SPOTLIGHT

Monthly Current Affairs

>
>

>
>
)

RBI - NABARD - SEBI

SPOTLIGHT – DECEMBER 2020
BY- ANUJ JINDAL
 KEY BENEFITS OF OUR COURSES

Our course structure includes a lot of perks that are otherwise

unavailable elsewhere.
It is a comprehensive guide to help you crack the paper & secure
your dream position.

We provide personal solutions all queries using a Telegram group wherein Anuj Jindal
himself will clarify your doubts.

We curate the learning strategies of past year toppers to help you learn from the
success of the best

2
Table of Contents
NATIONAL NEWS ..................................................................................................................................... 4
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING .............................................................................................................. 64
DEFENCE NEWS ................................................................................................................................................. 73

INTERNATIONAL NEWS .......................................................................................................................... 77

BANKING AND ECONOMY .....................................................................................................................107
GDP FORECASTS .............................................................................................................................................. 130

APPOINTMENTS ....................................................................................................................................133
IMPORTANT DAYS ................................................................................................................................137
AWARDS ...............................................................................................................................................143
SPORTS .................................................................................................................................................159
MISCELLANEOUS ...................................................................................................................................163
QUESTIONS ...........................................................................................................................................168

3
 NATIONAL NEWS
1. India and France launched a bilateral fast track mechanism in investments.

2. International Solar Alliance (ISA) has started work on its ‘ISA Care’ program to provide 24X7
electricity to the hospitals of each district of least developed member countries.
• The program was announced in October 2020 during the 3rd Assembly of ISA.
• 500 hospitals across 47 of the least developed (LDC) and small island developing member
countries will run on solar energy in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
• ISA director general – Upendra Tripathy.
• ISA member – 88 (70 countries have ratified it).

3. India’s first memorial for organ donors has been established at Jaipur, Rajasthan.

4. Central Government has constituted the 17-member Apex Committee for the
Implementation of the Paris Agreement (AIPA).
• Chair – Secretary of Ministry of Environment (Incumbent: Mr Rameshwar Prasad Gupta)
• AIPA will implement India’s NDCs and communicate and report the progress to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The AIPA will also act as a national authority for the regulation of carbon markets in
India under the Article 6.2, Article 6.4 and Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement.
India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to Paris Agreement:

• A 33-35% reduction in the gross domestic product emissions intensity by 2030 from 2005
levels
• A 40% share of non-fossil fuel based electricity by 2030
• Creating a carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide through afforestation
programmes.
Note: Apart from these, there are five other non-quantitative goals in the Indian NDCs.

4
5. 19th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Governments was hosted by India virtually,
chaired by Vice President of the India M. Venkaiah Naidu.
• Turkmenistan was invited as the chief guest by India.
• SCO Digital Exhibition on Common Buddhist Heritage in New Delhi was opened. India
will hold the Festival of National Cuisine of the SCO Member States.
• Uzbekistan will hold an International Conference on Combating Poverty in 2021.
• SCO Startup Forum (October 27, 2020, in videoconference format) was hosted by the
India.
• Proposals made: Special Working Group on Innovation and Startups (by India), SCO
Forum on Traditional Medicine (India), a mechanism for the meeting of the Heads of bodies
to combat economic crimes (by Kyrgyz Republic) and the Special Working Group on
Poverty Reduction (Pakistan).
• India has proposed to host the SCO Food Festival in 2021.
• India’s National Chapter in the SCO Business Council, Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has proposed to organize an annual SCO MSME Bazaar
and to establish a digital SCO MSME Center.

6. Aditya School of Sports in Kadambgachi on the outskirts of Barasat in West Bengal has
been named after Diego Maradona (Argentinian football legend) where he was last seen in
action in India.
• New name – Diego Maradona Aditya School of Sports Cricket Stadium.
• This is the first-ever cricket stadium in the Maradona’s name.

7. Consulting firm HexGn and AFC India have partnered to promote agriculture-related
entrepreneurship in India and promote 1,000 agritech start-ups in the country over the next
five years.
• AFC India (formerly Agricultural Finance Corporation Ltd) is wholly-owned by commercial
banks, NABARD and EXIM Bank.

5
8. Rolls-Royce (British aerospace and defence company) and Infosys (Bengaluru) have
partnered for mutual cooperation in the field of civil aerospace manufacturing.
• Rolls-Royce President for India and South Asia – Kishore Jayaraman
• L&T has also announced to sell its UK-based marine automation company Servowatch
Systems Ltd to Rolls-Royce.

9. Ministry of Home Affairs has released the annual ranking of police stations.
• Nongpok Sekmai police station in Manipur was ranked as the best performing police
station.
• All Women Police Station of Suramangalam in Salem city of Tamil Nadu was ranked
second.
• Kharsang police station of Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh ranked third.
• Total police stations assessed in this report – 16,671

10. Minister (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, RK Singh, launched the Green
Charcoal Hackathon – an innovation challenge to transform farm residues into charcoal
without leading to emissions.
• It is being organised by NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC).
• Purpose: to curb farm fire and combat air pollution.

11. ‘Aadi Mahotsav’ was organized by Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in association with TRIFED, in
a virtual mode for the first time.
• This tribal festival focusses on Madhya Pradesh. The next focus state would be Gujarat,
followed by West Bengal.
• ‘Aadi Mahotsav’ is a national tribal festival, which was started in 2017 by Ministry of
Tribal Affairs and TRIFED to popularize the craft and culture of tribal people.

12. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has launched the nation's first 100 Octane petrol, named as
XP100 premium petrol. It is manufactured by IOC’s refinery in Mathura, UP at present.

6
 • Worldwide, 100 Octane petrol is available only in six countries of USA, Germany, Greece,
Indonesia, Malaysia and Israel.
• 100 Octane petrol protects engines from getting damaged due to the pre-mature ignition of
petrol. Thus, Octane ratings are measures of fuel stability.

13. 10th edition of National Science Film Festival was organized by Vigyan Prasar and Tripura
State Council of Science and Technology.
• A total of 115 shortlisted films selected by the ten-member jury will be screened during the
festival.
• Director of Vigyan Prasar – Dr Nakul Parashar
• Best film awards were given. Two new categories – ‘Poonam Chaurasia Memorial Award’
and ‘Destination Award’ (this is to be given to the best films from the region where the
National Science Film Festival is organized) – have been added this year.
• This year, the Poonam Chausaria Memorial Award has been given to the film ‘Sir Fred
Hoyle; The Man Ahead of Time’ directed by Suchibrata Borah.

14. Assam govt has proposed to set up the 6th National Park in the state, named as Raimona
National Park.
• Ripu reserve forest will be upgraded as the Raimona National Park.
• Ripu reserve forest is part of the buffer zone of Manas national park bordering Bhutan.
The forest along with Chirang reserve forest has the largest known population of
endangered Golden Langur.
• The existing national parks in Assam are Kaziranga, Manas, Dibru-Saikhowa, Manas and
Orang.

15. Ministry of Education has set up a task force for preparing a roadmap on imparting
technical education, including engineering courses, in mother tongue.
• Chair – Secretary, Higher Education (incumbent: Amit Khare)

7
 • IITs and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) will start offering engineering courses
in mother tongue from next academic year.

16. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and IIT-Delhi conducted the first of its kind
survey on pollution by using satellite data.
• Findings:
o PM2.5 (pollution levels) in Southern and Eastern India rose by 1.6% p.a. during 2001
to 2019, as compared to 1.2% p.a. rise in Indo-Gangetic plains.
o Rural India is also facing high rise in PM 2.5 at 11.9% between 2001-15.

17. 9th edition of International Sand Art Festival has started at the Chandrabhaga Beach of
Konark in Odisha’s Puri district.
• Sudarsan Patnaik (world-renowned sand artist and Padmashree Awardee) has been
appointed as Chief Curator of the festival.
• The main themes of the sculptures are ‘Environment’ and ‘Covid-19’.
• Every year, the festival is celebrated in the first week of December as part of the Konark
Dance Festival that is organised during the same time.

18. DRDO has created a new laboratory named Defence Geo Informatics Research
Establishment by merging two exiting labs.

8
 • The lab focused research on terrain and avalanches along the borders with China and
Pakistan.
• This lab has been created by merging two DRDO labs – Manali-headquartered Snow and
Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) and the other is the Delhi-based Defence Terrain
Research Establishment.
• DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy set up a committee under IIT Delhi, Director P
Ramagopal Rao to review the charter of duties of these two laboratories in order to reduce
the overlaps.

19. Inaugural session of the 6th India-CLMV Business Conclave 2020: Building Bridges for
Constructive Development’ was organized by Commerce Ministry & CII. CLMV countries are
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
• India Exim Bank's released its ‘Building Infrastructure: Opportunities for India’ report.
• According to the report, CLMV countries are amongst the fastest growing countries not
only within the ASEAN region but also globally.
• CLMV countries also have the lowest wage rates among ASEAN countries leading to
lower costs of production.
• CLMV countries need to develop the infrastructure to catch up with the rest of ASEAN
countries.
• The report also identified areas for mutual cooperation between India and CLMV countries.
• Project Development Fund titled "PDF-CLMV Fund" with a corpus of Rs. 500 crore has
been created by Indian Govt to catalyse investments from Indian private sector in the CLMV
region by setting up manufacturing hubs in CLMV countries.
India has invited the CLMV countries to join the International Solar Alliance and the Resilient
Supply Chain Initiative (RSCI).

India is also focussing on promoting connectivity to boost trade with the region.

9
20. For the first time to promote private sector, ISRO has announced to support Agnikul Cosmos
(Chennai) to test and qualify its small rocket that can launch 100 kg satellites into low earth
orbit.
• Agnikul founder and CEO - Srinath Ravichandran
• Agnikul is the winner in the top innovator category in the ET Startup Awards 2020.
• Agnikul startup was incubated at IIT Madras in 2017.

21. First in West Asia, Oman has established Oman-India Friendship Association to promote
friendship, understanding and matters of mutual interest between Oman and India business
and social communities in the Sultanate.

22. Ministry of Defence has approved the creation of a new post of Deputy Chief for Military
Operations and Strategic Planning in the Army.
• The post has been created to deal with military operations, military intelligence, strategic
planning and operational logistics.
• It will be the third post of deputy chief in the Army.
• Lt Gen Paramjit Singh (Director General of Military Operations) is set to become the first
deputy chief of Army staff (strategy).

23. West Bengal’s Majerhat Bridge has been renamed as the “Jai Hind Bridge” as a tribute to
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose whose 125th birth anniversary will be celebrated in 2022.

24. Central govt has created a new defence post of Director General of Information Warfare in
the headquarters, as part its reorganisation of Army Headquarters.
• The new post will deal with the needs of the future battlefield, hybrid warfare and social
media also.
• The new post of Director General of Information Warfare has been created under the
Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Strategy.

10
25. First-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Young Scientist Conclave was
organized by the Indian Department of Science and Technology at CSIR- Indian Institute
of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad.
• Theme - Shaping SCO-STI Partnership: Young Scientists Perspectives.

26. Zoological Survey of India conducted the first ever survey on the Malayan giant squirrel
(Ratufa bicolor) which found that the population of this squirrel would decline by 90% in India
by 2050.
• India is home to three giant squirrel species; the other two – Indian Giant Squirrel and
Grizzled Giant Squirrel – are found in peninsular India.
• The Malayan Giant Squirrel, one of the world's largest squirrel species, is currently found
in parts of West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Nagaland.

27. Sequoia India has partnered with NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP)
to promote women entrepreneurship in India and South-east Asia.
• Through this partnership, Sequoia India will mentor a select group of aspiring women
founders to mentor them for setting up and scaling their businesses.
• The first cohort will have 25 women entrepreneurs.

28. India’s first mobile Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) dispensing unit was launched.
• It will be operated by Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MNGL) in Pune.
• Five MNGL’s stations were also inaugurated through video conference.

29. Department of Space has entered into a first of its kind Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
with M/s Agnikul Cosmos Pvt. Ltd for building private small satellite launch vehicle.

11
 • Agnikul is a start-up company located in the National Centre for combustion R&D, IIT-
Madras, Chennai.
• Under the agreement, the company will get facilities and technical expertise available in
ISRO centers to proceed with their launch vehicle development program.

30. Ministry of AYUSH, Commerce and Industry, and Finance have decided to set up the
Export Promotion Council for AYUSH products.
• Purpose: to facilitate more export of AYUSH products by standardizing their HS
(Harmonized System) products.

31. Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated the Suryadhar lake at Doiwala,
Dehradun district to address the drinking water and irrigational needs of nearly 20 villages
around it.
• It is set to become a major tourist and water sports destination in future.

32. Space start-up Pixxel has signed an agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) to
launch India’s first private remote-sensing satellite on an ISRO PSLV rocket in early 2021.
• Pixxel is building a constellation of earth imaging small satellites that will provide global
coverage every 24 hours once fully deployed.

33. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $190 million loan for Bengaluru Smart
Energy Efficient Power Distribution Project.
• This loan is a combined sovereign and non-sovereign loan. This is the first time that the
combination of sovereign and non-sovereign loans is being given to India.
• The loan is divided into $100 million sovereign loans and $90 million without sovereign
guarantee loan.

34. 7th WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Conclave was organized by UNICEF and the
National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) virtually.

12
 • Theme of the conclave - “Hygiene Matters”
• Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka emphasized to achieve the target to provide
safe drinking water to all households by 2024.
• State-level programme initiatives such as ‘Manam Mana Parisubrtha’ in Andhra Pradesh,
‘Swacchotsava Nityotsava’ in Karnataka and ‘Palle Pragathi’ in Telangana have been
contributing in a long way towards achieving WASH resilience and a healthy society.

35. India and Russia conducted the Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in the East Indian Ocean
Region (IOR).
• In September, India and Russia conducted Indra 2020 exercise.

36. Central govt has announced to rename the second campus of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for
Biotechnology (in Kerala) after late RSS ideologue MS Golwalkar.
• New name - Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Centre for Complex Disease
in Cancer and Viral Infection.

37. Maharashtra has announced to declare eight areas in the western part of the state and two in
Vidarbha as conservation reserves.
• Also, Kanhalgaon forest has been declared as the Wildlife Sanctuary. With this, the state
has 50 wildlife sanctuaries.
• Kanhalgaon is a corridor for tigers moving to Kawal tiger reserve in Telangana and
Indravati reserve in Chhattisgarh.

38. Dandupur railway station situated between Pratapgarh and Badshahpur on Lucknow-
Varanasi rail section will now be named Maa Barahi Devi Dham.

39. PM Modi attended the IIT-2020 Global Summit, organised by PanIIT USA.
• Theme - 'The Future is Now'.

13
40. 4th edition of India Mobile Congress 2020 will be organized by Department of
Telecommunications and Cellular Operators Association of India from December 8-10,
2020.
• Theme - “Inclusive Innovation-Smart, Secure, Sustainable”.
• It aims to align to the prime minister's vision to promote 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', 'digital
inclusivity', and 'sustainable development, entrepreneurship and innovation'.

41. Two historic fort cities of Madhya Pradesh – Orchha and Gwalior – have been included in
the UNESCO World Heritage cities list.
• This has been done under the Urban Landscape City programme of UNESCO.

42. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has launched the “Global understanding of
India project" under which the organization is studying the portrayal of India in the school
books of other countries.
• So far, textbooks taught in the schools of more than 200 countries have been surveyed.
• ICCR is an autonomous body under the Ministry of External Affairs.
• ICCR president, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, is also head of the parliamentary committee on
education.
• An online portal namely Universalisation of Traditional Indian Knowledge Systems
(UTIKS) to offer short term courses on Indian cooking, Indian dances, arts, music, craft,
skills such as Mehendi and rangoli/ kolam will be launched shortly by ICCR.

43. For the first time, an Indian Army Chief (MM Naravane) has visited UAE and Saudi Arabia
on an official trip for strengthening India’s defence ties with both the countries.

44. PM Narendra Modi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani have agreed to
set up a special task force to facilitate investments by Qatar Investment Authority into India.
• Modi conveyed his felicitations to Al Thani ahead of the forthcoming National Day of Qatar
on 18 December.

14
45. Interpol (HQ - Lyon, France) has given its ‘crawler’ software to Maharashtra to track the
child pornography material uploaded online.
• Right now, only Maharashtra has received this software in India. 12 Maharashtra cyber
officers were trained by Interpol for using ‘crawler’ software.
• These 12 officials form the Tactical Response Against Cyber Child Exploitation
(TRACE) Unit to fight against the child pornography.
• Maharashtra Police has earlier launched Operation Blackface to curb the circulation of
Child Sexual Abuse Material and punish the perpetrators.

46. Ramnagar Forest Division in Nainital district, Uttarakhand, has built its first eco-bridge for
reptiles and smaller mammals.
• Eco-ducts or eco-bridges are bridges that are built to enhance wildlife connectivity and their
conservation. These bridges are overlaid with greenery to give it a contiguous look with the
landscape.
• One of the largest underpasses – 1.4km – for animal conservation in India is being built
along the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra border.

47. After Sikkim, Lakshadweep has been declared as 100% organic agricultural area. It has
become the first UT to become 100% organic.

48. Urban Governance Index 2020 has been released by the Praja Foundation (an NPO in
Mumbai).
• Total - 40 cities in 28 states and NCT of Delhi were assessed
• Top state - Odisha, followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh
• Bottom state - Manipur and Nagaland
• Parameter - performance of municipal bodies on their 18 functions
• The index measures the performance of the local self-governance bodies.

15
 • None of the states could even score 60 out of 100 indicating that municipal bodies are still
not performing well due to their limited authority.

49. Union Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-
WANI) scheme to provide wireless internet connectivity in the country.
• The service would be provided through Public Data Offices (PDOs).
• PDOs will be set up on the lines of Public Call Offices (PCOs) to establish, operate, and
maintain only the WANI compliant Wi-Fi access points to deliver broadband services to its
subscribers.
• These PDOs will either provide internet on their own or will lease from some other Internet
Service Provider (ISP).
• PDO Aggregators (PDOAs) will also be set up to do authorisation and accounting of the
numerous PDOs.
• A central registry will be set-up which will maintain details of all app providers, PDOAs and
PDOs. The registry will be handled by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-
DoT).

50. 6th India-Japan Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Joint Working
Group (JWG) meeting was held recently.
• The JWG on ICT was established in January 2014 under the aegis of the Japan-India ICT
Comprehensive Cooperation Framework.

51. Central government has approved to establish the submarine optical fibre cable between
Kochi and Lakshadweep Islands.
• Purpose: to provide a direct communication link between Kochi and 11 islands of
Lakshadweep through the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC).
• Estimated cost - Rs 1,072 crore (including the operational expenses for 5 years).
• The project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund of Dept of
Telecommunications.

16
 • Tenure – 2023
• Partners – Bharat Sanchar Nigam (project execution agency) and Telecommunications
Consultant India Ltd (technical consultant of the project).
• Union Cabinet has also approved to provide mobile coverage in Arunachal Pradesh and
two districts of Assam (Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao) under the Comprehensive Telecom
Development Plan for North Eastern Region.
• This will also be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund.

52. Union Cabinet has approved ₹1,584 crore budget for Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana.
• Till 2023, the scheme would entail an outgo of ₹22,810 crore and would benefit around 58.5
lakh employees.
• Also, the new employees – who joined between October 1 to June 30, 2021 – can also
avail the benefit of this scheme.
• Central govt will pay 12% of employee and 12% of employers’ contribution to the Employee
Provident Fund for companies having employees up to 1,000 and employees having a
monthly salary of Rs 15,000 or less than that.
• For companies having employees above 1,000, the central govt will pay 12% contribution
on the behalf of employees only.

53. 8th meeting of the Joint Working Group on Nepal- India Cooperation in Power Sector took
place in virtual mode.
• India and Nepal have decided to launch an air bubble arrangement for restarting
commercial flights, after months of disruption caused by the pandemic.
• India is constructing 900 MW Arun-III hydropower project in Nepal's Sankhuwasabha
district. It is being built by India's Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN).
• India and Nepal discussed about South Asia's first cross border 400 KV transmission
line at Muzaffarpur (Bihar) -Dhalkebar (Nepal) which is in its completion stage.

17
54. PwC India has collaborated with UNICEF and YuWaah (Generation Unlimited in India) to help
bridge the digital gap by upskilling 300 million young people in India over the next 10 years.
• According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), India is staring at a 29 million
skill deficit by 2030.
• As of October 2020, the unemployment rate in India is at 6.97%, according to the Centre
for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

55. Shahani Academic and Global Empowerment (SAGE) Foundation, Mumbai has signed a
pact with Rise Infinity Foundation and UNICEF MahaPECONet to train and upskill 300
youth from migrant families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Trained people will get employment in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI)
sector, either as wage employees or through self-employment.
• UNICEF MahaPECONet is a network of volunteers, corporates, government bodies and
organisations that have come together to support migrant workers and their families, who
have been affected by the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

56. NHPC Ltd will complete 2,000 MW Subansiri hydropower project by March 2022.

57. WNS Cares Foundation (the CSR arm of WNS) has partnered with Atal Tinkering Labs
(ATL) to provide training to the India’s children and youth on cyber safety.
• The digital education will be provided through CyberSmart platform of WNS Cares.
• WNS is a global business process management company headquartered in Mumbai.

58. Indian Navy has finalised procurement of a batch of Israeli weapon systems – SMASH 2000
fire control systems – that are capable of hitting down high-speed enemy drones.
• The delivery is expected to begin early next year.
• SMASH 2000 is manufactured by Israeli firm Smart Shooter.
• India's weapons procurement from the United States jumped from $6.2 million to a
whopping $3.4 billion in 2020.

18
59. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has formed eight working groups to create a
roadmap for the deployment of 5G in different sectors such as agriculture, fintech,
transportation and education.
• Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) will lead this task.

60. Minister of State for External Affairs, Shri. V. Muraleedharan, launched website for the 16th
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2021, to be held virtually on January 9, 2021.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention is the flagship event of the Government of India and
provides an important platform to engage and connect with the overseas Diaspora.
• The theme of PBD 2021 is "Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.

61. Maharashtra has unveiled the draft bill of ‘Shakti Act’ to curb crimes against woman and
children in the state.
• The draft bill has provisions for stern punishment, including the death penalty, life sentence,
and hefty fines, for the perpetrators, and also speedy trial.
• Shakti Act is modelled on the lines of Andhra Pradesh's Disha Act, 2019.
• The draft bill that has been approved by the cabinet, will be tabled in the state legislature
during its upcoming winter session.
• The state govt has also launched the ‘Sharad Pawar Gram Samruddhi Yojana’ under the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for
promoting rural development.
• The scheme is named after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to
commemorate his 80th birthday.
• Under the scheme, job opportunities will be created for unemployed people in rural areas
and permanent assets for gram panchayats and allied villages will be developed.

62. 6th edition of India International Science Festival (IISF) 2020 will be held from 22nd to 25th
December, 2020 virtually.

19
 • It will be spearheaded by CSIR.
• IISF is an annual event organised jointly by science & technology-related Ministries and
Departments of the Government of India and Vijnana Bharati (Vibha) to celebrate India’s
achievements in scientific and technological field.
• The curtain raising event of IISF-2020 was held at CSIR-Central Food Technological
Research Institute, Mysore.

63. According to a research conducted by SBI, north-eastern states have topped the list of states
in managing Covid-19 followed by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
• Author of the report – Soumya Kanti Ghosh (SBI group chief economic advisor)

64. IIT-Bombay has released the Urban Quality of Life Index 2020.
• Indicators – 29 grouped into 7 categories of –
o Basic amenities
o Economic Development
o Safety and Security
o Transportation access

20
 o Environmental impact
o Infrastructure development
o Gender role (taken for the first time as indicator)
• Total – 14 cities were assessed
• Top – Mumbai
• Crime rate against women – highest in Jaipur; lowest in Chennai
• Literacy rate – highest in Pune; lowest in Hyderabad
• Literacy gap between men and women – highest in Jaipur, lowest in Kolkata

65. Maharashtra govt has signed an agreement with the XED Institute of Management (HQ -
Singapore) to launch an accelerator programme for entrepreneurs, ‘Cornell Maha 60’.
• Entrepreneurs will be sponsored by Maharashtra government and will be awarded a
certificate from Cornell.
• This accelerator programme is in line with Maharashtra State Innovative Start-up Policy
2018.

66. 26th edition of DST- CII Technology Summit was organised by the Department of Science &
Technology (DST) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
• Mr. Manuel Heitor, Hon’ble Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education,
Government of Portugal, was the Guest of Honour.
• Ambassador of India to Portugal is Ms. K. Nandini Singla; and Prof Helena Pereira is
the President of Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal.

21
 • CII Industrial Innovation Awards 2020 were conferred at DST-CII tech summit. A special
category of award was introduced this year to acknowledge significant contributions through
innovative solutions from research institutions.
Category Winners

Disruptive Innovations of Indian Institute of

Technology Madras
The most innovative research institute of
&
the year
Innovation Quotient of Indian Institute of
Technology Roorkee

Grand Award Winner-The Most Innovative Lakshmi Machine Works limited- TMD
Company of the Year 2020

Large Enterprise in Service Sector Philips Innovation Campus, Bengaluru

Large Enterprise in Manufacturing Sector Pidilite Industries Limited

Note: Most important awards are provided here. The complete list of the awards are on the official website of DST –
https://dst.gov.in/cii-industrial-innovation-awards-2020-conferred-dst-cii-tech-summit

67. India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and United Nations Industrial Development
Organization have partnered to promote innovations in energy storage in India.
• Last month, the 4th round of innovation challenge was launched by UNIDO’s Facility of Low
Carbon Technology Deployment (FLCTD) to support and encourage new innovations in
Indian energy storage and e-mobility space.

68. Council on Energy, Environment And Water (CEEW) has conducted the “Preparing India
for Extreme Climate Events” report.
• It is the first-of-its-kind district-level profiling of India’s extreme climate events such as
cyclones, floods, and drought.
• More than 75% of Indian districts, which are home to over 638 million people, are extreme
climate event hotspots.

22
 • The frequency and intensity of the natural disasters has increased.
• Since 1970, the frequency of floods has increased by 8 times and its associated events
such as landslides, hailstorms, and cloudbursts by over 20 times.
• The report has suggested ways to build resilience against climate disasters.

69. Power and Renewable Energy Minister Raj Kumar Singh has mentioned that India plans to
impose new tariffs on imports of solar cells and modules from 1 April 2022.
• According to Singh, the finance ministry will issue an order to impose a basic customs duty
of 40% on modules and 25% on solar cells as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
• The customs duty will replace a 15% safeguard duty that is being imposed on imports from
China and Malaysia.

70. India and Brazil held their 1st webinar on the theme of 'Indian Defence Industry Global
Outreach for Collaborative Partnership'.
• Organizer – Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), under the Ministry of
Defence.
• It is a part of the series of webinars which are being organized with other countries to
achieve defence export target of $5 billion in the next five years.
• SS-CBC India Ammunition project is set to start operations in Andhra Pradesh in August
2021.
• Under the project, Brazil and India will manufacture the ammunition together through the
joint venture between Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC) Brazil and Stumpp
Schuele & Somappa India (SSS Defence).
• CBC Brazil is the world’s second-largest ammunition manufacturer.

71. The ‘India Workplace Equality Index’, India’s first comprehensive benchmarking tool for
employers to measure their progress on LGBT+ inclusion at the workplace, was launched by
Keshav Suri Foundation, Pride Circle, Stonewall UK and FICCI.

23
 • The index measures companies on nine areas: policies and benefits, employee lifecycle,
employee network group, allies and role models, senior leadership, monitoring,
procurement, community engagement and additional work.
• Out of the total 65 companies assessed, 21 firms won under the gold category, while 18
were placed under silver and 13 got bronze.

72. TiE Global Summit 2020 – largest entrepreneurship summit, ever held on the planet, both in-
person and virtual – was organized by Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) in Hyderabad.
• Theme – Entrepreneurship 360

73. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has inaugurated the three lane 1.5 km long
Koilwar bridge over Sone river in Bihar.
• Road Minister Nitin Gadkari has approved a four-lane elevated road from Bharauli (Buxar)
to Haidaria for providing connectivity to the Poorvanchal Expressway.
• The four-laning of Muzaffarpur- Sitamarhi-Sonewarsha road (NH-77), which is part of
Ramjanki Marg, will simplify the travel to Jakanpur Dham (Nepal). It’s Detailed Project
Report will be ready May next year.

74. India and Qatar have agreed to set up a task force on energy to facilitate Qatari investments
into India’s energy sector.
• Qatar is India’s largest natural gas supplier. It exports 8.5 million tonnes per annum of
LNG (liquefied natural gas) to India.

24
 • Qatar Petroleum vice-president will represent Qatar in the Task Force on Energy, while
India will be represented by a senior officer from the petroleum ministry.
• Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs – Sherida Al-Kaabi

75. 5th India - Myanmar bilateral meeting on Drug Control Cooperation was held virtually.
• Indian Representative - Rakesh Asthana, Director General Narcotics Control Bureau.
• Myanmar Representative - Commander of the Drug Enforcement Division (DED) cum
Joint Secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, Pol. Brig. Gen. Win
Naing.
• 6th India - Myanmar Bilateral Meeting on Drug Control Cooperation will be held in
India in 2021.

76. 1st bilateral virtual meeting between India and Uzbekistan was held.
• Nine agreements / MoU were signed between both countries across different development
areas.
• India and Uzbekistan have a mutually identified target of USD 1 billion for bilateral trade.
• India approved to give a Line of Credit of USD 448 millions to Uzbekistan for four
developmental projects in the fields of road construction, sewerage treatment and
information technology.
• Both countries agreed to enhance business exchanges through the Uzbekistan-India
Business Council, which is run by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the
Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Uzbekistan (Uz-CCI).
• 2nd session of India-Uzbekistan Business Forum was held in October 2020.

77. International Bharati Festival 2020 was virtually organised by the Vanavil Cultural Centre
(Tamil Nadu) to celebrate the 138th birth anniversary of Tamil poet and writer Mahakavi
Subramanya Bharati on 11th December 2020.
• Scholar Shri Seeni Viswanathan received the Bharathi Award 2020, given by the
Vanavil Cultural Centre to honour people doing social work.

25
 • Subramanya Bharati is regarded as the father of the modern Tamil literature. He was a
poet during the Indian Nationalist era.

78. Socio-Economic profiling of PM-Svanidhi beneficiaries is being conducted by the central

govt.
• Under this, a complete profile of each PM-Svanidhi beneficiary and their family members
will be prepared.
• In the Phase 1, 125 cities have been selected for the program.
• Quality Council of India is the implementing partner for this profiling.
• It has been launched as a pilot project in six cities – Gaya, Indore, Kakching (Manipur),
Nizamabad, Rajkot, and Varanasi.
• Purpose: After this socio-profiling, all the enlisted beneficiaries, who are eligible for benefits
of other central govt schemes will be provided benefits by using this data.

79. NHPC laid the foundation stone of head regulator works of Indo-Nepal Link Canal at Barrage
of 94.2 MW Tanakpur Power Station of NHPC located in Banbasa, Uttarakhand.
• The 1.2 km long Indo-Nepal canal is being constructed under ‘Mahakali Treaty’ signed
between India and Nepal.
• India and Nepal signed the Mahakali Treaty in 1996 for sharing water of Mahakali river.

80. Indian embassy in Beijing organized a movie series - "CinemaSCOope" - for the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation’s diplomats and their family members.
• Secretary General of SCO, Vladimir Norov, attended it.
• More than two dozen Indian movies including "3 Idiots", dubbed in Russian language, will
be screened on a monthly basis till India's chairmanship of SCO "Council of Heads of
State" in 2023.
• The movies are dubbed in Russian language. The event was jointly inaugurated by Indian
Ambassador to China Vikram Misri along with Norov.
• India hosted 19th SCO Heads of Govt meeting, chaired by V-P M. Venkaiah Naidu.

26
81. Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) National Centre for Divyang Empowerment (NCDE)
has been established at Rangareddy district in Telangana.
• The centre will provide skill training to the specially-abled CRPF soldiers who suffered
disability while serving the nation.
• The centre has been developed with the collaborated help from Cyber Council of
Hyderabad.

82. 9th Sustainable Mountain Development Summit has been organized by Integrated
Mountain Initiative (IMI) in virtual mode on the occasion of International Mountain Day (11
December).
• Theme of the summit – Emerging Pathways for Building a Resilient Post-Covid-19
Mountain Economy: Adaptation, Innovation and Acceleration.
• Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) is a civil society led network platform to promote
development in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR).
• Theme of the Mountain Day 2020 – Mountain biodiversity
• This year, the campaign on social media is #MountainsMatter.

83. 10th edition of Sustainable Mountain Development Summit will be hosted in Darjeeling-
Kalimpong Hills of West Bengal in 2021.
• 2020 R S Tolia Memorial Award was presented to Ajay Rawat, an eminent scholar and
environmental activist, for preventing destruction of lakes and forests in the Indian
Himalayan Region.

