' initial minimum contribution will be at least 40 % of the minimum capital, to blocked in for a period of 5 years.

The payments bank will need to invest 75 percent of its funds in government securities. Payments banks can open small savings accounts and accept deposits of up to Rs.1 lakh per individual customer and

provide remittance services. Hence, the balance at the close of business on any day should not exceed Rs.1 lakh percustomer.

Payments banks can issue debit cards but they are not eligible to provide credit card facilities. Payments Banks are allowed to set up their own ATMs (automated teller machines).

Payments banks will have to invest in government securities with a maturity of up to 1 year.

List of 11 Payment Banks applicants -

1. Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited2. Airtel M Commerce Services Limited3. Cholamandalam Distribution Services Limited4. Department of Posts5. Fino PayTech Limited6. National Securities Depository Limited – Director G.

V. Nageswara Rao

7. Reliance Industries Limited - Joint ventured with 8. Sun Pharma - Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director

Sun Pharmaceuticals.9. Paytm – Founder of Vijay Shekhar Sharma10. Tech Mahindra Limited11. Vodafone m-pesa Limited


7/51

7 | P a g e


16. R Gandhi Panel on UCBs - The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) high Powered Committee on Urban Cooperative Ba(UCBs) headed by RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi in its report has recommended conversion of UCBs with business siz20000 crore rupees or more into regular banks.

Key points: For conversion, smaller UCBs with business size of less than 20,000 crore rupees who are willing to convert to Sm

Finance Banks can apply to the RBI. With the conversion, UCBs will be allowed to grow and proliferate further to meet the objective of financial inclusio

Entry Point Norms: The new Entry Point Norms (EPNs) may be as under: 100 crore rupees capital requirement to operate as a Multi-State Urban Co-operative Bank- 50 crore rupees capital requirement to operate beyond two districts and as a State level UCB 25 crore rupees capital requirement to operate as District level UCB (upto 2 districts)

17. The Reserve Bank has permitted Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to subscribe to the chit funds in India.18. The Reserve Bank issued the final guidelines on Prepaid Payment Instruments for Mass Transit System (PPI-M

enabling the issuance of a separate category of semi-closed prepaid payment instruments for mass transit systems.Key points – The PPI-MTS can be used within the mass transit systems and will have a minimum validity of six months from d

of issue. Such PPIs will be reloadable instruments subject to an outstanding limit of ₹ 2,000/- at any point of time.

19. RBI extends deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency till December 31, 2015 from June 30, 2015.

Agreement signed by Reserve Bank of India:

1. RBI, UAE Central Bank ink MoU for supervisory information exchange - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signedMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Supervisory Cooperatioand Exchange of Supervisory Information.

2. RBI, Nepal Rastra Bank ink MoU for supervisory information exchange - Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has inked aMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange ofSupervisory Information.

SBI Bank in News –

1. SBI Card launches SimplyCLICK credit card for onlineshopping - in association with seven partners includingAmazon India, BookMyShow and Cleartrip.

2. State Bank of India (SBI) launched a Mobile walletapplication dubbed as ‘SBI Buddy’.Note: It aims at providing convenient and securedigital payment system to its customers. It was

launched in collaboration with Accenture aMastercard.

3. SBI's launched Project Tatkal an initiative to provdoorstep services and expedite home loapplication process within 10 days.

HDFC Bank in News -

1. HDFC Bank launched ‘Dhanchayat’, an educationalfilm to raise awareness on the dangers of borrowingmoney from unorganised sources.

2. HDFC Bank, launched a 10-second paperless instant loan Scheme for its existing customers. The 10-secondloan Scheme was launched as part of HDFC Bank’sdigital banking platform GoDigital. With this, HDFCbank became first banking institution to completelyautomate the entire process of loan approval anddisbursement.

3. HDFC ranked 7th in world's top 10 lists of consumfinance firms: HDFC has emerged the only Indcompany among the world's 10 biggest consumfinancial services firms and ranked 7th , after giants American Express, Visa and Mastercard. AmeriExpress is placed on the top followed by Capital OFinancial, Visa, Discover Financial Services and Orixthe top-five. Mastercard is ranked sixth.


8/51

8 | P a g e


ICICI Bank in News –

1. ICICI Bank launches mVisa-based mobile paymentservice. ICICI Bank launched a mobile-paymentsolution based on 'mVisa' that will allow its customerspay for services using their smartphones.Note: The service is based on 'mVisa', a new mobile

payment solution from Visa, and ICICI Bank is the firstglobally to launch a mobile-app based 'mVisa' solutionfor consumers and merchants,

2. ICICI Bank has launched ‘Smart Vault’ first of its kindfully automated digital locker facility in India.

3. ICICI Bank has launched ‘ICICI Bank Saral-RuralHousing Loan’ Scheme for weaker sections of society.Housing loan will be provided at the ICICI Bank BaseRate (known as I-Base) which is currently at 9.70%.

4. ICICI Bank launched its first branch in China:India's largest private sector bank, ICICI bank haslaunched its first branch in Shanghai, China, which was

inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

5. ICICI became first bank to launch Voice Passwofor Phone Banking: ICICI Bank became the first bin the country to launch voice recognition servwhich authenticates customers based on their spepatterns and allows them to execute bank

transactions through the bank's call centre in a qusecure and convenient manner.

6. ICICI Bank launched E-wallet 'Pockets' Digital Ba- service to allow any individual to instantly mtransactions on a mobile phone with or without a baaccount. The service is also known as Digital Banwhich allow customers to deposit or transfer from bank account through a debit card or Net bankaccount and start transacting immediately on a mobwithout any documentation.

7. ICICI launched India’s first contact - less debicredit cards.

Other Banking & Financial News -

1. China’s Yuan included in IMF’s SDR Basket –

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided toinclude the Chinese Yuan in the basket of its elitereserve currencies which is used to calculate the valueof the special drawing rights (SDRs). Note: The Yuan, also known as the Renminbi, willjoin the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British

pound next year from October 2016. About Special Drawing Rights (SDR) SDRs are supplementary foreign exchange reserveassets defined and maintained by the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF). Their value is based on a basketof key international currencies reviewed by the IMFevery five years.Note: (i) SDR basket help countries defend against exchangerate fluctuations. After inclusion of the Yuan, the SDRwill consist of five currencies viz., US dollar (41.73

percent weightage), euro (30.93), pound sterling(8.09), Japanese yen (8.33) and Chinese Yuan (10.92percent).(ii) The weightage assigned to each currency in theSDR basket are adjusted to take into account theircurrent share in international trade and nationalforeign exchange reserves.Why IMF Include Yuan in SDR Basket?

(i) China is the world’s second largest economy and itsshare in global trade is rising.

(ii) The inclusion of the Renminbi will enhance theattractiveness of the SDR by diversifying the basketand making it more representative.(iii) Due to various steps taken by the Chinese officlike relaxing controls on foreign institutional investobuying Chinese securities, easing restrictions oninterest rates and the exchange rate, allowing capita

flow freely into and out of the just-launched ShanghFree Trade Zone and efforts to develop China’s mon

and bond market.(iv) China now has five offshore Yuan trading centreviz., Hong Kong, London, Singapore, Taiwan andSydney.(v) In 2013, the Yuan overtook the euro as the worldsecond-most used currency in traditional tradefinance.(vi) Recently, HSBC estimated that the amount ofbonds denominated in Yuan sold outside China has

doubled each year since 2008.2. Singapore replaced Mauritius as top source of

into India

Singapore replaced Mauritius as top source of ForeDirect Investment (FDI) into India during ApSeptember of 2015-16 financial year.Note: As per the data, between 15 April and September 2015, India received 43096 crore rupeesFDI from Singapore. In the same period FDI frMauritius was 23490 crore rupees.


