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NATIONAL NEWS ..................................... 3 INTERNATIONAL NEWS .......................... 49 BANKING AND ECONOMY ...................... 57 APPOINTMENTS .................................... 78 IMPORTANT DAYS ................................. 82 AWARDS ............................................... 87 SPORTS ................................................. 93 MISCELLANEOUS ................................. 102 QUESTIONS ......................................... 107

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NATIONAL NEWS

1. The 2nd edition of the Modi-Xi informal summit is being held in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu.

• The first informal meet was held at Wuhan, China in 2018.

• India has relaxed its e-visa policy for Chinese nationals. Now, Chinese can apply for an e-Tourist visa with a 5-year validity with multiple entries.

• Visa fee has been reduced across categories of e-Tourist visa.

• The existing e-conference visa, e-medical visa and 1-year multiple-entry e-business visa will continue to be issued from online platform of Indian visas.

2. Intellectual property index 2019, developed by US chamber of commerce’s Global

Innovation Policy Center (GIPC), ranked India at 36th (from 44 position in 2018) out of 50 countries and USA at the top countries. (released in Feb 2019)

• It ranks countries based on 45 indicators that are critical to an innovation-led economy supported by robust patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret protection.

• India’s Strengths and Weaknesses: -

3. Social progress index 2019, developed by Social progress imperative, ranked India at

102 position out of 149 countries and Norway at the top position.

• India’s GDP PPP per capita is $6,899 (rank – 95).

• The index measures countries on 3 dimensions – Basic Human Needs, Foundation of Well Being, Opportunity.

• Under these three dimensions, there are several components: -

4. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and IIT-Bombay are organizing the Global

Student Solar Assembly to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi as well as to promote the Gandhian idea of sustainable living.

• India has committed to reduce its carbon intensity by 33-35% by the year 2030.

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5. Trade and development report 2019, developed by United Nations Conference on

Trade and Development, has predicted that the World GDP growth rate (forecasted) is 2.3% for 2019 against 3% of 2018.

• India’s GDP growth rate is 6% for 2019 against 7.4% in 2018.

• China with a 6.1% (6.6% in 2018) growth rate for 2019 reclaims the title of the world's fastest growing economy by being ahead of India by just 0.1%.

6. SDG India Index 2019, developed by NITI Aayog and United Nations, is titled as the

“Localising SDGs Early Lessons From 2019”.

• The index bifurcates the states/UTs into three categories: - Aspirational, Performers and Frontrunner to measure the progress of states in localising and implementing Sustainable Development Goals.

• India is the sixth largest economy and remains a global engine of growth and is projected to be the fastest growing major economy in 2019-20.

7. National eGovernance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and IT and

National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal have signed an MoU for implementing the ‘Online Capacity Building Programme on Cyber Law, Crime Investigation and Digital Forensics through NeGD Learning Management System (LMS)’.

• A Cyber Forensics Lab shall be setup in the premises of National Law University (NLU) Delhi to provide an Online PG Diploma Course in Cyber Law, Crime Investigation & Digital Forensics to 1000 officials.

• Under the Digital India Programme, NeGD and NLIU will offer this course through its Learning Management System (LMS).

8. Raised Lines Foundation, a non-profit IIT-Delhi incubated start-up, has launched three

bilingual tactile books (braille), on the life of Mahatma Gandhi for the visually challenged people.

• ‘Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi’, ‘About India’ and ‘Incredible India’ are the three books.

9. Students in the Delhi-NCR region have created 2 Guinness Book world records for

environment protection on Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.

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• First: - It is in the category of ‘environmental sustainability lessons to the largest number of students at one place’ wherein close to 5,000 children participated.

• Second: - It is ‘the largest number of assembly and lighting of solar lamps’ in which more than 5,000 students participated.

10. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has launched three “Saksham Eco Mart” outlets

to phase out plastics and sell jute and cloth bags and to provide employment to women as well.

11. Andhra Pradesh has launched the Village and Ward Secretariat system to ensure that

the government services reach the last mile citizen and to strengthen the Panchayati Raj system in the state.

• Under the system, one Village Secretariat is going to be set up for every population of 2,000, with each one having close to a dozen village officials (from different departments like police, revenue, etc).

• Village Secretariats would act as a bridge between the government and the people by providing over 500 types of services at their doorstep.

• Earlier, the AP govt (under N. Chandrababu Naidu) focussed on the e-governance system and launched the e-Pragati platform in 2018 to bring many of the state government’s services online, in partnership with EY Consultancy.

12. A 2-day “Regional Conference on Developing a Comprehensive Approach: Combating

Illicit Trafficking of Afghan Opiates and Drug Situation in the Northeast (NE)” was held in Imphal, Manipur.

• Organizer: - UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office, South Asia. 13. Chhattisgarh has launched 5 new schemes namely: -

Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyaan

Mukhyamantri Haat Bazaar Clinic Yojana

Mukhyamantri Shahariya Slum Swasthya Yojana

Universal PDS (Public Distribution System) Scheme: -under the scheme, general category families (taxpayers and non-taxpayers) are eligible for food grains.

Mukhyamantri Ward Karyalaya

14. Telangana has become a fully electrified state after providing electricity to over 5 lakh

15 thousand households under the Saubhagya Yojana.

• Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana “Saubhagya” was launched in 2017. 15. Delhi cabinet has approved to create the India’s first sports university in Delhi. It will

offer degrees to sportspersons at par with degrees in other courses at graduate, postgraduate and doctoral level.

• The bill approved by the Cabinet will be sent to Lt Governor Anil Baijal. After that, the bill will be tabled in the Delhi Assembly.

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16. Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) has launched a mobile app — Blood4Pet — to bring reach out to pet blood donors for collecting blood for curing dogs.

17. Odisha has launched the ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative to ensure good governance and

transparency in the administration at the grassroots level. 18. Ministry of Railways’ Quality Council of India has conducted the Railway Cleanliness

Survey 2019 which ranks three railway stations of Rajasthan – Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Durgapura – at the top position out of the total 720 railway stations.

• Andheri, Virar and Naigaon stations in Mumbai have topped in the category of suburban stations out of the total 109 stations.

• North Western Railway followed by South East Central Railway and East Central Railway are the top three railway zones.

• Faizabad station has shown improvement the most.

• Perungalathur (Chennai) is ranked at the bottom position in non-suburban category. In suburban category, Rabindra Sadan (metro railway in Kolkata) is at the bottom.

19. Urjagiri – an awareness campaign – has been launched by Uttarakhand Chief Minister

Trivendra Singh Rawat to raise awareness among people to stop power theft and to avoid power loss.

20. India and Syria have signed an MoU for up-grading the India-Syria Next Generation

Center for Excellence in Information and Technology in Damascus.

• Objective: - To upgrade the existing India-Syria Center for Excellence in Information and Technology to the Next Generation Center for Excellence in Information and Technology (NexGen-ISCEIT).

• The NexGen-ISCEIT will work to "Train the Trainers”. This initiative will help in rapid expansion of IT Sector in Syria.

21. 3rd meeting of the Drone Innovators Network Summit 2019 is being organized in New

Delhi by World Economic Forum under the aegis of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

• India is one of the few countries to come out with drone regulations – Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), effective 1 December, 2018.

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22. According to the “2019 Southwest Monsoon Season Rainfall and IMD’s Long Range Forecasts” by India Meteorological Department (IMD), Haryana has the highest number of dry districts, 19 out of 21 (including three where rainfall was scanty).

• The driest state in India is Manipur with 56% deficiency and Haryana is the second driest state with 42% deficiency.

• Quantitatively monsoon seasonal rainfall was 110% of its Long Period Average, which is 88 cm.

• More than 52, 1/3rd of the dry districts, are in the high-output agriculture belt of Punjab, Haryana and west Uttar Pradesh, including Delhi.

23. Peddapalli district of Telangana has topped in the Rural Swachhta Survey 2019 as the

cleanest district in India.

• Haryana’s Faridabad district improved the most in the list and moved to 2nd place in 2019 from its previous rank of 71 in 2018. Haryana’s Rewari district is ranked 3rd in the list.

• Tamil Nadu has been ranked at the 1st position from 11 position in 2018. Haryana and Gujarat were ranked at second and third positions respectively.

• The survey was carried out in 17,200 villages of 690 districts.

24. 4th edition of KAZIND-2019 – a joint military exercise between India and Kazakhstan has begun at Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand.

25. PM Narendra Modi and PM of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth have jointly inaugurated the

phase 1 of Light Rail Transit metro express project (developed by L&T) and first paperless E-Hospital (of ENT) in Mauritius through a video link.

26. Ministry of Tourism has launched an audio guide facility app “Audio Odigos” for 12

sites during the 3rd edition of Paryatan Parv-2019.

• An MoU was signed between the Ministry of Tourism and Resbird Technologies in 2018 to develop the app as a part of their Corporate social responsibility.

• Apart from this, the 26th MoU was signed under the ‘Adopt a Heritage, Apni Dharohar Apni Pehchan’ scheme, which is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Survey of India and state govt/UTs to promote tourism.

27. Govt has launched the “PRAKASH” (Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply

Harmony) portal to bring transparency as well as better coordination in coal supplies to power plants.

• It was launched by Ministry of Power and the Ministry for Coal and Mines.

• The portal is developed by NTPC ltd, Central Electricity Authority (data sourcing), Centre for Railway Information System and coal companies.

• It will provide reports on daily power plant status, periodic power plant status, plant exception report and coal dispatch report.

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28. Andhra Pradesh govt has launched ‘YSR Vahana Mitra scheme’ to provide financial aid of Rs 10,000 per annum to auto-rickshaw or taxicab drivers/owners.

• Rs 400 crore has been allocated for this scheme. 29. Rajasthan has become the first state in India to launch the Policy On Pneumoconiosis (a

disease or lungs due to inhalation of dust) for prevention and control of the disease.

• Under the scheme, People diagnosed with pneumoconiosis will be declared permanently disabled.

• A standing committee under the chairmanship of Rajasthan’s chief secretary D B Gupta has been created to periodically review progress of implementation of the policy.

Entitlements - pension (1,250 per month). They will get Rs 4,000 every month as pension, and their family will receive Rs 3,500 every month for five years or until their minor heirs become self-dependent.

Rajasthan will also create a Pneumoconiosis Fund.

30. Ministry of Health and Family welfare has, in collaboration with WHO, re-designated

National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Priority Medical Devices and Health Technology Policy.

• Aim - To assist in policy and strategy development in the provision and mobilization of technical assistance to improve health outcomes.

• NHSRC and WHO’s country office have jointly developed a guidance document for the Ministry of Health’s free diagnostics initiative to strengthen the agenda of Universal access to affordable diagnostics.

31. “Trans Fat Free” logo of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been

released during the 8th International Chefs’ Conference of 2019, held in New Delhi to strengthen the ‘Eat Right Movement’.

• ‘Chefs 4 Trans Fat Free’ slogan was also released to help achieve the govt’s target to eliminate trans-fat by 2022 (quantitatively less than 2%); with the motto ‘India@75; Freedom from Trans Fats’.

• The logo of the Green Purple initiative was also launched. This 6-month initiative aims to teach the chefs on sustainable cooking (trans-fat free cooking) methods and food safety legal requirements.

• FSSAI’s Hygiene Rating Scheme is an online rating system that aims to provide ratings to the food places.

• WHO target to eliminate trans-fat is 2023.

32. Govt has formed a working group, headed by Guruprasad Mohapatra, to prepare the new industrial policy that would aim to make India -a manufacturing hub.

• It is the 3rd industrial policy after 1956 and 1991. The process of formulating the new industrial policy (replacing the existing Industrial Policy of 1991) was started by DPIIT in 2017.

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• National Manufacturing Policy will be subsumed under this new policy.

• The committee will focus on to delineating the role for private sector in achieving the national targets.

33. Ministry of Defence has increased the amount of the financial aid given to the Next of

Kin of all categories of battle casualty to Rs 8 lakhs from Rs 2 lakhs under Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund (ABCWF).

• The ABCWF was instituted in 2017 and was implemented retrospectively with effect from April 2016 under the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare.

• At present, Rs 2 lakh is given to battle casualties in case of death/60% and above disability.

• The previous Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, had launched the “Bharat ke Veer” web portal in 2017 to enable people to contribute towards family of martyrs.

34. NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) India have signed a letter of intent for establishing the Youth Co:Lab in New Delhi.

• Purpose: - To train the youths of India in entrepreneurial skills by connecting with govt, mentors, incubators and other investors.

• Phase-I of this programme focuses on six Sustainable Development Goals: -

SDG 5 (gender equality) SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation)

SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy)

SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth)

SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)

SDG 13 (Climate Action)

35. 14th edition of the joint military training exercise between India and Mongolia –

“Nomadic Elephant-XIV” has started in Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh. 36. International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has conducted the first

ever “Smart City Index 2019” which ranks Hyderabad as the top Indian city with the rank of 67.

• After Hyderabad, New Delhi is at rank 68, Mumbai is at 78 and Bengaluru is at 79.

• A total of 102 cities were assessed.

• IMD World Competitiveness Center’s Smart City Observatory, in partnership with, Singapore University of Technology and Design has presented the report.

Top 5 cities (Rank-wise)

Singapore (Singapore)

Zurich (Switzerland)

Oslo (Norway)

Geneva (Switzerland)

Copenhagen (Denmark)

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37. 39th World Congress of Poets (WCP) was organized by the World Academy of Arts and Culture (WAAC) at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology at Bhuvneshwar, Odisha under the theme of “Compassion through Poetry”.

• The WCP was founded in 1969 at Manila, Philippines by the WAAC.

38. Vishnu Nandan is the only Indian to aboard the German research vessel Polarstern, en-route on the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition to understand the impact of climate change.

• Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, MOSAiC, is leading this largest ever Arctic expedition.

• A total of 300 scientists will be on board the vessel. 39. National Health Authority (NHA) has signed a Statement of Intent with Google for

strengthening the Ayushman Bharat- PM Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY).

• Google would help provide training to NHA personnel to build their digital skills. 40. India and Bangladesh have signed various MoU during Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India: –

MoU

To establish a Coastal Surveillance system Withdrawal of 1.82 cusec of water from Feni river for drinking water scheme for Sabroom town, Tripura.

Renewal of Cultural Exchange program. And for Cooperation in Youth Affairs.

MoU between University of Dhaka and University of Hyderabad.

India and Bangladesh have signed the 3 bilateral development projects – Import of LPG from Bangladesh;

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Further decisions were: - BBIN Vehicles motor agreement will be operationalized early to encourage other partner countries of BBIN to join the agreement. Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement signed in 2015

India is offering duty free access to Bangladeshi goods (except alcohol and tobacco) under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).

41. Global Firepower Index or Military Strength Ranking 2019 has been released by the

Global Firepower which ranks India at the 4th position globally with the Power Index score of 0.1065 and India is ranked at the 1st position in South Asia.

• The index ranks a total of 137 countries based on each nation’s potential war-making capability across land, sea and air with conventional weapons. Moldova is the new country added in 2019 index.

• As per the Global Firepower, the top score in the power index is 0.0000, which is “realistically unattainable”.

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• More than 55 individual factors of each nation were assessed.

• Top Ranker – USA (with 0.0615 score), followed by Russia. 42. India’s first e-waste clinic will be set up in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh in compliance with

the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

• Bhopal Municipal Corporation and Central Pollution Control Board have partnered to set up the clinic.

43. India’s first plant to produce diesel from plastic waste has been inaugurated in

Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.

• Mathura Municipal Corporation has built it on a public-private partnership (P-P-P) model with Paterson Energy Private Limited.

44. 5th World Parliament of science, religion and philosophy 2019 was organized by the

MIT (Maharashtra Institute of Technology) World Peace University in Pune.

• Vishwa-Vigyan-Darshanik Award has been conferred upon Prof. Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad.

• Philosopher Saint Shri Dnyaneshwara World Peace Prize was awarded to Dr. Karan Singh.

45. Global Summit on ‘Spirituality for Unity, Peace and Prosperity’ was held in Mount Abu,

Rajasthan. 46. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in collaboration with AIIMS, has launched the

first ever e-Dantseva website and mobile app to provide oral health information and also to give information on symptoms of dental/oral health problems and to suggest ways to prevent/cure them through the ‘Symptom Checker’, embedded in it.

• The Braille booklet and Voice-Over on Oral Health Education was also released.

• The website has all the information about the National Oral Health Program and the list of all the dental facility and colleges, information, education and communication material.

• The first National Oral Health Care Program was launched by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the AIIMS, in 1999.

47. India-Bangladesh Business forum meet was held in New Delhi.

• Start-up Bangladesh and Tech Mahindra; and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones signed 2 Government to Business MoU.

• India and Bangladesh are members of the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), SAARC Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) and the Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) which govern the trade tariffs.

• FDI in Bangladesh from India has more than doubled from $243.91 million in 2014 to $570.11 million in December 2018.

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48. 10th edition of Indo-Maldives joint military exercise – Ekuverin 2019 – has begun at Aundh Mil Station, Punse.

49. 33rd edition of the India Economic Summit was organized by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New Delhi.

• A 100 km electric vehicle corridor will be established in Punjab, which is part of a sustainable pilot project with the WEF’s Moving India initiative.

• According to a report released by WEF and Ola Mobility Institute, India has the potential to become the largest EV market in the world.

50. Ganga Aamantran initiative (a month long open-water rafting and kayaking expedition)

to raise awareness about the importance of Ganga has been launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti as part of National Mission for Clean Ganga’s initiative.

• It will cover a total of 2500 km, from Devprayag in Uttarakhand to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal.

• Purpose: - This, first and largest campaign, aims to create awareness about River Rejuvenation and Water Conservation on a large scale.

• Personnel from the tri-services of Indian Armed forces, members from CSIR – IITR (Indian Institute of Toxicology Research) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will the initiative.

• Wildlife Institute of India will conduct the flora and fauna census of 2019, as part of this initiative across 5 Ganga basins in UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

• The program will be headed by Paramvir Singh from Indian Air Force. 51. Draft of National Education Policy (prepared by the committee headed by Dr. K.

Kasturirangan) had proposed to set up a Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (National Education Commission), as the apex education body under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, and vice-chairmanship of Minister of Human Resource Development.

• Purpose: - To increase public investment in education, technology and increase focus on vocational and adult education, among others.

• Current News: - The centre is planning to drop the plan of setting up the commission in the wake of opposition from state governments.

52. India Meteorological Department (IMD) will collaborate with meteorological agencies in

China and Pakistan to provide climate forecast services to countries in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region.

• A Regional Climate Centre would be set up as part of this collaboration. It will be under the World Meteorological Organisation.

• HKH region spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

• HKH region is considered the Third Pole as it is the world’s largest store of snow and ice outside the polar region, and the source of 10 major rivers, and, therefore, particularly sensitive to climate change.

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53. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in association with UNICEF has conducted the first-ever comprehensive National Nutrition Survey.

• Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalance in an individual’s intake of

nutrients or energy. It is of two types:

o Undernutrition which includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low

weight for height), underweight (low weight for age), etc.

o Overnutrition which includes obesity/overweight and other diet-related non-

communicable diseases.

• The survey recorded malnutrition that included micronutrient deficiencies and

details of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol

and kidney function in children and adolescents.

• Nearly 10% of children in the age group of 5-9 years and adolescents in the age

group of 10-19 years are pre-diabetic.

• The survey for the first time proved the coexistence of obesity and under nutrition.

• One in five children in the age group 5 to 9 years were stunted.

• Tamil Nadu and Goa had the highest number of adolescents who were obese or

overweight.

• Parameters of the Survey : - 50 indicators were aggregated to create six sub-indicators — diet, malnutrition, iron deficiency, micronutrient deficiency, non-communicable diseases and obesity to ranked all 30 states on each indicator and sub-indicator.

• The indicators dealt with children in three age groups - 1-4, 5-9 and adolescents in

10-19.

• PARAMETERS of CNNS: -

54. Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana has been launched in Uttar Pradesh to

empower the girl child by giving financial aid of Rs 15,000 at the birth of a girl child.

55. Ministry of Human Resource Organization has launched the Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme named DHRUV for Science, Mathematics and Arts students to enhance their skills.

• Named after the pole star (Dhruv Tara), this 14-day learning programme will target 60 students from 9 to 12 Class all over the country.

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• The program has been launched at ISRO head office in Bangalore and will conclude in IIT-Delhi.

56. India has been ranked 68th (decline of 10 positions) out of the total 141 countries in the

Global Competitiveness Index 2019 released by World Economic Forum.

• India and Brazil (rank- 71) are the worst performing among the BRICS. While China (Rank- 28), Russia (43) and South Africa (60) are ahead of them.

• Singapore is the most competitive country while Chad is the least competitive country.

• The countries were assessed on 103 indicators divided in 12 pillars.

57. According to the Health system Strengthening Conditionality Report of states 2018-19

report released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Uttarakhand are the worst performers under the National Health Mission (NHM) scheme.

• Central govt will cut 20% of the funds to these worst performing states.

• The top performing states under the scheme were Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Assam and Dadar & Nagar Haveli.

• Under the NHM, at least 14 states/UT were penalized for not performing in various health parameters.

• Mission Steering Group of NHM has decided to increase the performance-based incentive/penalty from 10% to 20% of the NHM budget which means that 80% of the resource would be assured for the state, while 20% of the resource would depend on its performance.

• Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim could not meet the minimum criteria of full immunisation of 75%, therefore there were not considered for assessment.

• 7 parameters: - operationalisation of health and wellness centres, provisioning of mental health services in districts covered under the NHM programme, screening of 30+ population for non-communicable diseases and grading of primary health centres (both urban and rural), performance of district hospitals.

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58. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has partnered with IIM-Bangalore to launch a two-year fellowship programme called Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) programme’ to boost skill development at the district level.

• The programme is designed under Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP).

• Purpose: - To eliminate the non-availability of personnel for various programmes at national, state and district levels.

• It has been launched on a pilot basis in 75 districts across Gujarat, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

59. Government has launched the GEMINI device to provide disaster-related information

to fishermen (particularly) when they are 10 to 12 km away from the coast.

• GEMINI stands for Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information.

• GAGAN is a GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation service (effective since 2015) to provide satellite-based navigation services in India through GSAT-8, GSAT-10 and GSAT-15.

• The entire area from Australia to Africa is covered by GAGAN. 60. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative stamp to honour Marshal of

Air Force late Arjan Singh during the 87th Airforce day.

61. 13th Conference of Central Council of Health and Family Welfare has been inaugurated by the Union Health Minister Dr Harsha Vardhan where the steps to achieve the target of health expenditure at 2.5% of GDP by 2025 (as set in the National Health Policy 2017) were discussed.

• A new initiative SUMAN – Surakshit Matritva Aashwasam – was launched to end the preventable maternal and new born deaths.

• Two new reports – National Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Survey India (2015-19) and Report on National Blindness & Visual Impairment Survey India 2015-19, prepared with the support of AIIMS – were launched here.

SUMAN – Surakshit Matritva Aashwasam

Free medicines, check-up etc will be provided free of cost to pregnant women, mother and infants to bring down the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).

MMR in India has come down from 254 per 1 lakh live births in 2004-06 to 130 per 1 lakh live births in 2014-16. IMR has declined from 66 per 1,000 live births in 2001 and to 34 in 2016.

62. e-Vidyabharti (tele-education) and e-ArogyaBharti (Tele-Medicine) projects were

opened for all 54 African countries by Ministry of External Affairs on the 55th anniversary of India’s flagship capacity building programme – “Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation” (ITEC).

• The services will be delivered by Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd.

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• e-ITEC and ITEC executive (capacity building initiatives) were launched to provide innovative courses for users and professionals.

• Run by the Indian government, ITEC is a bilateral assistance programme (launched in 1964). It offers 12,000 scholarships to professionals across fields like Information Technology, Agriculture etc.

63. India has pledged $22 million towards the Global Fund to fight against AIDS,

tuberculosis and malaria (GFTAM) during its Sixth Replenishment Conference held in Lyon, France.

• $14.02 billion fund has been pledged for the next 3 years to save 16 million lives and eliminate AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030.

• USA is the highest donor with $1.56 billion a year (33% of the total contribution) followed by France with $1.29 billion donation.

• This is the largest amount ever raised for a multilateral health organization, and the largest amount by the Global Fund.

64. Council for Advancement of People’s action and rural Technology (under the Ministry

of Rural Development) has launched the ‘SARAS Aajeevika Mela’ initiative under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in New Delhi.

• Purpose: - To bring the rural women Self Help Groups under one platform and also to help them understand the demands of urban customers.

65. World’s first species of eel-loach living in subterranean environments has been

discovered in Kozhikode district of Kerala.

• Researchers from the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies have named it ‘Pangio bhujia’.

• Eel-loaches are generally found in fast flowing streams in South and South East Asia.

66. World Wide Fund for Nature India has conducted the annual Ganges river dolphin census, in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department, along about 250­km­long riverine stretch between Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary and Narora Ramsar site began in Bijnor, UP.

• It shows that the dolphin population in the Uttar Pradesh has increased to 36 in 2019 from 33 in 2018.

67. A website and a mobile application – Sahyatri – have been launched to help the railway

police in addressing the complaints of passengers from all over India and to integrate the criminal database online.

68. According to the National Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Survey report 2019

released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 11.8% of people aged above 50 and around 10.6% of the diabetic patients are at risk of losing their vision.

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• The survey conducted during 2015-2019 by the Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, New Delhi, was done on more than 63,000 people aged above 50 years in 21 districts.

• The highest prevalence of diabetes was observed in the 70-79 years age group at 13.2%.

• The prevalence of blindness among diabetics was found to be 2.1% and visual impairment 13.7%.

• Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in the 60-69 years age group was 18.6%, 70-79 years was 18.3% and among more than 80 years was 18.4% while a lower prevalence of 14.3% was observed in the 50-59 years age group.

69. Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund

(NIIF) have partnered to install smart electricity meters in all households across India.

• A joint venture called IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt Ltd has been formed by the companies to operate the smart meter program.

• Till now, EESL has installed 6.25 lakh smart meters in India. 70. Henley Passport Index 2019 (Q4 update) ranks India at 82nd position (down from 81st

position in 2018) with a score of 59.

• Parameters:- It is based on the data of International Air Transport Association (IATA).

• Japan and Singapore were ranked at the first position.

71. India has announced an additional Line of Credit of $236 million to Mongolia (in addition to the previous $1 billion LoC) for construction of Mongolia’s first petrochemical refinery (of 1.5 MMT capacity).

• Mongol refinery project is the largest project undertaken by India under LoC programme.

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72. During the 5th National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges, the Ministry of Women and Child Development announced to develop a POSHAN atlas to map crops and food grains grown all over the country.

• Purpose: - To promote regional cropping pattern and nutrition rich food in local areas.

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Deenadayal Research Institute will help in developing the atlas.

• NITI Aayog will develop a new ranking to acknowledge Anganwadi workers and ASHA workers of Poshan Abhiyan to help states rank districts based on health and nutritional parameters.

• World Bank Global Nutrition Report, 2018, mentions that India spends around $10 billion annually on malnutrition in terms of lost productivity, illness and death.

73. Ministry of Home Affairs is planning to amend the draft of Arms (Amendment) Bill to

punish manufacturers and users of illegal arms.

• As per the new amendment, makers and users of “prohibited” arms would be punished with life imprisonment.

• The government will ban the multiple gun licenses to individuals. Only 2 licensed gun will be allowed to any individual.

• Section 25 (1AA) of Arms act 1959 will be amended to extend the punishment from 14 years to life imprisonment.

• Illegal import of guns and their sales have been categorized as “illicit trade” and the dealers will be sent to jail up to 7 years.

• A sports person (shooting sports) can possess a third gun (0.22 calibre rifle only), if they have been recognised in national or international events in the last two years by the central government.

74. National Blindness and Visually Impaired Survey 2019 (surveying the period of 2015-2018) has been released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in collaboration with AIIMS-Rajendra Prasad Eye Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences.

• The report mentions that visual impairment has been reduced by 51.9% (2.55% in 2010) against the target of 25% set by WHO’s global action plan for the Universal Eye Health (2014-19).

• The estimated blindness has come down to 0.36% from 1% in 2006-2007—since the last survey. The survey was conducted in 24 states and UT.

• Prevalence of blindness has been reduced by around 47% since the last survey (conducted in 2006-07) and the number of people suffering from blindness has declined from 12 million in 2006-07 to 4.8 million in 2019.

• India is working on the WHO’s goal to reduce the blindness prevalence to 0.3% by 2020.

• In 2017, the definition of the definition of blindness was changed by India as “a person, if unable to count fingers from a distance of 3 metres would be considered “blind” as against the earlier estimation of 6 meters, adopted in 1976”.

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Prevalence of blindness

Above 80 11.6%

70-79 4.1% 60-69 1.6%

50-59 0.5% Reason of blindness – For 66.2% cases was untreated cataract

92.9% blindness and 96.2% visual impairment cases were due to avoidable causes.

Prevalence of blindness in State and district Lowest Highest

Thrissur district in Kerala Thoubal district in Manipur

Bijnor distirct in Uttar Pradesh

75. India has become a member of G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology

Governance.

• The organization works for promoting the ethical use of smart city technologies.

• Secretariat for the Alliance is the World Economic Forum (HQ- Switzerland).

• Partners of this Alliance: - presidents and host nations of the G20 in 2019 and 2020; Japan and Saudi Arabia; Smart City Mission of India; Cities for All; Cities Today Institute; Commonwealth Local Government Forum; Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network among others.

76. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affair has launched a mobile app – “mHariyali” and a

new website “Environment Protection in Government Colonies” to encourage people to plant trees.

• The app allows automatic geotagging of plants.

• National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed both app and website.

77. Forbes India Rich List 2019 has been released by Forbes India. Rank Name

1 Mukesh Ambani

2 Gautam Adani

3 Hinduja brothers

4 Pallonji Mistry

5 Uday Kotak

78. Rajasthan has increased the unemployment allowance for transgenders to Rs 3,500

from Rs 3,000 per month under the Mukhyamantri Yuva Sambal Yojana (Berozgari Bhatta scheme).

79. 2nd edition of India–Bangladesh Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) 2019 was held in

Northern Bay of Bengal.

• First edition of the India–Bangladesh CORPAT was held in 2018.

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80. India and USA conducted their joint military training exercise “Vajra Prahar” in Seattle, USA.

81. India and Japan will hold their joint military exercise – Dharma Guardian 2019 – in

Mizoram.

82. Netherlands has been invited to participate in the 25th edition of the Technology Summit (a bilateral platform) to held in New Delhi.

• The summit aims to integrate industries, government agencies and institutes from India and other countries to interact with each other.

• Organizer: - Department of Science and Technology and Confederation of India Industry.

• 'NEXUS' is the central theme of the summit to focus on how India and Netherlands can Innovation through Co-creation.

• The bilateral trade between India and Netherlands was $6.28 billion during FY 2018-19 (April to September).

• Netherlands is the fourth largest trading partner of India after EU, UK, Germany and Belgium.

83. Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day) is celebrated to honour Sardar Valabhbhai

Patel on his 144th birth anniversary on October 31.

• Civil Service probationers attending the first foundation civil service course, Aarambh.

84. India and Bangladesh will conduct their first ever bilateral Navy Exercise called “IN-BN”

at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. 85. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has announced a line of credit of $41.6 million for

setting up a 18 MW Power Plant (in Moroni) to Comoros during the first-ever high-level official visit from India to Comoros.

• India gifted medicines and equipment of $1 million, $1 million for transport vehicles, $2 million for Interceptor Boats and 1000 MT of rice to Comoros.

• M Venkaiah Naidu has been awarded with ‘The Order of the Green Crescent’, the highest Civilian Honour of Comoros.

• India and Comoros signed 6 MoU for cooperation in the field of: -

(i) Co-operation in the field of defence (ii) Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine

(iii) Exemption of visa for diplomatic and official passport holders

(iv) Cooperation in the field of Arts and Culture

(v) Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations (vi) e-VBAB Network Project

86. West Bengal has announced to set up the Kanyashree University (only for women) in

Nadia district and Kanyashree colleges across the state to empower girls.

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• Kanyashree scheme, (launched in 2013), aims to empower girl students by incentivizing schooling of all teenage girls and delaying their marriages until the age of 18, the legal age of marriage.

• The scheme has two components: Annual Scholarship of Rs. 500 (to the girls of class 8-12) and One time Grant of Rs. 25,000.