84. Gujarat has announced to implement its new fire safety policy from January 26, 2021.
• Private entities and engineers will be allowed to inspect and certify buildings for their fire
safety preparedness.
• Four new posts of ‘Director of Fire’ for four zones in the state will be created to oversee
the buildings for fire safety. The post has been designed by Gujarat Institute of Disaster
Management under its director general P.K. Taneja.

27
 • The approval and renewal of fire safety certification will be done entirely on the portal called
Fire Safety COP (Fire Safety Compliance Portal). Thus, Gujarat became the first state in
the country to have a modernized fire safety certification process.

85. Madhya Pradesh govt has announced to form “Sahyogini Matru Samiti” at Anganwadi
centres to fight malnutrition among children.
• These kinds of Samitis were constituted in the past to increase the participation of women
in programmes run at the village level.
• The committee will be formed under the provision of ‘Vigilance Committee and Social
Audit System’ for empowerment, transparency and accountability of the activities of the
Anganwadi centers under the National Food Security Act 2013.
• The Matru Sahyogi Samiti will work as ‘Vigilance Committee’ to monitor the nutritional
supplements being provided under Anganwadi Seva.

86. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the world's largest renewable
energy park along the Indo-Pak border at Khavda, Kutch, Gujarat.
• Capacity - 30,000 megawatt capacity
• Orientation - hybrid park à having solar and wind energy
• Area - 72,600 hectares
• Purpose - to fulfil India's vision of generating 450 GW of power by 2030.
• Zones - The first zone of this park will be a hybrid park on 49,600 hectares of land. The
second zone will be wind power based only at over 23,000 hectares.
• Besides, a desalination plant in Mandvi and a fully automated milk processing and packing
plant Sarhad Dehri in Anjar were also inaugurated in Kutch.

87. 2nd Bangladesh-India Cotton Fest 2020 was held in Dhaka.

• India is one of the top cotton exporting countries in the world and Bangladesh is the second
largest Ready Made Garments (RMG) exporter in the world.

28
 • Bangladesh intends to double its export of RMG over the next 5 years for which a secure
and quality cotton supply from countries like India was its top priority.

88. Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) has partnered with IBM to provide
skill training in emerging technologies to nearly 30,000 engineering, degree and polytechnic
students of the state.
• The skill training will be provided through IBM’s Open P-TECH (a free digital education
platform focused on emerging technologies and professional development skills).
• IBM HQ - New York; Chairperson - Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty

89. ReNew Power (India's largest renewable energy company) and the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP) have signed a partnership agreement to promote increased access to
renewable energy and improved energy efficiency.

90. First Trilateral Working Group meeting between Iran, India and Uzbekistan will be held
virtually to discuss the joint use of Chabahar Port (in Iran).
• India proposed to hold "Chabahar Day” on the side lines of the International Maritime
Summit scheduled to be hosted by India in January 2021.
• World Maritime Port Summit 2021 will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands from 20-21
January 2021.

91. FICCI’s 93rd Annual General Meeting and Annual Convention was held on the theme of
“Inspired India”.
• The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the virtual FICCI Annual Expo 2020 to provide an
opportunity to exhibitors from across the globe to showcase their products and advance
their business prospects.
• President of FICCI – Uday Shankar (also the President of Walt Disney Company)

29
92. Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has circulated a draft of Indian Ports Bill, 2020
for public consultation which will repeal and replace the Indian Ports Act, 1908.
• Salient features of the bill:-

Formulation of the
National Port policy and
National Port plan in
Constitution of Maritime
consultation with Coastal
Port Regulatory Authority
State Governments, State
Maritime Boards and
other stakeholders.
Formulation of Maritime
Ports Tribunal and
Maritime Ports Appellate
Tribunal to curb any anti-
competitive practises in
the port sector and act as
a speedy and affordable
grievance redressal
mechanism.

93. Indian Association of the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata has organised the Vigyan
Yatra, a promotional activity of the 6th India International Science Festival (IISF), at 30
location in the country.
• The 6th edition of the IISF will be organized virtually from December 22 to 25.
• CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), Dhanbad, Jharkhand also
organised Vigyan Yatra on YouTube.

94. Government is all set to launch a ‘Brand India’ mission for promotion of quality products that
are manufactured in the country.
• The move is being piloted by the Piyush Goyal-led Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

95. Department of Post and India Post Payment Bank have launched the Dakpay app to
provide digital financial inclusion.
• The app will provide a slew of payment services like bill payment, money transfer etc.

30
96. Maharashtra govt has planning to launch 'MahaSharad' portal named after NCP chief
Sharad Pawar to observe his 80th birthday.
• It is a digital platform called that will help persons with disabilities, or 'divyangjan', get free
assistive devices.
• MahaSharad stands for Maharashtra System for Health and Rehabilitation Assistance.
• e-Barti mobile application will also be launched to give people information about welfare
schemes being implemented under the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training
Institute (BARTI), based in Pune.

97. World Bank approved four development projects worth over $800 million. Projects:
• Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project (CHIRAAG)
worth $100 million to promote production of diversified and nutritious food in remote areas
of Chhattisgarh.
• Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources Project worth $68 million.
• Second Dam Improvement and Rehabilitation Project (DRIP-2) worth $250 million will
improve the safety and performance of existing dams across various states of India.
• A loan agreement worth $400 million with GoI to provide social assistance to the poor and
vulnerable households, impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
o This is the second loan of such kind. The first one of USD 750 million was approved
in May 2020.
Additional facts about DRIP:

® The project will be implemented in approximately 120 dams across the states of
Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Odisha, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu, and at the national level through the Central Water
Commission (CWC).
® This is the world’s largest dam management program.
® Since project effectiveness in 2012, Government of India has been implementing the
World Bank-supported DRIP-1.

31
 ® This project has improved the safety and sustainable performance of 223 dams in six
states of India and one central agency.

98. ISRO has successfully launched India’s 42nd communication satellite – CMS-01 on PSLV-
C50 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
• CMS-01 has a lifespan of seven years.
• ISRO Chairman K Sivan announced that the next launch is of PSLV-C51, which would
carry the private satellite ‘Anand’ (belonging to Pixxel company), ‘Satish’ (of SpaceKidz
India) and ‘Univsat’ (of University Consortium) into orbit.

32
99. Telangana government has approved the T-Fiber – Telangana Fiber Grid Project – for
implementation across the state.
• Purpose: to provide high-speed broadband service to each and every household in the
State.
• It is a ‘Vital Public Purpose Project’ of the state.
• This project will use trenches dug for the Mission Bagiradha of Telangana. This mission
was launched for providing safe and sustainable PIPED drinking water supply from surface
water sources.

100. Quality Council of India has launched the scheme for approval of hygiene rating audit
agencies to increase the number of hygiene rating audit agencies in India.
• The scheme aims to help consumers take informed decisions regarding food outlets where
they prefer to eat by encouraging businesses to improve hygiene and safety standards.
• These agencies will audit or assess the hygiene compliance of food businesses, in line with
the FSSAI's 'Food Hygiene Rating Scheme'.
• FSSAI’s initiative of ‘Food Hygiene Rating Scheme’ is a certification system for food
businesses supplying food directly to consumers, either on or off premise.
• QCI Chairman – Adil Zainulbhai
• CEO of FSSAI – Arun Singhal

101. Bihar organized its first ever migratory bird festival in Bhagalpur (the ‘silk city’).
• Organizers - state forest department, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), and the
Mandar Nature Club (based in Bhagalpur).

102. 5th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) was organised by the National Mission for Clean
Ganga and Center for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga).
• Theme - Arth Ganga - river conservation synchronised development.
• Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research has signed an MoU with cGanga for
development of sludge management framework in India.

33
 • cGanga has also signed an MOU with British Water to develop water infrastructure.
• Director General of NMCG – Rajiv Ranjan Mishra
About cGanga:

• It was established at the IIT-Kanpur (IITK) in 2016 as a think-tank to the National Mission
for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
• It is a Centre of Excellence for data collection, creation and dissemination of knowledge
and information for the sustainable development of Ganga River Basin.

103. Central govt launched Co – Win digital platform for Covid vaccination delivery.
• The portal will record vaccine data and will form a data base of health workers. The app will
have separate modules for administrator, registration, vaccination and reports.

104. Ministry of Education had constituted a committee in April 2020 to suggest measures for
implementing reservation policies in IITs. The committee has submitted its recommendations
now.
• Chair of the committee - V. Ramgopal Rao (Director of IIT Delhi)
• Recommendations – IITs should be exempted from following reservation policies in faculty
recruitment.
• The committee suggested offering a two-year Research Assistantship funded by the
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for encouraging students from reserved
categories to join Ph. D programmes.

105. India and Bangladesh have conducted their virtual summit.

• Seven agreements for cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector, agriculture and textiles,
high impact community development projects to be carried out by India, trans-border
elephant conservation, supply of equipment for improving garbage disposal in Bangladesh’s
Barishal city, and creation of a CEOs Forum.

34
 • The two countries agreed to strengthen sub-regional energy cooperation, especially with
Nepal and Bhutan, and speed up work on the 130-km India-Bangladesh Friendship
Pipeline.
• Filming of a biopic on Rahman, being directed by Shyam Benegal, will begin in January.
• Chilahati-Haldibari rail link between India and Bangladesh was also inaugurated.

106. During the Assocham Foundation Day Week 2020, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan announced that government had planned a $60­billion investment for creating
natural gas infrastructure in the country till 2024.
• The gas’s share in the energy mix is expected to rise to 15% by 2030 from 6.2%.

107. ISRO has established 'NETRA' – a dedicated control centre for Space Situational
Awareness (SSA) activities in the country. The centre will function as a hub of all SSA
activities within India.
• The centre will monitor, track and protect India’s space assets.
• Location – ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) campus at
Peenya, Bengaluru.
• Netra stands for Network for space object Tracking and Analysis.
• Dedicated labs will also be set up in this control centre for Space Debris mitigation and
remediation, and for conducting various R&D activities.

35
108. Kamdhenu Aayog Chairman, Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria, introduced the idea of setting up a
Kamdhenu chair in every university and college during the National Webinar of Kamdhenu
Chair in Universities and Colleges.
• Purpose: to bring forth the science related to indigenous cows.

109. India and the U.K. have agreed to set up a joint task force to work towards mutual
recognition of academic qualifications. It includes designated higher education organisations
from both the countries.
• It aligns with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for creating a globally mobile
workforce and internationalisation of Indian higher education, as proposed in the National
Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

110. Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad has become the first zoo in India to receive ISO
9001:2015 Quality Management Standards Certificate.
• The assessment was done by HYM International Certification Pvt Ltd, accredited by
ASCB, UK.
• ASCB - Accreditation Service for Certifying Bodies - is headquartered in the United States.

111. Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), along with Automotive Skills
Development Council (ASDC), has partnered with Google India to provide digital skill
training to the auto dealers in India and build their capacity.
• Entire marketing and sales ecosystem will be trained for digital operation.

112. 12th GRIHA Virtual Summit was organized by India on the theme of ‘Rejuvenating
Resilient Habitats’.
• Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu launched the SHASHWAT magazine and the
book '30 Stories Beyond Buildings' during the event.
• Organizer - GRIHA Council (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment)

36
 • 2019-2020 was the Construction Technology Year wherein six innovative technologies
were selected for constructing 6 Light House Projects (LHPs), aligning with the GRIHA
norms.
• Through the Accelerator Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators- India (ASHA-
India) initiative, startups are supported in the field of construction technology in housing
sector. Under this initiative, five Incubation Centers have been set up.
GRIHA –Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment:

Developed by – TERI

Adopted as national rating system for green buildings by the Government of India in 2007 by
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

GRIHA aims to minimize a building’s resource consumption, waste generation, and overall
ecological impact to within certain nationally acceptable limits / benchmarks.

113. India Grid Trust (IndiGrid) collaborated with IBM to build an artificial intelligence (AI)-
enabled asset management platform.
• Through this collaboration, IndiGrid will be able to monitor, manage & maintain its multi-
component assets efficiently with the help of AI.

114. 4th India – Indonesia virtual bilateral meeting on Drug Control Cooperation between
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), India and National Narcotics Board (BNN), Indonesia
was held.
• 5th India –Indonesia Bilateral Joint Working Group (JWG) Meeting on Drug Control
Cooperation will be held in India in 2021.
• 35th edition of India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (IND-INDO CORPAT) was conducted
by INS Kulish and Indonesian Naval Ship KRI Cut Nyak Dien.

115. 3rd meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on shipping between India and Denmark
was held virtually to strengthen cooperation in the maritime sector.

37
 • Both sides agreed for mutual cooperation between Gujarat Maritime University and
Copenhagen Business School.
• Next meeting of the JWG, an India-Danish web conference can be organised in the month
of April, 2021.

116. 12th meeting of the India-Australia Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism was
held virtually.

117. India has invited Bangladesh to join the New Development Bank (set up by BRICS
countries).
• Bangladesh has also requested India to rename the historic road from Mujib Nagar to Nodia
on Bangladesh-India border as "Shadhinota Shorok” to commemorate the historic
significance of the road during Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
• PM Narendra Modi will visit Bangladesh in March 2021 on the occasion of 50th anniversary
of Bangladesh’s Independence and 50 years of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations.

118. India has pledged $1 million to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which is the "highest
among contributions made by other world governments."
• A $10 million corpus was announced (to be created) at the WADA's Fifth World
Conference on Doping in Sport held in Katowice, Poland in 2019.
• Russia has been banned from participating in the next two Olympics and any other
international game in the next two years.
• WADA HQ - Montreal, Canada; President - Witold Bańka

119. India-Maldives Defence Cooperation Webinar and Expo was held.

• Theme of webinar – ‘Joint Indo Maldives High Level Defence Engagement’.
• Organizer – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) under the
aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence

38
 • This webinar is the part of Aero India 21 series of webinars which is being organised to
boost defence cooperation and engagements with friendly foreign countries.

120. 5th Global Technology Summit 2020 was hosted by Carnegie India and Ministry of
External Affairs.
• Theme - The Geopolitics of Technology
• It is one of the four flagship MEA annual conferences – the others being the Raisina
Dialogue, Geo-economic Dialogue and Indian Ocean Conference.

121. Asian Development Bank and Indian Government have signed a loan worth $300
million to upgrade rural power distribution networks in Uttar Pradesh.
• Total project cost is $430 million. The remaining $130 million will be provided by ADB in
second tranche.
• This project will also strengthen the financial management of power distribution entities of
the state.

122. India’s first Centre of Excellence for Skill Development in the power sector has been
established at National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram.
• It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, India and
Ministry of National Education and Youth, France and Schneider Electric (HQ-France).
• All the three organizations had signed an MoU to set up this CoE.
• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Schneider Electric India Foundation,
Power Sector Skill Council, and National Institute of Solar Energy have signed MoU for
operating this CoE.

123. UK Secretary of State Dominic Raab visited India. Key highlights:

• India – UK ministerial meeting held in New Delhi.
o Boris Johnson (UK PM) is the Chief Guest for Republic Day 2021 celebration.
• India and UK created a 10-year roadmap to deepen Indo-Pacific cooperation

39
 • Karnataka and British Council signed MoU to strengthen education and research.
• UK’s CDC Group, India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), and
Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) announced additional equity funding of USD 70
million, USD 284 million and USD 36 million respectively in Ayana Renewable Power
(Ayana).
o Purpose – to boost green energy
o Ayana was founded in 2018 by the CDC Group.
• The UK and India will co-invest 1.5 Mn Pound in the Neev fund to support green
recovery.
o Neev Fund was conceptualized and launched in 2015 by Hon. Prime Ministers of
India (Mr Narendra Modi) and UK (Mr. David Cameron).
o The Fund aims to catalyse investment in Indian states which have traditionally not
received private investments for creating a model for sustainable development.
o Neev Fund is focused on making investments in 8 of the low income states in India
i.e., Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Odisha and West Bengal.
• Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), India has signed an MoU with
UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Product Regulatory Agency for improving vaccine
and pharma standards and to share information about unlicensed products.
• PM Narendra Modi accepted the invitation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to
be part of the G7 meeting chaired by the UK in 2021.

124. Indian govt has released the 'Australia Economic Strategy' (AES) report, which is
authored by Anil Wadhwa, Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• Prepared by – CII-KPMG team led by Anil Wadhwa.
• It is a reciprocal report to Australia's 'India Economic Strategy 2035' (IES 2035),
authored by Peter Varghese.
• AES is one of its kind report, first ever attempted by the Indian govt for any specific
country.

40
 • IES-2035 of Australia envisages to make India an export market for Australia and third-
largest destination in Asia for Australian outward investment, $100 billion by 2035.

125. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the North Eastern Region
Power System Improvement Project worth Rs 6,700 crores.
• Ministry – Ministry of Power
• Launch year – 2014 (commissioning year – 2021)
• Implementing agency – Power Grid
• Beneficiary states – all N-E states except Arunachal Pradesh.
• Funding – 50: 50 by Indian govt and World Bank
o Capacity building component of Rs 89 crores is entirely funded by India.

126. Central Govt and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $ 4.21 million for project
readiness financing (PRF) facility for the preparation of infrastructure development projects to
improve urban amenities and develop tourism infrastructure in Tripura.
• This is ADB’s first PRF facility for a state in the north-eastern region of India.

127. Odisha launched PAReSHRAM portal to facilitate ease of doing business and contribute
significantly to industrial development of the State.

128. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has launched a multilingual
call centre for aqua farmers at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh to address their technical
issues and impart knowledge about efficient farming methods by domain experts round the
clock.
• It is India’s first Aquafarmers Call Centre.

129. PM Narendra Modi addressed the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of
India’s (Assocham) foundation week via video conferencing.

41
 • The theme of the programme organised by Assocham is, ‘India’s resilience: Atmanirbhar
roadmap towards $5 trillion economy.’ ASSOCHAM was established in 1920.
• PM presented the 'ASSOCHAM Enterprise of the Century Award' to Ratan Tata, who
received the award on behalf of the TATA Group.
• On December 21, Ratan Tata also got the ‘Global Visionary of Sustainable Business
and Peace’ award by Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce for promoting innovation for
sustainability and peace in the region, including with the Palestinians.
• The award was given during the launch of the Federation of Indo-Israel Chamber of
Commerce’s international chapter in Dubai, UAE on December 21.
• This is the first time that Indo-Israel Chamber of Commerce is opening an international
chapter in another country to tap business opportunities and develop trilateral
collaborations.

130. 8th North East Festival will be held in Guwahati, Assam to showcase and create
awareness about India’s North East and to promote entrepreneurship and tourism.
• The focus of the festival will be Growth Agenda for North East Post Covid-19.
• It is the first time that Guwahati hosted this festival virtually.
• A new entity NEF Ideation Conclave will have series of discussion sessions.

131. Uttar Pradesh has launched India and South-Asia’s first blockchain-enabled ‘peer to
peer’ (P2P) trading platform for rooftop solar power.
• India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF), along with blockchain technology partner Power Ledger,
Australia, and Abajyon Consulting, will execute the project.
• Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation (UPPCL), Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited
(MVVNL), and Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency
(UPNEDA) are hosting this first-of-its-kind pilot project.
• Under this project, energy generated from solar rooftop systems installed on buildings in
Lucknow will be traded directly between buyers and sellers without any intermediaries.
• It has been launched as a pilot project with 12 participants.

42
 • In 2019, Singapore’s SP Group, an energy utility group, launched one of the world’s first
blockchain-powered renewable energy certificate marketplaces at the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Energy Business Forum.

132. ‘Status of Leopards in India 2018' report was released by the Environment Minister
Prakash Javadekar. Key highlights:
• Population of leopards increased 60% between 2014 -18 from 8,000 in 2014 to 12,852 in
2018.
• States with highest concentration of the leopard – Madhya Pradesh (3,421) followed by
Karnataka (1,783) and Maharashtra (1,690).
• Human activities declined leopard population by 75-90% in the last ~120-200 years.
• Now, Leopards come in ‘Vulnerable’ category of the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN).
• Tech used in the survey - camera trapping method.
Region wise leopard distribution:

central India and eastern ghats 8,071 leopards

(including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,

Rajasthan, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh)

western ghat 3,387 leopards

(include Karnataka, Tamil Nadi, Goa and

Kerala)

Shivalik and Gangetic Plains 1,253 leopards

(includes Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and

Bihar)

43
 Northeast hills 141 leopards

133. Central govt has decided to set up a high-level committee, headed by Amit Shah, to plan
the commemoration of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’ 125th birth anniversary in 2022.
• The committee would decide on the activities in Delhi, Kolkata and abroad for a year-long
commemoration starting January 23, 2021.

134. Reliance Industries and its partner BP plc (UK) has commenced natural gas production
from Asia's deepest project in the KG-D6 block (on Krishna Godavari basin).
• The production from ultra-deep water R-Cluster, the first of the three deep sea projects
Reliance-BP are developing in the eastern offshore block, started production.
• The next project, the Satellites Cluster, is expected to come onstream in 2021, followed by
the MJ project in 2022.

135. National Weather Forecasting Centre of IMD has released the “End of the Season –
Southwest Monsoon 2020” report.
• The seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole was 109% of its long period average
(LPA) in 2020, which is the third highest after 112% of LPA in 1994 and 110% of LPA in
2019.
• Seasonal rainfalls over Northwest India, Central India, South Peninsula and Northeast India
were 84%, 115%, 130%, and 106% of their respective LPA.
• NISARGA – severe cyclonic storm was formed during the season in June.

136. National Water Mission of Ministry of Jal Shakti, in collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra
Sangathan has launched JSA II: Catch the rain awareness generation campaign to create
awareness about the water conservation.
• Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) Part I was launched in 2019 to create awareness about rain water
harvesting. Now, JSA II was launched and this campaign is under this JSA II campaign.
• Target area – 623 districts

44
 • Tenure – December 2020- March 2021
• Implementing agency of this campaign - Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan

137. Uttar Pradesh has launched the Varasat campaign to end property related disputes in
the rural areas of the state to curb exploitation of the villagers over succession rights by land
mafias.
• Under the campaign, lands will be registered and villagers will be given the official
documents of the lands. They can also use them to take loans from banks.

138. 6th Indo-Japan SAMVAD Conference was held.

• PM Modi proposed to create a library of traditional Buddhist literature and scriptures in
India. He also proposed to provide appropriate resources for it.
• This Samvad Conference aims to spread the positive traditions of non-violence and
democracy to build the future of Asia.
• The first conference, Samvad-I, was held in New Delhi in 2015, at Bodh Gaya.

139. NITI Aayog has launched India’s first indigenous Digital Asset Management Platform
named DigiBoxx. It is available on desktop, Android and iOS platforms.
• The platform provides an easy and secure way to store all the files in one centralised
location.
• The platform also has a file sharing feature named as “InstaShare”.
• The platform is promoted by Arnab Mitra (MD of LIQVD ASIA), along with Ashish Jalan and
Vivek Suchanti (of Concept Group).
• The free version of the service offers upto 20 GB space of storage and the maximum file
size which can be uploaded is 2 GB for one user. However, the paid version offers upto
2TB storage space and the maximum file size which can be uploaded is 10GB.

140. India – Vietnam Virtual Summit was held virtually.

• Seven agreements were signed.

45
Agreements Indian side Vietnam side

Implementing Arrangement on Dept. of Defence Production, General Dept. of Defence

Defence Industry Cooperation Ministry of Defence Industry, Ministry of National
Defence

Agreement for US$ 5 million Embassy of India Hanoi and

Indian Grant Assistance for Telecommunications
Army Software Park at University, Ministry of National
National Telecommunications Defence, Vietnam
University, Nha Trang,
Vietnam

For setting up IT infrastructure

at the Army Software Park in
Telecommunications
University, Nha Trang.

Implementing Arrangement for Centre for United Nations Vietnam Dept. of

Cooperation in United Nation Peacekeeping Operations, Peacekeeping Operations
Peacekeeping. India

MoU to promote mutual India’s Atomic Energy Vietnam Agency for Radiation
cooperation in the fields of Regulatory Board (AERB) and Nuclear Safety (VARANS)
radiation protection and
nuclear safety

MOU to promote cooperation CSIR-Indian Institute of Vietnam Petroleum Institute

in petroleum research and Petroleum
training

MOU to promote exchanges in Tata Memorial Centre of India Vietnam National Cancer
the areas of training and Hospital

46
scientific research, health care
services, collaboration in
diagnosis and treatment for
cancer patients

MOU to promote exchange of National Solar Federation of Vietnam Clean Energy

knowledge, best practices, India Association
information between Indian
and Vietnamese solar power
industries and to explore new
business opportunities to
promote solar power in India
and Vietnam.

Announcements Made:

• Apart from these, India-Vietnam Joint Vision for Peace, Prosperity and People was
adopted.
• Plan of Action for period 2021-2023 for further implementation of Comprehensive
Strategic Partnership was adopted to implement the aforesaid joint vision.
• Implementation of High Speed Guard Boat (HSGB) Manufacturing Project for Vietnam
Border Guard Command under the US $100 million Defence Line of Credit extended by
India to Vietnam; handing over of one completed HSGB to Vietnam; launch of two HSGBs
manufactured in India; and keel-laying of seven HSGBs to be manufactured in Vietnam.
• Completion and handing over of seven Development Projects with Indian ‘Grant-in-Aid’
Assistance of US $1.5 million for the benefit of local community in Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan
province.
• Three new Development Partnership projects in heritage conservation in Vietnam (F-
block of Temple at My Son; Dong Duong Buddhist Monastery in Quang Nam province; and
Nhan Cham Tower in Phu Yen province).

47
 • Launch of bilateral project for preparing an Encyclopedia on India – Vietnam
Civilizational and Cultural Relations.

141. Indian govt has signed a $500 million loan agreement with the World Bank for building
safe, resilient and green highways in four states namely Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
• The Green National Highways Corridors Project will support Ministry of Road Highways
and Highways to construct 783 km of highways by integrating safe and green technology
designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial by-products, and other
bioengineering solutions.
• The project will help reduce GHG emissions in the construction and maintenance of
highways.

142. Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda e-launched new Tribes India Outlet at
the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordolai International Airport in Guwahati, Assam.
• It is the 126th TRIBES India showroom that has been opened in Guwahati for marketing
of the tribal handicrafts and handlooms and tribal products.
• TRIFED has signed an MoU with Shreem Swarnam Divine Products Private Limited
(DIVINITI), New Delhi, to create market for the “TRIFED-DIVINITI Premium Range” of
products.
• These will benefit the tribal artisans in the long run. All the products of “TRIFED – DIVINITI
Premium Range” will be marketed in all Tribes India Outlets, e-marketplace, Corporates,
Government, and PSUs.

143. Ministry of Defence has granted 'green channel status' to L&T Defence which provides
benefits like deemed registration status and waiver from pre-dispatch inspection, for major
naval weapon delivery systems.
• The grant of green channel status also allows companies to self-certify certain systems
and products.

48
 • The Green Channel Policy was introduced in March 2017 by the Defence Ministry, as part
of the 'Make in India' initiative.
• L&T becomes the first private sector defence company to get this green channel status
for delivery of major systems.

144. Karnataka has captured all information of the farmers on one platform – FRUITS (Farmer
Registration and Unified beneficiary Information System) Portal.
• FRUITS is the first of its kind portal in India to capture all the details of farmers at one
place.
• The portal has details of the land owned by the farmers, crops grown, loans taken from the
banks and financial institutions, insurance coverage and also the benefits availed from
various government schemes.
• Using this number, the Financial Institutions (FIs) and lending institutions can check the
land details of the farmers as well as their borrowings and take a quick decision on lending
money to the farmers depending on their requirements.
• Canara Bank became the first bank to get access to the FRUITS platform on a pilot basis.
The portal will be made accessible to all FIs gradually.
• The FRUITS portal is also integrated with BHOOMI portal of the state to integrate land
records.

145. Union Cabinet has approved revised guidelines for Direct-to-Home (DTH)
broadcasting services. Key highlights:
• 100% FDI in DTH allowed.
• Licence period for DTH operators increased to 20 years from 10 years and will be
renewed for a 10-year period.
• License fee reduced from 10% of gross revenue to 8% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR),
to be charged after deduction of GST.
• License Fees to be paid on quarterly basis, rather than the annual basis as of now.
• DTH operators are allowed to share infrastructure, which will reduce the customer’s
expenses and increase efficient usage of scarce satellite resources.

49
 • Cabinet also approved the merger of four of its film media units — Films Division,
Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archives of India, and Children’s Film Society,
India — with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) Ltd. – to ensure better
governance.
DTH – Direct To Home Service.

DTH service enables individual households to get television viewing services through satellite
directly via a dish or similar tool.

In contrast to this, television services through cable networks are provided by cable operators
via cables when they receive signals from satellites.

Ministry of Commerce and Industry had earlier provided for 100% FDI in DTH. But, due to
Information & Broadcasting guidelines, it was restricted to 49%.

146. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has started oil production at the Ashokenagar well –
West Bengal's first oil and gas reserve – in the Bengal Basin.
• This is the eighth producing basin of India.

147. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the amendments to the post-
matric scholarship scheme for students from the Scheduled Castes.
• The post-matric scholarship scheme for SC students is administered by the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Income ceiling for family – Rs 2.5 lakhs p.a. from all sources
New amendments:

• Total investment – Rs 59048 crores

• New funding ratio – 60:40 between Centre and the States.
• Central Assistance was earlier around Rs 1100 crore annually during 2017-18 to 2019-
20. Now, it would be increased 5 times to be around Rs 6000 crore annually during 2020-
21 to 2025-26.

50
 • It is expected to impact 4 crore SC students.
• A campaign will be launched to bring around 1.36 crore SC students from poorest
households in the higher education system in 5 years.

148. Ministry of Commerce And Industry will be organizing a Global Summit on Startups on
January 15 and 16, 2021.
• Organizer - Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)

149. PM Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
(AB-PMJAY) SEHAT scheme to extend health insurance coverage to all residents of
Jammu and Kashmir.
• Purpose: to provide Universal Health Coverage through insurance of up to Rs 5 lakhs.
• SEHAT stands for "Social Endeavour for Health and Telemedicine".

150. Ladakh’s Tso Kar Wetland Complex has become the 42nd Ramsar site of India.

151. India’s first indigenous vaccine against pneumonia – Pneumococcal Polysaccharide

Conjugate vaccine – was developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
• It has been launched in partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• Brand name - Pneumosil

152. Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, along with the Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS) India, has launched a “firefly bird diverter” project for
conservation of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations.
• The overhead power lines are a big threat to the GIBs.

153. India will host the Global Media and Film Summit in 2021.

51
 • 2022 will mark 75 years of Indian independence and 75 years of Cannes Film Festival, and
the occasion will be celebrated in a different scale with a special pavilion at the International
Film Festival.
• 51st International Film Festival of India will be held in Goa from 16-24th January, 2021.

154. India has become the 6th country in the world which produces high horsepower
locomotives indigenously.
• Indian Railways will deploy them on major freight routes, including the Dedicated Freight
Corridors (DFCs).
• Five years ago, Indian Railways gave the contract to Alstom for manufacturing the high-
speed electric locomotives for €3.5 billion at Madhepura, Bihar facility.
• Ministry of Railways (26% equity) and Alstom (74% equity) had set up one of India’s
largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facilities at Madhepura, Bihar. This is the
largest FDI of Indian Railways.

155. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY) launched a grand challenge for innovators and startups to strengthen
the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co–WIN) system.
• Top two contestants from the challenge will be rewarded with ₹40 lakh and ₹20 lakh
respectively.
• The challenge will be launched on the MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) portal.

156. Union Cabinet has approved the signing of revised air service agreements between
India and Afghanistan as well as India and the Philippines.
• These agreements will facilitate seamless connectivity between the air carriers of these
countries.
• India has formed air bubble arrangements with more than 22 countries.

52
157. East Coast Railway (ECoR) has become the first railway zone in the country to use End
of Train Telemetry (EOTT) system to run trains without guards and brake van.
• Electric Loco Shed, Angul, Odisha (locomotive maintenance and repair facility) has
commissioned and tested the technology. The field train of EOTT was also done in Odisha.

158. 51st Director General Level talks between Border Security Force India and Border
Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has commenced in Guwahati, Assam.
• It is the first time that it is being held in Assam.
• The delegation of Border Guard Bangladesh is led by the DG BGB Maj Gen Shafeenul
Islam and BSF delegation is headed by the DG BSF Shri Rakesh Asthana, IPS.

159. Odisha has announced to develop India’s largest hockey stadium (15 acre) at Rourkela.
• It will be put up in the Biju Patnaik University of Technology campus that is owned by the
government of Odisha.
• The upcoming stadium will have a capacity of 20,000 and will also host the 2023 Men’s FIH
Hockey World Cup (it will also take place in Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium).

160. Jal Jeevan Mission and the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
have launched an innovation challenge to develop portable devices for testing water quality
at the household level.
• The JJM is a national mission to provide potable water on tap to every household by 2024.
• Startups, individual innovators, MSMEs and corporates can participate in the innovation
challenge, open till January 18.