9/51

9 | P a g e


3. Arvind Subramanian-led panel recommended

standard rate for GST at 17-18 % -

The Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian ledpanel submitted its report on Possible Tax rates underGoods and Services Tax (GST) to Finance Minister ArunJaitley.

The commission recommended standard rate for GSTat 17 to 18 percent , the rate at which most productswould likely be taxed.

4. Infosys acquire US based firm Noah Consulting

India’s second largest software services major Infosys

has announced acquisition of US-based oil and gasconsulting firm Noah Consulting for 70 million USDollars in an all-cash deal.

5. Indian economy grew by 7.4% in Q2 of FY 2015-16:

CSO

Central Statistical Office announced that India’s GrossDomestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.4 percent in thesecond quarter (July-September) of 2015-16 financialyear compared to the same period during 2014-15.Note: (i) The manufacturing sector also grew by 9 .3 percent compared to 7.9 percent in Q2 of FY 2014-15.(ii) With 7.4 percent growth, India continues be thefastest growing large economy in the world in 2015.(iii) In early 2015, India had overtaken China as theworld’s fastest growing major economy in the January-

March quarter, growing 7.5 per cent against China’s 7per cent.6. RCAM to takeover Goldman Sachs’ mutual fund

business in India Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) hasannounced to takeover global giant Goldman Sachs’

mutual fund business in India.It is first ever acquisition RCAM and will be acquiredfor 243 crore rupees in an all-cash deal. RCAM’s issubsidiary of Reliance Capital which in turn is financialservices arm of business conglomerate Reliance Group.

7.

ONGC joined World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by2030 Initiative

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited joinedZero Routine Flaring by 2030 Initiative of the WorldBank on the sidelines of Conference of Parties-21(COP-21) of UNFCCC in Paris.Note: With this joining, ONGC has become the firstoil company from India to join the global initiativethat is aimed at curbing routine gas flaring at oilproduction sites around the world by 2030.

Features of Zero Routine Flaring by 2030

(i) It encourages oil companies to seek economicviable solutions to eliminate ongoing “legacy” flaring

soon as possible and no later than 20(ii) It will ensure that when oil fields are developplans include gas utilization solutions that do involve routine flaring or vent

(iii) It will end routine gas flaring that stops milliontons of CO2 going into the atmosphere every y(iv) The initiative, once successful, will contributeimproving the life of the people who live around flare sites.

8. IMF released World Economic Outlook Octo

2015 Update –

Key points –

Global Growth - The report projects global growfor 2015 at 3.1 %.India’s growth is expected to strengthen from percent 2015.

9. Farhan Akhtar appointed new brand ambassadorIndusInd Bank .

10. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been chosen'Finance Minister of the Year, Asia' by London-bapublication Emerging Markets.

11. EPFO raises maximum insurance cover to Rs 6 la

- Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPsubstantially increased the maximum amount assuunder its Employees' Deposit Linked Insura

Scheme (EDLI) to Rs 6 lakh from the existing Rs lakh.12. Cabinet allows 100 per cent FDI under autom

route for white label ATMs operations, a move thaaimed at promoting financial inclusion.

13. Axis Bank launched “LIME app”, a mobile phapplication offering wallet, shopping, payments banking facilities.

14. Gujarat tops in ease of doing business in Ind

Gujarat has been placed to top position in WoBank’s first ever ranking of States on the ease of do

business in India.Top 5 States: Gujarat (71.14%), Andhra Prad(70.12%), Jharkhand (63.09%), Chhattisgarh (62.45and Madhya Pradesh (62.00%).Bottom 5 states: Mizoram (6.37%), Jammu aKashmir (5.93%), Meghalaya (4.38%), Nagal(3.41%) and Arunachal Pradesh (1.23%).

15. Govt plans ‘Suraksha Bandhan’ drive to push sosecurity - The drive will be supported through Jeevan Suraksha Gift cheques, which will


10/51

10 | P a g e


available for purchase for Rs. 351 in bank branchesby persons wishing to gift them to facilitate one yearpayment of premium for Pradhan Mantri Jeevan JyotiBima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri SurakshaBima Yojana (PMSBY) by the recipient.

16. ADB (Asian Development Bank) lowered India’s

Growth Forecast for 2016 from 7.8% to 7.4%

17.

Union Government has launched a seven pronged plancalled Indradhanush Mission to revamp functioningof public sector banks (PSBs).

18. Indradhanush Mission - Union Government haslaunched a seven pronged plan called IndradhanushMission to revamp functioning of public sector banks(PSBs). It was launched by Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley in New Delhi.Note: The seven shades of Indradhanush missioninclude (i) appointments, (ii) Bank Board Bureau(BBB), (iii) capitalisation (iv) de-stressing PSBs,(v) empowerment, (vi) framework of accountabilityand (vii) governance reforms. It seeks to achieve theobjective of economic growth revival throughimproving credit and minimising the politicalinterference in the functioning of PSBs.

19. Union Government has decided to set up a BankBoard Bureau (BBB) to monitor key performanceindicators of two dozen public sector banks (PSBs). Itwas announced by Union Finance Minister ArunJailtley as part of a seven-pronged revamp plan for

PSBs dubbed as Indradhanush (rainbow) plan.Key points – (i) Bank Board Bureau (BBB) will start the functioningfrom next financial year i.e. from 1st April 2016 andthe selection of its member will start in the next sixmonths.(ii) It will replace existing system Appointments Boardin which appointments for top level jobs at PSBs aremade by an appointments committee led by theReserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor.(iii) Composition: The BBB will be a body of ’eminent’

professionals and shall consist of only one governmentofficial. It will be six members body with at least 3former bankers, 2 professionals and secretary,

department of financial services representgovernment.(iv)The board will give recommendations appointment of full-time Directors as well as nExecutive Chairman of PSBs.

20. Axis Bank has launched the first Contactless DeCredit and Multi-Currency Forex Card in associat

with VISA payWave in the country.21. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has launch

its maiden unit linked insurance plan (ULIP) prodacross the country.Note: The ULIP which is also called as ‘NEndowment Plus’ offers investment-cum-insuraprovision during the term policy providing dual benfor the policy holder.

22. Meghalaya achieves 100% financial inclus

under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna.

23. New Bank Note Paper Line unit inaugurated Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in HoshangabMadhya Pradesh.

24. World Bank has approved an additional loan of 6million dollars for India’s Eastern Dedicated FreiCorridor (DFC) Project. DFC Project aims at the fasdelivery of goods between the northern and eastparts of the country.

25. Axis Bank launched Ping Pay service for instmoney transfer: With the help of this service, Abank customer can transfer or ask for cash, throuvarious social media channels like WhatsaFacebook, Twitter, Email list and phone contact The transaction limit is at Rs50,000 per day.

26. Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd. (BMB) has beconferred the Asian Banker Achievement Awa2015. It was awarded for Technology Implementatin the category of Best Outsourcing Project (New Ba

27. MUDRA Bank to encourage entrepreneurship amSC/STs and OBCs. The Mudra Bank will refinainstitutions through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra YojanaCapital Requirement: The MUDRA Bank will setwith the capital of Rs. 20,000 crores and wouldresponsible of regulating and refinancing all Micrfinance Institutions (MFI). A sum of Rs. 3,000 cro

would also be provided to Mudra Bank, to create CreGuarantee corpus for guaranteeing loans beprovided to the micro enterprises.