87. India will produce the 175 GW renewable power installed capacity (including 100 GW of

solar, 60 GW of wind, 10 GW of bio-power and 5 GW of small hydropower) by 2022, according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

• Recently, CRISIL ratings has released a report which mentions that India would lag behind of its target of 175 GW of renewable energy by 42%.

• Presently, India has an installed capacity of 82.58 GW of power generation. 88. India has extended a line of credit of $30 million for rice cultivation to Sierra Leone as

part of the 6 agreements signed between them.

• India will establish a High Commission in Sierra Leone to enhance cooperation in agriculture, food processing, Information Technology, infrastructure development and capacity building.

• India has so far granted $217.5 million developmental assistance to Sierra Leone.

• India and Sierra Leone signed 6 MoU for cooperation in the field of: -

Cultural Exchange Programme for 2019-2023

Establishment of a Joint Commission

Protocol for Consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

MoU between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (Sierra Leone)

$30 million line of credit to Sierra Leone For Participation in the e-VBAB Network Project (Technology upgradation Pan African e-network Project (PAeNP)- Phase-I)

89. Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar, has launched the Yuva Sahakar-

Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme 2019 with an annual outlay of Rs 100 crore at the first-ever India International Cooperatives Trade Fair, held in Delhi.

• Purpose: - To help cooperatives in the north-east region, cooperatives in aspirational districts (as identified by NITI Aayog), and cooperatives with 100% women/SC/ST/PwD members.

• The scheme is developed by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).

• During the Trade Fair, 75 MoU were signed.

• India (the largest milk producer in the world) signed 3 Memorandum of Interest with Sri Lanka for the supply of milk and milk products.

• Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu milk cooperative federation and Puducherry milk cooperative federation also signed a separate agreement for milk supply.

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• India is expected to produce 175 billion litres of milk in 2019, twice of the production of USA (which is the second-largest milk producer in the world).

90. India and China have designated 2020 as Year of India-China Cultural and People to

People Exchanges during the 2nd India-China Informal Summit (also called ‘Chennai Connect) in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu.

• 2020 also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of India-China relations.

• High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue mechanism will be set up between India and China to reduce trade deficit (of $53 billion), enhance trade, services and investments.

• A sister-state link between Tamil Nadu and Fujian province of China has been established to study maritime connections between Mahabalipuram and Fujian.

• 3rd Informal Summit between India-China will be held in China (city not decided).

• Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 91. Ministry of Consumer Affairs has announced that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

will rank all state capitals and 100 smart cities on the basis of quality of tap water to prevent water borne diseases. At the district level rankings will also be done.

• BIS standards will be imposed mandatorily on drinking water to ensure quality in water supply.

• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s data show that at least 10,738 deaths were caused due to water-borne diseases over five years to 2017.

• ‘One Nation, One Standard’ is also being developed by BIS to bring clarity among consumers, manufacturers.

92. HCL Technologies Chairman Shiv Nadar has topped the Edelgive Hurun India

Philanthropy List 2019 released by Hurun India for contributing Rs 826 crore during FY19.

• Azim Premji (with Rs 453 crore contribution) and Mukesh Ambani (with Rs 402 crore) hold 2nd and 3rd positions in the list.

• Addition Facts: - As per Companies Act 2013, it is mandatory for companies earning a net profit of Rs 5 crore or Rs 1,000 crore turnover or Rs 500 crore net worth., to devote 2% of their profit to CSR.

93. IIT-Madras has signed an agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering

Company to jointly conduct research in energy and biofuels for 5-years.

• It is in line with the ‘National Biofuel Policy’ that aims to make India’s biofuel industry into a $15.6 billion economy.

• India is the 3rd highest producer of agro-residues after China and Brazil with the surplus potential of over 230 million tonnes per year.

• National Policy on Biofuels was approved in 2018, which categorizes the biofuels into 3 categories which include:

• First Generation: bioethanol, biodiesel and “Advanced Biofuels”.

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• Second Generation:, ethanol, municipal solid waste to drop-in fuels.

• Third Generation: bio-CNG. 94. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched a

website and app named L2Pro India (Learn to Protect, Secure and Maximize Your Innovation) on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

• Purpose: - To help youth, innovators, entrepreneurs and small and medium industries in better understanding the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

• Developer: - Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM)- DPIIT along with Qualcomm and National Law University, Delhi.

• Already, L2Pro has been successfully implemented in Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and France.

95. 2nd phase of Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse or LOTUS-

HR, initiated between India and Netherland, was launched at Barapullah drain in New Delhi.

• LOTUS-HR (launched in 2017) is a water treatment lab to treat dirty water of Barapullah Drain in Delhi before it deposits into Yamuna.

• Department of Biotechnology (under Ministry of Science and Technology), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research along with IIT-Delhi, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) are partners in this project.

96. UNICEF has released the “The State of the World’s Children Report” 2019 which looks

into the issues of children, food and nutrition.

• Title of the report: - Children, food and nutrition Growing well in a changing world.

• Findings for World: - 149 million are still stunted, Globally, 1/3rd of children U-5 are suffering from malnutrition.

• 50 million are affected by wasting. 40 million children U-5 are suffering from overweight.

• Over 340 million children suffering from deficiencies of essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

• Only 2 out of 5 infants under 6 months are breast-fed which could save the lives of 820,000 children annually worldwide

• Japan has the lowest Infant Mortality Rate.

• India has the highest number of under-five deaths in 2018 with 882,000.

• Fast-food sales grew by 113% in India.

97. Andhra Pradesh has increased the financial assistance to Rs 13,500 per annum from the earlier Rs 12,500 for the farmers under its YSR Rythu Bharosa - PM Kisan Samman Yojana.

• The amount is payable in three instalments, with the State Government contributing Rs 7,500 and the Centre Rs 6,000.

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• State Govt has allocated Rs 5,500 crore for the scheme and the number of beneficiaries is initially put at roughly Rs 40 lakh.

98. According to the latest New World Wealth's 'The Wealthiest Cities Worldwide in 2019'

list, New York is the top wealthiest city in the world with 65 billionaires and $3 trillion wealth.

• Tokyo is at the 2nd position with a total wealth of $2.5 trillion.

• Parameters: - private wealth held by all individuals living in each city.

• From India, Mumbai is the wealthiest city with a global rank of 12, followed by Delhi at 22nd rank.

• Bangalore is at the 26th position while Hyderabad came last at 28. Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad were "expected to grow strongly over the next 10 years”.

99. Under the Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah Yojana (launched in Madhya Pradesh),

the brides would get Rs 51,000 at the time of her marriage, if the groom’s house has a toilet.

• Aim: - To ensure that toilets are constructed in every household in the state. 100. Facebook, in partnership with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has initiated the 2nd

phase of its digital literacy program for tribal women called GOAL – Going Online as Leaders. (1st Phase of the program was launched in March 2019)

• GOAL connects underprivileged young women from tribal areas with senior expert mentors to learn digital and life skills.

• 5000 young women will be digitally mentored in the 2nd phase.

101. Global Hunger Index (GHI) has been released by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, which mentions that India has been ranked at 102 position (95 position in 2018) out of 117 countries.

• Total 17 countries with 2019 GHI scores of less than 5 are not assigned individual ranks, but rather are collectively ranked 1–17.

• Lowest rank: - Central African Republic at 117th rank.

• Parameters: - Four indicators – undernourishment, child wasting, wasting in U-5 children; child stunting, and U-5 child mortality.

Facts About India in this report: -

Child Wasting in India is extremely high at 20.8% in 2018 rose from 16.5% in the 2008-2012 period.

Just 9.6% of all children between 6-23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet.

India has improved in the U-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food.

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102. Indian Air Force will conduct its joint military exercise –‘Shinyuu Maitri’– with Japanese Air Force in West Bengal.

103. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indian Veterinary Research

Institute (IVRI) have released two diagnostic kits developed under ‘Make in India’ to control Swine and detect Antigen in cattle.

• The kits are called Blue tongue sandwich ELISA (sELISA) and Japanese Encephalitis lgM ELISA.

• Bluetongue disease is a noncontagious, insect-borne, viral disease of ruminants, mainly sheep and less frequently cattle, goats, buffalo, deer, dromedaries, and antelope.

104. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the Food Safety Mitra Scheme,

Eat Right Smart Jacket and Eat Right Jhola.

• The scheme is introduced by Food Safety and Security Authority of India.

• The scheme will lead to improved ease of doing business by creating a transparent and organized ecosystem supporting food businesses wherein food businesses will be able to get trained service providers at fair prices - lowering the costs of compliance.

• A Food Safety Mitra (FSM) is an individual professional certified by FSSAI who will ensure compliance related to FSS Act, Rules & Regulations in three forms- Digital Mitra, Trainer Mitra and Hygiene Mitra.

• Eat Right Jhola is a reusable, washable and bio-degradable bag.

• Eat Right Smart Jacket for FSSAI staff to give an identity to them and ensure transparent inspection.

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105. For the first time, 5th edition of World Coffee Conference and Expo 2020 will be held in India in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

• Theme: - ‘Sustainability Through Consumption’

• Organizer: - International Coffee Organization (ICO, London) and Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

• This is a quadrennial event and its first four editions have been held in England, Brazil, Guatemala, and Ethiopia.

• ICO is the main intergovernmental organization operating under United Nations since its inception in 1963. The first International Coffee Agreement (ICA) entered into force in 1962 for a period of five years, after which the ICO was established.

106. Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has released the 10th edition of its World Giving

Index (WGI) 2019, which ranks India at the 82nd position among the 128 countries.

• Top Country: - USA (1)

• Bottom Countries: - China (126).

• The survey collected the data between 2009-2018.

107. World Bank has released the Women, Business and the Law (WBL) report which measures the how the laws and regulations restrict women's economic opportunities and suggest measures for gender equality.

• On the Women, Business And The Law Index Scores – Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxemburg and Sweden achieved the top rank with a perfect 100 score.

• India has 71.25 WBL Score.

• Saudi Arabia is at the bottom place in the index with 25.63 scores.

108. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have jointly released the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2019 (APTIR) report which examines the non-tariff measures (NTMs) of different countries.

• Theme of the report is “Navigating Non-tariff Measures towards Sustainable Development”.

Findings: -

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• The report finds out that NTMs are now affecting around 58% of trade in Asia and the Pacific.

• Average cost of these measures stands at 1.6% of GDP (roughly US $1.4 trillion globally).

• Only 10% of the Asia and the Pacific countries have NTMs for countering the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and illegal timber trade.

Suggestions: -

• The report suggests that trade costs of NTMs can be significantly reduced by moving to paperless trade and cross-border electronic exchange of information.

• It can reduce costs by 25% on average in the region, leading to the savings of over US $600 billion annually for both governments and traders.

About APTIR

APTIR is published annually and provides analysis of regional developments in trade in goods and commercial services, as well as Foreign Direct Investment.

It also analyses the impacts of these recent changes in trade on countries’ abilities to achieve the sustainable development goals.

• UNCTAD hosted the 5th Non-Tariff Measures week and Multi-Agency Support Team (MAST) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

109. Chenani- Nashri tunnel (9.2 km long) will be renamed after Dr Shyama Prasad

Mukherjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

• It is the longest tunnel in India. 110. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released a commemorative postal stamp

of National Institute of Nutrition (headquartered in Hyderabad) during the Centenary Celebrations of the institute.

• Theme of the celebrations is “Empowering the nation through nutrition”.

• The stamp was launched under the “Corporate My Stamp” scheme of India Posts, which was launched in 2016 which allows a corporate entity or an individual to print photo inside the postage stamp.

• A one-time award “ICMR-NIN-Centenary Award” was conferred upon the legendary nutrition scientist, C Gopalan.

111. India has inducted American precision-guided Excalibur artillery ammunition and

indigenous Dhanush howitzer in its inventory.

• Dhanush howitzer is a 155 mm artillery gun. 112. According to the State of the World’s Children (SOWC) 2019 released by UNICEF,

nearly 80% Indian babies aged 6 to 23 months do not receive minimum dietary diversity.

As per SOWC, 61% of Indian children, adolescents and mothers consume dairy products at least once a week, only around 40% children

Over 85% Indian children (5 to 9 years) and adolescents, and 75% mothers, consume pulses and dark green leafy vegetables at least once a week, according to SOWC.

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113. Global Tuberculosis Report 2019 has been released by WHO, which mentions that India accounts for 26.9% of the global TB cases of 10 million in 2018 as against the 27% in 2017.

• India (27%), China (9%), Indonesia (8%), the Philippines (6%), Pakistan (6%), Nigeria (4%), Bangladesh (4%), and South Africa (3%) accounted for the almost 66% of the burden.

• Globally in 2018, 51% of people with TB were tested for rifampicin resistance, up from 41% in 2017.

Other details about India: -

In 2017, India had 27.4 lakh TB patients, which declined to 26.9 lakh in 2018, but of these, only about 21.5 lakh were reported. This indicates that the total TB incidence rate in India has decreased by almost 50,000 patients over the past 1 year.

India’s Target: - 2025 to eliminate TB. WHO’s Target: - 2030 to eliminate TB. Annual rate of TB reduction: - 2% in India, which is far lower than what is required to meet the 2025 target.

Incidence per 1 lakh population decreased from 204 in 2017 to 199 in 2018.

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114. 20th Livestock Census has been conducted by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal

Husbandry and Dairying) which mentions that the total Livestock population is 535.78 million (an increase of 4.6% as compared to the previous census of 2012).

115. Indian Air Force and Royal Air Force Oman are holding the 5th edition of their bilateral Joint exercise named EX EASTERN BRIDGE-V in Masirah Island, Oman.

• For the first time, MiG-29 fighter aircraft will be participating in an International Exercise outside India.

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116. NITI Aayog has released the first edition of the India Innovation Index 2019 which has been topped by Karnataka (in larger states category), Delhi (in UTs) and Sikkim (in hilly areas categories).

• Lowest rankers: - Jharkhand (in larger states category), Lakshadweep (in UTs) and Meghalaya (in hilly areas).

117. Credit Suisse Research Institute has released the report ‘The CS Gender 3000 in

2019: The changing face of companies’ which ranks India at the 23rd position out of the 56 countries.

• Top ranker: - Italy and Singapore with 15% of female CEOs and 16% and 23% overall Women in management respectively.

• Lowest ranker: - Turkey is at the lowest rank with 0% female CEO and 12% overall Women in management.

About India: -

India’s female representation on boards is 15.2% in 2019 (increased by 4.3%) against the global average of 20.6%.

India has been ranked at the third-lowest place in the Asia Pacific (APAC) in terms of female CEO representation which is at 2%, as well as the second-lowest rank for female CFO representation at 1%.

India has slightly improved in female representation in senior management from 6.9% in 2016 to 8.5% in 2019. However, it holds the third-lowest spot in APAC, ahead of South Korea (4%) and Japan (3%).

About ‘The CS Gender 3000 in 2019: The changing face of companies’

The report analyses the representation of female in top management positions in over 3,000 companies stretching across 56 countries and comprising 30,000 executive positions.

In APAC, including Japan, the CS Gender 3000 dataset includes 1,280 companies from 14 jurisdictions.

118. Indian Army (AG/MP 5 & 6 – faction of Army responsible for maintaining records of

personnel) has launched the Officers Automated and Structured Information System (OASIS) on the Army Data Network (ADN) to allow the officers to view their service records, raise observations etc.

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119. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has organized the first ever Asia Health 2019 in New Delhi. It has been chaired by Jitendra Singh (Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C)

• Focus of the conference: - Serving The World’s Fastest Growing Region - Through Healthcare Convergence.

120. PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with the Ministry of Science

and Technology have conducted a survey called ‘University-Industry Linkage Index’ which mentions that India’s overall education sector has lagged in this index.

• State-wise: - Karnataka and Kerala have topped this index while West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar are poor performers.

• Industry linkages are found moderate in India with an overall score of 4.7 in a scale of 10.

• The survey stressed the need for reviving the Protection and Utilization of Public-Funded Intellectual Property (PUPFIP) Bill, 2008 which later withdrawn from Parliament.

• Parameters: - total 10 were assessed, including joint patents, industry consultations, placements, role of industry in developing curriculum and pedagogy.

• Suggestion: - 10 sectors for improving industry linkage through capacity building, research and development activity have been identified.

121. Kerala has become the first state in India to extend the benefits of the central

Maternity Benefit Act to employees in the private sector in the field of education.

• 26-week maternity leave with salary will be allowed to them. 122. India will host the 91st Interpol General Assembly in 2022.

123. India and Philippines signed 4 agreements for cooperation in the field of maritime

domain, security, tourism, science and technology and culture.

• Both nations also agreed to bolster defence and maritime security partnership.

• Philippine Coast Guard and the Indian Navy will share the white shipping information between themselves.

• White shipping information refers to exchange of advance information on the movement and identity of commercial non-military merchant vessels.

124. 2nd annual leadership summit of the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum

(USISPF) will be held in New Delhi. 125. 9th edition of the India-US Defence Technologies and Trade Initiative’s (DTTI) group

meeting will be conducted in New Delhi.

• DTTI is a flexible mechanism, devised to allow smooth defence engagement between the two countries. It is not a treaty or law.

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• According to the Pentagon (US Department of Defense), bilateral defence trade between the India and US is expected to reach $18 billion by year-end.

126. Ministry of Culture has launched an e-portal and a YouTube channel of Rashtriya

Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) during the ‘Digital Bharat-Digital Sanskriti’ program held in New Delhi (headquarters of CCRT).

• ‘Dewas Ki Sanskritik Parampara’ book, written by Jeevan Singh Thakur and published by CCRT, has also been released here.

• CCRT has started publishing books from the series “Untold Tales of India’s Cities”.

• CCRT operates under the aegis of Ministry of Culture. 127. Colonel Chewang Rinchen Setu/Bridge (named in honor of Col Chewang Rinchan)

has been inaugurated over Shyok River in Eastern Ladakh.

• The bridge, built by Project Himank of Border Roads Organization, is worth Rs 100 crore with a capacity of 70 tonnes.

• The bridge is India's highest altitude all-weather permanent bridge.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has opened the Siachen Glacier at 11,000 ft (world’s highest battlefield) for tourism.

128. According to a study by CARE Ratings, Telangana is ranked at the 7th place in terms of overall government’s capital expenditure (capex) on infrastructure during 2015-19.

• But, in terms of capex on irrigation, Telangana has topped the list.

• The top 10 States in the country accounted for 73% of the combined capex undertaken by all States.

• During the 5 years except for FY18, the annual expenditure of states in absolute terms has increased annually. In FY18, it declined by 2% over previous year.

• Together, the states have accounted for over 65% of the total capex in FY19.

129. India- Myanmar joint naval exercise ‘IMNEX-19’ was conducted at Visakhapatnam,

Andhra Pradesh.

• It will be conducted in two phases- Harbour and Sea.

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130. Goa and Software Technology Park of India have signed 2 MoU at the Vibrant Goa

Global Expo and Summit 2019 to create a start-up centre and IT park in the state.

• STPI is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and IT.

• 17 MoU have been signed by Goa govt during the summit.

• Goa Business School IT Summit was also inaugurated. 131. India has signed 8 MoU with Slovenia during the President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit

to Slovenia (in September). MoU Agencies

Programme of Scientific and Technological Cooperation for the period 2020-2022

Ministry of Science & Technology of India and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia

MoU on Cooperation in the field of Sport

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India) and Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of Slovenia

Programme of Cooperation in the fields of Culture, Arts, Education, Sports and Mass Media

Param Jit Mann, Ambassador of India to Slovenia and Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (Slovenia)

Programme on Technical Cooperation in the field of Standardization

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Slovenian Institute for Standardization

MoU between Invest India and SPIRIT Slovenia

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2 MoU signed by IIT Kanpur with VGB and Space-SI (Slovenia) for cleaning Ganga

-

Cooperation Agreement Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and Associated Chambers Of Commerce And Industry Of India (ASSOCHAM)

132. Sudarshan Chakra Vahini (a 2-day long) exercise of Indian Army has been conducted

at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

• Artillery used: - Agni Missile, K-9 vajra and indigenously manufactured light helicopter Rudra.

133. Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, has announced to spend $1.4 trillion on

infrastructure by 2024 during the annual meeting of IMF and World Bank at Washington DC.

• India is adopting Zero Budget Natural Farming model (developed by Subhash Palekar) to promote the use of organic seeds and natural fertilizers by farmers.

• 2021 Annual Meeting of World bank and IMF will take place in Marrakech, Morocco.

• G24 (a grouping of some of the most influential developing countries in the World Bank and IMF) were also present in this meeting.

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134. UN World Food Programme launched the global ad campaign on global hunger and

malnutrition called “Feed Our Future” displaying last year’s results about the hunger.

• The ad will be launched in partnership with UFO Moviez to engage and motivate moviegoers to help create a world with Zero Hunger.

135. India and France will conduct the 5th edition of their joint military exercise ‘Shakti’ at

Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Bikaner, Rajasthan. 136. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had become the first defence minister to fly the

light combat aircraft Tejas (in September). 137. Government has formed a committee, to be headed by K Vijay Raghavan, for

resolving the differences between Ministry of Information and Technology and NITI Aayog over the National Program on Artificial Intelligence framework.

• In May, NITI Aayog has also announced to create a 20 institutional centres for transformational AI and a cloud computing platform called AIRAWAT.

• In 2018, NITI Aayog has released a discussion paper on National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence themed as #AIForAll to highlight the govt’s role in leveraging the AI framework in India.

• The focus is on sectors like agriculture, health and education where public investment and lead would be necessary.

138. National Crime Records Bureau has released the data for crimes in India in 2017,

which mentions that: - Category of Crime 2017 (% rise from 2016)

Total Cognizable Offences (including 61.2% Indian Penal Code crimes and 38.8% Special & Local Laws crimes)

3.6%

Indian Penal Code crimes 2.9%

Special & Local Laws crimes 4.8% Violent Crimes Murder – Kidnapping –

declined by 5.9% increased by 9%

Crime Against Women Cruelty by Husband and his Relatives – Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty – Kidnapping & Abduction of Women – Rape –

Rate of Crime in 2017 33.2% 27.3% 21% 10.3%

Crime Against Children kidnapping & abduction – Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 including child rape –

Rate of Crime in 2017 42.0% 25.3%

Economic Offences 2015-2017 Rate of Crime in 2017

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All India [Crime Rate is calculated as Crime per one lakh of population]

11.6%

Cyber Crime (All India) 1.7% (2017)

139. Railways will initiate a Rs 18000-crore project to increase the speed of trains up to

160 kmph on the busy Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata routes by upgrading infrastructure (expected to be completed in 4 years).

• Ghana's Railway Development Ministry and Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) have signed an MoU for implementing the rail projects in Ghana.

140. INS Nilgiri, indigenously Stealth Frigate, has been commissioned into the Indian

Navy at the dockyard of the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai (in September).

• It is the first of the seven Project-17A.

• Project 17 A frigate are a derivation of the Shivalik class stealth frigates with much more advanced features.

• Largest dry dock named as the ‘The Aircraft Carrier Dock’ has also been commissioned at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai.

• INS Khanderi, (2nd Scorpene-class submarine) was also commissioned.

141. QS India University Rankings 2020 has been topped by IIT-Bombay, followed by IISc Bangalore at the 2nd position and IIT-Delhi at the 3rd position.

• Total 100 universities were assessed.

• Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar (IIT-BBS) has entered into the top 20 at 20th position.

• University of Calcutta and Jadavpur University are at the 11th and 12th positions and have topped the state-run universities.

• In overall NIRF ranking, IIT-Madras has been ranked at the top position. The detailed rankings are covered in April Spotlight.

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142. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has organized the

Startup Summit 2019 in New Delhi, where the Bharat Interface for Money – BHIM 2.0 version was launched.

• BHIM 2.0 supports additional languages such as Bhojpuri, Haryanvi and Konkani apart from the existing 13 languages. BHIM app was developed by National Payments Corporation of India in 2016.

• MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) was also launched to act as a national coordination, facilitation and interconnected centre for all activities in the tech startup ecosystem.

• Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is the nodal agency for the implementation of MSH.

• STPI has signed 4 MoU with Intel India Pvt limited, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, Pontaq and IBM for promoting innovation in information and communications technology.

• An Indian software products registry has also been launched to collate Indian software product database and will act as a single window portal.

• Technology Incubation Development for Entrepreneurs 2.0 (TIDE 2.0) was also launched here. TIDE scheme was launched in 2008 by MeitY to promote innovation by nurturing startups.

• TIDE 2.0 aims to strengthening close to 2,000 technology startups and empowering 51 incubation centres across the country.

143. National Cyber Security Coordinator's office, along with Data Security Council of

India (DSCI) has launched TechSagar – an online portal of India’s technological capability.

Parameters

Academic reputation

(30%) Internatio-nal

students (2.5%)

Internatio-nal

faculty (2.5%)

Citations per paper

(5%)Papers per

faculty (10%)

Staff with a PhD (10%)

Faculty/st-udent ratio (20%)

Employer reputation

(20%)

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• The portal has data of more than 4000 entities from industry, academia and research across 25 technology areas to allow businesses and academia to collaborate, connect and innovate, in future.

• TechSagar will act as a national repository of India’s cyber tech capabilities and will provide timely insights about the tech infrastructure in India.

144. Minister of Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar has launched the ‘Gram

Manchitra’ app – a Geo Spatial based app for panchayats – which will help panchayats to plan, develop and monitor developmental activities on real time basis.

• National Panchayat Awards 2019 was also conferred upon panchayats for best performance to 240 Awards out of the 2.5 lakh panchayats.

The Awards were given in the 5 categories: -

Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar (DDUPSP): for improving delivery of services and public goods following nine thematic categories such as Sanitation, Disaster Management etc.

Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar (NDRGGSP): for their outstanding contribution to the socio-economic development by involving Gram Sabhas.

Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) Award: Introduced during the year 2018, to the gram panchayat GPDPs who have prepared their development plan according to the State/UT specific guidelines issued by Ministry of Panchayati Raj [or adopted as such].

Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award: This award has been instituted during the year 2018-19 for best performing GPs/Village Councils (one in each State/UT) for adopting child-friendly practices.

e-Panchayat Puraskar is given for bringing in efficiency, transparency and accountability in their functioning.

-

145. Assam has approved two new policies– one on job and other on land.

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• Under the Job Policy, no government jobs will be given to persons having more than two children after January 1, 2021 under the 'Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam' regulation passed by Assam Cabinet in 2017.

• Under the Land Policy, landless indigenous people will get 3 bighas of land for cultivation and half a bigha to construct their houses that can be sold after 15 years.

146. India is providing training on ‘Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing of

Terrorism (AML-CFT)’ to the Nepalese officers at its Regional Centre of National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) in Bengaluru.

• The training is being imparted in 3 batches for training a total of 60 officers.

• NACIN is the apex institution for providing training on financial investigations and anti-money laundering matters.

• It is being carried out under the Ministry of External Affairs’ Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme.

• Under ITEC (launched in 1964) and its sister programme SCAAP (Special Commonwealth African Assistance Programme), 161 countries in Asia, Africa, East Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean as well as Pacific and Small Island countries are invited for bilateral training.

147. International workshop on Environmental Flows Assessment and Implementation

for India has been inaugurated by the Minister for Jal Shakti at Delhi.

• The exchange of Indian, European and International Experiences was brought together by National Mission of Clean Ganga along with the Indo-German Cooperation with its project “Support to Ganga Rejuvenation” (SGR).

• Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, has released the first version of the Guidance Document on Environment flow assessment in India.

148. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will lead the Indian delegation at 18th Summit of

Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

• Theme of the summit: - ‘Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world’.

• It is a set of 10 principles, formulated at the Asian-African Conference in 1955, to promote world peace and cooperation.

• The theme promotes the forthcoming 65th anniversary of Bandung Principles in 2020 and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Movement in 2021.

• NAM was founded in 1961 and has 120 members as of 2012. 149. Union Cabinet has decided to hike the minimum support price for Rabi crops for the

marketing season 2020­21.

• The highest increase has been recommended for lentils (increase of ₹325 to ₹4,800 a quintal) followed by safflower (increase of ₹ 270 to ₹5,215 a quintal) and gram (an increase of ₹255 to ₹4,875).

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• MSP of rapeseed and mustard has been increased by ₹225 to ₹4,425. For both wheat and barley, it has been increased by ₹85 to ₹1,925 and ₹1,525 per quintal, respectively.

• MSP for wheat was raised from the existing ₹1,840 to ₹1,925, while for barley it was increased from ₹1,440 to ₹1,525.

150. ISRO will launch 14 small spacecrafts on PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) C47,

C48 and C49 missions from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

• Japan’s iQPS, Luxembourg’s Kleos Space, Spire Global are launching the satellites on PSLV.

151. According to India TB report 2019 (released by Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare), India achieved a total notification of 21.5 Lakh TB cases of which 25% was from the private sector in 2018.

• Majority of the TB burden is among the working age group. The 89% of TB cases come from the age group of 15-69 years. About 2/3 of the TB cases are Males.

• Uttar Pradesh, with 17% of population of the country, is the largest contributor to the TB cases in with 20% of the total notifications (amounting to 4.2 Lakh cases).

152. Union Cabinet has approved the proposed MoU between India and St. Vincent & the Grenadines on cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine.

• The MoU was signed in September 2019.

• St. Vincent & the Grenadines has become the 79th country to sign the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

• Republic of Haiti and Republic of Paraguay are the 77th and 78th signatories of ISA.

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• There are total 81 countries which have signed the ISA Framework and 59 countries have ratified the ISA Framework Agreement.

• Activities mentioned in the MoU will boost the importance of AYUSH Systems of Medicine in St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

153. Union Cabinet approved the MoU between India and Kuwait in the field of

accounting, finance and audit knowledge base for capacity building and strengthening the accounting, financial and audit knowledge base in Kuwait.

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Kuwait Accountants and Auditors Association (KAAA) will work together to hold and conduct technical events, seminars and conferences in Kuwait.

• Cabinet has also approved the administrative arrangement on cooperation in the field of Railways between the Ministry of Railways and the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission.

154. India’s position has marginally improved to 32nd position in the Melbourne Mercer

Global Pension Index (MMGPI) 2019 in terms of providing pension and retirement benefits to citizens with a score of 45.8 as compared to last year’s (33rd position out of 34 countries with a score of 44.6).

• Total Countries – 37

Rank Top Ranker Bottom Ranker

Overall Netherlands (with 81.0 score) Thailand (with 39.4 score)

Sub- Index Wise Adequacy – Ireland (81.5) Adequacy – Thailand (35.8)

Sustainability – Denmark (82.0) Sustainability – Italy (19.0)

Integrity – Finland (92.3) Integrity – Philippines (34.7)

• Parameters: -

155. 19th Indo- Swedish Joint Commission for Economic, Industrial and Scientific

Cooperation (JCEC) in Stockholm, Sweden where electromobility, road safety, space research, Ayurveda, naturopathy were identified as areas of mutual collaboration.

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• Commerce and Industry & Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal attended the commission where he highlighted the potential of India and Sweden partnership under the MoU in innovation, energy, healthcare, defence, Sustainable Urban Development and railways.

• Goyal also proposed to set up an investment enclave for Swedish investors in India. 156. President Ram Nath Kovind attended the India-Philippines Business Conclave and

the 4th ASEAN-India Business Summit in Manila, Philippines.

• India aims to achieve the target of US$ 200 billion by 2022.

• President Kovind (1st president from India to visit Japan in 19 years) attended the enthronement ceremony of the new Emperor of Japan – Naruhito to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

• He also laid the foundation stone of Sri Sathya Sai Sanathana Samskruti Project– a temple to be built – at Sai no Sato, Kakegawa in Japan to promote Indian culture.

• Indo-ASEAN trade has increased by 19% to reach $96.79 billion, which India aims to increase to $200 billion by 2022.

157. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and National Council of Educational

Research and Training (NCERT) have launched ‘Tamanna’ (Try And Measure Aptitude And Natural Abilities) – an online aptitude test – for class 9 and 10 students to help them make right career choices.

158. Odisha and World Bank have signed a loan agreement worth $165 million to

implement “Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture” to improve the irrigation facilities and climate resilience in agriculture.

• Focus Area: - The scheme will be implemented in rural areas vulnerable to droughts and largely dependent on rainfed agriculture.

• Target Area: - The scheme will cover 1,28,000 hectares of land and 1,25,000 smallholder farmers.

• Objective: -The project aims to shift the focus of farmers from growing food grains, especially paddy and wheat to cultivating more nutritious vegetation.