161. ISRO has released the first set of data from Chandrayaan-2 through PRADAN portal,
which is hosted by Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC).
• The ISSDC is located at the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) in Byalalu, Karnataka.

53
162. Jharkhand government decided to waive all agriculture and farm loans up to Rs 50,000,
benefiting about 9.07 lakh farmers in the state.
• Budget for waiver - Rs 2,000 crore
• State Cabinet also approved ‘fasal rahat yojana’ to provide relief to the farmers who have
faced crop loss and ‘pasudhan yojana’ for improving income of the families involved in
cattle farming.
• Fasal Rahat Yojana budget for FY21 – Rs 100 crore

163. Directorate General of Training (DGT) has partnered with Microsoft and NASSCOM
Foundation to provide digital content for ITI students and offer them future-ready skills.
• The content will be available at the Bharatskills portal which was launched by DGT in
October 2019.
• DGT is under Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
• Further, entire content of the ‘Computer Operating and Programming Assistant’ (COPA)
course is being digitized through the NASSCOM Foundation.

164. Brahmaputra Amantran Abhiyan - a river rafting expedition and a public outreach
programme was organized by the Brahmaputra Board at Passighat, Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Rafting expedition and Outreach Programme started on 23rd December from gelling at
Arunachal Pradesh and shall terminate at Assameralga in Assam on 21st January 2021.

165. Indian navy and Vietnamese navy conducted Passage Exercise (PASSEX) in South
China Sea (SCS).
• INS Kiltan reached Vietnam's Nha Rong Port in Ho Chi Minh City to deliver 15 tonnes of
relief material for flood-affected people under Mission Sagar-III.

166. Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment launched a Mobile Application
“Swachhata Abhiyan” to identify and geotag the data of insanitary latrines and manual
scavengers.

54
 • Purpose: to replace insanitary latrines with sanitary latrines and rehabilitate all the manual
scavengers to provide dignity of life to them.

167. India's first hot air balloon wildlife safari in a tiger reserve was launched in the world
famous Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve by Madhya Pradesh govt.
• The activity will be restricted to the buffer area and people can watch tigers, leopards,
Indian sloth bear and other wild animals from a height.

168. Uttar Pradesh government has announced to establish India’s first mega leather park in
Kanpur.
• The leather cluster will be built in Kanpur's Ramaipur village across 235 acres at a cost of
Rs 5,850 crore.
• Moreover, the project is expected to attract further investments worth Rs 13,000 crore.

169. Gujarat govt has announced to set up India’s first Lithium refinery which will process
Lithium ore to produce battery-grade material.
• Manikaran Power Limited (power trading and renewable energy company) will be
investing over Rs 1,000 crore to set up this refinery.
Another ‘First’ in Gujarat:

• TDS Lithium-Ion Battery Gujarat Private Ltd is India’s first Lithium-ion battery
manufacturing plant located in Gujarat.
• Foundation stone – 2017
• Commissioning date – around January and February 2021
• Set up by – Toshiba Corporation, DENSO Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation
• Purpose – to manufacture and supply batteries to Suzuki Motor Gujarat plant in
Hansalpur.

170. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched “e-Sampada” Web Portal and Mobile
App to handle the business of premise allotment for different occasions.

55
 • For example, the portal will be a single window for all these services including allotment for
over 1 lakh government residential accommodations, office space allotment to government
organisations in 28 cities and venues like 5, Ashoka Road for social functions.
• This is done under the one nation, one system motto of the govt.

171. Telangana govt has partnered with Microsoft and NASSCOM to train its 30,000 youths in
Artificial Intelligence under 'March to Million' initiative.
• Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) and Telangana State Council of
Higher Education (TSCHE) have partnered with the two organisations.
• The 'March to Million' initiative (launched in Nov 2020) aims at skilling 1 million youths in
AI by 2021.

172. 6th India International Science Festival (IISF) was held virtually.
• Organizers – M/o of Science & Technology, Health & Family Welfare, and Earth Sciences,
CSIR, ICMR, VIBHA.
o CSIR- NISTADS is the nodal agency for organizing IISF. NISTADS – National
Institute of Science, Technology & Development Studies.
• Theme - ‘Science for Self-reliant India and Global Welfare’
Highlights

Global Indian Scientists & Technocrats (GIST) meet 2020:

Inaugurated by Harsh Vardhan.

Vardhan highlighted India’s Vaibhav and Prabhass initiatives to connect with the Global Indian
S&T community.

PRABHASS (Pravasi Bharatiya Academic and Scientific Sampark) is a National Digital

Platform (www.prabhass.gov.in), that was launched on 31-10-2020 during the Concluding
Session of VAIBHAV Advisory Council.

56
 VAIBHAV (Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik) Summit is a collaborative initiative by S&T Ministry
and Academic Organisations of India to enable R&D activities for solving emerging challenges
by global Indian researchers.

Overseas Science & Technology Ministers’ and Diplomats’ Conclave 2020, Science and
Technology Media Conclave 2020, Women Scientists and Entrepreneur’s Conclave,
Agriculture Scientists Meet were held.

Traditional Crafts & Artisans Meet & Expo 2020:

Organized by CSIR - Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI), Bhopal

Purpose: To make traditional crafts competitive at global level and to make them self-reliant.

Conclave on Assistive Technology & Divyangjan 2020:

Theme – Empowering Divyangjan through Science, Technology, and Innovations for Self-
Reliance.

Energy Conclave 2020:

According to Minister of New and Renewable Energy, 40% of energy generated will be sourced
from renewable energy by 2030.

Student Science Village Event:

Theme - “School Science for Sustainability”

It aims to make science enjoyable for school children.

173. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced to launch “Main Bhi Digital”
campaign from 4 Jan to 22 Jan 2021 to train street vendors in using digital payments under
PM-Svanidhi Yojana.
• Street vendors who have availed loans under the PM-Svanidhi Yojana.

57
174. Centre for Economics and Business Research has released the World Economic
League Table 2021.
• India’s GDP – 9% in 2021 and 7% in 2022
• Till 2028, China will become world’s largest economy by surpassing USA.
Year India’s position Facts

2020 6th largest economy -

2025 5th largest economy By surpassing UK

2030 3rd largest economy By surpassing:

UK in 2025, Germany in 2027,

and Japan in 2030.

175. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Light House projects
(LHPs) under Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC)- at six sites across six
States.
• He also released a certification course on innovative construction technologies named
NAVARITIH (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for
Indian Housing).
• He announced the winners under Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India
(ASHA-India) and gave away annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.

176. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the 100th Kisan Rail from Sangola in
Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal.
• Railways have launched these Kisan Rails to provide mobile cold storage to transport
perishables like fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, among others.

58
177. The 1000-year old heritage art – the Monpa Handmade Paper of Arunachal Pradesh –
has been revived by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
• The art of making Monpa handmade paper originated over 1000 years ago. It was a major
source of earning for the people of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Monpa handmade paper, will be made from the bark of a local tree called Shugu
Sheng, which has medicinal values too.

178. PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 306-km New Rewari-New Madar section of the
Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) virtually.
• The Rewari-Madar section is connecting Haryana and Rajasthan.
• PM Modi will also flag off the world’s first Double Stack Long Haul 1.5 km container
train hauled by electric traction from Haryana’s Ateli to Kishangarh in Rajasthan.
• ‘New Bhaupur-New Khurja’ section of Indian Railways’ Eastern Dedicated Freight
Corridor was also inaugurated along with the operation control centre of the Eastern
Dedicated Freight Corridor at Prayagraj.
• The freight corridors are being built by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India
Limited (DFCCIL), an SPV created for this purpose.

Additional Facts:

® Dedicated freight corridor (DFC) is meant to create a safe and efficient freight
transportation system in the country.

® Currently, the Western DFC connecting Haryana and Maharashtra and the Eastern
DFC connecting Punjab and West Bengal are under construction. The combined
length of the Western and Eastern DFCs is approximately 2,843km.

® North-South (Delhi-Tamil Nadu), East-West (West Bengal-Maharashtra), East-South

(West Bengal-Andhra Pradesh) and South-South (Tamil Nadu-Goa) DFCs are in the
planning stage.

59
179. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has virtually inaugurated India’s first ever driverless
train operations on the Delhi Metro’s Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden route (Magenta
line)
• PM Modi has inaugurated the fully operational National Common Mobility Card services
on the Airport Express Line.
• National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) was ideated by Nandan Nilekani committee
(set up by RBI) for promoting digital payments. NCMC is in line with ‘One nation, one
mobility card’ of govt.
• NCMC will allow passengers to use their RuPay debit card and smartphones for making
payments at all metro stations. This facility will become available on the entire Delhi Metro
network by 2022.
• NCMC will turn smartphones into an inter-operable transport card that commuters can
use eventually to pay for Metro, bus and suburban railways services.
• NCMC is an automatic fare collection (AFC) system. Gates compliant with AFC systems will
be installed at all metro stations by Bharat Electronics Limited in the upcoming Delhi
Metro Phase-IV project.

180. Sonalika Tractor (India's fastest growing tractor brand) has launched India's first field
ready electric tractor 'Tiger Electric'.

181. Centralised ‘Investment Clearance Cell’, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
will become operation by April 15, 2021.
• It was announced in the Union Budget of 2020-21 by Nirmala Sitharaman.
• All clearances for investments will be provided on this single platform on the behest of
Central and State govt to reduce the red-tapeism and facilitate online clearances.

182. Mayiladuthurai is the 38th district of Tamil Nadu, carved out from the Nagapattinam
district.

60
183. Ministry of Education laid foundation stone of ‘TiHAN-IIT Hyderabad’, India’s first Test
bed for Autonomous Navigation Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial).
• Department of Science and Technology has sanctioned Rs. 135 crores to IIT
Hyderabad under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems
(NM-ICPS) to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data
Acquisition Systems.
• The Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation Systems for Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles and Remotely Operated Vehicles at IIT Hyderabad, known as 'TiHAN
Foundation' has been incorporated as a Section-8 company by the institute in June 2020.

184. India and France air forces will carry out wargames codenamed Exercise SKYROS in
Jodhpur, Rajasthan in the third week of January next year.
• From India, Rafale fighter jets from 17 Squadron and the Su-30MKI fighters will participate.
o This would be the first major wargame of the Indian Air Force (IAF) involving the
Rafale fighters.
• From France, Air Force Rafale fighters would be coming to Jodhpur.

185. Ministry for Science and Technology launched the ‘Digital Ocean’ platform of Indian
National Centre for Oceanic Information Services (INCOIS).
• It is a one stop-solution for all data related needs of a wide range of users, including
research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, academic community, maritime
industry, and the public to impart oceanographic data.
• This first of its kind platform for ocean data management has a set of applications that
present heterogeneous oceanographic data with geospatial technology.

186. India Meteorological Department's new centre has been established at Leh to strengthen
weather-related early warning system in Ladakh.
• Located at a height of 3500 meters, this is the highest meteorological centre in India.
• It is the second meteorological centre in the Himalayas after Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.

61
187. India’s first pollinator park has been established in Haldwani in Nainital district,
Uttarakhand.
• The park has more than 40 pollinator species.
Sneak -Peek into Uttarakhand:

State language - Hindi

State Flower - Brahma Kamal (Saussurea obvallata)

State bird - Himalayan monal

State tree – Burans (Rhododendron arboretum)

State butterfly - Papilio bianor (Common Peacock)

State animal - White-bellied musk deer

Important Rivers - Alaknanda River, Bhagirathi River, Bhilangna River, Ganga River, Yamuna
River, Mandakini River

Important lakes – Nainital, Tehri Lake, Bhimtal, Satopanth Tal Lake, Suryadhar lake and Vasuki
Tal Lake

Important dams – Baigul Dam, Baur Dam, Bhimtal Dam, Dhauliganga Dam, Dhora Dam,
Haripura Dam, Ichari Dam, Jamrani Dam, Koteshwar Dam, Lakhwar Dam, Maneri Dam, Nanak
Sagar Dam, Ramganga Dam, Tehri Dam, Tumaria Dam.

National Park, Wildlife sanctuaries, biosphere reserve – Askot Musk Deer WLS, Nandhaur WLS,
Kedarnath WLS, Sonanadi WLS, Gangotri National Park, Govind Pashu Vihar, Jim Corbett
National Park, Nanda Devi National Park, Rajaji National Park, Valley of Flowers National Park,
Nanda Devi National Park & Biosphere Reserve

GI Tag - Tejpatta (sweet bay leaf)

Folk dances - Pandav Nritya, Bhotia Dance, Cholia Dance, Jhora Dance, and Mukhota Dance

62
Recent “firsts” in the state - India’s first moss garden, India’s first Snow Leopard Conservation
Centre, India's 'first' lichen park.

188. Department of Science and Technology has formed a committee, headed by Santanu
Chaudhury (Director of IIT-Jodhpur), to use futuristic and new-age technologies for
conservation of Indian heritage.

189. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed India’s first indigenous
Ruthenium 106 plaque technique for treating eye cancer (Ocular Tumours).

190. Indian Oil Corporation has launched India’s first remote monitoring and operation
centre for tracking of refinery gas turbines across all its refineries in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• Implementing agency – BHEL-GE Gas Turbine Services (a JV between Bharat Heavy
Electricals Ltd. and General Electric – USA)
• The technology for monitoring has been developed by General Electric, BHEL, and Indian
Oil.
• Name of Technology for monitoring – Technology of Proactive Predictive Analytics
based Automated Anomaly Detection.

191. IIT-Delhi partnered with the Common Services Center (CSC) Academy to set up a
design and innovation lab known as ‘Design and Innovation in VLE’s Indigenous
Network Ecosystem (DIVINE) Lab’ at IIT-Delhi, to help rural entrepreneurs.
• IIT-Delhi’s students will conduct research at DIVINE lab to create solutions for Village-Level
Entrepreneurs.
• CSC is under the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

192. DRDO, along with the Indian Navy, has conducted a successful maiden trial of the
SAHAYAK-NG – India's first indigenously designed and developed air droppable container.
• It was dropped from an IL-38SD aircraft off the coast of Goa.

63
 • It is equipped with GPS and it can carry a payload of up to 50 kg and can be dropped from
a heavy aircraft.
• Two labs of the DRDO and private company Avantel were involved in its design and
development.
• SAHAYAK-NG is an advanced version of SAHAYAK Mk I air droppable container.

193. Ministry of External Affairs has launched the Global Pravasi Rishta portal and app to
create a 3-way communication between the Ministry, Indian missions (embassies) and the
diaspora around the world.
• This portal is created to enable the registration of Indian diaspora members i.e. NRIs,
Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI).
• The diasporic people will get information about new and existing government schemes
through this portal.

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
1. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and Russian cybersecurity firm
Kaspersky have signed an MoU for improving mutual cybersecurity capabilities.
• CERT-In is under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

2. India and the US have signed an MoU to increase intellectual property cooperation.
• Parties to the MoU - Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and
the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

3. Union Cabinet has given approved the MoU signed between India and the Suriname’s
Ministry of Health for cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine.
• Areas of cooperation - Training of medical professionals, setting up of health care
facilities, promotion of mental health, tobacco control among others.
• Suriname’s Capital – Paramaribo; and Currency – Dollar; It is located in South America.

64
4. Punjab has signed an MoU with International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence
Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) for development of digital technologies in the state’s health
sector.
• I-DAIR was first convened by the Fondation Botnar in September 2019 and is currently
hosted at the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies (IHEID) in
Geneva, Switzerland.
• Since August 2020, I-DAIR has entered its incubation phase. It will be formally launched in
2022.

5. APEDA and NABARD have signed an MoU to work together to synergize the activities in the
field of agriculture and allied sectors for bringing better value to the stakeholders.
• APEDA stands for Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development
Authority.

6. SJVN Limited, a PSU under Ministry of Power, has signed an MoU with Indian Renewable
Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) for green energy projects.

7. CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (Jamshedpur) signed an MoU with the Indian Air
Force on research and development in material science and engineering.

8. National Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation (NBCFDC) and National
Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) signed an MoU with
Central Bank of India for implementing the Vanchit Ikai Samooh aur Vargon ki Aarthik
Sahayta (VISVAS) Yojana.
• The scheme is for financial empowerment of economically marginalized OBC/SC Self Help
Groups/ individuals with loans/borrowings up to Rs 4 Lakh and OBC/SC individuals with
loan/borrowing up to Rs 2 Lakh with a quick interest subvention benefit of 5%.
• Vanchit Ikai Samooh aur Vargon ki Aarthik Sahayta is an interest subvention scheme,
launched by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

65
9. NTPC Ltd signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, to
implement the Narmada Landscape Restoration Project to improve water quality.
• Funding – 50:50 between NTPC Ltd and United States Agency for International
Development (USAID).
• The 4-year project will be implemented in Khargone District of Madhya Pradesh, in the
catchments of selected tributaries of the River Narmada between Omkareshwar and
Maheshwar dams.
• IIFM-Bhopal and NTPC Ltd. will be jointly implementing this project with Global Green
Growth Institute (GGGI), an intergovernmental organization that promotes sustainable and
inclusive economic growth in emerging economies.

10. Andhra Pradesh signed an MoU with the Survey of India for taking up the land survey
christened as ‘YSR Jagananna Saswath Bhoo Hakku-Bhoo Raksha Pathakam’.
• This is the first of its kind MoU.

11. Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an MoU between Securities and Exchange
Board of India (SEBI) and Financial and Commission de Surveillance du Secteur
Financier (CSSF), Luxembourg.
• Purpose: to strengthen cross border cooperation in the areas of securities regulations and
facilitate mutual assistance.
• CSSF and SEBI are co-signatories to International Organization of Securities
Commissions’ Multilateral MOU (IOSCO MMoU).

About IOSCO:

ª It brings together the world's securities regulators and is recognized as the global
standard setter for the securities sector.
ª Established – 1983
ª Current No. of Members – 226 (December 2020)
ª HQ - Madrid, Spain

66
 ª Secretary General – Paul P. Andrews

12. Tamil Nadu has signed 18 MoU with different companies for investments worth Rs 19,955
crore.
• Guidance is Tamil Nadu's nodal agency for investment promotion and single window
facilitation under the Government of Tamil Nadu.
• Ola has signed an MoU with the state govt to set up the ‘world’s largest’ electric scooter
(e-scooter) manufacturing plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.

13. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have signed an MoU with the Federal Ministry of
Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology of Austria on
technology cooperation in the road infrastructure sector.

14. Maharashtra govt signed an MoU with Cornell University from New York, USA for setting up
the world class incubation centre for new entrepreneurs.
• Maharashtra will become the first state in the country to come up with such a centre and
also to sign an MoU with an international university.
• The centre will help in training around 60 new entrepreneurs every year.

67
 • The incubation centre will come up at Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai.

15. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has signed an MoU with BYJU’s to
support the teacher training and upskilling under its Skill India Mission.
• MD and CEO, NSDC - Dr. Manish Kumar
• Founder and CEO, BYJU’S - Byju Raveendran

16. CII and Amazon India have signed an MoU at 17th CII SME Global Business Summit to train
MSMEs in 10 states in building and scaling their business in India.
• Amazon India will help the enterprises to leverage technology to reach out to customers in
India through the adoption of e – commerce.
• Amazon and CII will conduct trainings and workshops to enable MSMEs to sell online.

17. Department of Posts and CSC e-Governance Services India Limited have signed an MoU
to set up CSCs at more than 10,000 post offices in remote and rural areas.
• Purpose: for providing government to citizen and business to citizen services to the rural
citizens through CSCs.
• An e-book named “India posts meet Covid-19 challenge” was launched.

18. Cabinet has approved Indian Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s for signing an
MoU with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, USA for exchange of information and
experiences in areas of electricity sectors.

19. IIT Hyderabad-incubated Startup PURE EV and CSIR - Central Electro Chemical Research
Institute (CECRI) have signed an MoU for developing indigenous Lithium-Ion technology
and boost e-Vehicles apart from stationary and storage applications.
• CSIR has launched a project titled, ‘CSIR Innovation Centre for Next Generation Energy
Storage Solutions’ (ICeNGESS) with an aim to produce Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB) on a
100 MW scale. This MoU is a part of this program.

68
 • Currently, India imports Lithium cells from China.

20. Ministry of Food Processing Industry has signed five MoU with different organizations for
effective implementation of PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises
Scheme (PM-FME).
• Apart from the MoUs, an agreement with Union Bank of India has also been signed to
make it the nodal agency for implementation of PM-FME scheme.
• A joint communique was adopted between Ministry of FPI and Ministry of Tribal Affairs
to enable easier identification of tribal enterprises and groups in food processing sector
including minor forest produce.
MoU Organization Purpose

Branding of food products made by tribal people under

1st TRIFED
TRIFOOD

Sharing of food producing technology, packaging, and

2nd ICAR
machinery developed in various organizations

National Scheduled
Enable capacity building, training, research and
Caste Finance and
3rd development of SC entrepreneurs, SHGs and other groups
Development
in food processing sector.
Corporations

For preparing projects and detailed project reports of

National Cooperative
4th members of cooperative societies in food processing
Development Corporation
sector.

5th NAFED To develop new brand for NAFED FOOD products

21. Indian Navy has signed an MoU with Indian National Centre for Ocean Information
Services (INCOIS) for sharing ocean services data, expertise in operational oceanography.

69
 • INCOIS (an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences) provides information
and advisory services related to oceans to society, industry, government agencies and the
scientific community.

22. Gender Park (an autonomous body under the Kerala government) has signed an MoU with
UN Women to develop the gender park into a South Asia hub for gender related activities.
• Under the MoU, India’s first Gender Data Hub will be established at the Gender Park’s
Kozhikode campus. The park is located in Thiruvananthapuram.
• An International Institute for Gender and Development is also located inside the
Kozhikode campus.
• UN Women will provide support to the Park for activities like research, education and social
intervention towards establishing gender equality.
Additional Facts:

• UN Women’s (estb. 2010) Delhi chapter comprises India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the
Maldives.
• Gender Park CEO - P T M Sunish

23. Gujarat govt has signed an MoU with Hyderabad- based Cerestra Ventures – India’s
largest education infrastructure fund – to set up Gujarat-Special Education Region (G-
SER) at Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR).
• Gujarat-Special Education Region will be a cluster of university district, school district,
discovery district, and innovation district with common infrastructure such as student
housing, sports complex, etc.
• This region is expected to compete with other top education clusters around the world.
• Dholera is the first modern greenfield industrial city developed for supporting
manufacturing under industrial 4.0.

24. Haryana govt has signed an MoU with the India Accelerator – India's only institution with
Global Accelerator Network – to boost the startup ecosystem of the state.

70
 • Under the MoU, the govt will equip the community of young entrepreneurs with the right
knowledge, mentorship, and connections to increase the scale of startups.
• Parties to the MoU - Startup Haryana and the department of Information Technology,
Electronics and Communication (DITECH) signed an MoU with India Accelerator.
About India Accelerator – India's only institution with Global Accelerator Network:

• India Accelerator is a seed-stage accelerator program that helps startups grow from
GOOD to GREAT.

25. NMDC Limited (India’s largest iron ore producing Navratna Company) has signed an MoU
with Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) for joint exploration of iron ore, gold,
coal, diamond and other minerals in various states.

26. India and Israel signed an MoU in the field of healthcare and medicine, including sharing of
expertise in building climate resilient infrastructure and support to 'green healthcare'.
• This new MoU will replace the previous one signed in September 2003.
• The MoU was approved in November 2020 for signing.

27. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed an MoU with IIT-BHU (Banaras Hindu
University) to set up its Regional Academic Centre for Space (RAC-S) at IIT-BHU in
Varanasi.
• RAC-S will promote space technology activities in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

71
28. IIT-Madras signed an MoU with the Rajasthan government for road safety. Under the MoU,
the IIT will replicate the Tamil Nadu Model of Road Safety.
• In February, Global technology company Altair signed an MoU with the IIT Madras –
Incubation Cell (IITM-IC) to provide technology access and mentorship to startups.

29. Telangana has signed an MoU with SAP India to digitise and empower MSMEs in the state by
providing them skill training in digital and cutting edge technologies.

30. Indian Navy and CSIR’s National Institute of Oceanography signed an MoU for
collaborating and sharing expertise in the field of Oceanography.

31. Directorate General of Training (DGT) has signed an MoU with Microsoft and NASSCOM
Foundation to provide access to the free content available on Microsoft Learn platform to
more than 24 Lakh ITI students.
• For this, Global Skilling Initiative (GSI) of Microsoft has been linked to the Bharatskills
platform.
• In June 2020, Microsoft launched the initiative to providing more digital skills to 25 million
people worldwide by the end of the year.

32. Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Pune signed an MoU with UNDP India
to co-create India’s first Social Impact Bond (SIB).
• This bond lays down outcome-based targets to be achieved at the start of the contract.
• This is in line with our vision of making Pimpri-Chinchwad the most liveable city in India by
2030.

33. Chhattisgarh government has signed an MoU for setting up India’s first ethanol plant in the
state under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
• Parties to the MoU – Bhoramdev Cooperative Sugar Factory Kawardha and Chhattisgarh
Distillery Limited's subsidiary NKJ Biofuel.

72
34. Central Ground Water Board (under Ministry of Jal Shakti) and CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad
have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for using advanced heliborne geophysical
survey and other scientific studies in parts of the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana
under the National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM).
• This is the first time that Ministry of Jal Shakti has decided to use the State of the art
technology for identification of aquifers in such a large arid or semi-arid area of the
country.
• CSIR-NGRI stands for CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI).
National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM):

• NAQUIM was initiated and implemented by Central Ground Water Board under the
scheme of Ground Water Management & Regulation during XII plan (2012-17).
• The programme is implemented by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). The details
are shared with state govts for further actions towards water conservation.
• The program aims to map the Aquifers (underground water) for ground water
management and conservation.

35. India and Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation to enhance cooperation between
their steel industries to improve domestic production and coordination in the global market.
• Both countries will establish an “India-Japan steel dialogue” at the joint secretary-level
to boost cooperation in steel sector.
• India and Japan were the second and third largest steel producing countries in 2019,
with outputs of 111.2 million tons and 99.3 million tons respectively. China was the first at
996.3 million tons.

DEFENCE NEWS
1. Indian Air Force has successfully test fired the Akash Missiles at Suryalanka test firing
range in Andhra Pradesh during the Combat Guided Weapons Firing 2020 exercise.

73
 • Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has manufactured Akash Missile and it was designed
and developed by DRDO.
• The missile is supported by the indigenously developed radar called 'Rajendra'.

2. DRDO developed the howitzer Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) which was
tested in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar.
• It has a striking range of around 50 km.
• Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) project was started in 2013 by DRDO to
replace older guns in service in the Indian Army with a modern 155mm artillery gun.

3. Indian Coast Guard ship 'Sujeet', manufactured by Goa Shipyard Limited, was
commissioned in Goa.
• This is the second in the series of 105 metres off-shore patrol vessels, being built by GSL.

4. First GRSE-built Project 17A stealth frigate 'Himgiri' has been developed for the Indian
Navy by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).
• It is the first of the three Project 17A warships.

74
 • In 2015, Ministry of Defence and the GRSE signed contract for building three highly
advanced stealth frigates under Project 17A at a cost of Rs 19,294 crore. It is the largest
ever order won by GRSE.
• The first ship is expected to be handed over to the Navy in 2023 and the next two ships in
2024 and 2025 respectively.
• Under the Project 17A program, a total of seven ships, four at Mazagon Dock
Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) and three ships at GRSE are being built with enhanced stealth
features, advanced indigenous weapon and sensor fit along with several other
improvements.
• P17A ships are the first gas turbine propulsion and largest combat platforms ever built
at GRSE.

5. Ministry of Defence has allowed the import of 1,580 Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System
(ATAGS) from Israeli company, Elbit Systems.

6. India’s first Maritime Theatre Command (MTC) is planned to be set up by next year. It’s plan
will be submitted to the government for approval.
• The MTC will be the first new “geographical” theatre command to be created to build an
integrated land-air-sea war-fighting machinery for greater combat punch in a more cost-
effective manner.
• MTC will have its headquarters at the Karwar naval base in coastal Karnataka.
• Air Defence Command (ADC) is in advanced stages of being set up.

7. Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) has launched the fifth and final Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) out of
an order of five such vessels it is constructing for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
• The vessel has been named ICGS Saksham.

8. India successfully test fired the DRDO-developed, nuclear-capable Prithvi II missile in

Balasore, off the coast of Odisha.

75
 • The Prithvi-2 missile is capable of carrying 500-1,000 kg of warheads and is powered by
liquid propulsion twin engines.
• Inducted in 2003, Prithvi was the first missile to have been developed by DRDO under the
Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (1983).
• Missile developed under the program – Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash, and Nag.

9. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over three systems, designed and developed by
DRDO, to chiefs of the three armed forces.
• Indian maritime situational awareness system (IMSAS) to Navy Chief Admiral Karambir
Singh.
• Astra Mk-1 missile system to Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria.
o It is the first indigenously developed beyond visual range (BVR) missile that can
be launched from Sukhoi-30 and other fighter aircraft.
• Border Surveillance System (BOSS) to Army Chief General MM Naravane
o It is an all-weather electronic surveillance system.
• DRDO Lifetime Achievement Award – 2018 was given to Shri N V Kadam for his
contributions towards developing control and guidance schemes for missiles.
• Agni Award for Self-Reliance 2018 was given to DRDO scientist Amit Sharma. He is the
youngest awardee to receive the award in the cyber-security domain.
• Defence Technology Spin-off Award 2018 was won by Defence Institute of High
Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh.

10. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated India’s first advanced Hypersonic Wind
Tunnel (HWT) test facility in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• Now, India has become the third country after the US and Russia to have such a large
facility in terms of size and operating capability.

11. India successfully test fired a medium range surface-to-air missile (MRSAM) from Odisha
coast.

76
 • The DRDO has jointly developed the missile in collaboration with Israel Aerospace
Industries. The MRSAM has been manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. OECD data reveals that around 120 million migrants are living in OECD member countries. Out
of which 30 to 35% are considered highly educated.
• India has the highest number of highly educated migrants in OECD countries at 3.12
million (65% of total highly educated migrants).
• The data is of 2015-16.

2. WHO released its World Malaria Report 2020 which mentions that progress against malaria
prevention continues to flatten, particularly in high burden countries in Africa.
World’s situation:

• 2019 global malaria cases – 229 million (almost unchanged over the last 4 years)
• 2019 global malarial deaths – 4,09,000 (as compared to 4,11,000 in 2018)
• African region accounts for the highest burden of malaria globally.
• In 2020, El Salvador became the first country in Central America to apply for the WHO
malaria-free certification.

77
South-East Asian Region & India:

• South-East Asian region witnessed a drastic fall of 73% in malaria cases and 74% in
malaria deaths. This region contributes 3% in total world malaria cases.
• India witnessed the largest fall in malaria cases and deaths in the South-East Asian
region at 18% and 20% respectively.
• In 2019, 88% of malaria cases and 86% of malaria deaths in South-East Asia region was
contributed by India.
• Malaria Cases in India – about 5.6 million in 2019 as against 20 million in 2000 à highest
reduction in South-East Asia.
• Malaria Deaths in India – 7,700 in 2019 as against 29,500 in 2000
Additional facts:

“High burden to high impact” countries:

• Launched in November 2018 on the principle that no one should die from a disease that
is preventable and treatable.
• It is led by 11 countries that, together, accounted for approximately 70% of the world’s
malaria burden in 2017: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Ghana, India, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda and United Republic of
Tanzania.
• In India, HBHI has been launched in four states of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh.
• India aims to eliminate malaria by 2030.
Global technical strategy for malaria 2016-2030 (GTS)

• Approved in 2015.
• Global targets for 2030: 1) reducing malaria case incidence by at least 90%; 2) reducing
malaria mortality rates by at least 90%; 3) eliminating malaria in at least 35 countries; and
4) preventing a resurgence of malaria in all countries that are malaria-free.

78
 2020 milestones will be missed:

• Case incidence: Expected cases in 2020 for every 1000 people at risk of the disease is
56 against a GTS target of 35 cases. The GTS milestone will be missed by an estimated
37%.
• Mortality rate: The estimate for globally projected malaria deaths per 100 000 population
at risk was 9.8 in 2020 against a GTS target of 7.2 deaths. The milestone will be missed
by an estimated 22%.

3. FAO has released The State of Food and Agriculture 2020 report on the theme of
“Overcoming water challenges in agriculture”.
• This report addresses two main water challenges affecting agriculture and food production
– Water scarcity and shortages.
Highlights:

• 3.2 billion people live in agricultural areas with high to very high levels of water shortages
• 1.2 billion people (about one – sixth of world population) live in severely water
constrained areas.
• 15% of the rural population is at risk
Region wise water scarcity

• Southern Asia – 520 million

• Eastern and South – eastern Asia – 460 million
• Central and Western Asia and Northern Africa – one – fifth of the population is under
water scarcity
• Europe, Latin America, Oceania and Northern America – Only 1 to 4 percent of
population live under water scarcity.
• Sub – Sahara Africa – Only 5% of the population live in affected areas

4. UNCTAD released the “Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development:

Transitioning to a New Normal”.

