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TITLE PAGE

NATIONAL NEWS 03

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 52

BANKING AND ECONOMY 63

APPOINTMENTS 92

IMPORTANT DAYS 96

AWARDS 101

SPORTS 111

MISCELLANEOUS 124

QUESTION BANK 128

ANSWERS 163
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NATIONAL NEWS

1. Malabar River Festival, Asia’s biggest White-Water festival, takes place in Kerala.

2. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Google have signed a
statement of intent to initiate the 'Build for Digital India' programme.
• Under it, engineering students will be trained to learn new technologies like
machine learning, cloud computing etc. to address social problems.
• These will be provided through Google’s Developer Student Club network and other
Google Developer networks.

3. Global Happiness Index 2019, released by Ipsos, ranks India at 9th position with 77%
score (a 6% fall from 83% score in 2018) among the total 28 countries.
• Australia and Canada are at the top spot (at 86% score each) while Argentina (34%),
Spain (46%) and Russia (47%) are at the bottom spots.
• Parameters: - physical health, living conditions, hobbies and interests, personal
safety and security, purpose in life, satisfaction with present life, money, friends.

4. India has launched the “Samudrayaan” mission to send 3 humans to sea-bed at a depth
of 6,000 meters for 72 hours (a usual submarine can go up to 200 meters) by 2021-22.
• Purpose: - To explore mineral resources and conduct study of the oceans.
• National Institute of Ocean Technology is the anchor of this project.
• 'Samudrayaan' is a part of Ministry of Earth Sciences' Deep Ocean Project for
mining of rare minerals. [details of deep ocean project is covered in July Spotlight]

5. Election Commission of India will host the 4th General Assembly of Association of
World Election Bodies (A-WEB) at Bengaluru.
• India will take over as A-WEB’s Chair for the period of 2019-21.
• An International Conference on “Initiatives and Challenges of Social Media and
Information Technology in Elections" will be held during the event.
• A-WEB (established in 2013 in Song-do, South Korea) is the world’s largest
association of Election Management Bodies and has 114 members in total.
• A-WEB’s vision is to foster efficiency and effectiveness in conducting free, fair,
transparent and participative elections worldwide. Its permanent secretariat is
Seoul.

6. Two Indian Navy warships- INS Sahyadri and INS Kiltan have reached Laem Chabang
Port at Bangkok, Thailand for a port call.
• The port call is a demonstration of India’s warm ties with Thailand.

7. High Commissions of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea have jointly
organised the “Namaste Pacific” event to showcase the culture of the Pacific region in
New Delhi.
• Aim: - To strengthen ties between India and Pacific nations.
 4

8. India’s tallest Air Traffic Control tower (102 metre tall) has been established at the
Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
• Purpose: - To enhance safety and efficiency of air transport management services.

9. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released the draft “Health Care Service
Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and damage to
Property) Bill 2019”.
• Rs 2-10 lakh penalty and a jail term of up to 3-10 years (maximum) will be imposed
on persons committing violence against the doctors and hospital premises.

10. PM Modi will be conferred a Global Goalkeepers Awards by Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation during his visit for the 74th UN General Assembly in New York, USA in
September for his “Swachch Bharat Abhiyan” (launched in 2014).

11. Ministry of Power has tightened norms for stressed assets of power companies to
ensure payment compliance in both discoms and power generating companies.
• In March, Coal linkages (supply assurance) of power plants that cancel PPAs (power
purchase agreements), due to payment default by discoms, were allowed to be valid
for 2 years.
• Also, power plants with no PPA with Coal India will be allowed the Coal linkage for
one year.
• Now, it has been suggested to allow Central/state gencos to act as aggregators of
power.
• Power stations which cancel PPAs (for payment default by discoms) will sell
electricity only through the govt’s DEEP portal or power exchanges at market-
determined price for maximum 2 years.
• Target: - To de-stress power plants with aggregate capacity of 40,000 MW.

12. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has developed the digital National Laboratory
Directory to provide all information regarding standards of products and testing
infrastructure in India.

13. Rajasthan has launched the Ayushman Bharat-Mahatma Gandhi Rajasthan Swasthya
Bima Yojana (AB-MGRSBY scheme) by merging the Central scheme of Ayushman Bharat
and state scheme- Bhamashah Health Insurance Scheme (BSBY).
• The number of beneficiaries covered under the scheme has been increased from 1
crore to 1.1 crore.

14. A high-level group (HLG) on health sector, headed by Randeep Guleria, formed by the
15th Finance Commission, has recommended to declare ‘Right to Health’ as a
fundamental right on the 75th Independence Day in 2022.
• Implication: - If the right to health is declared as a fundamental right then, state
would have to provide for it, irrespective of its funds.
 5

• Further, it recommended to amend the constitution to shift the subject of health

from the state list to the concurrent list.
• It also suggested to separate training for medical teachers and service providers
and prohibit medical college teacher from practising as private professionals.
• The report says there should be a common exit exam for undergraduate medical
students qualifying from both public and private medical colleges.

15. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has inaugurated the Central Government Health
Scheme (CGHS) services headquarters – CGHS Bhawan – in New Delhi.
• Govt aims to make CGHS services (started in 1954) to 100 cities by 2022.
• In 2014, CHGS were available in 25 cities, the number has now increased to 71 cities.
• A new scheme of Annual Health Check-up of CGHS beneficiaries was launched for
the pensioners of 75 years and above.

16. 5th Aqua Aquaria India, 2019 (largest aquaculture exhibition in India) was inaugurated
in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• Theme: - “Taking Blue Revolution to India's hinterland”.
• It is a biennial exhibition organised by the Marine Products Export Development
Authority (MPEDA).

17. IIT-Kharagpur has partnered with Amazon Web Services to develop the ‘National
Artificial Intelligence Resource Platform’ to promote learning and development in AI.
• The initiative has received funding from Ministry of Human Resources
Development, as part of the National Digital Library (NDL) of India project.
• NDL was launched in 2018 by MHRD to make digital educational resources available
to all citizens of the country.

18. 72nd Regional Committee Session of the WHO’s South-East Asia Region was held in
New Delhi.
• India has pledged $2 Lakh for the execution of the preparedness stream under the
South-East Asia Health Emergency Respond Fund (SEARHEF).
 6

• Delhi Declaration on Emergency Preparedness was also adopted by the members of

the WHO’s committee.
• Sri Lanka was recognised for eliminating measles; Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and
Thailand for becoming the first four countries from the region to control Hepatitis
B; and Maldives for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

19. Delhi government’s Jai Bhim Mukhyamantri Pratibha Vikas Yojana has been extended
to SC/ST/OBC/EWS students (qualifying 10th and 12th) with family income not more
that Rs 8 Lakhs p.a.

20. According to the PURE study published in the Lancet, high income countries (HIC)
witness deaths from cancer as much as twice to the deaths caused by cardio-vascular
disease (CVD) in the low income countries (LIC).
• In LIC, deaths from CVD are three times that of the cancer. Highest mortality was
witnessed in LIC and lowest in HIC.
• Authors: - Salim Yusuf and V Mohan.
• Total 1.62 Lakh individuals in 21 countries were assessed.
• According to another study “Modifiable Risk Factor, Cardiovascular Disease and
Mortality” (published in Lancet), indoor pollution is the major cause of CVDs.

21. India will contribute $22 million to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria (GFTAM) as part of its 6th replenishment cycle (2020-22).
• In the current funding cycle (2018-21), the Global Fund has given $500 million to
India.
• As a donor, India has contributed $46.5 million so far till 2019. India joined Global
Fund in 2002 both as recipient and as a donor.

22. Asia’s first 5th Generation – Virtual Reality (VR) based Advanced Driver Training
Simulator Centre has been launched at the Automobile Association of Southern India
Centre (AASI), Chennai by Rotary International District 3232.
• Purpose: - To train 200 Ambulance drivers free of cost in the initial 6 months, under
‘Safe Drivers Campaign’.

23. Uttar Pradesh has partnered with World Bank to fund the ‘pro-poor tourism’ (PPT) of
UP govt. (specially focussed on Agra and Braj areas).
• The project is worth $57.14 million. World bank will provide 70% of the cost and
30% of it will be borne by UP govt.
• Pro-Poor Tourism Development Project (approved in 2017) aims to increase
employment and eliminate poverty through tourism.

24. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched first-ever ‘Terracotta
Grinder’ at Sewapuri in Varanasi, UP to recycle the wasted pottery.
 7

• In 2018, KVIC had also launched REPLAN (Reducing Plastic in Nature) to remove
existing waste plastic material and use it in a semi-permanent manner to reduce
overall plastics.

25. India and Russia have targeted to increase their bilateral trade up to $30 billion by 2025
against the present $11 billion trade.
Total 15 MoU were signed: -
For developing a 5-year road map for Coal India signed two MoU- first with Far Eastern
cooperation in the energy sector for exploration Agency for Attracting Investments and Supporting
of hydrocarbons for 2019-24. Exports for mining coking coal in Russian Far East
and Arctic Region.
Second- Eastern Mining Company of Russian
Federation for exploring the mining sector in the
Russian Far East.
A Memorandum of Intent was signed for the MoU signed for supply of Russian crude oil to
development of maritime communications India.
between Chennai and Vladivostok.
Russia’s Novatek signed an MoU with Petronet To cooperate in geological exploration and joint
LNG Ltd for supply of liquefied natural gas and development of oil and gas fields in Russia and
joint development of downstream LNG business. India, including offshore fields.
To ensure security in the use of Information and -
Communication Technologies for 2019–2020.

26. The multi-ministry campaign to prohibit the single-use plastics in the country, will be
administered by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
• The ministry will also finalise the pending policy for Extended Producer
Responsibility, especially on milk packets.
 8

• Department of Industrial Promotion will ensure that all cement factories use plastic
as fuel, while National Highway Authority of India will use plastic in making durable
roads.

27. Rajasthan has become the first state to launch a pilot project to reduce the weight of
school bags of children.

28. Uttar Pradesh’s Police has launched a ‘C-Plan’ mobile app to curb communal tensions
across the state (in far-flung villages also).
• The app will help commoners to report the incidents of communal tensions as well
as allows police to cross-verify the information.
• 10 people named as “Sabhrant-10”, chosen from every village, will act as informants
of police.

29. Haryana govt has waived off ₹4,750-crore interest and penalty on crop loans taken from
cooperative banks, Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies, District Cooperative
Central Banks and Land Mortgage Bank.

30. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has set up a 9-
member working group, headed by Atul Sahai, to review its March 2016 guidelines on
trade credit insurance.
• Trade credit insurance is an insurance policy that protects the businesses from loss
caused by protracted default, insolvency or bankruptcy etc.

31. One-day Joint India- NDB workshop on Enhancing NDB’s engagement with Indian
private and public sector was held in New Delhi.
• New Development Bank (NDB, set up-2014; HQ- Shanghai, China) is the first
Multilateral Development Bank established by BRICS countries to mobilize
resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and
other emerging economies.

32. Department of Science and Technology has selected the IIT-Kharagpur for setting up
the Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institute (SATHI) and approved Rs 125
crore funds for a period of 3 years.
• SATHI is the central govt’s initiative to extend help to the academic institutes, start-
ups, research institutes, and manufacturing units in the neighbouring regions.

33. 15th edition of the military exercise Yudh Abhyas 2019, conducted by Indian and US
special forces, will be held at Joint Base Lewis Mc Chord, Washington, USA.
• This joint exercise is hosted alternately between the two countries.

34. Ministry of HRD has granted the tag of “Institute of Eminence” to IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-
Madras, Delhi University, University of Hyderabad, Banaras Hindu University.
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• For private universities: - Vallore Institute of Technology, Amrita Vishwas

Vidyapeetham, Jamia Hamdard ,Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology; Bharati
Institute have also been issued the Letter of Intent to grant this status.
• The public universities will receive Rs 1,000 crore from the govt. and operational
autonomy for transforming into the world-class institute.
• UGC started the practise of granting “Institutions of Eminence” tag in 2017 to
encourage the institutions to become world-class institute.
• Total 20 institutes have been recommended by UGC for this status.

35. PM Narendra Modi has unveiled the “Act Far East” policy at the 5th edition of Eastern
Economic Forum to boost India’s engagement with the Russian region.
• India granted a special line of credit of $1 billion to Russia for the development of
resource-rich Russian region.
• India has concluded 50 agreement worth $5 billion with Russia.
• Russia has offered the joint design to develop the conventional submarines with air
independent propulsion (AIP) for Indian Navy through an Inter-governmental
agreement (IGA) with full access to technology and intellectual property rights.

36. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched the “Eat Right Movement” to
encourage people to eat the right kind of food for the next 365 days, while launching
the POSHAN MAAH.
• Eat Right Movement is aligned with Poshan Abhiyan, Ayushman Bharat, Anaemia
Mukt Bharat and Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.
• FSSAI has prescribed a 25% limit on Total Polar Compounds in cooking oil to avoid
harmful effects of reused cooking oil.

37. India will set up a Centralized Technology Vertical (to be operational by next year)
under the CBI to connect investigators from across the country for information sharing
among them on a real-time.
• Purpose: - To tackle the menace of cyber-crime.
• It was decided at the first-ever “National Conference on Cyber Crime Investigation
and Forensics”, organized by CBI in New Delhi.

38. 72nd session of WHO’s Regional Committee for South East Asia Region (held in Delhi)
has adopted the resolution to eliminate Measles and Rubella/Congenital Rubella
Syndrome (CRS) from the region by 2023.
 10

• Measles take around 5 Lakh lives in the region while rubella/CRS cause about 55,000
children in the region.
• Since 2014, the region is focusing on to eliminating these diseases.
• Bhutan, North Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka & Timor Leste have eliminated measles.
• Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal & Timor Leste have controlled
rubella.

39. Ministry of Culture and Tourism has flagged off 25 new moving science museums
(buses) in the 115 aspirational districts to inform the rural students about the science
and technology (including the 1 for Ladakh also).
• The Mobile Science Exhibition programme was originally launched as the Mobile
Science Museum in 1965 by Ministry of Culture.

40. Gujarat has, for the first time, signed a sister-state MoU with Delaware state of
America to strengthen mutual ties.

41. India and Maldives (Maldives’ 1st MLAT) signed a Mutual Legal Assistance in criminal
matters (MLAT) treaty to effectively carry out legal prosecution and investigation.
• 4th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference was organized in Maldives under the
theme of "Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional and Non-Traditional
Challenges".

42. A report on Status of Tiger Habitats in high altitude ecosystems was released by
Ministry of Environment, which studies the compatibility of tiger habitats and the need
for their conservation in high-altitude areas.
• It was prepared by Global Tiger Forum, in collaboration with, Bhutan, India and
Nepal govt, World Wide Fund for Nature and supported by Integrated Tiger Habitat
Conservation Programme of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

43. Rajasthan and UNESCO have signed an MoU to preserve the cultural and folk heritage
of Rajasthan.
• UNESCO will develop a special tourist circuit and 10 new cultural hubs in Jodhpur,
Bikaner, Barmer and Jaisalmer for around three-and-a-half years, in collaboration
with Contact Base (NGO).
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44. India and Russia signed MoU during the 20th India – Russia Annual Summit (on the
sidelines of Eastern Economic Forum) for cooperation in the road transport and road
industry and to combating customs violations in 2019-2022.
• Russia and India will jointly hold a high level tiger forum in 2020.
• Russia will hold the 2nd International Tiger Conservation Forum (also called the
Second Tiger Summit) in 2022, the first Summit was held in St. Petersburg in 2010.
1. Invest India and Russian Direct 3. MoU between Joint-Stock Company
Investment Fund signed MoU for Rosgeologia and Srei Infrastructure
investment Collaboration; Finance Ltd for cooperation.
2. FICCI and Roscongress Foundation 4. MoU between FICCI and
for Cooperation; Autonomous Non-profit
Organization Agency for Strategic
Initiatives to promote New Projects.
5. India launched the Indo-Russian 6. Startup India Kalyani EdTech
Innovation Bridge between Startup Challenge was also launched where
India and Skolkovo Foundation in Invest India & Kalyani Group would
Russia to promote trade in India and joined support Indian and Russian
Russia. startups through Startup India
website.

45. 28th edition of India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (Indo-Thai CORPAT) is being held
between Indian Navy and Royal Thai Navy.
• INS Kesari and Thailand Ship (HTMS) Kraburi along with both navies’s Maritime
Patrol Aircrafts are participating in CORPAT.

46. Ministry of Finance has set up a new task force, headed by the Economic Affairs
Secretary - Atanu Chakrabarty, to identify the economically and technically viable
infrastructure projects for India to be completed within 2019-20 to 2024-25.
• The budget for creating the “national infrastructure pipeline” is Rs 100 Trillion.

47. Cabinet Committee on Security has cleared the Rs 5,000 crore fund for procurement of
Akash (indigenous missile system) for the India Air Force (IAF).
• The number of Akash, ordered by IAF, has been increased to 15 and number of
squadrons has been increased to 6 from 2.

48. Indo-Lanka annual joint naval maritime exercise –SLINEX – will start from
Vishakhapatnam.

49. Japan-India-US trilateral maritime exercise “MALABAR 2019” will start in September.
• During India-Japan Annual Defence Ministerial Dialogue in Tokyo, both countries
considered ways for second edition of ‘SHINYUU MAITRI 18’ (1st bilateral exercise
between the air forces of India and Japan held in 2018).
• Japan also participated as observer in the India-US bilateral exercise “Cope India” in
2018.
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50. India and South Korea signed 2 MoU for promoting defence educational exchanges and
mutual logistical support for the navies of both countries during the Seoul Defence
Dialogue 2019.
• K9 VAJRA-T 155mm/52 (a tracked self-propelled howitzer) was procured by India
from South Korea in 2018.

51. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Microsoft India have partnered to
training school teachers (from class 8-10) about the AI and cloud computing.
• In Phase-1, 1000 teachers from 10 cities will be trained.

52. Minister of Food processing, Harsimrat K Badal, has inaugurated the 1st Mega Food
Park promoted by Smart Agro Food Park at Nizamabad district, Telangana.
• The Park will leverage an additional investment of about ₹250 crore in 22 food
processing units and generate a turnover of about ₹14,000 crore.

53. Cricketer Rohit Sharma, in association with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) India and
Animal Planet, has launched the “Rohit4Rhino” campaign to conserve Rhinos and
create awareness about it.
• The campaign will be launched on Animal Planet (an American documentary TV
channel) on “World Rhino Day” on 22 Sept.
• Rohit Sharma joined the WWF in 2018 as its brand ambassador.

54. First-ever Conference on Military Medicine for SCO members will be held in Delhi in
Sept. under the SCO Defence Co-operation Plan 2019-2020.
• Aim: - To share best practices in the field of military medicine and to build capacities.

55. National Green Tribunal has constituted a committee including officials from Ministry
of Environment, Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to
prepare an action plan for conservation of endangered the Great Indian Bustard.
• The committee is tasked to prepare the strategy for execution of Wildlife Institute of
India’s (WII) recommendations.

56. Indian Air Force has organized an ultra-marathon of over 4,500 km from Kargil (Dras
War Memorial) to Kohima (War Cemetry) to commemorate 20 years of ‘Vijay Diwas’
(Kargil War).
 13

• It aims to promote the Fit India Movement.

57. IIM-Udaipur has started the first-ever Masters course in digital discipline to provide the
digital skills to the professionals to make them efficient leaders in the emerging digital
environment.
• IIM-Udaipur has signed various MoU with digital industries for this program (which
will start in April 2020).

58. Karnataka government has announced to rename Hyderabad-Karnataka region (having

six districts) as Kalyana Karnataka.
• Reason: - To remove the colonial name or connection with the Nizams.

59. Indian Railways has inaugurated the first-of-its-kind “Fun Zone” at the Visakhapatnam
railway station in Andhra Pradesh to entertain waiting passengers.
• The project was developed under NINFRIS (New, Innovative Non Fare Revenue Ideas
Scheme) of the Ministry of Railways.

60. Ministry of Home Affairs assured the states that it would not revoke the Article 371 at
the 68th Plenary session of North-Eastern Council held in Guwahati.
• Article 370 and 371 were part of the Constitution at the time of its commencement
on January 26, 1950 and Articles 371A through 371J were added to it later on to give
special provisions to 11 states.
Article 371 Maharashtra and Gujarat special rights
Article A Nagaland (Added through the 13th Amendment Act, 1962)
Article B Assam (Added through the 22nd Amendment Act, 1969)
Article C Manipur (Added through the 27th Amendment Act, 1971)
Article D Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (32nd Amendment Act, 1973 substituted
by The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014)
Article E Andhra Pradesh – It allows establishment of a university in AP only through
an act of parliament.
Article F Sikkim (Added through the 36th Amendment Act, 1975)
Article G Mizoram (Added through the 53rd Amendment Act, 1986)
Article H Arunachal Pradesh (Added through 55th Amendment Act, 1986)
Article I Goa
Article J Karnataka (Added through 98th Amendment Act, 2012)

61. Ministry of Women and Child Development has felicitated the states and districts for
improving the sex ratio at birth (SRB) under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, 2015.
• States wise- Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were
felicitated for improvement in SRB, along with the 10 districts.
• Out of the 10 districts, Kameng district (Arunachal Pradesh) has shown greatest
improvement in SRB from 807 in 2014-15 to 1,039 in 2018-19.
• Nationally, SRB was 918 in 2015 and now it has increased to 931.
 14

62. Ministry of Power has formulated a new tariff policy for the discoms which will levy a
surcharge, equivalent to the commercial rate of interest, on the defaulting discoms.
• The details of tariff policy and UDAY scheme are yet to be revealed.
After the implementation of tariff policy Discoms would be penalised if they do load
and UDAY 2.0 scheme, if a discom would shedding.
not take steps to reduce losses, then Govt
would not give any grant or loan.
Earlier, discoms would charge 70% of its Central Electricity Authority (CEA) would
under-recovered costs from their already set standards of service for discoms and
paying customers. Now it has been there would be a penalty for not meeting
reduced. Discoms can charge only up to those standards.
15% of their under-recovered costs from
customers and rest will be paid by the govt.
As per the PRAAPTI portal, the total dues UDAY 2.0 (UDAY 1.0 was launched in 2015
of discoms to gencos as of July 2019 stood to reduce losses of discoms) would not
at Rs 73,425 crore, including the overdue provide grants or loans to discoms rather it
amount of Rs 55,276 crore. would provide incentives or disincentives
to the discoms who take necessary steps in
reducing their losses.

63. Nilgiri tahr, also known as Nilgiri ibex’s population has increased in the Mukurthi
National Park (Tamil Nadu) from 568 in 2018 to 612 in 2019.

64. Anupriya Lakra, from Maoist-hit Malkangiri district in Odisha, has become the first
woman pilot from this remote area.

65. India has announced $1 million financial aid to The Bahamas which is afflicted by
Hurricane Dorian.

66. PM Narendra Modi will launch the National Animal Disease Control Programme
(central sector scheme) on Sept 11 as a major step towards doubling farmers income.
• Phase 1 of the program aims to provide Rs 12,652 Crores for a period of 5 years till
2024 to vaccinate over 500 Million Livestock including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats
and pigs against the FMD.
• It has two agendas: - To reduce Brucellosis and foot and mouth diseases in animals
by 2025 and completely eliminate them by 2030.
• It will vaccinate 36 Million Female Bovine Calves against the Brucellosis disease.
• PM will also launch National Artificial Insemination Programme. (Insemination is an
artificial method of putting male sperms in female animals through sexual or asexual
modes).

67. Knight Frank's report 'Insights on Co-living: An Asia-Pacific Perspective', ranks Beijing,
Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Mumbai at the top 5 spots in the co-living index.
 15

• Mumbai is the India’s most preferred co-living space followed by New Delhi (overall
rank – 11) and Bangalore (overall rank – 19).
• Total 20 cities Asia- Pacific were measured on 6 parameters – tech and financial
hub, venture capital deals & growth, housing affordability, university population,
general population & human development index, and quality of life.

68. 1st ever helicopter summit 2019 has been organized by Ministry of Civil Aviation in
Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
• Indian Air Force was invited to discuss about the ''Role of IAF helicopters in
MEDEVAC (medical evacuation) at National level.

69. India has increased the target for land restoration from 21 million hectares to 26
million hectares by 2030 during the 14th Conference of Parties of UN Convention to
Combat Desertification held in Greater Noida, UP.
• 3 species – Indian Cheetah, pink-headed duck and Great Indian Bustard have
become extinct due to desertification of land.
• “New Delhi Declaration” will be released to combat desertification.

70. Central Govt. has constituted a 3-member advisory committee, headed by Sanjay
Mitra, to look into the distribution of asset and liabilities of J&K between J&K and
Ladakh.
• The committee has been formed under the section 84 and 85 of the Jammu and
Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
• Section 84: - It allows distribution of assets and liabilities between the 2 new UTs.
• Section 85: - Allows Central govt to form an advisory group for this purpose.