159. For the first time, the Global Bio-India summit will be hosted by India (in New Delhi).

• Organizer: - Department of Biotechnology (DBT under science and technology ministry) and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC – a subsidiary of DBT).

• Focus: - To attract investment in the field of biotechnology in India. 160. India, Nepal and Bhutan are in the process of signing the MoU to create a landscape

oriented transboundary wildlife conservation park ‘peace park’.

• The project was initiated by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

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• There is already one trans-boundary Protected Area in India and Bhutan, which includes the Manas landscape of Assam, and the new tripartite park will be an extension of this.

• It will protect the migratory wildlife species in the region, especially elephants.

• Manas National Park of Assam is located near Manas River – a major tributary of Brahmaputra river. The park is famous for its wild water buffaloes and is also a project tiger reserve, elephant reserve.

161. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has excavated a maritime center (dated around

2,000 years ago) near the banks of Swarnamukhi river in Andhra Pradesh.

• Swarnamukhi is a river in Andhra Pradesh. Kalyani Dam was constructed across its tributary Kalyani river.

162. 29th ministerial meeting of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) countries on

Climate Change at Beijing, China.

• The meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr. LI Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment of China.

• India will host the 30th BASIC Ministerial Meeting.

• Developed countries were requested to fulfil their climate finance commitments of providing $100 billion annually by 2020 for developing countries.

• Here, the ministers discussed about the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (Loss and Damage Mechanism).

o Warsaw Mechanism was established at COP19 (November 2013) in Warsaw, Poland to address loss and damage associated with impacts of climate change.

• Basic group was formed in 2009 to fight climate change.

• Palestine is the chair of the Group of 77 (G-77) for the year 2019. G-77 was established in 1964 by the “Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries” issued at the 1st session of UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.

163. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan has visited Sakhalin-I

oil consortium during his visit to Japan and Russia.

• Sakhalin-I oil consortium is an offshore oil production sharing consortium between ExxonMobil, Sakhalin Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd., ONGC Videsh Ltd (20% stake), Sakhalin morneftegas-Shelf and RN-Astra on Sakhalin island in the Russian Far East.

• According to the data of World Steel Association 2019, India is the 2nd largest producer of crude steel in 2018 with 106.5 million tonnes production after China which produced 928.3 million tonnes.

• In terms of consumption,

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• The National Steel Policy 2017, aims to increase per capita steel consumption to 160

Kgs by 2030-31. o To be net exporter of steel by 2025-26. o To build a globally competitive industry with a crude steel capacity of 300 MT

by 2030-31. 164. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has launched a social service initiative called 'Odisha

Mo Parivar' (Odisha, my family) to protect environment, encourage blood donation and the welfare of Odias in distress.

• The initiative will help Odia people who are stranded in other states or foreign countries.

• Arup Patnaik has been appointed as the convener of this initiative. 165. Gandhinagar district of Gujarat has become the first Kerosene-free district of

Gujarat.

• Home Minister Amit Shah has distributed 1,000 LPG connections to the women of Gandhinagar district under the PM Ujjwala Yojana.

• He also laid the foundation stones of several development projects under the Gandhinagar Smart City Yojana.

166. First-ever 3-day Ladakh Literature Festival has begun at Leh Palace to highlight the

cultural heritage of Ladakh. It is expected to be continued as an annual event.

• On the occasion, a book titled Leh Khar Gis Khang Zigs authored by Gen Thupstan Paldan was released.

167. Kalidhar Battalion (under Ministry of Defence) has participated in the white water Rafting Expedition called 'RUDRASHILA' at Jaisalmer Military station to commemorate its 75th Raising Day.

• Kalidhar Battalion has also undertaken 'RUDRASHILA' from Jodhpur Military Station.

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168. City Montessori School of Lucknow has entered into the Guinness World Record for becoming the 'world's largest school' in terms of strength of students (55,547 students in 2019-20).

• School’s founder – Jagdish Gandhi.

169. Odisha, in association with UNICEF and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),

has launched the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) to eliminate child marriages from the state by 2030.

• The state SAP will be implemented between 2019 and 2024. 170. Monsoon of 2019 in India witnessed a neutral Pacific – neither El Nino nor La Nina,

a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and a positive Equatorial Indian Ocean Oscillation (EQUINOO).

• El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of what is known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.

• El Nino –It is a phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific which causes dry season (deficit rain in India). In El Nino, temperature rises above a threshold of 0.5 degree Celsius.

• Li Nina – It is a phenomenon which causes heavy rains in some parts of the world whereas in some parts it causes deficit rains. In India, La Nina causes better than normal monsoon.

• Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) – Positive IOD warms up the western basin of the Indian Ocean to create a low pressure which causes storms and heavy rains in the South and South east Asia.

• EQUINOO – Positive EQUINOO helps in North East Monsoon by causing heavy rains.

171. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has undertaken the IndiGen Genome project in April 2019 to conduct genome sequencing of Indians to examine the cause of genetic diseases and measures to prevent them.

• Till now, CSIR has conducted a Whole Genome Sequencing of around 1,008 Indians from different populations across country.

• Implementing Agencies of this project are CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (New Delhi) and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (Hyderabad).

172. Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri has announced that 50%

of the Smart Cities Mission will be completed by December 2019.

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• The ministry is considering to launch the AMRUT 2.0 and Smart Cities Mission 2.0 in 2020.

• AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) was launched in 2015 by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to rejuvenate 500 cities.

• Smart Cities Mission 2.0 was launched in 2015 by Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to cover 100 cities.

173. India and US have signed a joint statement of intent during the 9th meeting India-US

Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), held in New Delhi, to develop a range of warfighting technology and systems.

• Both the nations agreed to co-develop three specific projects in the near-term (6 months), two in the mid-term and two in the long-term.

• India-US will jointly work for Aircraft carrier technology cooperation (ACTC) apart from the above projects.

174. Supreme Court has ordered in favour of Delhi govt for increasing the minimum

wages of workers to ₹14,842 per month against the national level of ₹4,628 per month.

• The policy will benefit 55 lakh workers’.

175. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would represent India at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) heads of state meeting in Uzbekistan to be held in November.

• India and Uzbekistan will conduct their first-ever joint army Exercise Dustlik-2019 at Chirchiq training area of Uzbekistan.

• The exercise would focus on insurgency and counter terrorism operations in a mountainous, rural and urban scenario as per the UN mandate.

176. PM Narendra Modi has shown a special interest towards Karnataka's "Sakala"

system and is also considering to use it at the national level.

• About Karnataka's "Sakala" system – The programme, governed by the Karnataka Sakala Services (Amendment) Act, 2014 (originally enacted in 2011), provides 1,033 govt services to citizens on time through innovation.

• The Sakala system empowers citizens to exercise their right to service.

• After clearing 200 million applications filed under Sakala during the last seven years, the state govt aims to take it to the next level with its “paperless, faceless” tech initiatives.

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• The state govt will strengthen Seva Sindhu — the online avatar of Sakala by adding features like e-sign, digi-locker and other tech interfaces and also by increasing the number of services from 301 to 500 on this online platform.

177. 15th edition of the FT ranking of Masters in Management (MiM) programmes has

been released by Financial Times.

• Parameters: - The ranking has 17 criteria heavily based on salary (an alumni gets).

• Total – 111 schools participated, out of which top 100 were ranked.

• Top Ranker – University of St Gallen business school (Switzerland) for its MA in Strategy and International Management course.

• Top Indian Ranker – Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (GLOBAL RANK – 17th) for its Post Graduate Programme in Management.

• Followed by IIM-Ahmedabad at 21st position and IIM-Bangalore at 44th position. 178. Odisha has signed a Letter of Understanding with UNICEF to get the technical

assistance for its “drink from tap mission”.

• The mission aims to provide clean drinking water from taps on a 24X7 basis. 179. Andhra Pradesh will become the first state in India to bring port-related services

under the ambit of Ease of Doing Business by launching the SMARTPORT initiative.

• SMARTPORT is an online platform under the Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act to establish a corruption-free environment in port-related services.

180. India and Saudi Arabia have signed a total of 12 agreements during the Future

Investment Initiative (also known as the ‘Davos in the Desert’) held in Riyadh, Saudi.

• Theme of the event is “What is Next for Global Business."

• A letter of Intent was also signed between Small and Marginal Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) of Saudi Arabia and Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog.

MoU: -

• Agreement on Strategic Partnership Council that will be chaired by Modi on the Indian side and by King Salman for Saudi.

• India is the fourth nation to sign the agreement for establishing the strategic council with Saudi Arabia after UK, France and China.

• MoU in the field of illicit trafficking and smuggling of narcotic drugs, chemical precursors, psychotropic substances.

• MoU in the field of military defence, industries and technology, civil aviation, small and medium enterprises, stock exchanges, petroleum and payment corporations, medical products regulations.

• RuPay Launched: - After UAE and Bahrain, Saudi Arabia will be the 3rd country in the Gulf region where India’s Rupay card will be operationalised.

• 2 MoU in energy sector: - first between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd and Saudi Aramco to set up a second fuel reserve facility at Padur in Karnataka.

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o Second is between West Asia unit of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd and Saudi Arabia’s’ Al Jeri company for setting up fuel stations in the kingdom.

• Saudi Aramco, along with UAE’s ADNOC oil company, signed a deal with state-run companies in India for a 50% stake in the west coast refinery.

• India imports 80% of its oil consumption, out of which 18% is sourced from Saudi Arabia.

181. Natural farming technique has been adopted by over 2,000 panchayats in Himachal

Pradesh under the state scheme of Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana.

• A target of training 50,000 farmers has been fixed for 2019 while as many as 20,579 farmers have been trained out of which 15,391 have started practicing natural farming in their fields.

• The scheme was launched in 2018 to promote 'Zero budget Natural Farming' in the state.

182. Ministry of health and family welfare has recently proposed to notify or include all

medical devices under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, to regulate them as per the provisions of that Act and the Medical Devices Rules, 2017.

• According to the draft notification, devices intended for use on human beings or animals should be treated as drugs with effect from 1 December 2019.

• A task force on medical devices (formed in 2015) has recommended to create a Medical Device Regulatory Act which will treat medical devices distinctly from drugs and a separate chapter for medical devices should be made in the existing Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

• Currently, over 10,000 medical devices are sold in the country, but only 33 categories of such devices are regulated.

183. India will open the milk bank to facilitate breastfeeding for 70% of the infants by

2025. The Target will subsequently be increased to 100%.

• The milk bank model will be based on Brazil’s model.

• Minister for State for Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey has attended the BRICS Health Minister’s Conference 2019 in Brazil.

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184. 15th edition of G20 summit 2020 will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

• India was scheduled to host the 16th G20 summit in 2021 and Italy in 2022. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested Italy to host the 2021 summit and allow India to host it in 2022, on the occasion of the 75th year of India's independence.

185. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Military Industries (GAMI) and India’s

Department of Defence Production from India signed an MoU for collaboration in military acquisition, industries, research, development and technology.

• India and Saudi already have an operational Joint Defence Coordination Committee (JDCC) mechanism.

• India and Saudi Arabia have decided to hold their first ever joint naval exercise in March 2020 (name and venue of the exercise is undisclosed).

• In April 2019, Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) had formed a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation to hold 50 per cent stake in Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals (RRPCL).

186. Budget carrier IndiGo has become a member of International Air Transport

Association (IATA).

• IATA represents around 290 airlines across the world, comprising 82% of global air traffic.

• SpiceJet became the first Indian low-cost carrier to take membership of the IATA in March 2019.

• IATA HQ –– Montreal, Canada; IATA Director General and CEO–– Alexandre de Juniac 187. International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH) has developed

first ever Indian Brain Atlas to study age-related effects on brain.

• A brain atlas is a brain map or a template which becomes the 'standard' against which brain abnormalities can be measured.

• The atlas found that the average brain size of an Indian was smaller in height, width and volume in comparison to people of the Caucasian and eastern races.

• Implication: - The standard MRI scans were based on the model (developed by Montreal Neurological Institute in Canada, and the International Consortium for Brain Mapping) which was based on Caucasian brains.

• The study was published in the journal Neuroscience India.

188. Tamil Nadu has become the first state in India to enact a law – Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion and Facilitation) Act – for contract farming.

• Purpose: - To protect farmers in the events of major price fluctuations.

• Mechanism: - Farmers will be paid a predetermined price arrived at the time of signing agreements with buyers.

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• Meaning of Contract Farming: - It refers to various formal and informal agreements between producers and processors or buyers.

189. 2nd Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA) was held in New Delhi.

• Eritrea and St. Kittis and Nevis have signed the ISA Framework Agreement increasing the total number of Signatory Countries to 83.

• President of ISA is Shri R.K. Singh who is also the current Minister of Power, New & Renewable Energy and Skill Development Entrepreneurship.

• ISA sent country missions to eight countries over the course of 2019 – to Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Togo, and Uganda

• ISA HQ – Gurugram, Haryana. 190. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has organized the National Symposium (a

common platform for holding discussion and debate) on the theme of ‘United to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis’ (LF) in New Delhi. LF is a Vector Borne Disease.

• Organizer: - National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme

• “Call to Action to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis by 2021” was signed by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare - Dr Harsh Vardhan.

• WHO had launched the Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) in 2000.

• In 2018, India launched the Accelerate Plan for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis to eliminate LF.

191. Ministry for Health and Family Welfare has released the 14th edition of National

Health Profile 2019, which has been prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence. It was first published in 2005.

The report mentions that: -

• Life Expectancy has increased to 68.7 years in 2012-16 (females’ is 70.2 and males’ is 67.4 years) from 49.7 years in 1970-75.

• Highest population Density was witnessed in Delhi (11,320 people per sq.km) while lowest population Density was reported in Arunachal Pradesh (17 people per sq.km).

• Infant Mortality Rate declined to 33 per 1000 live births in 2016 (37 in rural and 23 in urban).

• Total Fertility Rate recorded at 2.3 in 2016 (increased to 2.5 in rural and 1.8 in urban).

• Declining birth rate, death rate and natural growth rate – In 2017, birth rate was 20.2 per 1000 population, death rate was 6.3, natural growth rate was 13.9.

• Non-communicable Diseases – 6.51 crore people were diagnosed. 4.75% were diagnosed with diabetes, 0.3% with cardiovascular disease, 6.19% with hyper tension and 0.26% with common cancers.

• Sex Ratio – improved from 933 in 2001 to 943 in 2011. Highest sex ration was recorded in Kerala (1,084) and lowest was in Chandigarh (690).

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192. All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), under Ministry of AYUSH, signed an MoU the

Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie GmbH - FiZ company of Germany during the “German/Indian knowledge exchange regarding current developments in the health care sector”.

• Purpose: - To increase research in the field of genomics and incorporate latest technologies like AI and machine learning with Ayurvedic principles for the wider reach to the masses.

193. India and Netherlands will jointly conduct an exhibition titled ‘India & the

Netherlands in the Age of Rembrandt’, in commemoration of the 350th death anniversary of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (a Dutch painter).

• The exhibition is the first collaboration between the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai and the Rijksmuseum - The museum of the Netherlands, Amsterdam.

• Venu Rajamony (Indian Ambassador to the Netherlands) has written the ‘India and the Netherlands, Past, Present and Future’ book.

• Recently, Netherlands Queen Máxima, the King, Willem-Alexander were on a visit to India.

194. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is planning to declare Rangdum monastery in Kargil district, Union Territory Ladakh as the monument of National Importance.

Note: - ASI will take decision after public comments closes in two months.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 1. Typhoon Mitag is expected to hit Taiwan and is categorized by Taiwan’s weather bureau

as the second-strongest typhoon level.

2. China unveiled the DF-41 intercontinental-range ballistic missile– most powerful missile in the world.

• DF-41 has a range of up to 9,320 miles (15,000 kilometres), more than any missile on Earth.

• China has the world's largest standing army and the world's third-largest air force. 3. C40 Summit will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in October where the ‘Clean Air

Cities Declaration’ (a set of short and long-term commitments towards cleaning the air) will be launched.

• C40 Summit is a network of the world’s megacities committed to addressing climate change. CEO of the C40 Summit is Mark Watts.

4. Ecuador will withdraw from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from January 1, 2020 because of its fiscal problems.

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• However, it will continue to support efforts to stabilise the world oil market. It is one of the smallest members of the OPEC.

• Currently, the group has 14 members.

• It reached a $4.2 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund in February 2019 which allowed it to receive an immediate disbursement of $652 million and opened the door for an additional $6 billion in loans.

• OPEC, Russia and other producers have cut output by 1.2 million bpd since Jan. 1. The alliance, known as OPEC+, in July renewed the pact until March 2020.

5. USA successfully tested an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile

(ICBM) from its Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, across the Pacific Ocean to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

• ICBM is the first US missile fitted with Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs), enabling it to carry up to three different warheads that can strike independent targets.

6. Empirical Systems Aerospace (California) has handed over the completely electric

experimental aircraft X-57 Mod II codenamed as “Maxwell” to NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center.

• It is NASA’s first completely electric experimental aircraft.

7. China has launched the new Gaofen-10 satellite on a March-4C rocket (developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) from its Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

• Gaofen-10 satellite will help in urban planning, road network design, land survey, crop yield estimation as well as disaster relief.

• It was the 314th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series. 8. International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, France has announced the

discovery of the 20 new moons orbiting Saturn have been discovered by the team led by Scott S. Sheppard (from University of California).

• The total number of moons of Saturn has been increased to 82, surpassing Jupiter which has 79 moons.

• Out of these, 3 moons are prograde moons (moving in the same direction of the planet) and 17 are retrograde moons (moving in the opposite direction of the planet).

9. 9th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial

meeting will be held in Bangkok, Thailand.

• The 3rd Leaders’ Summit will be held in November in Bangkok when RCEP’s conclusion will be announced.

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10. First of its kind Robotic Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1) has been launched on the Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

• It is a commercial satellite-servicing spacecraft to assist ageing spacecrafts.

• It was built by Virginia-based company Northrop Grumman.

• It has been launched along with the Eutelsat 5 West B communications satellite.

• It has a lifespan of 15 years.

11. Singapore is planning to impose a ban on the ads of beverage with high sugar content.

• If the ban is implemented, Singapore will become the first country in the world to do so.

12. World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched its first ever world report on vision

which mentions that nearly 2.2 billion people live with vision impairment or blindness worldwide.

• Out of this, over 1 billion cases could have been prevented or have yet to be addressed.

• 65 million people are blind or have impaired sight even when their vision could by corrected with a cataract operation, and over 800 million people lack access to a pair of glasses.

• India’s National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) 2016-17, has extended cataract surgery to 6.5 million people, achieving a rate of over 6,000 per million population.

13. UNICEF has now become the first UN organization to hold and make transactions in

cryptocurrency and it created a UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund.

• Ethereum Foundation will be first organization to be contributing to UNICEF in form of donations to three grantees of UNICEF Innovation Fund.

14. United Kingdom announced that it will issue a commemorative coin to mark the 150th

birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

• The announcement was made at the annual GG2 Leadership Awards ceremony 2019 in London.

• GG2 power list 2019 (ranking of the UK's 101 most powerful Asians) places Sajid Javid on the first place followed by Priti Patel, and Gina Miller on 2nd and 3rd position respectively.

15. NASA has launched the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) space weather satellite

from an aircraft of Northrop Grumman.

• ICON mission is a part of NASA’s Explorer Program.

• Purpose: - It will study the Earth’s ionosphere to detect dynamic zones.

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16. C40 World Mayors Summit 2019 held at Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Kolkata Govt has received the 6th C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards 2019 in the green mobility category.

• Theme for Summit: - ‘The Future We Want’.

• Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has announced to form a special task force for implementing ‘Clean Air Cities Declaration’ signed at the summit.

17. The latest paper of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) titled ‘Earth Catastrophes And

Their Impact On The Carbon Cycle’ show that the anthropogenic (man-made) carbon emissions are 40-100 times greater than those from all volcanic emissions.

• Earth’s total carbon content is around 1.85 billion gigatons, according to current estimates.

• Two-tenths of 1% of Earth’s total carbon is above the surface.

• Volcanoes and other “magmatically active" or volcanic regions release around 280-360 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere and oceans.

• While 400 of the 1,500 volcanoes active are emitting CO2, another 670 could be producing diffused emissions.

• Humans release approx. 10 gigatonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.

• DCO is an international collaboration of more than 1,200 scientists from 55 countries (launched in 2009).

• The study was published in journal Elements.

18. 6-day plenary meeting of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was held under the

presidency of China.

• FATF’s president is Xiangmin Liu.

• The president conducts all plenary session of FATF. 19. Typhoon Hagibis and Typhoon Faxai has hit Japan. 20. UAE established the first research-based Artificial Intelligence university (at the

graduate-level) in the world.

• The university is named after the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi) as the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).

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21. USA’s House of Representatives has passed a bill ‘Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act’ that aims to defend human civil rights in the semi-autonomous territory.

• The proposed law would end the Hong Kong-US special trading status unless the State Department certifies annually that city authorities are respecting human rights and the rule of law.

22. State-owned China Sam Group has leased the Tulagi Island in Solomon Islands for 75

years.

• China and Solomon have signed an agreement which also includes construction of a refinery on the island and the development of the special economic zone.

23. Italy will impose a 3% web tax from 2020 on large-scale digital companies for engaging in internet transactions.

• Reason: - The web giants including Google collecting large profits despite paying little in tax.

24. United Nations General Assembly has added 14 new member states to Human Rights

Council.

• Armenia, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Libya, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Namibia, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Sudan and Venezuela have been appointed for three-year period.

• UN- Human Rights Council was established in 2008. The Council comprises 47 elected Member States.

25. FATF has retained Pakistan on its Grey List and gave a 4-month ultimatum till Feb 2020,

to Pakistan to curb terror-funding during its plenary session in Paris.

• Sri Lanka has been removed from the grey list of FATF under its on-going global anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance process.

26. Nasa astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir have created history by completing the

first ever all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS).

• For Koch, this is the 4th spacewalk.

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27. Chile has refused to host Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum and COP25 of UN Climate Change Conference in Santiago due to political unrest. New venue are being looked at.

28. 3rd edition of G20 Okayama Health Ministers’ Meeting is held under the Presidency of Japan in Okayama City, Japan.

• Key Focus: - (i) Achievement of Universal Health Coverage (ii) Response to population aging (iii) Management of health risks and (iv) health security management including Anti-Microbial Resistance and its containment.

29. World’s oldest known natural pearl (carbon-dated 5800 B.C. to 5600 B.C.) has been

discovered at a Neolithic site at Marawah Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

30. Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC) is being held in Tokyo, Japan.

• Mr. Kajiyama Hiroshi (Minister of Economy, Trade and Industryof Japan) has chaired the GFSEC ministerial meet. 2019 chair for GFSEC is Japan.

• GFSEC was established in 2016. 31. China is developing a huge cosmic ray observation station – “Large High-Altitude Air

Shower Observatory” (LHAASO) at 4,400 meters above sea level in Daocheng, to carry out detailed study about the cosmic rays.

• The project, expected to be completed by 2020, is being carried out in participation from Australia and Thailand and other countries.

• 12 telescopes will be erected to conduct high-precision measurement of cosmic rays with the highest energy.

32. Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was established by CAMLR Convention in 1982 (secretariat is in Hobart, Tasmania) with the objective of conserving Antarctic marine life.

• CCAMLR has 26 members.

• Currently, the organization is discussing the proposal to create a massive ocean sanctuary in east Antarctica which will protect around 1.55 million sq.km of area in the ocean in the 2-week meeting in Hobart, Australia.

33. Switzerland's glaciers have lost 1/10th of their volume in the past five years alone

(highest till now).

• 20 Swiss glaciers have recorded high melt rates, according to the annual study on their state, published by the Cryospheric Commission at the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

• Due to the climate change, the volume of melting was equivalent to the country's total annual consumption of drinking water during two weeks of intense heat at the end of June and again in late July.

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• A recent study by glaciologists at the ETH Zurich technical university warned that more than 90% of some 4,000 glaciers throughout the Alps could disappear by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not controlled.

34. Singapore has passed the Protection From Online Falsehoods And Manipulation Act

2019 to curb the circulation of fake news. 35. ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi has declared Vietnam to be the Chair of ASEAN

in 2020.

• 2019 president of ASEAN – Thailand and the theme of its ASEAN Chairmanship is “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”.

• 2018 president of ASEAN – Singapore. 36. First Global Health Security Index 2019 has been developed by Johns Hopkins Center

for Health Security, Nuclear Threat Initiative and Economist Intelligence Unit.

• Parameters: - 34 indicators and 85 sub-indicators divided into 6 categories.

• The index measures the preparedness of countries in the event of infectious disease outbreaks.

• The average overall GHS Index score is 40.2 out of 100 while high-income countries report an average score of 51.9.

• Total – 195 countries

• Top country – USA (with a score of 83.5 overall) followed by UK and Netherlands

• India’s rank – 57th with a score of 46.5

• The countries were divided into 3 categories – Most prepare, More prepared, Least prepared. India falls into the More prepared category.

37. Cyclone Kyarr was the first Super Cyclone to have formed in the Arabian Sea in last 12

years which is moving towards Oman.

• According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), a second cyclone – Maha is brewing in the Arabian Sea. (Lakshadweep is expected to receive heavy rainfall)

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38. Natural History Museum has named a tiny, blind, wingless and nameless beetle (scientific name-Nelloptodes gretae) after Greta Thunberg.

• The honey-coloured insect, measuring less than 1 millimetre, was discovered in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in the 1960s.

39. Nepal’s mountaineer Nirmal Purja has become the speediest person in the world to

climb 14 highest peaks (above 8,000 meters) in just 7 months.

• Before him, Italy’s Reinhold Messner had become the first person to climb these 14 peaks in 1986.

40. Copernicus (initiated in 2014) is the European Union's Earth observation programme

coordinated and managed by the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA).

• Copernicus has two components – ESA’s sentinels and missions from other space agencies, called Contributing Missions.

• ESA is developing a series of next-generation Earth observation missions, on behalf of the joint ESA/European Commission initiative GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security).

• Sentinel, which will study the Earth’s monitor Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Land conditions, aims to replace the current older Earth observation missions which have reached retirement.

• Total 5 Sentinel missions have been launched so far. Sentinel 1 is the first mission launched in 2014 while Sentinel 5P was launched in 2017.

• Current News: - According to the data received from the Sentinel 3, five times as many wildfires in August 2019 (79,000) compared to August 2018.

• 49% of fires were detected in Asia, followed by South America at 28%.

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41. Sri Lanka and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have developed the Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management, to be adopted by member nations, to halve nitrogen waste by 2030.

• The world grapples with the menace of air pollution which kills 7 million people prematurely every year.

• More than 30 countries endorsed UN plans for a campaign on sustainable nitrogen management called “Nitrogen for Life”, which is a result of the Sustainable Nitrogen Management Resolution (adopted during the 4th session of the UN Environment Assembly held at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya).

• Colombo Declaration has been prepared with the technical support of the International Nitrogen Management System, a joint activity of the UNEP and the International Nitrogen Initiative supported by the Global Environment Facility.

BANKING AND ECONOMY 1. According to the RBI’s report on State Finances Report 2019-20, states’ gross fiscal

deficit (GFD) has remained within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM) threshold of 3% of GDP during 2017-18 and 2018-19.

• For 2019-20, States have budgeted a consolidated GFD of 2.6% of GDP, the report said.

• However, outstanding debt of States have risen over the last five years to 25% of GDP.

• The combined GFD of the States (excluding Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana in 2015-16 and 2016-17) averaged 2.5% of GDP in the recent five-year period, which was in striking range of the recommendation of the FRBM Review Committee.

2. Paytm and Aegon Life Insurance have signed a corporate agency agreement to sell

insurance through Paytm to strengthen its digital presence. 3. SEBI has relaxed norms for ‘Muni Bonds’ issuance to help smart cities and entities

working for urban development to allow them raise funds through debt securities.

• SEBI has allowed a larger number of entities including special purpose vehicles set up under the central government’s ambitious ‘Smart Cities Mission’ to raise debt by issuing Muni bonds.

• SEBI has allowed Pooled Finance Development Funds to use this route for raising funds. [These funds are entities where a group of municipalities pool their resources together to jointly raise funds through issuance of bonds].

• SEBI has removed the requirements like appointment of a monitoring agency, filing of viability certificate or Detailed Project Appraisal Report, setting up of a separate project implementation cell, maintenance of 100% asset cover with specification of resources and mandatory backing of state or central government.

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• Apart from this, SEBI has also eased rules for the creation of escrow accounts and removed with obligation of appointing a monitoring agency and establishing a separate project implementation cell.

• Also, the existing regulations allow issuance of only revenue bonds with a minimum tenure of three years and maximum five years, if it is a public issue. This clause has been dropped.

4. SEBI has approved the changes in the Buyback Regulations of SEBI as well as the

Companies Act to implement the rules recommended by Primary Market Advisory Committee (PMAC) in May [covered in May spotlight].

New Changes announced are: -

• The buyback offer cannot exceed 25% of the aggregate paid-up capital and free reserves of the company, but shareholders’ approval is required through a special resolution in case the size exceeds 10%.

• A buyback is permitted only if the ratio of the aggregate of secured and unsecured debts owed by the company after the buyback is not more than twice the paid-up capital and free reserves, unless a higher debt-to-equity ratio is specified under the Companies Act.

• SEBI’s PMAC had also suggested that regulated subsidiaries with AAA ratings should be excluded for computing the debt-to-equity ratio on consolidated basis.

• The financial statements would be considered on both standalone and consolidated basis to determine the maximum permissible buyback size and other related requirements, under the new rules.

5. Morgan Stanley has cut India’s GDP growth rate for FY20 to 6.2% and for FY21 to 7.1%.

• Global Growth rate has been revised to 3% for 2019 and 3.2% for 2020.

6. Ford is closing its independent operations in India and will operate only through the

joint venture (value – ₹1,925 crore) formed with Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M).

• M&M will hold 51% stake in it and handle operational management.

7. Axis Bank has launched digital fixed-deposit (FD) product – ‘Express FD’ – which can be opened in 3 minutes through the digital route by investing up to Rs 5,000-90,000, for a tenure of 6 to 12 months without even opening a savings account.

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8. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed the 300th advance pricing agreement (APA) pertaining to United Kingdom- 2 Unilateral and 1 Bilateral APA.

• During the FY20, the total number of APAs signed has gone up to 29 (27 unilateral and 2 bilateral APAs).

• An APA is a contract, usually for multiple years, between a taxpayer and at least one tax authority specifying the pricing method that the taxpayer will apply to its related-company transactions.

9. For the first time, Bajaj Finance Ltd has overtaken State Bank of India in market

capitalization with a m-cap value of Rs 2.32 lakh crore while it was Rs 2.28 lakh crore for SBI.

10. World Trade Organisation (WTO) has reduced the global trade growth forecast to 1.2%

for 2019 (from earlier forecast of 2.6% made in April 2019) due to global trade tensions.

• For 2020, the global trade growth forecast has been reduced to 2.7% from 3%.

• The estimated growth rate for world trade in 2019 is placed within a range of 0.5% to 1.6%.

• The range of likely values is wider for 2020, ranging from 1.7% to 3.7%, if the trade tension eases.

11. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), under the Ministry of Commerce &

Industry, launched an online system ‘Applications for Remedies in Trade for Indian Industry and other Stakeholders’ (ARTIS) for filing anti-dumping applications by the domestic industry for speedy resolution of dumping issues.

• These duties are trade remedy measures, provided under an agreement of the World Trade Organisation to its member countries to provide a level playing field to domestic industry in case of dumping of goods, significant increase in imports and subsidised imports.

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12. Bank of Baroda and Indian Army have signed an MoU to provide new and better banking experience for both serving and retired personnel of Indian Army.

• MoU includes free personal accident insurance cover, free air accident insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and an overdraft facility up to three times of monthly net salary.

13. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has formed a working group,

headed by T L Alamelu, to revisit the structure of title insurance and recommend measures to increase demand for the product.

• The promoter/developers are obliged to obtain the title policy under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

• Title insurance refers to an insurance of indemnity provided to developers and the subsequent home owners of the property against losses and risks related to defects in the title of the property.

14. S&P Global ratings has reduced India’s GDP growth to 6.3% from 7.1% for 2019-2020.

• For 2020-21, it is 7%. 15. RBI has cut its repo rate by 25 bps to 5.15% (taking the total to 135 bps cut this year)

and maintained the accommodative stance.