India’s GDP growth rate projected by different organisations for the current fiscal

1. RBI – 7.4%(The Reserve Bank on 29th Sept 2015,reviseddownwards its real GDP forecast for 2015-16 to 7.4per cent from earlier expectation of 7.6 per cent )

2. CRISIL (Indian credit rating agency) – 7.9%

3. Morgan Stanley (Multinational financial servicescorporation) – 7.5%

4. World Bank – 7.5%5. Moody’s (International credit rating agency) – 7.5%


11/51

11 | P a g e


6. IMF – 7.3% (lowered from the previous 7.5 per cent to7.3 per cent)

7. ADB – 7.8% 8. Fitch – 7.5% (lowered India's GDP growth estimate for

the current fiscal to 7.5 per cent from 7.8 per cent)

9. United Nations Conference on Trade and Developme(UNCTAD) – 7.5%

10. Nomura (Japanese financial services firm) – 7.6%

CURRENT AFFAIRS

New Appointments/ National

New Chief Minister of Bihar - Nitish Kumar.

Senior JDU leader Nitish Kumar was sworn-in as ChiefMinister of Bihar for the fifth time.

New Chief Information Commissioner - R K Mathur.He succeeds Vijai Sharma.

New Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes – Arun Kumar Jain

New Chief Justice of India - Justice Tirath Singh (TS)Thakur sworn in as 43rd Chief Justice of India. Hesucceeded incumbent Justice H L Dattu.

New President of FICCI - Harshavardhan Neotia. Hesucceeds Jyotsna Suri.

New Chairman of Central Board of Excise andCustoms (CBEC) – Najib Shah

New President of ASSOCHAM - Sunil Kanoria. Hesucceeded Rana Kapoor.

New Press Trust of India (PTI) Chairman - HormusjiN Cama. He replaced Mohan Gupta.

New Mumbai Police Commissioner – Ahmed Javed.

He replaces Rakesh Maria.Note: Rakesh Maria has been promoted as DG of HomeGuard.

New President of Indian Newspaper Society - PVChandran

New Chairman of Atomic Energy CommissionShekhar Basu. He replaces R K Sinha.

Tapan Ray appointed to Board of Securities Exchange Board of India. He succeeded Anjuly CDuggal.

New CMD of India Trade Promotion OrganisatioLC Goyal.

New interim CMD of NTPC Limited – Ak Jha. New Chairman of the National Highways Author

of India (NHAI) - Raghav Chandra. He replaces VChhibber.

New CFO of Infosys - Ranganath D Mavinakere.replaces Rajiv Bansal.

New Delhi Law Minister - Manish Sisodia replaKapil Mishra.

New CEO & MD of Delhi-Mumbai IndustCorridor Development Corp - Alkesh Sharma

Election Commissioner of India – O.P. Rawat Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) – Ram Sevak Sharma. He replaced RahulKhullar.

Chairman of Indian India's Oscar jury Film Federatioof India (FFI) – Amol Palekar. He succeeds Hriharanand Goutam Ghose.

New Appointment in PSU Banks

MD and CEO of Andhra Bank - Suresh N Patel MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda (BoB) - P S Jayakumar MD and CEO of Canara Bank - Rakesh Sharma MD and CEO of Bank of India (BoI) - MO Rego

MD and CEO IDBI Bank - Kishore Kharat Piraji MD and CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB) - Usha

Ananthasubramanian

New Secretary Appointed

New Secretary, Department of Financial Services,Ministry of Finance - Ms Anjuly Chib Duggal. Shereplaces Dr. Hasmukh Adhia.

New Revenue Secretary - Dr. Hasmukh Adhia New Finance Secretary – Ratan Watal. He replaced

Rajiv Mehrishi New Home Secretary – Rajiv Mehrishi. He replaced LC

Goyal.

Oil Secretary - Kapil Dev Tripathi. He replaced SauraChandra.

Cabinet Secretary - Pradeep Kumar Sinha. He replacAjit Seth.

Defence Secretary - G Mohan Kumar. He replaced RKMathur.


12/51

12 | P a g e


New Appointment in Defence, Space & Intelligence Agency –

Chief of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) -Surender Singh. He replaced Arvind Ranjan.

Director General (DG) of Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation (DRDO) - Dr. Selvin

Christopher

Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) - KSivan. He replaced M.S. Dathan.

Chief of ISRO- A.S. Kiran Kumar. He replaced K. Radhkrishnan.

Director of ISRO Satellite Centre - M Annadurai. He

replaced S K Shiva kumar.

New Lokayukta Appointed

New Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh - Virendra Singh New Lokayukta of Delhi - Justice Reva Khetrapal

New Governor Appointed

1. Governor of Manipur - V Shanmuganthan gets

additional charge of Manipur. Present Governor ofManipur Syed Ahmed passed away.2. New Governor of Tripura - West Bengal Governor

Keshari Nath Tripathi, who has been given additionalcharge of Tripura. (State's incumbent governorTathagata Roy has gone to the United States to meethis daughter.)

3. New Governor of Bihar – Ram Nath Kovind. Hesucceed Keshri Nath Tripathi (Governor of WestBengal) who was holding additional charge of Bihar.

4. New Governor of Himachal Pradesh - Acharya De

Vrat. He replaced Kalyan Singh who was given theadditional charge of Himachal Pradesh Governor.

5. Governor of Jharkhand - Draupadi Murmu. Shesucceeded Syed Ahmed.She is the first woman Governor of Jharkhand andbecame the ninth Governor of Jharkhand.

6. Governor of Arunachal Pradesh - J P Rakkhowa7. Governor of Meghalaya - V Shanmuganthan8. Governor of Mizoram - Nirbhay Sharma

High – Court -

New Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court – JusticeJayant Patel. He replaced Justice VM Sahai.

Acting Chief Justice of Patna High Court – IqbalAhmed. He replaced Lingala Narasimha Reddy.

Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court - Justice SuKumar Sinha.

First woman judge of Sikkim HC - Meenakshi MadRai became the first lady judge of the Sikkim HCourt.

Ambassador (Envoy)

New Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia – Ahmed

Javed (Mumbai Police Commissioner)

New India ambassador to Pakistan - GautamBambawale. He replaced TCA Raghavan.

New India ambassador to United Kingdom - NavtejSarna. He succeeded Ranjan Mathai.

New India ambassador to China - Vijay Gokhale. Hereplaces Ashok Kantha.

New India ambassador to Italy - Anil Wadhwa. New India ambassador to Russia - Pankaj Saran.

replaces PS Raghavan New India ambassador to Bangladesh - Harsh

Shringla New India ambassador to Japan - Sujan Chinoy.

replaces Deepa Wadhwa. U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives – (Indi

American)- Atul Keshap


13/51

13 | P a g e


Appointments/ International

Prime Minister

New PM of Canada - Justin Trudeau (secondyoungest prime minister to serve Canada)

New PM of Nepal – KP Sharma. He replaced Sushil

Koirala. New PM of Greece - Alexis Tsipras New PM of Egypt - Sherif Ismail. He succeeds

Ibrahim Mehleb.

New Pm of Australia - Malcolm Turnbull. He replacTony Abott. He belongs to the Liberal Party.

President New President of Argentina - Mauricio Macri Blanco

He succeeded Cristina Elisabet Fernandez de Kirchner New President of Nepal - Bidhya Devi Bhandari

She is the first women president of Nepal. New President of Tanzania - John Pombe Magufuli First Female Vice – President of Tanzania - Samia

Suluhu President of Belarus - Alexander Lukashenko won

Presidential election of Belarus for the 5th time.

New President of Fiji - Jioji Konrote. President of Mauritius - Ameenah Gurib-Fakim. She i

the first woman to hold the position of President of

Mauritius.

President of Nigeria - Muhammadu Buhari. He becamthe 5th President of the country by defeating the

incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. President of Guyana: David Granger. He becomeseighth President of Guyana.

New Appointment in Financial Institution

New Chief Economist of the International MonetaryFund (IMF) – Maurice Obstfeld. He replaced OlivierBlanchard.