71. A first of its kind study conducted by Nutrition International, in collaboration with
AIIMS, Delhi and Indian Coalition for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders
(ICCIDD), mentioned that Tamil Nadu (61.9%), Andhra Pradesh (63.9%), Rajasthan
(65.5%), Odisha (65.8%) and Jharkhand (68.8%) are the lowest salt consuming states.
• Gujarat produces 71% of salt in India followed by Rajasthan at 17% and Tamil Nadu
at 11%.
• States with more than 99% of households having access to adequately iodised salt
were Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.
 16

72. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (under Ministry of Home Affairs)
has released the “SRS Based Abridged Life Tables, 2013-17” mentioning that overall life
expectancy in India has improved to 69 years from 68.7 in 2012-16.
• In 2013-17, Kerala with 75.2 years retains at the top position and Uttar Pradesh with
65.0 years, has the lowest life expectancy at birth.
• Total life Expectancy between 2013-17: - 69.0 (Male- 67.8 and Female- 70.4)
• Life Expectancy in Urban Area:- Total- 72.4; Male- 71.2; Female- 73.7
• Life Expectancy in Rural Area: - Total- 67.7; Male- 66.4; Female- 69.0

73. Maharashtra govt will develop a disaster risk management tool, in collaboration with
United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) for assessing the disaster
threats and their solutions.
• USTDA, in its report, has estimated that losses from floods in the Mumbai
Metropolitan Region are $2 billion (₹14,350 crore) during 2005-15 while death toll is
over 3,000 during the decade.
 17

• The recent floods in western Maharashtra are estimated to cause ₹6,813 crore
damage.

74. India’s first paperless State Legislative Assembly building has been inaugurated in
Jharkhand. (Himachal Pradesh became India’s first hi-tech digital legislative assembly in
2014).
• Indian Parliament will become paperless from next session.

75. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced to create a digital database on
infrastructure, traffic, education, health, sanitation, safety and population for over 4,000
smart cities by 2024.
• In the phase 1, 100 cities under the 'Smart City Mission' would be covered by March
2020, and in phase 2, 500 cities will be brought under the project by 2022.
• The ministry is also planning to monetise this data.

76. Indian Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Climate Resilient Observing Systems

Promotion Council has prepared the first-of-its-kind report titled “Mid-Monsoon 2019
Lightning” with inputs from Indian Institute of Tropical Management-Pune and ISRO,
reports the lighting incidents in India.

State with Highest Lighting Incidents
State with Lowest Lighting Incidents
State with Highest Lighting Deaths
State with Lowest Lighting Deaths
District with Highest Lighting Strikes
High Lightning Prone Area
Odisha (followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka)
Jammu and Kashmir
Uttar Pradesh (followed by Bihar and Odisha)
Tamil Nadu
East Singhbhum (Jharkhand)
Chota Nagpur plateau

77. NITI Aayog has chosen McKinsey & Co. for developing India’s first digital capability
centre (DCC) to train manufacturing companies in next generation technology.
• Govt will bring together industry, academia, and research to help set up a DCC,
which has to be driven by the private sector.

78. India’s first international women’s trade centre (iWTC) will be set up Kozhikode, Kerala
to allow women to open their ventures and to participate in international trade.
• The 1st phase of iWTC, being executed under the gender park’s “Vision 2020”, is
scheduled to be completed by 2021.
• Gender Park (launched in 2016) is an institution promoted by the Department of
Social Justice of Kerala, to resolve the gender inequity issues.

79. A multilingual Mobile App “CHC Farm Machinery” was launched during the National
Conference on Crop Residue Management held in New Delhi.
 18

80. India and ASEAN have decided to review the free trade agreement signed between
them in 2009 (effective from 2010) to make it more business friendly during the 16th
ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting with India held in Bangkok, Thailand.

81. “Global Top 50 IB Schools 2019″ list has been released by UK-based education
consultancy ‘Education Advisers ltd’, assessing top International Baccalaureate
institutes.
• Top 10 IB institutes: -

82. Two insurance schemes – Mukhyamantri Vyapari Samuhik Niji Durghatna Beema
Yojana and Mukhyamantri Vyapari Kshatipurti Beema Yojana have been launched in
Haryana for small and medium farmers.

83. DRDO has successfully conducted the 3rd test of the indigenously developed Man
Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) in Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

84. LOT Polish Airlines will operate the first-ever direct flight (5 times a week) between
India (New Delhi) to Poland (Warsaw) to boost economic ties between the two nations.

85. A major exercise-HimVijay- will be conducted for a month in October in Arunachal

Pradesh and Assam with Army's newly created Integrated Battle Groups (IBG) involving
15,000 troops.
• IBGs are special units, each tailor made based on threat, terrain and task.

86. According to a study published in “The Lancet”, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Mozambique and India are the top 4 countries respectively with highest burden of
Malaria in 2017.
• Of the 219 million cases of malaria reported globally in 2017, nearly 10 million (4%)
were from India.
• Unique Case: - In 2017, 71% of total cases reported in Tamil Nadu occurred in
Chennai.
 19

• According to a WHO’s report of 2017, out-of-pocket spending should not exceed

20% of total health expenditure.

87. Samsung has developed two apps – Good Vibes for deafblind and Relumino for people
with low vision – to help people in India.
• Good Vibes: - created in partnership with Sense India; will help deafblind people
understand messages through Mores Code.
• Relumino: - created in partnership with National Association for the Blind (Delhi);
help people see images better.

88. Tamil Nadu has got the GI tag for its sweet- Srivilliputhur palkova.

89. 8th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable (AMER8) is being hosted by Abu Dhabi, UAE.
• Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, described about the
Energy Vision of India (launched in 2016), which is based on four pillars i.e. energy
access, energy efficiency, energy sustainability and energy security.
• 9th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable (AMER9) will be held in 2021 in New Delhi.
• 17th edition of International Energy Forum (IEF17) will be held in China in 2020.

90. Central Govt is planning to set up a “National Genomic Grid” in line with the National
Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB) to increase research in cancer and make treatment
available to all patients.
• Purpose: - It will collect samples from cancer patients to study genomic factors
influencing cancer and identifying the right treatment modalities for the Indian
population.
• NCTB is a joint initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST) and IIT-
Madras and has a capacity to collect 50,000 genomic samples from cancer patients.

91. Ministry of Human Resource Development has issued the Life Skills curriculum named
as “Jeevan Kaushal”, which has been prepared by UGC, for under-graduation programs.
• Aim: - To train the ug students in the life skills apart from theoretical knowledge.
 20

92. Times Higher Education has released the 16th edition of World University Ranking
2020, which ranked more than 1300 universities from 92 countries.
• Top 5 universities: -

• Rank of Indian Universities: -

• Parameters of Ranking: - teaching, research, citations, international outlook and

industry income.

93. “Drought Toolbox” (a website) has been released during the COP-14 of the UN
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to help vulnerable countries find one-
stop solution of drought related issues on “Drought Preparedness Day” on Sept 11.
• The drought toolbox is developed through the close partnership among UNCCD,
World Meteorological Organisation, Food and Agriculture Organisation and other
institutions and global bodies.
• FAO has also presented a report - proactive approaches to drought preparedness -
on its sidelines.
• FAO, in collaboration with UNCCD, WMO, Global Water Partnership, and Integrated
Drought Management Programme as a contribution to the Global Framework on
Water Scarcity in Agriculture prepared this report.
 21

• The number of undernourished people in drought-sensitive countries has increased

by 45.6% since 2012, according to FAO's 'State of Food Insecurity in the World'
2019 report.

94. Punjab has become the first state in India to sign an MoU with Government e-
marketplace (GeM) for setting up the GeM Organizational Transformation Team
(GOTT) Project Management Unit (PMU) in the state.
• GeM (launched in 2016) aims to facilitate efficient procurement of goods and
services by the various govt departments and ministries.
• Among the Central Public Sector Units, SAIL India has already signed MoU for
setting up of GOTT PMU.

95. J&K governor Satya Pal Malik has launched the Market Intervention Price Scheme
(MIPS) in J&K for procurement of Apples worth Rs 8,000 crore to help apple growers in
the state.
• Under the MIPS, apples will be procured and marketed by National Agricultural
Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), and apple growers will get
more remuneration for various grades of apple.
• The scheme has been approved by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation,
Ministry of Agriculture, under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs.

96. The 2nd Multi Modal Terminal built has been built at Sahibganj in Jharkhand at a cost
of ₹290 crores on river Ganga under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP).
• 1st Multi Modal Terminal was built at Varanasi in 2018.

97. National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) is planning to link social media accounts with it.
• NATGRID is an online database which aims to connect intelligence agencies on a
secure platform.
• NATGRID project is still under development and was announced after the 26/11
Mumbai attack in 2008. But the project was gathered pace in 2016 after
appointment of CEO Ashok Patnaik (current ceo of project is Ashish Gupta).
• According to Ministry of Home Affairs, National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) will
become operational by January 2020.
 22

98. 3rd edition of the RE-INVEST expo, organized by Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy, has been postponed to October 2020 due to the economic slowdown.
• India has also previously postponed the RE-INVEST in 2016 also.

99. India has begun exporting bulletproof jackets as per its own standards (conforming to
international norms) to over 100 countries, including European nations, according to
Bureau of Indian Standards.
• India is the 4th country after the US, UK and Germany to have its own national
standard on bulletproof jacket.

100. ONGC has signed an MoU with Assam government for drilling of 220 oil and gas
wells in the state at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore.
• It is in line with PM Modi’s call for reducing import by 10% by 2022 and Northeast
Hydrocarbon Vision 2030.

101. Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) has given the second
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, Netra, to the Indian Air Force.
• DRDO developed it in association with Bengaluru-based Centre for Airborne
Systems.

102. India delivered the ‘Pulathisi Express’ made under the “Make in India” campaign to
Sri Lanka.
• It was inducted through an Indian line of Credit to Sri Lanka, provided through RITES
Limited and Integral Coach Factory (in Chennai).

103. India has become the 16th country to join the Global Antimicrobial Resistance
Research and Development Hub (AMR- R&D).
The hub was launched during the 71st The hub now includes 16 countries, the
session of the World Health Assembly in European Commission, two philanthropic
2018, to help countries decide the foundations and four international
allocation of resources for R&D on AMR by organisations (as observers).
identifying gaps and overlaps.
India is among the highest burden of The hub has a provisional work plan (2018-
infectious disease. The consumption of 2021), under which it will develop a
antibiotics in the country increased by dynamic dashboard, establish operational
103% from 2000 to 2015, the highest in low activities and operational procedures and
and middle-income countries, according to engage experts in ad-hoc Expert Advisory
a study. Groups to understand the range of R&D
incentives and gaps in the incentive
toolbox.

104. Ministry of Human Resource and Development will introduce Artificial Intelligence
study at the school level by partnering with the technology leaders like Intel.
• HRD Minister launched the CBSE’s portal Vidya Daan.
 23

• Vidya Daan is a repository of content prepared by the teachers by uploading study

materials for students of class 6th to 10th on an on-line platform, Diksha App.
• Diksha App was launched in 2017 to serve as National Digital Infrastructure for
Teachers. All teachers across nation will be equipped with advanced digital
technology.

105. India and Thailand will hold their joint military Exercise Maitree-2019 at Umroi,
Meghalaya.
• Both nations have already carried out a similar exercise twice in the past one month
and this is the 3rd exercise between them.
• As part of Indian Navy's Overseas Deployment to South East Asia and Western
Pacific, INS Sahyadri and INS Kiltan made a port call at Laem Chabang, Bangkok.
ABOUT MAITREE
Maitree has been conducted between India and Thailand since 2006.
Exercise Maitree is significant in terms of security challenges faced by both countries in
the backdrop of changing facets of global terrorism.

106. Ministry of Railways and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have signed an MoU
for facilitating green initiatives.
• Indian Railways & CII have been working together on Green Rating & Energy
Efficiency Studies of Railway’s Production Units & major workshops since 2016.
• In last 3 years, 50 Railway units and other facilities have achieved GreenCo
certification.
• CII developed the GreenCo Rating System to facilitate Indian industries make a
substantial improvement in their environmental performance.

107. UNESCO will publish an anthology of writings of Baba Guru Nanak Dev in world
languages to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
• Indian Govt has also released the commemorative coins and postage stamps on this
occasion.
 24

108. Rajasthan has launched the online Jan Soochna Portal under its Rajasthan
Innovation Vision (RAJIV) to give a boost to the RTI Act, 2005 and strengthening the
Section 4(2) of the RTI Act which was not implemented properly earlier.
• Presently, the portal provides information of 23 schemes from 13 departments.

109. NELCO has become the first company in India to launch the maritime
communication services to provide quality broadband services to the maritime sector.
Maritime Communication Services Central Equipment Identity Register
Maritime Connectivity will facilitate by Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)
providing access to Voice, Data and Video online portal (developed by Department of
services in sea by using satellite technology. Telecom) has also been launched to track
the stolen mobiles and prevent their reuse.
NELCO has partnered with ISRO for Currently, it is available in Maharashtra
developing a comprehensive service where it will be provided by telecom
portfolio and make communication easier service providers such as Vodafone etc.
in sea through satellite.
Last year, government had announced CEIR will trace the International Mobile
licences IFMC (in-flight and maritime Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of
connectivity) that allows voice and internet mobiles to track them.
services while flying over the Indian skies
and sailing in Indian waters, both for
international and Indian aircraft and
vessels.

110. Tamil Nadu’s CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami has signed MoU with 41 companies to
attract Rs 8,835 crore investment, during his three nations visit to USA, UK, and UAE.
• These MoU will provide jobs to over 35,000 people.
• Tamil Nadu govt. tied up with International Skills Development Corporation (ISDC),
a skill development company based in London, UK for skilling the health work force.
• London school of hygiene and tropical medicine and TN signed a Statement of
Intent to control vector borne diseases, especially malaria and dengue.
 25

• King’s College Hospital, London, will establish a flagship hospital in Tamil Nadu that
the government will facilitate.
• Palaniswami launched the Yaadhum Oore (the world is our home) scheme (including
a portal for the scheme) for non-resident Tamils willing to invest in projects in TN.
• Business Leaders Forum (BLF), investors roundtable, was hosted by the UAE’s
Ministry of Economy, Indian Embassy to UAE, Consulate General of India in Dubai,
and India Trade and Exhibition Centre.

111. Special Training Program for 1,000 Maldivian Civil Servants will be undertaken by
National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) at Mussoorie and Delhi.
• NCGG (India) and Maldives Civil Service Commission (CSC) had signed an MoU for
capacity building in June 2019.

112. INS Sahyadri and INS Kiltan have been reached Malaysia for the bilateral exercise.
• Sea phase of the exercise – 'Samudra Laksamana' – has commenced off the
Malaysian port of Kota Kinabalu.

113. High Commission of India in Singapore has organized the region’s first international
Business and Innovation Summit on India at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and
Convention Centre in Singapore.
• The Summit had two inter-related conferences: first – “India-Singapore: The Next
Phase” and second – “InSpreneur 3.0”: the 3rd edition of the India-Singapore
Innovation and Start-up platform launched by the High Commission in January 2018.
• InSpreneur 3.0 will focus on fintech, SMEs digital platforms, connecting start-ups in
India and ASEAN, cyber security, artificial intelligence, future of data, Industry 4.0,
and health and bio biotech.

114. Gujarat has again topped in the perception-based LEADS (Logistics Ease Across
Different States) index, released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry along with
Deloitte.
• LEADS Index attempts to establish the base line of performance in the logistics
sector based on the perception of users and stakeholders at the state level.
• Nine Parameters includes infrastructure, quality of logistics, services, timeliness of
cargo delivery, regulatory process and safety of cargo.
 26

115. COP-14 of UNCCD was held in New Delhi under the theme of Investing in
Restoration to Unlock Opportunities.
• Biggest Tribal movement to promote tribal enterprise through Bamboonomics in
the country was launched at “The Indian Perspective through Bamboonomics”
session at ‘COP 14 UNCCD : TRIFED-GIZ’.
• “Delhi Declaration” has been finalized and member countries have agreed to make
‘land degradation neutrality’ by 2030, a national target for action.

116. Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved the proposals for procurement of
equipment of about Rs 2,000 crores which includes indigenous production of special
ammunition for T-72/T-90 tanks to give a boost to Make in India campaign.
• DAC has also approved the indigenous production of the 125mm Armour Piercing
Fin Stabilised Discarding-Sabot (APFSDS) gun for T-72/T-90 tanks.
• DAC also approved the procurement of mechanical minelayer (self-propelled) which
is being developed by DRDO.

117. Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and DRDO have successfully conducted
the first-ever arrested landing of Light Combat Aircraft (Navy) named “Tejas” at a
shore-based facility, INS Hansa in Goa.
• LCA (Navy) is the naval version of indigenously developed Tejas fighter aircraft
being developed for the IAF.

118. Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat has launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Dal
Poshit Yojana’ to provide pulses at a low price to beneficiaries.
• Under the scheme, 2 Kg of pulses per month would be made available to 23.32 lakh
ration card holders.
• Chick pea will be made available at Rs 44 per kg against its current market price of Rs
65 to 70.

119. Haryana has raised the income limit for people seeking to enrol in the Ayushman
Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) scheme of up to Rs 1.8 lakh per
annum.
• Central Govt has decided to celebrate September 23 as ‘Ayushman Bharat Divas’
(Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY is completing one-year), while September 15 to 30 will be
celebrated as ‘Ayushman Bharat Pakhwada’.

120. Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has been chosen as the head of the panel to
study issues related to non-personal data and suggest the ways to regulate it.

121. USA overtakes Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world's top oil exporter for
the first time earlier this year with total oil exports to nearly 9 million barrels per day,
according to International Energy Alliance.
• IEA has estimated the growth in global oil demand in 2019 at 1.1 million bpd and
1.3 million bpd for 2020.
 27

122. Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER), first of its kind centre, was
launched at the IISc-Bangalore for conducting research in energy.

123. 15th Indo-US Economic Summit 2019 was organized by the Indo-American Chamber
of Commerce- North India Council (IACC- NIC) in New Delhi.
• As per the Indian government data, India's exports to the US during 2018-19 were
worth about USD 52.4 billion while imports bill stood at USD 35.55 billion.
• US trade deficit with India during 2018-19 stood at USD 16.85 billion, lower than
USD 21.26 billion in the 2017-18.
• World Bank will sanction Rs 3,000 crore for the Ministry of Food Processing to
finance mini and mega food parks across the country.

124. Indian Council of Medical Research, in association with US Consulate of Kolkata and
the USA Department of Health and Human Services, inaugurated India’s first National
Anti-microbial Resistance Hub in Kolkata.

125. “Jaldoot” bus has been launched in Pune, Maharashtra to tour in eight districts in
the next two months to create awareness about water conservation.
• Developer: - Pune-based Regional Outreach Bureau of Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting.

126. Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978, is a preventive detention law, allows
the State government to detain a person up to two years without a trial.
• PSA allows the State to hold a person without producing them in court.

127. Govt aims to link wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme to an updated inflation index, which will be revised
annually.
• Purpose: - To boost rural consumption demand.
• According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey, market wages for men were higher
than MGNREGA wages by 74% in FY18, while for women, the difference was 21%.

128. Article 341 of the Constitution provides certain privileges and concessions to the
members of Scheduled Castes.
 28

• First list of SCs with regards to a state/UT will be issued by President after consulting
concerned state Government.
• The clause (2) of Article 341 provides that, any subsequent inclusion in or exclusion
from the list of SCs can be done through an Act of Parliament.

129. National Green Tribunal has launched the e-filing portal/e-court where the
aggrieved party can file complaint online without any hassle under the National Green
Tribunal Act, 2010.

130. Supreme Court has mandated that NGOs which are “substantially” financed by the
government fall under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
• They are categorized under the “public authority” category in Section 2(h) of the RTI
Act.

131. Ministry of Defence has signed a ₹5,500 crore contract for developing additional
indigenous Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, ₹70,000-80,000 crore worth of
contracts are expected to be signed with Indian industry.
• Govt aims to build a $10 trillion economy by 2032.

132. Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district has organized the first ever only women
marathon on the theme of anti-drug addiction.
• NGO Dogra Kranti Dal has organized it.

133. Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur has launched Mukhya Mantri Seva Sankalp
Helpline 1100 (Chief Minister’s Service Resolution Helpline) for speedy redressal of
public grievances.
• HP has become the fourth state after Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh to have a CM helpline number.

134. Indian Air Force has signed a contract of Rs 300 crore for procurement of 100 Spice-
2000 bombs ('building blaster' version) under the emergency procurement route from
Israel.
• Israel has delivered the first batch of these bombs at the Gwalior Air Base – home to
IAF’s Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft fleet and they are the only fleet which can fire the
Israeli bombs.
 29

135. Singapore, India and Thailand have started the first edition of their trilateral naval
exercise – SITMEX – at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), Indian Navy and the Royal Thai Navy are
participating in it.
• It will have two phases – sea phase (in the Andaman Sea) and shore phase (at Port
Blair).

136. DRDO has handed over the advanced wargaming software to Navy to enable
Maritime Warfare Centres (MWCs) to train personnel by using the latest technological
and computing tools.
• Developer: - Institute for Systems Studies and Analysis (DRDO’s premier lab) and
MWC, Visakhapatnam.

137. Ministry of HRD and External Affairs have launched the 1000 Ph.D. fellowship
program for students from ASEAN nations in IITs.
• The fellowship programme has a total budget outlay of Rs 300 crore (approx. $45
million) is the single-largest capacity development initiative of India in its
partnership with ASEAN.
• IIT-Delhi has been chosen as the coordinating IIT for the fellowship programme.
• In January 2018, India announced to provide the fellowships during 25th Anniversary
ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi.

138. IAF has launched the Astra missile –developed by DRDO –from Sukhoi-30 MKI off
the coast of Odisha as part of user trials.
• Astra missile has a 15-kg high-explosive pre-fragmented warhead and it is a beyond
visual range air-to-air missile.

139. Kerala govt and Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) have jointly signed an MOU with the
Health Ministry of Maldives for strengthening the cancer care facilities in Maldives.
 30

140. National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development (NCCC- R&D) has been
launched at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.
• NCCC- R&D is a national consortium on clean coal research and development with
IISc leading it.
• An Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER) equipped with modern
facilities was also launched.

141. Ministry of Home Affairs has tightened the norms of Foreigners Contribution
Regulation Act (FCRA) 2011, mandating that each member of an NGO seeking
registration under FCRA will have to file an affidavit declaring that s/he has no
connection with any activity of communal disharmony or with any act of religious
conversion.
• Under the 2011 rules, only key functionary and top office bearers were required to
give affidavit to receive grants under FCRA.
• MHA has increased the value of articles gifted for personal use from Rs 25000 to Rs 1
lakh in a financial year by amending rule 6A.
• In case of emergency medical aid during a visit abroad, the acceptance of foreign
hospitality has to be intimated to the govt within 30 days instead of 60 days earlier.
• The rules have been amended in 2012, 2015 and 2019 for NGOs seeking FCRA
licences.

142. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), named as Rustom 2, of the Defence Research
and Development Organisation was crashed during a trial in Chitradurga district,
Karnataka.

143. ISRO and DRDO have signed an MoU for providing assistance in the Gaganyaan
mission.

144. Union Cabinet has cleared an ordinance to ban the production, import, export,
distribution, sale, storage and advertisements of electronic nicotine delivery system,
(ENDS) or e-cigarettes.
• So far, 27 countries have banned e-cigarettes. 400 brands of it are sold in India in
150 different flavours.

145. Ministry of Labour & Employment will appoint a CEO, for the first time, who would
be executive heads of Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and Employees
State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
 31

• At present, EPFO and ESIC work more like autonomous bodies run by trustees and
board respectively.
• Central govt would appoint chairman and vice chairman of the two bodies, as per
the provisions of draft of Code on Social Security, 2019.

146. First of its kind International Conference on Sustainability Education 2019 held at
the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi
• Organizer: - Mobius Foundation (the Climate Reality Project, India) in partnership
with UNESCO’s New Delhi office.
• Agenda: - sustainable education, climate change education and environmental
education in the current course curriculum were discussed.
• South Asia’s first environment school named World Environment School has been
launched at Coorg, Karnataka.

147. India signed MoU with Iceland for cooperation in the field of Fisheries collaboration,
Cultural cooperation and Iceland also declared exemption from Visa for Indian
diplomatic.
• With Switzerland, India signed MoU in the field of climate change, Alliance in
science and technology and for Renewal of Hindi chair at the University of Lausanne.
• With Slovenia, India signed MoU in the field of investment, sports, culture, river
rejuvenation (Clean Ganga Mission), science and technology and standards.

148. Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) signed an MoU with
2,000Watt Smart City Association from Switzerland for development of carbon-neutral
smart townships in the Pune.

149. Tamil Nadu has launched the electric-vehicle policy to attract ₹50,000 crore in
investments and create 1.5 lakh new jobs.
• 100% road tax exemption for all types of EVs (till 2022), capital subsidies,
reimbursement of State GST, subsidy on land cost and special incentives for job
intensive EV projects will be provided.

150. Maharashtra has become the first state in India to implement ‘vertical property
rules’ under which a property card (equivalent to ownership documents) will be
distributed by the state govt to house owners of flats, buildings etc.
• Maharashtra Land Revenue Record of Rights and Registers for Apartments and
Buildings Rules, under the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code (MLRC), 1966, will be
brought in to provide a property card for flat ownership and to tackle property-
frauds.
• The current property cards, or 7/12 extract (a property document where there are
no city survey numbers) will become the main document of ownership, once it gets
implemented.
 32

151. Ola has signed an MoU with Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
(AB-PMJAY) for providing the benefits of the scheme to its drivers and their families.
• Initially, the scheme will be provided in NCR and later on it will be extended to other
cities.
• Launched in 2018, AB-PMJAY provides a health cover of ₹5 lakh in government and
empanelled private hospitals to 10.74 crore economically disadvantaged families.