79
 • In 2020, the world GDP will contract 4.3% and rise 4.1% in 2021, yet with rising levels of
unemployment.
• If the crisis persists, an estimated additional 130 million people will be living in extreme
poverty.
• Global poverty rate fell from 35.9% in 1990 to 8.6% in 2018. As a result of the pandemic,
the global poverty rate is expected to be 8.8% in 2020.

5. According to air pollution data released by the US Air Quality Index, Pakistan's cultural capital
Lahore has once again topped the list of world's most polluted cities.
• Lahore reported a particulate matter (PM) rating of 423. Pakistan's financial capital Karachi
ranked at 7 on the AQI.
• New Delhi came in second with a PM of 229, while Kathmandu (Nepal's capital) ranked
the third-worst city with a PM of 178.
• Satisfactory air quality is when the AQI is under 50.

6. World Trade Organisation has released the World Trade Report, 2020.
• 115 countries have adopted new digital and industrial strategies to fasten the transition
towards digital economy.
• India, China, Japan and Republic of Korea have contributed to 40% of world’s research
and development in 2017, up from 22% in 1996.

7. World Meteorological Organization has released the “State of the Global Climate 2020”
report.
• 2020 would be the third warmest year on record.

80
 • Despite COVID-19 lockdown, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased in 2020.
• To date in 2020, 82% of the ocean experienced at least one marine heatwave, causing
significant impacts to marine life.

8. Global Terrorism Index 2020 has been released by Institute for Economics and Peace.
• Total – 163
• Most impacted region – South Asia, Northern America, and Middle East
• Most affected country – Afghanistan (9.592 score out of 10)
• India’s rank – 8th (score 7.353)
• India reported 558 terrorist attacks in 2019. J&K was the most affected region.

9. Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, addressed the 20th Sri
Lanka Economic Summit (SLES) 2020.
• Theme of SLES - “Roadmap for Take-off: Driving a People –Centric Economic Revival”.

10. Dairy Processors Report 2020 has been released by IFCN Dairy Research Network
(international dairy research body located in Kiel, Germany).
• Amul has ranked 8th among the top 20 global dairy processors. Amul sold 10.3 billion kg of
milk annually.
• The ranking was based on the parameter of milk intake per annum.
• Top 3 – Dairy Farmers of America at 1st, followed by New Zealand’s Fonterra at 2nd;
French major Groupe Lactalis at 3rd.

11. 6th BRICS Youth Summit was held in Ulyanovsk, Russia. Indian Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju
attended it virtually.
• Theme – “BRICS: Challenges of the Time for Young People.”
• India is likely to host BRICS Games in 2021 and may align it with Khelo India Games 2021
to be held in Panchkula, Haryana.
• The first BRICS Youth Summit was also held in Russia in July 2015.

81
12. Tax Justice Network, in partnership with Global Alliance for Tax Justice and Public
Services International, has released the first of its kind “State of Tax Justice 2020” report.

Highlights:

Ø Preliminary Facts:
• The report examines corporate tax and private tax evasions and the loss emerging
from it.
• Annual Loss - $ 427 Bn worldwide
o $ 245 Bn or 57.4% is by corporate tax evasion and $ 182 Bn or 42.6% by
private tax evasion.
• India’s loss - $ 10.3 Bn p.a.
• Parameters - Self disclosure by MNCs under OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit
Shifting project.
• G20 countries account for 26.7% of global tax evasion.
Ø Top 5 loss facing and loss causing countries:

Ø Global Scenario:
• Global tax loss of $ 427 Bn is equivalent to the salary loss of over 34 Mn nurses.
• Higher Income countries account for 98% of global tax losses.
Ø India Specific Facts:
• India’s GDP - $ 2.51 Tn (in this report)
• Tax Evasion loss – 0.41% of GDP

82
 • Mauritius, Singapore, and Netherlands cause the maximum tax evasion loss to India
respectively by way of outward FDIs.
Ø Rankings:
• The report contains two indices – Financial Secrecy Index 2020 and Corporate Tax
Haven Index 2019 – released by Tax Justice Network only.

• Total - 133 countries

• First - Cayman Islands (provides the highest degree of freedom for financial
secrecy)
• India- 47th rank
Financial Secrecy • It measures the degree of freedom available to defaulters to commit tax
Index 2020 defaults and evasions by hiding their financial assests.
• OECD countries account for 49% of financial secrecy in the world.

• Total - 64 countries
• First - British Virgin Islands
• It measures a countries complacency in allowing tax evasion by acting as tax
havens.
Corporate Tax • UK is responsible for over a third of the world’s corporate tax abuse risks.
Haven Index 2019 • UK accounts 37.4% of all tax losses suffered by countries around the world,
costing countries over $160 billion in lost tax every year.

13. 7th India-Suriname Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) was held virtually.
• The next JCM Meeting would be held in 2022 in Paramaribo (Capital of Suriname) on a
mutually convenient date.

14. The US House of Representatives has passed the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange
Initiative Act to promote Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr’s legacies.
• An educational forum will be established in partnership with India to impart knowledge
about their ideologies to the aspirants of both countries.

83
 • The act is written by civil rights icon Late John Lewis and co-sponsored by Indian-
American Congressman Ami Bera.
• A professional development training initiative on conflict resolution based on the principles
of non-violence will be set up, along with a foundation to address social, environmental, and
health priorities in India.
• Budget - USD 1 million p.a. till 2025 for the Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative; $2
million for FY 2021 for the Gandhi-King Global Academy, and $30 million for 2021 for the
US-India Gandhi-King Development Foundation.

15. QS Asia University Ranking 2021 was released in association with King Abdulaziz
university, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
• Total – 650 universities (including 107 from India)
• Parameters – 11
• Top – National University of Singapore at 1st, Tsinghua University, China at 2nd, and
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore at 3rd
• India – Only 8 were in the Top 100 institutes.
o IIT-Bombay was at the top rank at 37th rank, followed by IIT-Delhi at 47th rank and
IIT-Madras at 50th rank.

16. 7th IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum was organized by International Energy Forum (IEF), the
International Gas Union (IGU), and Malaysia PM (H.E. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Theme - "Towards Recovery and Shared Prosperity: Natural Gas Opportunities for a
Sustainable World."

17. UN Environment Program has released the Production Gap 2030 report.
• The world needs to decrease the fossil fuel production by roughly 6% p.a. between 2020-30
to limit temperature rise to 1.5º C.
• Instead, governments are planning increases of 2% p.a. This would double the fossil fuel
production than what is consistent with the 1.5º C target by 2030.

84
 • The govts have provided more funds to the fossil fuel businesses than clean energy
businesses through economic stimulus packages.
• Production Gap Report was first launched in 2019.
• The report is modelled after the UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report series. This report conveys
the large discrepancy between countries' planned fossil fuel production and the global
production levels necessary to limit warming to 1.5°C and 2°C.

18. 7th meeting of the India-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation was held virtually.
• Mongolia decided to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
• Both countries agreed to establish AYUSH Information Cell in Ulaanbaatar (capital of
Mongolia).
• The Ministers also reviewed the progress of ongoing developmental partnership projects
including the USD 1.236 billion Line of Credit Oil Refinery Project and the USD 20 million
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Centre of Excellence in ICT and Outsourcing in Mongolia.
• 2020 marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India
and Mongolia.

85
19. 4th South Asia Forum on the SDGs – a preparatory meeting for Asia Pacific Forum on
Sustainable Development (APFSD) and the High-Level Policy Forum (HLPF) was formed.
• Organizers – South and South-West Asia office of United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in collaboration with South Asian member
States and Maldives govt.
• 8th APFSD will be held in 2021, which in turn contributes towards the HLPF 2021.

20. “Global Wage Report 2020 / 21” has been released by International Labour Organization.
• The report looked at wage trends in 136 countries in the four years (2016-19) preceding
the pandemic.
• It found that global wage growth fluctuated between 1.6% and 2.2%.
• Estimates found that without wage subsidies, women would have lost 8.1% of their wages
in the second quarter of 2020 compared to 5.4% for men.
• Globally, 266 million people (15% of all wage earners) were earning less than the hourly
minimum wage even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

21. China has launched Gaofen-14 Earth observation satellite which can take high-resolution
pictures of ground objects across the globe.
• The satellite was launched on Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite
Launch Centre.
• Geofen-14 is an optical stereo mapping satellite.

22. Climate Change Performance Index 2021, covering the year 2020, has been released by
Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute (Germany) and Climate Action Network (CAN
International).
• The index assesses the climate protection efforts and progress made by countries.
• Total – 57 countries and European Union (as a whole)
o These 57 countries and the EU collectively are responsible for about 90% of global
GHG emissions.

86
 • Parameters – greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions (40%), renewable energy (20%),
energy use (20%) and climate policy (20%).
• Top – Sweden at 4th rank
• India’s rank – 10th
• Bottom – USA
• China (biggest current emitter of GHG) at 33rd rank and US (largest historical polluter) is at
the bottom of the list.
• According to the index, only two G20 countries – India and UK performed well while the
remaining six such as Saudi Arabia, USA, South Korea, Australia and Russia were at the
bottom of the index.

23. Argentine govt has approved to impose tax on the country’s richest to help the government
fund COVID-19 measures.
• The tax is dubbed as “millionaires’ tax”.
• President of Argentine - Alberto Fernandez

24. Nepal and China have collectively announced that the height of Mount Everest has increased
to 8.848.86 meters.
• Now, the current heigh of the Mount Everest is 29,031 feet (8,848.86 meters).
• Earlier, the height of the mountain was 29,028 ft (8,848 m).

87
25. The report of Commission on Unalienable Rights has been published. The commission was
created in July 2019 under U.S. State Department by the Secretary of State Michael R.
Pompeo.
• Religious freedom is an unalienable right.
• Total 10 countries – Pakistan, China, Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria* (included for the
first time), North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan – have been put on the
list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) for violating religious freedom.
• Comoros, Cuba, Nicaragua and Russia are on the Special Watch List (SWL).
• The US also designated al-Shabaab, al-Qaida, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the
Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Greater Sahara, ISIS-West Africa, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin
and the Taliban as 'Entities of Particular Concern'.
• Sudan and Uzbekistan have been removed from the Special Watch List based on the
efforts of their governments over the past year.
• USCIRF had recommended the State Department to designate India, Russia, Syria and
Vietnam as CPCs but the department did not accept it.
• U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair – Gayle Manchin

26. UNCTAD has released ‘The Least Developed Countries Report 2020’ which mentions that
the number of people living in extreme poverty (earning less than Rs 150 per day), will
increase by over 32 million in 2020 in LDCs.
• The economic growth of LDCs are expected to fall sharply downwards from 5 to -0.4 per
cent between October 2019 and October 2020.
• This will lead to a 2.6% reduction in per capita income in LDCs in 2020.
• 43 out of 47 LDCs are experiencing a fall in their average income levels.

27. According to a report by SIPRI, the top 25 arms selling companies sold weapons worth $ 361
billion in 2019, 8.5% more than in 2018.

88
 • In the top 10, six companies are from US, three are from China and one is from Britain -
BAE Systems at 7th spot.
• In total, 12 US companies appear in the top 25 for 2019, accounting for 61% of the
combined arms sales of the top 25.
• For the first time, West Asia (UAE’s company EDGE at 22nd rank) featured among the
Top 25 biggest weapons manufacturers.
• Another newcomer in the top 25 in 2019 was L3Harris Technologies (ranked 10th).
• After the USA, China accounted for the 2nd largest share of 2019 arms sales by the top 25
arms companies, at 16%.
• The largest absolute increase in arms revenue was registered by US company
Lockheed Martin: $5.1 billion, equivalent to 11% in real terms. In percentage terms,
France’s Dassault Aviation recorded the largest increase in annual arms sales–105%.
About India:

• India was the world's 2nd biggest arms importer in 2019.

• India is on the third spot in terms of total expenditure on military, behind only US and
China. However, neither of them feature in the top 10 list of military spend taken as a
percentage of GDP.

28. Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attended the 14th ASEAN Defence Ministers'
Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) on the occasion of its 10th anniversary of ADMM-Plus.
• Brunei Darussalam is the chair of ASEAN in 2021.
• Theme of ASEAN 2021 – We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper
• Shri Rajnath Singh recalled the launch of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) by PM
Narendra Modi in 2019. IPOI is an open global initiative which aims to establish safe,
secure and stable maritime domain.

29. 17th International Inter-Ministerial Conference on South-South Cooperation in Population

and Development was held.

89
 • Organizers - Partners in Population and Development (PPD), the United Nation
Population Fund (UNFPA), and National Health Commission of China.
• Title of this conference - “Nairobi Commitments and the 2030 Agenda: Taking stock and
looking ahead in post COVID-19 crisis.”
• Purpose of the conference - to address the effects of Covid-19 on the achievement of
Three Zeroes by 2030. The three zeroes are targets set by the UN:
o zero preventable maternal deaths, zero unmet need for family planning, and zero
gender-based violence and harmful practices by 2030.
• In 2019, International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) conducted
its 25th summit (aka ICPD+25) in Nairobi, Kenya.
• UN’s Partners in Population and Development is an intergovernmental initiative,
launched in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development to
promote reproductive health, population, and development through South-South
Cooperation.
o 27 developing countries (including India) are members of this initiative.
o Secretariate – Dhaka, Bangladesh

30. Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s (BNEF) 2020 Climatescope survey has been released.

90
 • India has dropped to the 2nd position in 2020 from 1st position last year due to low
investment in clean energy, which fell 12% in 2018-19 to $8.5 billion.
• Chile is at the top in the survey due to its strong clean energy policies while, Brazil
remained at the third position.
• Mainland China and India continued to be the biggest markets for clean energy
investment with Mainland China far and away the largest.
• Mainland China and India alone accounted for 92% of the decade’s added solar capacity
and 82% of its wind in these countries.
• Total – 108 countries were surveyed.
• Parameters – 123 indicators and sub-indicators split into three key topic areas –
Fundamentals, Opportunities, and Experience.

India specific facts:

• One fourth of India’s 377 GW installed capacity comes from renewables, excluding large
hydro.
• Since 2017, capacity additions from renewables have exceeded those of coal.
• 2019 was the best year for solar capacity addition with 11.5GW installed.
• Total FDI in renewables set a new record at $32 billion in 2019.
• India scored 2.61 in this survey.

91
31. Carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 7% in 2020, which is the biggest drop ever,
according to the Global Carbon Project (GCP).
• The world will have put 37 billion US tons (34 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide in the
air in 2020. That’s down from 40.1 billion US tons (36.4 billion metric tons) in 2019.
• The study was published in the journal Earth System Science Data.
About GCP:

• Global Carbon Project was formed in 2001 to work towards slowing down the rate of
increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• It is a Global Research Project of Future Earth and a research partner of the World
Climate Research Programme.

92
 • The Global Carbon Project works collaboratively with the International Geosphere-
Biosphere Programme, the World Climate Programme, the International Human
Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change and Diversitas.
o This partnership constituted the Earth Systems Science Partnership (ESSP) which
subsequently evolved into Future Earth.
• Rob Jackson is the Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee of Global Carbon Project.

32. World Health Organisation's 'Lives in the Balance' summit was organized to provide
essential services to women, new-borns, young children and adolescents across the world.
• Organizers - WHO's Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH).
• Outcomes - USD 20.6 billion pledged by high, low- and middle-income countries to help
women, new-borns, young children and adolescents deal with the covid-19 pandemic as
well as longstanding issues.
• $6.6 billion of the total pledge is committed by low and middle-income countries including
India’s pledge of $2 billion.
• $14 billion (68% per cent) is from official development assistance and grants given by
Germany, Canada, Sweden, UK, USA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
WHO's The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health

ª Launched – 2005
ª Secretariat – hosted by WHO at its HQ in Geneva, Switzerland
ª It is the world’s largest alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health (WCAH).
ª It brings together over 1,000 partner organizations across 192 countries.

33. UN Environment Program has released the Emission Gap report 2020. Findings:
• Global GHG emission has reached a record high of 52.4 Giga tonne carbon equivalent.
• Fossil carbon dioxide emission has reached a record 38 giga tonne carbon equivalent in
2019.
• Over the last decade, the top four emitters (China, USA, EU27 + UK and India) have
contributed to 55% of the total GHG emissions.

93
 • CO2 emissions could decrease by about 7% in 2020 as compared to 2019.
• The concentrations of other GHGs such as methane and nitrous oxide will continue to
increase in 2020.

34. WHO and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) –
both headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland – have signed an MoU to implement the
Emergency Medical Team (EMT) initiative.
• The MoU is also known as the Red Channel Agreement.
• Purpose: to strengthen the delivery of emergency medical and health services during
humanitarian crises.
• WHO Director-General – Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
• IFRC Secretary-General – Mr Jagan Chapagain.

35. World Economic Forum will convene its Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore from
13-16 May, 2021.
• WEF’s Annual Meeting 2022 will be held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.
• The Forum will host the Global Technology Governance Summit in Tokyo from 6-7 April
2021, ahead of the Special Annual Meeting 2021.

36. WHO has released its Global Health Estimates 2019. Key findings:
• Global average of longevity (life expectancy) was 73 years in 2019 compared to nearly
67 in 2000.
Non-Communicable Diseases Communicable Disease

• 7 out of world’s top 10 causes of death
are non-communicable disease in
2019, as against 4 of the 10 leading
causes in 2000.
• Heart diseases – Represents 16% of
total deaths from all causes
• 6 of the top 10 causes of death in low-
income countries are due to
communicable diseases
• Pneumonia – Ranked as the fourth
leading cause of death.

94
 • Alzheimer’s disease – Ranked 3rd in
both Americas and Europe in 2019
• Diabetes - Deaths from diabetes
increased by 70% globally between
2000 and 2019, with an 80% rise in
deaths among males.
• AIDS – It dropped from the 8th leading
cause of death in 2000 to the 19th in
2019
• Tuberculosis - It is no longer in the
global top 10, falling from 7th place in
2000 to 13th in 2019, with a 30%
reduction in global deaths.
• However, it remains among the top 10
causes of deaths in the African and
South-East Asian regions, where it is
the 8th and 5th leading cause
respectively.

37. International Climate Ambition Summit 2020 was organized by UK, UN, France in
partnership with Chile and Italy.
• The summit was organized to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Paris Climate Agreement
2015.
• This summit is a precursor to the COP 26 UN climate change conference that will take
place in Glasgow, UK in November 2021.
• Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries have committed to limit the average
temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to make efforts
to limit it even further to 1.5 Celsius.
• According to the Indian Ministry of Environment, United States contributed 25% of all global
emissions, Europe 22%, China 13% and India only 3%.

38. NASA has selected a batch of 18 astronauts for its Artemis mission.
• Raja Chari (a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, MIT) is the only Indian-American in
the list.

95
39. WHO and UNICEF have released a report titled – “Fundamentals first: Universal water,
sanitation and hygiene services in health care facilities for safe, quality care”.
• The report covered 165 countries.
• Around 1.8 billion people are at risk of disease due to lack of WASH provisions.
• Globally, 1 in 4 health care services has no water services
• 1 in 3 health care services does not have access to hand hygiene
• 1 in 10 health care services has no sanitation services
• The situation is worst of all in 47 least developed countries.

40. International Energy Agency has released the first ever electricity market report 2020.
• The report assesses the 2020 trends and 2021 forecasts for electricity demand, supply,
capacity, and emissions.
Trends in 2020:

o Global electricity demand is expected to fall by 2% in 2020.

o China will be the only major economy to see higher electricity demand in 2020.
o Renewable electricity generation is expected to grow by 7% in 2020.
o Electricity production from coal is expected to fall by 5%
o CO2 emissions caused by electricity generation is expected to fall by 5%.
o Wholesale electricity prices have declined in 2020.
Forecasts for 2021:

o Global electricity demand is expected to increase by 3%

o Production of renewable energy will grow more in 2021, but coal is expected to
bounce back
o Electricity output from wind and solar PV will expand their market share to 29%.
India specific data:

o India’s electricity demand is also expected to fall by 2%.

o In March 2020, the electricity demand fell by 28% due to lockdown.
o Coal dominated electricity production at 55% in 2020.

96
41. US Congress has passed the National Defence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 worth
$740 billion.
• Under the act, US will establish a USD 2.2 billion Pacific Deterrence Initiative to enhance
its deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region; and deepen cooperation with countries like India,
Australia and Japan to counter China.
• The PDI will also ensure transparency and oversight in the budgets which are granted for
carrying out regional missions to best assess the implementation of National Defense
Security.

42. U.S. has imposed sanctions on Turkey (a NATO-ally) for its purchase of Russia’s S-400
missile defence system.
• The sanctions have been imposed under Section 231 of the Countering America’s
Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
• India is also in the process of buying the S-400 from Russia.

43. China has launched the “Gravitational Wave High-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart
All-sky Monitor (GECAM) mission”.
• The mission is a space telescope made up of two satellites to study some of the most
energetic events in the universe like gravitational waves.
• The satellites were launched on a Long March-11 carrier rocket from the Xichang
Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province.
• The GECAM project is carried out by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

44. UNESCO has released the 2nd State of Education report for India 2020: Technical and
Vocational education training.
• The report has been developed by Tata Institute of Social Sciences under the guidance
of UNESCO.
• India is progressing towards its goal of creating a skilled workforce of 110 million by 2022.

97
 • Currently, 10 million people are being trained across various ministries per year.
• There are 10,158 state government run schools that offer vocational education to over 1.2
million students. Among these states, Madhya Pradesh is at top in providing vocational
courses.
• There are more that 1000 colleges in India which are providing bachelor degree vocational
courses.

45. American think tank Cato Institute and Fraser Institute in Canada have released the Human
Freedom Index 2020.
• It is a worldwide ranking of civil, economic and personal freedom to rank countries from
2008 to 2018.
• Total – 162 countries
• Parameters – 76 indicators of personal, human, and economic freedoms.
• Top – New Zealand, Switzerland and Hong Kong respectively
• India’s rank – 111th (score 6.43)
o India scored 6.30 out of 10 in personal freedom, 6.56 in economic freedom, and 6.43
in human freedom.
o Last year, India’s rank was 94th.
• Bottom rank – Syria
Some observations of the report:

ª 15% of the world’s population lives in the freest quartile of countries in the index, while
34% lives in the bottom quartile of countries.
ª The gap in freedom between the most free and the least free countries has also been
increasing since 2008.
ª Authors of the report are Ian Vásquez and Fred McMahon.

46. European Union has proposed two legislative initiatives: the Digital Services Act (DSA)
and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as part of the “European Digital Strategy, Shaping
Europe’s Digital Future”.

98
 • The DSA and DMA have two main goals:
o to create a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital
services are protected
o to establish a level playing field to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness,
both in the European Market and globally.
• The regulations aim to create a safer and more open digital space across the whole EU.
• Tech companies that violate the rules will face fines of up to 10% of their annual sales
under the proposed rules.
Digital Services Act (DSA) Digital Markets Act (DMA)

It will force social media companies to remove It would prevent unfair competition.
illegal and harmful content from their
platforms.

47. Israel test fired “Arrow” (it intercepts long-range missiles); “David's Sling” (to shoot down
medium-range missiles); and the “Iron Dome” (to defend against incoming rocket fire from the
Gaza Strip) in Mediterranean Sea in the wake of Israel-Iran tensions.
• Rafael Advanced Systems (an Israeli company) led the launches.

48. 5th edition of Global Status Report (GSR) for Buildings and Construction has been
released by Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction of UN Environment Program.
• CO2 emissions from the operation of buildings have increased to their highest level yet at
around 10 GtCO2, or 28% of total global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019.
• With the inclusion of emissions from the buildings construction industry, this share
increases to 38% of total global energy-related CO2 emissions.
• Electricity consumption in building operations represents nearly 55% of global electricity
consumption.
• Target is to achieve a net-zero carbon building stock by 2050.
• The impact of COVID-19 on the global construction industry has been severe and
construction activities have dropped by 10–25% compared to 2019

99
 • The IEA estimates that global energy demand and CO2 emissions will have decreased by
5% and 7% respectively as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
• India recorded a slowdown of 2.2% in its construction sector.
Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC):

Ø Founded at COP21 of United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Ø It is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Ø It has over 150 members, including 30 countries.
o India’s GRIHA COUNCIL - Green Rating For Integrated Habitat Assessment -is
also a part of it.
Ø GlobalABC is a voluntary, international, multi-stakeholder partnership committed to a
common vision: A zero-emission, efficient and resilient buildings and construction sector.

49. 2021 G7 summit (47th edition) will be hosted by United Kingdom in next summer.
• Special guests invitations were given to India, Australia, and South Korea.
• In this summit, the G7 grouping is expected to become a group of ten democracies or
D10, which will include India, Australia, and South Korea.
• D10 was proposed by UK.
G7 (Group of Seven):

• Formed in 1975 during its first summit in France.

• G7 members include US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

50. Project Loon, a subsidiary of Google, aims to provide internet services to the remote areas of
the world.

51. 20th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) was
hosted virtually by UAE.
• France became the 23rd member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
• UAE chaired IORA in 2019-21 under the theme of “Promoting a Shared Destiny and
Path to Prosperity in the Indian Ocean”.

100
 • It was also decided that Sri Lanka would host the 4th IORA Ministerial Blue Economy
Conference (BEC-IV) in late 2021.
• India announced initiatives in the form of implementation of e-Office system and setting up
of Mahatma Gandhi library at the IORA Secretariat.
• Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan represented India.
• In September 2020, India signed the MoU between the Governments of the Member
States of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for the Coordination and Cooperation of
Search and Rescue (SAR) Services in the Indian Ocean Region.
About IORA:

2019 -21 2021-23

Chair – UAE Chair – Bangladesh

Vice-Chair – Vice-Chair – Sri Lanka

Bangladesh

Secretariat Mauritius

Members 23 countries (including India)

10 dialogue partners

Secretary General Dr Nomvuyo N. Nokwe (as of

December 2020)

Estb. 1997

52. UN has launched the Human Development Index 2020.

• Title - The next frontier, Human development and the Anthropocene
• Total – 189 countries
• Top – Norway (score 0.957), followed by Ireland, and Switzerland
• India’s rank – 131 (score 0.645)

101
 • Parameters – Health, Education, and Standard of Living
o Impact of country’s per capita carbon emission on human development – new metric
introduced in 2020
• India is under the category of medium development.
• India’s life expectancy at birth – 69.7 years
• India’s Expected years of schooling – 12.2 years
• India’s GNI per capita – $6,681
• Global score – 0.737

53. Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and NASA have signed a historic agreement named as
Gateway Treaty that confirms Canada's participation in the Artemis II mission.
• Under this treaty, a Canadian will be a part of the Artemis II mission (to be launched in
2023).
• Artemis II is the first crewed mission (taking first woman and second man) to the moon by
NASA since 1972. Artemis 1 is the planned un-crewed test flight which is expected to
launch in November 2021.
• As per the treaty, Canada will be a part of the project for building the Lunar Gateway
Space Station.
• Canada will also contribute a new robotic arm called “Canadarm3” for the Lunar Gateway
mission for the upkeep of the Lunar Gateway.
• The Lunar Gateway is a planned space station in lunar orbit. It is about one-sixth of the size
of the ISS.

54. US Treasury has labelled Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators, in addition to
three new names to a watch list of countries it suspects of taking measures to devalue their
currencies against the dollar.
• Three countries on watch list are Thailand, Taiwan, and India.
• Total countries on Watch list – 10 (include China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy,
Singapore and Malaysia).

102
55. Pakistan has approved the country’s first national sex offenders register. The country has
also allowed chemical castration of rapists as part of sweeping new legislation sparked by
outcry over the gang rape of a mother on a motorway.
• The provision of the chemical castration of repeat as well as first-time sex offenders was
added in the Anti-Rape Ordinance 2020.

56. UNESCO has included “Hawker” culture of Singapore in its list of intangible cultural
heritage.
• A Hawker system is a collection of food stalls at a centre which serve different Asian
Cuisines in hygienic conditions.
• Singapore’s hawker centres were set up to house former street vendors in the 1970s and
serve a variety of cheap, no-frills dishes to locals as well as providing a social setting.
• Hawker Centres are owned by the Government bodies of Singapore.

57. Federal Reserve of US has formally joined the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors
for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as a member.
• As of December 14th 2020, the NGFS consists of 83 members and 13 observers. India is
not a member of the NGFS.
• Other regulatory authorities to join NGFS are the central banks of Paraguay, Iceland, and
Uruguay as well as the Financial Regulatory Authority of Egypt, the Financial Services
Authority of Indonesia, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, and the European
Securities and Markets Authority.
Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)

• NGFS was launched at the Paris One Planet Summit on 12 December 2017.
• NGFS is a group of central banks and supervisors that aim to share best practices and
contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management in the
financial sector.

103
58. World Bank has released the updated version of the Doing Business report for the year
2018 and 2020 after rectifying data irregularities.
• The information were changed for China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and
Azerbaijan.
• As per the 'Doing Business' 2020 report, India ranked 63rd.
Countries Previous Ranking Updated Ranking

China’s rank in 2018 78 (score 65.3) 85 (score 64.5)

(information of Starting a
Business, Getting Credit, and
Paying Taxes indicators were
improved)

Doing Business 2020 Updated Rankings:

UAE 16 (score 80.9) 16 (unchanged) (score 80.8)

Saudi Arabia 62 (score 71.6) 63 (score 70.9)

Azerbaijan 34 (score 76.7) 28 (score 78.5)

59. North African dish Couscous has been added into the UNESCO’s list of the world's
intangible cultural heritage.
• The dish originated in Maghreb, also known as Northwest Africa.

60. Asian Water Development Outlook 2020: Advancing Water Security across Asia and
Pacific report has been released by Asian Development Bank and Asia-Pacific Water
Forum.
• Dimensions of the report:
o Rural household water security
o Economic water security

104
 o Urban water security
o Environmental waters security
o Water – related Disaster security
• Out of 49 ADB members, 27 are facing serious water limitation for economic development
and 18 members have not taken sufficient steps to protect their citizens against water
related disasters.
• 2.1 billion people lack adequate water supply, sanitation in Asia-Pacific region.

61. UNICEF has launched Covid-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard to enable countries, partners,
and industries follow the development of Covid-19 vaccine’s market.
• The portal will provide an overview of the research and development activities being
conducted for vaccines globally.
• The goal is achieve 2 billion vaccine dosages by the end of 2021.

62. A report published by The Lancet, pollution in India has led to an increase in diseases such
as lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, neonatal disorders and respiratory diseases,
resulting in millions more deaths.
• Pollution accounted for nearly 1.7 million premature deaths in India in 2019, or 18% of all
deaths.
• Pollution-related deaths in India increased from 1.24 Mn in 2017 to 1.67 Mn in 2019.
• Delhi becomes the world’s most polluted city during winters with toxic air particles rising
to as much as 500%.
• Pollution fatalities in 2019 led to a total loss of $36.8bn, or 1.36% of India’s gross domestic
product, with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar hit worst.

63. Food and Agriculture Organization has released the “State of Mediterranean and Black
Sea Fisheries” 2020 report.
• Prepared by - General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of FAO
Key highlights:

105
 • The number of stocks subject to overfishing has decreased for the first time in decades in
Mediterranean and Black sea marine ecosystems.
• 75% of fish stocks in the region are subjected to overfishing. A fall of 10% in the
overfishing percentage was witnessed between 2014 and 2018.
• Fishing activity contributes 9.4 billion USD of revenue to the Mediterranean and Black
sea region, sustaining a high population of fishermen.
• The catches of species of conservation concern such as European Eel, piked dog fish
have declined steeply to near zero in the recent years.

64. Nature AI Index 2020 has been released by the Nature Research.
• The index assessed 25 countries and their contributions towards AI.
• Top 3 countries (in terms of research papers published on AI from 2015 to 2019) – China,
USA, and India (with 91,563 publications)
• Top 4 countries (in terms of total article share in the field from 2015 to 2019) – USA, UK,
Germany, and China. India is at 20th rank.
• Top 100 institution in artificial intelligence (in terms of total article published in the field
from 2015 to 2019) – Tsinghua University at 1st, University of Chinese Academy of
Sciences at 2nd, Shanghai Jiao Tong University at 3rd.
o Anna University, Chennai is the only Indian institution in the list at 32nd rank.
• Top 100 institutions in artificial intelligence (in terms of total article share in the field
from 2015 to 2019) – Harvard University at 1st, Stanford University at 2nd, and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 3rd à all are from USA.
o No Indian institution is in the list.

65. China has successfully launched ‘Yaogan-33’ remote sensing satellite along with a micro
and nano technology experiment satellite on a Long March-4C rocket from Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Centre.
• The two satellites will be used for scientific experiments, land resources survey, crop yield
estimation and disaster prevention and reduction.