• Reverse repo rate was reduced to 4.9%.

• Bank Rate and Marginal Standing Facility rate is 5.4%.

• RBI has cut GDP growth projection for FY20 to 6.1% (5.3% in Q2:2019-20) against the 6.9% earlier forecast. For 2020-21, the GDP forecast for Q1 is 7.2%.

• RBI has allowed domestic banks to freely offer foreign exchange prices to NRIs at all times, out of their Indian books.

• RBI has decided to create a separate category of NBFC, that is, Non-Banking Financial Company-Micro Finance Institution (NBFC-MFI).

• RBI has raised its near-term inflation forecast to 3.4% for the Q2 of the fiscal year started April, while projecting the headline number to continue to stay below its medium-term target of 4%.

• CPI inflation projection is revised slightly upwards to 3.4 per cent for Q2:2019-20, while projections are retained at 3.5-3.7 per cent for H2:2019-20 and 3.6 per cent for Q1:2020-21, with risks evenly balanced.

• For better fund management by banks for NEFT payments, the RBI has decided to extend the collateralised liquidity support, which is currently available till 7.45 pm on NEFT working days, round the clock.

16. Govt received Rs 13,500 crore from Bharat-22 exchange traded fund around 27 times of

the its size.

• Proceeds from the ETF will help the government meet its disinvestment target of ₹1.05 lakh crore for the current financial year.

• Only SBI, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda figure in the Bharat-22 index.

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17. Bank of Baroda have signed an agreement with NBFC Paisalo Digital Limited for

expanding its micro lending portfolio, especially focussing on women self-help groups.

18. UCO Bank’s has launched 3 new digital products – UCash, Digilocker and an app (which is an integration of UCO Mbanking, UCO UPI, UCO Mpassbook and UCO Secure apps in a single platform).

• UCash enables the customers to withdraw cash from ATMs through mobile banking services without using debit card.

• Digilocker enables the sharing of verified electronic documents.

• Apart from this, a new current account facility has also been launched by the bank because of which Tax Deducted at Source certificate can be downloaded online.

• UCO Bank MD and CEO: - A K Goel. 19. Union Cabinet has approved the new strategic disinvestment policy to speed up the

process of privatisation of selected PSUs.

• Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) under Ministry of Finance, has been made the nodal department for the strategic stake sale.

• Earlier, only NITI Aayog used to identify PSUs but now DIPAM and NITI Aayog will jointly identify PSUs for strategic disinvestment.

• Government aims to raise up to Rs 1.05 lakh crore from disinvestment proceeds to fulfil its fiscal deficit target of 3.3%.

Govt aims to sell: -

Its entire 53.29% stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

63.75% stake in Shipping Corporation of India

30% in Concor 100% in North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited

75% in Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited

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20. ICICI Bank and Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Limited have

partnered to expand its reach to villages and remote towns.

• Under this agreement, CSCs will act as the bank’s correspondents in remote areas. 21. U GRO Capital (technology-enabled lender) has signed its first co-origination agreement

with Bank of Baroda to enhance credit to SMEs by using co-lending technology platform of U GRO Capital – ‘GRO-Xstream’.

22. Nippon Life Insurance (Japan) has renamed Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management

(RNAM) as Nippon India Mutual Fund (NIMF) after it acquired 75% stake in RNAM for around Rs 6,000 crore.

• It has become the sole promoter of the mutual fund.

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23. SEBI has mandated that only Foreign Portfolio Investors located in or managed by an enterprise based under Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) jurisdiction can engage in Participatory Notes (P-notes) on the recommendation of HR Khan Committee.

• P-notes are the financial instruments required to invest in Indian stock markets without being registered with SEBI.

• Implication: - It will majorly affect the FPI from Mauritius and Cayman Islands as they are not FATF members and 15 to 20% of FPI come from these countries.

24. Govt has formed an 19-member Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee (IMCC),

headed by Ajay Bhushan Pandey, to check money laundering activities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

• It will ensure operational cooperation among the government, law enforcement agencies, the Financial Intelligence Unit-India and the regulators or supervisors.

• The committee would also work on development and implementing policies on anti-money laundering and countering the terror-financing.

25. SEBI has released a circular for the mutual fund investors prohibiting them from

investing in the unlisted debt instruments including commercial papers (CPs), other than Government securities, Other money market instruments, and Derivative products such as Interest rate swaps.

• SEBI has announced certain limits on mutual fund investors: -

Limits on Mutual fund schemes Mutual fund schemes may invest in unlisted Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) provided they have a simple structure. Existing exposure (15%) to such NCDs needs to be brought down to 10% of the scheme’s portfolio by 30 June 2020.

SEBI also restricted exposure to unrated debt to just 5% of the net assets of a scheme. At present a 25% exposure to such securities is allowed.

Sector level exposure limits

In terms of sector exposure, SEBI has brought down the limit from 25% to 20% and the additional limit for HFCs from 15% to 10%

An additional exposure of 5% of the net assets of the scheme has been allowed for investments in securitized debt instruments based on retail housing loan portfolio and/or affordable housing loan portfolio

However, the overall exposure in HFCs shall not exceed the sector exposure limit of 20% of the net assets of the scheme

-

Group level exposure limits The investments by debt mutual fund schemes in debt and money market instruments of group companies of both the sponsor and the asset management company shall not exceed 10% of the net assets of the scheme. Such investment limit may be extended to 15% of the net assets of the scheme with the prior approval of the Board of Trustees.

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26. e-Conomy SEA report released by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company mentions that internet economy in Southeast Asia is set to touch $100 billion for the first time in 2019.

• Indonesia and Vietnam were leading the six countries, with their average annual internet growth rate exceeding 40% since 2015.

• In Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines, the internet economies grew between 20-30% annually.

• Indonesia’s internet economy is the largest in the region and estimated to reach $40 billion in 2019, and will cross $130 billion mark by 2025.

• While Vietnam’s internet economy is forecast to reach $12 billion in 2019 and up to $43 billion in 2025.

• The value of online transactions in areas from internet retail to car hailing should reach $300 billion by 2025.

• Reason: - Increase in the number of new online users from 260 million in 2015 to 360 million in 2019.

27. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd has dropped its £29.6 billion ($36.4 billion) bid acquiring for London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) because of a resistance from the UK company and stakeholders.

• LSE can now freely pursue its $27 billion acquiring Refinitiv. 28. The Union Cabinet has allowed 5% increase in the Dearness Allowance and Dearness

Relief to all central government employees and pensioners over the current 12% on the recommendations 7th Pay commission (new rate –17%).

• Reason: - To compensate the price rise. 29. RBI has approved the setting up of the Kerala Bank by merging 13 District Co-operative

Banks with Kerala State Co-operative Bank.

• The proposed Kerala Bank will be the largest banking network in the state.

30. World Bank has released the report titled “World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains”.

• Global value chains (GVC) can help the developing economies to enhance growth as the GVCs account for nearly 50% of trade worldwide.

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• European single market (along with China, India, and the Soviet Union) created a huge new product and labour markets, which increased the scope of GVCs.

• Firms in Ethiopia in GVC are more than twice as productive as similar firms that participate in standard trade.

• The report gave an overview of which nations can follow to attract GVC investments. 31. RBI has rejected the proposal of merger of Indiabulls Housing Finance and Lakshmi

Vilas bank. 32. Government e-Marketplace has signed an MoU with Union Bank of India to offer

various services including transfer of funds through GeM Pool Accounts, advising of Performance Bank Guarantees and Earnest Money Deposit.

• It will also facilitate cashless, paperless and transparent payment system on GeM portal and will create an efficient procurement system for government entities.

33. Moody’s Investor Service has reduced India’s GDP growth rate for the FY20 to 5.8%

from 6.2% earlier.

• Growth will pick up to 6.6% in 2020-21 and to around 7% over the medium term.

• In 2018, the growth was 6.8%. For FY21, the growth rate is forecasted at 6.6%.

• Central government fiscal deficit is estimated to be 3.7% of the GDP in FY20. 34. Ind-Ra has cut India’s GDP growth projections to 6.1% from 6.7% earlier for FY20.

• Fiscal deficit could increase to 3.6% of GDP in 2019-20. 35. RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 12.88 lakh on Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuer

Balancehero India Private Limited for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines under Section 30 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

• Toyota Financial Services India Limited has also been penalized with Rs 5 lakh for non-compliance with directions of RBI on ‘Monitoring of Frauds in NBFCs’ under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

36. Credit Saison India (subsidiary of Japanese Credit Saison company) has received licence

from RBI to set up an NBFC in Bengaluru.

• In India, it operates under its registered name – Kisetsu Saison Finance India.

37. RBI has released a new reporting system – Central Information System for Banking Infrastructure (CISBI) for all co-operative banks.

• Under CISBI, co-op banks will submit information related to the opening/closing/conversion of branches, non-administratively independent offices (extension counters, satellite offices), and ATMs in a single proforma online.

• Bank Branch Statistics Division (BBSD) in the Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM), RBI will act as the nodal agency for CISBI.

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• The information relating to opening, closure, merger, shifting and conversion of bank branches/offices should be submitted immediately (in any case not later than 1 week).

38. Brand Finance Nation Brands 2019 report has been released by Brand Finance.

• Average nation brand value growth among developing economies at 13.9% compared to only 0.4% for developed economies in 2019 ranking.

• On the Brand Strength Index (BSI), Singapore has emerged as the world’s strongest nation brand with 90.5 score out of 100.

39. World Bank has released the “South Asia Economic Focus, 2019” report, which

mentions that India’s GDP will grow at 6% in 2019; 6.9% in 2021 and 7.2% in 2022.

• Title of the report:- ‘South Asia Economic Focus, Making (De)Centralization Work’.

Estimates for India

In 2018, India’s growth rate was 6.8%.

India’s private consumption growth rate is 3.1% in 2019 as against 7.3% last year.

Growth rate in agricultural and service sector was 2.9% and 7.5% respectively.

Current Account Deficit of India expanded to 2.1% in 2019 as against the 1.8% in 2018.

Data for India

Estimates for South Asia

Growth Rate – 5.9% in 2019; as against the 6.6% in 2018

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40. Asian Development Bank and India have signed a $190 million loan to upgrade the roads and highways of Rajasthan.

41. India has a target of more than doubling the share of natural gas in its energy base to

15% by 2030.

• India is investing over $60 billion in developing natural supply and distribution infrastructure.

• At present, natural gas forms 6.2% of all energy consumption in the country.

42. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed a 9-member panel, headed by TR Alamelu, to review and suggest amendments to the Reinsurance, Foreign Reinsurance Branches and Lloyd’s India regulations.

• The panel will review the applicability of certain provisions of the Insurance Act, 1938 on investments.

• Apart from this, it would also look into calculation of economic capital and related disclosures, applicability of corporate governance guidelines and appointment of key management persons.

43. Total SA of France (world’s second largest liquefied natural gas) has decided to buy

37.4% stake in Adani Gas.

44. RBI has imposed a penalty of ₹1 crore on Lakshmi Vilas Bank for non-compliance with RBI’s directives on income recognition and asset classification norms.

• Syndicate Bank has been penalized with ₹75 lakh for non-compliance with directions on frauds classification and disbursement of home loans.

45. RBI has merged the various departments of supervision under one Department of

supervision and similarly the various departments of regulation have been merged under one unified Department of Regulation.

Department of Supervision Department of Regulation All supervisory departments — department of banking supervision, department of co-operative banking supervision, and department of non-banking supervision are being merged. It will be operational w.e.f. 1st Nov.

All regulatory departments — department of banking regulation, department of co-operative banking regulation, and department of non-banking regulation are being merged. It will be operational w.e.f. 1st Nov.

To strengthen its oversight of commercial banks, urban co-operative banks (UCBs) and NBFCs.

46. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has launched a programme to attract

investments in India and strengthen Make in India through manufacture and other operations under bond scheme, of Customs Act, 1962.

• This section of the act enables conduct of manufacture and other operations in a customs bonded warehouse.

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• Manufacture and Other Operations in Warehouse Regulations 2019 allows clear and transparent procedures, simplified compliance requirements under this new scheme.

• The jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs will act as a single point of approval to set up and oversee the operations of such units.

Other Minute Details: -

The unit can import goods under a customs duty deferment program. The duties are fully remitted if the processed goods are exported.

A single digital account has been prescribed for ease of doing business and easy compliance. There will be no interest liability.

The scheme will also enable efficient capacity utilization, as there is no limit on quantum of clearances that can be exported or cleared to the domestic market.

CBIC has partnered with Invest India to launch a dedicated microsite for providing information and promoting the scheme and for facilitation of investors.

47. International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released the October edition of its ‘World

Economic Outlook’.

• Title of the Report: - Global Manufacturing Downturn, Rising Trade Barriers, October 2019.

• World GDP growth at 3% is the lowest since 2008-09, US-China trade tensions will cumulatively reduce the level of global GDP by 0.8% by 2020.

• US, euro area, China, and Japan together account for close to half of global GDP.

• India’s GDP growth rate: -

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

6.1% 7%` 7.4% 7.4% 7.4% 7.3%

Revision of GDP growth rate for India

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• IMF’s suggestions for India given in this report:

The monetary policy and broad-based structural reforms should be used to address cyclical weakness and strengthen confidence.

India should rationalize its subsidy-spending and enhance its tax-base measures.

Public sector’s role in the financial system needs to be reduced while strengthening the governance of public sector banks and the efficiency of their credit allocation.

India should bring reforms into hiring and dismissal regulations to incentivise job creation. Land reforms should be enhanced to expedite infrastructure development.

48. Mastercard and its brand ambassador MS Dhoni have launched the “Team Cashless

India” initiative to boost digital payments in India.

• Mastercard, in partnership with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), acquirer banks and finance technology companies will help merchants to deploy digital payments acceptance infrastructure.

49. RBI has issued guidelines for ‘on-tap authorization’ on payment systems under which

RBI has fixed the minimum net worth of the companies for getting the on-tap authorisation.

Category of Payment Service Operator Minimum Net Worth Threshold

Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU)

Rs.100 cr Net worth (to be maintained at all times)

Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS)

• Minimum paid up equity capital – Rs. 25 cr • Non-promoters, to have shareholding up to 10 per cent of equity capital

White Label ATMs (WLAs) Rs.100 cr Net worth (to be maintained at all times)

• In January 2019, RBI has released the policy paper on Authorisation of New Retail Payment Systems.

Note: - The detailed implication of ‘on-tap authorization’ is covered in the Finance Monthly Current Affairs.

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50. IL&FS has sold its 51% stake in wind power special purpose vehicles to Orix Corporation

of Japan for Rs 4,800 crore.

• Now, the entire debt of around Rs 3,700 crore (in the seven Special Purpose Vehicles of IL&FS) will be held by Orix.

51. Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. has decided to acquire the Powerupcloud Technologies

Pvt. Ltd. (cloud consulting company headquartered in Bengaluru) at an enterprise value of $15 million.

52. Insurance Australia Group (IAG) will sell its 26% stake in SBI General Insurance to

Napean Opportunities LLP (an affiliate of Premji lnvest and Warburg Pincus Group).

• SBI General Insurance is a joint venture between SBI and IAG with 70% and 26% shareholding respectively.

53. According to the e-commerce policy of India, DPIIT (in 2016) prohibited FDI in the B2C e-

commerce, that is multi brand retail through inventory based model.

• Ministry of Commerce has issued the guidelines under the e-commerce policy that multi brand retail will not be allowed in India by foreign companies and people indulging in predatory pricing will be punished.

54. Hurun Research Institute has released the first edition of the Hurun Global Unicorn List

2019, which ranks India at the 3rd spot (with 21 unicorn startups), preceded by China at 1st position (with 206 startups) and USA at 2nd spot (with 203 startups).

• Total 494 startups in 25 countries and 118 cities were assessed in this ranking of the world’s billion-dollar tech ‘start-ups’ founded in the 2000s which are not yet listed on a public exchange.

• The total average worth of all these startups would be $3.4 billion on a 7 years average, and $1.7 trillion in total.

• US and China together accounted for over 80% of the world’s unicorns. Europe has 35 unicorns where United Kingdom has 13 unicorns (at 4th position).

• City-wise: - Beijing is the world’s unicorn capital with 82, followed by San Francisco with 55.

• Region-wise: - Silicon Valley has the highest unicorn startups at 102 or 21% of the world’s unicorns.

55. Reliance Industries Ltd. has first Indian firm to cross Rs 9 lakh crore market

capitalisation.

• TCS’s market capitalisation is Rs 7.66 lakh crore. 56. Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued a circular mentioning that Banks or system

providers will not charge Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) from customers and merchants for making digital payments to companies with more than Rs 50 crore turnover from November 1.

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• To this effect, amendments have been made in the income tax act as well as in the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007.

• RBI and banks would absorb the cost of transactions involved in waiving off the MDR.

57. IRDAI has issued new norms to curb life insurance mis-selling and increase transparency

(to be complied by Insurance companies by December 1, 2019).

IRDAI has directed insurers to mandatorily issue benefit illustrations based on two different assumed rates of return (4% and 8% for each policy) as per a prescribed format to policy holders.

The policy holders enrolled under IRDAI (Micro Insurance) Regulations, 2015, Guidelines on Point of Sales (POS) - Life Insurance Products, 2016 and IRDAI (Insurance services by Common Service Centres) Regulations, 2019 as amended from time to time, are exempted from this benefit.

Display all terms and conditions on the main screen in case of digital sales (instead of hidden behind hyerplinks).

Life insurers must show the projected rate of return in their traditional insurance policy products (non-linked) as well as unit-linked insurance plan's benefit illustrations.

Any illustration which becomes misleading following any material change of circumstances shall be discontinued forthwith.

In case of online selling, insurers must send an email, describing the illustrations, immediately after the purchase of the product.

58. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has launched first-of-its-kind video calling service ‘i-SERV’

within the life insurance industry to provide quality services to its customers.

• i-SERV is available in English and 5 Indian languages – Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil and Gujarati.

59. PayPal and Synchrony have partnered to launch the Venmo’s first co-branded credit

card (to be launched in 2020). Venmo is the fully-owned subsidiary of PayPal.

• These companies' have extended agreement for 15-year. 60. According to a study by the Credit Suisse, total wealth in India has increased to $12.6

trillion in 2019 (between 2000 and 2019), which makes India the fifth largest economy globally in terms of the number of ultra-high net-worth individuals.

• India’s wealth is now growing at annual average of 12% and the wealth per adult is estimated at $14,569 in mid-2019.

• Personal Wealth in India is dominated by property and other real assets.

• India’s total household wealth grew by 5.2% in dollar terms while the Net wealth per adult grew at 3.3%, slower than the average 11% growth rate reported in the last 20 years.

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• India has 8.27 lakh adults in the top 1% of global wealth holders – 1.6% share of the global pool.

• 78% of the adult population has wealth below $10,000, while 1.8% of adults has a net worth of more than $100,000.

• India is expected to add $4.4 trillion in just five years, reflecting an increase of 43%.

• US, China, and Europe contributed the most towards global wealth growth with USD 3.8 trillion, USD 1.9 trillion and USD 1.1 trillion respectively.

• During the past year, Global wealth grew by 2.6% to USD 360 trillion and wealth per adult reached a new record high of USD 70,850, 1.2% above the level of mid-2018 with Switzerland topping the biggest gains in wealth per adult this year.

• India has made a contribution of $625 billion (nearly 7% of total) to the global wealth

61. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a plan of over Rs 70,000 crore for reviving BSNL and MTNL by merging the two state-run telecom operators and introducing a voluntary retirement scheme.

• A group of ministers will be formed to help implement the revival plan.

62. According to ICRA Ratings, NBFCs and Housing Finance Companies have raised ₹2.36 tn through securitization route between Oct 2018 and Sep 2019.

• The public sector banks have been mandated to disburse funding of ₹1 trillion under the Partial Credit Guarantee scheme (PCG) by February 2020, which may increase the size of the securitization market in excess of ₹2 trillion for FY20.

• Under PCG scheme, the guarantee is offered by Govt to PSBs for purchasing high-rated pooled assets from NBFCs/HFCs.

• The scheme is applicable for the transactions involving transfer of Assets through Direct Assignment.

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63. According to the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019 report, China recorded 1.54 million patent applications which accounted for nearly half of global patent filings in 2018.

• China’s share increased from 11.6% from 2017.

• USA was the second on the list with 600,000 patent applications, declined by 1.6%.

• Globally, 3.3 million patent applications were filed, 14.3 million trademark applications, and 1.3 million industrial design applications, with Asia accounting for more than 2/3rd.

About India: -

• India is ranked at the 7th spot in terms of patent registration, witnessing a growth of 7.5% in India.

• India ranked at 3rd position in terms of trademark registration, recorded 20.9% growth.

• India recorded 13.6% growth in industrial designs. 64. SoftBank (HQ- Tokyo, Japan) has decided to acquire WeWork (American real estate

company).

• About $1.7 billion will be paid to WeWork’s outgoing CEO Adam Neumann. 65. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s data, USA was the top trading

partner of India in FY19 followed by China.

• For the first time, India’s trade deficit with China has reached $53 billion in FY19 while the total trade was $87 billion.

66. India has raised the import duty on Malaysian refined palm oil from 45% to 50% for six

months to curb imports and boost local refining.

• India’s palm oil trade from Malaysia

• India is the world's biggest edible oil importer. Palm oil accounts for 2/3rd of India's vegetable oil imports.

• India also imports soyoil from Argentina and Brazil and sunflower oil from Ukraine and Russia.

67. Grasim (owned by Aditya Birla group) has decided to form a joint venture named as

Aditya Birla Power Composites with Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen (MR- German company) for manufacturing and selling composite hollow core insulators (CHCI).

• MR will hold 49% stake and 51% stake will be held by Grasim.

68. According to the Global Banking Annual Review 2019 by the McKinsey and Co, Indian banking sector revenue growth has reduced from 22% (2002-07) to 10.3% (2010-18).

• 'Return on Tangible Equity' has fallen from 17.7% in 2013 to 2.3% in 2018.

• Suggestions of the report: - machine-learning models can improve predictive accuracy in identifying the riskiest customers by 35%.

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• It suggest to adopt the zero-based budgeting that includes outsourcing compliance, which would be less expensive than yearly internal staff increases.

• Globally, 50% of the banks are not strong enough to survive the downturn.

• Nearly 60% banks globally are not generating the cost of capital/trading below book and growth in volumes and also witnessed lower return on equity against the cost of equity over the 2009-2019 period.

69. World Bank has released its ‘Doing Business 2020’ report which ranks India at 63rd

position (14 places above the 2019 ranking at 77) with a score of 71.0 out of the total 190 countries.

• Top Country: - New Zealand (86.8 score)

• Bottom Country: - Somalia (20.0 score)

• India’s improvement: - India has shown the most improvement in this index along with other 10 countries such as China (global rank 31).

• While there has been substantial progress, India still lags in areas such as enforcing contracts (163rd) and registering property (154th).

• Also, India now ranks 68th globally on ease of Importing and exporting.

• Doing Business 2020 shows that effectiveness of trading across borders also varies significantly from economy to economy.

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70. Aditya Birla Finance Ltd. has partnered with Indian Dental Association to offer loans (on EMI) to dental patients for their treatment.

• The partnership was announced during the 11th World Dental Show 2019 held in Mumbai.

71. Government e-marketplace has signed MoU with the Federal Bank to offer various

services such as GeM pool accounts, earnest money deposit and advising of performance bank guarantees to the users of this portal.

• GeM is also working with Banks, TReDs, and SIDBI to provide bill discounting and financing of working capital.

72. Vreedhi Financial Services has received the NBFC licence from RBI to offer credit and

other services to micro enterprises operating in tier two three cities and small towns.

73. Union Cabinet has approved a new policy to allow non-oil companies to open retail outlets for fuel under which the non­oil companies can also invest in the retail sector, regardless of whether they have prior investments in the oil and gas sector.

• Minimum Net Worth of the entities seeking authorisation is ₹250 crore against the current requirement of ₹2,000 crore of prior investments in the sector.

74. Department of Public Enterprises, under the Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public

Enterprises, has accorded the status of “MAHARATNA” to Hindustan Petroleum and Power Grid Corporation.

• CMD of Hindustan Petroleum: - Shri Mukesh Kumar Surana

• CMD of Power Grid Corporation: - Shri K Sreekant 75. Fitch Ratings has downgraded India’s GDP forecast to 5.5% from the earlier 6.6% for

FY20.

• GDP forecasts – For 2020-21 : - 6.2%

• For 2021-22 : - 6.7%

• Total new lending will amount to only 6.6% of GDP in the fiscal year 2019-2020, down from 9.5% in the 2018.

76. India is in talks with UAE and Singapore for launching Unified Payments Interface (UPI),

these countries on a trial basis on the recommendations of Nandan Nilekani-led committee on deepening of digital payments.

• Nilekani committee has recommended to expand UPI, RuPay etc. in other countries. 77. World Bank will now include Kolkata and Bengaluru, besides Delhi and Mumbai, for

preparing ease of doing business report to provide a comprehensive picture of business environment of India.

78. New Development Bank (NDB) has approved two projects worth US $800 million to

Brazil and India.

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• US $500 million will be given to Brazil for its Fundo Clima Fund (established under the Ministry of Environment in 2010 to respond to the National Policy on Climate Change).

• US $300 million will be given to India for Renewable Energy Sector Development Project.

• NDB was established by BRICS to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects.

79. lnsurance Regulatory and Development Authority of lndia (lRDAl) has set up an 8-

member committee, headed by S Sadagopan, to evaluate applications filed under the Regulatory Sandbox (RS) approach.

• RS was adopted by IRDAI to promote innovative ideas to foster growth in insurance sector.

80. A high-level advisory group (HLAG) on trade and policy, headed by Surjit S Bhalla, was

formed in 2018 by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It has recommended the following statements: -

It has recommended simpler regulatory and tax framework for overseas investment funds, allowing individual investment from abroad in Indian debt and capital markets, and state-specific policies to facilitate FDI in agro-processing.

It recommended to form a single ministry for the regulation of medical devices across the value chain, an independent authority on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, a simpler medical visa regime and health insurance portability of social security entitlements across countries.

It has recommended to make Invest India, the centralised authority for issuing licences which will then become answerable to a set of ministers.

The report suggested ways to double India’s exports to $1 trillion by 2025 from $500 billion in 2018.

It has also proposed enhancing the capital base of the EXIM Bank by Rs 20,000 crore by 2022 and that of the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation by Rs 350 crore.

It suggested to set up an apex trade promotion organisation as a separate entity to replace the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, India Trade Promotion Organisation and the Trade Promotion Council of India.

India should reduce its cost of capital. India’s median real policy rate (nominal repo rate - inflation) of 30 countries in August 2019 (excluding Argentina, Mexico and Turkey) was minus 0.7%, with India having the highest rate at 2.2%

81. Indian Overseas Bank has launched a co-branded healthcare insurance policy in

association with Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Ltd. through online platform.

• The policy offers a sum insured from ₹50,000 to ₹15 lakh.

• MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank –– Karnam Sekar

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• Chairman of Universal Sompo General Insurance –– O N Singh 82. 7 Mining and Metals Companies have partnered with World Economic Forum for

responsible sourcing under the Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative to experiment, design and deploy blockchain solutions.

• The initiative will explore the building of a blockchain platform to address transparency issues, the track and tracing of materials, the reporting of carbon emissions or to increase efficiency.

• 7 companies –– Antofagasta Minerals, Eurasian Resources Group Sàrl, Glencore, Klöckner & Co, Minsur SA, Tata Steel Limited, Anglo American/De Beers (Tracr) have partnered with WEF.

83. Baroda Mutual Funds and BNP Paribas Mutual Funds have announced to merge their

mutual fund businesses. 84. ABB (Swiss company) has bought a 67% stake in Shanghai Chargedot New Energy

Technology Co. Ltd (a Chinese electric vehicle charging company).

• CEO of ABB –– Peter Voser. 85. Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd’s bid for investments in a gas block in Mozambique is being

considered by govt for approval.

86. Government has set up a committee of secretaries, to be headed by Rajiv Gauba, to resolve the financial stress in the telecom sector.

• The panel will look into issues such as deferment of spectrum auction for two years and reduction in spectrum usage charges, and take a relook at the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) charges.

• Besides this, the definition of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for telecom sector has also been changed by Supreme Court.

• According to the new definition, the AGR includes revenue from all sources (including core and non-core sources).

87. Bombay Stock Exchange has got approval from IRDAI to start insurance broking

business in partnership with Ebix (US based company) through their joint venture named as ‘BSE-Ebix Broking Insurance Broking’.

• They will sell life and non-life insurance products among other functions.

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• BSE is Asia’s oldest stock exchange. 88. Microsoft will invest $200 million in Ola’s parent, ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd to acquire

4.5% stake to connect vehicles products and deep-tech capabilities. • The project between Microsoft and Ola began in 2017.

89. The Best-Performing CEOs in the World, 2019 list has been compiled by Harvard

Business Review featuring 100 CEOs.

Top 3 CEO

Global Rank Name Company

1 Jensen Huang NVIDIA

2 Marc Benioff Salesforce.com

3 François-Henri Pinault Kering

Top 3 Indian CEO

6 Shantanu Narayen Adobe

7 Ajay Banga Mastercard

9 Satya Nadella Microsoft

90. Bandhan bank has been fined with 1 crore by RBI for failing to meet its promoter

holding norms under section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act 1949.

• The bank had to reduce the shareholding of its Bandhan Financial Holdings company, in the bank to 40% within three years of commencement of business of the bank.

91. Digital Realty and Adani Group have signed an MoU to develop and operate data

centres in India.

• Under the partnership, they will jointly develop and operate data centers and cultivate undersea cable provider communities of interest across the country.

92. AirCarbon Pte (Singapore based company) has launched the world’s 1st blockchain

enabled carbon trading exchange (likely to be operational by 2020).

• It will allow airlines and other corporate buyers to buy and sell tokens backed by carbon offset credits approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

93. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has allowed Overseas

Citizens of India to apply for National Pension System (NPS) just like Non Resident Indians till age of 65 years.

• OCI can invest as per the provisions of the PFRDA Act and the accumulated saving will be repatriable, subject to Foreign Exchange Management Act guidelines.

94. According to a KPMG report ‘Disruptive Companies and Business Models’, Amazon,

Apple and Alibaba have topped the list disruptive companies.

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• Globally, more than 740 technology industry business leaders were assessed in this report.

• Global e-commerce spending is expected to increase from USD 3.5 Tn in 2019 to USD 6.5 Tn in 2023.

• Top technology innovation visionaries according to the report are Sundar Pichai (at 1st rank), Elon Musk (at 2nd rank).

APPOINTMENTS 1. Supreme Court has recommended the name of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajendra

Menon as Chairman of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

2. Pakistan has appointed Munir Akram as the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

3. Jai Bhagwan Bhoria has been appointed as the new administrator of Punjab and

Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) by RBI.

• RBI has also imposed restrictions on PMC because of its over ₹6,500 crore exposure – four times the regulatory cap or a whopping 73% of its entire assets of ₹8,880 crore into the bankrupt HDIL.

4. Surjit S. Bhalla has been appointed as the Executive Director for India at the

International Monetary Fund for a period of 3 years. 5. Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia has been appointed as the new principal director general of

the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

• Dhatwalia has also been appointed as the principal spokesperson of the government.

• Ira Joshi has been given the additional charge of the principal DG of the Directorate of Publications Division under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

• Satyendra Prakash, DG of the Outreach and Communication of the PIB, will hold the additional charge of the Press Registrar of RNI (Registrar of Newspapers for India).

6. Charles Michel (former PM of Belgium) has been appointed as the president of

European Council.

• The current president – Donald Tusk– will retire by October 31.

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7. PK Gupta has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC).

8. SS Mallikarjuna Rao (current CEO of Allahabad Bank) has been appointed as the MD

and CEO of Punjab National Bank, replacing Sunil Mehta.

9. Abhishek Singh has been appointed as the CEO of MyGov India.

• MyGov website (developed by the National Informatics Centre) was launched in 2014 to bring government and common man closer by creating an interface for exchange of ideas and views for the social and economic transformation of India.

10. Amur S Lakshminarayanan has been appointed as the MD and CEO of Tata

communications. 11. Sushil Chandra Mishra has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing

Director of the Oil India Limited. 12. Yalitza Aparicio (Mexican actress) has been appointed as the goodwill ambassador for

indigenous people of UNESCO. 13. Rohit Gupta has been appointed as the chairman of Advertising Standards Council of

India (ASCI). 14. Nissan Motors has appointed Makoto Uchida as its new CEO and Ashwani Gupta as

Chief Operating Officer.