152. Punjab has launched the ‘Mobile Phones to the Youth’ scheme to distribute
smartphones among all students of class 11 and 12 to acquaint the students with digital
platform.
• In the Phase 1 of the scheme, mobile would be distributed to the girls of class XI-XII
of govt schools from December.

153. According to a study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the average
levels of one of the worst pollutants, the small PM2.5 particles, have declined by 25%
during the 3 years from 2016-18.
• Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also claims that Delhi is the only State in the country where
the reduction in air pollution has been recorded.
• Also, 95% of Delhi’s industries now uses CNG and Delhi is the first State to achieve
this. Out of 1,542 industries in Delhi, 1,457 industries have been converted into CNG-
powered industries.

154. Google is launching an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Lab in Bengaluru.

• Google has also partnered with BSNL for expanding Wi-Fi hotspots in villages in
Gujarat, Bihar and Maharashtra.
• Google disclosed a new phone line service, in partnership with Vodafone Idea, to
allow people to access the Google Assistant feature through a phone number.
• Google is also bringing its technology of tokenisation to India to enable payments
through a system of ‘tokenized’ cards by using a digital token on the phone rather
than actual card number to be used by the debit and credit card holders.
• Google is also creating a ‘Spot Platform’ to allow merchants to create their shop
fronts within the Google Pay app. Google is partnering with National Skill
Development Corporation India, along with other firms, for it.
 33

• Google has also introduced its search engine in seven indigenous languages.

155. Delhi Police has launched the Tatpar app – amalgamates all the websites and mobile
applications of Delhi Police – for facilitating easy access to police services.
• e-FIR, pay traffic challan, a missing mobile phone report can be filed from the app
itself.
• It is designed by the Ministry of IT along with National e-Governance Division.

156. According to the study “Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2017” published in
The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, the targets set under the Poshan Abhiyan or
National Nutrition Mission (NNM) for reduction in prevalence of stunting, underweight,
low birth weight and anaemia in women and children by 2022 are aspirational and
cannot be fulfilled on time.
• NNM was launched in 2018. The study was conducted by Indian Council of Medical
Research, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare.
• 2/3rd of the 1.04 million deaths in children under five years in India are still caused
by malnutrition.
• The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rate attributable to malnutrition in children
varies 7-fold among the States and is highest in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Assam.
 34

157. Government has circulated the draft social security code, which merges existing 8
labour laws, will also include the gig economy workers and provide social security
scheme benefits to them and their families.
• The social security benefits include coverage under education, pension, maternal
and health welfare schemes.
• The exact number of gig workers is unknown, but a 2017 study by consulting firm EY
suggest that nearly one out of four gig workers in the world are in India.
Acts to be subsumed under the Social Security Code are: -
Employees' Compensation Act, 1923; Employees‘ State Insurance Act, 1948, Employees‘
Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; Maternity Benefit Act, 1961;
Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972; Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981; Building and Other
Construction Workers Cess Act, 1996 and Unorganized Workers‘ Social Security Act,
2008.

158. Maharashtra govt will set up ‘Swachh Bharat World University’ to mark Mahatma
Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary at the Wardha in Vidarbha region near Nagpur.
• A seven-member committee, headed by the Minister of Education Vinod Tawde, has
been set to take the task ahead.
• Central govt set up an international Hindi University in Wardha earlier.
159. Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, under Ministry of Social
Justice and Empowerment has developed a Management Information System (MIS)
portal under the Accessible India Campaign.
• Purpose: - It will bring all the nodal ministries and States/UTs on a single platform for
monitoring the progress being made against each target of Accessible India
Campaign on a real time basis.
• Accessible India Campaign was launched on 3rd December, 2015 on International
Day of Persons with Disabilities.

160. OP Jindal Global University of Haryana has been conferred the ‘Institution of
Eminence’ status by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

161. Central govt has entered into an allotment agreement with West Bengal Power
Development Corporation (WBPDCL) for Deocha Pachami Dewanganj-Harinsingha coal
block (world's 2nd largest block) located in West Bengal.
• WBPDCL has been allocated the block spread over 12.28 square km with estimated
reserves of 2102 million tonnes for power generation under the provisions of Coal
Block Allocation Rules, 2017, made under the Mines and Minerals (Development
and Regulations) Act, 1957.

162. Indian Department of Posts has commenced its International Speed Post (EMS)
Service to six nations – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Lithuania
and North Macedonia.
 35

• EMS or Express Mail Service allows users to track the movement of the item on the
internet while delivering them faster.
• India Post currently provides speed post service to 100 countries.

163. India has set the target of becoming a $10 trillion economy by 2030-32 and also to
make defence industry worth $26 billion by 2025.
• India has a target to become a $5 Tn economy by 2024. The target needs Rs 70,000
crore investment and can create up to 3 million jobs.
• Defence exports were Rs 10,745 crore in 2018-19 which will be increased to Rs
35,000 crore by 2025.

164. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and IBM Technology have
partnered to train 10,000 faculty members from ITIs across India in AI technology in 1
year.

165. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has launched the Margadarshak,
Model Curriculum for Diploma Courses, Waste Management Accelerator for Aspiring
Women Entrepreneurs (WAWE Summit 2019) and 360-degree Feedback of Faculty
programs.
• WAWE Summit theme is ‘Make your own bag’.
• Under the Margdarshan and Margadarshak program, topmost institutions will
mentor other institutions, so that they can improve their rankings and follow best
practices of the mentor institute.
• AICTE 7th Pay Regulation provides for the collection the 360-degree Feedback Data
to be submitted by the education institutes.

166. Nasscom's Data Security Council of India, Ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) and
Google India have collaborated to launch the 'Digital Payment Abhiyan' awareness
campaign.
• Purpose: - To educate end-users on the benefits of digital payments and urge them
to adopt security and safety best practices.
• The campaign will launched in seven languages -- Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannada, Bengali and Marathi.

167. Ministry of Home Affairs will set up the world-class style National Police University
in Greater Noida, UP.

168. Delhi govt has launched the Champions Campaign against Dengue.
• Earlier, he had also launched 10Hafte 10Baje 10Minute campaign.

169. INS Khanderi (to be commissioned on Sept 28) has been delivered by the Mazagon
Dock Shipbuilders Ltd to Indian Navy in Mumbai.
• Khanderi is the 2nd of the six Scorpene Class submarines to be built by Mazagon for
Indian Navy under Project 75 by 2022.
 36

170. Indian Green Building Council under the confederation of Indian Industry (CII-IGBC)
has awarded Secunderabad Railway Station with the CII-IGBC Green Platinum rating for
its green initiatives.
• Secunderabad comes under the South Central Railway zone.
• The station has been awarded with ISO 14001-2015 Certificate- Environmental
Management system.

171. Forbes Best Business Schools rankings 2019 has been released for 1-year courses in
which International Institute for Management Development (IMD) Lausanne,
Switzerland has topped in the 1-year course.
• From India: - Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad has been ranked at 7th
position globally and at 1st position in Asia.
• SP Jain Global has also increased to 12th position.
• Parameters: - more than 100 schools and 17,500 alumni were surveyed for their net
cumulative earnings after choosing MBA as their career.

172. Indian Railways has installed the first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle
crushing machine in Mumbai Rajdhani Express as part of its Swachh Bharat and Go
Green missions.

173. Indian Army conducted the exercise named ‘Chang Thang’ in Eastern Ladakh
bordering China to test and improving its war-fighting capabilities.

174. According to the “Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2000-2017:
Special focus on inequalities” report published by WHO/UNICEF under its Joint
Monitoring Program (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, open defecation
has been reduced by 47% in India between 2000-2017.
• 43% people have gained access to basic sanitation facilities.
• A total of 91 nations decreased open defecation by a total strength of 696 million
people, with 3/4th of this reduction was witnessed in Central and Southern Asia.
• Globally, 2.1 billion people gained access to basic services and 807 million people
gaining access in Central and South Asia and 698 million in Eastern and South-
Eastern Asia.

175. Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) has launched the National
Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) scheme to improve higher education with
AI technology.
 37

• Also, MHRD aims to create a National Alliance with EdTech companies through a
PPP model.
• EdTech companies would be responsible for developing technology and manage
registration of learners at free of cost through the National NEAT portal.
• AICTE would be the implementing agency for NEAT programme.
• MHRD will form an apex committee for administration of this scheme and the
Independent Expert Committees would be set up for evaluating and selecting the
EdTech solutions. (The scheme will be operationalize in Nov 2019)

176. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) scheme for pregnant women and
lactating mothers has crossed 1 crore beneficiaries.
• The total amount disbursed to the beneficiaries under the scheme has crossed Rs.
4,000 crores.
• Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and
Rajasthan are the top five States/UT in the country in implementation of PMMVY.
• Odisha and Telangana are yet to start implementation of the scheme.
[DETAILS OF THE SCHEME IS COVERED UNDER THE GOVT SCHEME DOC]

177. 16th Session of the Joint Economic Commission between India and Belgium
Luxembourg Economic Union was held in New Delhi.
• Bilateral Trade: - between India-Belgium = USD 17.2 billion (41% growth) and
between India-Luxembourg = USD 161.98 million (150% growth) in 2018-19.
• Cumulative FDI inflows tso India from Belgium and Luxembourg were around $1.87
billion and $2.84 billion respectively during April, 2000 to June, 2019.

178. Chandigarh Police has launched the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS -
Dial 112), 'E-Beat Book' System and the 'E-Saathi App' to help the general public.
• Chandigarh Police is the first in the country to introduce e-beat book system.

179. QS’ Graduate Employability Rankings 2020 lists which ranks the top 500 universities
on five parameters – Employer Reputation, Alumni Outcomes, Partnerships with
 38

Employers per Faculty, Employer-Student Connections and Graduate Employment

Rate has been released.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of
California, Los Angeles, The University of Sydney and Harvard University are the
top 5 universities respectively.
• Indian Universities: - IIT-Bombay is at the top position with a 111-120 band ranking,
up from 141-150 band last year.
• IIT Delhi and IIT Madras formed the three best ranked Indian institutes in the latest
rankings at 151-160 band and 171-180 band respectively.

180. National Conference on Agriculture- Rabi Campaign 2019 was organized in New
Delhi.
• 285 million tonnes production in food grains was recorded.
• Rice recorded an all-time high production of 116 million tonnes, wheat at 102.5
million tonnes in 2018-19.

181. UMMID (Unique Methods of Management and treatment of Inherited Disorders)

initiative has been launched to provide affordable treatment to the genetic disorders of
new born babies.
• It is supported by the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science
and Technology and aims to:-

182. According to the Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal, the
government is considering the Higher Education Commission of India Bill which will
repeal the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and the All India Council for
Technical Education Act, 1987.
• Also, there is one provision in the draft which allows foreign universities to operate
and open campuses in India, according to a news article.
 39

• Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act)

Act 2018 will be presented in winter session of Parliament.

183. Census 2011: - Migration data shows that 48% of residents living in Delhi, Mumbai,
Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, were migrants in 2011.
• During 2001-11, the proportion of migrants in Hyderabad saw the greatest increase
of 39% among the six metros, followed by Chennai with 26 percentage points, and
Bengaluru with 15 percentage points.
• Mumbai with 11 percentage points and Delhi with 0.8 percentage points had
witnessed the lower inflows.
• Of all the new migrants in the six metros, 81% had migrated from other urban areas.
• Around 90% of migrant inflows to Hyderabad and Chennai was from (undivided)
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively.
• Other than Delhi, Bengaluru had the lowest share of own-state migrants (68%),
followed by Mumbai (81%).

184. 46.4 lakh hospital treatments worth Rs 7,500 crore (60% of the amount was spent in
tertiary sector) have been recorded under the PM-Jan Aarogya Yojana in its one year of
operation (launched in 2018).
• Ayushman Bharat- PM-JAY has saved Rs 12,000 crore of the beneficiary families,
according to Indu Bhushan (CEO of Ayushman Bharat).
• It has been implemented in 32 states/UTs currently and 10 crore beneficiary cards
have been issued.

185. 7th meeting of the UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments was held
in Abu Dhabi.
• Both sides discussed the implementation of the bilateral agreements in the context
of the Air Services Agreement between India and UAE and the MoU, with the
emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah.

186. Ministry of Commerce has sent the draft of National Logistics Policy to Cabinet for
approval which have the following provisions: -
• It aims to set up a central portal, which will be a single window market place to link
all stakeholders, to provide end-to-end logistics solutions to companies.
• It will also increase the warehousing capacity to bring down the cost of logistics for
traders.
• Presently, logistics cost account for 14% of GDP, which the govt wants to reduce to
9%.
• Ministry of Commerce, in association with Deloitte, has prepared the LEADS
(Logistics Ease Across Different States) 2019 which ranks Gujarat at the top position
in terms of ease of logistics in the state among the 22 other states.
• Among UTs, Chandigarh has topped and Tripura has topped among hilly states.
 40

• 9 parameters: - Availability of logistics infrastructure, quality of logistics

infrastructure, quality of logistics services provided by the service providers, ease of
arranging logistics at competitive rates, timeliness of cargo delivery, ease of track
and trace, safety/security of cargo movement, state facilitation and coordination and
efficiency of regulatory processes have the criteria to judge performance.

187. Union Ministry for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has launched a new
scheme ‘Assistance for Deep Sea Fishing’ for the fishermen in Tamil Nadu as a sub-part
of ‘Blue Revolution Scheme’.
• Under the scheme, Rs 300 crore assistance would be provided by the union
government to the state.
• It is a Centrally-sponsored scheme at a total cost of Rs 1600 crore out of which
Central govt’s share is Rs 800 crore and Rs 320 crore will be borne by the state.
• The scheme will be implemented in 4 districts of Palk Bay, including
Ramanathapuram district and will prevent fishermen from crossing the IMBL
(International Maritime Boundary Line).

188. India and USA will hold their first tri-services amphibious exercise – Tiger Triumph –
from November at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.
• It is being organised under the aegis of the headquarters of the Integrated Defence
Staff.

189. Ponung Doming has become Arunachal Pradesh's first woman Lieutenant Colonel.

190. Cyberdome, Kerala police department’s premier facility to prevent cybercrime and
mitigate security threats, has roped in experts from Israel for training to crackdown
cybercrime.
 41

191. New Jersey –Gujarat and New Jersey – Telangana have signed a sister state
agreement during New Jersey governor Phil Murphy’s visit to India.
• List of MoU signed between India and New Jersey.

192. Assam has launched the ‘Abhinandan’ scheme to provide “fiscal relief” to students
by providing a subsidy of ₹50,000 to all the students with an active education loan
account.

193. Ministry for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched the “Krishi Kisan App
for Geo Tagging” mobile app to provide the information of high-yielding crops and seeds
in the nearby area to their farmers.
• It will also help in geo-tagging and geo-fencing of crops and give weather forecast
message to farmers.

194. Delhi police has launched the integrated helpline number “112” and the street crime
patrol van named ‘prakhar’.
 42

195. A national survey conducted under the NITI Aayog had identified at least 54,130
manual scavengers from 170 districts of 18 states in the country.
• Prohibition of Employment As Manual Scavengers And Their Rehabilitation Act was
enacted in 2013.

196. Ministry of Home has launched a single-window system for issuing licences to
private security agencies.
• The ministry would streamline the licensing regime under The Private Security
Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005.

197. Ministry of Environment has released the National Resource Efficiency Policy 2019
draft which aims to double the recycling rate of key materials to 50% by 2025 and
enable upcycling of waste.
• The policy targets to develop a circular economy by recycling the materials, and by
increasing the efficiency of use of these resources.
• At least 96% of India’s mining capacity is located in the 13 mineral-rich states of
Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Goa and Rajasthan.
• It will ensure 75% recycling rate for vehicles made before 1990, 85% recycling rate
for vehicles made between 1990 and 2000, and 90% recycling rate for vehicles made
after 2000.
• The plan is to establish 20 official dismantlers and equal number of PRO across
major urban centres by 2020.
 43

• The draft policy seeks to achieve a 100% recycling and reuse rate polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) plastic by 2025 and 75% reuse and recycling of other plastics by
2030.
• Recycling rate for construction and demolition waste should reach 50% by 2025 and
75% by 2030.
• The policy also emphasizes the need to develop codes and standards for quality of
secondary raw materials so that by 2025, at least 30% of total public procurement of
materials for civil construction can be from recycled materials.
• According to UN International Resource Panel’s Global Material Flows Database,
India’s estimated annual material consumption is 7.42 billion tonnes, second only to
China’s 34 billion tonnes.

198. National Conclave on ‘Enhancing Energy Efficiency in MSME sector’ was organised
by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in New Delhi.
• Knowledge Management Portal “SIDHIEE” was also launched under the BEE’s
MSME Programme to train MSMEs for the early adoption of energy efficient
technologies.
• Development Commissioner, MSME has signed an MoU with DG, Bureau of Energy
Efficiency for enhancing energy security in MSMEs.

199. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has announced the financial aid of Rs 6,000 and
free legal aid for the victims of triple talaq under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas
Karyakram.
• The govt had launched the Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP), a
Centrally Sponsored Scheme in 2008-09 which was restructured as Pradhan Mantri
 44

Jan Vikas Karyakram in 2018 under Ministry of Minority Affairs to spur

development of minorities.

200. India and Mongolia have signed 4 MoU during Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin
Battulga’s visit.
MoU Agency Purpose
Cultural Exchange Protocol - To promote cooperation
(2019-2023) and cultural exchanges
Disaster Management National Disaster To promote cooperation in
Management Authority the field of Disaster
(India) and National Management and Disaster
Emergency Management Risk Reduction.
Agency (Mongolia)
Cooperation and Usage of Dept of Space and To promote co-operation in
Outer Space for peaceful Communications (India) and the field of space
and civilian purposes Information Technology exploration for peaceful and
Authority (Mongolia). civilian purposes.
Comprehensive Work Plan Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Increase cooperation in the
for cooperation in the field Husbandry and Dairying field of Animal Health and
of Animal Health and Dairy (India) and Ministry of Food, Dairy, pursuant to the 2015
Agriculture and Light Agreement between India
Industry (Mongolia). and Mongolia.

201. Free drugs scheme has been launched for 651 tea garden hospitals in Assam under
which free medicines will be provided to these hospitals.
• WHO-GMP certified drugs will be supplied directly from over 100 drug
manufacturers.
• Assam has also launched the “Aponar Apon Ghar”, a home loan subsidy scheme,
for all the permanent citizens of the state, to provide a subsidy of Rs 2.5 lakh on
loans of up to Rs 40 lakhs for the purchase or construction of the first house.

202. Revised National Tuberculosis Programme (RNTBP) received notification of TB cases

by 21.5 lakh persons, which is an increase of 16% in 2018 as compared to 2017.
• The increase is the highest so far and the estimated TB incidence in India stands at
27 lakh.
• Ministry of Health has launched the ‘TB Harega, Desh Jeetega’ campaign, along
with the National Tuberculosis (TB) Prevalence Survey.

203. Kashmir’s saffron has finally been granted the Geographic Indication (GI) tag.

204. India has announced a $150-million line of credit to the group of Pacific island
nations for solar, renewable energy and climate-related projects during the India-
Pacific Islands Developing States Leaders’ Meeting.
 45

• India has also declared to give $12 million for the member-states to implement high-
impact development projects in an area of their choice.

205. Fifth edition of India International Science Festival (IISF) will be held in Kolkata,
West Bengal in November.
• Theme: - ‘RISEN India’ — Research, Innovation and Science Empowering the
Nation.
• Organizer: - Vijnana Bharati and Ministry of Science and Technology.

206. 344 individuals have witnessed a net drop in wealth compared to 2018 in the IIFL
Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2019.
• A total of 112 individuals have dropped out from the 2019 list.
• Although, India’s condition is still better than Hurun China Rich List 2019 registered
266 dropouts.
• The number of Indians in the list has grown from 831 in 2018 to 953 in 2019 (total
no.), the number of dollar billionaires has reduced from 141 to 138.

207. Trilateral naval exercise – Malabar – between India, Japan and US has started off the
coast of Sasebo, Japan.

208. Indian Coast Guard (ICG) offshore patrol vessel 'Varaha' has been commissioned at
the Chennai Port Trust in Tamil Nadu.
• It has been developed by Larsen and Toubro Shipbuilding Ltd.

209. Jawaharlal Nehru University and IIT-Delhi signed an MoU to enhance research
projects and other academic activities.

210. Ministry of AYUSH has unveiled the “Professor Ayushman” comic book (prepared
by National Medicinal Plants Board) to raise awareness about the medicinal plants
among children.
• AYUSH Ministry aims to open 4,200 AYUSH health and wellness centres under the
Ayushman Bharat scheme.
 46

211. Cabinet has approved the proposal of National Policy on Electronics 2019 in
February, which seeks to replace the National Policy on Electronics 2012.
• The Policy aims to make India a global hub for Electronics System Design and
Manufacturing - (ESDM) by developing core components, including chipsets, and
creating an enabling environment for the industry to compete globally.
• Targets: Promote domestic manufacturing and export in the entire value-chain of
ESDM for economic development to achieve a turnover of $400 billion by 2025. This
will include targeted production of 1.0 billion mobile handsets by 2025, valued at
$190 billion, including 600 million mobile handsets valued at $110 billion for export.
• Apart from this, the govt in Digital India roadmap released in August 2014, has set
“net zero imports” in electronics by 2020.

212. The first ever India-Caricom leaders' summit was held in New York.
• Here, India has announced a $14-million grant for community development projects
in a grouping of Caribbean nations and another $150 million Line of Credit for solar,
renewable energy and climate-change related works.
• Caricom stands for Caribbean Community and Common Market.
 47

213. Govt has reconstituted the Economic Advisory Council to PM, under the
chairmanship of Bibek Debroy for a period of 2 years.
• Now, the total number of members in the council has been reduced to 4 from 5,
which include 2 full time and 2 part time members.
• Full time Members: Ratan P Watal (Member Secretary) and Bibek Debroy.
• Part time Members: Dr Sajjid Chinoy and Aashima Goel.

214. 16th Global SME Business Summit 2019 was held in New Delhi under the theme of
“Making Indian MSME globally competitive”.
• Organizer: Ministry of MSME and Confederation of Indian Industries.
• Target of MSME Ministry is to increase the GDP contribution of MSME from 29% to
50% in the next 5 years.
• Increase export contribution of MSME from 49% to 60%.
• “Bharat Mart” – a new selling website for MSMEs – has also been launched to
increase their sales through online mode in local and international market.

215. Mukhyamantri Kirayedar Bijli Meter Yojana has been launched by Delhi CM Arvind
Kejriwal to provide power subsidy to the tenants in Delhi.
• Under the scheme, tenants will get a prepaid meter at a security deposit of Rs 3,000
for getting the meters from BSES Yamuna, BSES Rajdhani and Tata Power.
• Currently, the power subsidy of 100% is provided on the consumption of electricity
of up to 200 units and 50% for 201-400 units.

216. Odisha govt, in collaboration with UNICEF, has launched a mascot “Tikki Mausi” to
raise awareness about the women and child nutrition and about the govt’s policies for
the same.
• Department of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti (Odisha) are the
implementing agencies of the mascot.
• A state level communication strategy was also launched for the raising awareness
about the women and child nutrition.
 48

217. DRDO and Central University of Jammu have signed an MoU for the establishment
of Kalam Centre for Science and Technology at the university to increase research.

218. Swiss based International Institute of Management Development (IMD) has

released the annual “IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019” which
measures 63 countries, in total, based on their capacity to adopt digital technology.
• Top 5 Countries: - US, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland
• India was ranked 44th (4 places up from 2018).
• Asian countries like Korea, China (22nd from 30th position), India and Indonesia saw
the biggest rise in their positions.
• Parameters: - Knowledge, Competence and Future readiness.

219. India’s first indigenous high temperature fuel cell has been developed by Council of
Scientific and Industrial research under the flagship program “New Millennium Indian
Technology Leadership Initiative”.
• Fuel cell is most suitable for distributed stationary power applications to help India
replace diesel with green fuel and reduce crude oil demand.

220. Delhi high court has launched a mobile app for lawyers and litigants to access court
facilities digitally.

221. FICCI organized its annual MASCRADE 2019 (Movement Against Smuggling and
Counterfeit Trade schedule) in New Delhi under the theme of “Containing
Counterfeiting and Smuggling and Piracy: A Winning Strategy”.
• It was organized by FICCI Cascade (Committee against Smuggling and Counterfeiting
activities destroying the enemy).
• FICCI Cascade has released a report “Invisible Enemy: Impact of smuggling on
Indian economy and employment”. The report found out that smuggling is majorly
affecting five sectors – readymade garments, textiles, tobacco products, capital and
consumer durable goods.

222. Ministry of Railways, Department of Science & Technology (DST) and IIT-Kanpur
launched the ‘Industry 4.0’ under the aegis of “Technology Mission for Indian Railways”
(TMIR) at the Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli district, Uttar Pradesh.
• Implementing Ministries are Railways Ministry, Ministry of Human Resource
Development and Ministry of Science & Technology.
• It is expected to contribute at least 25% to GDP.
• DST has recently launched a new programme 'Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical
Systems (ICPS)' to foster and promote R&D in this emerging field of research.
• Industry 4.0 refers to the current trend of automation, inter-connectivity and data
exchange in manufacturing technologies to increase productivity.