Subir Gokarn appointed as IMF's Executive DirectorFormer Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of IndiaSubir Vithal Gokarn appointed as an ExecutiveDirector on the board of the International MonetaryFund (IMF).

He replaces Rakesh Mohan at the IMF.

First President of New Development Bank of BRICSnations - KV Kamath.

Others Appointment

Indian-born Harjit Sajjan sworn-in as DefenceMinister of CanadaHe succeeded Conservative Defence Minister JasonKenney.

Swati Dandekar appointed Executive Director to

Asian Development Bank by Obama

Indian-American politician Swati Dandekar nominatedas executive director to the Asian Development Bank(ADB) with ambassadorial rank by US PresidentBarack Obama.

New Goodwill Ambassador for t he UN children’s

agency, UNICEF - Novak Djokovic. New CEO of Google - Sundar Pichai. New India’s permanent representative in the UN

- Syed Akbaruddin. He replaces Asoke Mukerji.

New Chairman of US-India Business Council - JohChambers (Executive Chairman of Cisco). He repla Ajay Banga , President and CEO of MasterCard.

New CEO of Twitter - Jack Dorsey. He replaced DCostolo.

First Female House Speaker of Nepal - Onsari Gh

Magar Cultural Ambassador of Seychelles - AR Rahman New Chairman of Inter-governmental Panel

Climate Change (IPCC) - Hoesung Lee (South KoreHe replaces R.K. Pachauri.


14/51

14 | P a g e


Appointment in Sports:

New BCCI President – Shashank Manohar. New President of the Cricket Association of Bengal

(CAB) - Sourav Ganguly New Head of the All India Council of Sports - VK

Malhotra

New President of International Association of AthletFederation (IAAF) – Sebastian Coe. He replaced LamDiack.

International Meets & Summits

Summits held/to be held in India

1. India-Africa Forum Summit 2015 held in New Delhi 2. 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas 2016 – New Delhi,

India.Note: 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas 2015 – Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

3. 10th World Hindi Conference held in – Bhopal,Madhya Pradesh.Theme of the Conference is “Hindi Jagat: Vistar avmsambhavnai”.

4. SAARC countries’ conference on Disaster Mitigationheld in New Delhi, India.

5. International Textile and Apparel fair ‘VASTRA” heldin – Jaipur, Rajasthan.

6. 17th All-India Govt Whips Conference held in -Visakhapatnam

7. Second Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation(FIPIC) Summit held in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

8. IBSA Summit 2015 - New Delhi, India. (IBSA = India -

Brazil - South Africa) 9. 6th Nuclear Energy conference held in New Delhi,

India.

10. The 5th meeting of SAARC health ministers held inNew Delhi, India.SAARC comprises 8 nations - Afghanistan,Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistaand Sri Lanka.

11. First World Ocean Science Congress held in KoKerala. The focal themes of the WOSC 2015 - ProtOceans for Posterity and Blue Economy.

12. Indo-Global Pharma Expo 2015 - to be heldHyderabad on 24 July 2015. The theme of the Sumwill be “Innovation and Advances.”

13. World Congress on Information Technology (WCto be held in Hyderabad, India in 2018. Theme of 2018 WCIT will be Future of enterprises.

14. 1st Counter-Terrorism Conference 2015 was hin Jaipur, Rajasthan.

15. 102nd Indian Science Congress (ISC) held inMumbai.Note: 103rd Indian Science Congress to be hosted

University of Mysore , Karnataka, from 3-7 January2016

International

1. 14th Meeting of the Council of Heads ofGovernments of Shanghai Cooperation Organisationheld in in Zhengzhou, China.Note: India, which is an acceding state at present, wasrepresented by Minister of State for External AffairsGen V K Singh.

2.

27th ASEAN Summit held at Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThe theme for the 2015 summit was Our People, OurCommunity, Our Vision.

Note: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak wasthe Chairperson of the summit. ASEAN Member Countries – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR,Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,Viet Nam

3. 13th ASEAN-India Summit held in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.

Note: The summit was participated by the Heads oASEAN Member States and Prime Minister of IndiaNarendra Modi.

4. 10th East Asia Summit held in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.

5. 23rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Summit held atManila, Philippines

Note:(i) The summit was chaired by Philippines PresideBenigno S. Aquino III.(ii) The theme of the Summit was Building InclusiEconomies, Building a Better World.

6. 15th G -20 Summit 2015– Antalya, TurkeyG20 Finance Ministers and Central BaGovernors meeting held in – Ankara, Turkey.G 20 Leaders Summit 2015 – Antalya, TurkeyG 20 Labour Summit 2015 – Antalya, Turkey


15/51

15 | P a g e


Women G20 Summit 2015 – Istanbul, Turkey The focus of the W20 is to enhance the role of

women in business. Gulden Turktan was appointed as the first

president of the group. She is one of the founders and President of the

Women Entrepreneurs' Association in Turkey(KAGIDER), and is currently a member of itsExecutive Board.

Note:(i) Turkey has proposed three I’s-Inclusiveness,Implementation and Investment for growth.(ii) India is going to chair Group of Twenty (G20)nations forum in year 2018 and New Delhi could bethe host of the prestigious annual G20 summit .Turkey will hand over the Chair for the next year i.e.2016 to China and in 2017 Germany is going tochair it.Note: (2)(i) The Union Government decided to appoint Arvind

Panagariya, Vice President of NITI Aayog, as theSherpa for the 2015 G-20 Summit . The Summit willtake place in Antalya, Turkey in November 2015.(ii) Sherpa is a senior official responsible forpreparing the agenda for leaders to consider duringthe summit.(iii) Panagariya will be replacing Railway MinisterSuresh Prabhu who was appointed Sherpa for the G-20 Summit in 2014.G20 Members: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada,China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, SouthKorea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United Statesof America and European Union.

7. The 9th Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (RPBD)will be held at Los Angeles, California, USA from 14November to 15 November 2015.

8. The India-US Ministerial Energy Dialogue held onat the US Department of Energy, Washington.

9. BRICS University President Forum meet held inBeijing, China.

10. 2015 Annual meetings of the World Bank Group andthe International Monetary Fund – Lima, Peru

11. Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping held at the UN

headquarters in New York.12. First India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue held

in Washington, USA.13. 48th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)

Foreign Ministers’ meet was held in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. The meet was chaired by Anifah Aman,Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia.Note: The meet was held under the theme "OurPeople, Our Community, Our Vision", to create anASEAN Community which is truly people-oriented,people-centred comprising all areas of cooperation.

14. 2015 US - India Cyber Dialogue held in WashingtDC.Note: The dialogue was held with an aim to increglobal cyber security and promote the digeconomy.

15. 7th BRICS Summit – Ufa, Russia.Theme of the summit - BRICS Partnership – aPowerful Factor of Global Development .

Note: BRICS nations include - Brazil, Russia, InChina and South Africa. 8th BRICS summit will be held in New Delhi, In

in 2016. 6th BRICS summit was held at Fortaleza in Br

in 2014. The summit was attended by

PM of India - Narendra ModiPresident of Brazil - Dilma RousseffPresident of Russia - Vladimir PutinPresident of China - Xi JinpingPresident of South Africa - Jacob Zuma

16.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Sum2015 held in – Ufa, Russia Note: India and Pakistan to become full member

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) 2016.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – Head of– Beijing, China

Member’s count ries - China, Russia, KazakhstKyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

17. 41st G7 Summit - Elmau, Germany. Theme of summit - Think Ahead. Act Together.

Note: G 7 nations include - Canada, France, Germa

Italy, Japan, U.K., US, and the EuropCommission (EC). EC is a permanently welcoparticipant in all meetings and decision-maksince 1981.