106
 BANKING AND ECONOMY
1. US rating agency S&P Global has announced to buy IHS Markit (London-based market data
and research company) in an all-stock deal worth $44 bn (£33bn).
• This will be the biggest corporate acquisition of 2020.
• IHS Markit’s CEO – Lance Uggla
• S&P Global President & CEO – Douglas L. Peterson

2. According to the ‘The Ericsson Mobility Report 2020’, India has the highest average
monthly mobile data traffic per smartphone.
• It is expected to surpass 350 million 5G subscriptions by 2026, accounting for 27% of all
mobile subscriptions in the country.
• Four out of every ten mobile subscriptions in 2026 will be 5G globally with 5G subscriptions
forecast to reach 3.5 billion.
• In India, LTE subscriptions are forecast to increase from 710 million in 2020 to 820 million
in 2026 (by which time 3G will be phased out).
• In India, the average traffic per smartphone user rising from 13.5 GB a month in 2019 to
15.7 GB in 2020, which is the highest globally.

3. IndiGrid has acquired 74% shareholding and management control of Parbati Koldam
Transmission Company Limited (PKTCL) from Reliance Infrastructure.
• Power Grid Corporation of India Limited has the remaining 26% stake.

4. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has released the ‘Future of Regional Cooperation in Asia
and the Pacific’ research paper.
• Editors of the report - Bambang Susantono and Cyn-Young Park
• As per the report, India was the 4th major host of greenfield foreign direct investment
(FDI) projects and 8th major host of cross-border M&A deals between 2004 to 2015.

107
 • US received the most greenfield FDI projects between 2004 to 2015, followed by China
and the UK.

5. SIDBI has launched a web portal – Do-It-Yourself (DIY), an asset restructuring web module –
to help MSMEs take benefit of the Reserve Bank of India’s one-time debt restructuring.
• MSMEs will be able to prepare restructuring proposals by keying in only the most essential
data of their past financials, future projections and restructuring requirement.
• This portal has been launched in partnership with India SME Asset Reconstruction
Company (ISARC).
• Indian Bank and SIDBI signed an MoU to allow MSME customers use this web module.

6. Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched loan management solution called 'LenS-The Lending
Solution' for all kinds of loans — MSME, agriculture, retail and other credit.
• The platform will speed up and maintain accuracy in online loan processing and sanctioning
of credit proposals.

7. Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide loan of $562.8 million for power projects in
Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya.
• $430 million will be provided to U.P for improving the quality and reliability of electricity
supply.
• $132.8 million loan to strengthen and modernise the distribution network and improve the
quality of power supply in Meghalaya.

8. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has sanctioned a $100 Mn Blue Loan to Indorama
Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) for boosting the capacity of Indorama’s plastic
recycling plants in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
• Purpose: to reduce the environment impact of plastics, especially polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) which is used in beverage packaging.

108
 • IVL is a Thailand-listed company. It is the largest producer of 100% recyclable PET in the
world.

Funding to Indorama
for plastic recycling:

ADB - $100 Million
International Finance
Deutsche, German company –
Corporation (part of world
$50 million
bank) - $150 million

9. International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has become a member of the
International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).
• Benefits – it will enable IFSCA to exchange ideas with other insurance regulators and
improve the overall business at GIFT-IFSC.
• IFSCA regulates the Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City.
• Currently, 17 leading insurance entities are operating from GIFT IFSC.
• Indian Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) is already a member
of IAIS.

• Established - 1994
International
Association • HQ - Switzerland
of Insurance • Member - insurance supervisors from more than 200 jurisdictions (constituting 97% of
Supervisors the world’s insurance premiums)
• Purpose - To set standards for regulation and development of insurance sector globally.

10. HDFC Life and Ketto India have jointly launched Promisewala Dabba – a nationwide
crowdfunding campaign to support the Dabbawalas of Mumbai, who were badly hit due to the
coronavirus lockdown.
• Under this campaign, ration supply kit, comprising items like rice, dal wheat, spices,
sanitation and hygiene products, will be delivered to every family of Dabbawalas.

109
11. Bengaluru-based fintech startup Finin has become a neobank. For this purpose, it has
partnered with SBM Bank India.
• Founders - Suman Gandham and Sudheer Maram (in 2019)
• It is claimed to be India’s first full-fledged Consumer focused neobank which will offer
hyper-personalized services to its consumers. The services will be focussed on
encouraging consumer savings.
• Few days back, PayQ declared itself as India’s first Neobank.

12. Karnataka branches of NABARD and State Bank of India have signed an MoU for providing
support to the ongoing livelihood projects in Karnataka.
• Among the projects, one is E-Shakti project which aims to digitalize the Self-Help Groups
and increase their access to credit.
• Under this MoU, SBI is acting as an implementing agency for digitising the SHGs and on-
boarding on NABARD’s E-Shakti portal across Karnataka.
E-Shakti:

• E-Shakti project was launched by NABARD to digitize the SHGs across India in order to
bring the SHGs under the fold of Financial Inclusion.

• The e-shakti project was first rolled out during the year 2015 in two districts Ramgarh
(Jharkhand) and Dhule (Maharashtra).

13. Paytm has partnered with Suryoday Small Finance Bank to provide instant digital loans to
MSMEs.

14. National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has allowed small finance banks, payment
banks, and fin-techs to be the shareholders in the organisation.
• Purpose: to compete and thrive on account of RBI giving assent to create a New Umbrella
Entity in Retail Payment Sector.
• Currently, the major shareholders of this not-for-profit organisation are public and private
banks. With this new purchase of shares, the total no. of NPCI’s shareholders are 67.

110
 • This diversification of NPCI’s shareholdings in an outcome of the Watal Committee’s
recommendations. In 2016, the committee had recommended to broad-base the
shareholding of NPCI.
• Watal Committee, Chaired by Ratan P. Watal, was formed in 2016 to promote the digital
payment system in the country.

15. “Wage and minimum wage in the time of covid-19” report was released by International
Labour Organization.
• The report mentioned that informal sector workers in India suffered a 22.6% fall in
wages, as against a 3.6% salary cut of formal sector employees.
• Real wage growth in India was one of the lowest in the Asia Pacific, lower than even
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
• In purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, India’s average monthly gross wage of $215
was third from the bottom among the Asia Pacific region (30 country) for 2019, just above
Bangladesh and Solomon Islands.
• India’s real wage grew marginally 2.8% in 2015, 2.6% in 2016, and 2.5% in 2017, while it
remained flat in 2018. ILO did not give a number for 2019. This is lower than neighbouring
countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, and Nepal.

16. Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra has been rebranded “Diem” to gain regulatory
approval.
• Libra Association will be renamed as Diem Association.

17. Bank of India will acquire 49% stake each in BOI AXA Investment Managers Pvt Ltd and
BOI AXA Trustee Services Pvt Ltd from AXA Investment Managers Asia Holdings.
• Purpose: to make both these entities Bank of India’s fully owned subsidiaries.
• Bank of India currently holds 51% equity shares each in BAIM and BATS.

111
18. CREDAI-MCHI has partnered with State Bank of India, Google, and BookMyShow for the
first virtual edition of India’s largest Real-Estate Expo to be held between Dec 4 -13, 2020.
• Purpose: to bring credible developers and genuine homebuyers at one platform.
• CREDAI-MCHI’s President, Deepak Goradia, has announced that it is India’s first such
collaboration in the history of Real-Estate.

19. RBI has announced to extend its Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) and Marginal
Standing Facility (MSF) to Scheduled Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to provide an additional
avenue for liquidity management to them.
• However, RRBs need to fulfil following criteria:
o Implement Core Banking Solution (CBS)
o There is a minimum CRAR of 9% and
o Fully compliant with the terms and conditions for availing LAF and MSF issued by
Financial Markets Operations Department (FMOD), Reserve Bank of India.

20. Government has launched the Quarterly Return filing & Monthly Payment of Taxes
(QRMP) scheme for small taxpayers under GST system.
• Taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover of up to ₹5 crore in the preceding financial year
and those have filed their October GSTR-3B (sales) return by 30 November, 2020, are
eligible for this scheme.
• Now, the taxpayers with ₹5 crore turnover have the option to file their GSTR-1 and GSTR-
3B returns quarterly beginning January-March period.

21. Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank has launched an overdraft (OD) facility named as ‘Kirishi
OD’ for farmers.
• The facility can be used for working capital requirements by farmers.

112
22. Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, inaugurated the 63rd founding day celebrations of
the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the apex anti-smuggling intelligence under the
aegis of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
• "Smuggling in India Report 2019-20" was released by Finance Minister.
• DRI Utkrisht Seva Samman, 2020 was awarded to B. Sankaran (an officer).
• Bravery Awards were conferred upon Najimudheen T S of DRI Cochin Zonal Unit and
Sumer Sen, an independent witness of a case booked by DRI, Jaipur.
• Director-General of DRI - Balesh Kumar
• Secretary-General of the World Customs Organisation – Dr Kunio Mikuriya

23. Kotak Mahindra AMC launched Kotak International REIT Fund of Funds, India's first
diversified REIT Mutual Fund.
• Kotak International REIT Fund of Funds is an open-ended mutual fund scheme that will
invest in units of SMAM Asia REIT Sub Trust Fund.
• This fund offers an opportunity for domestic investors to invest and benefit from growth in
real estate market without actually owning the entire asset.
• SMAM Asia REIT Sub Trust Fund is one of the largest Asia Pacific (Ex Japan) REIT
funds investing in listed REITs in the Asia Pacific region. It is managed by Sumitomo
Mitsui DS Asset Management Company ltd.

24. Mastercard, the National Institute for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (ni-msme) and
the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have partnered to launch Digital Saksham to
support digitization of MSMEs.
• The program will involve three key stages over three years from the launch, including
outreach, capacity building and adoption of digital tools that will help small businesses.
• Target – over 3 lakh MSMEs

25. Asian Development Bank has approved a $500 million loan for construction of a new metro
rail lines between Central Silk Board junction and Kempegowda International Airport in
Bengaluru.

113
 • ADB approved an additional $2 million technical assistance to help Karnataka formulate
urban development plans.
• ADB has also approved a $300 million loan to strengthen and improve access to
comprehensive primary health care in urban areas in India.

26. IRDAI has issued draft guidelines on standard personal accident insurance policies.
• All general and standalone health insurers are mandated to offer this product from 1 April
2021.
• Minimum sum insured is ₹2.5 lakh and maximum is ₹1 crore.
• 100% of the sum insured will be paid in case of death or permanent total disablement.
• Age eligibility – 18- 70 years
• The regulator has recently come out with a slew of standardized insurance plans, including
Corona Kavach and Rakshak for Covid-19, Arogya Sanjeevani, a health plan, and Saral
Jeevan, a term insurance policy.
• Benefits of standard insurance products:
o Customers can easily compare products of different companies because of the
increased levels of simplification
o Insurance companies can innovate on the products to distinguish themselves
o It will provide more options to customers.

27. RBI has proposed guidelines for allowing NBFCs to pay dividend to its shareholders. These
guidelines will be finalized after December 24.
• Capital adequacy ratio of at least 15% for the last three years (including the year of
dividend) should be maintained by deposit-taking and systemically important non-deposit-
taking NBFCs.
• Non-systemically important, non-deposit-taking NBFC should have leverage ratio of below
7% for the last three years.
• A core investment company (CIC) should have adjusted net worth of at least 30% of its
aggregate risk-weighted assets on its balance sheet and risk adjusted value on off-balance
sheet items for the last three years.

114
 • Net bad loan ratio should be less than 6% in each of the last three years for them to pay
dividend.
• However, if the capital adequacy, leverage or net worth norms were not met in the last two
years, non-banks would still be able to pay some dividend if their net bad loan ratio is less
than 4% for the accounting year.
• Moreover, financial statements of the NBFCs pertaining to the year for which the NBFC is
declaring dividend should be free of any qualification by the auditors.
• The guidelines will be applicable on the dividend to be declared from FY21 onwards.

28. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has introduced a new channel – Money Mitra – to make
banking services accessible to customers in their neighbourhood.
• It will facilitate entrepreneurs running local businesses like Kirana, medical stores and
insurance agencies to offer retail banking solutions to the bank’s customers exclusively.
• Ujjivan Small Finance Bank’s MD and CEO – Nitin Chug

29. Bank of Baroda has launched the Atmanirbhar Women Scheme as part of its Baroda Gold
Loan.
• Under the scheme, the bank is offering loans at 0.50% concession for women.
• The bank under the gold loan scheme is also offering agri-gold loan at 0.25% concession
and for retail loan at 0.50% concession.
• Bank of Baroda MD & CEO - Sanjiv Chadha

30. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2.5 million technical assistance to India
for advanced biofuel development in India.
• The grant is funded from the Asia Clean Energy Fund, financed by the Government of
Japan under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility, and the Republic of
Korea’s e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund.
• ADB supports India’s National Policy on Biofuels-2018 to promote advanced biofuel
market to mitigate global warming.

115
31. ICICI Lombard General Insurance has partnered with Plum (India’s fastest growing
employee health insurance startup) to co-create India’s first technologically backed group
health insurance products.
• With the use of latest technologies, ICICI Lombard and Plum intend to solve four major
areas of group health insurance – real time pricing, onboarding, policy management and
claims.

32. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $300 million loan to strengthen and
improve access to comprehensive primary health care in urban areas in India.
• Indian government launched the Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana
(PM-ASBY) to strengthen public health systems and respond to future pandemics and other
emergencies.
• In addition to the loan, a $2 million technical assistance grant from ADB’s Japan Fund
for Poverty Reduction will provide technical support for program implementation and
coordination, capacity building, innovation, and application of new knowledge to the health
care system.

33. ICICI Bank has become the designated bank for all financial transactions under National
Health Mission (NHM) in West Bengal.

34. Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition of 49% stake in Odisha
Power Generation Corporation Ltd (OPGC) by Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Limited
(OHPC).
• The stake is being acquired from US-based AES Corporation for $135 million.
• CCI has approved acquisition of certain assets of the Prestige Group by affiliates of
Blackstone Group Inc.

116
35. Nokia has become the first company to start the production of next generation 5G
equipment (5G- NR means New Radio) at its state-of-the-art manufacturing site in Chennai,
India.

36. Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance has launched its new digital
campaign- ‘heroes of my city’.
• The campaign celebrates the real life heroes and their acts of generosity during the ongoing
pandemic.
• This two month long campaign is an extension to the initiative ‘me for my city’ which was
launched in 2018 by Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance.
• Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance is a joint venture between Canara Bank, Punjab
National Bank, and HSBC Insurance (established in 2008).

37. Swiggy has announced to expand its street food vendors programme to 125 cities under
the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme.
• In the first phase, the company will onboard 36,000 street food vendors to whom the loan
has been disbursed in 125 cities on its platform.
• In October 2020, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Swiggy have partnered to
onboard street vendors on its platform under the PM-Svanidhi program.

38. SBI General Insurance partnered with Mahindra Insurance Brokers to increase penetration
of insurance in the rural India (particularly in tier 2 and 3 cities) through their Sajhedaari
programme.
• As per the IRDAI, insurance penetration in India is only 11%. and in rural areas, it is lesser
than 10%.
• Sajhedaari program is a socially inclusive initiative designed to identify, train and certify
Point of Sales Persons (POSPs) for insurance distribution, while enabling deeper insurance
penetration in the country.

117
39. RBL Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has entered into a bancassurance
partnership to offer life insurance products to the Bank's customers.

40. Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd (SFB) has launched a 3-in-1 account to allow its customers
to invest in wide variety of financial product using a single platform.
• A 3-in1 account (savings +trading+ demat) will help the customers to keep all their banking
and financial investments under one umbrella entity.

41. For the first time, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) launched world’s largest NB-IoT in
partnership with a private company named Skylo tech India.
• NB-IoT is Narrow Band-Internet of Things.
• Benefit – it is a standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology that can be used
for ensuring deep penetration of technologies in rural areas.

42. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) launched an electronic spot platform for agricultural
commodities - 'BSE E- Agricultural Markets Limited' (BEAM), through its subsidiary BSE
Investments Limited.
• BEAM has leveraged state-of-the-art technology to offer customized solutions to traders,
farmers as well as stakeholders to facilitate risk-free purchase and sale of various
agricultural commodities.
• With the help of BEAM, farmers in one state will be able to reach out to markets in other
states and auction their produce.

43. DBS Bank India has partnered with Haqdarshak (social enterprise) to enable recovery of
Indian MSMEs from Covid-19’s impact.
• Haqdarshak developed a new platform detailing about MSME-focused government welfare
schemes, covering registrations, documentation and applications for financing.
• Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions CEO and Co-founder – Aniket Doegar

118
44. SEBI has formed Corporation Finance Investigation Department (CFID) to look into the
frauds committed by company’s promoters.
• The CFID will even check if resources like company land, guest houses or vehicles are
misused by promoters.
• Head – Executive Director of SEBI, Nagendraa Parakh

45. RBI has announced to set up an Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC) in Jaipur
for receipt, storage and dispatch of currency notes in order to deal with increasing circulation of
banknotes.
• The expected storage capacity requirements for the ABPC in Jaipur would be 1,883 million
pieces of fresh note stock (daily average) during 2024-25 which will be increased to 27,757
million pieces during 2039-40.

46. State governments have collectively won the right to borrow ₹1.07 trillion for 2020-21 without
meeting the reform (which were mentioned earlier this year).
• Reform obligations were waived off for states’ borrowings up to 0.5% of gross state
domestic product (GSDP). This means, states can raise debt up to half percentage point of
GSDP.
• This waiver aims to fulfil the GST revenue shortfall with the borrowing scheme, proposed by
the Centre.
• States have so far been given ₹36,000 crores towards GST compensation.
Background:

ª In May 2020, Central govt had increased the borrowing limits for states for FY21 to 5% of
gross state domestic product (GSDP) from 3% to give states an extra ₹4.28 trillion.
To borrow extra, states need to bring certain specified reforms:

ª Of the 200 basis points raise (that means 2% increase), the first 50 basis points will be
unconditional while the next 100 basis points will be divided into four tranches of 25 basis
points each, with each tranche linked to clearly specified, measurable and feasible reform
actions, as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission.

119
 ª These include reforms in four areas such as universalization of “one nation one ration
card", ease of doing business, power distribution and urban local body revenues. The
last 50 basis points of the extra borrowing will be allowed if targets are achieved in at
least 3 out of 4 reform areas.

47. Aceware, a fintech company, has launched Ace Money Micro ATM service, in collaboration
with ICICI Bank, in Kochi.
• Purpose: to enable withdrawal of money from a bank account from the comfort of home.
• The company is planning to expand the service to all the municipalities in the State by
January 2021.
• The maximum withdrawal limit is ₹10,000.

48. Bharti AXA Life Insurance has introduced #GotYouCovered campaign to appreciate
frontline healthcare workers.
• The company will encourage people to acknowledge the efforts of frontline healthcare
workers.
• Bharti AXA Life Insurance has joined hands with Primero Skills & Training to support its
healthcare workers by covering them against life and health risks during the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic.

49. Canara Bank has launched "FX 4 U" through internet banking helping users to manage and
handle their forex transactions seamlessly.

50. Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI) has launched a first of its kind, Open API (Application
Programming Interface) Gateway, to facilitate complete digital collaboration with its business
partners.

51. US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Facebook under the US
Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890 for its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp.

120
 • Reason – It is alleged that Facebook acquired these two apps to annihilate the competition
in the market.
• Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890 was brought out to maintain healthy competition in the US
market.

52. RBI has announced to extend On Tap TLTRO Scheme to 26 stressed sectors identified by
KV Kamath panel (formed by RBI for resolution of stressed sectors).
• RBI had announced five sectors under the On Tap TLTRO Scheme on October 21, 2020.
Now, these 26 stressed sectors have also been brought under the On Tap TLTRO scheme.
• These 26 sectors are the same as the sectors in ECLGS 2.0.
• The limit of sector to become eligible for ECLGS 2.0 i.e., outstanding credit of above Rs.50
Crore and up to Rs.500 crore as on 29th Feb 2020, would not apply to funds availed under
On Tap TLTRO Scheme.
• All other terms and conditions of the scheme remain the same.

53. Asian Development Bank has launched Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX)
worth $9 billion to help nations access and deliver COVID-19 vaccines.
• APVAX will provide support for procurement and transporting of vaccines.
• The investment will also support distribution systems, like cold-chain storage and
processing facilities.

54. National Centre for the Performing Arts, in partnership with Citi India, has launched the
CITI–NCPA Scholarship for Young Musicians 2021-22 to support young and emerging talent in
Hindustani music.
• Citi India is a foreign bank in India, offering a wide range of activities like investment,
banking, and financial services to its clients.
• Citi India HQ – Mumbai, CEO of Citi India - Ashu Khullar
• Citigroup is an Investment banking company, headquartered in New York, US. CEO of Citi
Group - Michael Corbat.

121
55. Hyderabad- based software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Zenoti has raised $160 million and
became a Unicorn company.
• Zenoti CEO - Sudheer Koneru.

56. RBI has relaxed eligibility norms for companies to use its regulatory sandbox.
• Company’s net worth requirement reduced to ₹10 lakh from ₹25 lakh earlier.
• Partnership firms and limited liability partnerships have been allowed to participate in
the regulatory sandbox.
• RBI has announced the second round of regulatory sandbox (RS) initiative with “cross-
border payments” as its theme. This means that companies participating in this round of
RS will have to innovate on solutions that enable cross border payments.
• In the third round, the theme for using RS would be “MSME Lending”.

57. SEBI has announced changes in the minimum public shareholding norms for listed
companies going through insolvency and segregate assets as well as liabilities of mutual
funds to boost capital market.
• Companies seeking relisting after Corporate Insolvency and Resolution Process (CIRP),
have to maintain a minimum of 5% public shareholding at the time of their beginning of
trading on the stock exchanges. Currently, there is no such minimum requirement.
• These companies will have to attain 10% public shareholding from 12 months of relisting
and 25% from 36 months from the said date. And this 25% needs to be maintained at all
times thereafter.
• SEBI has mandated minimum Rs 100 crore net worth requirement for entities to become
sponsors of mutual funds. This would help fintech companies to enter the mutual fund
industry.

58. Cabinet Committee on Security has approved the National Security Directive on
Telecommunication Sector to tighten security of communications network.
• The directive will mandate service providers to purchase equipment from trusted sources.

122
 • Under the provisions of this directive, the government will declare a list of trusted sources
and trusted products for installation in the country's telecom network.
• The methodology to designate trusted products will be devised by the designated authority,
the National Cyber Security Coordinator.
• The list of the trusted source and product will be approved a committee, headed by the
Deputy National Security Advisor. This committee will be called the National Security
Committee on Telecom.
• The government will also create a list of designated sources from whom no procurement
can be done.
• The companies that meet the criteria of the Department of Telecommunications'
preferential market access (PMA) scheme will be certified as India trusted sources.

59. SEBI has allowed reducing holding period for pre-issue capital and allowed discretionary
allotment to all eligible investors to boost listing of start-ups.
Key highlights

• The changes have been proposed to the framework for listing on Innovators Growth
Platform (IGP).
• Also, SEBI is providing differential voting rights (DVR) to promoters, retaining superior
voting rights (SR) for existing institutional investors holding over 10% of capital, and
easing delisting requirements as well as takeover norms.
• SEBI has suggested reducing the period of holding of 25% of pre-issue capital of the
issuer company by eligible investors to one year from current requirement of two years.
• SEBI has proposed that up to 60% portion of the issue size may be allocated on a
discretionary basis, prior to issue opening, to all eligible investors. There will be a lock in
of 30 days on such shares.
• Another proposal is to exempt Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) Category II investors
from post issue lock-in requirement of six months, subject to certain conditions.

123
 • The threshold for disclosure of the aggregate shareholding is proposed to be increased
from the present 5% to 10% and whenever there is subsequent change of 5% (instead of
present 2%) in the shareholding.
• SEBI has suggested that delisting may be considered if 75% of the total shareholding
and voting rights are acquired against the present requirement of 90%.

60. SBI Card and BPCL together launched the “BPCL SBI Card Octane” to offer maximum
savings to the consumers who spend a significant amount on fuel.

61. SBI General Insurance has partnered with IntrCity RailYatri to provide complimentary travel
insurance of ₹5 lakh on bus tickets for the customers of IntrCity RailYatri.
• Under this partnership, SBI General insurance will provide a wide variety of coverage
including accidental death, permanent total disability, and medical evacuation.
• Intrcity is India's 1st SmartBus network.

62. BSE Ebix Insurance Broking Private Limited, a joint venture of BSE and Ebix Fincorp
Exchange Pte Ltd., launched the beta version of term insurance of ICICI Prudential Life
Insurance on its platform.
• Now, BSE Ebix can sell across both Term and Endowment insurance plans.
• Also, BSE Ebix has been integrated with 12 Insurance Companies with this launch.
• Ebix Group Chairman, President and CEO & Director of BSE Ebix Insurance Broking
– Robin Raina

63. Central government and the New Development Bank (NDB) have signed a $1 billion loan
agreement for supporting India’s economic recovery from Covid-19.
• The loan has a tenor of 30 years, including a 5-year grace period.
• The loan will support economic recovery through rural development by development of
rural infrastructure related to natural resource management (NRM) and rural employment

124
 generation under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS).

64. IndusInd Bank, in partnership with Mastercard, launched its first metal credit card -
‘PIONEER Heritage’ to provide services like travel, wellness, lifestyle among others to the
high-net worth individuals in India.
• IndusInd Bank launched ‘PIONEER Banking’, its wealth management platform for wealthy
customers in January 2020.

65. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has introduced the RuPay Contactless
(Offline) feature.
• Customers will get reloadable wallets within RuPay Card for everyday transit payments as
well.

66. RBI has extended the application of Central KYC Registry (CKYCR) to all legal entities
which have opened their accounts on or after April 1, 2021.
• Now, the entities regulated by RBI are required to upload 'Know Your Customer' data
pertaining to accounts of legal entities, onto the CKYCR.
• The KYC data is uploaded in line with the provisions of the Prevention of Money
Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005.

67. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $231 million loan to construct the 120 MW
Lower Kopili Hydroelectric Power (LKHEP) plant in Central Assam, India.
• This loan is the third and largest tranche of the $300 million Assam Power Sector
Investment Program approved by ADB in 2014.
• In addition to the loan, a $2 million project grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty
Reduction will finance community-based disaster resilience initiatives and resource
management.

125
68. ICICI Bank has become the first bank to launch “Infinite India” platform for foreign
companies which are looking to establish or expand business in the country.
• The platform will offer them banking solutions as well as value-added services.

Value-added services offered by Banking services offered by "Infinite

"Infinite India" India"

Authorise set-up of office

Incorporation services
State-of-the-art digital channels
Licences and registration
Trade services with wide global
Taxation and compliance
network
HR services
Treasury services

69. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a $40-million loan with Northern Arc Capital
(NACL) to support the livelihoods of microfinance borrowers and micro, small, and medium-
sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India.
• This loan is a part of ADB’s ongoing Covid-19 response.
• NACL is a Chennai-based NBFC, which will use the loan proceeds to on-lend and provide
guarantees to financial institutions and individual borrowers. It will also on-lend to affordable
housing finance companies.

70. Central Bank of India, in association with National Payments Corporation of India launched
a contactless Debit Card – ‘RuPay Select’ – on the occasion of Bank’s Foundation Day on
Dec 22, 2020.
• This card is the National Common Mobility Debit Card (NCMC) that will offer different
services related to lifestyle, fitness, rejuvenation, nutrition, healthcare and personal care to
customers.
• The bank has also launched FASTAG product in association with OSTA.
• Central Bank of India’s MD & CEO - Pallav Mohapatra

126
71. Bank of Baroda and Indian Army signed an MoU for launching Baroda Military Salary
Package to provide banking services to the current and retired army personnel.

72. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has released the “UPI Ecosystem
Statistics – November 2020” update.
• SBI performed the best as the Remitter as well as Beneficiary bank.
• Paytm Payments Bank is the 4th best Remitter and 2nd best beneficiary bank.
o PPBL has the lowest technical decline rate at 0.02% among all UPI remitter banks
and 0.04% among all UPI beneficiary banks.
• Google Pay and PhonePe together have more than 82% of the market by volume and
more than 86% by value in November 2020.

73. Centre govt is divesting its entire 63.75% shareholding and management control in the
Shipping Corporation India Limited (SCIL).
• The remaining 36.25% stake is jointly owned by mutual funds, banks, insurance companies
as well as individuals.

74. HDFC Ltd has signed an MoU with CII’s Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to promote
green building initiatives.
• Under the MoU, HDFC and IGBC will promote green housing by jointly organizing training
and awareness programs to facilitate capacity building across the country.

75. RBI has cancelled the licence of Subhadra Local Area Bank, Kolhapur, Maharashtra
because of its malpractices.
• The bank had breached the minimum net worth requirement for two quarters in the financial
year 2019-20.
• The bank is prohibited from conducting the business of banking or any additional business
envisaged under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with immediate effect.

127
 • Subhadra’s MD & CEO - Sanjay Agrawal

76. Central Bank of India has entered into a binding agreement to divest its entire 64.40% stake
in Cent Bank Home Finance to Centrum Housing Finance for Rs 160 crore.

77. SBI Life Insurance had acquired 8.99% stake in Paisalo Digital (an NBFC providing loans to
individuals, micro, small and medium enterprises, and to Joint Liability Group).

78. Reliance Industries Ltd has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 50% shares in
IMG-Reliance Ltd for ₹52.08 crore. The shares are held by IMG Singapore Pte. Ltd (a wholly
owned subsidiary of IMG).
• IMG HQ - United States; It is an international sports marketing and management company.
• Post completion of the acquisition, IMG-Reliance will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Reliance, and will be rebranded by the company.
• RIL had formed an equal joint venture with IMG in 2010 to develop, market, and manage
sports and entertainment in India.

79. Cashaa (a blockchain-based fintech) has partnered with United Multistate Cooperative
Society to launch crypto bank – UNICAS that allows users to transact in cryptocurrency and
fiat money from one account.
• Online UNICAS bank is live; 14 physical branches will be rolled out by January 2021 across
the NCR, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• UNICAS has become the world’s first crypto bank to open physical branches.
• The first branch has opened in Jaipur, Rajasthan. CEO of UNICAS - Dinesh Kukreja
• UNICAS plans to rapidly expand to 100 branches by the end of 2022.

80. ICICI Bank has become the first bank to collaborate with Google Pay to issue FASTag.

128
81. Ministry of Finance has amended GST rules and mandated businesses with monthly
turnover of over Rs 50 lakhs to mandatorily pay at least 1 per cent of their GST liability in
cash.
• Purpose: to curb evasion by fake invoicing.
• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has introduced Rule 86B in GST
rules which restricts use of input tax credit (ITC) for discharging GST liability to 99%.
• Exemption – if the managing director or any partner have paid more than Rs 1 lakh as
income tax or the registered person has received a refund amount of more than Rs 1 lakh
in the preceding financial year on account of unutilised input tax credit.
• Rule 89B blocks utilisation of ITC beyond 99% of the output liability, for businesses having
taxable turnover of more than Rs 50 lakh per month.

82. BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) Movers and Shakers 2020 report has
been released by Wizikey.
• The report talks about the top-100 banks in India and emerging BFSI models such as
wallets and UPI, Neobanks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), small finance
banks and payments banks.
• Top 10 banks in 2020 - HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Yes Bank, PNB, HSBC Bank, Kotak Mahindra
Bank, Bank of Baroda, Deutsche Bank and IDBI.
• Top 10 wallets / UPI - Google Pay followed by PhonePe
• Top Neobank – SBI YONO, followed by Niyo and Kotak 811
• Top NBFC - Dewan Housing Finance Corporation

83. DBS Bank India has introduced ‘Travel Now’, a one-stop travel marketplace within the
digibank app.
• Customers can browse and book flights, bus tickets and hotels across hundreds of
destinations within and outside of India.
• The customers can also avail travel insurance, offered by Bharti AXA General Insurance,
on this platform.

129
84. Tata Sons announced to acquire 32.67% stake in AirAsia India from Malaysian AirAsia
Group Bhd.
• Tata Sons’ holding in the AirAsia increased up to 83.67%.

GDP FORECASTS
1. RBI’s monetary policy committee’s decision as of December 4, 2020.
• Policy Rates unchanged.
• Accommodative Stance maintained.
• GDP growth rate – (-) 7.5% for FY21
• CPI inflation - 6.8% for Q3 and 5.8% for Q4 of FY21
Major announcements:

• RTGS will be made 24X7 in the next few days.

• AMPS, NFS, Rupay and UPI transactions will be allowed on 7 days of the week against
five days of the week earlier.
• Limits for contactless payments enhanced from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 at the discretion of
the user from January.

2. In its ‘Global Economic Outlook’, Fitch Ratings has forecasted a -9.4% GDP growth rate
for India for FY21.
• Reason - GDP in Q2 of FY21 fell 7.5%, up from -23.9% in the April-June quarter. This
shows a sharp recovery.