223. 3rd edition of Bloomberg Global Business Forum 2019 was held in New York under
the theme of Restoring Global Stability.
 49

• Bloomberg National Brand Tracker 2018 survey ranked India as the top performing
Asian economy in attracting global investment.
• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also informed about their new strategic
paper 'India 2022- Investing in the relationship', which is a continuation of the NZ
Inc. India Strategy 2011.

224. ISRO has started the Project NETRA (Network for space object Tracking and
Analysis), to detect space hazards to Indian satellites at a budget of Rs 400 crore.
• It will enhance India’s space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities. India's SSA
would be the first for low-earth orbits, or LEO.
• NETRA aims to capture the geostationary orbit which is at 36,000 kilometres.
• North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is an initiative by the US
and Canada to share selective debris data with many countries.

225. 21st session of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health
Organisation Coordinating Committee of Asia for 2019 was held in Panaji, Goa.
• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in collaboration with the
WHO and FAO, has organized this 2nd session of the Coordinating Committee in
Asia.
• Codex Alimentations Commission elected the committee in July 2015 initially and
re-elected it in July 2017.

226. Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has launched the Centralised
Public Grievances Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) to bring reforms in
Department of Posts to quickly redress the grievances of the public.
• The portal is designed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).

227. IIT-council has decided to allow direct entry to foreign students, including OCI
Cardholders with foreign passport to appear for the JEE Advanced examination to
provide impetus to foreign students at the IITs.
• While Domestic students have to qualify the JEE Main examination to be eligible for
JEE Advanced examination.
• As per the decision of the IIT-council’s meeting, headed by Minister of HRD Ramesh
Pokhriyal, academically weak students in IITs who are not able to secure the
 50

required marks will now get a choice to opt for a 3-year BSc degree instead of BTech
without dropping out of the institutions midway.

228. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has conducted first-ever National Nutrition
Survey in collaboration with UNICEF analysing the period of February 2016 and October
2018. [The survey is yet to be made public].
Findings of the Survey: -
• Nearly 10% of children in the age group of 5-9 years and adolescents in the age
group of 10-19 years are pre-diabetic, 5% are overweight and another 5% suffer
from blood pressure.
• A quarter of 5-9 and 10-19 year-olds were thin for their age, one in five children 5-9
years’ old were stunted. A total of 1.12 lakh children and adolescents (0-19 years)
were surveyed for height and weight measurements and 51,029 children (1-19
years) for biological samples.
• It is the first study undertaken to measure malnutrition, including micronutrient
deficiencies through blood and urine samples, anthropometric data as well as details
of non-communicable diseases.

229. Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mr Jurin Laksanawisit has
visited India where he signed trade agreements for Rs 2,400 crore to boost trade across
segments including rubber, construction material, food and beverages, logistics.
• Association of Furniture Manufacturers & Traders, India and Thai Hevae Wood
Association (THWA); Thailand-India Business Council and GlobalLinker; and Thailand-
India Business Council and Bombay Industries Association (BIA) signed MoU to
create an online platform for SMEs from both the countries.
• Thailand will sign an MoU with Bigbasket in November to promote Thai products
through Thai flagship stores on Bigbasket’s platform.
 51

• It was announced during Thai-Indo Business Networking (TIBN), organised by the

Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) and Ministry of Commerce,
Thailand.
• Agri-Trade Supply Chain Alliance was also launched to ease the trade relations and
increase trade commodity supply between both the countries.

230. Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti has
created a 10 Year Rural Sanitation Strategy (2019-2029) to sustain the behavioural
change brought in by Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G).
• It will ensure that no one is left behind, and increasing access to solid and liquid
waste management.

231. Kerala has topped in the larger states category in the School Education Quality
Index 2019 (SEQI), released by NITI Aayog.
• Tripura has topped in the category of “Small States: Overall Performance and Rank,
2015-16 and 2016-17”.
• Chandigarh has topped in the category of “UTs: Overall Performance and Rank,
2015-16 and 2016-17”.
• Parameters: - Performance was judged on the basis of several parameters, such as
education outcome, governance, enrolment rate, language and mathematics skills,
transition rate, and drop-out rate, among others.
• Among the 20 large states, 18 improved their overall performance score between
2015-16 (base year) and 2016-17 (reference year).
• The index was developed in collaborations with the Ministry of human resource
development, state governments, the World Bank and sectoral experts.

232. 7th annual World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) began in Mumbai under the
theme of Prosperous Society: Stronger Society.
• WHEF 2020 will be organized in The Hague, Netherlands.

233. PM Modi has launched the “Bharat Ki Lakshmi” campaign to honour the women,
during his man ki baat radio talk.
 52

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. South Asian Speakers’ Summit 2019 was held in the Maldives.

2. Hurricane Dorian (a category 5 storm) has hit the Bahamas (country on Lucayan
Archipelago, in the Caribbean).

3. 42nd session of the Human Rights Council will be held in September in Geneva,
Switzerland.
• 41st session of the council was also held in Geneva, Switzerland.

4. The design of world’s first space hotel named as Von Braun Space Station (developed
by The Gateway Foundation) has been revealed.
• The hotel (having all facilities like a normal restaurant) is expected to be ready by
2025.

5. First ever Joint ASEAN-US naval exercise (AUMX) has begun at the Sattahip Naval Base
in Thailand (in the disputed region of South China Sea).

6. 72nd World Health Assembly was held in May 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland.

7. Iran has indigenously developed a high-precision jet-propelled drone called “Kian”.

8. Vienna, Austria is the most liveable city in the world (for the 2nd time), according to
Global Liveability Index 2019 of 140 cities released by Economist Intelligence Unit
(EIU).
• Parameters: - stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure and
health care.
• Delhi’s ranking declined by 6 spots to 118 while Mumbai’s rank is down 2 places to
119.
• Melbourne (Australia), Sydney (Australia), Osaka (Japan) are at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th
positions respectively.
• Damascus (Syria) is the world's least livable city, preceded by Lagos (Nigeria) and
(Dhaka) Bangladesh.

9. Hong Kong has scrapped the Hong Kong Extradition Law.

 53

10. World Travel And Tourism Competitiveness Index 2019 has been released by World
Economic Forum which ranks Spain at the top position followed by France, Germany,
Japan and US.
• India is ranked at 34th position (improved from 40th position in 2017) out of the
total 140 countries assessed in this biennial index.
• Yemen is at the 140th position, preceded by Chad (139) and Liberia (138).

11. Seoul Defence Dialogue 2019 was held in Seoul, South Korea.
• Theme: - 'Building Peace Together: Challenges and Vision'.

12. 40th Assembly of International Civil Aviation Organization will be held in Montreal,
Canada.

13. UNICEF, along with Sri Lanka govt, has organized the 3rd edition of South Asian
Parliamentarian Conference for Children 2019 in Columbo.
• Purpose: - To discuss the ways to ensure that all children get their rights.
• Convention on the Rights of the Child was signed in 1989.

14. Plenary session of the 7th RCEP Ministerial Meeting was held in Bangkok, Thailand
where it was agreed to end the negotiations on the deal in November 2019’s meeting.
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a 16- member grouping
which includes ASEAN nations and the six Free Trade Agreement partners, including
Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand.
• India’s trade deficit with China stands at $53.6 billion and with RCEP, it is $105
billion in 2018-19.
• 16th ASEAN India Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting and the 7th East Asia
Economic Ministers Summit are also being held in Bangkok.

15. OPEC+ group’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting will be held in Abu
Dhabi, UAE where they can cut the oil supply in global market.
 54

16. 24th World Energy Congress 2019 (a triennial event) will be organized in Abu Dhabi,
UAE by the World Energy Council to explore new strategies in global energy.
• Theme: - “Energy for Prosperity”.

17. Taiwan has accused India of levying higher import duty on Information and
communication technology goods in World Trade Organization.

18. Thailand has become the first country in Asia to issue plain cigarette packaging
(followed the WHO’s guidelines) to make the smoking packet appear less attractive.
• Australia became the first country to issue plain cigarettes packets in 2012.

19. UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released its first-ever “Digital
Economy Report 2019” that analyses the world’s digital economy.
• US and China are the top wealth creators in the digital economy, whereas Africa and
Latin American countries are lagging far behind.
• US and China account for 90% of the market capitalization value of the world’s 70
largest digital platform companies, 75% of all blockchain technologies patents, 50%
of global spending on IoT, and more than 75% of the cloud computing market.
• Global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic: -

• Seven “super platforms” – Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent

and Alibaba − account for 2/3rd of the total market value of the top 70 platforms.
 55

20. According to the latest list of top 10 countries in press censorship, released by US-based
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Eritrea is the world's most censored country.

• Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the
right to freedom of opinion and expression.

21. California has passed a bill known as AB 5 to revive the gig economy.
• The bill allows companies like Uber or Lyft to treat contract workers as employees.
• Gig Economy refers to a labour market characterized by the prevalence of short-
term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs.

22. 22nd Session of UN Committee on Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability

(UNCRPD) is being held at Geneva, Switzerland.
• India’s first Country Report on disability, submitted to UNCRPD in 2015, was taken
up for consideration.
• In India, Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act was enacted in 2016.

23. European Central Bank (ECB) has reduced its deposit rates to (-) 0.5% to incentivize the
banks to lend more and encourage depositors to invest in projects rather than deposit in
banks.

24. China has sent three satellite – ZY-1 02D (a resource satellite) and BNU-1 along with one
other small satellite – from its Long March-4B carrier rocket.
• Purpose: - To study climate change, urban construction, natural resources asset
management etc.

25. Vietnam has inaugurated the Southeast Asia's largest solar power farm named as ‘Dau
Tieng Solar Power Complex’ which can produce 688 million kWh of electricity annually.
• It is a joint venture with the Thai industrial group B. Grimm Power Public Company.
• It has been constructed on the Dau Tieng Reservoir - the largest artificial lake in
Vietnam.
 56

26. 23rd Session of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) was held at St Petersburg,
Russia.
• 15th edition of UNWTO Award were also held.
Category Awardee
Public Policy and Governance 2019 San Sebastian, Spain for its Love San
Sebastián, Live Donostia initiative
Enterprises category Community Impact by V Resorts
Non-Governmental Organizations Fundacion Once for Amuse Project
Accessible Tourism Destination Turismo Portugal (1st distinction)
An exceptional urban tourism destination Destino Barcelona
Emerging destination on the global Thrissur in Kerala
accessible tourism market
Exceptional Stories of Sustainable Tourism Chile
Best Video Award – for the Asia- Pacific Yogi of the Racetrack (India)
Region

27. Russia’s annual military strategic and operational exercises – Centre 2019 – has begun
along with six other countries.
• Forces from China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan will join
Russia’s Central Joint Strategic Command (JSC) for exercises.

28. USA has ordered more sanctions on Iran after Saudi Arabia showed evidences of Iran’s
involvement in attacks on Saudi Aramco. [details of sanctions have not been revealed
yet]
• Saudi Aramco contributes 5% (5.7 million barrels per day) of the global oil supply.

29. UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs released the “International Migrant
Stock 2019” mentions that the number of international migrants in the world had
reached an estimated 272 million in mid-2019 (51 million more than in 2010).
• India has 17.5 million diaspora in 2019 – constituting 6.4% of the total world migrant
population – which is largest in the world.
• After India, Mexico has been ranked 2nd with 12 million migrants, followed by
China (11 million), Russia (10 million) and Syria (8 million). 1/3rd of all international
migrants originated from only 10 countries.
 57

• USA hosted the highest number of international migrants at 51 million about 19% of
the global population. Region wise - European region hosted the highest number of
the immigrants at 82 million in 2019.
• The percentage of international migrants of the total global population has
increased to 3.5% from 2.8% in 2000.
• Bangladesh is the leading country of origin for migrants in India, the report stated.

30. 63rd International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference was held at the
Vienna International Centre, Vienna.
• National Cancer Grid (NCG) Vishwam Cancer Care Connect was also launched in
Vienna by KN Vyas, Secretary Department of Atomic Energy & Chairman Atomic
Energy Commission.
• India is planning to open 21 nuclear reactors which will add around 15000 MW of
power generating capacity.

31. Russia has officially ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. It first signed
it in 2016.

32. The World Meteorology Organization (WMO) report on The Global Climate in 2015-
2019 mentions that the average global temperature between 2015-2019 would be the
hottest of any five-year period on record.
• It is estimated to be 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial (1850-1900) era and
0.2 degrees Celsius warmer than 2011-2015.
• The report was prepared by WMO in association with Science Advisory Group of the
UN Climate Action Summit 2019.
• CO2 grew 2% in 2018, reaching a record high of 37 billion tonnes.
• Arctic summer sea ice has also declined at a rate of 12% every 10 years over the past
40 years, with the four lowest values recorded between 2015 and 2019.

33. Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), established by Facebook,

Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube was launched in 2017 to disrupt terrorist abuse on their
respective platforms.
• GIFCT mission statement is “Prevent terrorists and violent extremists from
exploiting digital platforms.”
 58

• It will operate as an independent organization with executive director and a team,

as it was decided at the UN General Assembly.

34. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated a 50 KW 'Gandhi Solar Park' worth $1 million at the
headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
• Gandhi Peace Garden was also inaugurated at UN Headquarters. Consulate-General
of India in New York, Long Island-based NGO Shanti Fund and the State University of
New York-Old Westbury will plant 150 trees here.

35. PM Narendra Modi has launched the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient
Infrastructure (CDRI) at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.
• CDRI, supported by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and
based in Delhi, is an international partnership that will support countries- developed
and developing- to build climate and disaster resilient infrastructure.
• By 2050, 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas.
• More than 2/3rd of economic loss is caused by damage to infrastructure.
• In Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2016, PM Modi
announced the need for formation of CDRI.
• Apart from this, 66 countries have agreed to achieve net zero carbon dioxide
emissions by 2050.

36. 64th edition of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference is being held in

Kampala, Uganda.
• Indian delegation is led by Om Birla.
• Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Conference (founded in 1989) is the
main event here focusing on to the issues that affect women, including women's
involvement in leadership.
• The commonwealth has grown from 8-member countries when it was formed in
1949 to 53 member states at present.
 59

37. 28th round of negotiations for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
will be held in Danang, Vietnam.

38. European Union's top court has ruled that Google does not have to apply the “right to
be forgotten” globally.
• Implication: - It means google only needs to remove links from its search results in
Europe - and not elsewhere - after receiving an appropriate request.
• Background: - French firm, CNIL ordered the firm to globally remove search result
listings to pages containing damaging or false information about a person.
• Right To Be Forgotten:- Also known as the "right to erasure", the rule gives EU
citizens the power to demand data about them be deleted, introduced in 2014.

39. 25th Conference of Parties of the climate change summit will be held in Chile in
December 2019.
• UN General Assembly organized a high-level meeting on universal health coverage
under the theme “Universal Health Coverage: Moving Together to Build a Healthier
World,” to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage.
• Leadership Group for Industry Transition was also launched at the UN Climate
Action Summit in New York to guide the people about measures for converting into
a low-carbon economy.
• The group was launched by India and Sweden (along with Argentina, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea and
the UK, and a group of companies) and supported by World Economic Forum,
Energy Transitions Commission, Mission Innovation, Stockholm Environment
Institute and European Climate Foundation, among other partners.
• Now, 77 countries committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

40. NASA has successfully launched the RamanSat 2 miniature satellite designed by 17-
year-old student Aabhaas Sikka.
• Sikka developed the satellite during his internship with SPACE India with the help
from Sachin Bahmba (SPACE Group Founder and CMD) along with the company's
research team.

41. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has presented a new report (this is
the third in a series of special reports that have been produced by the IPCC over the past
12 months).
 60

• Previous reports looked at the measures of tackling the global warming, if the
temperature rises above 1.5º C by the end of this century and looked at the climate
change and its impact on land.
• This new report on climate change emphasizes the impact of global warming on the
oceans which are warming rapidly since 1970.
• Since 1993, the waters have absorbed more than 90% of the extra heat generated
by humans over the past decades, and the rate at which it has taken up this heat has
doubled.
• According to this new report, global average sea levels could increase by up to 1.1m
by 2100, in the worst warming scenario.
• 90% of the coral reefs would disappear due to the acidification of the oceans
(caused by the dissolution of CO2).
• 70% of the near surface permafrost would thaw (melt) which will release CO2 and
methane into the environment by 2100.

42. USA has delayed the proposed ban on the H-4 EAD (employment authorisation
document) visa, which allowed the dependent relatives –spouse and children– of H1-B
visa holders to stay in the US.
• Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of H-4 visa.
• H-1B visa allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty
occupations under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

43. Hazza Al Mansouri has become the first (Emirati) person from UAE to go into space on
ISS.
• UAE plans to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021. It has named its Mars
mission as Hope.

44. Bangladesh, Myanmar and China have formed a tripartite monitoring group mechanism
for repatriation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
• The agreement between the Myanmar and Bangladesh was signed in 2017 for the
same purpose and the first meeting of the group will be held in October.
 61

• China is only helping the two countries in implementing the agreements they
already have.

45. China has inaugurated its second international airport and world’s largest single-
structure airport terminal named as Daxing International Airport in Beijing.
• Beijing Capital International Airport became the second busiest airport in the world
with more than 100 million travelers passing through its three terminals in 2018.
• China will surpass the USA as the world's biggest air travel market by 2022.

46. Japan has launched the world’s largest transport spacecraft – Kounotori8 also known
as HTV8 – to International Space Station from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s
(JAXA) Tanegashima space centre.
• The spacecraft (with a capacity of 5.3 tonnes) was launched from H2B rocket.

47. SAARC Council of Ministers foreign ministers’ meeting will be held in New York.
• It will be chaired by Nepal.
• 13th Informal Meeting of the SAARC Finance Ministers was held in Nadi, Fiji, on the
theme “Financial Inclusion” in May.

48. Bangladesh, Indonesia and South Africa have recently joined the Partnering For Green
Growth And The Global Goals 2030 (p4g) initiative.
• P4G was launched in 2018 to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris
Climate Agreement.
• Other P4G partner countries are Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico,
the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, and Vietnam.
• Its first summit was held in 2018 in Copenhagen, Denmark and it is a biennial event.
• The Copenhagen Commitment was also signed at the 1st summit.
 62

49. A new continent/8th continent named as Greater Adria has been found hidden in the
Mediterranean region after analysing all the mountain ranges from Spain to Iran.
• The research (published in the journal Gondwana Research) analysed how a piece of
continental crust (with the same size of Greenland) had once separated from North
Africa and got submerged under Southern Europe.
• The continent is majorly submerged under the mantle of Southern Europe and only a
strip of land (the only remaining part of this continent) runs from Turin through the
Adriatic Sea is visible.
• Majority of the mountains in the European region have been formed by the collision
of Greater Adria (which separated from Gondwana landmass) with the Europe.
• Utrecht University’s (Netherlands) geologists, along with scientists other from Oslo
and Zurich, have discovered this continent.

50. International Astronomical Union has named an asteroid, which was discovered in
2006, after the Indian classical singer Pandit Jasraj (classical vocalist/singer).
• He is the first Indian musician to receive this honour.
• The asteroid/minor planet is located between Mars and Jupiter, and was discovered
by the Cataline Sky Survey, whose telescopes are based in Arizona in the USA.

51. World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2020 will be held in Davos-Klosters,
Switzerland.
• From India, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will attend this meeting at the
the invitation of WEF President Borge Brende.

52. A new mineral ‘Goldschmidtite’ or (K,REE,Sr)(Nb,Cr)O3), (named in honour of Victor

Moritz Goldschmidt, the founder of modern geochemistry) has been discovered inside a
diamond from a mine- Koffiefontein pipe in South Africa run by De Beers.
• Lead Author: - Nicole Meyer from University of Alberta’s Diamond Exploration
Research and Training School), Canada.
• The finding is published in American Mineralogist.
 63

BANKING AND ECONOMY

1. RBI has extended the timeline for conversion of minimum KYC detail for prepaid
payment instruments (PPIs) to full KYC compliant PPIs from 18 months to 24 months.
• Also, the deadline for PPIs to convert into full KYC compliant till Feb 2020.

2. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has removed the Merchant Discount
Rates (MDR) on UPI transactions below the ticket size of Rs 100 that are done through
QR code w.e.f. October 1st.
• MDR, for transactions of more than Rs 100, has been revised to 0.30% of the
transaction size.
• Before this, the rates were 0.25% for transactions up to Rs. 2,000 and 0.65% for
transactions above Rs 2,000.
• Limit on P2PM transactions has also been increased to Rs.1 lakh from Rs.50000 to
encourage merchants to make payments using UPI.

3. Ministry of Finance has announced the merger of 10 Public Sector Banks to make them
into 4.
• The total number of PSBs has been reduced to 12 from 27.
• Government will provide Rs 55,250 crore to these 10 banks.
MERGED ENTITIES
1. Oriental Bank of Commerce and United 2. Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank
Bank of India with Punjab National Bank
3. Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and 4. Indian Bank and Allahabad Bank
Corporation Bank

PROSPECTIVE GROWTH SIZE OF MERGED BANKS

PNB + OBC + United bank will become the Canara + Syndicate Bank will be the 4th
2nd largest bank of India with a Rs 18 lakh largest PSB with Rs 15.20 Tn business.
crore business.
Union + Andhra + Corporation will become Indian & Allahabad Bank to be 7th largest
the 5th largest PSB with Rs 14.6L Cr. PSB with Rs 8.08 lakh crore business.
business and 4th largest branch network in
India.

After merger, banks will use the following software:

PNB + OBC + United Bank of India Infosys Finacle Core Banking System
Canara + Syndicate Bank Oracle’s FLEXCUBE
Union Bank of India + Andhra Bank + Infosys Finacle Core Banking System
Corporation Bank
Indian Bank + Allahabad Bank TCS’ BaNCS Software
• Banks have also been asked to form a risk management committee and to combine
the Nomination and Remuneration committees. Also, it have been recommended
to appoint the chief risk operator at market-linked compensation.
 64

4. According to the KPMG report “Fintech in India – Powering mobile payments”, digital
payments in India grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7%.
• Number of vendors accepting digital payments has also increased with around 1.5
million in 2016-17.
• Mobile wallet market is expected to increase at a CAGR of around 52.2% in terms of
number of transactions during 2019-23.
• The volume of UPI transactions has increased at a CAGR of 246% during 2016-17 to
2018-19.
• Global digital payments market is expected to touch $10.07 trillion by 2026.

5. Union Budget 2019: - 2% Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) will be charged on cash
withdrawals above Rs 1 crore.
• Those who have withdrawn ₹1 crore or more in cash from banks or post offices up
to 31 August will have to pay a 2% TDS on further cash withdrawals from 1 Sept.
• Finance (2) Act, 2019 mandates that total withdrawals made so far this year, will be
counted in computing the ₹1 crore threshold for levying TDS.
• Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has also set up a 5-member special cell for
start-ups, headed by PK Dash, to resolve the tax related grievances of start-ups.

6. According to Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) data, India’s GDP growth was 5% in the
April-June quarter of FY20, against the 8% growth in Q1 of FY19.
• Nominal GDP grew at 8%.

7. According to RBI’s annual report 2018-19, Rs 2,000 notes formed 3.3% (in volume
terms) of total notes in circulation as of March 2017, which declined to 3% as of Mar
2019.
• In value terms, ₹2,000 note formed 50.2% of all bank notes in circulation as of Mar
2017 which was reduced to 31.2% as of March 2019.
• In volume terms, ₹500 note formed 5.9% and 22.5% in terms of value of all bank
notes in circulation as of March 2017 which increased to 19.8% and 51% in terms of
value as of March 2019.
 65

8. Bangladesh has signed an agreement for the purchase of 718 MW of power from
Reliance Power for 22 years.
• Reliance will set up a power plant at a cost of $1 billion by 2022 near Dhaka.

9. Automatic Exchange of Information Regime (AEOI) between India and Switzerland has
started from September as part of India’s fight against black money.
• Implication: - India will get all the information of Indian account holders in Swiss
banks for the year 2018. India will not get information prior to 2018.
• Switzerland and India signed a joint declaration on the introduction of the AEOI in
tax matters on a reciprocal basis in 2016.

10. According to Fitch Solutions Macro Research report, India will overtake China as the
world’s largest importer of coking coal by 2025.
• India’s coking coal consumption is expected to grow at an annual average rate of
5.4% between 2019-2028 with a similar growth in steel production.
• India imported as much as half of China’s total coking coal imports in 2017.
• India is the largest importer of Australian coking coal, succeeded by China (8.8%
decrease), with a 25.8% year-on-year increase in Australian coking coal imports
during Apr-Jun 2019.
• China will account for two-thirds of global coking coal production and consumption
over the coming years.

11. IDBI Bank will get Rs 9,300 crore – Rs 4,557 cr. from govt and Rs 4,743 crore from LIC
(its majority stakeholder).
• The bailout to IDBI is part of the govt’s recapitalization plan.

12. According to RBI’s annual report 2018-19, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), were 1.2
times higher than the number of debit card transactions in 2018-19.
• UPI payments were 5.35 billion against the 4.41 billion debit card payments and 1.8
billion credit card payments.
• Prepaid instruments witnessed around 4.6 billion transactions worth ₹2.12 trillion.
• NEFT system accounted for 2.3 billion transactions (19.1% increase in volume)
worth ₹228 trillion (32.3% increase in value) in FY19.