15. Kallam Satish Reddy has been appointed as the President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) for 2019-2021.

• He is the Chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited. 16. Vikas Varma has been promoted as the Chief Operating Officer of Mastercard India.

17. Jasprit Bumrah has been appointed as a brand ambassador of Cultsport (sportswear

brand).

18. Kais Saied has been elected as the new President of Tunisia.

19. Indra Nooyi (Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo) has become the first independent female director of International Cricket Council (ICC).

• ICC Chairman: - Shashank Manohar.

• ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2021 will be held in New Zealand. 20. World Steel Association has appointed Sajjan Jindal (CMD of JSW Steel) as Vice-

Chairman for one year.

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• YU Yong has been elected as its Chairman.

• TV Narendran and Lakshmi Mittal have been appointed as its members.

21. Rajnish Kumar (Chairman of SBI) has been appointed as the Chairman of Indian Bank Association.

22. Pankaj Kumar has been appointed as the CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of

India (UIDAI) by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

• Braj Raj Sharma has been appointed as the chairman of the Staff Selection Commission.

23. Deepika Padukone and PV Sindhu have been appointed as the ambassadors for new

initiative of PM Narendra Modi called ‘Bharat Ki Laxmi’.

• The initiative was launched to highlight the achievements of women. 24. Actor Ayushman Khurrana has been appointed by UNICEF and Ministry of Women and

Child Development to raise awareness about the sexual abuse against children.

• Khurrana has recently shot an awareness video about the Prevention of Children from Sexual Abuse (POCSO) Act.

25. Sourav Ganguly has been elected as the 39th President of Board of Control for Cricket in

India. 26. Sunil Kumar has been appointed as the chairman and managing director of the MTNL

(Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited).

• Pravin Kumar Purwar is the CMD of BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited).

27. Stan Deal has been appointed as the president and CEO of the commercial airplanes division of the Boeing Co.

• Ted Colbert – as president and CEO of Boeing Global Services

• Vishwa Uddanwadiker – interim chief information officer and senior vice president of the information technology and data analytics division of the company.

28. Sukhbir Sandhu has appointed as the Chairman of National Highway Authority of India

(NHAI).

• Arvind Singh has been appointed as the Chairman of Airports Authority of India.

29. Girish Chandra Murmu has been appointed as the first Lt Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

• He will be administered the oath of office by J&K High Court's Chief Justice Gita Mittal in Srinagar.

• Radha Krishna Mathur has been appointed as the first Lt Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh.

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• Satya Pal Malik (Previous Governor of J&K) would be sworn in as 18th Goa Governor replacing the first woman governor of Goa – Mridula Sinha.

• P S Sreedharan Pillai is the new 15th Mizoram governor.

30. Pramod Kumar Tiwari has been appointed as the director general of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution).

31. Vijayendra will be chairman & managing director of National Small Industries

Corporation Ltd.

32. Ganji Kamala V Rao has been appointed the chairman and managing director of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) Ltd.

33. K Sanjay Murthy has been appointed as the CEO and managing director of Delhi

Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry).

34. Keshav Kumar Pathak has been appointed as MD of National Highways &

Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways).

35. B Srinivas has been named as the managing director of National Horticulture Board

(under the department of agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare).

36. Filipe Nyusi (from Frelimo party) has been elected as president of Mozambique.

37. Sophie Wilmes has been appointed as the first female Prime Minister of Belgium (of caretaker govt) replacing former PM Charles Michel.

38. Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as the new administrator of Lakshadweep. 39. Justice SA Bobde has been appointed as the 47th Chief Justice of India by President Ram

Nath Kovind with effect from Nov 18, 2019 till 2021.

• Article 124 in The Constitution Of India 1949 permits the President of India to appoint judges of Supreme Court and High Court in consultation with the judges.

40. Amit Sachdev (Indian-American interventional gastroenterologist) has been conferred

the White House Fellowship for 2019-2020 class by the President’s Commission on White House Fellows.

• A total of 15 professionals have been selected in for this year’s fellowship.

• Benefits of the fellowship: - It provides an opportunity to professionals from diverse backgrounds two engage in public service for 1 year by serving in various roles in the Govt.

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• The fellowship was created in 1964 by US President Lyndon B. Johnson.

41. Rafael Mariano Grossi has been elected as the new Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

IMPORTANT DAYS 1. 94th Raising Day of the Military Nursing Service is celebrated on October 01.

• MNS is the only all woman corps in the Armed forces. 2. International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma

Gandhi by UN.

• UN issued a commemorative stamp on the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi.

• Lal Bahadur Shastri, the 2nd Prime Minister of India, was also born on Oct 2.

EVENTS IN INDIA ON 150TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF GANDHI

• Rashtriya Swachch Bharat Diwas was observed on 2nd October.

• India’s largest ‘charkha’ (1,650-kg spinning wheel) made of used plastic waste was inaugurated in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

• Ministry of Tourism organized the nationwide “Paryatan Parv 2019" to propagate the message of ‘Dekho Apna Desh’, and also to spread the message of ‘Tourism for All’.

• Digital Exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi titled “Digital Gandhi Gyan-Vigyan” was also organized by Ministry of Science & Technology, in collaboration with, M/s Vizara Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

• A special commemorative Rs 150 coin was also launched.

• India has set the target to completely eliminate single-use plastics by 2022.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India is now open defecation-free, with an access of over 60 crore people to toilets by building over 11 crore toilets.

• Indian Embassy in Paris partnered with French postal service company La Poste to release the commemorative stamp.

• Several countries, including Uzbekistan, Turkey, Palestine and Monaco, are releasing commemorative postage stamps to mark the day.

3. 3rd annual World Investor Week is a global campaign observed by the International

Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to promote the investor education and protection during September 30-October 6, 2019.

• key message of the week is online investing, digital assets and Initial Coin Offerings, as well as re-emphasizing the basics of investing.

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4. World Space Week is observed from October 4-10 by the UN to commemorate the

launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I on October 4, 1957 and October 10 when the UN declaration for peaceful uses of outer Space came into force in 1967.

• Theme for 2019: - “The Moon: Gateway to the Stars”, celebrating the 50th anniversary of humankind’s first step on the Moon on 20 July 1969.

5. First World Cotton Day is observed on October 7 in Geneva by the WTO in collaboration

with UN– Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD), International Trade Center and International Cotton Advisory Committee.

• Cotton-4 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali) applied in the United Nations General Assembly for official recognition of a World Cotton Day.

• India is the world's largest producers and consumers of cotton.

• India will cover five more African countries namely Mali, Ghana, Togo, Zambia and Tanzania in the phase -II of its cotton technical assistance programme (TAP) for the region.

• India implemented a technical assistance programme (TAP) for cotton in six African countries, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda, from 2012 to 2018.

6. October is observed as the ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’ across the world every

year by WHO.

• In 2018, there were an estimated 2.1 million new cases of breast cancer and 627 000 deaths from breast cancer worldwide, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

• Cancer is among the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with an estimated 14 million new cases and 8 million deaths in 2012, projected to rise by at least 70% by 2030.

7. World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year by UN.

• 2019 focus is on suicide prevention.

• Every 40 seconds, someone loses their life to suicide and to raise awareness about this, the campaign “40 seconds of action” has been launched.

• According to the WHO, more than 800,000 people commit suicide in a year, making it the principal cause of death among people 15-29 years old.

• Around 2.3 lakh deaths were caused due to suicide in 2016, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study (1990 to 2016), published in the Lancet Public Health journal in 2018.

• Chennai has organized the first-of-its-kind ‘Mad Pride 2019’ parade on World Mental Health Day.

8. International Day of Girl Child is observed on October 11 by United Nations.

• Theme: - Girl force: Unscripted and unstoppable

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9. Indian Department of Posts is celebrating National Postal week from 9-15th October,

2019. 10. World Sight Day is observed on every second Thursday of October.

• Theme: - “Vision First”.

• International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) observes this day to promote VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, which is a joint initiative with WHO to eliminate avoidable blindness.

• Andhra Pradesh has launched YSR Kanti Velugu Scheme 2019 on world sight day under which the citizen of the state can test their eyes for free of cost and free spectacles will be provided.

• The scheme will be conducted in six phases over a period of three years.

11. World Migratory Bird Day for 2019 is observed on May 11 and October 12.

• It falls on the second Saturday in May and October.

• Theme for 2019 – “Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution!”

12. International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) is observed on October 13 by UN.

• Theme: - “Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services”.

• United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction has launched the Sendai Framework in 2015 to promote the best practices in reducing disaster risks and losses.

• Signed in Sendai, Japan, the Sendai Framework (2015-2030) is the successor of Hyogo Framework for action (2005-2015).

• India’s 58.6% of land is prone to earthquakes while almost a 12% of it is prone to floods and river erosion, and 68% of the cultivable land is prone to drought and 15% of land is prone to landslide.

13. World Students' Day is observed on October 15 on the birthday of 11th president of

India APJ Abdul Kalam. 14. International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed on October 17 by the UN.

• Theme: Acting together to Empower Children, their families and Communities to End Poverty.

• According to UN, approx. 783 million people are living below international poverty line i.e., is 1.90 USD per day.

15. World Statistics Day is observed on October 20 by UN.

• India observed the National Statistics Day on June 29 in commemoration of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.

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16. World Iodine Deficiency Day, also known as Global Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) Prevention Day, is observed on October 21.

• The deficiency of Iodine in the body can lead to a condition called Hypothyroidism.

• Findings of National family health survey-4 (NFHS,2015-16) shows that 93% of households are using iodized salt as compare to 73% in NFHS-3(2005-06).

• In 1962, National Goitre Control Programme (NGCP) was launched which was renamed as National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme (NIDDCP) in 1992 to ensure inclusion of wide spectrum of Iodine Deficiency Disorders.

17. International Snow Leopard Day is observed on October 23 by the world.

• Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change has launched a national-level protocol – Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) – to estimate the population of snow leopards in the India during the 4th steering committee meeting of Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) held in New Delhi.

• The protocol will be applicable on to these 12 countries which have already pledged to protect at least 23 snow leopard landscapes by 2020.

• According to Worldwide fund for Nature - India, the population of snow leopards is estimated to be in the range of 400-500 for India.

18. UN Day is observed on October 24 to mark the ratification of UN Charter in 1945.

• UN has launched “UN75: 2020 and Beyond-Shaping our future together” for completing 75 years of its existence in 2020.

• Theme: - Our Planet, Our Future. 19. World Environment Day’s (observed on June 5) host country is China for the 2019.

• Every World Environment Day has a different host country, where the official celebrations take place.

• The day was first celebrated in 1974. 20. World Polio Day is observed on October 24 by the UN.

• Theme: - Stories of Progress: Past and present.

• Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) began in 1988 by World Health Organization.

• According to the GPEI, India was announced polio-free in 2014 , along with the rest of the South-East Asia Region.

• WHO has announced that the wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) has been eradicated worldwide, following the eradication of smallpox and wild poliovirus type 2.

21. 58th Raising Day of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was observed on October 24.

• ITBP was raised in 1962 under the CRPF Act. However, in 1992, parliament enacted the ITBPF Act and the rules there under were framed in 1994.

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• Central government has approved to create over 3,000 new posts, and two new operational commands for the ITBP to guard the Line of Actual Control with China.

• Two new commands – eastern and western – will be based in Guwahati and Chandigarh respectively.

• These will be headed by Additional Director General (ADG)-rank officers and will guard borders starting from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.

22. Vigilance Awareness Week is being observed by Central Vigilance Commission from

28th October to 2nd November.

• Theme: - Integrity – a way of life. 23. 4th Ayurveda day is observed by Ministry of AYUSH on October 25 on the occasion of

Dhanvantari Jayanti (Dhanvantari is a Hindu god who cures diseases).

• “National Dhanwantari Ayurveda Award” will be awarded by Ministry of AYUSH on National Ayurveda Day.

24. Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day and National Day for Disaster Reduction is observed

every year on 29 October to commemorate destruction brought by Super Cyclone in Odisha in 1999 and to prepare ourselves for future disasters.

• Theme of Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day for 2019 :- ‘Empowering Community for Disaster Resilience’.

Note: - Theme of the day is only available in Gktoday. It was not available in any newspaper. 25. World Cities Day is observed on October 31 by UN.

• The general theme is Better City, Better Life. Every year, the sub-theme keeps on changing.

• Sub-Theme for 2019: - Changing the world: Innovations and better life for future generations.

• The main event will be hosted by Ekaterinburg, Russia (organised by UN-Habitat, the Shanghai People’s Govt and Ekaterinburg).

• Hyderabad has been designed as the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy and Mumbai has been designated as Creative City of Films on the World Cities Day.

• Chennai and Varanasi are UNESCO cities of music while Jaipur is the City of Crafts and Folk Arts.

Extra Facts: -

• Habitat Conference: - Held in Quito (Ecuador) in 2016, this conference had set up the New Urban Agenda as standards for building and maintaining the cities. It is officially known as UN Conference on Housing and sustainable Urban Development.

• The Habitat conferences take place once in every 20 years. The habitat I was organized in Vancouver in 1976, Habitat II in Istanbul in 1996 and Habitat III in Quito in 2016.

• Over half the world’s population now live in cities, with the number expected to double by 2050.

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AWARDS 1. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in six categories – Physics,

Chemistry, Physiology, Peace, Economic Sciences and Literature.

Category Awardees Reason

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019

William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza

for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.

Nobel prize for Physics 2019 Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz (Swiss Scientists) and James Peebles (Canadian-American physicist)

James Peebles has been awarded for his theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology. Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz have been awarded for discovering an exo-planet, orbiting a solar type star.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019

John B Goodenough, M Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino

for developing the lithium-ion batteries

Nobel Prize in Literature For 2018- Olga Tokarczuk For 2019- Peter Handke

In 2018, the Nobel prize of literature category was postponed due to a scandal.

100th Nobel Prize for peace Abhiy Ahmed Ali (Present Prime Minister of Ethiopia)

to honour his initiatives to resolve border conflict with Eritrea

Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2019

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer

For their approach to alleviating global poverty

Books of Abhijit Banerjee (He is the author of 5 books)

Books Co-Authors Good Economics for Hard Times (2019) Esther Duflo

Poor Economics (2011) Esther Duflo Handbook of Field Experiments Vol 1 and 2 (2017)

Esther Duflo

Making Aid Work (2007) -

Volatility and Growth (2005) Philippe Aghion

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2. President Ram Nath Kovind has conferred the Vayoshreshtha Samman-2019 on the eminent senior citizens and institutions in recognition of their services towards the cause of the elderly persons.

• Vayoshreshtha awards are instituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as part of the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons on 1st October.

• 2019 Theme of the Day is : - "The Journey to Age Equality".

• Winners: -

Lifetime Achievement Award Shri Chhajuram Sharma

Centenarian Award Shri Ishwarchandra Chintamani

Best State in implementing the Maintenance and Welfare of parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, and providing services and facilities to Senior Citizens

Tamil Nadu

Best Public Sector Organisation in promoting the wellbeing and welfare of Senior Citizens

Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India

Best Institution for Research in the field of Ageing

Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, New Delhi

[The award is given is many categories. Only the important one have been taken here]

3. Caroline Criado Perez (Writer) has won the prestigious Royal Society Science Books Prize for her book “Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men”, sponsored by Insight Investment.

4. India's Kallie Puri has been awarded with "India's Most Powerful Women in Media"

award at the Confluence Excellence Awards at the British Parliament.

• She is the Vice-Chairperson of the India Today Group. 5. Shanti Raghavan and Dipesh Sutariya, founders of EnAble India were awarded with the

10th Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2019 for promoting employment, skilling, and entrepreneurship of the persons with disabilities (PwDs).

• The award, jointly established by Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in 2010, recognizes promising social entrepreneurs who implement sustainable solutions.

6. Kyrgyz human rights lawyer Azizbek Ashurov has won the UNHCR Nansen Refugee

Award 2019 for his efforts to rehabilitate the Soviet refugees and gain Kyrgyz nationality.

• The award, instituted in 1954 by UNHCR, is given to individuals doing welfare work for resettlement of refugees or displaced people.

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• The award celebrates the legacy of Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian scientist, polar explorer, diplomat and first High Commissioner for Refugees for the League of Nations.

7. Swachchta Ambassador award has been awarded to Sachin Tendulkar during the 5th edition of India Today Safaigiri Summit held in New Delhi.

8. Greta Thunberg and Divina Maloum (Cameroon’s peace campaigner) will be honoured

with the 15th International Children’s Peace Prize 2019 by the KidsRights Foundation on World Children’s Day on November 20.

• The award is given annually to a child who fights for children’s rights. 9. ‘Spirit of Kerala’, directed by Arun Joseph, has won the People’s Choice award at the

My Rode Reel film competition.

• The competition is considered as the ‘world’s largest short film competition’.

10. Arjun Bansal (aged 35) and Ankiti Bose (aged 27) have appeared into the Fortune’s 2019 “40 Under 40 List”.

• Arjun is the vice-president of Intel’s artificial intelligence software and AI lab, and Ankiti is the co-founder of Zilingo.

11. Ramesh Pandey will be awarded the ‘Asia Environmental Enforcement Award’ 2019 by

the United Nations Environment Programme at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

• The award recognises the achievements of individuals and public organisations in Asia to combat transboundary environmental crime.

• Pandey had introduced M-Stripes (Monitoring System for Tigers Intensive Protection & Ecological Status), a novel software-based patrolling in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (in Uttar Pradesh) on the recommendation of National Tiger Conservation Authority.

• Dudhwa Tiger Reserve comprises the Dudhwa National Park, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.

12. Leeladhar Jagudi has been honoured with the Vyas Samman 2018 by KK Birla

Foundation for his collection of poems “Jitne Log Utne Prem”. 13. 4th annual Carnot Prize has been awarded to Piyush Goyal by University of

Pennsylvania distinguished contributions to energy policy in January 2019.

14. Abdul Aziz Muhamat has been awarded with the 2019 Martin Ennals Award in recognition of his services towards defending human rights.

• In order to honour Martin Ennals, former Secretary-General of Amnesty International, the Martin Ennals Award is chosen by ten leading human rights organizations.

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15. President Ram Nath Kovind has presented prestigious President’s Colours to the Army

Aviation Corps in Nashik, Maharashtra.

• In recognition of the meritorious services rendered by Army Aviation Corps the President Colours are presented.

16. Asha Bhosle has been awarded with an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree University of

Salford in England in recognition of her contribution to the field of music and her role in inspiring future generations to participate in the arts and media.

17. Russia has awarded Nick Hague (NASA astronaut), with one of its highest honours, the

Order of Courage.

• He survived an aborted space launch last year.

18. 13th edition of the PII­ICRC annual awards for best article and best photograph on a humanitarian subject, have been announced.

• The awards are jointly organised by the Press Institute of India (PII) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) New Delhi Regional Delegation.

• In 2019, the theme of the awards was ‘Impact of Climate Change on Humanitarian Issues’.

• Awardees in article category: - Urvashi Sarkar, Disha Shetty, Anup Sharma.

• Awardees in photography category: - G. Sivaprasad, Rinku Raj, Bibin Xavier.

• Special awards for best article: - Jency Samuel

• Special awards for best photographer: - Prashant K. 19. Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), has awarded three Indian-

Americans with the ‘Health Council Award 2019’ among others during the GOPIO health summit in New Jersey, USA.

• Purpose of the summit is to improve the health of Indian diaspora people across the world.

Category Awardees Firm Sabinsa Corporation

Reason: - for its contributions in the health supplements sector.

Individual Rahul Shukla, Hitesh Bhatt, H R Shah

20. Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration has been awarded to Chandi Prasad

Bhatt (Chipko Movement Founder) for the years 2017 and 2018.

• Reason: - for promoting national integration in the country.

21. Margaret Atwood for her ‘The Testament’ and Bernardine Evaristo for her ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ have won the Booker Prize 2019.

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• Atwood and Evaristo become the first authors to jointly win the Booker Prize since 1992.

• Evaristo has become the first black woman to win this award.

22. Leonel Messi (captain of Barcelona Football Club) has won the Golden Shoe for the

2018/19 season award for the sixth time, for scoring the highest goals at 36 in European leagues.

• The award, also known as the "Bota de Oro", is given by European Sports Media to the player who has scored the most goals across Europe's top leagues.

23. Philharmonic Orchestra (Hong Kong) has been named as the Orchestra of The Year at

the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2019 because of their recording of Wagner’s Ring cycle.

• Recording of the Year award was given to French pianist Bertrand Chamayou for his disc of Saint-Saëns piano concertos.

• Another pianist, Vikingur Ólafsson, was honoured with the Artist of the Year title.

24. Winners of the 24th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), one of the most important film festivals in Asia, held annually in Busan, South Korea: -

Category Winner

New Currents Award Rom by Tran Thang Huy – Veitnam NETPAC Award Moving On by Yoon Danbi – Korea

Asian Filmmaker of the Year Kore-eda Hirokazu (Japanese film director) Indian Awardees

Face of Asia Award Bhumi Pednekar

Asian Star Award Tannishtha Chatterjee for her directorial debut Roam Rome Mein

Kim Ji-seok Award Pradip Kurbah for his film Iewduh (first Indian film to bag this award)

25. Vice President Venkaiyah Naidu has given the “Most Eminent Senior Citizen Award” to

Shri K Parasaran (former Attorney General of India). 26. 20th edition of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation has

been awarded to 4 Indian sites among other recipients: -

Category Sites Award of Distinction Vikram Sarabhai Library, IIM-Ahmedabad

Award of Merit Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue and Our Lady of Glory Church in Mumbai

Honourable Mention Flora Fountain, Mumbai

Award of Excellence Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts, Hong Kong.

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• A total of 16 projects from 5 countries (India, Bhutan, China, New Zealand and Australia) have been recognized by international jury of conservation experts.

27. Students of Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering have won two Marconi Society’s

Celestini Programme awards for their apps – Rakshak (women safety app) and VisionAir (app to combat air pollution).

• Marconi Society’s Celestini Programme awards, named after Guglielmo Marconi (inventor of radio), honours the people who contributed immensely towards science and humanity.

• According to the WHO’s Global Ambient Air Quality Database, India has 14 of the 15 most polluted cities in the world.

• Celestini Programme India, in partnership with IIT-Delhi, select universities with promising engineering undergraduates and provide them with support and mentorship to help tap their potential.

28. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (USA) has won the $1 million Berggruen Prize 2019 for

philosophy and culture.

• Reason: - For her pioneering legal work for gender equality and her support for the rule of law.

29. The first-of-its-kind DigiDhan Mission Fintech Award 2018-2019 were awarded during

the MeitY Startup Summit 2019 held in Delhi. Awardees

Category Winner For Innovation Innovation in Digital Payments through Emerging Technology

BharatPe (Co-founder and CEO – Ashneer Grover)

Innovation in Digital Payments through Lending

ePayLater

Overall Performance in Digital Payments YES Bank

30. Ilham Tohti has been awarded with the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (highest

human rights prize of European Union) for protecting the rights of Uighur minority people in China.

• In 2014, the Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment for separatism-related charges.

• Tohti has also received the Council of Europe's Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize.

31. Thakur Anup Singh (CMD of Marg ERP Limited) has won the ‘Udyog Rattan Award’ from

‘Institute of Economic Studies’ for promoting the use of technology in MSMEs.

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32. Jasprit Bumrah (Bowler) and Smriti Mandhana (batswoman) won the 7th edition of Wisden India Almanack Cricketer of the Year award.

• Total 5 people won this award. Other awardees are –– Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan), Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), and Rashid Khan (Afghanistan).

• 2019 and 2020 annual cricket publication also features Mayank Agarwal.

• Cricketers Gundappa Viswanath and Lala Amarnath were inducted into the Wisden India Hall of Fame.

• ‘Cricket Country: The Untold History of the First All India Team’ by Prashant Kidambi was accorded as the ‘Wisden India Book of the Year’.

33. First ever National CSR Awards have been instituted by Ministry of Corporate Affairs to

recognize corporate initiatives in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in partnership with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA – think-tank of the ministry).

• Total 19 companies have been awarded with 2019 National CSR Award and 19 companies have found honourable mentions.

• The award is given in 3 categories – “Corporate Award for Excellence in CSR”, “Contribution of CSR in Challenging Circumstances” and “Contribution of CSR in National Priority Areas”.

• Power Grid Corporation Ltd has received the Corporate Award for Excellence in CSR under the sub-category of CSR expenditure above 100 crore and it is the only company which spent more than Rs 100 crore for CSR.

34. UN has presented SEED awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development to

organizations working towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDG).

• SEED was founded by UN Environment Programme, UN Development Program and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at the World Summit on SDG, Johannesburg in 2002.

• Aikya Organics (India) has won SEED Low Carbon Awards 2019 among other global winners.

SPORTS 1. 17th edition of IAAF World Athletics Championship 2019 has concluded in Doha, Qatar.

• IAAF World Athletics Championship 2021 will be held in Eugene, USA.

• IAAF World Athletics Championship 2023 will be held in Budapest, Hungary.

• India has been ranked at 58th position.

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• Joao Vieira (aged 43) has become the oldest person to win a medal (silver) in the men’s 50km race. Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki won the gold medal in it.

• Allyson Felix (American track and field athlete) has broken the record of highest gold medals by winning 13 gold medals, two more than Usain Bolt’s record.

• Dalilah Muhammad has broken her own world record by winning the women’s 400m hurdles in 52.16 seconds (her previous record was 52.20 sec).

• US team (Wilbert London, Courtney Okolo, Allyson Felix and Michael Cherry) set the world record by finishing the 4X400 meters mixed relay in 3:9:04 seconds.

• Annu Rani has become the first Indian woman javelin thrower to enter the final at the Worlds.

2. BWF Rankings 2019 latest: -

• Parupalli Kashyap has risen to 25th place from 30th position.

• Sai Praneeth rank- 12, Sameer Verma rank- 17 are the other Indians in Top 20.

3. Denmark's Mads Pedersen wins the men's road race at the 2019 Road World

Championships in Yorkshire, England.

• He has become the first Danish winner of the event. 4. World Youth championship will be held in Mumbai and World Junior and Girls U20

Chess Championship 2019 will be held in New Delhi.

5. Aryna Sabalenka has won women’s singles title in the 6th edition of WTA Wuhan Open 2019 held in Wuhan, China.

• Duan Yingying and Veronika Kudermetova won the women’s doubles title. 6. Indonesia has won the BWF World junior mixed team badminton championships 2019

held in Kazan, Russia.

• India has been ranked at 12th position. 7. Austria's Christine Wolf has won the 13th edition of the Hero Indian Women’s Open

(golf) held in Gurugram, Haryana.

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8. Alyssa Healy (Australia) has set a world record for scoring highest runs of 148 off 61 balls in women’s T20I against Sri Lanka at the North Sydney Oval, Australia.

9. FIDE or World Chess Federation’s latest ranking 2019: -

Women’s Ranking Rank Player

1 Hou Yifan (Chinese)

2 Ju Wenjun (Chinese) 3 Koneru Humpy (India)

Men’s ranking Rank 1 Magnus Carlsen

Rank 9 Viswanathan Anand

Junior’s Ranking Rank 1 China’s Yi Wei (Boys) and Jiner Zhu (Girls)

10. A floating basketball court, first of its kind in India, has been launched in the Arabian

Sea in Mumbai.

• It has been brought for the National Basketball Association (NBA) game, which has the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers playing two pre-season games in Mumbai (for the first time in India).

11. Maj Abdul Quadir Khan (Indian Army Corps of Signals) has won the silver medal in the

53rd Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship 2019 held in Batam, Indonesia.

• It is his maiden title. 12. India has won Women’s T20 series against South Africa held in Surat.

• Deepti Sharma became the first Indian to bowl three maidens overs in a T20I match.

• Harmanpreet Kaur has become the first Indian cricketer to appear in 100 T20Is during this match. She has also surpassed men cricketers Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni (both have played only 98 T20Is till now) in the T20I appearances.

• She has also become the 2nd woman to score 2000 runs in T20I after Mithali Raj.

• Shefali Varma (aged 15) has become the youngest woman cricketer to play a T20I.

13. Marc Marquez won his sixth MotoGP World title by winning the Thailand Grand Prix. 14. Naomi Osaka and Dominic Thiem won the women’s and men’s singles at the 2019

China Open.

15. 49th edition of World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2019 was held in Stuttgart, Germany.

• Organizer: - International Gymnastics Federation and German Gymnastics Federation.

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• 50th edition of World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2021 will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Simone Biles has won 5 golds at the championship, taking her total medal tally to 25 career world championship medals (which includes 19 golds), highest for any gymnast, male or female.

• Winner: USA (Gold-5, total-8)

• Runner up: Russia (Gold-3, total-9)

16. Australian women’s cricket team has made the world record for most consecutive wins in ODI matches by winning their 18th match against Sri Lanka in the tri-match ODI series held in Australia.

• They have broken their own record of 17 consecutive wins achieved between 1997 and 1999.

17. Manju Rani, who won a silver medal, has become the first Indian woman boxer of 18

years to enter in the finals of AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2019 held in Ulan-Ude, Russia.

• M C Mary Kom, Jamuna Boro, Lovlina Borgohain won 3 bronze medals for India. 18. India won 7 medals (1 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals) at the World Youth Chess

Championship held in Mumbai.

• Gold Winner: - R Praggnanandhaa

• Silver Winners: - Vantika Agrawal, Srihari L R, Divya Deshmukh

• Bronze Winners: - Aronyak Ghosh, Sreeshwan Maralakshikari, Rakshitta Ravi 19. Valtteri Bottas has won the Japanese Grand Prix 2019. 20. Daniil Medvedev has won the Shanghai Masters (tennis) held in Shanghai, China.

21. P.U. Chitra has won the women's 800m title in the 59th National Open athletics

championships held in Chhattisgarh.

• Dutee Chand has won gold in 200m. 22. Niki K Poonacha and Sowjanya Bavisetti has won the men's and women's categories

respectively in the 25th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship 2019 held in New Delhi.

• U-18 Girls Winner: - Rashmikaa Bhamidipatty

• U-18 Boys Winner: - Madhwin Kamath

23. BWF Bahrain International Series 2019 winners: -

Men’s Singles Priyanshu Rajawat (India)

Women’s Singles Sri Fatmawati

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24. 18th edition of UEFA Euro 2020 (football tournament) will be held in 12 cities across countries in Europe in 2020.

25. 9th YONEX Dutch Open 2019 held in Almere, Netherlands winners: -

Men’s Singles Lakshay Sen (his career’s 1st world title) Women’s Singles Wang Zhiyi (China)

Men Doubles Vladimir Ivanov & Ivan Sozonov

Women Doubles Gabriela Stoeva & Stefani Stoeva Mixed Doubles Robin Tabeling & Selena Piek

26. Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei has set a new world record by winning the elite women’s group at

the Chicago Marathon in 2:14:4 seconds.

• Earlier, the record was set by Paula Radcliffe at 2:15:25s in 2003. 27. ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings 2019 released:

Top batsman Top bowler All Rounder Best Team 1. Virat Kohli 2. Rohit Sharma 3. Babar Azam

1. Jaspreet Bumrah 2. Trent Bolt 3. Kagiso Rabada

1. Shakib Al Hasan 2. Ben Stokes 3. Mohammad Nabi

1. England 2. India 3. New Zealand

28. ICC Men’s Test rankings has been released: -

Top Batsman Top Bowler Top All-Rounder Top Team

1. Steve Smith 17. Rohit Sharma

1. Pat Cummins 10. Ravichandran Ashwin 12. Ravindra Jadeja

1. Jason Holder 2. Ravindra Jadeja 5. Ravichandran Ashwin

1. India 2. New Zealand

• Virat Kohli has been ranked at 2nd spot, after Steve Smith, in the batsman category in the latest ICC Test rankings.

• Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are at 4th and 9th spots respectively.

• In bowlers ranking, Ravichandran Ashwin has been ranked at 7th positon. Jasprit Bumrah is still at 3rd place.

• All Rounders: - Ravindra Jadeja is at 2nd place and Ravichandran Ashwin is at 5th. Note: - Number 1 positions are unchanged. 29. ICC women’s ODI rankings has been released: -

• ODI Team Ranking: - 1. Australia, 2. India, 3. England.

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• ICC women T20I ranking team: - Australia, England, New Zealand, West Indies, India (top 5 spots respectively).