Future Summits to be held in – The 42nd G7 Summit 2016 – Japan The 43rd G7 Summit 2017 – Italy The 44th G7 Summit 2018 – Canada

18. The 68th World Health Assembly held in GeneSwitzerland.Note: India assumed Presidency of the 68th WoHealth Assembly (WHA) after 19 years. The sesswas presided by the Union Minister of HealthFamily Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda at Geneva.

19. World Economic Forum annual Summit 2015 - DavSwitzerland.

20. 19th SAARC Summit 2016 - Islamabad, Pakistan.Note: 18th SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu, Nein 2014. .

21. 4thNuclear security summit 2016 – United States.22. 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduct

2015 held in Sendai, Japan.


16/51

16 | P a g e


India ranking in various sectors –

India ranks 4th in black money outflows According to Global Financial Integrity’s (GFI’s) IllicitFinancial Flows from Developing Countries: 2004-

2013 Report.Top 5 countries: China (1st), Russia (2nd), Mexico(3rd), India (4th), Malaysia (5th),

India ranked 130 out of 189 in ease of doingbusiness: World Bank The 2016 report titled, Measuring Regulatory Qualityand Efficiency says that more than 60 percent ofWorld’s Economies improved their business rules in2015.Note: The report ranked Singapore as first on easeof doing business while Eritrea has been ranked lastat 189th position.

Top 5 countries - Singapore (1), New Zealand (2);Denmark (3); Republic of Korea (4); Hong Kong SAR,China (5);

India is World’s largest remittance recipient:World Bank World Bank announced that India is the World’slargest remittance recipient. It was revealed in theMigration and Development Brief that conveyed recenttrends in remittance flows and migration across theworld.As per the report, remittances to India are projected toincrease by 2.5 percent in 2015, well above the 0.6percent increase in 2014.

India becomes world’s 7th most valued nationbrand: Report

India was placed at 7th position in world’s mostvaluable nation brands report among the 100 assessednations. It was revealed in recently released annualreport compiled by Brand Finance.Top 7 countries: United States, China, Germany,United Kingdom, Japan, France and India.

India ranks 131 on global ICT Development Index :

MISR Report

India has been ranked 131 out of 167 nations on ICTDevelopment Index (IDI) that measures the level ofinformation and communication technology access

Top three countries in IDI 2015: South Korea,Denmark and Iceland.

India ranks at 12th spot in power generation fr

nuclear source in 2015. US is at 1st rank followedFrance, Japan, Russia and China.

India among top five economies: World Bank repsays India has figured in top five emerging economfor highest investment commitments in private secinfrastructure sectors, energy, transport and water.The top five countries with the biggest investmcommitments in 2014 are Brazil, Turkey, PeColombia and India.

India jumps to 6th from 10th position, in terms oterms of publishing scientific research papersdifferent journals.

India ranked 6

th

place in the top rankings of spafaring nations, a report by a Chinese reseainstitution Beijing Institute of Space Science Technology.Note: The list is top by United States. Europe aRussia are ranked as the next two great powChina's space capabilities are ranked the fourth in world.

India ranked at 125th in the world for fixed broadbapenetration.

India is the 5th biggest producer of e-waste in world. India came in fifth, behind the US, China, Japand Germany.

Indians ranked on 16th place in the new HSBC lisSwiss bank account holders.Note: Switzerland people remain on the top rank inlist, followed by UK, Venezuela, US and France in top five.

India is the world’s biggest arms importers.Note: According to the new study of StockhoInternational Peace Institute (SIPRI); India, SaArabia, China, the United Arab Emirates and Pakishave become the largest importers of weapons2010-2014.

India’s rank in different indexes

1. Global Competitiveness Index 2015 – 55 Note: Switzerland, Singapore and the US are at the topof the Global Competitiveness Index, which profiles140 economies.

2. Environmental Democracy Index 2015 – 24

Note: The index is topped by Lithuania at the fposition, Latvia at the second and Russia at the thposition.

3. World Press freedom Index 2015 – 136


17/51

17 | P a g e


Note: Finland on the first position followed by Norwayand Denmark.

4. FM Global Resilience Index 2015 – 119 (Norwaytopped the index.)

5. World Hunger List 2015 - India tops in World HungerList.

6. World Human Development Index – 135 (Norway tthe list)

7. World Happiness index 2015 – 117 Note: Switzerland topped the index and followedIceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada.Syria ranked last (158), making it the least hapcountry in the world.

Important Committees

1. Dr T K Viswanathan Committee - on BankruptacyLaw Reforms

2. A P Shah committee - to look into the disputebetween Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited(ONGC) and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) onKrishna Godavari (KG) gas fields.

3.

L Narasimha Reddy Committee - to look into theimplementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP)scheme for the ex-servicemen.

4. Arvind Subramanian Committee - on Possible Taxrates under Goods and Services Tax (GST)

5. MB Shah Committee - on Black Money6. RV Easwar Committee - to simplify the provisions of

the Income Tax Act, 1961.7. Mihir Shah Committee - to restructure the Central

Water Commission (CWC) and the Central GroundWater Board (CGWB) to encourage optimaldevelopment of water resources in the country.

8. B S Baswan committee - to revisit civil servicesexamination pattern

9. T Haque committee - NITI Aayog constituted T HaqueExpert Group on Land Leasing

10. R Gandhi committee - recommended conversionUrban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) with business siz20,000 crore rupees or more into regular banks.

11. Deepak Mohanty committee – to frame action planfinancial inclusion.

12. Nachiket Mor committee – on Payment Banks13. Usha Thorat committee – on Small Banks14.

A P Shah committee – A high level committee on controversial issue of payment of Minimum AlternTax (MAT) by foreign institutional investors.

15. Bhupendra Yadav committee – to head panel on Goods and Services Tax, GST bill

16. SS Ahluwalia committee - on the Right to FCompensation and Transparency in Land AcquisitRehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) (AmendmeBill, 2015.

17. Vijay Kelkar committee: on Revisiting Revitalizing the Public Private Partnership (PModel of Infrastructure Development.

18.

B N Navalawala committee: to head task forceinter-linking of rivers.

19. Ajay Shankar committee: to suggest simplifcompliance for establishing new industries.

20. AK Bhargava committee: to look into the issues"Net neutrality".

National News

1. Ministry of Railways flagged off first double decker

Goa-Mumbai trainRailways Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off the firstGoa to Mumbai double-decker Shatabdi train throughvideo conference from Panaji, Goa.The fully air-conditioned double-decker train is thefirst-of-its-kind in India.

2. India received first consignment of uranium from

Canada

India received its first uranium consignment of ab

2730 tonnes from Canada. The uranium is shippedIndia for the country’s nuclear power reactors.

Note:

(i) As part of the agreement signed in April 20Canadian Cameco Corporation will supply 7.1 millpounds of uranium concentrate to India till 2020.(ii) The deal is worth 350 million US dollars.

3. Tata Trusts partnered with Khan Academy for fonline education


18/51

18 | P a g e


Note: Khan Academy is US-based non-profiteducational organization which was founded in 2006.• It was founded by educator Salman Khan to providea free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

4. First India International Science Festival began atIIT-Delhi

5. Union Government approved setting up of 6 new

IITsThe Union Cabinet approved setting up of six newIndian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in AndhraPradesh, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Jammu, Kerala and

Karnataka.

6. The National Milk Day (NMD) observed on 26 th November 2015 across India to mark 94th birthanniversary of the Father of the White Revolution DrVerghese Kurien.

7. Blue Revolution with an outlay of 3000 crore

rupees proposed

The Scheme Blue Revolution: IntegratedDevelopment and Management of Fisheries was innews as Union Minister for Agriculture and FarmerWelfare Radha Mohan Singh on the eve of WorldFisheries Day 2015 on 21 November 2015 mentionedabout it.