13. An inter-ministerial panel on fintech, chaired by the secretary Department of Economic

Affairs, has suggested Ministry of Finance to issue FDs, other deposits of Post Offices,
other forms of small savings certificates, gold deposit certificates issued under GMS,
Sovereign Gold Bonds etc. in dematerialised format.
• It has recommended NABARD to create a credit registry for farmers (by using
fintech along with core banking solutions).
• Modernize and standardize land records by setting up a dedicated National Digital
Land Records Mission.
 66

• It has also recommended adoption of regulation technology (or RegTech) by all

financial sector regulators to adopt use-cases to make compliance with regulations
easier, quicker and effective.
• Purpose: - To make them consumer-friendly and easily accessible.

14. ECL Finance Ltd (an NBFC subsidiary of Edelweiss Financial Services) and Central Bank of
India have entered into an agreement for priority sector lending to MSMEs.
• The partnership is the result of RBI’s progressive Co-Origination Policy launched in
2018, to allow banks and NBFCs to co-lend to a wider range of enterprises.
• It is Central Bank of India’s first co-origination agreement with an NBFC.

15. The task force for development of secondary market for corporate loans, headed by
TN Manoharan, has recommended an online loan sales platform to conduct auctions.
Other Recommendations: -
• Set up a self-regulatory body of participants to finalise modalities for the secondary
market for corporate loans, including standardisation of documentation.
• Loopholes in the existing market: - Absence of a systematic loan sales platform, lack
of standardisation in documentation and legal factors.
• Set up a central loan contract registry.
• Allow FPIs to buy the distressed loan from banks and NBFCs and to allow mutual
funds, pension funds and insurance companies in this market.
• FPIs are only allowed to invest in stressed assets through Security Receipts (SRs)
issued by Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) or directly invest in NCDs/bonds
issued by borrowers.
• Securitisation trust route may also be permitted for acquisition of NPAs by FPIs.
• A separate category of Alternative investment Funds may be formed to allow
investment in the secondary market for standard as well as distressed loans.
• ARCs may be permitted to act as debt arrangers and, therefore, be allowed to
charge fees for such services.
• Regulations for securitisation and assignment of loans, asset reconstruction, foreign
portfolio investment and external commercial borrowings should be amended.
 67

16. Cabinet has approved a higher procurement price for ethanol purchased by oil
marketing companies for the ethanol blended petrol (EBP) programme for a 1 year
w.e.f. 1st December.
Ethanol from C-heavy molasses Increased from Rs 43.46 per litre to Rs
43.75 per litre
Ethanol from B-heavy molasses Increased from ₹52.43 per litre to ₹54.27
per litre
Price of ethanol obtained from sugarcane set at ₹59.48 per litre
juice, sugar, and sugar syrup

17. E-Shang Red-wood (ESR) has partnered with Future Group to set up two logistics parks
in Gurugram and Nagpur at Rs 300 crore.

18. ICICI Bank has become the India’s first bank to deploy 'Robotic Arms' to count currency
notes at its currency chests.

19. DBS Bank, in its report "India: More policy support likely after weak Q2 growth", has
lowered its GDP forecast for India from 6.8% to 6.2% for FY20.

20. Ashok Leyland has converted all its heavy duty trucks into BS-VI compliant trucks.
• The company has become the first Indian original equipment manufacturer (OEM)
to meet BS-VI emission norms for its trucks.

21. RBI has asked banks to link their lending rates on loans to retail, personal and MSME
borrowers to an external benchmark w.e.f., 1 October. Banks can adopt the external
benchmark in other loan categories also.
• Reason: - To ensure effective transmission of Repo rate cut to banks’ lending rate.
The interest rate under external Banks have been allowed to choose
benchmark shall be reset at least once in 3 between RBI’s repo rate, govt’s 3-month
months. treasury bill yield or govt’s 6-month
treasury bill yield or any other benchmark
market interest rate published by the
Financial Benchmarks India Private Ltd.
However, the banks have been mandated Borrowers under MCLR or base rate
to adopt one benchmark in one category regime who are eligible to prepay their
of loans. They can choose different loans without pre-payment charges can
benchmarks for difference category of switchover to external benchmark without
loans. any extra charges.
Others who do not have the prepayment -
facility can move to external benchmark on
terms acceptable to the bank and the
borrower.
 68

22. IDBI has appointed JP Morgan India Pvt Ltd to execute its disinvestment process in the
joint venture (JV) IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co Ltd.
• The JV includes IDBI Bank, Federal Bank, and Ageas company.

23. Boehringer Ingelheim (German company) and Lupin have signed a $700 million deal for
licensing, development and commercialisation of Lupin’s MEK inhibitor compound drug
to treat difficult-to-treat cancers.

24. According to Credit Suisse’s (Investment banking company) data, has mentioned that
GST collections in the first 5 months of FY20 is 6.4% much below the 10% mark
estimated for this year.
• If this goes on, then Central govt may face a deficit of Rs 40,000 crore at the end
of FY20.
• If the loss occurs, states would be compensated by the Central Govt, through the
cess collected on GST, under the 14% revenue growth guarantee by Central Govt
to states.
• The states earned Rs 6.5 Trillion from GST in FY19 (including govt compensation).
If the 14% guarantee is added to this amount then, it would go up to Rs 7.4 Tn in
FY20.
• According to the report, the gap between receipts and expenditure (which met
through borrowing) can widen if this trend of declining GST collections goes on,
and can increase the fiscal deficit up to 3.5% of GDP (against the 3.3% target).

25. CRISIL ratings has cut India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.3% from 6.9% for the fiscal year
2020.

26. Telegram is working to launch its cryptocurrency named ‘Gram’ by the end of October.
[details are not revealed yet]

27. According to World Gold Council, India (with 618.2 tonnes gold reserves) is ranked at
the 10th position in the list of top 10 countries with maximum gold reserves.
 69

• Countries preceding India (rank-wise): - USA (1st - 8,133.5 tonnes), Germany (2nd -
3,366.8 tonnes), IMF (3rd - 2,451.8 tonnes), Italy, France, Russia, China, Switzerland
and Japan.

28. Ministry of Finance has fixed a total business limit of over Rs 10 Lakh Crore for public
sector banks to create the position of chief general managers (CGM).
• A bank can appoint a maximum of one CGM for four general managers to function
as a chain between General Managers and Executive Directors.

29. Rating agency Moody’s has revised the outlook for Punjab National Bank’s to positive
from stable after capital infusion by government and possible gains from the proposed
merger with Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India.

30. Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has signed a Memorandum of

Agreement with SBI to provide e-payment services directly to the bank accounts of all
ESIC beneficiaries.
• Also, SBI would provide e-payment integration with Enterprise Resource Planning
processes of ESIC through its Cash Management Product e-payment technology
platform.

31. Central Government has provided Rs 25,000 crore for next 5 years for improving fishery
infrastructure and to increase inland fisheries’ production to 6 million tonnes from 3.2
million tonnes (data is of 2017-18 from National Fisheries Development Board) in the
next 3-4 years.

32. Government will infuse Rs 18,000 crore in Punjab National Bank by purchasing the
preferential equity shares of PNB at a rate decided as per the SEBI’s Issue of Capital and
Disclose Requirement, 2018.

33. National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the JSW Steel Ltd.’s bid of Rs
19,700 crore for acquiring the bankrupt Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd.

34. KKR & Co. has bought a majority stake in EuroKids International Pvt Ltd (one of India’s
largest education service providers) from Gaja Capital.
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35. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will raise more than ₹85,000 crore by 2025
through asset monetization of its toll-operate-transfer (ToT) model and infrastructure
investment trusts (InvITs).
• A letter from PMO suggested NHAI should be transformed into a road asset
management company and to create a blueprint for a national highway grid to see
which roads can be built by 2030.

36. 19 Public Sector Banks will provide personal and home loans on the “PSB Loans in 59
Minutes” web portal (launched in 2018 to facilitate quick loans for MSMEs) to everyone.

37. Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE)
– commodity exchanges in China – have signed an MoU for co-operation and exchange
of information.

38. Standard Chartered Bank has launched a DigiSmart credit card which will be offered at
a monthly payment of Rs 49 (this Rs 49 will be waived off if the customer spend more
than Rs 5,000 in the previous month).
• The bank has partnered with Myntra, Grofers, Yatra, Zomato, Ola and INOX to offer
discount on its card in key e-commerce categories.

39. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into 26 advance pricing agreements
(APAs), including 1 bilateral APA with Britain, in the first 5 months of the FY20.
• So far, CBDT has signed 297 APAs (which includes 32 bilateral APAs).
• APAs pertain to various sectors and sub-sectors like information technology,
banking, semiconductor, power, pharmaceutical, hydrocarbon, publishing, and
automobiles.

40. ECL Finance Ltd (Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd. subsidiary) has signed a co-
origination agreement with State Bank of India to increase credit lending to MSMEs.

41. RBI has prohibited Equitas Small Finance Bank from opening new branches. RBI has also
declined to extend the time limit for bank for listing its shares.

42. Ministry of Statistics has introduced a new GDP calculation series, under which 3 main
changes were included: -
• Change of Base year from 2004-05 to 2011-12.
• Methodology and sources of data collection are changed.
• It is a linked back-series of India’s growth numbers from 1950-51 to 2003-04 to align
GDP numbers from past years with the new internationally accepted methodology
and facilitate comparisons.

43. Ministry of MSME has launched the updated Credit linked Capital Subsidy Scheme
(CLCSS) to allow MSMEs access to capital.
 71

• In Feb 2019, Union Cabinet had approved the CLCSS scheme at a budget of Rs 2,900
crore.
• CLCSS scheme aims at raising MSME contribution to GDP from the current 29% to
50%, and to increase exports from the sector to 50% from 40% at present.

44. Ministry of Corporate Affairs is planning to waive off the loans of small distressed
borrowers under the “Fresh Start” provision of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.
• Ministry is holding meetings with Microfinance industry to fix a criteria for this
waiver.
• A beneficiary of the fresh start provision cannot invoke the provision again for 5
years since the availing of the same.
• Existing threshold for waiver: - gross annual income should not exceed ₹60,000
without a dwelling unit. Aggregate value of assets should not be more than ₹20,000
and the aggregate value of the qualifying debts does not exceed ₹35,000.

45. RBI has chosen the Daffodil Software Pvt Ltd for developing the mobile app to help
visually impaired people in identifying currency notes.
• There are about 80 lakh blind or visually impaired people in India.

46. Centre has collected Rs 939 crores tax in 2018-19 as compared to the Rs 590 crore in
FY18 from advertising companies such as Facebook and Google through the tax
deducted at source (TDS).
• In FY19, Indian companies have paid Rs 15,650 crore to offshore digital platforms for
placing ads on their platforms.
• A report released by Ministry of Information and Broadcast, in association with
McKinsey and Co. in Feb, states that India has a potential to make its digital
economy of up to $1 trillion by 2025 from present $200 billion.

47. Govt is planning to bifurcate GAIL India into two units – marketing and pipeline
business– to sell off its majority stake in it to strategic investors.
 72

• Govt has a 52.68% stake in GAIL which is India’s largest state-owned natural gas
processing and distribution company.

48. India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) has launched the Aadhar-enabled Payment Services to
provide the banking services smoothly to last-mile rural and inaccessible customers.
• With this, IPPB has become the single largest platform in India providing
interoperable banking services to the customers of any bank.
• Implication: - Now, customers can avail the benefits of the banking services easily
through Aadhar or their biometric authenticity.
• Details: - IPPB was launched in 2018 to provide banking services to the last mile
customers (specifically rural) by using the network of Post Offices and Postmen.

49. Committee on Development of Housing Finance Securitization Market, headed by

Harsh Vardhan, has recommended to create a new intermediary, in the form of an
NBFC, to increase the tradeability of mortgage backed securities.
• Other Recommendations: - relaxation of norms for minimum holding period (MHP)
and minimum retention requirement (MRR) for mortgage backed securities;
amendments and/or clarifications for registration and stamp duty requirements and
tax guidelines to reduce the transaction costs for securitisation as also to encourage
investments in pass-through-securities.
• Securitization is a mechanism to illiquid loans into the tradeable securities.

50. India has shifted the steel from ‘free’ to ‘free subject to compulsory registration’
category under ‘Steel Imports Monitoring System’.
• Reason: - To stop dumping of steel in India triggered by US-China trade war.

51. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has reduced its growth forecast for NBFCs to 10-
12% from 15% for FY20 and also revised its outlook from stable to negative for NBFCs.
• National Housing Bank will provide additional liquidity support of Rs 20,000 crores
to HFC’s (resulting in Rs 30,000 crore liquidity).

52. According to the “Turbocharging Delhi-NCR Startup Ecosystem" report issued by TiE
Delhi-NCR and consulting firm Zinnov, Delhi-NCR (including Noida and Gurugram) has
 73

the highest number of unicorn start-ups at 10 with 7,000 new startups were founded in
Delhi-NCR since 2009.
• Bengaluru had 5,234 startups in the same period, followed by Mumbai with 3,829
and Hyderabad with 1,940 startups.
• Cumulative private market valuation of startups in Delhi-NCR is currently $46-56
billion, followed by Bengaluru at $32-37 billion and Mumbai at $10-12 billion.
• Delhi-NCR has a potential of becoming one of the top 5 global startup hubs, with
12,000 startups, 30 unicorns and a cumulative valuation of about $150 billion by
2025.

53. Synergy Group Corp has signed the non-disclosure agreement for Jet Airways’
resolution to buy the company.

54. RBI had set up the 'Internal Working Group' in Feb 2019 to review the regional disparity
in the agricultural credit and other issues related to agriculture credit and to suggest
measures to improve it.
• The panel suggested the following measures: -
Set up a federal body like GST Council to Farm loan waivers should be "avoided"
implement reforms and boost credit flow in and interest subvention or subsidy given on
the agriculture sector. farm loans should be replaced with Direct
Benefit Transfer with an overall limit of Rs
3 lakh per individual farmer.
Banks should develop a management Banks should increase credit for allied farm
information system (MIS) to track loans activities and give consumption loans to
sanctioned against gold as collateral in core farmers up to a sanctioned limit of Rs 1
banking solution (CBS) platform for lakh under priority sector lending.
effective monitoring of end use of funds.
Banks should be given access to the To improve the formal lending to tenant
digitised land records in order to verify farmers, states with restrictive legal
land title and create charge online framework, states should be encouraged to
reform their legal framework on the basis
of Model Land Leasing Act proposed by
NITI Aayog/ Land Licensed Cultivators' Act,
2011 of Andhra Pradesh.
Priority sector lending (PSL) guidelines Make norms easier for making credit
should be revisited and NABARD should available for allied activities of up to Rs 2
gradually increase the allocation of Rural lakh.
Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) in Also, to improve ease of credit, the limit of
central, eastern and north eastern states Rs 3 lakh for waiving collateral security by
over a period of time. Also, corpus of RIDF the banks in case of tie-up arrangements
should be increased. should be revised to Rs 5 lakh under the
existing Kisan Credit Card guidelines.
 74

55. Bank of India (BoI), in association with AGS Transact Technologies Ltd, has rolled out a
new service through which customers can withdraw money from ATMs by using the UPI
(QR code of BoI).
• Reason: - To tackle increasing fraud of ATM transactions.

56. RBI has announced that a bank’s exposure to a single NBFC (excluding gold loan
companies) will be restricted to 20% of that bank’s eligible capital base.
• Under the “Large Exposures Framework (LEF)”, banks’ exposures to a single NBFC is
restricted to 15% of their available eligible capital base, while general single
counterparty exposure limit is 20%, which can be extended to 25% by banks’ Boards
under exceptional circumstances.

57. International Finance Corporation (IFC), a part of the World Bank Group, has signed an
MoU with Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC) to train of NBFCs in India.
• Under the MoU, training programs for NBFCs would be conducted on “Commercial
Credit Reporting” to bring efficiency in credit reporting by NBFCs.
• FIDC is a representative body of asset and loan Financing NBFCs.

58. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has rationalized merchant discount rate
(MDR) on transactions from RuPay debit cards w.e.f., 20 October 2019.
• MDR has been revised to 0.60% on transactions above Rs 2,000 with a maximum
cap of ₹150 against the 0.90% at present.
• For Bharat QR, the MDR has also been reduced to 0.50%, with a maximum cap
of ₹150 per transaction.

59. Budget 2019 – It proposed to merge the investment route for non-resident Indians and
Foreign Portfolio Investors, which would require consultation between SEBI, RBI and
Department of Economic Affairs.
• It also proposed to increase public float (portion of shares of a corporation that are
in the hands of public investors) in all listed entities to 35%.
• However, almost half of the listed, government-owned companies do not even meet
the current requirement of 25% public holding and had been given time till August
2020 for compliance.

60. OPEC has released its monthly ‘World Oil Demand’ report, which mentions that India’s
oil demand will rise by 3.21% to 4.88 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2019 from 4.73
mb/d in 2018. In 2020, it will further rise by 3.36% to 5.05 mb/d.
• China’s oil demand growth is expected to grow by 2.73% in 2019 and 2.37% in 2020.
• US is still the world's largest oil consumer with 20.94 mn/d followed by China at
13.06 mn/d in 2019.
• World oil demand in 2019 is expected to grow by 1.02 mb/d, which is 0.08 mb/d
lower than the previous projection.
 75

61. IDBI Bank will launch a co-branded credit card, in partnership with LIC Credit Cards
Services (LIC CSL) before the festive season of Diwali begins.

62. RBI has issued guidelines under the “on-tap licensing” regime for payments banks
seeking to get the license of Small Finance Bank.
The minimum paid-up capital requirement Promoters’ stake: - They should hold a
for SFBs has been revised to ₹200 crore minimum of 40% of the paid-up voting
instead of ₹100 crore earlier. equity capital for 5 years.
Then, it should be brought down to 30%
within 10 years, and 15% in 15 years.
SFBs should be listed within 3 years of Primary urban cooperative banks
reaching a net worth of ₹500 crore. (complying with the on-tap licencing
guidelines) are allowed to convert into
SFBs. Minimum net worth of such SFBs will
be ₹100 crore and needs to be increased to
₹200 crore within 5 years from
commencement of business.

63. Ministry of Finance has announced the economic measures to boost economy such as
Document Identification Number.
• To boost exports:- Interest Equalization Scheme (IES) on pre and post shipment
rupee export credit was introduced from 1.4.2015 providing interest equalisation at
3% to exporters on 416 lines and for all MSME exporters.
• Scheme for Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP) will replace
Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) w.e.f., January 1, 2020.
• An additional Rs. 36,000 crs. to Rs 68,000 crores as export credit under priority
sector lending.
• For Housing Sector, a Special Window to provide last mile funding for housing
projects which are non-NPA and non-NCLT Projects and are Net worth positive in
affordable and middle income category to be set up at a fund of 10,000 crore to be
contributed by govt and roughly same amount from outside investors.
 76

64. Ministry of Finance has launched the e-assessment scheme 2019 for conducting
faceless scrutiny assessment of income tax returns (ITR).
• Under the scheme, e-asssessment centres would be created at national and regional
levels while auto-allocation of cases among these centres will be allowed.
• Benefits: - Information will be communicated and authenticated digitally between
the taxpayers and assessment centres.
• Individual will issued the scrutiny notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act,
1961 if s/he has under-reported income or overstated losses and the assessee need
to file his response to the National e-assessment Centre within 15 days from the
date of receipt of notice.

65. Welmo Fintech Pvt. Ltd. (general insurance company) has been incorporated by the
Former SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, Sunil Mehta former chief executive of
American insurer AIG, and Deepak Ishwarbhai Amin, a former director of SBI.
• As per Ministry of Corporate Affairs data, the insurer has a paid-up share capital of
₹1 lakh with a Rs 100 crore paid up equity requirement for later approvals.
• General insurance penetration, measured as the ratio of premium (in US dollars) to
GDP (in US dollars) stood at 2.8% globally in 2017, more than three times that of
India.

66. According to a report published by RBI’s economic and policy research department, 2.3
billion NEFT transactions worth ₹227.93 trillion were recorded during 2018-19.
• In July, there were as many as 219.4 million transactions worth ₹17.8 trillion.
• There is no minimum cap on fund transfer through NEFT, the upper limit for transfer
is ₹2-5 lakh, depending on the bank.
• Payment flows are particularly strong within the public-to-public sector and private-
to-private sector banks network.
• The flow of NEFT funds from private sector to public sector banks is very large.

67. Ministry of Labour and Employment has mentioned that over 6 crore EPFO (Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation) accounts would be credited with 8.65% rate interest for
2018-19.

68. Tata Power’s wholly owned subsidiary Khopoli Investments Ltd. will sell its entire 50%
stake in the joint venture – Cennergi to Exxaro Resources Ltd. for $106 million.
• Cennergi is the joint venture between Khopoli and Exxaro on a 50:50 basis.

69. Capexil (which promotes the chemical and allied products) export target is $25.57
billion for 2019-20, as compared to $22.24 billion in 2017-18.
• Ministry of Commerce set a target to triple India’s exports from $331 billion to $1
trillion in five years.
• India’s plastics exports were $10.89 billion in 2018-19 against $8.85 billion in 2017-
18 (up 24% rise), it is expected to grow further as efforts were on to boost exports to
more than 210 countries.
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70. Defence PSU BEML Ltd and Wipro Infrastructure Engineering have signed an MoU for
working jointly in the areas of aerospace, industrial automation, 3-D printing, artificial
intelligence and hydraulic system engineering.

71. Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched the Steel Import Monitoring System
(SIMS) web portal to provide advance information about steel import to government
and other stakeholders for effective policy interventions.
• Importer can apply for registration not earlier than 60th day and not later than 15th
day before the expected date of arrival of import consignment and the automatic
registration number thus granted shall remain valid for a period of 75 days.
• Common Digital Platform for issuance of electronic Certificates of Origin (CoO) has
also been launched to provide a single access point for all exporters, for all Free
Trade Agreements/Preferential Trade Agreements and for all agencies concerned.

72. Ministry of Commerce & Industry through Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC)
has launched the Export Credit Insurance Scheme called NIRVIK to enhance loan
availability and ease the lending process.
• Niryat Rin Vikash Yojana (NIRVIK) provides credit guarantee to exporters up to 60%
of loss and covers up to 90% of the principal amount and interest through insurance.
It will cover both pre and post-shipment credit.
• Central govt will give Rs 8,500 crore to ECGC, in the next five years.
• Under the scheme, inspection of bank documents and records by ECGC officials shall
be mandatory for losses exceeding Rs 10 crore as against the present Rs 1 crore.

73. Central govt has exempted 2% TDS on cash withdrawal of over Rs 1 crore made through
Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) w.e.f. Oct 1.
• The 2% TDS was introduced in the Budget to make India a cash less economy.
• Depreciation rates for different vehicles have also been revised: -

74. Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) and Sa-Dhan (a RBI-recognised self-

regulatory organisation), along with Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC), have
jointly released the ‘Code for Responsible Lending’ (CRL) for the micro credit industry.
• CRL aims to bring better discipline and harmony among the asset financing, loan
financing and micro financing NBFCs.
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75. RBI has expanded the scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to include all
recurring payments such as school fees, municipality bill etc. (except prepaid recharges).
• BBPS is an integrated bill payment system in India offering interoperable and
accessible bill payment service.

76. According to RBI’s data published in the Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy
2018-19, Indian private and public sector banks had a total savings deposits of Rs 39.72
lakh crore as on March 31, 2019, while foreign banks had a share of Rs 58,630 crore.
• Total savings deposits with commercial banks, including foreign ones, stood at Rs
40.31 lakh crore in 2018- 19, up from Rs 36.55 lakh crore in 2017-18, the data
showed.
• The savings deposits with Indian banks stood at Rs 35.99 lakh crore in 2017-18.
• During Apr-Jun 2019, the PSB's credit growth increased to 8.7%, while the aggregate
deposits growth was 6.7%.
• Bank credit between April-June 2019 grew by 11.7%, against a growth of 11.1% in
the same period last year.

77. India was among the top oil consumers with imports of 23.5 mn tonnes in 2018-19.

78. Govt is planning to reduce its stake in state-owned trading firm MMTC from the current
90% to 75%, as per SEBI’s mandate.
• The govt is planning to shut down the loss-making trading companies such as State
Trading Corporation (STC) and PEC.

79. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had mandated to reduce the Inter-connection
Usage Charge (IUC) w.e.f, 1st Oct 2017 and end the IUC w.e.f., Jan 2020.
• Now, TRAI is planning to defer the Jan 2020 deadline.
• IUC - This is a charge payable by a service provider (for ex. Jio), whose subscriber
originates the call, to the service provider (for ex. Airtel) in whose network the call
terminates.

80. An 11-member Company Law Committee, headed by Injeti Srinivas, has been formed
by govt to improve the functioning of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and
review the Companies Act 2013 as well as the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008.
 79

• Purpose: - To improve ease of doing business in India.

• It would also suggest measures to remove any bottlenecks in the overall functioning
of statutory bodies like the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Investor
Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) and National Financial Reporting
Authority (NFRA).

81. CBDT has laid down rules to classify certain corporate transactions as tax avoidance
scheme under the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR- which came into effect in
2017).
• Income Tax (8th Amendment) Rules, 2019, specifies that tax officials should refer a
suspected case of tax avoidance to a panel of senior officials.
• The Amendment also describes the role of this panel.
• GAAR is an anti-tax avoidance law under the Income Tax Act, 1961, allows tax
officials to deny tax benefits, if a deal is found without any commercial purpose
other than tax avoidance.

82. Digital lending platform ZestMoney has partnered with PayU for cardless EMI.

83. Visa Inc and BillDesk, an Indian online payment gateway company, have partnered for
launching an interface to enable recurring payment of SI (standing instructions)-Hub.