30. India have 21 medals (including six gold and nine silver) at the ASBC Asian Junior

Championships 2019 held in Fujairah, UAE.

• India came second in the overall medal tally after Uzbekistan, which had 8 gold medals.

• Gold medals: - Vishvanath Suresh (46kg), Bishwamitra Chongtham (48kg), Kalpana (46kg), Preeti Dahiya (60kg), Tanshbir Kaur Sandhu (80kg) and Alfiya Tarannum Pathan (+80kg).

31. 2020 Asia Track Cycling Championships held in Incheon, South Korea winners: -

• Individual medals: - Ronaldo Singh (Gold) and James Singh (bronze).

• Besides, Indian men's and women's junior sprint team won two bronze medals.

• India won 5 medals here.

• 2019 Asia Track Cycling Championships was held in Jakarta, Indonesia. 32. Raunak Sadhwani (aged 13) has become the India’s 65th Grand Master.

33. Marc Marquez has won the Motul Grand Prix of Japan held in Motegi, Japan. 34. Andy Murray has won the European Open (tennis) 2019 held at Antwerp, Belgium.

• Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies won the men’s doubles title.

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35. Danielle Kang has won the Buick LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Shanghai.

36. Jelena Ostapenko has won the WTA Luxembourg Open 2019.

37. Great Britain has won the 9th edition of Sultan of Johor Cup 2019 (U-21 men’s field

hockey tournament) held in Johor Bahru in Malaysia.

• India was the runner up. 38. Wang Hao has won the 2019 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss held in Douglas, Isle of Man.

• Harika Dronavalli (Indian chess player) has won the ‘best women’s player’ prize. 39. Bengal Warriors have won the 7th season of Pro Kabaddi League held at Eka Arena By

Transstadia, Ahmedabad. 40. DANISA Denmark Open 2019 (in Badminton), held in Odense V, Denmark, winners: -

Category Winner

Men’s Singles Kento Momota

Women’s Singles TAI Tzu Ying

41. Official logo of the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympics, to be held in Paris, has been

released.

42. Dronavalli Harika’s (chess player) has won the women’s top prize of $10,000 along with

Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan for performing well in the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss held at Douglas, Isle of Man.

• Her rank is: -

43. Praveen Kumar has become the first Indian man to win a gold medal in men’s Sanda

event of 15th World Wushu (Chinese Kungfu) Championships held in Shanghai, China.

• Poonam (75kg) and Sanathoi Devi (52kg) secured silver medals.

• Vikrant Baliyan won bronze in men’s 60kg category.

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• World Wushu Championships are organised by the International Wushu Federation in every two years.

• In 2017, Pooja Kadian became the first Indian to be crowned world champion in wushu in 75 kg sanda event.

44. Official mascot for Tokyo 2020 Olympics is named as MIRAITOWA.

45. China will host first expanded edition of FIFA Club World Cup in 2021.

• The competition, which currently features seven teams -- the winner from each confederation's major continental tournament -- will be expanded to 24 teams for the first time.

• 2022 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar. 46. FIFA Rankings : -

Men’s (as of October 2019) Women’s (as of September 2019)

Rank 1 – Belgium Rank 1 – USA

India’s Rank – 106 India’s Rank – 58 47. Tiger Woods has won 82nd title of his career by winning Zozo Championship 2019 (PGA

tour of golf) in Chiba, Japan.

• Woods has now become equivalent to Samuel Jackson Snead (an American professional golfer) who had won the 82 PGA titles, highest till date.

48. YONEX French Open 2019 Super 750 (badminton tour organized by BWF) has concluded

in Paris, France. Men’s Singles Chen Long

Women’s Singles An Se Young

49. Lewis Hamilton has won the Mexican Grand Prix 2019. 50. Papua New Guinea will participate in the men’s ICC T20 world cup to be held in

Australia in 2020.

• It is their first World Cup in any format in cricket. 51. ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2020 will be held in South Africa. 52. Prithvi Sekhar has won the men’s singles at the 2nd edition of World Deaf tennis

championship in Antalya, Turkey.

• Women’s Singles: - Miyu Kita (Japan)

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53. Hero Indian Super League (ISL) is India’s top football championship which was started in

2014.

• Recently, All India Football Federation (AIFF) has declared to consider ISL as the top-tier football league in India by replacing I-League football championship.

• Now, ISL champions can play in the AFC Champions League and the I-League champions would take a place in the AFC Cup. [AFC –– Asian Football Confederation]

• Bangalore Football Club was the winner of 2018-19 ISL season. 2019-20 ISL season will conclude in March 2020.

54. Roger Federer has won the Basel Open/Swiss Indoors (ATP tennis tournament) held at

Basel, Switzerland.

• It is his 10th title in Basel itself. 55. CIB PSA Women’s World squash championship is being held in Cairo, Egypt. 56. Minna Atherton (Australian swimmer) has set a new short course World record in the

100m backstroke at the International Swimming League by becoming the first woman to dip below 55 seconds at 54.89 sec.

• Previously, the record was held by Katinka Hosszu (Hungarian) at 55.03 sec. 57. Latest ATP Rankings as of Oct 29, 2019: -

Rank Player

1 Novak Djokovic 2 Rafael Nadal

3 Roger Federer

9 (quickly jumped from 11 position) Matteo Berrettini 129 (up from 135) Sumit Nagal (Indian)

58. U23 Senior World Wrestling Championships is being organized by the United World

Wrestling (UWW) at the Budapest, Hungary. [Information: - It will conclude on Nov 3] 59. 4th CISM World Winter Games will be hosted by Berchtesgaden & Ruhpolding

(Germany) 2021. The winter games are conducted once in 4 years.

• 7th CISM Military World Games (Summer) has been concluded in Wuhan, China.

• The games are organized by International Military Sports Council (CISM).

Total Medals

Countries Gold Silver Bronze Total

China (Rank - 1) 133 64 42 239 India 6 1 3 10

• Anandan Gunasekaran (para-athlete) won 3 gold medals in Track and Field event.

• Shivpal Singh has also won gold in Men's Javelin Throw in Track and Field event.

• Virender won gold in disabled men’s Shotput.

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• Aneesh Kumar Surendran Pillai has also won gold in men’s shotput. 60. Dominic Thiem has won the Erste Bank Open/Vienna Open (men’s tennis ATP tour)

held in Vienna, Austria.

• R. Ram and J. Salisbury won doubles title. 61. Indian cricket team will play its first- ever Day/Night Test match against Bangladesh

next month in Eden Gardens in Kolkata. 62. The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing, China. 63. Bengal Warriors (first time) has won the season 7 of Pro Kabbadi League 2019.

64. Teimour Radjabov (from Azerbaijan) has won the FIDE Chess World Cup 2019 held at

Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

65. BWF World junior badminton championships (Under-19) was held at Kazan, Russia. Winners:

Men’s Singles Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand)

Women’s Singles Riko Gunji (Japan) Men’s Doubles Leo Rolly Carnando & Daniel Marthin

(Indonesia)

Women’s Doubles Lin Fang Ling & Zhou Xin Ru (China)

Mixed Doubles Feng Yan Zhe & Lin Fang Ling (China)

66. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) has won the men’s singles at the Rakuten Japan Open 2019.

• Men’s Doubles: Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France). 67. World Junior Chess Championship 2019 was held in New Delhi, India. Winners:

• Boys: Evgeny Shtembuliak (Ukraine)

• Girls: Polina Shuvalova (Russia) 68. Nour El Sherbini (Egypt) has for the 4th time won the World Women’s PSA

championship held in Cairo, Egypt.

• Men’s PSA World Championship will end on November 15 in Cairo.

MISCELLANEOUS 1. “Lal Bahadur Shastri: Politics and Beyond” book has been written by Sandeep Shastri in

commemoration of 113th birth anniversary on October 2, 2019. 2. Venu Rajamony has written the book titled “India and the Netherlands, Past, Present

and Future”.

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3. “The Tech Whisperer” book has been written by Jaspreet Bindra.

4. ‘The RSS: Roadmaps for the 21st Century’ book has been written by Sunil Ambekar.

5. '150 Years of Celebrating the Mahatma – the South African Legacy'' is authored

by Fakir Hassen. 6. Remains of a 5,000-year-old city (believed to be the largest site from the Bronze Age)

have been excavated in Israel.

• The site is known as “En Esur”.

• An earlier settlement, believed to be 7,000 years old, has also been discovered beneath this city.

7. Michelle Obama has released her 2nd book titled “Becoming: A Guided Journal for

Discovering Your Voice”. 8. “Carpenters and Kings: Western Christianity and the Idea of India” book has been

written by Siddhartha Sarma.

9. Andres Gimeno Tolaguera, (Spanish tennis player) passed away.

• In 1972, he became the oldest male player, at the age of 34, to win the French Open.

10. “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We

Need” book has been written by Bill Gates. 11. Alexei Leonov (Russian), first astronaut to walk in space in 1965, has died. 12. “The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas: India and China’s Quest for Strategic

Dominance” book has been written by Phunchok Stobdan. 13. World's fastest ant, which can travel 108 times of its own body length per second, has

been discovered in the Sahara.

• The Saharan silver ant, Cataglyphis bombycina, can reach 0.855 meters per second, according to Harald Wolf (professor of University of Ulm, Germany) and his colleague.

• The study will be published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. 14. ‘India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development’ book (a

collection of articles on climate change) has been edited by Navroz K. Dubash.

15. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope team, led by David Jewitt of the University of California, has witnessed the first (confirmed) interstellar comet – 2I/Borisov.

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• This is the 2nd interstellar comet which is active while the first one – Oumuamua – which was discovered in 2017, was a rock.

• It is 260 million miles away from Earth. 16. The Daughter from a Wishing Tree book has been written by Sudha Murthy.

17. Viswanathan Anand has written the 'Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion's Life' book (published by Hachette India).

18. ‘Bridgital Nation: Solving Technology’s People Problem’ book has been co-authored by

N. Chandrasekaran (chairman of Tata Sons) and Roopa Purushothaman.

19. Dadu Chougule (Indian Wrestler) has passed away. 20. Dark Fear, Eerie Cities book has been written Šarūnas Paunksnis. 21. White Bellbirds are the world’s loudest bird according to a study (co-authored by Jeff

Podos of the University of Massachusetts) published in the journal Current Biology.

22. Marieke Vervoort (Belgian Paralympic athlete) has ended her life by using euthanasia.

• Euthanasia is the practise of legally killing oneself to relieve pain. Passive Euthanasia is illegal in India.

23. Ten Studies in Kashmir: History and Politics book has been written by Kashi Nath

Pandit’s and published by Indian Council of Social Science Research.

• The book contains the details about Kashmir since 1947 till date. 24. “Measuring Poverty Around the World” book has been written by Anthony Barnes

Atkinson also known as Tony Atkinson, who passed away in 2007.

• The book, which suggests new measures to eliminate poverty, has been completed by his colleagues John Micklewright and Andrea Brandolini.

25. A new study discovered a massive galaxy (formed around early universe) which was

hidden in the cosmic dust for several years. The signal took 12.5 bn years to reach Earth.

• Lead Author – Christina Williams.

• Published in – Astrophysical Journal.

26. Bibek Debroy has translated two Sanskrit books – Markendya Purana and The Bhagavad Gita.

• He has also written the book "Sarama and her Children".

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27. The True Meaning of Yoga book has been written by AiR (Atman or the Soul in Ravi).

28. C Raghavachari (Veteran Journalist) has passed away.

• Raghavachari was editor of ''Visalaandhra'' (Indian Telugu newspaper) for over 30 years from 1972.

29. Veteran Sport journalist and author K R Wadhwaney has passed away.

• Wadhwaney has authored 31 books on various aspects of sports.

• Some of his most famous books are M.S. Dhoni: A Child of Destiny (2017), Cricket War Plus Shooting, Cricket Murky Under World, Indian Cricket Controversies etc.

30. According to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal (lead author of Christina

Williams), the footprints a monstrous galaxy being called as ‘Cosmic Yeti’ galaxy have been discovered by scientists (of US and Australia) in early universe.

• The footprints, which were never seen before, have been discovered by using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA).

• The light from this galaxy has taken 12.5 billion years to reach Earth.

• The new galaxy was forming new stars at a rate over 100 times faster than Milky Way.

31. Emperor Penguin (Antarctica’s most iconic species) has been listed as ‘near threatened’ in the Red List of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

• IUCN HQ- Gland, Switzerland. 32. The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra book has been written by

Arupjyoti Saikia. 33. Romesh Gunesekera's new novel Suncatcher will be published by Bloomsbury. 34. Veteran Journalist Taro Chatung from Arunachal Pradesh has passed away.

• He is also called as the "Father of the electronic media" of Arunachal Pradesh. 35. According to a study published in journal Nature Communications, in India, 36 million

people would face annual flooding by 2050 and 44 million by 2100 if carbon emissions continue to rise.

• Nearly 21 million — and not 2.8 million — are expected to be living below the High Tide Line (the farthest to which the sea reaches into the land at high tide).

• The study employed a new software called CoastalDEM.

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• Globally nearly 110 million people live on land below the current high tide lines and 250 million on land below annual flood levels, in contrast with SRTM-based estimates of 28 million and 65 million respectively.

36. Sadako Ogata, the only Japanese and first woman head of the UN Refugee Agency during 1991 to 2000, has passed away.

• She is also the author of the book – “The Turbulent Decade, confronting the refugee crises of the 1990s”.

37. Nabaneeta Dev Sen's last novel of her Bengali Naxal trilogy “Phoenix” has been

translated and published under the title of ‘The Parrot Green Saree’.

• The previous two books of this trilogy are "I, Anupam'' and "In a Foreign Land, By Chance''.

• The book has been translated by Tutun Mukherjee.

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QUESTIONS

Q.1) Where is the 2nd edition of the Modi-Xi informal summit being held? [A] Kerala [B] Tamil Nadu [C] Maharashtra [D] Gujarat [E] Delhi Q.2) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is organizing the Global Student Solar Assembly, in association with ___? [A] IIT-Madras [B] IIT-Kharagpur [C] IIT-Delhi [D] IIT-Bombay [E] IIT-Ropar Q.3) Which country is expected to be hit by Typhoon Mitag? [A] Japan [B] Bahamas [C] Fiji [D] Taiwan [E] Guatemala Q.4) How much is the government planning to borrow during the Oct 2019-Mar 2020 period? [A] ₹2.68 lakh crore [B] ₹3.18 lakh crore [C] ₹4.78 lakh crore [D] ₹1.28 lakh crore [E] ₹3.08 lakh crore Q.5) What is the states’ gross fiscal deficit according to the RBI’s report on State Finances Report 2019-20? [A] 1.2% [B] 2.2% [C] 3.3% [D] 4.1% [E] 2.6%

Q.6) Which company has signed the corporate agency agreement with Paytm to sell insurance through Paytm? [A] Life Insurance Corporation of India [B] Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [C] Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [D] Exide Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [E] Aegon Life Insurance Q.7) Who has been appointed as the new administrator of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank by RBI? [A] Jai Bhagwan Bhoria [B] Kishtwar Badoria [C] Rama Krishnamurthy [D] Payal Gagan [E] Mohak Duggal Q.8) What is the theme of the International Translation Day 2019? [A] Translation and Indigenous Languages [B] The Journey to Age Equality [C] Language and Pluralism [D] Multilingualism and Indigenous Culture [E] Promote Indigenous Languages Q.9) Who has become the first Indian woman javelin thrower to enter the final at the World Athletic Championship? [A] Ashwini Ponappa [B] Pooja Danda [C] Dutee Chand [D] Annu Rani [E] Rani Rampal Q.10) Who is the writer of the Lal Bahadur Shastri: Politics and Beyond book? [A] Sandeep Shastri [B] Ravi Shastri [C] Veena Shastri [D] Mehak Shastri [E] Gopal Shastri

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Q.11) What is India’s rank in the Intellectual property index 2019? [A] 10th [B] 86th [C] 57th [D] 23rd [E] 36th Q.12) What is India’s rank in the Social progress index 2019? [A] 102 [B] 141 [C] 90 [D] 182 [E] 200 Q.13) With which university has National eGovernance Division partnered for the implementing the ‘Online Capacity Building Programme on Cyber Law, Crime Investigation and Digital Forensics through NeGD Learning Management System’? [A] IIT-Delhi [B] National Law University, Delhi [C] National Law Institute University, Bhopal [D] IP University, Gujarat [E] IIM, Kolkata Q.14) When was the Street Lighting National Programme launched? [A] 2013 [B] 2015 [C] 2018 [D] 2019 [E] 2016 Q.15) Which country has unveiled the DF-41 intercontinental-range ballistic missile– most powerful missile in the world? [A] Russia [B] Belgium [C] India

[D] China [E] USA Q.16) What is the GDP projection for India for FY20 by Morgan Stanley? [A] 6.2% [B] 7% [C] 5.9% [D] 6.7% [E] 7.5% Q.17) Which bank has launched the digital fixed-deposit (FD) product – ‘Express FD’? [A] HDFC Bank [B] IDBI Bank [C] HSBC Bank [D] UCO Bank [E] Axis Bank Q.18) Which company has overtaken SBI in terms of market capitalization? [A] Bajaj Finance Ltd [B] HDFC Bank [C] Airtel Payments Bank [D] Paytm [E] Ujjavan Small Banking Finance Ltd. Q.19) World Trade Organisation has reduced the global trade growth forecast to ___ from ____ for 2019 due to global trade tensions? [A] 1.2% from 2.6% [B] 2.1% from 3.1% [C] 1.7% from 2.3% [D] 2.4% from 3% [E] 3.2% from 3.7% Q.20) Recently, Directorate General of Trade Remedies under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, launched an online system ARTIS for filing anti-dumping applications by the domestic industry for speedy resolution of dumping issues. What does ‘R’ stand for?

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[A] Remedy [B] Redressal [C] Remedies [D] Resolve [E] Remove Q.21) Who has been appointed as the Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund? [A] Surjit S. Bhalla [B] K Kasturiranjan [C] Urjit Patel [D] Ramgopal Krishnan [E] Krishnamurty Venugopal Q.22) Who has been appointed as the president of European Council? [A] Robert O’Brien [B] John Klinn [C] Michael Stowe [D] Charles Michel [E] Nick Warsaw Q.23) Recently, Caroline Criado Perez has won the prestigious Royal Society Science Books Prize for which book? [A] Do it like a Woman [B] No one ever changed the world by being nice [C] Celestial Bodies [D] Born a Crime [E] Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men Q.24) Who has won women’s singles title in the 6th edition of WTA Wuhan Open? [A] Aryna Sabalenka [B] Duan Yingying [C] Veronika Kudermetova [D] Venu Rajamony [E] Karsten Warholm Q.25) Where is the Askot Wildlife Sanctuary, Valley of Flowers National

Park and Govind Wildlife Sanctuary located? [A] Uttarakhand [B] Uttar Pradesh [C] Maharashtra [D] Andhra Pradesh [E] Madhya Pradesh Q.26) Where is the Neora Valley National Park located? [A] West Bengal [B] Tamil Nadu [C] Maharashtra [D] Delhi [E] Uttar Pradesh Q.27) With which company has Ford formed a joint venture to operate in India? [A] Nissan Motor Co [B] Maruti Suzuki [C] Ashok Leyland [D] Tata Motors [E] Mahindra and Mahindra Q.28) Who has been appointed as the new principal director general of the Press Information Bureau? [A] Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia [B] Karambir Singh Dhatwalia [C] Kunal Singh Dhatwalia [D] Kishtwar Singh Dhatwalia [E] Krishna Singh Dhatwalia Q.29) Who has been awarded with the India's Most Powerful Women in Media award? [A] Kallie Puri [B] Barkha Dutt [C] Gauri Lankesh [D] Ramana Phore [E] Srishti Jain

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Q.30) Who is the author of India and the Netherlands, Past, Present and Future book? [A] Venu Rajamony [B] Vishal Makhija [C] Mehul Grewal [D] Gopal Verma [E] Ganesh Sehgal

Q.31) Which state has launched the Urjagiri – an awareness campaign to raise awareness among people to stop power theft and to avoid power loss? [A] Kerala [B] Tamil Nadu [C] Odisha [D] Uttarakhand [E] Assam Q.32) Which state has the highest number of dry districts according to the “2019 Southwest Monsoon Season Rainfall and IMD’s Long Range Forecasts” by IMD? [A] Uttar Pradesh [B] Rajasthan [C] Maharashtra [D] Karnataka [E] Haryana Q.33) Which state has topped the Rural Swachhta survey 2019? [A] Arunachal Pradesh [B] Sikkim [C] Kerala [D] Gujarat [E] Tamil Nadu Q.34) What is the name of the joint military exercise between India and Kazakhstan? [A] KAZEx [B] ExIndKAZ [C] KAZIND

[D] MADKAZ [E] NAVINDKaz s Q.35) Which country has announced its exit from the OPEC group? [A] Ecuador [B] Algeria [C] Kuwait [D] Libya [E] Nigeria Q.36) What is the new GDP growth rate for India for FY20, as forecasted by S&P Global ratings? [A] 6.1% [B] 5.7% [C] 6.3% [D] 6.9% [E] 5.2% Q.37) What is the new repo rate? [A] 5.15% [B] 5.01% [C] 4.90% [D] 5.43% [E] 5.77% Q.38) Who has been appointed as the MD and CEO of Tata communications? [A] Amur S Lakshminarayanan [B] Vijay Goel [C] Mahesh Goenka [D] Rajesh Nishank [E] Anupriya Goel Q.39) Who has been awarded with the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award 2019? [A] Aaid Farhim [B] Johnny Pacino [C] Haadhir Munir [D] Azizbek Ashurov [E] Robert De Pacy

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Q.40) What is the ranking of Koneru Humpy in FIDE’s latest rankings? [A] 1 [B] 2 [C] 3 [D] 4 [E] 5

Q.41) Who has been appointed as the head of the working group formed by govt for formulating the new industrial policy? [A] T N Bhasin [B] Injeti Srinivas [C] Prakash Judeja [D] R K Singh [E] Guruprasad Mohapatra Q.42) What is the name of the Indo-Mongolian joint military exercise? [A] Yudh Abhiyas [B] Surya Kiran [C] Konkon [D] Varun [E] Nomadic Elephant Q.43) Ministry of Defence has increased the amount of the financial aid given to the Next of Kin of all categories of battle casualty to ___ from Rs 2 lakhs under Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund? [A] Rs 8 Lakh [B] Rs 3 Lakh [C] Rs 4 Lakh [D] Rs 7 Lakh [E] Rs 6 Lakh Q.44) Which city has topped the first ever “Smart City Index 2019” conducted by the International Institute for Management Development? [A] Dublin [B] Singapore [C] Hyderabad [D] Mumbai

[E] London Q.45) What is India’s rank in the Global Firepower Index 2019? [A] 1 [B] 2 [C] 11 [D] 4 [E] 5 Q.46) What is the name of the an audio guide facility app launched by Ministry of Tourism for 12 sites during the 3rd edition of Paryatan Parv-2019? [A] Audio Odigos [B] Audio Plenary [C] Audio Itinerary [D] Audio transit [E] Audio expedition Q.47) What is the name of the portal launched by the govt to bring transparency as well as better coordination in coal supplies to power plants? [A] Ujala [B] Vidyut [C] Pragati [D] Vishwa [E] Prakash Q.48) Which state has launched the Vahana Mitra scheme for providing financial aid of Rs 10,000 per annum to auto-rickshaw or taxicab drivers/owners? [A] Telangana [B] Maharashtra [C] Andhra Pradesh [D] Kerala [E] Odisha Q.49) Which is the first state in India to launch the Policy On Pneumoconiosis? [A] Madhya Pradesh

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[B] Andhra Pradesh [C] Arunachal Pradesh [D] Mizoram [E] Rajasthan Q.50) By which year, is India planning to launch eliminate or bring down the trans-fat to less than 2%? [A] 2021 [B] 2022 [C] 2023 [D] 2024 [E] 2025 Q.51) NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission and United Nations Development Programme India have signed a letter of intent for establishing the ___ centre to train the youths of India in entrepreneurial skills? [A] Youth Co:Lab [B] E-STEP [C] W2forward [D] Skill Youth [E] Innov Mill Q.52) Which country has recently tested an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile? [A] Russia [B] China [C] Sri Lanka [D] Nauru [E] USA Q.53) Who is the MD and CEO of UCO Bank? [A] A K Goel [B] Mukesh Bhasin [C] Ravneet Gill [D] Mayur Awasthy [E] Aruna Sigma

Q.54) Which bank has collaborated with the Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Limited to expand its reach in rural India? [A] HDFC Bank [B] ICICI Bank [C] UCO Bank [D] Standard Chartered Bank [E] State Bank of India Q.55) Who has been appointed as the new Chairman and Managing Director of the Oil India Limited? [A] Sushil Chandra Mishra [B] Atanu Chakrobarty [C] Mahesh Grewal [D] Surjit S Bhalla [E] Rajendra Menon Q.56) When is the world space week observed? [A] October 1-6 [B] October 4-10 [C] October 7-13 [D] October 19-24 [E] October 21-26 Q.57) Who has been awarded with the 15th International Children’s Peace Prize 2019? [A] Greta Thunberg [B] Jennifer Banister [C] Divina Maloum [D] Both A and B [E] Both A and C Q.58) Who has been ranked as the top batsman in the MRF Tyres International Cricket Council Men’s ODI Player Rankings 2019? [A] Virat Kohli [B] Rohit Sharma [C] Babar Azam [D] Jaspreet Bumrah

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[E] Shakib Al Hasan Q.59) Who has won the silver medal in the 53rd Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship 2019? [A] Maj Abdul Quadir Khan [B] Sangram Chougule [C] Murli Kumar [D] Rajendran Mani [E] Ankur Sharma Q.60) Where has the India’s first floating basketball court been inaugurated? [A] Kolkata [B] Mumbai [C] Bengaluru [D] Vishakhapatnam [E] Surat

Q.61) Who has been selected from India to board the German research vessel Polarstern onboard the Study of Arctic Climate expedition? [A] Vishnu Nandan [B] Mahesh Kumar [C] Krishna Chander [D] Mahesh Panwar [E] Manu Bhagel Q.62) Where will the first India’s first e-waste clinic to be set up? [A] Uttar Pradesh [B] Maharashtra [C] Madhya Pradesh [D] Gujarat [E] West Bengal Q.63) Where has India's first plastic to diesel conversion plant been inaugurated? [A] Uttarakhand [B] Assam [C] Tripura [D] Kerala

[E] Uttar Pradesh Q.64) Where has the 5th edition of the World Parliament of Science, Religion and Philosophy 2019 been inaugurated? [A] West Bengal [B] Tripura [C] Meghalaya [D] Maharashtra [E] Haryana Q.65) Which country has recently launched the Gaofen-10 satellite? [A] China [B] Russia [C] Israel [D] France [E] England Q.66) What is the codename of NASA’s first completely electric experimental aircraft? [A] Copper [B] Getwell [C] Barley [D] Maxwell [E] Cooper Q.67) Who has been appointed as the goodwill ambassador of UNESCO for indigenous peoples? [A] Yalitza Aparicio [B] Scarlett Johansson [C] Natalie Portman [D] Emma Stone [E] Gal Gadot Q.68) When is the World Cotton Day observed? [A] December 2 [B] October 7 [C] November 12 [D] August 18 [E] September 19

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Q.69) In which field are William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza awarded the Nobel Prize 2019? [A] Literature [B] Mathematics [C] Physiology [D] Chemistry [E] Psychology Q.70) Who is the author of 150 Years of Celebrating the Mahatma – the South African Legacy? [A] Fakir Hassen [B] Ravish Kumar [C] Rajdeep Sardesai [D] Sagarika Ghose [E] Shekhar Gupta

Q.71) With which countries has India partnered to provide climate forecast services to countries in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan region? [A] Afghanistan and Bangladesh [B] Tajikistan and Uzbekistan [C] Myanmar and Nepal [D] Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia [E] Pakistan and China Q.72) What is the percentage of children being breastfed in rural areas, according to the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2019? [A] 55% [B] 85% [C] 73% [D] 91% [E] 66% Q.73) Which schedule of the constitution describes about the special provisions for tribal areas in parts or the whole of four North-Eastern States – Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura?

[A] 5 [B] 9 [C] 6 [D] 3 [E] 12 Q.74) What is India’s rank in the Global Competitiveness Index 2019? [A] 56 [B] 71 [C] 68 [D] 49 [E] 89 Q.75) Which state has become the first one in India to integrate its police patrol systems with passenger cabs to provide safety to passengers? [A] Andhra Pradesh [B] Meghalaya [C] Delhi [D] Maharashtra [E] Telangana Q.76) Which state has launched the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana? [A] Andhra Pradesh [B] Gujarat [C] Madhya Pradesh [D] Rajasthan [E] Uttar Pradesh Q.77) What is the name of the Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme launched for Science, Mathematics and Arts students to enhance their skills? [A] Parikshit [B] Saksham [C] Sufalam [D] Dhruv [E] Prayag Q.78) Which planet in the solar system has the highest number of moons?