8. Ministry of Railways flagged off Vigithon to fight

against corruption

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off Vigithonmarathon in Mumbai to sensitise people for a fight

against corruption at the grass-root level. Vigithon wasa run for corruption free India and was organised bypublic sector lender Union Bank of India.

9. Doordarshan emerged as most watched Hindi

channel

Public service broadcaster Doordarshan claimed that ithas emerged as the most-watched Hindi channel interms of time spent per viewer ahead of top GeneralEntertainment Channels (GEC).

10. Union Finance Ministry launched E-Sahyog Pilot

Project to facilitate Taxpayers

The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched thee-Sahyog pilot project of the Income-Tax Departmentto facilitate taxpayers by reducing their need tophysically appear before tax authorities.

11. Facebook and BSNL partnered to set up 100 WiFi

hotspots in rural India

Under the joint initiative, Facebook has chosen 100villages to provide Wi-Fi hotspots on a revenue-sharing model. The social media major will spend 5

lakh per site a year for buying bandwidth from BSNLfor a period of three years.

12. MTS India merged with Reliance CommunicationAnil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCodeclared that it will take over Russian conglomerSistema Shyam Teleservices’ (SSTL) venture t

operates under the brand name of MTS for a cashl

deal valued at around 4500-5000 crore rupees. 13. Lionel Messi became Global Brand Ambassador

Tata Motors

Tata Motors signed Argentina’s football player LioMessi as Global Brand Ambassador for its passenvehicles. This is for the first time the passenger vehbusiness will be undertaking an overall braassociation campaign with a brand ambassador for first time.Further, Tata Motors will be the first Indian brendorsed by the international sports icon.

14.

7th Central Pay Commission submitted its repo

recommended 23.55% hike

The 7th Central Pay Commission (CP headed Justice AK Mathur submitted its report to the UnFinance Minister Arun Jaitley. The commissrecommended 23.55 percent hike in pay allowances of government employees.The recommended pay revision will come into effrom 1 January 2016.The minimum pay for government employeesrecommended to be set at 18000 rupees per month

15.

44th The Navy day is celebrated every year on 4th December, to commemorate the success of OperatioTrident of Indian Navy on Karachi Harbour during t1971 Indo-Pak war.

16. National Unity Day was observed across India onOctober 2015 to commemorate the birthday Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

17. Maharashtra is biggest state economy: Brickwo

Report

As per latest report published by credit rating agenBrickwork Ratings, Maharashtra is the biggesteconomy among the states in India.Key highlights -(i) Maharashtra accounts for 16.87 lakh crore rupein terms of gross state domestic product (GSDP) andfollowed by Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.Manufacturing sector:(i) In FY 2014-15, Gujarat and Maharashtra accounted for 27.26 per cent and 25.18 per cent ofGSDP respectively. They led other state economies i


19/51

19 | P a g e


terms of level of contribution from the manufacturingsector.(ii) Other states with higher manufacturing sectorshare are Tamil Nadu (19.1%), Jharkhand (18.8%)and Haryana (18.1%).

Services sector: Karnataka leads in the growth ofservices sector in India. It is largely attributed to the

growth in the IT/BPO/ KPO sector. It is followed byTamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Fastest-growing states: Bihar (17.06%), MadhyaPradesh (16.86%) and Goa (16.43%).Slowest-growing states: Telangana (5.3%), Punjab(10.16%), Rajasthan (11%).

18. 3 Cities Fame India Eco Drive in New Delhi

Union Cabinet Minister of Heavy Industries and PublicEnterprises Anant Geete flagged off the 3-Cities FameIndia Eco Drive from Red Fort, New Delhi.The 3-Cities Fame India Eco Drive is a publicawareness campaign to promote electrification ofautomobile transportation to achieve objectives of theNational Mission for Electric Mobility (NMEM).

19. Union Government decided to impose 0.5%

Swachh Bharat Cess on all services

Union Ministry of Finance decided to impose 0.5percent Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC) on all taxableservices. It will be levied in addition to the 14 percentservice tax that is in force now.Note:

(i) The SBC will come into force on 15 November2015. Its proceeds will be exclusively used to supportSwachh Bharat initiative.(ii) The Union Government under the Swachh BharatMission (SBM) is planning to spend around 134000crore rupees by 2019 to construct 11 crore 11 lakhtoilets in the country.

20. Governing Council (GC) of the National Investmentand Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) under thechairmanship of Finance Minister

The GC will be chaired by the Union Finance Minister

and has following five members• Secretary, DEA • Secretary, Financial Services • Arundhati Bhattacharya • Hemendra Kothari • T V Mohandas Pai

21. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)approves 10% disinvestment in Coal India Ltd About Coal India Limited

CIL is an Indian state-controlled coal mining companIt is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is thelargest coal producer company in the world andcontributes around 81% of the coal production inIndia.

22. 35th edition of India International Trade F

(IITF) held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi

The 14 day fair has been organised by India TraPromotion Organisation (ITPO), under aegis of UnMinistry of Commerce and Industry.Theme of 2015 edition of IITF is Make in India inorder to encourage companies to manufacture theirproducts in India.

23. Aditya Birla Group launches online fashion por

abof.com

The newly launched portal abof which stands Aditya Birla Online Fashion will offer shoppers raof merchandise brands from its subsidiaries and otcompanies.

24. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid foundation stone of fourth terminal of countrlargest container port – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Tr(JNPT) in Mumbai.

25. GAIL launches Bhuvan-GAIL Portal for satellite

monitoring of pipelines State-run energy major GAIL (India) Limited haslaunched geo-portal called ‘Bhuvan-GAIL Portal’ system for utilising space technology for its pipeline

monitoring to address pipeline safety concerns.The project has been developed in collaboration witNational Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a unit ofIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

26. IRCTC tied-up with Paytm for e-catering paymen

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation(IRCTC) tied-up with mobile commerce platformPaytm to offer an additional payment gateway for foordered through its e-catering facility.

27. National Air Quality Index of 17 cities

Green Peace India released a report on National Ai

Quality Index (NAQI) of 17 cities. The report is the fianalysis of air pollution levels in Indian cities carriedout by Green Peace using the NAQI system.Key highlights of Report –

(i) Delhi was listed as the most polluted city in world.(ii) 13 Indian cities were figured in the list of most polluted cities on the planet.(iii) Exposure to toxic particulate pollution (PMand PM10) is alarmingly high in most Indian cit


20/51

20 | P a g e


and National Ambient Air Quality Standards are beingcontinuously violated.(iv) Pollution levels in many Indian cities, includingDelhi, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Patna, Agra and Kanpur,exceed the famously toxic levels in Beijing and otherChinese cities, over the period covered by the NAQIdata (April-November 2015).

Top 5 most populated cities in world – 1. Delhi (India)2. Patna (India)3. Gwalior (India)4. Raipur (India)5. Karachi (Pakistan)

28. The World Bank approved a 1.5 billion US dollar loan for the ambitious Clean India Campaign (SwachhBharat Mission).The loan was granted to support the government in itsefforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have accessto improved sanitation and end the practice of opendefecation by 2019.

29. The Union Cabinet approved a 4000 crore rupees proposal for introducing measures to encourageShipbuilding and Ship Repair Industry in India.

30. Hetero became first Indian company to receiveDGCI’s approval for hepatitis C drug

Hyderabad-based Hetero Drugs announced that itreceived the approval of Drug Controller General ofIndia (DCGI) to launch fixed-dose combination therapy

Ledipasvir-Sofosbuvir. The product will be availableunder the brand name Ledisof in India.With this approval, Hetero became the firstcompany in the country to get approval from DGCI

to launch hepatitis C medicines.