84. Airtel Payments Bank has launched 'Bharosa savings account' to enable customers to
withdraw cash, check their balance or access a mini statement of their account at
Aadhaar-enabled payment system enabled outlets across India.
• Bharosa savings account offers ₹5 lakh personal accident insurance at a balance of
₹500.
• Airtel Payments Bank Chairman – Sunil Bharati Mittal
• MD & CEO – Anubrata Biswas.

85. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has waived off the 3-year lock-in period for
investments made by Non-Resident Indians (NRI) in Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) in
order to boost foreign investment in the infrastructure sector.
• IDFs are investment instruments to accelerate the flow of long-term debt to the
sector.
• Now a reduced tax rate of 5% will be charged from NRIs or foreign company which
earn any interest on the investment in IDFs.

86. Ministry of Finance has announced that banks, in association with their partner NBFC,
will hold public gatherings or ‘loan melas’ in 400 districts to disburse loans to the end-
customers.
• Purpose: - To encourage customers to avail of not just retail, agriculture, and MSME
loans, but also loans for vehicles and housing, and Mudra loans.
• Banks had entered into 14 tie-ups with NBFCs for co-originating loans, with another
36 tie-ups in the pipeline.
 80

• No MSME-stressed loan would be classified as NPAs until March 31, 2020.

• The programme will be headed by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur.

87. RBI has revised rules for concurrent audit in banks on the recommendations of Y H
Malegam committee and directed banks to include the risk-sensitive areas under the
audit. (Name of the committee is only mentioned in LIVEMINT’s article)
• Concurrent audit is the process of shortening the time interval between a
transaction and its independent examination.
• All centralized processing centres (business origination and monitoring) need to be
covered under concurrent audit.
• Banks can choose the concurrent auditors from its own staff or external auditors. In
case of external auditor, the head of internal audit in the bank would check the work
of them.
• Tenure of external concurrent auditors has been fixed at 3 years with a bank (earlier
it was 5 years). The age limit for retired staff engaged as concurrent auditors is 70
years.

88. Tata Communications has partnered with Cisco to offer a secure, cloud-based Cisco
Webex Contact Center solution to enterprises.

89. Coca-Cola India, PepsiCo India and Bisleri and others have jointly launched a first-of-its-
kind packaging waste management venture – Karo Sambhav – in India.
• Function: - To create a formal eco-system for collection of post-consumer packaging
and optimising material recycling processes.
• It is developed by Packaging Association for Clean Environment (PACE) to ensure
that no recyclable packaging material ends up in landfills by 2025.

90. SEBI has formed a working group, under the chairmanship of Ishaat Hussain, to suggest
framework for the Social Stock Exchanges (SSE).
• SSE was proposed in the budget for social enterprises and voluntary organisations
to help them raise capital through debt, equity and mutual fund.

91. Reliance Industries Limited has become the most valued domestic firm in market
capitalisation by surpassing Tata Consultancy Services with a market valuation of
₹7,95,179.62 crore.
• TCS’s market valuation is ₹7,75,092.58 crore.

92. According to RBI, non-resident investments in Indian mutual funds (MF) at Rs 93,340
crore ($13.5 billion) as of March 2019, substantially exceeded the investments made by
MFs in the form of overseas equity investments at Rs 4,482 crore ($0.7 billion).
• Non-resident investments (foreign liabilities) had risen by 8.95% from Rs 85,670
crore in March 2018.
 81

• MFs held by non-residents in Mauritius and Singapore declined after the

amendment of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with these countries
for withdrawal of capital gains exemption in a phased manner, w.e.f. April 2017.
• As per RBI’s data, Non-resident investments from Singapore have been reduced
from Rs 6,897 crore to Rs 5,683 crore and Mauritius from Rs 5,649 crore to Rs 3,831.
• USA (44.6% share in total foreign assets) and Luxembourg (41.1%) remained the
preferred investment destinations for Indian MF companies.
• Foreign liabilities of asset management companies ($3.3 billion) exceeded foreign
assets ($0.1 billion) substantially in March 2019.
• Overseas assets of AMCs were largely held in Guernsey, Mauritius and Singapore.

93. As the student’s education loan requirement is increasing, the risk of them becoming
NPAs is also growing steeper.
• Human Capital Contracts (HCC) offer some respite for bankers here.
• HCCs are the securities that gives access to a specified fraction of an individual’s or a
group’s future incomes for a fixed period in exchange for a lump sum payment
today.
• For students, such securities are an alternative to debt, as it reduces the risk of
bankruptcy.
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94. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has lowered its GDP
forecast for India to 5.9% for 2019-20.
• India is projected to grow by 6.3% in 2020-21.
• Global GDP growth is expected at a mere 2.9% in 2019, lowest since the 2008-2009
financial crisis.
• It predicted Global GDP growth at 3% for the next year.
• Argentina, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Australia and India are the seven
countries whose economic growth projections are cut by the OECD by more than 0.6
percentage points.

95. Ministry of Finance has mandated banks not to classify the stressed assets of MSMEs as
a non performing asset till March 31, 2020.

96. RBI has increased the loan sanction limit for small exporters to Rs 40 crore per
borrower by banks from Rs 25 crore as priority sector lending to boost credit to the
export sector.
• RBI will remove the existing criteria of units having turnover of up to Rs 100 crore as
part of the changes.

97. Government of India has made an ordinance to make amendments in the Income-tax
Act, 1961 and make them retrospective from April 1.
Changes proposed under the ordinance: -
Cut in corporate rate tax from 30% to 22%. Corporate tax rate has been slashed to
The effective tax rate will be 25.17% 15%, from 25%, for domestic companies
inclusive of surcharge & cess. incorporated on or after 1st October 2019
making fresh investment in manufacturing.
15% Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) relief CSR funds made available for incubators,
for companies staying in current regime of universities and research bodies
18.5%.
No tax on buybacks announced before Relief on surcharge on FPIs
budget
 83

[DETAILED ANALYSIS OF ITS IMPLICATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED IN THE FINANCE CURRENT
AFFAIRS DOC]

98. RBI has released new guidelines on turn-around time (TAT) for resolving the failed debit
card transactions of customers within 5 days, and UPI and wallet based transactions
within one.
• Failed ATM, swipe machine and Aadhar Enabled Payments (AEPS) transactions will
also be resolved within five days and IMPS transactions in 1 day as well.
• Banks would have to pay Rs 100 fine for every delayed day in resolving the
grievances.

99. Petronet will invest $2.5 billion in America’s Tellurian Inc. to give access to India up to 5
million tonnes of gas per year for over 40 years.
• The MoU was signed in February in this regard and will be completed by 2020.

100. National e-assessment centre (NeAC) will be set up in New Delhi and Krishna
Mohan Prasad has been appointed as the first principal Chief Commissioner of NeAC.
• New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Bengaluru
will have the regional centres to which NeAC will assign cases for assessment.
• Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) had announced the e-assessment scheme for
conducting faceless assessment of income tax returns.

101. RBI has mandated commercial banks and NBFCs from sharing customer credit data
with unregulated entities.
• Banks and NBFCs have been restricted to share database of credit information
companies as such actions are against the Credit Information Companies
(Regulation) Act, 2005 (CICRA).
 84

• Only TransUnion CIBIL, Equifax, Experian and CRIF High Mark will get the
information.

102. Crisil Ratings has estimated that 1,000 listed companies can save up to Rs 37,000
crore by virtue of the corporate tax rate cut announced through the .
• The tax rate cuts may cause govt’s earning to be lowered by Rs 1.45 Trillion.
• During April-June 2019, the govt’s expenditure grew by 8.9%.

103. Max Bupa and Indian Bank have signed a bancassurance corporate agency
agreement.
• Max Bupa will install its digital platform ‘Infinity’ to facilitate seamless buying for all
the bank’s customers.
• Indian Bank can sell the products of Max Bupa on Bupa’s app InstaInsure.

104. Bank of Baroda (BoB) has launched the agriculture digital platform, Baroda Kisan,
for catering to agricultural needs of India.
• BoB’s ITCoE is executing this initiative in collaboration with IBM India.
• BoB has signed the MoU with Skymet Weather Services, Weather Risk
Management Services, BigHaat, Agrostar India, EM3 Agri Services, and Poorti Agri
Services for developing this platform.
 85

105. Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) company has released the 6th edition of
its annual fastest payment report – “flavours of fast” in which the FIS’s ‘Faster
Payments Innovation Index’ which ranks real-time payment service in 54 countries was
also released.
• The report ranks India’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) as the world’s best real-
time payment service with a 5+ rating.
• Real-time payments systems have increased 35% globally over the past year and
nearly four-fold since 2014.
• India recorded a 10-fold increase in value and an eight-fold increase in transaction
volumes through IMPS over the last year.
• 25 crore Indians do not have phones, and there are less than 40 lakh POS devices, as
per the report.
• IMPS was introduced in 2010 by National Payment Corporation of India.

106. First Advance Estimates of production of major Kharif crops for 2019-20 have been
released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare.

Estimates of 2018-19 Kharif Crop year (July-June)

Rice 102.13 million tonnes (MT)
Pulses 8.59 MT
coarse cereals 30.99 million tonnes
Cotton 32.26 million bales
Jute 9.95 million bales
Oilseeds 21.28 million tonnes

107. CARE Ratings has downgraded the long-term debt, subordinate debt and market-
linked debentures of Reliance Capital to ‘D’.
• Reason: - The recent delay by the company in serving coupons on several non-
convertible debentures.

108. Govt will spend Rs 12,000 crore in preparing the 2021 census and National
Population Register and it will be conducted in two phases (most probably digitally).
 86

109. Central govt aims to raise Rs 60,000 crores by March 2020 by selling 3 PSUs – Air
India, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Container Corp of India Ltd.

110. Paisalo Digital (NBFC) has signed a co-origination loan agreement with Bank of
Maharashtra for co-lending.
• MD of Paisalo Digital is Sunil Agarwal.

111. SEBI has mandated mutual funds to keep at least 20% of their liquid schemes in
liquid assets like cash and government securities to improve their risk management and
ensuring sufficient liquidity w.e.f. April 2020.
• An asset management company (AMC) should not charge investment management
and advisory fees for the parking of funds in short-term deposits of scheduled
commercial banks effective from next month.
• SEBI has also restricted the liquid and overnight schemes from investing in short-
term deposits, debt and money market instruments having structured obligations
or credit enhancements facilities.
• Debt securities with government guarantee are excluded from this restriction.
• An exit load will be levied on investors who exit the liquid fund within seven days of
their investment.

112. The government has eased the client-verification requirement under the Prevention
of Money Laundering Act for overseas investors who want to put money in the
depository receipts of Indian companies.
• Purpose: - To make it easier for local companies to raise money overseas.
• Depository receipts scheme 2014, would be operationalized soon by the SEBI, to
enable local companies access foreign funds through American Depositary Receipts
(ADRs) and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs). The issue of DRs is regulated by
Ministry of Finance.

113. RBI has imposed curbs on Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank under the
Sub-section (1) of Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 as follows: -
• The bank cannot extend any fresh loans or making any investments, except in
government securities.
• Depositors, of any account, will not be allowed to withdraw more than ₹1,000 for six
months.
• The bank made a net profit of ₹99.69 crore in 2018-19 compared with ₹100.90 crore
in the previous year.
 87

• The net non-performing asset ratio of the bank was 2.19% as of March 2019, much
lower than many public sector banks.
• PMC Chairman is S.Waryam Singh.

114. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has acquired 1/3rd of Ant Financial (online financial
services provider controlled by Jack Ma) augmenting a global array of investments now
worth $83 billion.
• Ant will now stop paying 37.5% of its pre-tax profits to Alibaba as mandated under
an earlier agreement.

115. Pine Labs has partnered with Federal Bank to offer EMIs on debit card-based offline
transactions to the bank’s customers.
• It will allow 57 lakh debit card holders of the Bank to instantly avail loans on EMI.

116. Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has increased the family
pension of the govt personnel who have died within 7 years of their joining from 30% to
50% (of their last drawn pay) under the amended Rule 54, of the Central Civil Services
(Pension) Rules, 1972 for a period of 10 years w.e.f., October 1, 2019.

117. Forbes has released its annual World’s Best Regarded Companies 2019 list, in
partnership with Statista, to rank 250 companies based on trustworthiness, social
conduct, the strength of their products and services and how they fare as employers.
Top 5 companies
1. Visa
2. Ferrari
3. Infosys (from 31 position in 2018)
4. Netflix
5. Paypal
Rank of Other Indian Companies in Top 50
Tata Consultancy Services: Rank- 22 (up from 35
in 2018)
Tata Motors: Rank 31

118. SBI Life Insurance has signed a corporate agency agreement with Repco Home
Finance Ltd to offer insurance products to customers of RHFL.

119. Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its Asian Development Outlook Update for 2019
has lowered the GDP projections for India to 6.5% for 2019-20 from earlier 7%.
• India is expected to grow at 7.2% growth in the fiscal year 2021.
• China has been projected to grow at 6.2% in 2019, and 6% in 2020.
• South Asia’s growth forecasts have been declined to 6.2% for 2019 and 6.7% for
2020.
 88

120. Punjab National Bank has launched the first of its kind Preventive Vigilance portal
to facilitate its staff members to check procedural lapses and promote good practices.

121. The govt’s cut in the corporate taxes is being seen as a shift to supply-side
economics which refers to a situation where the focus is on to producing more goods to
tackle slowdown.
• However, India’s corporate tax is still higher than most other countries: -

122. Govt has raised the maximum limit on hiring of apprentices in a firm to 15% from
10% and lowered the number of hiring of employees (where hiring of apprentices in
mandatory) from 40 to 30 while for optional category the employee strength has been
revised down from 6 to 40 earlier to 4 to 29 now.
• The changes were enforced by amending the Apprenticeship Rules, 1992 (to bring
new Apprenticeship Rules, 2019 in force), under the Apprenticeship Act, 1961, were
finalised at the Central Apprenticeship Council meeting in July.
• In India, less than 0.1% of the employed workforce or just 0.3 million people are
apprentices. In comparison, the UK has 1.5% or 0.5 million, China has 2.5% or 20
million, and Germany has 5% or 2.5 million apprentices.

123. Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank’s depositors have been allowed to
withdraw the deposits of ₹10,000 compared with the ₹1,000 mandated earlier by RBI in
a partial relief to the depositors of troubled cooperative lender.
 89

124. RBI’s liquidity framework should be made flexible enough to adapt to conditions
when the system requires liquidity to be in surplus mode, an internal group set up by
the RBI has recommended.
• It recommended to institutionalize some of the ad hoc liquidity infusion measures
the central bank has adopted over the past few months.
• It recommended that with the repo rate as the policy rate, would generally require
system liquidity to be in a small deficit of about 0.25-0.5% of net demand and time
liabilities (NDTL) or total deposits.
• If the financial conditions warrant a situation of liquidity surplus, the framework
could be used flexibly, with variable rate operations to ensure that the call money
rate remains close to the policy repo rate.
• Because of this flexibility, RBI’s current provision of assured liquidity of up to 1% of
NDTL is no longer necessary.

125. As on June 30, Rana Kapoor and his two promoter companies held 10.6% stake in
YES Bank which has now come down by 4.57%.

126. Blackstone has acquired full control of office assets (in Gurugram and Central
Mumbai) of Indiabulls Real Estate ltd (IBREL) for a sum of Rs 2,717 crore.
• After this deal, Indiabulls’ commercial office portfolio will be under the control of
Blackstone.
• These office assets were joint ventures with Yashita Buildcon and Ashkit Properties.

127. United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has predicted a
slow growth rate for India at 6% for the calendar year 2019 as compared to the 7.4% in
2018, in its Trade and Development Report 2019.
• At this 7-year low growth rate, India will be the 2nd fastest growing country in the
world after China (at 6.1% growth rate).
• Reason: - low GST collections and projected low public spending by govt.

128. PNB Metlife has tied up with Religare Health to offer insurance products.

129. HDFC Ergo and Airtel Payment Bank have partnered to offer a unique “Mosquito
Disease Protection Policy” as part of HDFC Ergo’s “wallet insurance portfolio” to be
offered to remittances customers of Airtel Payment Bank at just Rs 99 p.a.
• It will cover dengue, chikungunya, Japanese Encephalitis, kalazar, lymphatic filariasis
(elephantiasis), zika virus diseases.
 90

130. Hyundai Motors has partnered with Bank of Baroda to provide smooth vehicle
finance to its dealers and customers.

131. According to “BrandZ Top 75 Most Valueable Indian Brands 2019” ranking, HDFC
bank is the most valued brand in India with a brand value of Rs 1.61 lakh crore followed
by LIC with a brand value of Rs 1.43 lakh crore.
• This ranking is released by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown.
• The aggregate value of top 75 companies has risen to $228.2 billion (a 6% increase).

132. SEBI has clarified that borrowers and mutual funds cannot enter into the standstill
agreement.
• A standstill agreement refers to an agreement between a lender and a borrower,
wherein the lender stops demanding a scheduled payment of interest or principal on
a loan so that the borrower gets time to restructure its liabilities.
• This decision came after the Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group-owned Zee
Entertainment Enterprises Ltd said its lenders, including mutual funds (which lent Rs
4,000 crore to ZEEL), had extended the loan repayment deadlines.
Other Guidelines of SEBI: -
• Mutual funds should adopt a “waterfall” approach for valuation of money market
and debt securities in their portfolios.
• AMCs must ensure all traded securities are valued on the basis of traded yields,
subject to identification of outlier trades by the valuation agencies.
• SEBI has altered the definition of “below-investment-grade” and “default” in
mutual fund norms, stating that a money market or debt security shall be classified
as “below investment grade” if the long-term rating of the security is below BBB- or
if the short-term rating of the security is below A3.
• A money market or debt security shall be classified as “default” if the interest and/or
principal amount has not been received, on the due date, or when such security was
downgraded to “default” grade by a credit rating agencies (CRAs).
• SEBI has mentioned that any extension in the maturity of a money market or debt
security shall result in the security being treated as “default”.
 91

• If a security is in default beyond its maturity date, the Asset Management Company
must disclose the details and the value of the security and the total amount due
(including principal and interest).

133. According to a report by Fitch Ratings, Indian govt’s deficit to GDP would rise to an 8
year high of 7.5% in FY20 following the corporate tax cut.
• Fiscal deficit target is 3.3% of GDP in FY20 by the govt. which is expected to be
missed by 0.4% points due to the corporate tax cut.
• Fitch ratings assigned a ‘BBB’ -- well above the ‘BBB’ category median of 1.9% --
denoting a low default risk.
• Fitch’s estimate that 3.7% federal deficit means the gap for states would be much
higher than the 2.4% estimated by the RBI.
• The cuts will cost around 0.7% of GDP in lower revenue - about 2/3rd to the central
government and 1/3rd for state governments, according to the govt.

134. Employment Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has partnered with Indian
Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) to create a pool of officials who can better
handle the increasing corpus of EPFO (worth more than Rs 11 trillion).
• IIM-B will train the officials for this purpose.

135. RBI has put Lakshmi Vilas Bank under prompt corrective action framework due to
high bad loans and insufficient capital.
• PCA is a framework under which RBI keeps a watch over the banks with weak
financial metrics. The PCA framework considers banks as risky if they slip below
certain norms on three parameters — capital ratios, asset quality and profitability.

136. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has launched an open-ended fund for
central bank investments in green bonds.
• Purpose: - It will help the central banks to incorporate environmental sustainability
objectives in the management of their reserves.
• The fund is denominated in US dollars, and is structured according to Swiss law and
belongs to the BIS Investment Pool (BISIP) family, a format commonly used by BIS
Asset Management for its fixed income investment products.
• Green bond, also referred to as climate bonds, is a bond specifically used for climate
and environmental projects. These bonds are typically asset-linked and backed by
the issuer's balance sheet.

137. Nepal Rastra Bank (Nepal’s central bank) and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev
Singh Puri have jointly launched the coins with the denominations of 100, 1000 and
2500 Nepalese rupees in commemoration of 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
• Sikh Heritage of Nepal book has also been launched recently.
 92

APPOINTMENTS
1. Lt. Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane has been appointed as the Vice-Chief of Indian
Army.
• He will hold the top-most position after the Army Chief Bipin Rawat’s retirement in
December (until the appointment of a new chief).

2. Vivek Kumar Johri has been appointed as the Director-General of Border Security
Force.

3. Paytm Money (wholly-owned subsidiary of One97 Communications) has promoted

Pravin Jadhav as its MD and CEO.

4. Chief Election Commissioner of India - Sunil Arora has taken the Chairmanship of
Association of World Election Bodies (AWEB) for 2019-21 from Romania. [details of A-
WEB is mentioned in Sept 1 &2 doc]

5. Rakesh Srivastav has been appointed as the MD of Nissan Motors India Pvt Ltd.

6. Jonathan Hall has been appointed as the General Counsel and Company Secretary of
International Cricket Council (ICC).

7. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena has got
a three years extension.

8. Vijay Kumar Chopra has been appointed as the Chairman of Press Trust of India and
Vineet Jain as its Vice Chairman.

9. Daniel Zhang has been appointed as the new Chairman of Alibaba after the founder
Jack Ma resigned.

10. Rajiv Kumar has been appointed as the new managing director of Microsoft India
(R&D) Pvt Ltd.

11. Nirvik Singh has been appointed as the first chief operation officer (COO) of New-York
based global advertising company – Grey Group.

12. Ashish Bhasin has been appointed as the Asia Pacific Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
Japanese ad company Dentsu.

13. Ranveer Singh has been appointed as the new global brand ambassador of JBL (audio
equipment maker).

14. Tamilisai Soundararajan has become first woman governor of Telangana as well as the
youngest governor of any state in India at the age of 58.
 93

• Andhra Pradesh's Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has become the oldest governor in
India at the age of 85.
• Soundararajan is the 2nd governor of Telangana (since its formation in 2014) after
ESL Narasimhan.

15. Indian Banks Association (IBA) has included Mahabaleshwara MS (MD & CEO of
Karnataka Bank) in its managing committee.
• IBA has public sector, private sector and foreign banks with 253 members.

16. PepsiCo India has appointed Hima Das as the brand ambassador for its sports drink
brand Gatorade, who will join the PV Sindhu and javelin star Neeraj Chopra as brand
ambassadors.

17. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Retired Lt. Gen.
Abhijit Guha as the head of the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement,
Yemen.
• Guha will be the chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee, which will
work towards redeploying forces of the Yemeni warring parties in accordance with
their agreement.
UN Mission in Hodeidah:
In Jan 2019, UN adopted the resolution to establish the Hodeidah Mission, for an
initial period of 6 months, to lead and support functioning of Redeployment
Coordination Committee (RCC), to oversee governorate, wide ceasefire, mine
action operation and redeployment of forces.

18. Justice P Lakshmana Reddy (retired) has been appointed as the first Lokayukta of the
Andhra Pradesh after its bifurcation in 2014.
• AP government amended the Lokayukta Act to enable the appointment of a retired
judge as Lokayukta.

19. The parliamentary panels and standing committees have been constituted for the 17th
Lok Sabha session.
• Total 21 panels have been formed and only important ones have been mentioned
here.
Panels Heads
Home Affairs Amit Shah
Financial Affairs Jayant Sinha
Defence Jual Oram
External affairs P P Choudhary
Energy Rajiv Ranjan
Agriculture P C Gaddigoudar

20. Wing Commander Anjali Singh has become the India’s first woman officer to be posted
as a military diplomat (Deputy Air Attache) at an Indian mission abroad in Russia.
 94

21. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy has been appointed as the CMD of Cognizant India and will
head of India operations.

22. Krishna Murari, V. Ramasubramanian, S Ravindra Bhat, and Hrishikesh Roy have been
appointed judges in the supreme court (taking the total number of judges to 34).

23. Robert O’Brien has been appointed as the National Security Advisor of USA.

24. Justice Sunil Gaur has been appointed as the chairman of the Appellate Tribunal for
Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act.

25. Government has appointed Air Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria as the next Chief of Air Force
for 2 years, as the present Air Force Chief, B.S. Dhanoa will retire on September 30.
• Dhanoa will pass the Chairmanship of the Chiefs of Staff Committee to the Chief of
the Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat.

26. Samuel Joseph Jebaraj has been appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of IDBI
Bank for a period of 3 years w.e.f., September 19, 2019.

27. Madhukar Kamath has been appointed as the chairman of the Audit Bureau of
Circulations (ABC).

28. Altico Capital has appointed Sanjeev Agarwal as its CEO.

29. Govinda has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Madhya Pradesh state for
promoting its traditions and tourist places.

30. RBI has approved the reappointment of Shyam Srinivasan as MD & CEO of Federal Bank
for another year until 2020.

31. Nilesh Shah has been appointed as the Chairman of the Association of Mutual Funds in
India.

32. Ashish Kumar Guha has been appointed as the chairman of CG Power.
 95

33. International Association of Athletics Federations has re-appointed Sebastian Coe as its
President.
• President of Athletics Federation of India, Adille Sumariwalla also re-elected as
member of the Council of IAAF for a second term.

34. Actor Madhuri Dixit has been appointed as "goodwill ambassador" of Maharashtra
Assembly polls (that are scheduled for October 21).

35. Kristalina Georgieva has been appointed as the managing director of the International
Monetary Fund.
• Prior to this appointment, she was the CEO of World Bank.