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[A] Saturn [B] Jupiter [C] Venus [D] Neptune [E] Uranium Q.79) Who heads the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee formed by govt to check money laundering activities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002? [A] Akshay Srivastav [B] Atanu Chakraborty [C] Ajay Bhushan Pandey [D] Rajiv Kumar [E] Ritesh Chauhan Q.80) Which country’s internet economy is the largest, according to the e-Conomy SEA report released by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company? [A] Vietnam [B] Thailand [C] Malaysia [D] Indonesia [E] Philippines Q.81) Who has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Nissan Motors? [A] Makoto Uchida [B] Cai Yingwen [C] Li Guangyao [D] Wu Zuodong [E] Gu Weijun Q.82) Which month is observed as Breast Cancer Awareness Month? [A] August [B] September [C] October [D] November [E] December

Q.83) Which movie has been awarded with the People’s Choice award at the My Rode Reel film competition? [A] Spirit of Kerala [B] That Day After Everyday [C] Black Mirror [D] Tubelight Ke Chand [E] Migration Q.84) Who among the following has not been awarded with the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry? [A] Akira Yoshino [B] M Stanley Whittingham [C] George Smith [D] John B Goodenough [E] None of them Q.85) Who has been awarded with the 4th annual Carnot Prize by the University of Pennsylvania? [A] Piyush Goyal [B] Frances Arnold [C] Gregory Winter [D] Arthur Ashkin [E] Tasuku Honjo Q.86) Which country will host the 3×3 basketball qualifying tournament for Tokyo Olympics in March 2020? [A] China [B] Japan [C] India [D] Russia [E] Thailand Q.87) What is Rohit Sharma’s rank in the batsmen category in the ICC’s latest test rankings? [A] 12 [B] 17 [C] 9 [D] 7 [E] 5

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Q.88) What is the name of Michelle Obama’s second book (released recently)? [A] Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice [B] First They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks [C] The splendid and The vile [D] Celestial Bodies [E] A Thousand Splendid Suns Q.89) Who has been awarded with the 2019 Martin Ennals Award? [A] Abdul Aziz Muhamat [B] Greta Thundberg [C] Juan Manuel Santos [D] Malala Yousafzai [E] Nadia Murad Q.90) Who has been awarded with the Vyas Samman for the year 2018 by KK Birla Foundation? [A] Nilotpal Mrinal [B] Satya Vyas [C] Divya Prakash Dubey [D] Leeladhar Jagudi [E] Gaurav Solanki

Q.91) What is the total amount of contribution received by Global Fund to fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria during its Sixth Replenishment Conference? [A] $14.02 billion [B] $21.03 billion [C] $31.17 billion [D] $28.19 billion [E] $27.22 billion Q.92) What is the name of the initiative launched by Council for Advancement of People’s action and rural Technology under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana to

bring the rural women Self Help Groups under one platform? [A] SARAL Aajeevika Mela [B] SEVA Aajeevika Mela [C] SARAS Aajeevika Mela [D] SUMAN Aajeevika Mela [E] SUGANDH Aajeevika Mela Q.93) Where has the World’s first species of eel-loach living in subterranean environments been discovered? [A] Maharashtra [B] Kerala [C] Punjab [D] Arunachal Pradesh [E] Assam Q.94) Which organization has started the dolphin census on the Ganges river? [A] Indian Environmental Society [B] Centre for Media Studies [C] Centre For Environmental Studies [D] World Wide Fund for Nature India [E] C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre Q.95) What is the name of the app launched to help the railway police in addressing the complaints of passengers across India and integrate the criminal database online? [A] Sah-bhuj [B] Sahbhagi [C] Sahyatri [D] Samiksha [E] Sambhavana Q.96) ‘Aarogyasri’ is the health program of which state? [A] Kerala [B] Andhra Pradesh [C] Odisha [D] Telangana [E] Maharashtra

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Q.97) What is the rate of prevalence of diabetes in the people above 50 years of age? [A] 12.3% [B] 11.8% [C] 9.3% [D] 14.4% [E] 21% Q.98) With which company has National Investment and Infrastructure Fund formed the joint venture – IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt Ltd – to install smart electricity meters in all households across India? [A] Energy Efficiency Services Ltd [B] National Thermal Power Corp [C] Power Grid Corp of India [D] Tata Power [E] Central Electricity Authority Q.99) What is India’s rank in the Henley Passport Index 2019 (Q4 update)? [A] 91 [B] 82 [C] 57 [D] 64 [E] 74 Q.100) How much line of credit has India announced for Mongolia to build its petrochemical refinery? [A] $236 million [B] $374 million [C] $115 million [D] $421 million [E] $478 million Q.101) Which of the following exercise does India not conduct with France? [A] Varun [B] Garuda [C] Sahastra [D] Shakti

[E] None of the Above Q.102) Which of the following statement is true about the POSHAN atlas, proposed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development? [A] It will map the nutrition status of children [B] It will map the infant mortality rate in India [C] It will locate the loopholes in the implementation of the National Nutrition Mission [D] It will map crops and food grains grown all over the country [E] It will figure out the ways for 100% immunization across the nation Q.103) How many people live with vision impairment or blindness worldwide, according to the first ever world report on vision released by WHO? [A] 3.1 billion [B] 4.2 billion [C] 5.1 billion [D] 2.2 billion [E] 6.2 billion Q.104) Which of the following UN organization has become the first one to receive donations in cryptocurrency? [A] Food and Agriculture Organization [B] International Civil Aviation Organization [C] International Monetary Fund [D] UNICEF [E] World Health Organization Q.105) With which bank has Government e-Marketplace signed an MoU to offer various services including transfer of funds through GeM Pool Accounts? [A] IDBI Bank [B] Union Bank of India

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[C] Syndicate Bank [D] UCO bank [E] Allahabad Bank Q.106) What is the new GDP growth projection for India for FY20 by Moody’s? [A] 5.8% [B] 6.1% [C] 5.3% [D] 6.7% [E] 5.9% Q.107) What is the fiscal deficit projection for India for FY20 by Ind-Ra? [A] 3.6% [B] 2.7% [C] 3.3% [D] 3.4% [E] 3.9% Q.108) Who has been appointed as the President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance? [A] Kallam Satish Reddy [B] Subhash Garg [C] Surest Mehta [D] Seema Duggal [E] Keshav Bhargava Q.109) What is the theme of the World Sight Day? [A] Vision First [B] Vision For All [C] Vision Empowerment [D] Vision Safety [E] Vision is Future Q.110) Who has been awarded with the 100th Nobel Prize for peace? [A] Abhiy Ahmed Ali [B] Nadia Murad [C] Denis Mukwege [D] Greta Thunberg [E] Juan Manuel Santos

Q.111) According to the National Blindness and Visually Impaired Survey 2019, prevalence of blindness has been reduced by ____? [A] 50% [B] 34% [C] 47% [D] 25% [E] 71% Q.112) Which country has recently joined the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance? [A] Brazil [B] Kazakhstan [C] Italy [D] India [E] Russia Q.113) What is the name of the app launched by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affair to encourage people to plant trees and to allow automatic geotagging of plants? [A] Paryavaran [B] mHariyali [C] Haribeej [D] Jaivik [E] Pradushan Mukt Q.114) Who has been ranked first in the Forbes India Rich List 2019? [A] Gautam Adani [B] Hinduja brothers [C] Mukesh Ambani [D] Pallonji Mistry [E] Uday Kotak Q.115) Which state has launched the YSR Kanti Velugu Scheme 2019 to allow free eye test and spectacles by citizens? [A] Telangana [B] Andhra Pradesh

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[C] Kerala [D] Karnataka [E] Odisha Q.116) Vajra Prahar is the bilateral exercise between India and ___? [A] Sri Lanka [B] Bangladesh [C] Russia [D] Australia [E] USA Q.117) What is the name of the joint military exercise between India and Japan? [A] Shakti [B] Garuda [C] Varun [D] Konkar [E] Dharma Guardian Q.118) Which country has been invited by India for the 25th edition of the Technology Summit? [A] Germany [B] Italy [C] England [D] France [E] Netherland Q.119) When was the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ program launched? [A] 2019 [B] 2018 [C] 2017 [D] 2016 [E] 2015 Q.120) Who has been awarded with The Order of the Green Crescent? [A] Narendra Modi [B] Nirmala Sitharaman [C] Piyush Goyal [D] Venkaiah Naidu

[E] Ram Nath Kovind Q.121) When was Kanyashree scheme launched by West Bengal? [A] 2007 [B] 2013 [C] 2015 [D] 2019 [E] 2018 Q.122) Under the ‘Yuva Sahakar’ – Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme, National Cooperative Development Corporation had proposed to create a ‘Cooperative Start-up and Innovation Fund’ of ______? [A] Rs 500 crore [B] Rs 1000 crore [C] Rs 1200 crore [D] Rs 1500 crore [E] Rs 2000 crore Q.123) Recently, NASA launched the ICON space weather satellite from an aircraft of Northrop Grumman. What does ‘I’ stand for? [A] Intellight [B] Integrated [C] Ionospheric [D] ionosfera [E] Ionodisc Q.124) Which state has won the 6th C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards in the green mobility category? [A] Tamil Nadu [B] West Bengal [C] Maharashtra [D] Madhya Pradesh [E] Odisha Q.125) What is the theme of the First Global DXB Challenge 2019? [A] AI and the World

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[B] Technology for Climate [C] Climate Change and Robotics [D] Digital Technology for Oceans [E] Ocean Opportunities Q.126) Recently, RBI has released a new reporting system for all co-operative banks so that they can submit submit information related to the opening/closing/conversion of branches etc. What is the name of the system? [A] NAVic [B] CMBBS [C] CISBI [D] CDVSY [E] CPPB Q.127) What is India’s rank in the Brand Finance Nation Brands 2019 report? [A] 4 [B] 5 [C] 7 [D] 9 [E] 10 Q.128) What is the GDP growth forecast for 2019 for India by World Bank, according to its South Asia Economic Focus 2019? [A] 6.0% [B] 6.3% [C] 5.8% [D] 6.2% [E] 5.3% Q.129) When is the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction observed? [A] October 10 [B] October 13 [C] October 27 [D] October 21 [E] October 15

Q.130) Who has become the first woman boxer to enter into the finals of AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2019 at 18 years of age? [A] Manju Rani [B] Lovlina Borgohain [C] Jamuna Boro [D] Vantika Agrawal [E] Srihari L R

Q.131) Where was Culture Ministers’ meeting held? [A] South Africa [B] China [C] Russia [D] Brazil [E] India Q.132) When was Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana launched? [A] 2011 [B] 2013 [C] 2015 [D] 2017 [E] 2019 Q.133) How much line of credit has been extended by India to Sierra Leone rice cultivation? [A] $30 million [B] $50 million [C] $70 million [D] $25 million [E] $40 million Q.134) Who is the President of FATF? [A] Xiangmin Liu [B] Francis Macron [C] David Krigyos [D] Michell Douglass [E] Martin Houghton

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Q.135) For which state’s road development has Asian Development Bank granted a $190 million loan to India? [A] Meghalaya [B] Mizoram [C] Tripura [D] Madhya Pradesh [E] Rajasthan Q.136) Who has become the first person to run a marathon in less than 2 hours at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Austria? [A] Eliud Kipchoge [B] Michel Rapinoe [C] Franc Partan [D] Dutee Chand [E] Hima Das Q.137) Who has won the Shanghai Masters (tennis)? [A] Daniil Medvedev [B] Rafael Nadal [C] Dominic Thiem [D] Sumit Nagal [E] Novak Djokovic Q.138) Who among the following has won men’s singles title at the 25th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship 2019? [A] Niki K Poonacha [B] Mahesh Bhupathi [C] Rohan Bopanna [D] Ramesh Krishnan [E] Sumit Nagal Q.139) Who is the writer of “The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas: India and China’s Quest for Strategic Dominance” book? [A] Phunchok Stobdan [B] Bhikkhu Analayo [C] Ajahn Amaro [D] Allan Bennett

[E] Stephen T. Asma Q.140) Where are the Galathea National Park and the Campbell Bay National Park located? [A] Tamil Nadu [B] Lakshdweep Island [C] Andaman and Nicobar [D] Kerala [E] Odisha

Q.141) Which city has topped in the 'The Wealthiest Cities Worldwide in 2019' list? [A] Zagreb [B] Copenhagen [C] Hague [D] New York [E] London Q.142) Which of the following airline has become the world’s first airline to use Taxibot on A320 aircraft with passengers on-board? [A] Boeing [B] Emirates Airline [C] Qatar Airways [D] Air China [E] Air India Q.143) Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah Yojana is the scheme of which state? [A] Gujarat [B] Maharashtra [C] Madhya Pradesh [D] Andhra Pradesh [E] Karnataka Q.144) GOAL – Going Online as Leaders is the digital literacy program of _____? [A] Amazon [B] Flipkart [C] Google [D] Facebook [E] Microsoft

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Q.145) What is India’s rank in the Global Hunger Index 2019? [A] 102 [B] 115 [C] 85 [D] 192 [E] 147 Q.146) What is the name of the joint military exercise between Indian and Japanese Air Forces? [A] Shinyuu Maitri [B] Shakti Peeth [C] Surya Kiran [D] Sunrise [E] Saksham Q.147) Recently, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Indian Veterinary Research Institute have launched two kits – sELISA and lgM ELISA, for controlling and detecting the ____ disease? [A] Bluetongue [B] Anthrax [C] Foot and mouth disease [D] Leptospirosis [E] Rinder pest Q.148) What is GDP growth projection for India for 2019-20 by IMF’s World Economic Outlook-October update? [A] 4.9% [B] 6.1% [C] 6.9% [D] 5.1% [E] 6.7% Q.149) When is World Food Day observed? [A] October 30 [B] October 27 [C] October 23

[D] October 18 [E] October 16 Q.150) Who has won the BWF Bahrain International Series 2019? [A] Priyanshu Rajawat [B] Lakshay Sen [C] Sumit Nagal [D] Niki Poonacha [E] Rohan Bopanna

Q.151) According to the Global Tuberculosis Report 2019, India accounts for the ____ burden of TB? [A] 27% [B] 9% [C] 16% [D] 12% [E] 10% Q.152) Which state (in larger states category) has topped in the NITI Aayog’s first ever India Innovation Index 2019? [A] Tamil Nadu [B] Punjab [C] Gujarat [D] Maharashtra [E] Karnataka Q.153) What is India’s rank in the ‘The CS Gender 3000 in 2019: The changing face of companies’? [A] 71 [B] 54 [C] 41 [D] 32 [E] 23 Q.154) Indo Bangla Baul Music Festival is celebrated in commemoration of which saint? [A] Abdul Rehman Jilani Dehlvi [B] Nizamuddin Auliya [C] Jamali Kamboh

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[D] Kashf ul Mahjoob [E] Fakir Lalon Shah Q.155) With which country does India conduct the EX EASTERN BRIDGE-V bilateral exercise? [A] Saudi Arabia [B] Iran [C] Tanzania [D] Uruguay [E] Oman Q.156) How many dolphins are detected in the Annual Ganges river dolphin census? [A] 69 [B] 36 [C] 43 [D] 55 [E] 72 Q.157) Recently, Indian Army has launched the OASIS to allow the officers to view their service records, raise observations etc. What does ‘A’ stand for? [A] Army [B] Automated [C] Arbitrary [D] Arsenal [E] Artillery Q.158) Where was the first ever Asia Health 2019 held? [A] Mumbai [B] Bangalore [C] Chandigarh [D] Chennai [E] Delhi Q.159) Which country is planning to impose a 3% web tax on big digital companies? [A] France [B] Italy

[C] Germany [D] England [E] Spain Q.160) Which company is buying the 51% stake in IL&FS wind power assets? [A] Total SA [B] BNP Paribas [C] BP [D] Orix Corporation [E] Vinci S. A. Q.161) Which company will sell its 26% stake in SBI General Insurance to Napean Opportunities LLP (an affiliate of Premji lnvest and Warburg Pincus Group)? [A] BHP Group Limited [B] Westpac Insurance [C] ANZ Banking Group [D] Santos Limited [E] Insurance Australia Group Q.162) Which country has topped in the Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019? [A] UK [B] USA [C] China [D] France [E] Canada Q.163) Which bank has recently partnered with Home Credit India to lend personal loans? [A] HDFC Bank [B] ICICI Bank [C] State Bank of India [D] Bank of Baroda [E] Karur Vysya Bank Q.164) Who has been appointed as the Chairman of World Steel Association? [A] Sajjan Jindal [B] YU Yong [C] Samuel Joseph Jebaraj

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[D] Kim Ji-Hyun [E] Kristalina Georgieva Q.165) Which organization has won the Kayakalp award 2019 in category A? [A] AIIMS, Delhi [B] Shri Vinoba Bhave Civil Hospital [C] Apollo Hospital [D] Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research [E] Safdarjung Hospital Q.166) Which orchestra has been awarded with the Orchestra of The Year at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2019? [A] Vienna Philharmonic [B] Berlin Philharmonic [C] London Symphony Orchestra [D] LA Philharmonic [E] Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Q.167) Who has won the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival? [A] Tran Thang Huy [B] Kim Jeong-keun [C] Kore-eda Hirokazu [D] Kim Dukjoon [E] Yoon Danbi Q.168) Who has won the men’s singles at the HCL-SRFI India squash tour? [A] Ivan Yuen [B] Mohamed Elshorbagy [C] Karim Abdel Gawad [D] Diego Elias [E] Miguel Rodriguez Q.169) In which region is the World's fastest ant discovered? [A] Saharan [B] Central America [C] Europe

[D] Oceania [E] South America Q.170) Who is the editor of ‘India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development’ book? [A] Kulbhushan Singh [B] Vikram Seth [C] Devika Kapadia [D] Navroz K. Dubash [E] Anamika Kumar

Q.171) Which state has topped in the University-Industry Linkage Index 2019? [A] Arunachal Pradesh [B] Assam [C] Meghalaya [D] Gujarat [E] Karnataka Q.172) Where is the 11th Nuclear Energy conclave being held? [A] Gujarat [B] Arunachal Pradesh [C] Meghalaya [D] Odisha [E] New Delhi Q.173) Where will the 91st Interpol General Assembly be held in 2022? [A] India [B] China [C] Switzerland [D] Netherland [E] England Q.174) What is the name of robot being developed by India and UK to promote handwash? [A] Pepe [B] Washie [C] Peppy [D] Soapy [E] Whizzy

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Q.175) How many countries have recently joined the UN- Human Rights Council? [A] 10 [B] 7 [C] 14 [D] 21 [E] 11 Q.176) Recently, NASA astronauts have created history by completing the first ever all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Name the astronauts? [A] Christina Koch [B] Jessica Meir [C] Rubina Welter [D] Both A and B [E] Both A and C Q.177) Who has been appointed as the Chairman of Indian Bank Association? [A] Rajnish Kumar [B] Aditya Puri [C] Rana Kapoor [D] Romesh Sobti [E] Ravneet Gill Q.178) How many medals have been won by India at the ASBC Asian Junior Championships 2019? [A] 12 [B] 10 [C] 8 [D] 21 [E] 31 Q.179) How many gold medals has India won at the 2020 Asia Track Cycling Championships? [A] 2 [B] 10 [C] 6 [D] 5

[E] 1 Q.180) Who is the author of The Daughter from a Wishing Tree? [A] Sudha Murthy [B] Sushil Krishna [C] Keshav Parikh [D] Madan Kishtwar [E] Prakhar Khaitan

Q.181) Who heads the committee formed by govt to resolve the differences between Ministry of Information and Technology and NITI Aayog over the National Program on Artificial Intelligence framework? [A] K Vijay Raghavan [B] Malay Kant [C] Vishwajeet Chattejee [D] Debjyoti Das [E] Aruna Singh Q.182) What is the rate of economic offences in India, according to the report ‘crimes in India in 2017’ released by National Crime Records Bureau? [A] 10.6% [B] 9.6% [C] 21.6% [D] 11.6% [E] 31.6% Q.183) Which of the following is the first stealth frigate out of seven frigates, to be developed indigenously under the Project-17A? [A] INS Kalveri [B] INS Khanderi [C] INS Surya

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[D] INS Nilgiri [E] INS Sagardhwani Q.184) Which institute has topped in the QS India University Rankings 2020? [A] IIT-Madras [B] IIT-Delhi [C] IIT-Bhubaneshwar [D] IIT-Ropar [E] IIT-Kharagpur Q.185) Recently, a team led by R Chaitanya has discovered 6 new species of the 'Dravidogecko' family whereas only 1 species was known prior to this discovery. Where have the new species been discovered? [A] Himalayas [B] Western Ghats [C] Eastern Ghats [D] Indo-Burma region [E] Sundaland Q.186) Recently, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has launched the Technology Incubation Development for Entrepreneurs 2.0 (TIDE) to strengthening close to 2,000 technology startups and empowering 51 incubation centres across the country. When was the TIDE scheme launched? [A] 2019 [B] 2018 [C] 2008 [D] 2011 [E] 2010

Q.187) What is the name of the new portal launched by National Cyber Security Coordinator's office, along with Data Security Council of India to act as a national repository of India’s cyber tech capabilities? [A] TechGiant [B] GigaNet [C] Get2Tech [D] TechSagar [E] TechInc Q.188) Which state has recently prohibited the citizens with more than 2 children from acquiring government jobs? [A] Arunachal Pradesh [B] Meghalaya [C] Mizoram [D] Assam [E] Nagaland Q.189) Which country’s officers are being trained on ‘Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism’ at the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme? [A] Bangladesh [B] Nepal [C] Bhutan [D] Myanmar [E] Philippines Q.190) Which country is India’s top trading partner in FY19, according to

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the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s data? [A] Israel [B] China [C] Russia [D] USA [E] Argentine Q.191) Aditya Birla Power Composites is the joint venture between Grasim and ____? [A] BP [B] MR [C] Lloyds [D] Barclays [E] BT Q.192) According to the Global Banking Annual Review 2019 by the McKinsey and Co, Indian banking sector revenue growth has reduced from 22% (2002-07) to ____ (2010-18)? [A] 10.3% [B] 20.8% [C] 17.9% [D] 5.13% [E] 9.31% Q.193) What is India’s rank in the ‘Doing Business 2020’ released by World Bank? [A] 77 [B] 90 [C] 63 [D] 57 [E] 41

Q.194) Who has been appointed as the CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India? [A] Pankaj Kumar [B] Mohd Naqvi [C] Rajeev Grewal [D] Payal Jindal [E] Aayushi Gupta Q.195) Who among the following has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Bharat Ki Lakshmi? [A] Katrina Kaif [B] Deepika Padukone [C] PV Sindhu [D] Both A and B [E] Both B and C Q.196) Recently, the Marconi Society’s Celestini Programme awards has been conferred upon the students of _____ for developing the Rakshak and VisionAir apps? [A] Delhi University [B] IIT-Bangalore [C] Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering [D] Jadavpur University [E] University of Hyderabad Q.197) Who has won the 2019 FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss? [A] Koneru humpy [B] Magnus Carlsen [C] Vishwanathan Anand [D] Wang Hao [E] None of the Above

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Q.198) Who has won the men’s singles at the Danisa Denmark Open 2019? [A] Kento Momota [B] Viktor Axelsen [C] Jan O Jorgensen [D] Wang Yihan [E] Chen Long Q.199) Which is the world’s loudest bird according to a study published in the journal Current Biology? [A] White Bellbirds [B] Gran Canaria Blue [C] Callaeas cinereus [D] Pica asirensis [E] Sitta insularis Q.200) Where are the Ramgarh dam, wildlife sanctuary and lake located? [A] Arunachal Pradesh [B] Gujarat [C] Rajasthan [D] Madhya Pradesh [E] Uttar Pradesh

Q.201) With which country has India recently approved the Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation which will include exchanges of scientific & technical information and experts, training of scientists and technical experts? [A] France [B] Russia [C] China [D] USA [E] Japan Q.202) What is the name of the app launched by Ministry of Panchayati Raj to

help panchayats to plan, develop and monitor developmental activities on real time basis? [A] Gram Manchitra [B] Gram Naksha [C] Gram Nirikshan [D] Gram Paryavalokan [E] Gram Survekshan Q.203) Where will the 18th Summit of Non-Aligned Movement take place? [A] Ankara, Turkey [B] Baku, Azerbaijan [C] Jerusalem, Israel [D] Cairo, Egypt [E] Abu Dhabi, UAE Q.204) Which state recorded the highest burden of TB in 2018, according to the India TB report 2019? [A] Mizoram [B] Madhya Pradesh [C] Rajasthan [D] Bihar [E] Uttar Pradesh Q.205) Which country is building the Large High-Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) to carry out detailed study about the cosmic rays? [A] France [B] Germany [C] Australia [D] Thailand [E] Chin Q.206) Where is the secretariat of Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources located? [A] Tasmania [B] Morocco [C] Ghana [D] Tunisia

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[E] Nambia Q.207) Which country has recently passed the Protection From Online Falsehoods And Manipulation Act? [A] Indonesia [B] Vietnam [C] Malaysia [D] Singapore [E] Timor-Leste Q.208) Which company has partnered with Indian Dental Association to offer loans (on EMI) to dental patients for their treatment? [A] Aditya Birla Finance Ltd [B] Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [C] TATA AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [D] Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [E] PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd. Q.209) What is the minimum net worth threshold of the entities seeking authorization to open retail outlets for selling oil? [A] Rs 500 crore [B] Rs 250 crore [C] Rs 350 crore [D] Rs 400 crore [E] Rs 150 crore Q.210) Which actor has been appointed by UNICEF and Ministry of Women and Child Development to spread awareness about sexual abuse against children and POCSO act? [A] Vidya Balan [B] Ayushman Khurana [C] Priyanka Chopra [D] Amitabh Bachchan [E] Akshay Kumar

Q.211) Who has been appointed as the President of Board of Control for Cricket in India? [A] Sourav Ganguly [B] Anil Kumble [C] Rahul Dravid [D] Sachin Tendulkar [E] Sunil Gavaskar Q.212) Who has been appointed as the chairman and managing director of the MTNL? [A] Suresh Ganguly [B] Sumanta Sen [C] Suresh Parikar [D] Sunil Kumar [E] Sumedh Pawar Q.213) When is the International Snow Leopard Day observed? [A] October 12 [B] October 17 [C] October 23 [D] October 20 [E] October 23 Q.214) Who is the first Indian man to win a gold medal in men’s Sanda event of 15th World Wushu? [A] Praveen Kumar [B] Sourav Gurjar [C] Pawan Kumar [D] Milton Reid [E] Vijay Choudhary Q.215) Who among the following has won the top prize in female category at the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss? [A] Dronavalli Harika [B] Dinara Saduakassova [C] Koneru Humpy [D] Both A and B [E] Both B and C

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Q.216) Marieke Vervoort related to which sport? [A] Badminton [B] Athletics [C] Gymnastics [D] Archery [E] Cricket Q.217) Who is the writer of Ten Studies in Kashmir: History and Politics book? [A] Kashi Nath Pandit [B] Prakash Trivedi [C] Vikram Seth [D] Anamika Tripathi [E] Devika Khanna Q.218) Who is the writer of Measuring Poverty Around the World book? [A] Anthony Barnes Atkinson [B] John Micklewright [C] Andrea Brandolini [D] Both A and B [E] Both B and C Q.219) Who has won the Berggruen Prize 2019 for her pioneering legal work for gender equality and her support for the rule of law? [A] Ruth Bader Ginsburg [B] Nia Tony [C] Greta Thunberg [D] Malaika Vaz [E] Bertie Gregory Q.220) Which country has hosted the global events of World Environment Day? [A] Pakistan [B] China [C] Russia [D] Kazakhstan [E] India Q.221) Which country has become the 79th member to join the International Solar Alliance?

[A] St. Vincent & the Grenadines [B] Nauru [C] Philippines [D] Maldives [E] Myanmar Q.222) With which country has India signed an MoU for capacity building and strengthening the accounting, financial and audit knowledge base in that country? [A] Saudi Arabia [B] UAE [C] Iraq [D] Vietnam [E] Kuwait Q.223) What is India’s rank in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2019? [A] 110 [B] 161 [C] 78 [D] 32 [E] 49 Q.224) In which city was the first India-Bangladesh stakeholders' meeting held? [A] Mysore [B] Chennai [C] Delhi [D] Guwahati [E] Lucknow Q.225) In which country has the President Ram Nath Kovind laid the foundation stone of Sri Sathya Sai Sanathana Samskruti Project– a temple to be built – to promote Indian culture? [A] Myanmar [B] Sri Lanka [C] Bhutan [D] Bangladesh [E] Japan

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Q.226) What is the name of the new online aptitude test launched by CBSE and NCERT for class 9 and 10 students to help them make right career choices? [A] Nishtha [B] Diksha [C] Tamanna [D] Vikram [E] Kaushal Q.227) Which state has signed the loan agreement with the World Bank to implement “Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture” in the state? [A] Kerala [B] Karnataka [C] Tamil Nadu [D] Maharashtra [E] Odisha Q.228) Where will the Global Bio-India summit 2019 take place? [A] France [B] India [C] Canada [D] Argentine [E] US Q.229) India is developing a landscape oriented transboundary wildlife conservation park ‘peace park’, in association with which country(s)? [A] Japan [B] Bhutan [C] Nepal [D] Both A and B [E] Both B and C Q.230) In which state is the Swarnamukhi river located? [A] Telangana [B] Andhra Pradesh

[C] Tamil Nadu [D] Kerala [E] Odisha Q.231) Which of the following company has recently received the designation of ‘Maharatna’? [A] Hindustan Petroleum [B] Power Grid Corporation [C] Container Corporation of India Limited [D] Both A and B [E] Both B and C Q.232) What is the new GDP growth rate for FY20 for India, according to Fitch Ratings? [A] 5.5% [B] 5.7% [C] 6% [D] 6.1% [E] 5.9% Q.233) Who has been appointed as the Chairman of National Highway Authority of India? [A] Sukhbir Sandhu [B] Talveer Singh [C] Arvind Singh [D] Manav Ghosn [E] Priyal Khattar Q.234) When is the World Polio Day observed? [A] October 11 [B] October 24 [C] October 27 [D] October 14 [E] October 20 Q.235) Which company has won the DigiDhan Mission Fintech Award 2018-2019 for overall performance in digital payments? [A] Paytm

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[B] ePayLater [C] BharatPe [D] Axis Bank [E] Yes Bank Q.236) Who has won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2019 for protecting the rights of Uighur minority people in China? [A] Riva Mathur [B] John Muir [C] Ilham Tohti [D] Rachel Carson [E] Edward Abbey Q.237) Which one is the official mascot of Tokyo 2020 Olympics? [A] Miraitowa [B] Borobi [C] Clyde [D] Scottie [E] Karak Q.238) What is India’s men’s team position in the FIFA ranking? [A] 99 [B] 111 [C] 85 [D] 57 [E] 106 Q.239) Who has written the True Meaning of Yoga book? [A] Ajahn Amaro [B] Nyanatiloka [C] Bhante Sujato [D] AiR [E] Sylvia Boorstein Q.240) On which river is the Srisailam Dam constructed? [A] Godawari [B] Krishna [C] Kaveri

[D] Penna [E] Bhima

Q.241) Which state has launched the Strategic Action Plan to eliminate child marriages from the state by 2030 in association with UNICEF and United Nations Population Fund? [A] Maharashtra [B] Uttar Pradesh [C] Bihar [D] Rajasthan [E] Odisha Q.242) Which of the following statement is true about the Indian Ocean Dipole effect? [A] It warms up the western basin of the Indian Ocean to create a low pressure which causes storms and heavy rains [B] It is a phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific which causes dry season (deficit rain in India) [C] It is a phenomenon which causes heavy rains in India [D] It helps in North East Monsoon by causing heavy rains [E] All of the Above Q.243) Which of the following agency(s) is implementing the IndiGen Genome project? [A] National Brain Research Centre [B] Centre for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics [C] Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine [D] National Centre for Cell Science [E] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Q.244) When did India become a part of the Missile Technology Control Regime?

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[A] 2016 [B] 2015 [C] 2017 [D] 2018 [E] 2014 Q.245) When was the AMRUT scheme launched by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs? [A] 2011 [B] 2009 [C] 2016 [D] 2019 [E] 2015 Q.246) Which state has recently increased the minimum wages of workers to ₹14,842 per month against the national level of ₹4,628 per month? [A] Madhya Pradesh [B] Maharashtra [C] Delhi [D] West Bengal [E] Assam Q.247) What is the name of the first ever joint army exercise to be held between India and Uzbekistan? [A] Dustlik [B] Armenia [C] Sampriti [D] Vinbax [E] Nagah Q.248) Sakala is the service delivery system of which state? (Recently, PM Modi praised it for disseminating govt services to citizens efficiently.) [A] Telangana [B] Nagaland [C] Arunachal Pradesh [D] Kerala [E] Karnataka

Q.249) What is India’s rank in the first ever Global Health Security Index 2019? [A] 147 [B] 82 [C] 155 [D] 91 [E] 57 Q.250) Which of the following BRICS country has received $300 million loan from New Development Bank for its Renewable Energy Sector Development Project? [A] Brazil [B] Russia [C] India [D] China [E] South Africa Q.251) Which of the following is not a recommendation of high-level advisory group on trade and policy, headed by Surjit S Bhalla? [A] Set up a simpler regulatory and tax framework for overseas investment funds to facilitate FDI in agro-processing [B] Form a single ministry for the regulation of medical devices across the value chain [C] Make Invest India as the centralized authority for issuing licences which will then become answerable to a set of ministers [D] Enhance the capital base of the EXIM Bank by Rs 20,000 crore by 2022 [E] None of the Above Q.252) Which bank has launched a co-branded healthcare insurance policy in association with Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Ltd.? [A] UCO Bank [B] Indian Overseas Bank [C] Bandhan Bank

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[D] HDFC Bank [E] Axis Bank Q.253) What is the name of the book written by Nobel Prize winners Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo? [A] Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future [B] Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead [C] Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything [D] The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class [E] Good Economics for Hard Times Q.254) With which mutual fund is the BNP Paribas Mutual Funds merging? [A] ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund [B] Axis Bluechip Fund [C] Baroda Mutual Funds [D] HDFC Small Cap Fund [E] L&T Midcap Fund Q.255) Which batswoman has won the Wisden India Almanack Cricketer of the Year award? [A] Smriti Mandhana [B] Ellyse Perry [C] Suzie Bates [D] Meg Lanning [E] Mithali Raj Q.256) Who has won the men’s singles 2nd edition of World Deaf tennis championship 2019? [A] Prithvi Sekhar [B] Vishnu Vardhan [C] Mahesh Bhupathi [D] Somdev Devvraman [E] Rohan Bopanna Q.257) What is Rafael Nadal’s ATP rank? [A] 1 [B] 2

[C] 3 [D] 4 [E] 5 Q.258) Where is the U23 Senior World Wrestling Championships being organized? [A] Austria [B] Bulgaria [C] Poland [D] Hungary [E] Romania Q.259) Who among the following has created a world record 100m backstroke at the International Swimming League by becoming the first woman to dip below 55 seconds at 54.89 sec? [A] Katie Ledecky [B] Sarah Sjöström [C] Leisel Jones [D] Rebecca Soni [E] Minna Atherton Q.260) Which two countries have discovered the footprints a monstrous galaxy being called as ‘Cosmic Yeti’ galaxy in early universe? [A] USA [B] Australia [C] Canada [D] Both A and B [E] Both B and C

Q.261) Which Indian institute has topped in the 15th edition of the FT ranking of Masters in Management programmes? [A] IIM-Bangalore [B] IIM-Kota [C] IIM-Chennai [D] IIM-Calcutta [E] IIM-Ahmedabad

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Q.262) Which state has signed a Letter of Understanding with UNICEF to get the technical assistance for its “drink from tap mission”? [A] Maharashtra [B] Odisha [C] Telangana [D] Andhra Pradesh [E] Assam Q.263) Which state is set to become the first in India to bring port-related services under the ambit of Ease of Doing Business by launching the SMARTPORT initiative? [A] Gujarat [B] Andhra Pradesh [C] Telangana [D] West Bengal [E] Karnataka Q.264) How many MoU did India sign with Saudi Arabia during Future Investment Initiative held in Riyadh? [A] 10 [B] 8 [C] 21 [D] 12 [E] 6 Q.265) Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana is the scheme of which state? [A] Himachal Pradesh [B] Uttarakhand [C] Arunachal Pradesh [D] Chhattisgarh [E] West Bengal Q.266) Who has become the speediest person in the world to climb 14 highest peaks (above 8,000 meters) in just 7 months? [A] Nirmal Purja [B] Keshav Nanda [C] Robert Clive

[D] Michel Clinton [E] Reinhold Messner Q.267) Who heads the committee of secretaries set up by govt to resolve the financial stress in the telecom sector? [A] Amit Agarwal [B] Rajiv Gauba [C] Amitabh Kant [D] Rakesh Sundaranjan [E] P K Chaudhary Q.268) Who is the CEO of NVIDIA? [A] Jensen Huang [B] Marc Benioff [C] François-Henri Pinault [D] Yong Chu [E] Qu Dongyu Q.269) Which Indian CEO is at the highest position in the Best-Performing CEOs in the World 2019 list compiled by Harvard Business Review? [A] Satya Nadella [B] Sundar Pichai [C] Indra Nooyi [D] Shantanu Narayen [E] Ajay Banga Q.270) Recently, Bombay Stock Exchange has got approval from IRDAI to start insurance broking business in partnership with _____? [A] Charles Schwab [B] JPMorgan Chase [C] The Vanguard Group [D] Fidelity [E] Ebix Q.271) With which company has Adani Group signed an MoU to develop and operate data centres in India? [A] Adobe [B] Microsoft

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[C] Intel [D] Digital Realty [E] Vision Q.272) Who has been appointed as the 47th Chief Justice of India? [A] Madan Lokur [B] A S Bopanna [C] Kurian Joseph [D] N V Ramana [E] S A Bodbe Q.273) Who has been appointed as the new Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency? [A] Tim Cook [B] Lisa Su [C] Rafael Mariano Grossi [D] Rich Lesser [E] Doug Parker Q.274) Which of the following is not a category under the National CSR Awards? [A] Corporate Award for Excellence in CSR [B] Contribution of CSR in Challenging Circumstances [C] Contribution of CSR in National Priority Areas [D] Contribution of CSR towards Women Empowerment [E] None of the Above Q.275) Which Indian company has received the SEED Low Carbon Awards 2019 by UN? [A] Aikya Organics [B] Agenus [C] Bajaj Allianz General Insurance [D] HCL Technologies [E] IMS Group Q.276) How many medals has India won at the 7th CISM Military World Games held in China?