31. Delhi Government announced vehicle rationingscheme to curb air pollution The primary objective of the initiative is to split thevehicular population in the city and thereby to bringpollution levels under control.Note:

(i) In the first phase of the scheme, vehicles with oddand even number plates would be allowed to run

on alternate days between 1 January and 15 January2016 in the capital city. (ii) While the odd-numbered vehicles will ply on odddates, the even-numbered vehicles would ply on evendates.(iii) The rule will be enforced between 8am and 8pmonly and there will be no restrictions on Sundays.

However, emergency vehicles such as ambulanceswere excluded from this restriction.

32. India launched I-LTEO programme to monito

different biomes

India launched the Indian Long Term EcologicalObservatories (I-LTEO) programme to scientificallymonitor eight different biomes (natural landscapes)

across the country. The initiative was launched on thsidelines of the Conference of Parties-21 (COP-21) oUNFCCC in Paris.The new initiative will cover all the major biomassthe country from Western Himalayas to WesternGhats, Eastern Himalayas to Andaman & NicobarIslands, central India to the Sunderbans and fromJammu & Kashmir to Rajasthan and Gujarat .

33. Supreme Court has declared National Judi Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 20unconstitutional and void.

34. Google to give Wi-Fi access in 500 railway stationIndia.

35. Konkan Railway to set up a tunnel technolinstitute at Margao in Goa.

36. Rameswaram, birthplace of Dr. Abdul Kalaincluded as 498th town under Atal Mission Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation ( AMRUT)providing basic urban infrastructure.

37. Govt of India approved the construction of Natio

War Memorial and a National War MuseumPrincess Park near India Gate, Delhi.38. Asia’s biggest telescope Multi-Application So

Telescope (MAST) inaugurated at the Udaipur SoObservatory in Rajasthan.

39. Pranab Mukherjee became first Indian Presidentaddress Israeli Parliament Knesset.

40. November 26 to be observed as Constitution DaIndia will observe 26 November as Constitution D(Samvidhan Divas) to spread awareness of IndConstitution and its architecture Dr B R Ambedkar.

41.

Dabur India to adopt 5 villages to support 'SwacBharat' initiative

Note:

(i) FMCG major Dabur India said that it will adopt fvillages in Uttar Pradesh and make them 'OpDefecation Free' within the current fiscal.(ii) The five villages to be adopted by Dabur India Nandpur, Nagla Gajju, Naraina, Nidhawali a

Domatikri.


21/51

21 | P a g e


42. India commits 33-35 per cent cut in carbon

emissions by 2030

43. Infrastructure output rises 2.6% in August

Note:

(i) Annual infrastructure output growth picked up inAugust to 2.6 per cent from a year ago, mainly drivenby higher cement and electricity generation. The

output had grown 1.1 per cent year-on-year in July.(ii) The infrastructure sector accounts for nearly 38per cent of the country's industrial output .

44. Puducherry city first to get Smart city nomination

Puducherry city has emerged as the first nomination tobe received by the Urban Development Ministry for aSmart City Mission.

45. Central Victim Compensation Fund set up with 200

crore rupees by Union Government - The UnionMinistry of Home Affairs introduced a scheme calledCentral Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) with aninitial amount of 200 crore rupees.

46. Union Cabinet approved constitution of 21st LawCommission of India.

Key points –

The term of the 20th law commission ended on 31August 2015.Justice Ajit Prakash Shah is the Chairman of 20thlaw commission.The 21st law commission will be functional for aperiod of three years between 1 September 2015

and 31 August 2018.47. Union Government cancelled the registration ofGreenpeace India under the Foreign ContributionRegulation Act (FCRA), 2010. This move of thegovernment will make the NGO ineligible to receivefunds from abroad, which means it may force it to closedown its operations in India.

48. Union Cabinet gives nod to 3 new AIIMS -

3 AIIMS will be established at Nagpur (Maharashtra),Manglagiri (Andhra Pradesh) and Kalyani in WestBengal.

49.

Union Government to spend Rs. 70,000 crore for majorport’s development under Sagarmala project.

50. Union Government has notified Mid-Day Meal (MDM)Rules, 2015 under the Food Security Act, 2013.

51. Critically acclaimed Marathi film ‘Court’ has beenselected as India’s official entry to the Best Foreign

Language category of the 88th Academy Awards2016 (popularly known as Oscars).

52. IIT- Delhi, IISc figured in the top 200 World

University Rankings –

In this edition of annual global university ranking IISc Bangalore ranked 147th and IIT- Delhi ran179th respectively.

53. Union Government extends e-Tourist Visa Scheme37 more countries.

54. Union Cabinet cleared National Offshore WEnergy Policy to generate electricity from offsh

windmills located in areas within Exclusive EconoZone (EEZ) of the country. Under this policy, Offshwind power projects and R&D activities will be carrin waters up to the seaward distance of 200 NautMiles (EEZ of the country) from the base line.

55. The West-Central Railway (WCR) zone headquartein Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh has become the fRailway Zone in Indian Railways to eliminate unmanned level crossings.

56. National Institution for Transforming India (NI Aayog has launched the second version of an opsource web based tool India Energy SecurScenarios 2047 calculator (IESS 2047).

57. Retail major Future Group tied-up with BRamdev’s Patanjali Ayurved - Retail major FutGroup tied-up with Baba Ramdev-promoted PatanAyurved to sell the Patanjali’s FMCG products on

stores with plans for joint manufacturing in future.Note: With this partnership, Patanjali’s FMCG produincluding staples, nutrition, hair care, skin care, dencare and toiletries will now onwards be also sold

Future Group’s Big Bazaar, KB’s and EasyDay outlacross India.58. Union Government has declared the names of 98 cit

for its ambitious Smart Cities Project .59. Kochi becomes first Indian city to be a member

Beijing headquartered, World Tourism CitFederation (WTCF) Council and join its leagueleading tourism cities across the world.

60. India’s first Dolphin Community to come up in WBengal - India’s first Dolphin Community Reserve wbe established in West Bengal to protect

endangered mammal, Gangetic river dolphins.61. Portugal became the first European country to s

the MoU on establishment of Nalanda University Note: With this, Portugal became the 17th counoverall and the fourth outside the East Asia Summido so.

62. Coca-cola India ropes in cricketer Sourav Gangulysocial ambassador for a three-year deal ending2017, replacing Sachin Tendulkar, the country's mfamous cricketer, whose contract ended last year.


22/51

22 | P a g e


63. PM Narendra Modi Announces Rs. 1.25 Lakh CroreSpecial Package for Bihar

64. Taj Mahal had become the first historical monumentin the world to have its own Twitter account. The Taj Mahal has made it to the top five of aprestigious new list of the world's best touristattractions.

Note: The Temples of Angkor, a UNESCO WorldHeritage site in northern Cambodia, tops the list ,The Great Barrier Reef in Australia comes in atnumber two, the Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru atnumber three, and the Great Wall of China at four.

65. Nana Patekar has established an organisation whichwill provide aid to farmers overcome by droughtconditions. The organisation has been named as ‘NaamFoundation.

66. UIDAI shifted to IT Ministry from NITI Aayog - TheUnique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI),which issues Aadhaar cards, has been shifted to theadministrative control of the Ministry ofCommunication and Information Technology fromNiti Aayog.

67. PM Modi released digitally restored recordings ofepic ‘Ramcharitmanas’

68. Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has decidedto recognize Yoga as a sports discipline and place it inthe Priority category.

69. India students in Gandhi dress create Guinness

Record - School children of Bangalore have created aGuinness Record for “the largest gathering of peopledressed as Mahatma Gandhi”.