36. American actor and film producer Samuel L. Jackson will provide his voice to Amazon’s
Alexa.

37. Rupa Gurunath has become the first woman president of a BCCI state association i.e.,
Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.

38. Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) has appointed the Vaijinath M.
Gavarshetty as its CEO and key managerial personnel of the company w.e.f., October 1,
2019.

39. Suresh Chitturi has become the first Indian and Asian to be appointed as the Chairman
of the International Egg Commission (IEC) for 2 years.
 96

IMPORTANT DAYS
1. International Day of Charity is observed on 5th September by UN.
• It coincides with the death anniversary of Mother Teresa.

2. National Nutrition Week is observed from Sept 1 – Sept 7 every year by Food and
Nutrition Board of Ministry of Women & Child Development.
• It was started in 1982.

3. International Literacy Day is celebrated annually on 8 September by UN to improve

world literacy levels.
• Theme: - Literacy and Multilingualism.

4. SIWI organization has observed the World Water Week from Aug 25 to 30 under the
theme of “Water for Society – Including All”.
• Dr Jackie King received the 2019 Stockholm Water Prize during the conference for
her contributions to global river management.
• Mission Paani (initiated by News18 and Reckitt Benckiser owned Harpic, along with
Amitabh Bachchan) was also launched at the global level during the conference held
in Stockholm, Sweden.

5. World Suicide Prevention Day is observed on September 10 by the International

Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) in association with World Health Organization
and World Federation for Mental Health.
• Theme: - “Working Together to Prevent Suicide”.
• Campaign named “40 seconds of action” which will conclude on World Mental
Health Day (10 October) was also launched.
• WHO released ”Preventing Suicide: A Resource For Pesticide Registrars And
Regulators”.

6. Hindi Divas is observed on September 14.

• 1st Hindi Divas was observed in 1953. Under Article 343 (1) of Indian constitution,
mandates Hindi (written in Devnagiri script) would be the official language of Union.
 97

• More than 52 crore or 43.63% of Indians speak Hindi as their mother tongue,
followed by Bengali and Marathi, according to Census 2011 data.
• e-Saral Vakya Kosh App and e-Saral Maha Shabda Kosh App were also launched to
promote Hindi.
• Hindi Week or Hindi Saptah was also observed starting from 14th September.
• Rajbhasha awards were also given. The names of Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Puraskar
(which was instituted in 1986) has been changed to Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar, and
Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Gyan-Vigyan Maulik Pustak Lekhan Puraskar has been
changed to the Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar.

7. International Day for South-South Cooperation is observed on 12 September.

• Theme: - From Commitment to Action — Follow up to Buenos Aires Plan of
Action+40.

8. International Day of Democracy 2019 is observed on September 15 by UN.

• Theme for 2019: - Participation.

9. India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania celebrate Engineer's Day on September 15 in memory of
engineering pioneer of India Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, popularly known as Sir
MV.
• Theme for 52nd Engineering Day 2019: - Engineering for change.

10. International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer or World ozone day is
observed on September 16 by UN for the 25th year.
• Theme: - 32 Years and Healing
• Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 to protect ozone layer and phase-out of 99
per cent of ozone-depleting chemicals.
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has signed a Memorandum of
Agreement with the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET),
for providing Competency Enhancement of System Houses and MSMEs in foam
manufacturing sector for ensuring smooth and sustainable phase out of HCFC-141b.
• A booklet on ‘Montreal Protocol – India’s Success Story’ was also launched.

11. Telangana government has declared 2020 as Artificial Intelligence year in Telangana.
• Telangana has also tied up with NITI Aayog for running pilot projects in the state.
 98

• NASSCOM is setting up a Centre of Excellence in Data Sciences and AI here, which is

expected to start its activities in 2020.
• IIT-Khargapur will open its regional centre in Hyderabad to train students in AI in
partnership with State government.

12. September 17, 2019 has been observed as the first-ever World Patient Safety Day
(WPSD) by WHO.
• WHO has adopted the resolution to observe this day as WPSD during its 72nd
session in Geneva.
• Theme: - “Patient Safety: a global health priority”
• Slogan: - Speak up for patient safety
• Data Facts: - 4 out of 10 patients are harmed in the primary and ambulatory settings
and up to 80% of harm in these settings can be avoided.
• 134 million adverse events occur each year due to unsafe care in hospitals in low-
and middle-income countries, contributing to 2.6 million deaths annually.
• WHO and the UK Government partnered to establish the Global Patient Safety
Collaborative.

13. World Bamboo Day is observed on September 18 by World Bamboo Organization.

• Bamboo Forum of India celebrated the day under the theme of ‘Bamboo for
sustainable development goals‘.
• According to the State of Environment report 2018, India is the world’s second-
largest cultivator of bamboo (green gold) after China, with 136 species and 23
genera spread over 13.96 million hectares.
• National Bamboo Mission (NBM) was initially started as a Centrally Sponsored
Scheme in 2006-07 and was subsumed under Mission for Integrated Development of
Horticulture (MIDH) during 2014-15 and continued till 2015-16.
• Later on, in 2018 restructured National Bamboo Mission was launched to ensure
holistic development of the bamboo sector.
• Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) is being
implemented by the Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME).

14. September is being observed as the Rashtriya Poshan Maah or National Nutrition
Month under the theme of ‘Complementary Feeding’.

15. World Alzheimer’s Day is observed on 21 September every year.

• Theme: - Raising awareness and challenging stigma.
 99

• Alzheimer is a degenerative disease of the brain that slowly degrades brain cells
(neurons).

16. International Day of Peace is observed around the world each year on 21 September.
• Theme: - ‘Climate Action for Peace’.

17. The 3rd Saturday of September is observed as the International Coastal Cleanup Day
every year (21st September in 2019).
• 2019 International Coastal Cleanup Day Animal is The Pelican.

18. World Rhino Day is celebrated on September 22 by World Wide Fund for Nature.

19. World Rose Day is observed on September 22 to motivate the survivors of cancer.

20. International Day of Sign Languages is observed on September 23.

• Theme: - Sign Language Rights for All.
• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s Indian Sign Language Research and
Training Centre has decided to enter 4,000 new words in the Indian Sign Language
dictionary in 2020.
• The first edition of this dictionary was launched in 2018.

21. Ministry of Jal Shakti has organized the 6th India Water Week on the theme of “Water
Cooperation – Coping with 21st Century Challenges” on September 24, 2019.

22. National Day of Public’s Republic of China is observed on 1st October.

• The day is observed by China, Hong Kong and Macau (China was founded in 1949).

23. Antyodaya Diwas Day is observed on September 25 to commemorate the birth

anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (since 2014).

24. World Pharmacists Day is observed on September 25 under the theme “Safe and
effective medicines for all”.
 100

• International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the global body of pharmacists, came

into existence on this day in 1912.

25. World Maritime Day is observed on September 26 by International Maritime

Organization (IMO).
• Theme: - "Empowering Women in the Maritime Community".
• IMO Convention entered into force in 1958.

26. World Tourism Day is observed on September 27 by United Nations World Tourism
Organization.
• Theme: - "Tourism and Jobs — A Better Future For All".

27. International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is observed on September
26 by UN.
• On this day, 12 new states have joined the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons.
• Bangladesh, Kiribati, Laos, Maldives, Trinidad & Tobago, Ecuador countries have
ratified the treaty.
• International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapon (ICAN) came up with a Treaty
on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (in 2017) which has currently 79 signatories
(including India) and 32 states parties.
• Ratification by a total of 50 countries is required for a treaty to get into force.

28. World Environment Health Day is observed on September 26 by International

Federation of Environment Health.
• Theme: - Climate change challenges, time for global environmental health to act in
unison.

29. World Heart Day is observed on September 29 to raise awareness about the cardio-
vascular disease.
• In May 2012, world leaders committed to reducing global mortality from non-
communicable diseases by 25% by 2025.

30. UNESCO observes 28 September as the “International Day for Universal Access to
Information” (since 2016).
• Theme: - “Leaving No One Behind!”.
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31. International Translation Day is observed on September 30 by United Nations.

• Theme: - "Translation and Indigenous Languages".

32. World Deaf Day is observed every year on the last Sunday of the month of September
(29 September in this year).
• International Week of the Deaf is observed on September 23- 29 under the theme
of “Sign Language Rights for All!”.

AWARDS
1. HPCL has won the ‘Best Navratna’ award in ‘Manufacturing Category’ at Dun &
Bradstreet PSU Awards 2019 for a 2nd consecutive year.
• Dun & Bradstreet PSU Awards have been instituted to recognize and felicitate the
top performing PSUs in India.

2. Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh) has been conferred with the 'Lamp of Peace of Saint
Francis' award by Vatican City for his efforts towards establishing peace and harmony.

3. 19 sportspersons, including Gaurav Singh Gill who has become the first motorsport
athlete to, win the prestigious Arjuna Award 2019.
• Dhyan Chand Award/Lifetime Achievement Award: Manoj Kumar (wrestling), C
Lalremsanga (archery), Arup Basak (table tennis), Nitten Kirrtane (tennis) and
Manuel Fredricks (hockey).

4. Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2018 (highest award in adventure sports)
has been awarded to 6 adventure sport personalities.
Player Sport
Aparna Kumar, Late Dipankar Ghosh and Land Adventure category
Manikandan K.
Prabhat Raju Koli Water Adventure category
Rameshwer Jangra Air Adventure
Wangchuk Sherpa Life Time Achievement
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5. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in J&K has topped the ‘Swachh Iconic Places’ list
released by Ministry of Jal Shakti’s Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for
being the “Best Swachh Iconic place”.
• The shrine will be awarded at the Swachh Mahotsav, organized by Ministry of Jal
Shakti.

6. Eric Cantona has been awarded with the 2019 UEFA President's Award.
• UEFA President's Award (given by Union of European Football Associations)
recognizes the special efforts, outstanding achievements, professional excellence
etc.

7. Ministry of Skill Development (MSD) has organized the “Kaushalacharya Samadar

2019” to felicitate 53 trainers for training a future-ready and skilled workforce.
• MSD has announced to Kaushalacharya Samadar to be an annual event. India would
need 2.5 lakh skill trainers by 2022.
• An MoU was signed by Directorate of General Training and Kaushalya Kameshwar
Techno Solution Pvt Ltd to provide training in Industrial environment in mining
sector courses.

8. Odisha State Disaster Management Authority has won the IT Excellence Award 2019
for its application “SATARK” (System for Assessing, Tracking and Alerting Disaster Risk
Information based on Dynamic Risk Knowledge) for disaster management.

9. Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus awarded as the best 'Swachh Iconic
Place' under the Swachch Bharat Mission during the Swachchta Mahotsav 2019 by
Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• Sikkim and Gujarat were awarded for Open Defecation Free and behavior change,
and Power Grid Corporation was awarded for its contribution to the Swachh Bharat
Kosh.
• Ministry of Railways has been awarded as “Best Ministry for Implementation of
Swachhata Action Plan for 2018-19”.

10. Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (347 scientists) have won the “Oscars of
Science" award for producing the first image of Black Hole.
• The award is given by a group of entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley, California.

11. Pradeep Dash will be awarded with the 40th edition of Sarala Puraskar for his poetry
“Charu Chibar O Charjya”.
• Pandit Harmohan Khuntia will be awarded 'Ila Panda Sangeet Samman' and Lalat
Mohan Patnaik will be awarded with 'Ila Panda Chitrakala Samman'.
• Sarala Puraskar is the top honour in literature in Odisha given by IMPaCT (the social
wing of IMFA Ltd.
 103

12. Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied has been elected as the honorary fellow of Royal Society
in recognition of his services in the field of Science.

13. 19th Annual Asian Achievers Awards were given: -

• Anil Agarwal (Chairman of Vedanta Resources) has been conferred the lifetime
achievement award here.

14. Visitor’s Award 2019 has been presented by President Ram Nath Kovind to: -
Awardees Reason
Sibnath Deb research in field of child protection
Sanjay Puri research in field of non-equilibrium statistical physics and nonlinear
dynamics
Asad Ullah Khan identifying Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem in India:
mechanism of spread and control of AMR.
Dr Partima research on nano biosensors
Shaon Ray Chaudhuri Technology Development

• Visitor’s Award (instituted in 2014) promotes the healthy competition among

Central Universities to motivate them to adopt good practises.

15. Navdeep Singh Suri, outgoing Indian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE),
has been conferred with the Order of Zayed II (UAE’s highest civil honour).
• Suri will be succeeded by Pavan Kapoor.
 104

16. 76th Venice International Film Festival Awards 2019 was held at Venice, Italy organized
by La Biennale di Venezia and was officially recognized by FIAPF (International
Federation of Film Producers Association).

Awards
Golden Lion for Best Film
Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize
Special Jury Prize
Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Award for Best Screenplay
Silver Lion – Award for Best
Director
Marcello Mastroianni Award for
Best Young Actor or Actress
Winners
Joker (directed by Todd Phillips)
J’accuse (An Officer and a Spy) (directed by Roman
Polanski)
The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used to Be (directed
by Franco Maresco)
Ariane Ascaride (for Loria Mundi by Robert
Guédiguian)
Luca Marinelli (for Martin Eden by Pietro Marcello)
Yonfan (for Ji Yuan Tai Qi Hao (No.7 CHERRY LANE)
by Yonfan)
Roy Andersson (for Om Det Oandliga)
Toby Wallace (Babyteeth by Shannon Murphy)

17. Geoffrey Boycott and Andrew Strauss (England cricketers) have been given the
knighthood honours in the Theresa May’s resignation honour list.

18. Hero Moto Corp CMD and CEO Pawan Munjal will be inducted in the 2019 Asia Pacific
Golf Hall of Fame for promoting golf, football, field hockey and cricket at an
international level.

19. Megha Engineering and Infrastructures (Meil) has received the award for best
outstanding concrete structure of 2019 for Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project by
Indian Concrete Institute (ICI).
• ICI has also given the best concrete structure award to Amazon building and
Khajaguda to Nanakramguda concrete road in Hyderabad.

20. UNESCO has presented the literacy prizes for 2019: -

‘National Office of Literacy and Education for Adults’ in Algeria for its
‘National Strategy for Multilingual Literacy’ programme
UNESCO King Sejong
Textile Fibres and Development Company’ (SODEFITEX) in Senegal for its
Literacy Prize ‘Functional literacy and follow-up vocational training for farmers in
southern Senegal in national languages’ programme
‘Camacol Antioquia’ in Colombia for its ‘Obras Escuala’ programme
UNESCO Confucius ‘BASAbali’ in Indonesia for its ‘BASAbali Wiki’ programme
Prize ‘Nuovo Comitato il Nobel per I Disabili’ in Italy for its ‘TELL ME - Theatre
for Education and Literacy Learning of Migrants in Europe’ programme
 105

• King Sejong Literacy Prize (named after the Sejong the Great King of Korea) is an
annual prize awarded to two institutions or individuals "for their contribution to the
fight against illiteracy."
• Confucius Prize (named after Chinese scholar Confucius) recognizes the activities of
individuals, governments or NGOs working in literacy serving rural adults and out-
of-school youth, particularly women and girls.

21. 17 Indian peacekeepers (including 5 women), deployed with the UN mission in South
Sudan (UNMISS), have been awarded medals by UN in recognition of their service.
• UNMISS was launched in 2011 to help establish peace and security, and conditions
for development in the Republic of South Sudan, and strengthen its govt to govern
effectively.

22. IPS officer Chhaya Sharma has been chosen for the 2019 Asia Society Game Changers
Award for redefining the role of female police officers, along with six others.
• She led the investigation into the brutal 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape.

23. Anurag Kashyap’s film ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ has been ranked at the 59th position in
The Guardian's 100 Best Films of 21st century list.
• “There Will Be Blood” directed by Paul Thomas Anderson is at the top spot followed
by “12 Years a Slave” directed by Steve McQueen.

24. Arcadia Education Project (a school project in Bangladesh) has won the Aga Khan
Architecture Award 2019 in Kazan, republic of Tatarastan, Russia.
• Architect of the project is Saif Ul Haque.
• Other winners: - Alioune Diop University Teaching and Research Unit in Senegal;
Palestinian Museum; Public Spaces Development Programme in Tatrstan;
Revitalisation of Muharraq in Bahrain; Wasit Wetland Centre in UAE.

25. Veteran music director Usha Khanna to be honoured with Maharashtra government’s
“Lata Mangeshkar Award” for the year 2019-20.

26. Raghu Rai is the first recipient of the inaugural edition of the Acadmie des beaux-arts
Photography Award - William Klein (which carries a monetary reward of 1,20,000
euros).
• Established this year, the award will be held biennially and is named after the
American-born French photographer and filmmaker William Klein.
• The award will be given in the field of photography.

27. Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina has been awarded with the Dr Kalam Smriti
International Excellence Award for her contribution towards maintaining a healthy
relation between India and Bangladesh.
 106

• The award was introduced in 2015 and presidents of the Maldives, Ghana and
Mauritius earlier received the prestigious award till now from the Dr Kalam Smriti
International Advisory Council.

28. 71st Emmy Awards started with the distribution of Creative Arts Emmy Awards to 41
awardees.
• HBO fantasy epic Game of Thrones alone took 10 awards, the most of any series in
the kick off to this year’s Primetime Emmys.

29. 44th Toronto International Film Festival 2019 award, held in Toronto, Canada. Winners:
People’s Choice Award Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit
People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's The Platform
People’s Choice Documentary Award Feras Fayyad's The Cave
Best International Short Film Lasse Linder’s All Cats Are Grey In The Dark

30. Agnes Kharshiing has won the 11th International Hrant Dink Award.
• The award is named after the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was killed
in 2007, and is given to individuals who work to make a world free from
discrimination, racism and violence.

31. Lucy Bronze has won the 2019 UEFA Women's Player of the Year award.
• Lionel Messi bagged the Forward of the Season award for the 2018-19.

32. America’s Sarah Thomas has become the first person to swim the English Channel four
times without stopping.

33. Kapil Pathare (Director of VIP Clothing Ltd) has been awarded with an honorary
Doctorate in Business from Ballsbridge University for his contribution towards
entrepreneurship.
• He was also awarded with the Global Leaders Award 'Enterprise Edition 2019' in
Dubai by Madhur Bhandarkar for promoting entrepreneurship and small business at
the International, National, and Regional level.

34. Anand Kumar (Super 30 founder and noted mathematician) has been awarded with the
Education Excellence Award 2019 by Foundation For Excellence for imparting
education to the poor and needy students at the Foundation's 25th anniversary.
 107

35. Moti Bagh (a documentary based on the life of a farmer Vidya dutt from Uttarakhand)
has been nominated for Oscar 2020.
• Directed by Nirmal Chander Dandriyal, the film is jointly produced by Doordarshan
and Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT).

36. 20th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards were given: -
Award Film
Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male) Ranveer Singh for Padmaavat
Best Performance in a Leading Role Alia Bhatt for Raazi
(Female)
Best Story Sriram Raghavan and Pooja Ladha
Surti for AndhaDhun
Best Direction Sriram Raghavan for AndhaDhun
Best Picture Raazi

37. Actress Neena Gupta has won the Best Actress award for Badhai Ho, while her film ‘The
Last Color’ won the Best Feature Film award at the Indian International Film Festival of
Boston, USA.
• ‘The Last Color’ is directed by Vikas Khanna and Badhai Ho is directed by Amit
Sharma.

38. National Geoscience Awards for the year 2018 were presented to 22 scientists from
across the country.
• Prof. Syed Wajih Ahmad Naqvi has received the Award for Excellence for his
contributions in the field of aquatic biogeochemical research.
• Sohini Ganguly, of Goa University received the Young Scientist Award-2018 in the
fields of petrology, volcanology and geochemistry.
• National Aero-geophysical Mapping Program covering 27 lakh line km of Obvious
Geological Potential by the GSI, the mineral potential zones would be identified
leading to auctionable mineral blocks.
• The GSI has doubled its exploring activity with 400 mineral projects in the current
field season.

39. Kerala has won three awards at the PATA Awards 2019 during its PATA Travel Mart
2019 held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
• An ethnic food restaurant run by women at Kumarakom (Kerala) under its
Responsible Tourism mission; for Kerala tourism campaign advertisement ‘Come Out
and Play’ and the website www. Keralatourism. org won three awards.
• Kerala received the highest number of PATA awards in South Asia region this year.

40. A new civilian award – Sardar Patel National Unity Award – has been notified by the PM
Narendra Modi. It was announced last year only.
 108

41. Ravish Kumar has received the first Gauri Lankesh Memorial Award (instituted by the
Gauri Lankesh Memorial Trust, founded in memory of the journalist in Bengaluru).
• Three books titled ‘Delhi Nota’ written by D Umapathi, ‘Free Voices’ by Ravish
Kumar translated as ‘Maatige Enu Kadime’, and ‘Neera Nade’ by Prof Vinaya
Okkunda were launched at the event.

42. Sonu Nigam has been honoured with the ‘Magnificent Performing Arts Award’ at the
annual 21st Century Icon Awards held in London.
Other Awardees
Outstanding Media and Entertainment Kalli Purie
Award
Specialist Professional Award Charlotte Crosswell
Inspirational Icon Award Asha De Vos
Competitive Sports Award Rachael Burford

43. Zoya Akhtar's 'Gully Boy' has entered into the Oscar's 2020 as the official entry from
India.

44. Game of Thrones has won the Best Drama Award at the 71st primetime Emmy’s
Awards 2019. It has won 12 awards (highest number of awards for a web series).
Category Winner
Best Comedy Fleabag (Amazon)
Best Limited Series “Chernobyl” (HBO)
Best Actress, Comedy Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “Fleabag”
Best Actor, Comedy Bill Hader, “Barry”
Best Actress, Drama Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”
Best Actor, Drama Billy Porter, “Pose”
Supporting Actor, Drama Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”

45. Actor Billy Porter has become the first black gay man to win the Emmy award in the
Lead Actor in a Drama category for his role as ballroom emcee Pray Tell in Pose.
• Three related, but separate, organizations present the Emmy Award: the Academy
of Television Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences,
and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

46. Mathematician Adam Harper (Assistant Professor with the University of Warwick,
England) will be awarded with the SASTRA Ramanujan prize for 2019.
• SASTRA-Ramanujan Award was instituted in 2005.
 109

47. Amitabh Bachchan will be awarded with the Dadasaheb Phalke award 2019 for his
“outstanding contribution for the growth and development of Indian cinema”.

48. Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina has been conferred with prestigious ‘Vaccine Hero’
award by the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunisations (GAVI) for
Bangladesh’s outstanding success in immunising the children.
• ‘Vaccine Hero’ award was introduced by GAVI to recognize people doing excellent
work to vaccinate children.
• GAVI Alliance is a global health partnership of public and private sector
organizations dedicated to “immunisation for all”.

49. USA’s Megan Rapinoe has won the FIFA women’s Best Player of the Year 2019 award.
Other Awardees
Best men's player Lionel Messi
Best Men’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker
Best Women’s goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal
Men’s coach Jurgen Klopp
Women’s coach Jill Ellis
Puskas award Daniel Zsori
Fair-play award Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United

50. Pooja Desai has become the first woman from Gujarat to be crowned as Mrs India –
Pride of the Nation 2019.
• The beauty peagent, organized by Glamour Gurgaon, honours the married woman.

51. Right to Livelihood Award 2019 is being awarded to four people – Greta Thunberg, Davi
Kopenawa Hutukara and Yanomami Association (for protecting Amazon forest),
Moroccan activist Aminatou Haidar, and Guo Jianmei (for her work for women’s rights
in China) by the Right to Livelihood Award Foundation.
• The award is also known as Alternative Nobel.

52. Infosys has won the prestigious United Nations Global Climate Action Award in the
‘Climate Neutral Now’ category.
• Infosys is the only company from India to win the award for its efforts to combat
climate change.
 110

53. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards 2019, annually given in the field of science and
technology by Centre for Scientific and Industrial Relations (CSIR), were presented at
the 78th foundation day of CSIR.
Category Winner
Biological Science Kayarat Sai Krishnan and Soumen Basak
Chemical Science Raghavan B Sunoj, Tapas Kumar Maji
Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Subimal Ghosh
Science
Engineering Science Manik Varma
Mathematical Science Dishant Mayurbhai Pancholi and Neena
Gupta
Medical Science Dheeraj Kumar and Mohammad Javed Ali
Physical Science Aninda Sinha, Shankar Ghosh

54. Payal Jangir (aged 17) has become the first person from India to receive the
Changemaker Award 2019 from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for her efforts to
eliminate the child marriage in her village in Alwar, Rajasthan.
• PM Modi has also received the “Global Goalkeepers Award” in 2019 for the
Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.

55. V J James (novelist and short story writer) won Vayalar award 2019 for his novel
‘Nireeswaran’ as the best literary work.
• The award has been instituted by Vayalar Ramavarma Memorial Trust, in memory
of poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma.
• The award is given for the best literary work in Malayalam.

56. Cochin International Airport Limited (Cial) has been awarded with the best airport by
the Airport Council International (ACI) for the services it offered to passengers.
• Cial emerged as the topper in 5-15 million passenger-category airports in the Asia-
Pacific region for the year 2018.
• The annual Airport Service Quality awards by ACI recognise and reward the best
airports in the world based on ASQ departure survey.
• Cial received the recognition at the 2nd Annual ACI Customer Experience Global
Summit held at Bali, Indonesia.
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SPORTS
1. Hopewel Elias Higher Secondary School (Meghalaya) won the 60th edition of U-17
Junior Boys Subroto Cup International Football Tournament 2019.