[A] 10 [B] 12 [C] 21 [D] 41 [E] 20 Q.277) Who has won the Erste Bank Open/Vienna Open 2019? [A] Rafael Nadal [B] Novak Djokovic [C] Dominic Thiem [D] Sumit Nagal [E] Andre Agassi Q.278) Which animal (from Antarctica) has recently been listed as ‘near threatened’ in the Red List of International Union for Conservation of Nature? [A] Emperor Penguin [B] Macaroni Penguin [C] Leopard Seal [D] Krill [E] Fanfin Angler Q.279) Who has written The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra book? [A] Arupjyoti Saikia [B] Romesh Gunesekera's [C] Vikram Seth [D] Ruskin Bond [E] Robert Evans Q.280) Who among the following is referred to as the "Father of the electronic media" of Arunachal Pradesh? (He passed away recently) [A] Taro Chatung [B] Tomo Riba [C] Mukut Mithi [D] Dorjee Khandu [E] Nabam Tuki

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Q.281) Where will the 15th G20 summit 2020 be held? [A] UAE [B] Saudi Arabia [C] Kuwait [D] Qatar [E] Azerbaijan Q.282) With which country’s General Authority of Military Industries has India’s Department of Defence Production signed an MoU for collaboration in military acquisition, industries, research, development and technology? [A] UAE [B] Bahrain [C] Myanmar [D] Philippines [E] Saudi Arabia Q.283) Which of the following budget carrier has been appointed as the member of International Air Transport Association? [A] SpiceJet [B] IndiGo [C] Air India [D] GoAir [E] JetConnect Q.284) Which institute has developed the first ever Indian Brain Atlas to study age-related effects on brain? [A] IIIT-Hyderabad [B] IIT-Bangalore [C] IIT-Mysore [D] IIT-Chennai [E] IIT-Bombay

Q.285) Which of the following state has become the first state in India to enact a law – Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion and Facilitation) Act – for contract farming? [A] Maharashtra [B] Tamil Nadu [C] Gujarat [D] Madhya Pradesh [E] Assam Q.286) What is the total number of signatory countries of International Solar Alliance? [A] 81 [B] 83 [C] 57 [D] 79 [E] 121 Q.287) By which year has the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare pledged to eliminate the Lymphatic Filariasis? [A] 2024 [B] 2022 [C] 2021 [D] 2023 [E] 2025 Q.288) Which company has launched the world’s 1st blockchain enabled carbon trading exchange? [A] DBS Group Holdings [B] Jardine Matheson Holdings [C] United Overseas Bank [D] Wilmar International

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[E] AirCarbon Pte Q.289) When is the World Cities Day? [A] October 31 [B] October 21 [C] October 15 [D] October 23 [E] October28 Q.290) Who has won the Rakuten Japan Open 2019? [A] Dominic Thiem [B] Novak Djokovic [C] Nicolas Mahut [D] Rafael Nadal [E] Roger Federer Q.291) Which state has launched three “Saksham Eco Mart” outlets to sell jute and cloth bags and to provide employment to women as well? [A] Maharashtra [B] Kerala [C] Meghalaya [D] Mizoram [E] Delhi Q.292) Which state has launched the Village and Ward Secretariat system to ensure that the government services reach the last mile citizen? [A] Telangana [B] Andhra Pradesh [C] Karnataka [D] Kerala [E] Odisha Q.293) Where was the Regional Conference on Developing a Comprehensive Approach: Combating Illicit Trafficking of Afghan Opiates and

Drug Situation in the Northeast organized? [A] Arunachal Pradesh [B] Manipur [C] Mizoram [D] Meghalaya [E] Tripura Q.294) Which of the following railway station has not topped in the Railway Cleanliness Survey 2019? [A] Jaipur [B] Durgapura [C] Jodhpur [D] Faizabad [E] None of the Above Q.295) Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyaan is the scheme of which state? [A] Tamil Nadu [B] Kerala [C] Maharashtra [D] Rajasthan [E] Chhattisgarh Q.296) When was Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana “Saubhagya” launched? [A] 2011 [B] 2019 [C] 2017 [D] 2015 [E] 2018 Q.297) Where will the C40 Summit be held? [A] Copenhagen [B] Zagreb [C] Athens [D] Stockholm [E] Kiev Q.298) With which bank has the Indian Army signed an MoU to provide new and

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better banking experience for both serving and retired personnel of Indian Army? [A] HSBC Bank [B] SBI [C] Punjab National Bank [D] Allahabad Bank [E] Bank of Baroda Q.299) Who has been appointed as the MD and CEO of Punjab National Bank? [A] SS Mallikarjuna Rao [B] Ravneet Gill [C] Rana Kapoor [D] Shikha Sharma [E] Sandeep Bakshi Q.300) Who has been appointed as the CEO of MyGov website? [A] Kunal Kumar [B] Shekhar Dutt [C] Abhishek Singh [D] Pranab Khemu [E] Pranab Sehgal Q.301) Where has India’s largest ‘charkha’ been inaugurated? [A] Meghalaya [B] Mizoram [C] Arunachal Pradesh [D] Maharashtra [E] Uttar Pradesh Q.302) What is the rank of PV Sindhu in the latest BWF Ranking 2019? [A] 5 [B] 6 [C] 3 [D] 2 [E] 4 Q.303) Which country has won the BWF World junior mixed team badminton championships 2019?

[A] Indonesia [B] Thailand [C] India [D] China [E] Russia Q.304) Who has won the 13th edition of the Hero Indian Women’s Open 2019? [A] Christine Wolf [B] Park Inbee [C] Korda Nelly [D] Sung Hyun Park [E] Jin-Young Ko Q.305) Who is the writer of The Tech Whisperer? [A] Jaspreet Bindra [B] Abhindra Ghosal [C] Priyal Gupta [D] Krishna Vattal [E] Priya Sanghvi

Q.306) With which institute has the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to launch the e-Dantseva website and mobile app? [A] Dental Council of India [B] University of Kerala [C] All India Institute of Medical Sciences [D] Pharmacy Council of India [E] Pasteur Institute of India Q.307) With which country does India hold the Ekuverin exercise? [A] Maldives [B] Mongolia [C] Malaysia [D] Malta [E] Madagascar Q.308) With which company has the Start-up Bangladesh signed a Government to Business MoU? [A] AngelPrime

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[B] Tata Consultancy Group [C] HCL Technology [D] Infosys [E] Tech Mahindra Q.309) What is the name of the open water rafting and kayaking expedition on Ganga river, launched by Ministry of Jal Shakti to raise awareness about the importance of Ganga? [A] Ganga Sangam [B] Ganga Samgrashakti [C] Ganga Amrut [D] Ganga Aamantran [E] Ganga Mukti Q.310) In which two countries has India installed smart LED streetlights as part of the neighbourhood first policy to create a new energy security architecture for these countries? [A] Sri Lanka and Afghanistan [B] Afghanistan and Bahrain [C] Nepal and Bhutan [D] Maldives and Bangladesh [E] Myanmar and Sri Lanka Q.311) With which bank has the U GRO Capital signed its first co-origination agreement? [A] Bank of Maharashtra [B] Bank of Baroda [C] Indian Bank [D] ICICI Bank [E] Axis Bank Q.312) What is level of the Current Situation Index (a part of the RBI’s Consumer Confidence Survey 2019) in September? [A] 89.4 [B] 95.7 [C] 67.3 [D] 91.0

[E] 99.7 Q.313) According to the new circular of SEBI on mutual funds, the existing exposure of 15% to unlisted Non-Convertible Debentures needs to be brought down to ___ of the scheme’s portfolio by 30 June 2020? [A] 12% [B] 10% [C] 5% [D] 8% [E] 9% Q.314) Who has been appointed as the head of the working group formed by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India to review the product structure of title insurance? [A] T L Alamelu [B] Harish Chander [C] Mahesh Bhatia [D] Brijesh Kamang [E] Tulsi Das Q.315) When is World Habitat Day observed? [A] October 7 [B] October 17 [C] October 15 [D] October 23 [E] October 11 Q.316) Who among the following has not been awarded with the Nobel prize 2019 for Physics? [A] Michel Mayor [B] Didier Queloz [C] James Peebles [D] James P Allison [E] None of the Above Q.317) What is Sumit Nagal’s rank in the ATP men’s singles rankings?

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[A] 112 [B] 127 [C] 121 [D] 134 [E] 129 Q.318) Where will the IAAF World Athletics Championship 2021 be held? [A] USA [B] Hungary [C] Canada [D] Australia [E] Belgium Q.319) Who has become the youngest player to take a T20I hat-trick? [A] Mohammad Sharif [B] Mohammad Hasnain [C] SR Tendulkar [D] Zahid Fazal [E] Ata-ur-Rehman Q.320) What is India’s position in the IAAF World Athletics Championship 2019? [A] 43 [B] 58 [C] 69 [D] 71 [E] 84

Q.321) With which institute has Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship partnered to launch the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship programme to boost skill development at the district level? [A] IIT-Delhi [B] IIM Bangalore [C] IISc Bangalore [D] IIM Ahmedabad [E] IIM Kota Q.322) What is the name of the new device launched by govt to provide

disaster-related information to fishermen (particularly) when they are 10 to 12 km away from the coast? [A] Gagan [B] Narang [C] Sanjivni [D] Gemini [E] Tarang Q.323) What is the name of the new initiative launched by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to end the preventable maternal and new born deaths? [A] Mamata [B] Suraksha [C] Suman [D] Kusum [E] Matritava Q.324) For how many African nations has the Ministry of External Affairs opened e-Vidyabharti (tele-education) and e-ArogyaBharti (Tele-Medicine) projects? [A] 44 [B] 48 [C] 54 [D] 53 [E] 61 Q.325) Where will the 3rd Leaders’ Summit of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership be held? [A] Thailand [B] Japan [C] China [D] Australia [E] India Q.326) What is the new revised rate of the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief to all central government employees and pensioners? [A] 15%

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[B] 12% [C] 5% [D] 11% [E] 17% Q.327) According to the “World Development Report 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains” report of World Bank, Global value chains account for nearly ___ of trade worldwide? [A] 45 [B] 50 [C] 60 [D] 65 [E] 75 Q.328) How many District Co-operative Banks are being merged with Kerala State Co-operative Bank to form the Kerala Bank? [A] 12 [B] 8 [C] 5 [D] 10 [E] 13 Q.329) When is the World Mental Health Day observed? [A] 10 October [B] 10 September [C] 10 November [D] 10 June [E] 10 August Q.330) Who has been awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2019? [A] Olga Tokarczuk [B] Peter Handke [C] T M Edison [D] Henrik Eliot [E] Brien Thomas

Q.331) Who has been awarded with the Order of Courage, one of its highest honours of Russia? [A] Nick Hague [B] Frank B. McDonald [C] Noel Hinners [D] Shannon Lucid [E] John M. Grunsfeld Q.332) Who has won the maximum number of medals in the world gymnastics championships? [A] Svetlana Khorkina [B] Gina Gogean [C] Simone Biles [D] Larisa Latynina [E] Nellie Kim Q.333) Which country has been ranked first in the ICC ODI women’s ranking? [A] India [B] England [C] New Zealand [D] Australia [E] West Indies Q.334) Who has been ranked as the best batswoman in the ICC T20I women’s ranking? [A] Suzie Bates [B] Mithali Raj [C] Alyssa Haley [D] Stafanie Taylor [E] Beth Mooney Q.335) Who is the author of the book Carpenters and Kings: Western Christianity and the Idea of India? [A] Siddhartha Sarma [B] Barkha Bisht [C] Harsh Vardhan [D] Harivansh Rai [E] Mukul Jaiswal

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Q.336) What is the annual outlay of Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme 2019 launched by the Ministry for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar? [A] Rs 500 crore [B] Rs 200 crore [C] Rs 100 crore [D] Rs 1000 crore [E] Rs 800 crore Q.337) Who has topped the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2019? [A] Shiv Nadar [B] Ratan Tata [C] Mukesh Ambani [D] Azim Premji [E] Satya Nadella Q.338) With which institute has ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company signed an agreement to jointly conduct research in energy and biofuels for 5-years? [A] IIT-Delhi [B] IIT-Kolkata [C] IIT-Kharagpur [D] IIT-Ropar [E] IIT-Madras Q.339) What is the name of the app on Intellectual Property Rights launched by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade? [A] IPR2Pro [B] GO:IP [C] L2Pro India [D] MaxIP [E] IPRsAvy Q.340) Where did the ‘One Nation One Tag – FASTag’ conference take place? [A] West Bengal [B] Maharashtra

[C] Assam [D] Arunachal Pradesh [E] Delhi Q.341) With which country has India jointly launched the Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse or LOTUS-HR? [A] France [B] Switzerland [C] Denmark [D] Netherland [E] Australia Q.342) According to the “The State of the World’s Children Report” 2019 released by UNICEF, ____ children are still stunted? [A] 149 million [B] 238 million [C] 321 million [D] 440 million [E] 147 million Q.343) What is the new financial assistance to be given to farmers under the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme? [A] Rs 11,100 per annum [B] Rs 13,500 per annum [C] Rs 10,120 per annum [D] Rs 9,500 per annum [E] Rs 15,500 per annu Q.344) Who heads 9-member panel formed by IRDAI to suggest amendments to the Reinsurance, Foreign Reinsurance Branches and Lloyd’s India regulations? [A] TR Alamelu [B] P K Sinha [C] Raj Khattar [D] Bala Krishanan [E] Aruna Sundaranjana Q.345) Which company has decided to buy 37.4% stake in Adani Gas?

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[A] BP [B] Nobel Oil Group [C] Total SA of France [D] Sonangol Group [E] Madagascar Oil Q.346) Who has been appointed as the President of Tunisia? [A] Paul Kaba [B] Pierre Nkurunziza [C] Joseph Ngute [D] Jorge Carlos Fonseca [E] Kais Saied Q.347) When is World Standards Day observed? [A] October 14 [B] October 15 [C] October 13 [D] October 12 [E] October 11 Q.348) Who among the following has won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2019? [A] Abhijit Banerjee [B] N K Singh [C] R Subramanian [D] Gopalnath Krishnan [E] K Kasturiranjan Q.349) Who has won the Booker Prize 2019? [A] Margaret Atwood [B] Bernardine Evaristo [C] Michel Kremer [D] Both A and B [E] Both A and C Q.350) Which of the following site has won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in the Award of Excellence category? [A] Vikram Sarabhai Library

[B] Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue [C] Our Lady of Glory Church [D] Flora Fountain [E] Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts

Q.351) Where will the 5th edition of World Coffee Conference and Expo 2020 be held? [A] Karnataka [B] Tamil Nadu [C] Meghalaya [D] Arunachal Pradesh [E] Punjab Q.352) What is India’s rank in the World Giving Index 2019? [A] 53 [B] 61 [C] 72 [D] 82 [E] 100 Q.353) What is India’s score in the Women, Business and the Law 2019? [A] 81.96 [B] 63.11 [C] 71.25 [D] 56.11 [E] 87.90 Q.354) On whose name is the Chenani- Nashri tunnel being renamed? [A] Lala Lajpat Rai [B] Rajendra Prasad [C] APJ Abdul Kalam [D] Shyama Prasad Mukherjee [E] Mahatma Gandhi

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Q.355) What is the population of cattle, according to the 20th livestock census? [A] 192.49 million [B] 112.12 million [C] 242.12 million [D] 145.90 million [E] 555.71 million Q.356) Which ministry has launched the Van Dhan Internship Program? [A] Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Diary [B] Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change [C] Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship [D] Ministry of Tribal Affairs [E] Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Q.357) Which country has launched the first ever AI university in the world? [A] USA [B] England [C] France [D] UAE [E] China Q.358) Which country has recently leased the Tulagi Island in Solomon Island? [A] Russia [B] Japan [C] Taiwan [D] China [E] Philippines

Q.359) Which company has launched the “Team Cashless India” initiative to boost digital payments in India? [A] Visa [B] Rupay [C] UPI [D] Bharat Pe [E] Mastercard Q.360) What is the new minimum net worth threshold for Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit under the new on-tap authorization guidelines of RBI? [A] Rs 100 crore [B] Rs 75 crore [C] Rs 25 crore [D] Rs 200 crore [E] Rs 500 crore Q.361) Who has been appointed as the first independent female director of International Cricket Council? [A] Inderjit Singh [B] Narinder Batra [C] Indra Nooyi [D] Nalin Batra [E] JPS Chawla Q.362) When is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty observed? [A] August 12 [B] September 27 [C] October 17 [D] November 11 [E] December 14

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Q.363) Who has won the Golden Shoe for the 2018/19 season award? [A] Cristiano Ronaldo [B] Lionel Messi [C] Fabio Fognini [D] Zinedine Zidane [E] Luka Modrić Q.364) Archaeological Survey of India is planning to declare Rangdum monastery as the monument of National Importance. Where is the monastery located? [A] J&K [B] Ladakh [C] Uttarakhand [D] Nagaland [E] Arunachal Pradesh Q.365) What is the percentage of Indian babies aged 6 to 23 months not receiving the minimum dietary diversity according to the State of the World’s Children 2019? [A] 60% [B] 80% [C] 70% [D] 50% [E] 55%

Q.366) Who has written the ‘Dewas Ki Sanskritik Parampara’ book? [A] Jeevan Singh Thakur [B] Rashi Jangir [C] Vimal Thakur [D] Suresh Priyal [E] Hemant Ghosh

Q.367) Where has the Colonel Chewang Rinchen Setu/Bridge been inaugurated? [A] J&K [B] Ladakh [C] Meghalaya [D] Assam [E] Arunachal Pradesh Q.368) What is the name of the joint naval exercise between India and Myanmar? [A] Raksha Setu [B] EXINMY [C] Konkan [D] IMNEX [E] MALIN Q.369) Which state’s govt has spent the most in irrigation during 2015-19, according to the Care Ratings’ new study? [A] Andhra Pradesh [B] Karnataka [C] Orissa [D] Telangana [E] Maharashtra Q.370) Where will the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit be held? [A] Chile [B] Peru [C] Canada [D] Argentine [E] Brazil Q.371) Under which country’s presidency will the G20 Okayama

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Health Ministers’ Meeting be conducted? [A] Japan [B] India [C] China [D] USA [E] England Q.372) Which company has launched the first-of-its-kind video calling service ‘i-SERV’ within the life insurance industry? [A] Life Insurance Corporation of India [B] Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [C] Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance [D] Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [E] SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Q.373) With which company has Synchrony partnered to launch the Venmo’s first co-branded credit card? [A] PayPal [B] Google Pay [C] Amazon Pay [D] Lazy Pay [E] Paytm Q.374) When is World Statistics Day observed? [A] October 11 [B] October 20 [C] October 1 [D] October 29 [E] October 31 Q.375) Who has been awarded with the “Most Eminent Senior Citizen

Award” 2019 by Vice President Venkaiyah Naidu? [A] Prashant Mohanty [B] Prakash Kishtwar [C] Piyush Mohan [D] K Parasaran [E] Pramod Chauhan Q.376) Who has won the European Open 2019? [A] Rafael Nadal [B] Andre Agassi [C] Ivan Lendl [D] Andy Murray [E] Dominic Thiem Q.377) Which country has won the Sultan of Johor Cup 2019? [A] India [B] Malaysia [C] Qatar [D] Britain [E] Spain Q.378) Who among the following are the editors of the ‘Bridgital Nation: Solving Technology’s People Problem’ (collection of articles on climate change)? [A] N. Chandrasekaran [B] Roopa Purushothaman [C] Mehul Prakash [D] Both A and B [E] Both A and C Q.379) Bali Jatra is the biggest and annual festival (trade fairs) of which state? [A] Telangana

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[B] Odisha [C] Andhra Pradesh [D] Kerala [E] Karnataka Q.380) How many Indians are estimated to be either osteoporotic with less than T-score 2.5 or have a low bone mass with T-Score ranging between 1 to 2.5? [A] 20 million [B] 10 million [C] 40 million [D] 50 million [E] 25 million Q.381) Which state has signed 2 MoU with the Software Technology Park of India to establish have signed 2 MoU a start-up centre and IT park in the state? [A] Maharashtra [B] Goa [C] Punjab [D] Haryana [E] Delhi Q.382) With which country has India signed 8 MoU regarding the Programme of Scientific and Technological Cooperation for the period 2020-2022, for cleaning Ganga among other things during President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to the nation? [A] Guinea [B] Gambia [C] Brunei [D] Slovenia [E] Nigeria Q.383) Which of the following exercise is being conducted by Indian Army (for 2 days) at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan?

[A] Sudarshan Chakra Vahini [B] Varun [C] Bahubal [D] Yudh Abhyas [E] Ekuverin Q.384) What is the name of the global ad, to be launched by WHO, on global hunger and malnutrition? [A] Make a Hunger Free World [B] Create a New World [C] Fight the Poverty [D] Zero Hunger [E] Feed Our Future Q.385) With which country does India conduct bilateral exercise Shakti? [A] Sri Lanka [B] New Zealand [C] Myanmar [D] Australia [E] France Q.386) Where is Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity being held? [A] China [B] Japan [C] Russia [D] Brazil [E] Argentine Q.387) When was the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme launched? [A] 2010 [B] 2013 [C] 2016 [D] 2017 [E] 2018 Q.388) Which country has discovered the World’s oldest known natural pearl at a Neolithic site at Marawah Island? [A] Saudi Arabia [B] UAE

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[C] Iraq [D] Bolivia [E] Estonia Q.389) According to a study by the Credit Suisse, total wealth in India has increased to _____ in 2019? [A] $12.6 trillion [B] $21.6 trillion [C] $37.6 trillion [D] $45.6 trillion [E] $19.6 trillion Q.390) Which country has registered the highest patent application in 2018, according to the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019? [A] China [B] India [C] USA [D] Japan [E] Russia Q.391) How much amount has been raised by NBFC and HFC during 2018-19 through securitization route, according to ICRA Ratings? [A] ₹2.36 tn [B] ₹1.0 tn [C] ₹3.33 tn [D] ₹7.06 tn [E] ₹5.92 tn Q.392) When is World Iodine Deficiency Day observed? [A] October 11 [B] October 19 [C] October 21 [D] October 18 [E] October 5 Q.393) When is the 61st edition of National Police Commemoration Day observed?

[A] September 12 [B] October 21 [C] August 22 [D] July 24 [E] November 28 Q.394) Recently, sportsperson Dadu Chougule has passed away. With which sport was he related to? [A] Wrestling [B] Boxing [C] Gymnastics [D] Hockey [E] Chess Q.395) Who has written the Dark Fear, Eerie Cities book? [A] Šarūnas Paunksnis [B] Peter Hawk [C] Harold Pinter [D] William Dawk [E] Lara Manchester

Q.396) Where was the 29th ministerial meeting of the BASIC group held? [A] Russia [B] South Africa [C] China [D] India [E] Brazil Q.397) Which country is the world’s largest crude steel producer, according to the data of World Steel Association 2019? [A] India [B] China [C] Russia [D] Japan [E] USA Q.398) Which of the following district has been declared as the first Kerosene-free district of Gujarat? [A] Amreli

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[B] Bhavnagar [C] Chhota Udaipur [D] Dang [E] Gandhinagar Q.399) Recently, City Montessori School has entered into the Guinness World Record for becoming the 'world's largest school' in terms of strength of students. Where is the school located? [A] Uttar Pradesh [B] Gujarat [C] West Bengal [D] Maharashtra [E] Mizoram Q.400) What is the theme of the DEFCOM 2019? [A] Communications as a Decisive Catalyst for Jointness [B] Digital transformation of Defence [C] Leveraging Communication in Defence [D] ICT for Improved Communication in Defence [E] None of the Above Q.401) Which country has been chosen as the chair of ASEAN for 2020? [A] Vietnam [B] Philippines [C] Malaysia [D] China [E] Thailand Q.402) By which year does the Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management aim to halve nitrogen waste? [A] 2025 [B] 2030 [C] 2024 [D] 2035 [E] 2050

Q.403) What is the name of the first super cyclone developed in Arabian Sea? [A] Kyarr [B] Maha [C] Fani [D] Phailin [E] Ockhi Q.404) Which cities has been included by World Bank in computing its ease of doing business report? [A] Surat [B] Kolkata [C] Bangalore [D] Both A and B [E] Both B and C Q.405) Who among the following has been appointed as the 1st governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir? [A] Girish Chandra Murmu [B] Radha Krishna Mathur [C] Satya Pal Malik [D] P S Sreedharan Pillai [E] Vijayendra Q.406) Who has been appointed as the director general of the Bureau of Indian Standards? [A] Pramod Kumar Tiwari [B] K Sanjay Murthy [C] Ganji Kamala V Rao [D] Keshav Kumar Pathak [E] B Srinivas Q.407) Which golfer has secured his career’s 82nd title by winning the Zozo Championship 2019? [A] Rory Mcllroy [B] Brooks Koepka [C] Tiger Woods [D] Justin Rose [E] Dustin Johnson

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Q.408) Who has won the men’s singles at the YONEX French Open 2019 Super 750 (badminton tour)? [A] Chen Long [B] Srikanth Kidambi [C] Nick Krygios [D] John McEnroe [E] Pete Samprass Q.409) Which country has, for the first time, been selected for men’s ICC T20 world cup? [A] Papua New Guinea

[B] Solomon Island [C] Nauru [D] Poland [E] Cuba Q.410) With which field was C Raghavachari related to? [A] Journalism [B] Literature [C] Athletics [D] Music [E] Dancing

1 B 51 A 101 C 151 A 201 D 251 E 301 E 351 A 401 A

2 D 52 E 102 D 152 E 202 A 252 B 302 B 352 D 402 B

3 D 53 A 103 D 153 E 203 B 253 E 303 A 353 C 403 A

4 A 54 B 104 D 154 E 204 E 254 C 304 A 354 D 404 E

5 E 55 A 105 B 155 E 205 E 255 A 305 A 355 A 405 A

6 E 56 B 106 A 156 B 206 A 256 A 306 C 356 D 406 A

7 A 57 E 107 A 157 B 207 D 257 B 307 A 357 D 407 C

8 A 58 A 108 A 158 E 208 A 258 D 308 E 358 D 408 A

9 D 59 A 109 A 159 B 209 B 259 E 309 D 359 E 409 A

10 A 60 B 110 A 160 D 210 B 260 D 310 D 360 A 410 A

11 E 61 A 111 C 161 E 211 A 261 D 311 B 361 C

12 A 62 C 112 D 162 C 212 D 262 B 312 A 362 C

13 C 63 E 113 B 163 E 213 E 263 B 313 B 363 B

14 B 64 D 114 C 164 B 214 A 264 D 314 A 364 B

15 D 65 A 115 B 165 A 215 D 265 A 315 A 365 B

16 A 66 D 116 E 166 E 216 B 266 A 316 D 366 A

17 E 67 A 117 E 167 C 217 A 267 B 317 E 367 B

18 A 68 B 118 E 168 A 218 A 268 A 318 A 368 D

19 A 69 C 119 E 169 A 219 A 269 D 319 B 369 D

20 C 70 A 120 D 170 D 220 B 270 E 320 B 370 A

21 A 71 E 121 B 171 E 221 A 271 D 321 B 371 A

22 D 72 B 122 B 172 E 222 E 272 E 322 D 372 C

23 E 73 C 123 C 173 A 223 D 273 C 323 C 373 A

24 A 74 C 124 B 174 A 224 D 274 D 324 C 374 B

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25 A 75 E 125 E 175 C 225 E 275 A 325 A 375 D

26 A 76 E 126 C 176 D 226 C 276 A 326 E 376 D

27 E 77 D 127 C 177 A 227 E 277 C 327 B 377 D

28 A 78 A 128 A 178 D 228 B 278 A 328 E 378 D

29 A 79 C 129 B 179 E 229 E 279 A 329 A 379 B

30 A 80 D 130 A 180 A 230 B 280 A 330 B 380 D

31 D 81 A 131 D 181 A 231 D 281 B 331 A 381 B

32 E 82 C 132 C 182 D 232 A 282 E 332 C 382 D

33 E 83 A 133 A 183 D 233 A 283 B 333 D 383 A

34 C 84 C 134 A 184 C 234 B 284 A 334 A 384 E

35 A 85 A 135 E 185 B 235 E 285 B 335 A 385 E

36 C 86 C 136 A 186 C 236 C 286 B 336 C 386 B

37 A 87 B 137 A 187 D 237 A 287 C 337 A 387 C

38 A 88 A 138 A 188 D 238 E 288 E 338 E 388 B

39 D 89 A 139 A 189 B 239 D 289 A 339 C 389 A

40 C 90 D 140 C 190 D 240 B 290 B 340 E 390 A

41 E 91 A 141 D 191 B 241 E 291 E 341 D 391 A

42 E 92 C 142 E 192 A 242 A 292 B 342 A 392 C

43 A 93 B 143 C 193 C 243 E 293 B 343 B 393 B

44 B 94 D 144 D 194 A 244 A 294 D 344 A 394 A

45 D 95 C 145 A 195 E 245 E 295 E 345 C 395 A

46 A 96 B 146 A 196 C 246 C 296 C 346 E 396 C

47 E 97 B 147 A 197 D 247 A 297 A 347 A 397 B

48 C 98 A 148 B 198 A 248 E 298 E 348 A 398 E

49 E 99 B 149 E 199 A 249 E 299 A 349 D 399 A

50 B 100 A 150 A 200 C 250 C 300 C 350 E 400 A

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