70. Union Agriculture Ministry renamed as ‘ Agricultureand Farmers’ Welfare Ministry’.

71. August 7 to be celebrated as National Handloom

Day every year:

72. Gujarat makes voting compulsory in local body

polls

73. French Automobile manufacturer Renault IndiaRopes in Ranbir Kapoor as Brand Ambassador

74.

Rural Development Minister launched ‘SAMANVAY’ for Gram Panchayats - to help MPs in utilising relevantschemes in the planning and implementation ofSaansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).

75. Union Government sanctioned 1000 crore rupees forthe laying of 15.06 km long tracks to connect IndianRailways with Bangladesh through the North East.The Indo-Bangla Rail link would be completed by 2017and the entire route will be constructed by IRCON.

76. Union Government launched web portal VidLakshmi (www.vidyalakshmi.co.in) for the benof students seeking Educational Loans. Note: It is the first portal of its kind that provisingle window for students to access information amake application for educational loans providedbanks as well as for government scholarships.

77. MGNREGA world’s largest public wo

programme - World Bank has ranked the MahatGandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee (MGNREGA) as the world’s largest public wo

programme. It was revealed in recently released WoBank Group’s report titled ‘The State of Social Saf

Nets 2015‘.

78. Bharti Airtel becomes 3rd largest mobile operat

in world: Sunil Mittal led Bharti Airtel has become tworld’s third largest mobile operator with 303 millisubscribers.Note: China Mobile, according to WCIS, is the top mobile operator in the world with 626.27 millionsubscribers. Vodafone Group of UK ranks second with 403.08 million subscribers.

79. World Bank approves $650 mn loan for East

Freight Corridor: The Eastern Dedicated FreiCorridor is to be 1,840 km long, from LudhianaKolkata..

80. India & World Bank signed agreement of U

308.40 Million for NCRMP-II

Union Government and World Bank signed 308

million US dollar credit agreement in support of second phase of the National Cyclone Risk MitigatProgram (NCRMP-II). The agreement was also sigby the state Governments of Goa, Gujarat, KarnataKerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.

81. Union Government released the Socio Econom

and Caste Census 2011 for Rural India -

Key points –

(i) Government released the first ever Socio-Econoand Caste Census (SECC) after 80 years on the linesthe 1931 census. The survey was completed in all

640 districts.(ii) It was released by Union Finance Minister AJaitley in New Delhi.(iii) Literacy: Over one-third of population livingrural areas is illiterate. Higher literacy in termspercentage is in Kerala (88.62), Delhi (86.42), (84.58), Sikkim (79.88) and Himachal Pradesh (77.9(iv) Lowest literacy is in Rajasthan (58), MadPradesh (44.19), Bihar (43.85), Telangana (40.42) aChattisgarh (39.59).


23/51

23 | P a g e


(v) Male dominance: majority of 87 per cent households is male-headed. Nearly 13 per cent do havea female head.(vi) In rural areas of Rajasthan, around 91 per cent households are headed by men.(vii) In Kerala 26 per cent are women-headedhouseholds (highest among the states).

82.

Uttarakhand became first Indian state to install asystem to detect earthquakes and disseminate

warnings. 83. The Constitution (100th Amendment) Act, 2015 -

President of India Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent tothe Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill, 2013 thatrelated to the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)between India and Bangladesh.Note: (i) It is the 100th amendment to the IndianConstitution and amends its first schedule.(ii) The Constitution (100th Amendment ) Act,2015, as it is called now, is intended to operationalise

the May 1974 LBA that pertains to exchange of certenclaves of land between both the countries.(iii) The exchange will see Bangladesh take over 11enclaves (17160 acres) from India’s possession and

India, in turn, receive 51 enclaves (7110 acres) fromBangladesh.(iv) In Assam, India will get 470 acres of land from

Bangladesh, while 268 acres will go to Bangladesh.(v) Enclaves are tiny landlocked territories that ecountry has within the borders of the other nation.The enclaves in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and

Meghalaya come under the bill’s ambit.

84. Rajasthan become number one state in the counin terms of total installed capacity of solar energy. Tfive states in India are (in terms of installed capacity1. Rajasthan: 1147 MW. 2. Gujarat: 1000 MW.3. Madhya Pradesh:58 MW. 4. Maharashtra: 7 MW.5. Andhra Pradesh:4 MW.

85.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launcDoordarshan's farmer-centric DD Kisan TV Channel86. India’s first National University for skill developm

to be set up in Bihar.

International News -

1. TIME Magazine named German Chancellor Merkelas 2015 ‘Person of the Year’ German Chancellor Angela Merkel was named as2015 Person of the Year by Time Magazine. The

magazine cited her role in Europe’s crisis overmigration and Greek debt.

2. World Trade Organisation (WTO) approved Afghanistan’s membership terms to join as 163rdmember

3. 1st December: World AIDS Day The theme for year 2015 is ‘Getting to zero, End AIDS by 2030‘.

4. China's first electricity-powered aircraft RX1E approved for productionNote: RX1E electric light-sport aircraft was developedby Shenyang Aerospace University and it will be

China's first manned electric light aircraft.5. India replaced China to emerge as Biggest GoldConsumer in World: Thomson ReutersGFMS team of Thomson Reuters released Gold SurveyQ3 2015 Review and Outlook. The survey says thatIndia regained its top position replacing China as thebiggest overall consumer of gold in the first ninemonths of year 2015.Note: India consumed a total of 642 tonnes of gold inthis period, while China is trailing by just 63 tonnes

with total consumption of 642 tonnes in first ninemonth of the year.

6. US drugs giant Pfizer Inc. has struck upon a deabuy Ireland based Allergan for 160 billion dolmaking it the biggest pharmaceuticals merger deahistory of healthcare sector.

7. Google officially becomes Alphabet Inc.Internet Search engine giant Google has officially converted into new parent company Alphabet Inc.

8. Mexico Government approves world’s 1st Dengfever vaccine named Dengvaxia Note: Dengvaxia has been manufactured by Frepharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur.

9. China building world’s largest animal clonfactory China is building the world’s biggest animal clon

factory to recreate sniffer dogs, racehorses, pets beef cattle.In this regard, Chinese scientists have signed a dealcreate a commercial animal cloning centre in Tianjinorth-eastern China.

10. China’s Tianhe-2 supercomputer has emergedthe world’s most powerful supercomputer systemthe sixth consecutive time. It was unveiled in 4edition of Top500 list of supercomputers.Note: Supercomputer Titan of the US DepartmenEnergy has been placed at second position.


24/51

24 | P a g e


11. Typhoon Melor struck the Philippines12. Saudi Arabian voters voted to elect women in at

least 18 municipal council seats. This was a historiclocal elections in Saudi Arabia in which women wereallowed to vote and run for office for the first time.

13. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced that it hasagreed to buy the 112-year old English newspaperSouth China Morning Post (SCMP) for an

undisclosed amount.14. Myanmar launched its first UNESCO Biosphere

Reserve Inle Lake 15. Myanmar inaugurated Yangon Stock Exchange16. Myanmar inaugurated a new stock exchange, named

Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX), with plans for sixcompanies to start trading in March 2016.

17. UNESCO designated Varanasi and Jaipur asmembers of Creative Cities Network Varanasi and Jaipur made it to the network in thecategories, City of Music and City of Crafts and FolkArt respectively.

18.

Global Financial Integrity released the GlobalIllicit Financial Flows Report 2015

The report found that developing and emergingeconomies lost 7.8 trillion US dollars in illicitfinancial flows from 2004 through 2013. In the same period, illicit outflows increased at anaverage rate of 6.5 percent per year—nearly twice asfast as global

gradestack clerk mains capsule

Documents