India’s GDP projections Global GDP projections

130
 FY21: -9.4% FY21: -3.7%

FY22: 11% FY22: 5.3%

FY23: 6.3% FY23: 4.0%

3. In its Asian Development Outlook December 2020 update, Asian Development Bank
(ADB) has forecasted a GDP growth rate of -8% for India in 2020-21 as compared to 9%
estimated earlier.
• South Asia’s GDP growth rate for FY21: (-) 6.1%
• South Asia’s GDP growth rate for 2021-22: 7.2%

4. OECD has forecasted India’s GDP growth rate at -9.9% in 2020-21.

• For 2021-22 – 7.9%
• For 2022-23 – 4.8%
• China is projected to grow strongly, accounting for over one-third of world economic growth
in 2021. Chinese economy will grow 1.8% this year, 8% in 2021 and 4.9% in 2022.
• OECD countries will grow at 3.3% in 2021, which indicates a partial recovery from the deep
2020 recession.

131
5. S&P Global Ratings has increased India's GDP growth rate of (-) 7.7% for FY21.
• India's GDP growth rate for FY22: 10%.
• In its Global Economic Outlook, Fitch had revised its growth forecast for India to (-) 9.4%
for FY21.
• Fitch’s FY22 India’s growth rate – 11% and FY23 - 6.3%
• It also revised up its annual world GDP growth forecast for 2021, to 5.3%. For 2021-22, the
GDP growth is 4% for the world.

6. CRISIL has forecasted a GDP growth rate of -7.7% for India in FY21.
• GDP will grow by 10% in FY22.

7. India’s GDP growth is expected to shrink 7.4% in FY21, according to SBI’s Ecowrap report.
• FY22 GDP growth is forecast at 11%.

8. ICRA has forecasted India’s GDP to contract 7.8% in FY21.

9. Japanese company Nomura projected India’s GDP growth rate at -7.1% in 2020 and 9.9% in
2021, in its Asia 2021 Outlook report.
• India will be the fastest growing Asian economy in 2021.

10. National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has released the mid-term
review of Indian Economy for FY21.
• India’s GDP for FY21 – (-) 7.3%
• Q3 growth rate – (+) 0.1%
• Q4 growth rate – (+) 2%
• Annual CPI inflation for FY21 – 6.7%
• Fiscal deficit for states and centre together for FY21 – 14% of GDP

132
11. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised India's GDP estimate for FY21 to -7.8%
from -11.8 per cent earlier.

12. According to Ministry of statistics and programme implementation, India’s GDP

contracted 7.5% in Q2.
• Q1 contraction was 23.9%.

APPOINTMENTS
1. Academy Award-winning music composer AR Rahman has been appointed as the
ambassador of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ (BAFTA) ‘Breakthrough
Initiative’.
• The ‘Breakthrough Initiative’, supported by Netflix, aims to identify, celebrate, and
support up to five talented individuals working in film, games, or TV in India.
• BAFTA Breakthrough India will help facilitate the development of relationships between
British talent and India’s homegrown creatives.

2. Bata (footwear maker) has promoted its India CEO Sandeep Kataria as the head of Bata
globally.
• Kataria is the first Indian to head BATA at the global level.

3. N. Ramachandran (CEO of Indian Triathlon Federation) was elected member of the World
Triathlon audit committee at the World Triathlon Congress.

4. Prof Sangita Srivastava has been appointed as the first woman Vice-Chancellor of
Allahabad University.

133
5. M. Nethra (aged 13) from Tamil Nadu has been appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador of
the United Nations Association for Development and Peace (UNADAP) for her role in
feeding the poor during the COVID-19 lockdown.

6. Kuldeep Handoo (Wushu Coach of Team India) has been appointed as the Ambassador of
‘Fit India’ movement (launched in 2019).
• Handoo is the first Dronacharya Awardee from the Jammu and Kashmir UT.

7. Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhary has been appointed as the 27th Director General of
Border Roads Organisation.

8. Heidi Alberta Hulan has been appointed as the Chairperson of International Atomic
Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors for 2020–2021.

9. Mr. Shrikant Madhav Vaidya (Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation) has been appointed as the
First Vice-President of World LPG Association (WLPGA).

10. Debendranath Sarangi (President of Squash Rackets Federation of India) has been elected
as one of the three vice-presidents of the World Squash Federation.

134
 • Ms. Zena Wooldridge (England) was elected the president.

11. Uday Shankar has been appointed as the President of FICCI for 2020-21.
• Shankar is the President of The Walt Disney Company for Asia Pacific and the Chairman of
Star and Disney India.

12. Indian-American Doctor Vivek Murthy has been appointed as the Surgeon General in Joe
Biden's Health Team.

Health team of Joe Biden

Chief Medical Adviser to the President on Dr Anthony Fauci

COVID-19

Director of the Centers for Disease Control Dr Rochelle Walensky

and Prevention

COVID-19 Equity Task Force Chair Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith

13. Justice Rajesh Bindal has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of the High Court of
J&K and Ladakh.
• He succeeds Justice Gita Mittal who became the first female Chief Justice of the High
Court of J&K in August 2018.

14. Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd has appointed Malavika Hegde as the CEO.
• She is the wife of founder of Coffee Day, late V.G. Siddhartha.

15. WHO Foundation (HQ - Geneva) has appointed Indian-origin global health expert Anil Soni
as its first Chief Executive Officer.

135
 • The foundation was set up in May 2020 to complement the World Health Organization’s
efforts (WHO) in addressing urgent global health challenges. It is an independent grant-
making agency.
• The foundation aims to raise $1 billion in three years to support global health initiatives.
• Soumya Swaminathan (Chief Scientist at WHO) is another Indian-origin person at a high
stature within WHO. She joined in 2017.

16. United Spirits Ltd (India’s top liquor company) has appointed Hina Nagarajan as its MD and
CEO w.e.f., 1 July 2021.

17. RBI has approved the re-appointment of Kotak Mahindra Bank's founder Uday Kotak as MD
and CEO of the bank for a period of three years with effect from January 1, 2021.
• Re-appointment of Prakash Apte as part -time chairman and Dipak Gupta as joint
managing director was also approved.

18. Shashi Shekhar Vempati (CEO of Prasar Bharati) has been appointed as the Vice-President
of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.
• Current President – Ibrahim Eren

19. US private equity firm KKR has promoted its India CEO Sanjay Nayar to the post of chairman
of KKR India.

20. Prasanth Prabhakaran has been promoted as the MD & CEO at YES Securities.

21. Arya Rajendran (aged 21) has become the youngest mayor of the country after her election
to the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, Kerala, at age 21.
• She belongs to Communist Party of India (Marxist).

136
22. Dr Harsh Vardhan (Minister of Health and Family Welfare) has been appointed as a member
of the Board of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) as replacement for
Mr. Myint Htwe of Myanmar.
• Vardhan will be representing the South East Area Regional Office (SEARO)/ Western
Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) constituency on the GAVI Board.
• Tenure – 1st January 2021 to 31st December 2023.
• Chair of the GAVI Alliance Board – Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-lweala
• GAVI HQ - Geneva, Switzerland

IMPORTANT DAYS
1. World AIDS Day is observed on December 1.
• US’s AIDS agency, HIV.gov’s theme for this day - ‘Ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic:
resilience and impact’
• WHO’s & UN’s theme for this day in 2020 – “Global solidarity, resilient HIV services”.

Global Targets:

• By 2030, WHO wants to make the lifesaving antiretroviral therapy (ART) accessible to
every PLHIV (people living with HIV). The goal is to end AIDS by 2030.
• 2020 global target is to achieve reduction in new HIV infections and AIDS deaths to
below 5 lakhs in a year.

137
 o But in 2019, there were 17 lakhs newly­ infected people with HIV and 6.9 lakh
AIDS deaths worldwide.
• Targets for HIV for 2020 – 90% of PLHIV know their status, 90% of them are on life­
saving ART and 90% of those on ART are virally suppressed, before the end of 2020.
UNAIDS Report 2020:

• Title – “Prevailing Against Pandemics: By Putting People At The Centre”.

• According to UNAIDS Report 2020, Asia Pacific region saw a 12% decline in new HIV
infections and a 29% decline in AIDS- related deaths over the last decade. The
maximum decline in new infections was in India at 66%.
UNICEF’s World AIDS Day Report 2020:

• Title – “Reimagining a resilient HIV response for children, adolescents and pregnant
women living with HIV”.

2. National Pollution Control Day is observed on December 2 by India.

• Theme - raise awareness about the importance of pollution control measures and to
educate people on how to prevent pollution.
• The day is observed in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Bhopal Gas
tragedy in 1984.

138
3. International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed on December 3 by UN.
• Theme - Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post
COVID-19 World.

4. Indian Navy day is observed on December 4 every year to commemorate the launch of
Operation Trident against Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak War.
• Theme of 2020 – “Indian Navy Combat Ready, Credible & Cohesive”

5. First ever International Day of Banks is observed on December 4 by UN.

6. World Soil Day is observed on December 5.

• Theme - Keep Soil Alive, Protect Soil Biodiversity

7. International Volunteer Day is observed on December 5 every year by UN.

• Theme - Together We Can Through Volunteering

8. International Civil Aviation Day is observed on December 7 by ICAO (a UN body).

• Theme - “Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development”.
• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has decided to keep the same theme
until the year 2023.

9. International Human Rights Day is observed on December 10 by UN.

• 2020 Theme: Recover Better - Stand Up for Human Rights

10. International Universal Health Coverage Day is observed on December 12 by UN.

139
 • Theme - Health for All: Protect Everyone
• The theme focuses on to promoting investment in health systems.
• On this day, India released National Health Family Survey- 5 for 2019-20, covering 17
states and 5 UTs. The survey reveals health, nutrition, and population details of India.
• This is the Phase 1 of the survey. Phase 2, covering 12 States and 2 UTs, is expected to
be completed by May 2021.
Key highlights of the survey:

ª Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) slipped in 15 states and UTs in comparison to NFHS-4
(2015-16)
ª Under-5 and infant mortality rate (IMR) – reduced in 18 states and UTs in comparison
to 2015-16.
ª U-5 underweight and wasting – increased in 16 states & UTs in comparison to 2015-
16.
o Wasting percentage increased in U-5 children in 12 states and UTs in
comparison to NFHS-4.
ª U-5 stunting – increased in 13 states and UTs in comparison to 2015-16.
ª U-5 overweight – increased in 20 states and UTs
ª Vaccination coverage among children age 12-23 months across all states/UTs
improved.
ª Sex Ratio (females per 1,000 males) – increased in 17 states
o Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir
and Ladakh saw a drop in sex ratio of the total population.
ª The fertility rate has further declined, contraceptive use has increased and unmet need
(of females for contraceptive methods) has been reduced in most Phase I states.
ª Total Fertility Rate (TFR) – All the 17 states analysed, except for Bihar, Manipur and
Meghalaya, have a TFR of 2.1 or less.
ª In all the states, anaemia is much higher among women as compared to men.

140
 ª Female sterilisation continues to dominate as the modern method of contraception in
states like Andhra Pradesh (98 per cent), Telangana (93 per cent), Kerala (88 per cent),
Karnataka (84 per cent), Bihar (78 per cent) and Maharashtra (77 per cent).
ª Child marriages – increased in Tripura (40.1% from 33.1% in 2015-16), Manipur (16.3%
from 13.7%) and Assam (31.8% from 30.8%), while West Bengal (41.6%) and Bihar
(40.8%) still have high prevalence of child marriages.
ª Teenage pregnancies – increased in many states.
ª Spousal violence – Karnataka witnessed the largest increase in spousal violence, from
20.6 per cent in NFHS 4 to 44.4 per cent in NFHS-5.
ª Sexual violence has increased in five states (Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra,
Meghalaya and West Bengal)
Note: The comprehensive survey is covered in PIB December 2020 monthly PDF.

141
11. Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the Ministry of Power, celebrates National Energy
Conservation Day on December 14.

12. International Migrants Day is observed on December 18 by UN.

• Theme - Reimagining Human Mobility
• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families was adopted by UN on 18 Dec. 1990.
• The convention entered into force in 2003.

13. India observes National Minority Rights Day on December 18.

• In 1992, National Commission for Minorities was set up by the Government of India.
• The Ministry of Minority Affairs was established in 2006.

14. National Mathematics Day is observed every year on December 22 by India to honour the
legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar on his birthday.
• CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources,
Ministry of Earth Sciences, and Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) jointly organised the inaugural

142
 session of Vigyanika-International Science Literature Festival virtually to mark the birth
anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan.
• It is a part of the 6th India International Science Festival 2020, being held virtually. The
central theme of the IISF 2020 is “Science for Self-Reliant India and Global Welfare”.

15. National Farmers’ Day (Kisan Diwas) is celebrated across the country on December 23 since
2001, to honour India’s farmers and mark the birth anniversary of the nation’s fifth prime
minister, Choudhary Charan Singh.

16. National Consumer Rights Day is observed on 24 December every year in India.
• Theme - New features of consumer protection act, 2019
• On this day, Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was enacted on this day.
Note: As per some newspapers – The Sustainable Consumer is the theme for 2020.

17. National Good Governance Day is observed on December 25 by India to mark the birthday
of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924).

18. UN observed the first ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on 27 December
2020.

AWARDS
1. 12th Infosys Prize 2020 have been announced by Infosys Science Foundation (ISF).

Categories Winner

Physical Sciences Arindam Ghosh from IISc-Bengaluru

Life Sciences Rajan Sankaranarayanan from the Centre for

Cellular and Molecular Biology

143
 Humanities Prachi Deshpande from the Centre for Studies
in Social Sciences (Kolkata)

Engineering and Computer Science Professor Hari Balakrishnan from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mathematical Sciences Sourav Chatterjee from Stanford University

Social Sciences Professor Raj Chetty from Harvard University

2. Indian-American Gitanjali Rao (aged 15) has been named as the first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’
for by TIME magazine for her “addressing issues like contaminated drinking water, opioid
addiction, and cyberbullying through technology.
• She is a “brilliant” young scientist and inventor.

3. Naseeruddin Shah has been honoured with Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikhar Puraskar
2020.
• Theme for this year's awards – "Theatre".

4. Ranjitsingh Disale (primary school teacher from Maharashtra) won the Global Teacher Prize
2020 (with $1 million prize money) in recognition of his efforts to promote girls' education.
• He is also credited for triggering a quick-response (QR) coded textbook revolution in India.

144
 • He has been teaching at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Paritewadi village in Solapur
district.
• Varkey Foundation gives this Global Teacher Award.

5. ICAR- Indian Institute of Soil Science (Bhopal) has won the 'International King Bhumibol
World Soil Day Award' from the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• Reason - for raising awareness about importance of soil health. The institute also observed
Agriculture Education Day (Dec 3) with a theme to create soil health awareness amongst
the students.
• Glinka World Soil Champion prize is given to Mr Luca Montanarella from the European
Commission.

Ø ICAR designated December 3rd as the Agriculture Education Day to commemorate the
birth anniversary of first President of Independent India and Union Minister of Agriculture,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
Ø The day aims to create awareness among the students about agriculture. The day is
observed in ICAR institutes.

6. 'Invest India' has won the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award given by
UNCTAD.
• "Invest India" was set up in 2009 as a non-profit venture under the Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• It is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India and acts as
the first point of reference for investors in India.

7. Adar Poonawalla (CEO of Serum Institute of India), is among the six people who are named
as "Asians of the Year" by Singapore's leading daily, The Straits Times for their work in
fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

145
 • Pune- based SII is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. SII has collaborated with
the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca (British-Swedish pharmaceutical company)
for making the COVID-19 vaccine, “Covidshield”.
• Collectively, these people are referred to as "the virus busters".
• SII was founded by Poonawalla's father Cyrus Poonawalla in 1966.

Other Asians of the Year

Chinese researcher Zhang
Yongzhen, who led the team
that mapped and published
online the first complete
genome of Sars-CoV-2.
China's Major-General Chen South Korean businessman Seo
Wei, Japan's Dr Ryuichi Jung-jin
Morishita and Singapore's
Professor Ooi Eng Eong, for
developing vaccines against
the virus.

8. World record-breakers Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela have
been named the male and female World Athletes of the Year at the World Athletics Awards
2020.
• Other awardees:
o Covid Inspiration Award – Ultimate Garden Clash (a pole vault competition mooted
by Renaud Lavillenie)
o President’s Award – Tommie Smith, Peter Norman and John Carlos
Note: important awards are mentioned above. The complete list is on –
https://www.worldathletics.org/awards/news/world-athletes-year-2020-duplantis-rojas

9. Anita Anand's 'The Patient Assassin' book has won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman history prize
2020. The award is given by PEN Literary Foundation.
• The book is based on Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
• Anand is a British Indian journalist and author.

146
10. Goldman Environmental Prize (aka Green Nobel Prize) honours grassroots environmental
heroes each from the world’s six continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands & Island Nations,
North America, and South & Central America.
• The award is given by Goldman Environmental Foundation (based in US). 2020
Winners:

Chibeze Ezekiel, Ghana Kristal Ambrose, The Leydy Pech, Mexico (North
(Africa) Bahamas (Central America) America)

Lucie Pinson, France Nemonte Nenquimo, Paul Sein Twa, Myanmar

(Europe) Ecuador (South America) (Asia)

11. Forbes has released the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” 2020.
• First ranker – Angela Markel (German Chancellor)
• Second ranker – Christine Lagarde (President of the European Central Bank)
• Third ranker – Kamala Harris (US Vice President-elect)
• Fourth ranker – Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission president)
• Fifth ranker – Melinda Gates (American philanthropist)
• Seventh ranker – Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the United States House of Representatives)
• Indian rankers – Nirmala Sitharaman at 41st; Kiran Mazumdar- Shaw at 68th (founder &
CEO of Biocon).

147
12. Businessperson of the Year 2020 list was released by Fortune.
• 1st ranker – Elon Musk (Tesla CEO) for a 2nd term
• Indians in Top 10 – Shantanu Narayen (Adobe CEO) at 8th and Ajay Banga (Mastercard
CEO) at 9th rank.

13. Raj Kamal Jha has won the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2020 for his “The City and
the Sea”.
• Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the late Sultan of Oman and The People of Oman, and
choreographer Sandip Soparrkar from India received the Tagore Prize for Social
Achievement.

14. FICCI presented the India Sports Awards 2020 during the 10th Global Sports Summit -
TURF 2020 organized by FICCI.

148
 • The summit comprised of India's first virtual global sports and fitness exhibition, along
with the international conference on business of sports.
• Mr Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports (I/C) announced that the Govt
will start 1000 Khelo India centres across country to help retired sportspersons with
employment.

Category Winner

FICCI Sportsperson of the Year (Male) Bajrang Punia (Wrestler)

FICCI Sportsperson of the Year (Female) Elavenil Valarivan (shooter)

Best State for promoting sports Madhya Pradesh

Best Company promoting Sports in the Private Tenvic Sports (Anil Kumble’s company)
Sector

Coach of the year Radhakrishnan Nair (athletics)

Best National Sports Federation Wrestling Federation of India and Paralympic

Committee of India

Best Para-athlete (Male) Sundar Singh Gujar (Javelin thrower, shot

putter, discus thrower)

Best Para-athlete (Female) Simran Sharma (athlete)

15. US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been chosen as
Time magazine's 2020 "Person of the Year". They both feature with the subtitle "Changing
America's story."
• Time’s Athlete of the Year – LeBron James (Basketball superstar)
• Time’s Entertainer of the Year – BTS (a South Korean boy band).

149
16. Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians 2020 has been awarded to Carolina Araujo –
Mathematician from the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil – for her work in algebraic geometry.
• She has become the first non-Indian to receive this prize.
• Ms Araujo is also the Vice President of the Committee for Women in Mathematics at the
International Mathematical Union (IMU). Prof. Carlos Kenig is the President of IMU.
• The prize is awarded annually to a researcher from a developing country; funded by the
Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) in collaboration with International
Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International Mathematical Union.
• Age limit for this award – less than 45 years.
• Instituted by – DST in the memory of Srinivasa Ramanujan (mathematician)

17. UNESCO has decided to launch an international prize in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman in the field of ‘creative economy’ w.e.f., November 2021.
• Prize money - $ 50,000
• Field - Individuals working for creative economy.
• It will be given one in two years for global economic initiatives of the youth.
• UNESCO has declared 2021 as ‘International Year of Creative Economy for
Sustainable Development’.
• Currently, there are 23 UNESCO International Awards in the name of international
celebrities and organisations.

18. Vidyut Mohan has won United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) YOUNG
Champions of the Earth for 2020, along with six other winners from different regions of the
world.

150
 • Reason – for developing a portable machine which burns agricultural waste without
releasing GHG into the atmosphere, turning it into charcoal and fertilizer which can be used
by farmers in India.

19. UNEP has also announced the winners of Champions of the Earth 2020 award (UN’s highest
environmental honour).
• The award is given in 5 categories. Winners:
Category Winner

Lifetime Achievement Award Robert Bullard (USA)

Policy Leadership Award Frank Bainimarama (Prime Minister Of Fiji)

Inspiration And Action Award Yacouba Sawadogo (Burkina Faso)

&

Nemonte Nenquimo (Ecuador)

Science And Innovation Award Dr. Fabian Leendertz

151
 Entrepreneurial Vision Award Mindy Lubber

20. Forbes’ list of The World’s 100 Highest-Paid Celebrities 2020 has been released.
• Akshay Kumar is at 52nd rank. He is the only Indian in the list.

21. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has been awarded with the prestigious Golden
Peacock Environment Management Award 2020 in the Steel Sector by the Institute of
Directors.
• The award encourages corporates to enhance their environmental performance.
• SAIL has been getting this award for two consecutive years.

22. Department of Posts has given the Meghdoot Awards for Excellence in Postal Services
2020.
Category Winner

General Category for Grameen Daksevak Kirtan Nayak

Technology Excellence VM Shaktivelu

Best Women Employee Rinchen

23. FIFA Football Awards 2020:

152
 • Best Men's Player of The Year – Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Bayern Munich
• Best Women's Player Award – Lucy Bronze (England), Manchester City defender
Other Awards

Best Coach Award (Men’s) Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

Sarina Wiegman
Best Coach Award (Women’s) (first person to win The Best FIFA Women's
Coach Award for a second time.)

Best Men's Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer

Best Women's Goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi

24. 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation has been
presented.
Categories Winners

Lai Cho Wo Rural Cultural Landscape in Hong

Special Recognition for Sustainable Kong SAR, China
Development (new category introduced in
&
2020)
Sunder Nursery of New Delhi

Koothambalam at Guruvayoor Temple,

Award of Distinction
Thrissur, Kerala, India

Pingyao Diesel Engine Factory, Shanxi, China

&
Award of Merit
Amar Singh College, Srinagar, India

&

153
 Malabari Hall Building, Seva Sadan Society,
Mumbai, India

Protective Shelter at the Locality 1

New Design in Heritage Contexts Archaeological Site of Zhoukoudian Peking
Man Cave World Heritage Site, Beijing, China

Award of Excellence Sunder Nursery

25. Srinivasan Karanam (Bangalore) won the first prize of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay
Telecom Skill Excellence Award 2018.
• Subrat Kar has won second prize of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Telecom Skill
Excellence Award 2018 for developing an innovative solution to avoid train-animal
collision, thereby helping in wildlife conservation.
• Subrat Kar is the Professor at Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and
Management and Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Delhi.
• The system under the pilot phase is installed in Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand to
prevent elephant deaths by train-elephant collision.

26. NTPC ltd has been conferred “Excellence” in the prestigious 15th CII-ITC Sustainability
Awards 2020 in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Domain.
• Also, it has been honoured in the Corporate Excellence Category, Commendation for
Significant Achievement.
• This is the highest award conferred by CII-ITC in CSR domain. NTPC is the only PSU to
receive the award in the Corporate Excellence category.
• NTPC wins the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Awards in Corporate Excellence category
second time in a row i.e. in the year 2019 and 2020.

154
27. US President Donald Trump has conferred the Legion of Merit, one of America’s highest
military honours, on PM Narendra Modi for improving ties between India and US, and for
accelerating emergence of India as a global power.
• The Legion of Merit was also awarded to Australian PM Scott Morrison and former PM
of Japan Shinzo Abe.
• The award was received on behalf of the Prime Minister by Indian Ambassador to the US
Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

28. Air Force Sports Control Board (AFSCB) has won the FICCI India Sports Award 2020 in
the category of “Best Company Promoting Sports (Public Sector) 2020”.
• AFSCB was also conferred with ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar’ in Aug 2020 for
‘Employment of Sports Persons and Sports Welfare measures’ for its contribution towards
development of a sporting environment across the country.
Note: FICCI India Awards are covered in Dec 11 and 12, 2020 doc.

29. ICC Awards of the Decade 2020 announced:

Individual Awards

ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the Decade MS Dhoni

Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Virat Kohli

Cricketer of the Decade

Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for ICC Female Ellyse Perry

Cricketer of the Decade

ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Decade Steve Smith

ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade Virat Kohli

ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Decade Ellyse Perry

ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade Rashid Khan

155
 ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade Ellyse Perry

ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Decade Kyle Coetzer

ICC Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Kathryn Bryce

Decade

Team of the Decade Awards

ICC Men’s Test Team of the Decade Virat Kohli’s team

ICC Men's ODI Team of the Decade MS Dhoni’s team

ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Decade Meg Lanning’s team

ICC Men’s T20I Team of The Decade MS Dhoni’s team

ICC Women's T20I Team of the Decade Meg Lanning

30. Visakhapatnam has been selected as the Best Performing Municipal Corporation in the
annual awards announced by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for
implementing the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.
• Andhra Pradesh is the third ‘best performing State’ in the implementation of the PMAY-
U. Uttar Pradesh won the first prize, while Madhya Pradesh is second.
• The state also bagged awards for Project Monitoring Tools and Innovative Construction
Technology under special awards category.
• Mirzapur Nagar Palika Parishad (NPP) was adjudged the best performing urban local
body in constructing houses under the scheme.
• Malihabad Nagar Panchayat (NP) in Lucknow bagged the first position in the panchayat
category of local body.

31. President of India has presented the 6th edition of Digital India Awards, 2020.

156
 • These awards have been instituted under the National Portal of India under the Ministry of
Electronics and IT.
Categories Winners

Innovation in Pandemic Platinum Icon : eSanjeevani - National

Telemedicine Services

Gold Icon :COVID-19 Sample Collection

Management System

Silver Icon : Aapda Sampoorti Portal

Silver Icon :Pravasi Shramik and Rojgar Setu

Portal

Excellence in digital governance – ministry/ Platinum Icon :eCommittee Supreme Court of

department India, Department of Justice

Gold Icon :Department of Posts

Excellence in digital governance – state/ UT Platinum Icon :Haryana

Gold Icon :Tamil Nadu

Excellence in digital governance – district Platinum Icon :Khargone, Madhya Pradesh

Gold Icon :Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh

Open Data Champion Platinum Icon : Department of Health and

Family Welfare

Exemplary product Platinum Icon :Port Community System PCS1x

- National Maritime Single Window

Jury choice AarogyaSetu

eOffice

157
32. Institute of Engineering and Technology conferred the Eminent Engineer’s Award 2020
upon VK Yadav (Chairman and 1st CEO of Railway board).

33. Senior scientist Hemant Kumar Pandey has won the DRDO’s Scientist of the Year Award
2018 for his contribution in developing several herbal medicines, including the popular drug
Lukoskin meant for treatment of leucoderma.
• Pandey is the working at the Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER), Haldwani,
Uttarakhand.

34. Global Soccer Awards 2020 given by Dubai Sports Council:

Category Winners

Player Of The Year 2020 Cristiano Ronaldo

Club Of The Year 2020 Bayern Munich

Coach Of The Year 2020 Jürgen Klopp

Player Of The Century 2001-2020 Cristiano Ronaldo

Club Of The Century 2001-2020 Real Madrid

Coach Of The Century 2001-2020 Josep Guardiola

Agent Of The Century 2001-2020 Jorge Mendes

35. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation Book Prize has been won by – author
Amit Ahuja’s Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements and
senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of VK
Krishna Menon.
• The award was established in 2018 and given by New India Foundation (Bangalore).

158
36. Rafael Nadal (Spain) has won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 2020 for the third
year in a row and fourth time in his career at the ATP Awards.
• Frances Tiafoe (American tennis player) was given the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian
Award for his social activity.
• World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (Serbian) was named as the top-ranked male player.
• Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) was the newcomer of the year.
• Vasek Pospisil (Canadian) is the comeback player of the year.

SPORTS
1. FIFA ranking (as on 26 November 2020):-
Men Women

Top – Belgium Top – USA

India – 104 India – 55

2. Jehan Daruvala (Indian driver) has created history by becoming the first Indian to win a
Formula 2 race during the Sakhir Grand Prix, Bahrain.
• Jehan was driving for Rayo Racing.
• Formula 1 race was won by Sergio Perez (Mexico).

159
3. FIFA has announced Japan as the host of Club World Cup format (smaller world cup format
of 7 teams) in December 2021.
• Qatar is set to host the 2020 FIFA World Cup in February, 2021.

4. Kenya's Kibiwott Kandie has made a world record in men's half-marathon in Valencia,
Spain in a time of 57 minutes 32 seconds.
• Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopian) won the women's race in 1:05:18.

5. For the first time, Breaking (official name for competitive breakdancing) will become an
Olympic sport at the 2024 Paris (Summer) Olympics.
• Surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing were also approved for Paris 2024. However,
all these three events will also be a part of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
• Paris Olympics will also have 28 gender-equal sports, out of 32 total, and 22 mixed events.

6. World Indoor Athletics Championships scheduled at Nanjing, China next year have been
postponed until March 2023.
• 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships has been scheduled in Belgrade, Serbia.

7. Sri Lanka will host Asia Cup (cricket) in 2021 and Pakistan will host it in 2022.
• The Asia Cup is organized under the aegis of Asian Cricket Council.

8. Yash Vardhan has won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle event at the 6th edition of the
International Online Shooting Championship (IOSC).
• The championship was organized by former India shooter Shimon Sharif.
• The second place was won by Martin Strempfl of Austria.

9. Olympic Council of Asia’s summer games upcoming hosts:

• 2022 Asian Games (19th edition) will be held in Hangzhou, China.
• 2026 Asian Games (20th edition) will be held in Nagoya- Aichi, Japan.

160
 • 2030 Asian Games (21st edition) will be held in Doha, Qatar.
• 2034 Asian Games (22nd edition) will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Additional Information:

• Olympic Council of Asia scheduled the 6th Asian Beach Games 2020 in Sanya,
China.
• 2021 Asian Youth Games will be organized in Shantou, China.
• 2021 Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games will be held in Bangkok, Chonburi Province
in Thailand.

10. Ministry of Sports has approved the inclusion of four Indigenous Games, along with
Yogansana, to be a part of Khelo India Youth Games 2021, scheduled to take place in
Haryana.

Thang-Ta (aka
Mallakhamba (state
Kalaripayattu (origin Huyen langlon is
Gatka (Punjab) sport of Madhya
- Kerala) an Indian martial
Pradesh)
art from Manipur)

• Mallakhamb will be a demonstration sport for the first time in the Tokyo Olympics.
• Yogesh Malviya (MP) became the first Dronacharya award winner from the field of
Mallakhamb in August 2020.
• MP and Maharashtra have been leading in Mallakhamb for the past several years.

11. China is hosting the next edition of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup (in
2023) in football.
• India is set to bid for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.

161
12. Ministries of AYUSH and Youth Affairs and Sports have recognized Yogasana as a
competitive sport.
• ‘National Individual Yogasana Sports Championship’ (virtual mode) is proposed to be
organised in February 2021.

13. Promising wrestler Anshu Malik won India’s first medal (a silver) at the ongoing Individual
World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia in the 57kg women’s freestyle final.
• This was Anshu’s third international tournament at the senior level and she has won a
medal in each of them – silver at Matteo Pellicone Memorial meet in Rome and bronze at
the Asian Wrestling Championships in Delhi.
• Gold was won by Anastasia Nichita (from Moldova, Europe).

14. Indian boxers bagged nine medals including three golds, two silver and four bronze at the
Cologne Boxing World Cup held in Koln, Germany.
• In terms of overall medal tally, India stands at 2nd position, preceded by Germany with 16
medals (incl. 3 gold).
• Indian Gold winners - Amit Panghal, Manisha Moun and Simranjit Kaur.

15. Fédération Internationale de Hockey’s (FIH) rankings as on December 23, 2020.

Men’s Women’s

Top 3 Top 3

Belgium Netherlands

Australia Argentina

Netherlands Germany

India’s rank - 4th India’s rank – 9th

162
 Indian Hockey Team’s captain – Manpreet Indian Hockey Team’s Captain – Rani
Singh Rampal

In January 2020, Rani Rampal becomes first

ever hockey player to win World Games
Athlete of the Year' award.

16. 2021 Asian Le Mans Series – Asian sports car racing endurance series – will be held at Abu
Dhabi, UAE in February next year.
• Narain Karthikeyan will lead an all - Indian line-up, which includes Arjun Maini and
Naveen Rao, for Racing Team India’s campaign in the 2021.

17. FIFA men's U-20 World Cup will be hosted by Indonesia in 2023.
• The FIFA men's U-17 World Cup will be hosted by Peru in 2023.
• The 2021 edition of both tournaments stand cancelled due to the effects of Covid-19.
• Australia and New Zealand will qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. FIFA
Women's World Cup will be played by 32 teams.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Mount Ili Lewotolok erupted in Indonesia.
• Indonesia’s active volcano Mount Semeru has also erupted.

2. Cyclone Burevi is expected to hit Tamil Nadu.

3. Cambridge Dictionary announced ‘quarantine’ as their Word of the Year for 2020.

4. Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, released “Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and his Government's Special Relationship with Sikhs” book on the
occasion of Gurupurab.

163
 • The book is published by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in English, Hindi and
Punjabi languages.

5. Indian Icon: A Cult Called Royal Enfield book has been authored by Amrit Raj.

6. 'Pandemic' has been chosen as the top word of 2020 by Merriam-Webster dictionary.

7. Alfredo Covelli (an Italian author) launched his new book Vahana Masterclass in India.
• Vahana Masterclass is Covelli’s first book in English, the first for the Indian market, and the
first for the children.

8. ‘Pandemic’ word has been chosen as the word of the year by Merriam-Webster and
Dictionary.com.

9. Singapore has become the first country to approve sales of lab-created cultured meat.
• It will be sold under the GOOD Meat brand.

10. IIT-Kanpur Researchers have developed ‘Damaru’ shaped Lattice that can be used in stealth
submarines and high speed trains. The lattice will prevent the stealth vehicle from getting
detected by enemy-radar.
• This has been developed under the SPARC scheme of Ministry of Education.
• “Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC)” was
launched in 2018 to increase collaboration between Indian institutes and world’s best
institutes to boost research.
• IIT-Kharagpur is the National Coordinating Institute to implement the SPARC
programme.

11. 40 Years with Abdul Kalam: Untold Stories book has been authored by Sivathanu Pillai.

164
 • The foreword of this book was written by the late Shri Pranab Mukherjee, former
President of India.

12. Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu virtually released a commemorative postage stamp to

honour former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral on his 101st birth anniversary.
• "Gujral Doctrine" – it is a set of principles that govern India’s relations with neighbouring
countries, given by IK Gujral.

13. Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has presented the first copy of his
book “Pioneer of Humanity: Maharshi Arvind” to President Ram Nath Kovind.
• The book is based on Maharshi Aurobindo.
• The book is in Hindi with the title ‘Manavta ke Praneta Maharishi Arvind’.

14. Dharma: Decoding the Epics for a Meaningful Life book has been authored by Amish
Tripathi and Bhavna Roy.
• It is Tripathi’s second non-fiction book. “Immortal India” was his first non-fiction.

15. Paolo Rossi, a hero of Italian football, has passed away.

16. Romancing Targets: Get Closer to Selling in 7 Steps book has been authored by Nidhi
Vadhera.

165
17. South Korean film director Kim Ki-duk has passed away.

18. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has published “Putting Farmers First” booklet
that details about various measures initiated by the BJP government since 2014 for farmer
welfare.

19. Gennova, Pune in collaboration with HDT Biotech Corporation, USA, developed India’s first
indigenous mRNA vaccine candidate named HGCO19.
• The company got grant under the Ind-CEPI mission of Department of Biotechnology.

20. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has launched 'The Shaurya Unbound' book to
commemorate the valour of its brave soldiers during the 2001 Parliament attack.
• Author – Nitu (CRPF DIG) and M. Dhinakaran
• The book was launched in Hindi with the title 'Samundar Samawe Boond Mein'.
• The book also mentions Constable Kamlesh Kumari. 2020 is the 19th anniversary of the
attack.

21. Indian aerospace scientist Roddam Narasimha has passed away.

• He authored “Developments in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology” book with APJ
Abdul Kalam.
• Last year, he received lifetime achievement award from Nature magazine in 2019 for
‘Mentoring in Science’.

22. Fourth volume of Late President of India Pranab Mukherjee’s memoirs, titled as “The
Presidential Years” will be released in January 2021.
• Mukherjee had previously penned three books "The Coalition Years" (2017), "The Turbulent
Years" (2016 ) and "The Dramatic Decade" (2014) - all parts of a trilogy detailing about his
political journey and experiences.

166
23. Narinder Singh Kapany (an Indian-American physicist and Sikh activist), also known as
Father of Fiber optics, has died.
• Kapany was the first person to transmit images through fiber optics back in 1954 and laid
the foundation for high speed internet technology.

24. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed the adoption of E20 fuel – a blend
of 20% ethanol with gasoline (petrol) – for vehicular use.
• E20 can be used as an alternative to the fuels currently available.
• Currently, only 10% of ethanol blend is permissible in India. However, in 2019, it only
reached 5.6%.

25. Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh has authored “The Light of Asia: The Poem that
Defined the Buddha” book, which showcases the story of Sir Edwin Arnold’s “The Light of
Asia” poem (1879).
• Ramesh won the 2020 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize for his book “A
Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of VK Krishna Menon”, along with Amit Ahuja’s
book “Mobilizing the Marginalised: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements”.

26. Covid-19 : Sabhyata Ka Sankat Aur Samadhan” book has been written by Kailash
Satyarthi.

27. Maharashtra govt has launched “Ayodhya” book written by state BJP vice president
Madhav Bhandari.

28. “In Pursuit of Justice: An Autobiography” is authored by Justice Rajindar Sachar.

167
QUESTIONS

168
 [d] Rajeev Ranjan
[e] Kavita Mansukhani
Q.1) Which company has got the contract to
install automatic fare collection (AFC) system Q.7) Who has won the Player of The Year 2020
gates at all metro stations in Delhi under the at Global Soccer Awards 2020?
National Common Mobility Card services? [a] Cristiano Ronaldo
[a] RailTel [b] Jürgen Klopp
[b] Bharat Electronics Limited [c] Josep Guardiola
[c] Google [d] Jorge Mendes
[d] Bharati Airtel [e] Lionel Messi
[e] Reliance
Q.8) Recently, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal
Q.2) Which company has launched India's first Corporation signed an MoU with UNDP India to
field ready electric tractor 'Tiger Electric'? co-create India’s first Social Impact Bond. Which
[a] New Holland state does this corporation belong to?
[b] Mahindra [a] Maharashtra
[c] HMT Limited [b] West Bengal
[d] Sonalika Tractor [c] Tamil Nadu
[e] TAFE [d] Telangana
[e] Uttar Pradesh
Q.3) Which country has launched ‘Yaogan-33’
remote sensing satellite? Q.9) Where will India and France conduct their
[a] China wargames codenamed Exercise SKYROS?
[b] Indonesia [a] Jaipur
[c] Thailand [b] Surat
[d] Hong Kong [c] Ahmedabad
[e] Taiwan [d] Jodhpur
[e] Jamnagar
Q.4) Who has become the youngest mayor of the
country after her election to the Q.10) Ministry for Science and Technology
Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation? launched the ‘Digital Ocean’ platform. It is the
[a] Sonam Zangpo Lhasungpa platform of which organization?
[b] S. Sudershan [a] Agharkar Research Institute
[c] Arya Rajendran [b] Indian Institute of Geomagnetism
[d] M. Maheshwari [c] Institute of Nano Science and Technology
[e] Mugdha Phorwar [d] Indian National Centre for Oceanic Information
Services
Q.5) When is the first ever International Day of [e] Raman Research Institute
Epidemic Preparedness observed?
[a] December 27 Q.11) Who is the CEO of UNICAS?
[b] December 23 [a] Anil Yadav
[c] December 18 [b] Dinesh Kukreja
[d] December 12 [c] Vipul Bansal
[e] December 5 [d] Ambrish Sharma
[e] B N Bhaskar
Q.6) Who won the DRDO’s Scientist of the Year
Award 2018? Q.12) Which has become the first bank to
[a] Rakesh Kumar collaborate with Google Pay to issue FASTag?
[b] Hemant Kumar Pandey [a] HDFC Bank
[c] Chanakya Kelkar
[b] ICICI Bank [a] Gujarat
[c] Axis Bank [b] Chhattisgarh
[d] SBI [c] Madhya Pradesh
[e] Bank of Baroda [d] Kerala
[e] Arunachal Pradesh
Q.13) Who has been appointed as a member of
the Board of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Q.18) Who heads the committee formed by
Immunisation for representing the South East Department of Science and Technology to use
Area Regional Office / Western Pacific Regional futuristic and new-age technologies for
Office constituency? conservation of Indian heritage?
[a] Harsh Vardhan, India [a] B.K. Murthy
[b] Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka [b] Rakesh Maheshwari
[c] Adham Baba, Malaysia [c] Arvind Kumar
[d] Shinzo Abe, Japan [d] Santanu Chaudhury
[e] Zahid Maleque, Bangladesh [e] Jatinder Singh

Q.14) Who is the author of A Chequered Q.19) Which of the following organization has
Brilliance: The Many Lives of VK Krishna Menon? developed India’s first indigenous Ruthenium 106
[a] Shashi Tharoor plaque technique for treating eye cancer (Ocular
[b] Meenakshi Lekhi Tumours)?
[c] Sitharam Yechuri [a] All India Institute of Medical Sciences
[d] Jairam Ramesh [b] Jawahar Lal Institute of Post Graduate Medical
[e] Harivansh Narayan Singh Education & Research
[c] National Institute of Biologicals
Q.15) Where is the highest meteorological centre [d] IHBAS
in India located? [e] Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
[a] Ladakh
[b] Arunachal Pradesh Q.20) Recently, Indian Oil Corporation has
[c] Himachal Pradesh launched India’s first remote monitoring and
[d] J&K operation centre for tracking of refinery gas
[e] Uttarakhand turbines across all its refineries in __?
[a] Surat
Q.16) Where is India’s first pollinator park [b] Hyderabad
located? [c] Ahmedabad
[a] Kerala [d] Kuttoor
[b] Karnataka [e] Kozhikode
[c] Andhra Pradesh
[d] Odisha Q.21) With which IIT has Common Services
[e] Uttarakhand Center (CSC) Academy partnered to set up
‘Design and Innovation in VLE’s Indigenous
Q.17) Which state has announced to set up Network Ecosystem (DIVINE) Lab’, to help rural
India’s first ethanol plant under the public-private entrepreneurs?
partnership (PPP) model? [a] IIT-Mysore

170
[b] IIT-Delhi financial services and insurance) Movers and
[c] IIT-Kharagpur Shakers 2020 report. Which of the following
[d] IIT-Roorkee organization released this report?
[e] IIT-Madras [a] Wizikey
[b] IHS Markit
Q.22) What is the target of Gujarat Solar Power [c] Neilsen
Policy 2021 by the year 2022? [d] Nomura
[a] 30,000 MW [e] IBEF
[b] 10,000 MW
[c] 22,000 MW Q.27) Which bank has introduced ‘Travel Now’, a
[d] 50,000 MW one-stop travel marketplace within the digibank
[e] 55,000 MW app?
[a] Bank of India
Q.23) Which of the following is India's first [b] DBS Bank India
indigenously designed and developed air [c] Citi India
droppable container? [d] Barclays Bank
[a] Astra MK-II [e] Deutsche Bank India
[b] 1B1 INSAS
[c] IMI Tavor TAR-21 Q.28) Which of the following company has
[d] SAHAYAK-NG announced to acquire 32.67% stake in AirAsia
[e] SAF Carbine 2A1 India from Malaysian AirAsia Group Bhd?
[a] Spice Jet
Q.24) What is the name of the portal launched by [b] Indigo
Ministry of External Affairs to connect with Indian [c] GoAir
diaspora? [d] Tata Sons
[a] Pravasi Rishta [e] Air India
[b] Pravasi Gathbandan
[c] Pravasi Suhad Q.29) Where is the headquarters of Global
[d] Pravasi Sambandh Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation located?
[e] Pravasi Samjhuata [a] Geneva
[b] Vienna
Q.25) Recently, Ministry of Finance has [c] Lucerne
mandated businesses with monthly turnover of [d] Davos
over Rs 50 lakhs to mandatorily pay at least ___ [e] Amsterdam
per cent of their GST liability in cash?
[a] 2% Q.30) With which sport was Nikhil Nandy related
[b] 3% to?
[c] 5% [a] Badminton
[d] 1% [b] Squash
[e] 0.5% [c] Tennis
[d] Motor sport
Q.26) SBI YONO has been ranked as the Top [e] Football
NEO-bank of India in 2020 in the BFSI (banking,

171
Q.31) Who is the president of the Rice Exporters [e] POWERCHINA
Association of India?
[a] Manish Karmarkar Q.36) What is the rank of Amul as per the Dairy
[b] B.V. Krishna Rao Processors Report 2020?
[c] Deepak Sajwan [a] Tenth
[d] Y.S. Rawat [b] Fourteenth
[e] Manju Sharma [c] Eighth
[d] Sixth
Q.32) Which Indian company has partnered with [e] Fifth
Rolls-Royce (British aerospace and defence
company) for mutual cooperation in the field of Q.37) Which bank has launched loan
civil aerospace manufacturing? management solution called 'LenS-The Lending
[a] Infosys Solution' for all kinds of loans — MSME,
[b] Dell Technology agriculture, retail and other credit?
[c] GRSE [a] Punjab National Bank
[d] L&T [b] Axis Bank
[e] HAL [c] HDFC Bank
[d] State Bank of India
Q.33) Which of the following is the best [e] Canara Bank
performing police station in India, as per the latest
ranking of Ministry of Home Affairs? Q.38) Which of the following state has received
[a] Jhilmili police station loan of $562.8 million for power projects from
[b] Sanguem police station Asian Development Bank?
[c] Kalighat police station [a] Uttar Pradesh
[d] Nongpok Sekmai police station [b] Meghalaya
[e] Khanvel police station [c] Tripura
[d] Both A and B
Q.34) Which organization has released the “State [e] Both A and C
of the Global Climate 2020” report?
[a] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Q.39) What is the rank of Indian men’s football
[b] World Meteorological Organization team in FIFA?
[c] National Center for Atmospheric Research [a] 104
[d] National Oceanic and Atmospheric [b] 78
Administration [c] 56
[e] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [d] 108
[e] 170
Q.35) Which of the following company has
announced to build first downstream dam on the Q.40) Who is the writer of Vahana Masterclass?
lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo? [a] Umberto Eco
[a] Alcoa Power Generating [b] Antonio Tabucchi
[b] Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam [c] Alfredo Covelli
[c] Northeast Electric Power Company [d] Paolo Giordano
[d] Alabama Power [e] Aldo Busi

172
 [c] Advanced Systems Laboratory and Centre for
Q.41) Which company has launched India’s first Personnel Talent Management
100 Octane petrol? [d] Aerial Delivery Research and Development
[a] Bharat Petroleum Corporation Establishment and Defence Electronics
[b] Gas Authority of India Application Laboratory
[c] Hindustan Petroleum Corporation [e] Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment
[d] Indian Oil Corporation and Defence Terrain Research Establishment
[e] Oil India Limited
Q.46) What was the theme of 6th BRICS Youth
Q.42) Raimona National Park is the proposed Summit?
national park of which state? [a] BRICS: Economic Growth for an Innovative
[a] Meghalaya Future
[b] Tripura [b] BRICS: Challenges of the Time for Young
[c] Odisha People
[d] Andhra Pradesh [c] Socio emotional skill- importance of soft skill
[e] Assam [d] BRICS: Discover your True Strength
[e] BRICS: Innovate to Survive
Q.43) Who heads the task force formed by
Ministry of Education for preparing a roadmap on Q.47) Who has been appointed as the
imparting technical education in mother tongue? Ambassador of ‘Fit India’ movement?
[a] Amit Khare [a] Pullela Gopichand
[b] Rekha Dawar [b] Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar
[c] Anita Karwal [c] Kuldeep Handoo
[d] Madan Mohan [d] Shiv Singh
[e] Maneesh Garg [e] Yogesh Malviya

Q.44) On which beach was International Sand Q.48) Who has won the Global Teacher Prize
Art Festival 2020 held? 2020?
[a] Kappad Beach [a] Mrutyunjay Behera
[b] Shivrajpur Beach [b] Ranjitsingh Disale
[c] Chandrabhaga Beach [c] Sanjay Kumar Sinha
[d] Ghoghla Beach [d] Darshana M Dabral
[e] Kasarkod Beach [e] Neeta Prasad

Q.45) Which of the following DRDO labs are Q.49) Swasthya Sathi scheme was launched by
being merged to create the Defence Geo which state?
Informatics Research Establishment? [a] Maharashtra
[a] Centre For Air Borne System and Advanced [b] West Bengal
Centre for Energetic Materials [c] Uttar Pradesh
[b] Advanced Numerical Research & Analysis [d] Punjab
Group and Defence Avionics Research [e] Jharkhand
Establishment

173
Q.50) Who is the first Deputy Chief for Military Q.54) Which bank has launched an overdraft
Operations and Strategic Planning in the Indian facility named as ‘Kirishi OD’ for farmers?
Army? [a] Saptagiri Grameena Bank
[a] Yogesh Kumar Joshi [b] Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank
[b] Satinder Kumar Saini [c] Chaitanya Godavari Grameena Bank
[c] Anil Chauhan [d] Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank
[d] Paramjit Singh [e] Telangana Grameena Bank
[e] Iqroop Singh Ghuman
Q.55) Who among the following has been elected
Q.51) Where has the Suryadhar lake been as the President of World Squash Federation?
inaugurated? [a] Jacques Fontaine
[a] Meghalaya [b] Zena Wooldridge
[b] Nagaland [c] Huang Ying How
[c] Assam [d] Pablo Serna
[d] Jharkhand [e] William Louis-Marie
[e] Uttarakhand
Q.56) Who has been appointed as the President
Q.52) Which company has signed an agreement of FICCI for 2020-21?
with NewSpace India Limited to launch the India’s [a] Madhu Ranjan Kumar
first private remote-sensing satellite on an ISRO [b] Kamini Chauhan Ratan
PSLV rocket in early 2021? [c] Neeta Prasad
[a] Blue Origin [d] Uday Shankar
[b] Virgin Galactic [e] Darshana M Dabral
[c] Pixxel
[d] Bigelow Aerospace Q.57) Who is the Businessperson of the Year
[e] Astra Space 2020, according to Fortune?
[a] Steve Jobs
Q.53) Which of the following project in India has [b] Elon Musk
received first ever combined sovereign and non- [c] Lisa Su
sovereign loan of $190 million from ADB for [d] Steven Mollenkopf
improving its power distribution services? [e] Paul E. Jacobs
[a] Bengaluru Smart Energy Efficient Power
Distribution Q.58) Which of the following book has won the
[b] Hyderabad Smart Energy Efficient Power PEN Hessell-Tiltman history prize 2020?
Distribution [a] The Nickel Boys
[c] Guwahati Smart Energy Efficient Power [b] A Strange Loop
Distribution [c] The Patient Assassin
[d] Meerut Smart Energy Efficient Power [d] Sontag: Her Life and Work
Distribution [e] The Tradition
[e] Chennai Smart Energy Efficient Power
Distribution Q.59) Who has become the first Indian to win a
Formula 2 race during the Sakhir Grand Prix,
Bahrain?

174
[a] Kimi Räikkönen [a] Karnataka
[b] Narain Karthikeyan [b] Arunachal Pradesh
[c] Jehan Daruvala [c] Uttar Pradesh
[d] Michael Schumacher [d] Tamil Nadu
[e] Lewis Hamilton [e] Maharashtra

Q.60) Which country will host the 2021 FIFA Club Q.65) What is India’s rank in the Climate Change
World Cup? Performance Index 2021?
[a] Qatar [a] 181
[b] Saudi Arabia [b] 299
[c] UAE [c] 38
[d] Japan [d] 41
[e] Bahrain [e] 10

Q.61) On which of the following personality’s Q.66) Which of the following company has
name has the Central govt announced to rename launched India's first diversified REIT Mutual
the second campus of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Fund?
Biotechnology- Kerala? [a] Reliance Mutual Fund
[a] Manohar Parrikar [b] ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
[b] Sushma Swaraj [c] SBI Mutual Fund
[c] Arun Jaitley [d] Kotak Mahindra AMC
[d] MS Golwalkar [e] Axis Mutual Fund
[e] Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Q.67) Which Indian has won the “Asians of the
Q.62) Which state has announced to transform Year 2020”?
Tharu Villages into tourist hotspots? [a] Adar Poonawalla
[a] Uttarakhand [b] Dilip Shanghvi
[b] Bihar [c] Umang Vohra
[c] Jharkhand [d] N. Govindarajan
[d] Uttar Pradesh [e] G V Prasad
[e] West Bengal
Q.68) Who among the following is the female
Q.63) Where is the proposed Kanhalgaon Wildlife World Athlete of the Year 2020?
Sanctuary located? [a] Jackie Joyner-Kersee
[a] Uttarakhand [b] Babe Didrikson Zaharias
[b] Assam [c] Billie Jean King
[c] Arunachal Pradesh [d] Yulimar Rojas
[d] Kerala [e] Sonja Henie
[e] Maharashtra
Q.69) Where is the Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani
Q.64) Which state has launched Mera Covid Udyaan located?
Kendra app to help people get information about [a] Bihar
nearby testing labs? [b] Madhya Pradesh

175
[c] West Bengal religious freedom by US Commission on
[d] Uttar Pradesh Unalienable Rights?
[e] Karnataka [a] Nigeria
[b] India
Q.70) What is the name of the program launched [c] Pakistan
by Mastercard, National Institute for Micro, Small [d] China
& Medium Enterprises and the CII to support [e] Sri Lanka
digitization of MSMEs?
[a] Saksham Q.75) What is the GDP growth forecast for FY21
[b] Sathi for the world by Fitch Ratings?
[c] Udhyam [a] -4.0%
[d] Sarthi [b] -5.9%
[e] Sambhav [c] -1.6%
[d] -3.7%
Q.71) Who among the following is the first Indian [e] -4.9%
Army Chief to visit UAE and Saudi Arabia on an
official trip? Q.76) Who has become the first-ever Indian-origin
[a] General Bipin Rawat Speaker of one of the Canadian Assembly i.e.,
[b] General Manoj Mukund Naravane British-Columbia Legislative Assembly?
[c] General Dalbir Singh Suhag [a] J.J. Singh
[d] General V.K. Singh [b] Deepak Kapoor
[e] General Bikram Singh [c] S. Padmanabhan
[d] Raj Chouhan
Q.72) Which state has received the ‘crawler’ [e] S. Roychowdhury
software from Interpol to track the child
pornography material uploaded online? Q.77) Which of the following dance form has
[a] Delhi been included as a sport in the 2024 Paris
[b] Karnataka Olympics?
[c] West Bengal [a] Hip-Hop Dance
[d] Gujarat [b] Breakdancing
[e] Maharashtra [c] Ballet
[d] Bharatanatyam
Q.73) What is the new height of Mount Everest? [e] Highland Dancing
[a] 29,031 feet
[b] 24,028 feet Q.78) Where is the Bannerghatta National Park
[c] 22,036 feet located?
[d] 20,018 feet [a] Karnataka
[e] 28,090 feet [b] Maharashtra
[c] Madhya Pradesh
Q.74) Which of the following country has been [d] Punjab
added, for the first time, into the list of Countries [e] Kerala
of Particular Concern (CPCs) for violating

176
Q.79) Recently, Odisha has topped in the Urban [b] Malavika Hegde
Governance Index 2020. Which of the following [c] J. R. Midha
organization has launched this index? [d] Rajiv Shakdher
[a] Indian Institute of Governance and Leadership [e] Suresh Kumar Kait
[b] A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Centre
[c] Adhya Educational Society Q.84) Who has been appointed as the first CEO
[d] Praja Foundation of WHO Foundation?
[e] BHUMI [a] Xue Hanqin
[b] Peter Tomka
Q.80) In the context of Prime Minister Wi-Fi [c] Anil Soni
Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme, [d] Ronny Abraham
which of the following statement is / are true? [e] Mohamed Bennouna
[a] The services will be operated by Public Data
Offices Q.85) Who is the most powerful woman of the
[b] India has partnered with Japan for providing world 2020, according to Forbes list?
the internet services under the scheme [a] Christine Lagarde
[c] The Public Data Offices will be managed by [b] Kamala Harris
Department of Telecommunications [c] Ursula von der Leyen
[d] Reliance Jio and Google have been given the [d] Melinda Gates
contract to provide Wi-Fi services across the [e] Angela Markel
nation
[e] Internet services will be provided for free at the Q.86) Who among the following has won the
government complexes Goldman Environmental Prize 2020 from Asian
region?
Q.81) Which of the following is the capital of [a] Chibeze Ezekiel
Suriname? [b] Kristal Ambrose
[a] Paramaribo [c] Leydy Pech
[b] Caracas [d] Lucie Pinson
[c] La Paz [e] Paul Sein Twa
[d] Sucre
[e] Quito Q.87) Who among the following is the author of
Dharma: Decoding the Epics for a Meaningful Life
Q.82) Who has been appointed as the Chief book?
Justice of J&K and Ladakh UT? [a] Amish Tripathi
[a] Justice Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel [b] Bhavna Roy
[b] Justice Hima Kohli [c] Vrushika Patnaik
[c] Justice Vipin Sanghi [d] Both A and B
[d] Justice Rajesh Bindal [e] Both B and C
[e] Justice Siddharth Mridul
Q.88) How much percentage will the govt give in
Q.83) Who has been appointed as the CEO of total to the Employee Provident Fund on behalf of
Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd? the employees under the Atmanirbhar Bharat
[a] Rajiv Sahai Endlaw Rozgar Yojana?

177
[a] 24% [e] Denmark
[b] 12%
[c] 10% Q.93) With which country has India signed an
[d] 15% MoU for technology cooperation in the road
[e] 20% infrastructure sector?
[a] UK
Q.89) According to the UNCTAD’s ‘The Least [b] USA
Developed Countries Report 2020’, the number of [c] Singapore
people living in extreme poverty (earning less [d] Austria
than Rs 150 per day), will increase by over ____ [e] Japan
in 2020 in LDCs?
[a] 330 million Q.94) Which state has unveiled the Shakti Act to
[b] 150 million curb crimes against woman and children?
[c] 120 million [a] Gujarat
[d] 80 million [b] Jharkhand
[e] 32 million [c] Maharashtra
[d] Tamil Nadu
Q.90) Which of the following is the West Asia’s [e] Chhattisgarh
first company to feature in the Top 25 of the
SIPRI’s list of top arms selling companies? Q.95) Which country is the chair of ASEAN in
[a] EDGE 2021?
[b] L3Harris Technologies [a] Indonesia
[c] IWI ACE [b] Thailand
[d] Tactical Missiles Corporation [c] Singapore
[e] Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings [d] Malaysia
[e] Brunei Darussalam
Q.91) Which state has signed a first of its kind
MoU with the Survey of India for taking up the Q.96) Who among the following has won the
land survey? FICCI Sportsperson of the Year (Male)?
[a] Andhra Pradesh [a] Abhinav Bindra
[b] Tamil Nadu [b] Rohit Sharma
[c] Uttarakhand [c] Bajrang Punia
[d] Gujarat [d] Sushil Kumar
[e] Maharashtra [e] Virat Kohli

Q.92) Recently, SEBI has signed an MoU with Q.97) Which country will host the Asia Cup
Financial and Commission de Surveillance du (cricket) in 2022?
Secteur Financier (CSSF). Which country does [a] Pakistan
CSSF belong to? [b] Nepal
[a] Netherlands [c] Sri Lanka
[b] Finland [d] India
[c] Germany [e] Afghanistan
[d] Luxembourg

178
Q.98) Which of the following is the new category [a] Keshav Suri Foundation
introduced in the IIT-Bombay’s Urban Quality of [b] Pride Circle
Life Index 2020? [c] Stonewall UK
[a] Basic amenities [d] FICCI
[b] Economic Development [e] All of the Above
[c] Transportation access
[d] Environmental impact Q.103) Where was the TiE Global Summit 2020
[e] Gender role organized?
[a] Mumbai
Q.99) Which state has signed an MoU with [b] Ahmedabad
Cornell University from New York, USA for setting [c] Bengaluru
up the world class incubation centre for new [d] Hyderabad
entrepreneurs? [e] Surat
[a] Odisha
[b] Maharashtra Q.104) How much amount has India pledged to
[c] Andhra Pradesh Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
[d] West Bengal for providing essential services to women,
[e] Kerala newborns, young children and adolescents
across the world?
Q.100) What is India’s rank in the Bloomberg New [a] $2 Bn
Energy Finance’s (BNEF) 2020 Climatescope [b] $4 Bn
survey? [c] $6 Bn
[a] 2nd [d] $1 Bn
[b] 1st [e] $5 Bn
[c] 5th
[d] 9th Q.105) Chang’e-5 is the Lunar Mission of which
[e] 10th country?
[a] USA
Q.101) SS-CBC India Ammunition project is the [b] Russia
joint venture project of India with a country for [c] Israel
producing ammunitions. Which of the following is [d] India
the right answer? [e] China
[a] Brazil
[b] Russia Q.106) Which of the following organization has
[c] Israel signed the Red Channel Agreement with WHO?
[d] USA [a] World bank
[e] Singapore [b] European Union
[c] United Nations
Q.102) Which of the following organization has [d] IMF
released the ‘India Workplace Equality Index’, [e] IFRC
India’s first comprehensive benchmarking tool for
employers to measure their progress on LGBT+ Q.107) Where will World Economic Forum’s
inclusion at the workplace? Special Annual Meeting 2021 be held?

179
[a] Singapore
[b] Switzerland Q.112) Who has won the Bharathi Award 2020?
[c] Netherlands [a] Amit Khare
[d] Denmark [b] Krishna Kumari
[e] Finland [c] Rakesh Ranjan
[d] Vineet Joshi
Q.108) Which of the following is the name of the [e] Seeni Viswanathan
electronic spot platform for agricultural
commodities launched by BSE? Q.113) In how many cities will Socio-Economic
[a] BEAM profiling of PM-Svanidhi beneficiaries be done in
[b] LIGHT the Phase 1?
[c] TOP [a] 125
[d] VEGGIE [b] 247
[e] AgroExchange [c] 234
[d] 340
Q.109) Which of the following bank has partnered [e] 545
with Haqdarshak (social enterprise) to enable
recovery of Indian MSMEs from Covid-19’s Q.114) When was the eCourts Project launched?
impact? [a] 2010
[a] HDFC Bank [b] 2005
[b] Union Bank of India [c] 2013
[c] Canara bank [d] 2017
[d] SBI [e] 2011
[e] DBS Bank India
Q.115) Which of the following member of
Q.110) When does India celebrate National Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has started
Energy Conservation Day? the movie series – CinemaSCOope?
[a] December 14 [a] China
[b] December 25 [b] India
[c] December 17 [c] Kazakhstan
[d] December 23 [d] Kyrgyzstan
[e] December 10 [e] Russia

Q.111) To which country has India granted a Line Q.116) Where is the CRPF’s National Centre for
of Credit of USD 448 millions for four Divyang Empowerment located?
developmental projects in the fields of road [a] Madhya Pradesh
construction, sewerage treatment and information [b] Maharashtra
technology? [c] Andhra Pradesh
[a] Kazakhstan [d] Telangana
[b] Uzbekistan [e] Tamil Nadu
[c] Lebanon
[d] Kuwait Q.117) What is the theme of International
[e] Qatar Mountain Day 2020?

180
[a] Culture Diversity of Mountain
[b] Mountains matter for Youth Q.122) Recently, UNESCO has decided to launch
[c] Youth for Sustainable Mountains an international prize in the name of
[d] Mountain biodiversity Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with a
[e] Mountains Matter prize money of $50,000. In which field will this
prize be given?
Q.118) Which has become the first state in the [a] Creative Economy
country to have modernize fire safety certification [b] Literature
process? [c] Political Altruism
[a] Madhya Pradesh [d] Women Empowerment
[b] Telangana [e] Popularization of science
[c] Gujarat
[d] Karnataka Q.123) With which sport is Yash Vardhan related
[e] Kerala to?
[a] Shooting
Q.119) Which of the following country has co- [b] Boxing
hosted the International Climate Action Summit [c] Wrestling
2020 with UK, UN, and France? [d] Polo
[a] Chile [e] Tennis
[b] Italy
[c] Germany Q.124) Which of the following company produced
[d] Both A and B India’s first indigenous mRNA vaccine candidate
[e] Both B and C named HGCO19 in collaboration with HDT
Biotech Corporation, USA?
Q.120) Recently, SEBI has formed a new [a] Bharat Biotech
department named Corporation Finance [b] Serum Institute
Investigation Department. Which of the following [c] Zydus Cadila
statement is correct about the department? [d] Panacea Biotec
[a] It will investigate the insider trading [e] Gennova
[b] It will investigate Financial accounting mis-
statements Q.125) Where will the Global Technology
[c] It will investigate frauds committed by the Governance Summit 2021 be organized?
promoters of the company [a] Tokyo
[d] It will investigate Suspense accounting fraud [b] Berlin
[e] It will investigate Shell Companies [c] Paris
[d] Vienna
Q.121) Where will RBI set up an Automated [e] Rome
Banknote Processing Centre?
[a] Meerut Q.126) Where will the world's largest renewable
[b] Nizamabad energy park be established?
[c] Ahmedabad [a] Kutch
[d] Jaipur [b] Surat
[e] Surat [c] Jaisalmer

181
[d] Dhule [a] -7.1%
[e] Sangli [b] -5.7%
[c] -8.1%
Q.127) Which state has signed an MoU with Ola [d] - 7.7%
to set up the ‘world’s largest’ electric scooter (e- [e] -5.8%
scooter) manufacturing plant?
[a] Maharashtra Q.132) Who has been appointed as the part -time
[b] Tamil Nadu chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank?
[c] Gujarat [a] Prakash Apte
[d] Uttarakhand [b] Dipak Gupta
[e] Karnataka [c] Uday Kotak
[d] Mehul Parekh
Q.128) Recently, TASK has partnered with IBM [e] Souvik Chatterjee
to provide skill training in emerging technologies
to nearly 30,000 engineering, degree and Q.133) Who has won the United Nations
polytechnic students of the state. Which state Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Young
does TASK belong to? Champions of the Earth for 2020 from India?
[a] Andhra Pradesh [a] Rahul Bhatnagar
[b] Maharashtra [b] Vipul Bansal
[c] Tamil Nadu [c] Anil Yadav
[d] Telangana [d] Vidyut Mohan
[e] Odisha [e] Ambrish Sharma

Q.129) Which of the following is the name of first Q.134) Who has won the UNEP’s Champions of
stealth frigate built by GRSE under the Project the Earth 2020 award in the category of lifetime
17A for Indian Navy? achievement?
[a] Teg [a] Robert Bullard
[b] Trikand [b] Frank Bainimarama
[c] Himgiri [c] Yacouba Sawadogo
[d] Kora [d] Fabian Leendertz
[e] Paralaya [e] Nemonte Nenquimo

Q.130) Which company has introduced Q.135) Who has won the 23rd Al Habtoor Tennis
#GotYouCovered campaign to appreciate Challenge 2020?
frontline healthcare workers? [a] Steffi Graf
[a] Mirae Asset Mutual Fund [b] Martina Navratilova
[b] Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund [c] Chris Evert
[c] Bharti AXA Life Insurance [d] Margaret Court
[d] Syndicate Bank [e] Sorana Cirstea
[e] Bank of Baroda
Q.136) Which institute has organised the Vigyan
Q.131) What is the GDP growth rate for FY21 Yatra, a promotional activity of the 6th India
forecasted by S&P? International Science Festival?

182
[a] Indian Association of the Cultivation of [d] 62.3 years
Science [e] 70.9 years
[b] Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and
Technology Q.141) Which of the following institution has
[c] Indian Institute of Technology Madras created the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat
[d] Anna University Assessment (GRIHA)?
[e] Vellore Institute of Technology [a] NTPC
[b] JSW Energy
Q.137) Which of the following is India’s 42nd [c] Adani Group
communication satellite launched recently by [d] Tata Power
ISRO from Satish Dhawan Space Centre? [e] TERI
[a] EOS-01
[b] GSAT-30 Q.142) With which organization has IndiGrid
[c] Microsat-R signed an MoU to build an artificial intelligence
[d] CMS-01 (AI)-enabled asset management platform?
[e] HysIS [a] Qualcomm
[b] Micron Technology
Q.138) Which of the following agency has given [c] TCS
$100 million to Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and [d] IBM
Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project [e] ServiceNow
(CHIRAAG)?
[a] IMF Q.143) Which country has pledged $1 million to
[b] Japan International Cooperation Agency the World Anti-Doping Agency?
[c] Asian Development Bank This is the highest among contributions made by
[d] World Bank other world governments.[a] USA
[e] International Monetary Fund [b] India
[c] Australia
Q.139) As per the International Energy Agency’s [d] New Zealand
first ever electricity market report 2020, Global [e] Canada
electricity demand is expected to increase by ___
percentage in 2021? Q.144) Where is the headquarters of World Anti-
[a] 2% Doping Agency?
[b] 3% [a] Austria
[c] 4% [b] Canada
[d] 5% [c] Netherlands
[e] 0.2% [d] New Zealand
[e] USA
Q.140) What is India’s life expectancy at birth,
according to the UNDP’s Human Development Q.145) Which of the following is the first
Index 2020? indigenously developed beyond visual range
[a] 77.4 years (BVR) missile that can be launched from Sukhoi-
[b] 50.5 years 30 and other fighter aircraft?
[c] 69.7 years [a] Novator KS-172

183
[b] F-18 Q.150) Who authored the 'Australia Economic
[c] P-8I Strategy' (AES) report of India?
[d] Astra Mk-1 [a] Ashok Kumar Rawat
[e] Helina [b] Anil Wadhwa
[c] B N Bhaskar
Q.146) Who is the youngest awardee to receive [d] Gurdeep Singh
the Agni Award for Self-Reliance 2018 in the [e] Astik Sinha
cyber-security domain?
[a] Pratyush Jadaon Q.151) Which of the following state is not a
[b] Amit Sharma beneficiary of the World Bank supported North
[c] Vipul Bansal Eastern Region Power System Improvement
[d] Anil Yadav Project?
[e] Ambrish Sharma [a] Arunachal Pradesh
[b] Tripura
Q.147) Which organization is the co-host of 5th [c] Assam
Global Technology Summit 2020, along with [d] Nagaland
Ministry of External Affairs? [e] Mizoram
[a] Carnegie India
[b] FICCI Q.152) Which of the following is the chair of
[c] CII Indian Ocean Rim Association during 2021-23?
[d] NASSCOM [a] Sri Lanka
[e] Pratham [b] India
[c] UAE
Q.148) Which of the following bank has become [d] Bangladesh
the nodal agency for implementation of PM [e] Saudi Arabia
Formalisation of Micro food processing
Enterprises Scheme? Q.153) How many countries are members of the
[a] Bank of Baroda Indian Ocean Rim Association?
[b] State Bank of India [a] 20
[c] Union Bank of India [b] 22
[d] IndusInd Bank [c] 21
[e] Syndicate Bank [d] 25
[e] 23
Q.149) In association with which country has
India’s first Centre of Excellence for Skill Q.154) What is the global score in the Human
Development in the power sector been Development Index 2020?
established? [a] 0.737
[a] France [b] 0.957
[b] USA [c] 0.645
[c] Russia [d] 0.897
[d] Germany [e] 0.532
[e] UK

184
Q.155) With which country has NASA signed [d] Sunder Nursery
Gateway Treaty for establishing Lunar Gateway [e] National Chambal Sanctuary
space station?
[a] France Q.160) Who has won the FIFA Best Men's Player
[b] Germany of The Year 2020?
[c] Canada [a] Luka Modrić
[d] UK [b] Virgil van Dijk
[e] India [c] Cristiano Ronaldo
[d] Robert Lewandowski
Q.156) Which country has been recently labelled [e] Lionel Messi
as the currency manipulator by US Treasury?
[a] Switzerland Q.161) Which state has launched PAReSHRAM
[b] Vietnam portal to facilitate ease of doing business and
[c] India contribute significantly to industrial development
[d] Both A and B of the State?
[e] Both B and C [a] Andhra Pradesh
[b] Telangana
Q.157) Which of the following agency has [c] Madhya Pradesh
forecasted a 9.9% GDP growth rate for India in [d] Odisha
2021, asserting that India will be the fastest [e] Uttar Pradesh
growing Asian economy in 2021?
[a] Nomura Q.162) Where has Marine Products Export
[b] ADB Development Authority (MPEDA) launched its
[c] IMF multilingual call centre for aqua farmers recently?
[d] Morgan Stanley [a] Andhra Pradesh
[e] Crisil [b] Karnataka
[c] Maharashtra
Q.158) When is the National Minority Rights Day [d] West Bengal
observed by India? [e] Gujarat
[a] December 5
[b] December 18 Q.163) Recently, UNESCO has included
[c] December 13 “Hawker” culture in its list of intangible cultural
[d] December 19 heritage. Which country does this culture belong
[e] December 23 to?
[a] Indonesia
Q.159) Which of the following Indian site has won [b] Malaysia
the 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for [c] Thailand
Cultural Heritage Conservation in Special [d] Singapore
Recognition for Sustainable Development [e] China
category?
[a] Dipor Bil Q.164) When was the Network of Central Banks
[b] Tso Moriri and Supervisors for Greening the Financial
[c] Anjaneri System launched?

185
[a] 2017 [d] Indian Oil Corporation
[b] 2011 [e] Bharati Airtel
[c] 2009
[d] 2005 Q.170) Where was the 8th North East Festival
[e] 2013 held?
[a] Imphal
Q.165) Who is the chairman of National Highways [b] Itanagar
Authority of India? [c] Guwahati
[a] Dinesh Kumar Kang [d] Kohima
[b] Sukhbir Singh Sandhu [e] Shillong
[c] Chandra Mohan Sharma
[d] Deepak Sajwan Q.171) Which state has launched India and
[e] Yogesh Pandey South-Asia’s first blockchain-enabled ‘peer to
peer’ (P2P) trading platform for rooftop solar
Q.166) Who has become the first Indian wrestler power?
to win medal at the Individual World Cup in [a] Uttar Pradesh
Belgrade, Serbia? [b] Karnataka
[a] Anshu Malik [c] Andhra Pradesh
[b] Vinesh Phogat [d] Odisha
[c] Sushil Kumar [e] Telangana
[d] Sakshi Malik
[e] Yogeshwar Dutt Q.172) Where is the advanced Hypersonic Wind
Tunnel (HWT) test facility established?
Q.167) In which state is Kalaripayattu dance form [a] Vijayawada
originated? [b] Puri
[a] Madhya Pradesh [c] Hyderabad
[b] Kerala [d] Hubli
[c] Tamil Nadu [e] Belgaum
[d] Kerala
[e] Odisha Q.173) How many leopards are present in India,
as per the ‘Status of Leopards in India 2018'?
Q.168) Who is the author of Oh Mizoram book? [a] 12,852
[a] Y.S. Rawat [b] 2,967
[b] Azeez Baig [c] 674
[c] Pradeep Singh Kharola [d] 823
[d] P.S. Sreedharan Pillai [e] 3,440
[e] Vimalendra Anand Patwardhan
Q.174) Which North African dish has been
Q.169) Which of the following entity has won the recently added into the UNESCO’s list of the
'ASSOCHAM Enterprise of the Century Award'? world's intangible cultural heritage?
[a] TATA Group [a] Jollof rice
[b] L&T [b] Chambo with nsima
[c] BSNL [c] Kapenta with sadza

186
[d] Couscous [b] 67
[e] Muamba de Galinha [c] 55
[d] 40
Q.175) Which state has received the $231 million [e] 101
loan from Asian Development Bank for 120 MW
Lower Kopili Hydroelectric Power? Q.180) Who won the second prize in Pandit
[a] Assam Deendayal Upadhyay Telecom Skill Excellence
[b] Arunachal Pradesh Award 2018?
[c] Meghalaya [a] Gaurav Shukla
[d] Madhya Pradesh [b] Suraj Prakash Sharma
[e] Telangana [c] Subrat Kar
[d] Binod Kumar
Q.176) Who has been appointed as the chairman [e] Anurag Singh Thakur
of KKR India?
[a] Azeez Baig Q.181) Recently, PM Narendra Modi has received
[b] Sanjay Nayar the Legion of Merit award. It is one of highest
[c] Satyendra Kumar Mishra military honours of which country?
[d] Rubina Ali [a] US
[e] Angshumali Rastogi [b] Russia
[c] Netherlands
Q.177) Where was the Cologne Boxing World [d] UK
Cup held? [e] France
[a] Philippines
[b] Netherlands Q.182) Which of the following NBFC has received
[c] Germany a $40-million loan from Asian Development Bank
[d] Italy to support the livelihoods of microfinance
[e] Egypt borrowers and MSMEs in India?
[a] ESAF Microfinance and Investments
Q.178) Central Govt and the Asian Development [b] Fusion Microfinance Pvt Ltd.
Bank signed a $ 4.21 million for project readiness [c] PTC India Financial Services Limited
financing (PRF) facility for one of the following [d] BSS Microfinance Limited
states. It is ADB’s first PRF facility for a state in [e] Northern Arc Capital
the north-eastern region of India. Which state it
is? Q.183) Which of the following is India’s first
[a] Tripura indigenous Digital Asset Management Platform
[b] Meghalaya launched by NITI Aayog?
[c] Mizoram [a] TechTool
[d] Nagaland [b] DigiBoxx
[e] Arunachal Pradesh [c] DigiDoc
[d] DigiFax
Q.179) What is China’s updated ranking in World [e] TechBoxx
Bank’s Doing Business report 2018?
[a] 85

187
Q.184) Which state observes the International [b] Andhra Pradesh
Gita Mahotsav? [c] Kerala
[a] Punjab [d] Madhya Pradesh
[b] Haryana [e] Maharashtra
[c] Uttar Pradesh
[d] Madhya Pradesh Q.189) Which state has signed an MoU with the
[e] Tamil Nadu India Accelerator – India's only institution with
Global Accelerator Network – to boost the startup
Q.185) With which country has India conducted ecosystem in the state?
its sixth edition of Samvad conference? [a] Andhra Pradesh
[a] Thailand [b] Telangana
[b] Malaysia [c] Odisha
[c] Denmark [d] Haryana
[d] Japan [e] Assam
[e] Australia
Q.190) With which company has Gujarat govt
Q.186) With which organization has Central signed an MoU to set up Gujarat-Special
Ground Water Board signed a Memorandum of Education Region (G-SER) at Dholera Special
Agreement for using advanced heliborne Investment Region?
geophysical survey and other scientific studies [a] Cerestra Ventures
under the National Aquifer Mapping and [b] Carlyle Group
Management Programme? [c] Warbug Pincus
[a] CSIR-Advanced Materials and Processes [d] Bain Capital
Research Institute [e] TPG Growth Capital
[b] CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute
[c] CSIR-Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology Q.191) Which of the following company has
[d] CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology received the 'green channel status' from Ministry
[e] CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory of Defence?
[a] Ordnance Factory Board
Q.187) Who heads the committee formed by [b] Bharat Dynamics Ltd
central govt to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra [c] L&T Defence
Bose’ 125th birth anniversary in 2022? [d] Tata Advanced Systems
[a] Rajnath Singh [e] Ashok Leyland
[b] Smriti Irani
[c] Amit Shah Q.192) FRUITS (Farmer Registration and Unified
[d] Nirmala Sitharaman beneficiary Information System) is the portal of
[e] Piyush Goyal which state?
[a] Madhya Pradesh
Q.188) Recently, Gender Park has signed an [b] Andhra Pradesh
MoU with UN Women to develop the gender park [c] Odisha
into a South Asia hub for gender related activities. [d] Telangana
Which state does this gender park belong to? [e] Karnataka
[a] Tamil Nadu

188
Q.193) With which company has NMDC Limited
(India’s largest iron ore producing Navratna Q.198) Who is the author of “The Light of Asia:
Company) signed an MoU for joint exploration of The Poem that Defined the Buddha” book?
iron ore, gold, coal, diamond and other minerals [a] Abdul Wahab
in various states? [b] Shashi Tharoor
[a] Hindustan Zinc [c] Shri Y. S. Chowdary
[b] Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited [d] Jairam Ramesh
[c] Bharat Aluminium Company [e] Shri Neeraj Dangi
[d] Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation
[e] Hindalco Industries Q.199) Where is the SEHAT scheme launched by
PM Narendra Modi?
Q.194) How much FDI is allowed in DTH sector [a] Punjab
by Union Cabinet? [b] Haryana
[a] 100% [c] Jammu & Kashmir
[b] 49% [d] Gujarat
[c] 74% [e] Telangana
[d] 55%
[e] 63% Q.200) Which of the following company has
produced India’s first indigenous vaccine against
Q.195) Which bank has launched “Infinite India” pneumonia?
platform for foreign companies? [a] Sun Pharmaceutical
[a] Bank of Baroda [b] Dr. Reddy's Laboratories
[b] SBI [c] Divi's Laboratories
[c] HDFC Bank [d] Serum Institute of India
[d] ICICI Bank [e] Cipla
[e] Punjab National Bank
Q.201) Which state govt has signed an MoU with
Q.196) Which company has received the 15th CII- IIT-Madras for enhancing road safety?
ITC Sustainability Awards 2020 in Corporate [a] Maharashtra
Social Responsibility? [b] Andhra Pradesh
[a] Oil and Natural Gas Corporation [c] Telangana
[b] Steel Authority of India Limited [d] Tamil Nadu
[c] NTPC ltd [e] Rajasthan
[d] Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
[e] Coal India Limited Q.202) Ministry of Environment Forest and
Climate Change, along with the Wildlife
Q.197) What is Indian men’s team rank in the FIH Conservation Society- India, has launched a
rankings 2020? “firefly bird diverter” project for conservation of
[a] 9th ___ populations?
[b] 7th [a] Indian peafowl
[c] 5th [b] Great Indian bustard
[d] 4th [c] Coppersmith barbet
[e] 10th [d] White-rumped vulture

189
[e] Black Kite Q.207) Where is the Indian Space Science Data
Centre located?
Q.203) With which organization has Indian Navy [a] Karnataka
signed an MoU for collaborating and sharing [b] Andhra Pradesh
expertise in the field of Oceanography? [c] Madhya Pradesh
[a] Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology & [d] Odisha
Oceanography [e] Tamil Nadu
[b] Department of Marine Sciences
[c] Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Q.208) Recently, Directorate General of Training
Studies (DGT) has partnered with Microsoft and
[d] National Institute of Oceanography NASSCOM Foundation to provide digital content
[e] Indian National Center for Ocean Information for ITI students and offer them future-ready skills.
Services On which portal will the content be provided to the
students?
Q.204) On which of the following portal will the [a] Darpan
grand challenge for innovators and startups to [b] Shram Suvidha
strengthen the Covid Vaccine Intelligence [c] Vidya Lakshmi
Network (Co–WIN) system be launched? [d] Bharatskills
[a] Startup Hub [e] SHe-Box
[b] Sahaj
[c] Sewa Q.209) Which of the following company has
[d] e-Sanad signed an MoU with CII’s Indian Green Building
[e] e-VAC Council (IGBC) to promote green building
initiatives?
Q.205) With which of the following country has [a] ICICI Bank
India signed revised air service agreements to [b] Axis Bank
facilitate seamless connectivity between the air [c] HDFC Ltd
carriers? [d] State Bank of India
[a] Afghanistan [e] Oriental Bank of Commerce
[b] Philippines
[c] Vietnam Q.210) Who has been appointed as the MD &
[d] Both A and B CEO at YES Securities?
[e] Both B and C [a] Vipul Bansal
[b] Ashok Kumar Rawat
Q.206) Where will India’s largest hockey stadium [c] Ambrish Sharma
be developed? [d] B N Bhaskar
[a] Rourkela [e] Prasanth Prabhakaran
[b] Pune
[c] Ahmedabad Q.211) Where is the India's first hot air balloon
[d] Bhopal wildlife safari in a tiger reserve launched?
[e] Bhuvneshwar [a] Dudhwa Tiger Reserve
[b] Amangarh Tiger Reserve
[c] Pilibhit Tiger Reserve

190
[d] Buxa Tiger Reserve Sunderbans Tiger [d] MS Dhoni
Reserve [e] Mahela Jayawardene
[e] Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve
Q.217) Whose autobiography is titled as “In
Q.212) Which state has announced to set up Pursuit of Justice: An Autobiography”?
India’s first mega leather park? [a] Justice R.F. Nariman
[a] Madhya Pradesh [b] Justice N. V. Ramana
[b] Uttar Pradesh [c] Justice Ranjan Bodbe
[c] Karnataka [d] Justice SA Bobde
[d] Kerala [e] Justice Rajindar Sachar
[e] Tamil Nadu
Q.218) Which two states are connected by the
Q.213) In which state will India’s first Lithium New Rewari-New Madar section of Indian
refinery be established? Railways?
[a] Andhra Pradesh [a] Haryana-Rajasthan
[b] Haryana [b] Punjab-West Bengal
[c] Punjab [c] West Bengal-Maharashtra
[d] Uttarakhand [d] Tamil Nadu-Goa
[e] Gujarat [e] West Bengal-Andhra Pradesh

Q.214) Which of the following app has been Q.219) Which state has received the first prize for
launched by Ministry of Housing and Urban implementing the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-
Affairs to handle the business of premise Urban (PMAY-U) Mission?
allotment for different occasions? [a] Madhya Pradesh
[a] e-Sampada [b] Uttar Pradesh
[b] e-Bhoomi [c] Andhra Pradesh
[c] e-Samvad [d] Arunachal Pradesh
[d] e-Dhara [e] Himachal Pradesh
[e] e-Bhoodaar
Q.220) Which state has won the Platinum award
Q.215) Which is the only Indian institution to in Excellence in digital governance – state/ UT
feature in the Nature AI Index 2020? category of Digital India Awards, 2020?
[a] IIT-Delhi [a] Punjab
[b] IISc-Bangalore [b] Tamil Nadu
[c] Anna University [c] Maharashtra
[d] CSIR-Central Building Research Institute [d] Haryana
[e] Indian Council of Agriculture Research [e] Gujarat

Q.216) Who has won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Q.221) With which country has India launched a
Award of the Decade 2020? bilateral fast track mechanism in investments?
[a] Brendon McCullum [a] Netherlands
[b] Misbah-ul-Haq [b] Japan
[c] Kane Williamson [c] France

191
[d] Russia [d] Alexis Nasard
[e] USA [e] Thierry Guibert

Q.222) Which state has signed an MoU with Q.227) Where is the Mount Ili Lewotolok located?
International Digital Health and Artificial [a] Philippines
Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) for [b] Indonesia
development of digital technologies in the state’s [c] Japan
health sector? [d] Republic of Korea
[a] Rajasthan [e] Ethiopia
[b] Madhya Pradesh
[c] Tamil Nadu Q.228) Where is India’s first memorial for organ
[d] Punjab donors established?
[e] Himachal Pradesh [a] Madhya Pradesh
[b] Kerala
Q.223) Which country has the highest number of [c] Rajasthan
highly educated migrants in OECD countries? [d] Karnataka
[a] Germany [e] Gujarat
[b] India
[c] UK Q.229) Who heads the Apex Committee for the
[d] France Implementation of the Paris Agreement?
[e] China [a] Rameshwar Prasad Gupta
[b] Sanjay Kumar
Q.224) Which of the following company has [c] Sisir Kumar Ratho
announced to buy IHS Markit? [d] Soumitra Dasgupta
[a] S&P Global [e] Anjani Nandan Sharan
[b] Goldman Sachs
[c] Total SA Q.230) Which has become the first country in
[d] BP Central America to apply for the WHO malaria-
[e] Nomura free certification?
[a] Uganda
Q.225) Who has been appointed as the [b] Mozambique
ambassador for the British Academy of Film and [c] Angola
Television Arts’ (BAFTA) ‘Breakthrough Initiative’? [d] El Salvador
[a] AR Rahman [e] Burkina Faso
[b] Sonu Sood
[c] Akshay Kumar Q.231) What is the GDP growth rate for India for
[d] Shah Rukh Khan FY21 by OECD?
[e] Amir Khan [a] -8.9%
[b] -10.4%
Q.226) Who is the CEO of BATA? [c] -6.7%
[a] Shantanu Narayen [d] -9.9%
[b] Satya Nadella [e] -7.5%
[c] Sandeep Kataria

192
Q.232) Which country has the highest average [d] Quality Council of India
monthly mobile data traffic per smartphone [e] Food Fortification Resource Centre
according to ‘The Ericsson Mobility Report 2020’?
[a] India Q.237) Losar is the new year of which of the
[b] Germany following community?
[c] Sweden [a] Parsi
[d] Denmark [b] Buddhist
[e] Singapore [c] Jain
[d] Onge Tribe
Q.233) In which journal is the ‘Lifetime risk of [e] Kadar
diabetes in metropolitan cities in India’ report
published? Q.238) With which organization has Center for
[a] DNA Research Ganga River Basin Management and Studies
[b] Diabetologia signed an MoU for development of sludge
[c] The Econometrics Journal management framework in India?
[d] The Journal of Biochemistry [a] Berlin Centre of Competence for Water
[e] Journal of Law and the Biosciences [b] National Water Research Institute of US
[c] Danish Water Forum
Q.234) How much water scarcity is the Southern [d] Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Asian region facing, according to the FAO’s The [e] IHE Delft Institute for Water Education of
State of Food and Agriculture 2020? Netherlands
[a] 450 million
[b] 230 million Q.239) With which bank has National Centre for
[c] 160 million the Performing Arts partnered to launch
[d] 520 million scholarship program in Hindustani music?
[e] 101 million [a] HSBC India
[b] Citi India
Q.235) Which organization has released the [c] Deutsche Bank
Emerging Markets Financial Institutions Outlook [d] Barclays Bank
report? [e] DBS Bank
[a] Goldman Sachs
[b] World Bank Q.240) Who among the following has topped the
[c] Moody’s Investors Service Forbes’ list of The World’s 100 Highest-Paid
[d] Asian Development Bank Celebrities 2020?
[e] International Monetary Fund [a] Kylie Jenner
[b] Kanye West
Q.236) Which of the following organization has [c] Roger Federer
launched the scheme for approval of hygiene [d] Cristiano Ronaldo
rating audit agencies? [e] Lionel Messi
[a] FSSAI
[b] National Institute of food Technology Q.241) Which company has won the prestigious
Entrepreneurship and Management Golden Peacock Environment Management
[c] Council for Food Research and Development Award 2020 in the Steel Sector?

193
[a] Tata Steel
[b] JSW Steel Q.246) Which of the following organization has
[c] Essar Steel proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) and the
[d] Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Digital Markets Act (DMA)?
[e] Steel Authority of India Limited [a] Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development
Q.242) Recently, a committee of Ministry of [b] United Nations
Education has recommended that ITs should be [c] European Union
exempted from following reservation policies in [d] African Union
faculty recruitment. Who is the head of this [e] International Labour Organization
committee?
[a] J.S. Saini Q.247) What is the India’s GDP growth rate for
[b] Rakesh Ranjan FY22 according to SBI’s Ecowrap report?
[c] V. Ramgopal Rao [a] 12%
[d] Vineet Joshi [b] 7%
[e] Madan Mohan [c] 8%
[d] 11%
Q.243) With which country has India recently [e] 14%
signed seven agreements, including one for
creating a CEOs Forum? Q.248) When was the International Convention
[a] Bangladesh on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
[b] Sri Lanka Workers and Members of Their Families adopted
[c] United Kingdom by the UN?
[d] USA [a] 2003
[e] France [b] 2011
[c] 1990
Q.244) Recently, ISRO has established 'NETRA' [d] 1955
a dedicated control centre for Space Situational [e] 1980
Awareness (SSA) activities in the country. Where
is it located? Q.249) India aims to increase the natural gas’s
[a] Vijayapura share in the energy mix to ___ by 2030 from
[b] Belgaum 6.2%?
[c] Hubli [a] 15%
[d] Peenya [b] 10%
[e] Shivamogga [c] 7%
[d] 12%
Q.245) What is India’s rank in the Human [e] 20%
Freedom Index 2020?
[a] 143 Q.250) Which state has topped in providing
[b] 111 vocational courses, according to UNESCO’s 2nd
[c] 88 State of Education report for India 2020:
[d] 45 Technical and Vocational education training?
[e] 169 [a] Tamil Nadu

194
[b] Telangana bicolor, which is also known as ___ in common
[c] Andhra Pradesh language?
[d] Madhya Pradesh [a] Western honey-bee
[e] Gujarat [b] Malayan giant squirrel
[c] Asian elephant
Q.251) Where is the “Jai Hind Bridge” located? [d] Bonnet Macaque
[a] Punjab [e] White Tiger
[b] Haryana
[c] West Bengal Q.256) Which of the following organization has
[d] Karnataka released the Production Gap 2030 report?
[e] Maharashtra [a] Global Environment Facility (GEF)
[b] Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
Q.252) Which country hosted the First-ever [c] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) (IPCC)
Young Scientist Conclave? [d] International Union for Conservation of Nature
[a] Uzbekistan (IUCN)
[b] Kyrgyzstan [e] United Nations Environment Programme
[c] Russia (UNEP)
[d] Tajikistan
[e] India Q.257) 7th IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum was
organized by International Energy Forum (IEF)
Q.253) Which of the following company has and the International Gas Union (IGU), Malaysia
launched the India’s first mobile Compressed PM. Who among the following is the PM of
Natural Gas (CNG) dispensing unit? Malaysia?
[a] Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited [a] Mohd Tarid Sufian
[b] Mahanagar Gas Ltd [b] Ganeson Sivagurunathan
[c] Gas Authority of India Limited [c] Muhyiddin Yassin
[d] Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited [d] Hasnudin Hamzah
[e] Indian Oil Corporation Limited [e] Lim Juay Jin

Q.254) With which company has Department of Q.258) Where is the Azad Pattan hydropower
Space signed a first of its kind Non-Disclosure project being developed?
Agreement (NDA) for building private small [a] Afghanistan
satellite launch vehicle? [b] UAE
[a] Agnikul Cosmos [c] Pakistan
[b] Pixxel [d] Bahrain
[c] Skyroot Aerospace [e] Kuwait
[d] Xovian
[e] Horizon Aerospace Q.259) With which bank has CREDAI-MCHI
partnered, along with Google and BookMyShow
Q.255) Recently, Zoological Survey of India for the first virtual edition of India’s largest Real-
conducted the first ever survey on the Ratufa Estate Expo?
[a] Punjab National Bank

195
[b] Karur Vyasa Bank [a] Zakri Jaafar
[c] Karnataka Bank [b] Shrikant Madhav Vaidya
[d] Bank of India [c] Mikaela Kumlin
[e] State Bank of India [d] Axel van Trotsenburg
[e] Anshula Kant
Q.260) Who has been appointed as the First
Vice-President of World LPG Association?

1 B 41 D 81 A 121 D 161 D 201 E 241 E

2 D 42 E 82 D 122 A 162 A 202 B 242 C

3 A 43 A 83 B 123 A 163 D 203 D 243 A

4 C 44 C 84 C 124 E 164 A 204 A 244 D

5 A 45 E 85 E 125 A 165 B 205 D 245 B

6 B 46 B 86 E 126 A 166 A 206 A 246 C

7 A 47 C 87 D 127 B 167 B 207 A 247 D

8 A 48 B 88 B 128 D 168 D 208 D 248 C

9 D 49 B 89 E 129 C 169 A 209 C 249 A

10 D 50 D 90 A 130 C 170 C 210 E 250 D

11 B 51 E 91 A 131 D 171 A 211 E 251 C

12 B 52 C 92 D 132 A 172 C 212 B 252 E

13 A 53 A 93 D 133 D 173 A 213 E 253 B

14 D 54 D 94 C 134 A 174 D 214 A 254 A

15 A 55 B 95 E 135 E 175 A 215 C 255 B

16 E 56 D 96 C 136 A 176 B 216 D 256 E

17 B 57 B 97 A 137 D 177 C 217 E 257 C

18 D 58 C 98 E 138 D 178 A 218 A 258 C

19 E 59 C 99 B 139 B 179 A 219 B 259 E

20 B 60 D 100 A 140 C 180 C 220 D 260 B

21 B 61 D 101 A 141 E 181 A 221 C

196
22 A 62 D 102 E 142 D 182 E 222 D

23 D 63 E 103 D 143 B 183 B 223 B

24 A 64 C 104 A 144 B 184 B 224 A

25 D 65 E 105 E 145 D 185 D 225 A

26 A 66 D 106 E 146 B 186 B 226 C

27 B 67 A 107 A 147 A 187 C 227 B

28 D 68 D 108 A 148 C 188 C 228 C

29 A 69 D 109 E 149 A 189 D 229 A

30 E 70 A 110 A 150 B 190 A 230 D

31 B 71 B 111 B 151 A 191 C 231 D

32 A 72 E 112 E 152 D 192 E 232 A

33 D 73 A 113 A 153 E 193 B 233 B

34 B 74 A 114 B 154 A 194 A 234 D

35 E 75 D 115 B 155 C 195 D 235 C

36 C 76 D 116 D 156 D 196 C 236 D

37 A 77 B 117 D 157 A 197 D 237 B

38 D 78 A 118 C 158 B 198 D 238 D

39 A 79 D 119 D 159 D 199 C 239 B

40 C 80 A 120 C 160 D 200 D 240 A

197
Check our website www.anujjindal in for enrolment,
Course details and other updates!

Or

Log on to our mobile application.

198
“HALL OF FAME”

199
 RBI

550+ Students cleared RBI Phase 1

300+ Students clear RBI Phase 2
48 Students got selected in RBI

200
SEBI

201
NABARD

202
UGC NET JRF

203