2. Charles Leclerc won his first Formula One race at the Belgian Grand Prix 2019 (motor
racing).

3. Jasprit Bumrah has become the 3rd Indian Cricketer (after Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan
Singh) to score a hat-trick in test cricket match at the test series against West Indies.
• His hat-trick is the 44th in Test Cricket’s history.

4. 36th National Games 2019 will be organized in Goa in 2020 by Indian Olympic
Association (IOA).

5. India won the 6th edition of SAFF (South Asian Football Federation Championship) U-
15 men’s tournament 2019 held in West Bengal.

6. Nadubhagam Chundan (the snake boat of Pallathuruthy Boat Club) has won the 67th
edition of Nehru Trophy at the Punnamada Lake in Alappuzha, Kerala.
• Nehru Trophy for boat race was instituted to commemorate the visit of PM
Jawaharlal Nehru to the area and his boat ride in the lake.

7. Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka) has become the highest wicket taker in T20I format, in the
test series against New Zealand.
• He has taken 99 wickets in 74 matches by breaking the record of Shahid Afridi (98
wickets).

8. Jinson Johnson has won the silver medal in 1500m (by breaking his own national record
at 3 minute 35.24 seconds) at the ISTAF Berlin event 2019.
• Joshua Thompson (USA) has won the Gold medal.
• ISTAF is an annual track and field athletics meet at the Olympia-stadion in Berlin,
Germany.

9. Tajinder Pal Singh Toor won a silver medal in shotput at the V. Koci memorial athletics
meet at Decin, Czech Republic.
• Tomas Stanek (Czech Republic) won Gold.
 112

10. For the first time, Arunachal Pradesh will host the 25th Senior Women’s National
Football Championship 2019 (organized by All India Football Federation) in its East
Siang District.

11. ICC Men’s test ranking 2019:

• Top Batsman: - Steve Smith (2nd- Virat Kohli)
• Top Bowler: - Pat Cummins
• Top All-Rounder: - Jason Holder

12. Srihari Nataraj has won the gold medal in men’s 100m freestyle at the 73rd Glenmark
National Senior Aquatic Championships 2019 held at Bhopal, MP.
• Gold Winners: -
Category Men Women
Women’s 200m freestyle - Shivani Kataria
Gold
50m butterfly Men Virdhawal Khade -
50m freestyle Women - Rujuta Khade
400 m freestyle Kushagra Rawat Shivani Kataria
200 m backstroke Shrihari Nataraj Manna Patel

13. India has won 9 medals (5 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) at the ISSF World Cup Pistol/Rifle
2019 held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Gold winners are:-
• Mixed air rifle: India (Apurvi Chandela, Deepak Kumar)
• Mixed air pistol: India-A (Manu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary)
• Women’s 10m air rifle: - Elavenil Valarivan
• Men’s 10m Air Pistol: - Abhishek Verma
• Women’s 10m air pistol: - Yashaswini Singh Deswal

14. Rishabh Pant has become the fastest wicket keeper of India (surpassing MS Dhoni) with
50 dismissals in 11 matches in the latest test-series of India vs West Indies.

15. 22nd edition of FIFA World Cup 2022 will be hosted by Qatar.

16. Anupama Swain has won bronze medal in the World Martial Arts Mastership Jiu-Jitsu
held in Chungju-si, South Korea.

17. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan has become the youngest test captain in the world (when he
led his side in their one-off match against Bangladesh) at the age of 20 years.
• Previously, Tatenda Taibu (Zimbabwe) was the youngest test captain.

18. Bangladesh Krida Shiksha Prothishtan has won the U-17 girls Subroto Cup (football).
• Subroto cup (named after Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee) is one of the famous inter-
school football tournament in India.
 113

19. Rafael Nadal (his 19th Grand Slam Title) and Bianca Andreescu have won the US Open
2019 in men’s and women’s category respectively.
• There are 4 grand slam tennis tournaments of ITF: - Australian Open, Roland Garros
(French Open), Wimbledon (British Open), US Open.
• US Open 2019 other winners are: -
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah men’s doubles
Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka women’s doubles
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jamie Murray mixed doubles title

20. Charles Leclerc has won the Formula One race of Italy Grand Prix 2019.

21. India has won gold in the 10th Asia-Pacific Youth Games badminton competition in
Vladivostok, Russia.
• Pranav and Meghana have won gold in men and women’s singles.

22. Vaidehi Choudhary has won the $3000 Asian Tour Women’s Tennis Tournament 2019
held in New Delhi.

23. Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei has broken the world record as the fastest female half-marathon
runner at the Great North Run 2019 held in United Kingdom.
• Mo Farah won in the men’s category for the sixth time in this world’s most popular
half marathon.

24. Lasith Malinga has become the world’s 1st cricketer to take 5 international hat-tricks
during his match against New Zealand.
• Also, he became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in T20I format.

25. Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has announced its latest rankings (as of Sept 9,
2019): -
Players Ranks
Ashleigh Barty 1
Karolina Pliskova 2
Elina Svitolina 3
Naomi Osaka 4
Bianca V. Andreescu 5 (Jump from 200)
Simona Halep 6
• Novak Djokovic is at the top position in the Association of Tennis Professionals’
latest rankings.

26. India won 3 bronze medals at the Asia Junior Soft Tennis tournament held in Bulacan,
Philippines.
 114

• Winners: - U-18 boys - Aniket Patel; U-18 girls – Aadhya Tiwari and Tushita Singh
and a bronze in U-15 girls.

27. ICC T20I 2020 World Cup for men and women will be held in Australia.

28. Mehuli Ghosh has won the National Shooting Trials held in New Delhi.

29. India topped the medal tally with 10 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze medals at the Track
Asia Cup Cycling Competition in New Delhi.
• Uzbekistan finished 2nd with 4 golds and 3 silvers while Malaysia finished 3rd with
4 golds and 1 silver.

30. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had launched the Target Olympic Podium Scheme
(TOPS) in 2014 to prepare the athletes for Rio Olympics of 2016 and Tokyo Olympics of
2020 by giving financial assistance to them.
• Now, 10 boxers including Mary Kom, Amit Panghal etc have been included in the
scheme.
• Now, TOPS covers 2024 Paris Olympics also.

31. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has derecognised the Paralympic Committee of
India (PCI) for its violation of National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 under
the clause I (ix) and (x) of Annexure-III of this code.
• Reason: - PCI had replaced its President Rao Inderjit with J Chandrashekhar and
passed the resolution that no public servants would be elected to its executive.

32. Jessica and Nelly Korda will become the first sisters to play together in the 16th edition
of Solheim Cup 2019 (one of the world’s top women’s golf tournament) being held in
Gleneagles, Scotland.

33. Sourabh Verma has won the Vietnam Open Super 100 (badminton) held in Ho Chi Minh
city, Vietnam.
 115

• Pankaj Advani won the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF)
Championship held in Myanmar.

34. Australian Megan Schutt has become the 1st woman to score 2 white-ball hat-tricks in
the test series against West Indies held in Antigua.
• Thus, Schutt became the first Australian woman to claim a hat-trick in ODIs.

35. Ranveer Duggal has won bronze at the International Billiards Snooker Federation’s
(IBSF) World U-16 Snooker Championship 2019 held in Tyumen, Russia.

36. India’s Payas Jain has won silver at the 25th Asian Junior & Cadet Championships 2019
held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (Yuanyu Chen of China won gold).
• India won 2 silver medals – one by Payas Jain and other by Junior boys team.

37. Steve Smith has become the first cricketer to score 10th consecutive half centuries
against one nation (England) in the Ashes series held at the Oval Stadium, London.
• Earlier, Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) held this record with 9 fifty.

38. 7th edition of FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2020 will be held in India.

39. India won the Asian Cricket Council’s U-19s Asia Cup 2019 held at Colombo, Sri Lanka
for the 7th time.
• Player of the match award – Atharva Ankolekar (India)
• Player of the series honour – Arjun Azad (India)

40. Pankaj Advani won the 150-up format at the IBSF World Billiards Championship held in
Mandalay, Myanmar.
• He has increased his tally of world titles to 22.

41. Spain has, for the second time, won FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 held in Dongguan,
China.
• FIBA world men’s rankings 2019: First – USA, Second – Spain, followed by Australia,
Argentine and France.

42. Marc Marquez has won the San Marino Grand Prix 2019.

43. Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor has made a world record (in 58min 01sec) at the
Copenhagen Half Marathon.
 116

44. Europe has won the Solheim Cup 2019 (women’s biennial golf tournament).

45. ICC Men’s Test Rankings:

Best Batsman Best Bowler Best Team
1. Steve Smith 1. Pat Cummins 1. India
2. Virat Kohli 2. Kasigo Rabada 2. New Zealand

46. Myanmar hosted first-ever Myanmar International Series 2019 held at National
Badminton Stadium in Yangon.
Men’s Singles Kaushal Dharmamer (India)
Women’s Singles Sri Fatmawati (Indonesia)
Men’s Doubles Emanuel Randhy Febrito & Ferdian
Mahardika Ranialdy (Indonesia)
Women’s Doubles Liu Chiao-Yun & Wang Yu Qiao (Chinese
Taipei)

47. Indonesia’s Rory Hie won the maiden Classic Golf and Country Club International
Championship 2019 in Nuh, Haryana.

48. India clinched 125 medals in Western Asia Youth and Junior Chess Championship 2019
held in New Delhi.

49. Afghanistan has created a new record of most consecutive T20I victories after achieving
their 12th successive T20I at T20I tri-series held in Dhaka.

50. Mayank Vaid has become the first Indian and 44th person in the world to complete the
Enduroman triathlon from England to France (which is considered to be one of the
toughest endurance competitions in the world).
• Vaid also broke the record for completing the triathlon – ‘Enduroman – Arch to Arc’
triathlon – in the shortest time.

51. Yonex Belgian International 2019 (badminton) concluded: -

Men’s Singles Lakshay Sen (India)
Women’s Singles Line Christophersen (Denmark)
Men’s Doubles Ben Lane & Sean Vendy (England)
Women’s Doubles Gabriela Stoeva & Stefani Stoeva (Bulgaria)
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52. German club Borussia Dortmund has become the grassroot partner of the World1
Sports (a sports consulting firm) for developing youth football and also help train Indian
coaches.

53. Yonex-Sunrise Vietnam Open 2019 (badminton) concluded: -

Men’s Singles Sourab Verma (India)
Women’s Singles Zhang Yi Man (China)
Men’s Doubles Choi SolGyu & Seo Seung Jae (South Korea)
Women’s Doubles Della Destiara Haris & Rizki Amelia Pradipta
(Indonesia)

54. Hopewel Elias HSS (Meghalaya) boys won the Subroto Cup under-17 football
tournament in New Delhi.

55. Karolina Pliskova (her career’s 15th singles WTA title) won the WTA (Women’s Tennis
Association) title at the Zhengzhou Open 2019 held in China.
• Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke won the doubles title.

56. Sumit Nagal (India) has been ranked at 159th position (a 15 places jump) in the latest
ATP rankings.
• Prajnesh Gunneswaran – 82 rank (rose three places)
• Ramkumar Ramanathan – 179 rank (three spots decline)
• In doubles, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan are at 43rd and 49th positions. Leander
Paes at 78.
• In the WTA rankings, Ankita Raina is India's top-ranked player at 191 followed by
Pranjala Yadlapalli at 338.

57. Novak Djokovic (269 weeks) has surpassed the record of Jimmy Connors of being
ranked at the 1st position at ATP rankings for highest number of weeks.

58. India U-16 team has qualified for the 2020 AFC U-16 Championship finals to be held in
Bahrain.

59. 14th edition of the ISSF Asian Shooting Championship will be held in Doha, Qatar in
November.
 118

60. Badminton World Federation’s JUNIOR RANKINGS released: -

61. Beijing has released the official mascots for the 2022 winter Olympics and Winter
Paralympics 2022.
• 2028 Summer Olympics will be held at Los Angeles, USA.

62. Indian men’s football team’s ranking has slipped to 104 position (one place lower than
earlier) in the latest FIFA rankings 2019 (as of 19 Sept 2019).
• Indian Women’s football team rank – 57 (as of 12 July 2019) in the latest ranking.
MEN WOMEN
Country Rank Country Rank
Belgium 1 USA 1
France 2 Germany 2
Brazil 3 Netherlands 3

63. Vinesh Phogat has won the bronze medal at the Wrestling World Championships 2019
held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. She also booked a place in Olympics with it.

64. South African cricketer Kyle Abbott created world record by taking 17 wickets against
Somerset in the 120th Specsavers County Championship 2019 held in England.
• He is playing for Hampshire in this first-class cricket.

65. ICC has banned the Sri Lankan cricketer Akila Dananjaya for illegal bowling action for 12
months.

66. India will hold the NBA basketball game in Mumbai for the first time ever.
 119

67. Daniil Medvedev has won the St. Petersburg Open 2019.
• Divij Sharan (India) and Igor Zelenay (Slovakia) have won doubles title.
• Divij had also won the USD 125,000 Ningbo Challenger with Matthew Ebden
(Australia) a fortnight ago.

68. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has won the Moselle Open held at Metz, France.

69. Koneru Humpy (India) has won the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series held in Skolkovo,
Russia.
• 2019-2020 FIDE Women's Grand Prix is a part of the Women’s World Championship
cycle.

70. Uzbekistan has topped the overall medal tally with 5 medals (including 3 gold and a
silver and bronze each) at AIBA World Boxing Championships in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
• India won two medals in total. Silver: - Amit Panghal (in 52kg flyweight category)
and Bronze: - Manish Kaushik (in 63 Kg category).

71. Sebastian Vettel (from Germany) has won the Singapore Grand Prix 2019.

72. Fenesta National tennis championships will be held in DLTA Complex, Delhi from Sept
30.

73. Carolina Marin won the women’s singles at the China Open held in Changzhou, China.
• Kento Momota won the men’s singles.

74. Naomi Osaka has won the Pan Pacific Open (women's outdoor hardcourt tennis
tournament) held in Tokyo, Japan.
• Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan have won the doubles title at the 36th edition of
Toray Pan Pacific Open 2019 (professional women’s tennis tournament) held in
Osaka, Japan.

75. Naomi Osaka has also won the Japan Women’s Open 2019.

76. Karolina Muchova has won the women’s title at the Korea Open (tennis) held in South
Korea.

77. Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman has won the doubles round at the Sepang International
Circuit, Malaysia (a part of the Asia Road Racing Championships).
 120

• India’s Rajiv Sethu finished in the top-15 in the final race.

78. French players Melissa Alves (women) and Auguste Dussourd (men) have won the Nash
Cup PSA (Professional Squash Association) Challenger Tour held in London, Canada.

79. Ministry of Sports will create 20 National Centres of Excellence (NCE) to train athletes
in the developmental group for 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
• In this first-of-its kind move, each NCE will be earmarked for four to six specific sport.
• The NCEs will have a single scheme running in them for elite athletes to end the
differentiation in training and other facilities between athletes within the same
campus.
• Till now, 20 SAI facilities have been identified as National Centre of Excellence.

80. India has won 5 medals (1 silver and 4 bronze) at the World Wrestling Championships
held at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
• Deepak Punia won Silver medal.

81. Yinzhou International Men's Tennis Challenger 2019 will be held in Ningbo, China in
October.

82. Nelly Korda (American) has won the Lacoste Ladies Open De France golf tour 2019.
• It is her first LET title.

83. Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 will be held in New Zealand.

84. Malvika Bansod has won the title at the Maldives International Future Series
Badminton tournament held in Male, Maldives.

85. India won four medals including two individual bronze and two silver (in junior men and
women team events) at the 9th Asian Shotgun Championship held in Almaty,
Kazakhstan.
• Bronze winners: - Abhay Singh and Parinaaz Dhaliwal in the junior men’s and
women’s skeet competition.
• Kirti Gupta and Bhowneesh Mendiratta won the bronze medal in the junior mixed
trap competition.
• Kirti and Bhowneesh had earlier won the individual gold and helped the teams to
the silver and gold medals respectively.
• Bhowneesh Mendiratta won two gold medals in the junior men’s trap and the team
event.

86. Manipur has won the title in the 25th edition of senior women’s National football
championship held in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh.
• Panthoi Chanu was named the ‘best goalkeeper’.
 121

87. Indian cueist Laxman Rawat has won the IBSF World 6-Reds title held in Mandalay,
Myanmar.
• Nutcharat Wongharuthai (Thailand) has won the women’s title.

88. Peter Gilchrist has won the Myanmar Open Billiards Championship 2019 held in
Mandalay, Myanmar.

89. ICC T20I rankings for 2019 released: -

Pakistan (1st rank)
Best Team
India (4th rank)
Babar Azam (1st rank)
Rohit Sharma (8th rank)
Best Batsman
Virat Kohli (11th rank)
Shikhar Dhawan (13th rank)
Rashid Khan (1st rank)
Best Bowler
Kuldeep Yadav (14th rank)
Glenn Maxwell (1st rank)
Best All-Rounder
Virat Kohli (19th rank)

90. UEFA Champions League 2021 final will be played in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
• UEFA Champions League 2022 will be played in Munich, Germany.
• UEFA Champions League 2023 will be played in Wembley, London.
• 2021 Europa League final will be played in Seville, Spain.
• 2021 UEFA Super Cup match —between the winner of the Champions League and
Europa League —will be played in Belfast, Ireland.
• 2020 UEFA Europa League final will be held in Gdansk, Poland.
• 2020 UEFA Champions League Final will be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

91. Western Storm has won the Kia Super League 2019 (Women’s Cricket Super League)
held in England and Wales.
• It was organized by England and Wales Cricket Board.

92. PV Sindhu has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Visa for two years.

93. Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta pair won the IBSF World snooker team event held in
Mandalay, Myanmar.
• Now, Advani has increased his tally of world titles to 23.

94. Iran has won the 20th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship 2019, organized by
Asian Volleyball Confederation in Tehran, Iran for the third time.
• India qualified for the 2020 Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament to be
held in China.
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95. Kantawat Leelavechab (Thailand) has won the Maldives International Future Series
2019 held in Male, Maldives.
• Vaibhaav and Prakash Raj (India) won the men’s doubles title.
• KuoYu Wen and Lin Wan Ching (Chinese Taipei) won the women’s doubles title.
• Lu Chia Pin and Lin Wan Ching (Chinese Taipei) won the mixed doubles title.

96. Team Europe has won the Laver Cup 2019 (men’s hardcourt tennis tournament), for a
record third time, against the Team World held in Geneva, Switzerland.

97. Srihari Nataraj has won the gold in the men’s 100 metre backstroke at the 10th Asian
Age Group Swimming Championship held in Bangalore, Karnataka.
• Manna Patel won the gold in 50 m backdrop.
• The quartet of Srihari Nataraj, Anand Anilkumar, Sajan Prakash and Virdhawal
Khade won the gold in the 4x100m men's freestyle relay.
• Kushagra Rawat has also won two gold medals.
• India has finished with a total medal tally of 64 medals (20 gold, 24 silver and 20
bronze) at the 10th Asian age swimming group championship.

98. United World Wrestling (UWW) has released its latest rankings: -
Category Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3
Men’s Rank 1 Deepak Punia (86kg) Bajrang Punia (65kg) Ravi Dahiya (5th
Gadzhimurad Rashidov Rahul Aware (61kg) rank in 57 kg)
(65 kg)
Women’s Rank 2 - Vinesh Phogat (53kg) Seema Bisla
(50kg)
Pooja Dhanda
(5th rank in 59kg)

99. Japan has become the third nation to complete a four-peat in the FIBA Women’s Asia
Cup Division-A basketball tournament held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• South Korea and China are the other two nations to have achieved this feat.

100. Lewis Hamilton has won the Russian Grand Prix 2019.
• India’s Jehan Daruvala finished third at the Russian Grand Prix (in the FIA F3
championship).

101. World women’s boxing championships will be held in Ulan-Ude, Russia, from
October 2019.

102. Kento Momota has won the BWF Korea Open Super 500 badminton tour held at
the Incheon, South Korea.
• China’s He Bingjiao has won the women’s final.
 123

• Women’s Doubles: Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong

• Men Doubles: Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto

103. India lifted the SAFF under-18 football championship for the first time held at
Kathmandu, Nepal.

104. China won 29 gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze medals at the IWF (International
Weightlifting Federation) World Weightlifting Championships 2019 held in Pattaya,
Thailand.

105. Tom Lewis has won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship (PGA tour in golf) 2019 held
in Indiana, USA.

106. Indian Athletics Grand Prix- VI (organized by Athletics Federation of India) has
concluded in Patiala, Punjab.
Winners: -
Category Men Women
100 m Kush Kumar Dutee Chand
200 m Gajanan Mistry Anjali Devi
Shot Put Inderjeet Singh Abha Katua
Long Jump M Sreeshanker Mareena George
Pole Vault Prashant Kumar Kanhaiya -
Triple Jump Karthik -
Javelin Throw Rajender Sharmila Kumar

107. 10th edition of 2019 IAAF Diamond League 3 concluded in Brussels, Belgium.
Winners: -
Category Men Women
200 m Men Noah Lyles -
400 m Men Michael Norman -
1500 m Men Timothy Cherriyot -
Shot put Tomas Walsh -
Discuss throw Daniel Stahl -
100 m women - Dina Asher Smith
800 m women - Ajee Wilson
5000 m women - Sifan Hassan

108. Alex de Minaur has won the Huajin Securities Zhuhai Championships (ATP tour)
held in Zhuhai, China.

109. 24th edition of 2019 ITTF-ATTU Asian Table Tennis Championships has concluded in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
• Men’s Singles – Xu Xin
• Women’s Singles – Sun Yingsha
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• Men’s team event – India

• Sathiyan Gnanasekaran has been ranked among the top 25 table tennis players.

110. India has won total 16 gold, 13 silver and 5 bronze medals in seven different sports
at the 10th Asia-Pacific Youth Sports Games held at Vladivostok, Russia.
Category Indian Gold Winners
Indian Judokas Mahesh Saini, Vishal and Rohit (in 3
different weight categories)
Swimming Astha Choudhury, Veer Khatkar, Swadesh
Mondal, Jhanavi Choudhury
Badminton Pranav and Meghana
Table Tennis Yoshiki and Indian team

111. Chengdu open 2019 held in Zhuhai, Beijing and Shanghai has been won by
Pablo Carreno Busta.
• Nikola Cacic and Dusan Lajovic won the doubles title.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed the biggest-ever computer
chip- RV16XNano (with a 6-bit processor) by using carbon nanotubes in place of silicon.
• The study was published in Journal Nature.

2. ‘Jin Dhoondha Tin Paaiyan’ book has been written by IPS officer OP Singh.

3. A Short History of Indian Railways book has been written by Rajendra B. Aklekar.

4. Francesco Maria Columbu (an Italian bodybuilder, powerlifter, actor, and author) has
passed away.

5. "India’s Lost Frontier – the Story of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan"
book has been written by Raghvendra Singh.
• The book illustrates the history of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, earlier known as
the North-West Frontier Province.

6. “First They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks” book has been written by journalist
Sophie Ansel.

7. Nuakhai is one of the greatest harvesting festival of western Odisha.

8. Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas were named the best dressed of 2019 by People
magazine.
• Jennifer Garner has been named 2019's 'Most Beautiful Woman' by People
magazine.
 125

9. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has released two books ‘Loktantra Ke Swar
(Khand 2)’ and ‘The Republican Ethic (Volume 2)’ which are a collection of President
Ram Nath Kovind’s selected speeches.

10. Kiran Nagarkar (an Indian novelist, playwright, film and drama critic and screenwriter)
has passed away.

11. “The splendid and The vile” book has been written by Erik Larson.
• The book is based on the bombarding of London by Nazi in 1940-41.

12. Jhelum Biswas Bose has written the "Phoolpur: Indian Flowers, Their Myths, Traditions
and Usage" book.

13. Coffee Table Book titled 'Glorious Diaspora- Pride of India' has been released by Vice-
President Venkaiah Naidu.
• The book contains brief profiles of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards recipients
from 2003 to 2019.

14. “Rethinking Good Governance: Holding to Account India’s Public Institutions” book has
been written by former CAG of India Vinod Rai.

15. “Fortune Turner: The Quartet that Spun India to Glory” book has been written by
Aditya Bhushan and Sachin Bajaj.
• The book tells about the victories of 4 cricketers: - Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli
Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar and S. Venkataraghavan.

16. “Savarkar: Echoes from a forgotten past, 1883-1924” book, based on the life of
freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, has been authored by Vikram Sampath.
• It is the first volume of the two-volume series by Sampath.

17. Cryodrakon boreas (a new species of pterosaur) has been discovered as the largest
flying animal of all times according to the new study published in Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology.
• According to David Hone (lead author of the study), it must be 10 m tall and weigh
250 kg.

18. For the first time, Survey of India (the oldest scientific department of India) will deploy
300 drones to map the country.
• The Survey is affiliated to Department of Science and Technology (DST).
 126

• It will map 75% of India’s geography (about 2.4 million sq km of 3.2 million sq km)
within next two years.

19. Neermahal Jal Utsav is a three days long festival, being celebrated in Agartala, Tripura
on the Rudrasagar lake.

20. Astronomers using NSF’s Green Bank Telescope have identified a record breaking
neutron star – MSP J0740+6620 – with the highest mass yet known.
• The study was published in the Nature Astronomy journal.

21. “The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of their Senas” book written by
the journalist Dhaval Kulkarni.

22. Being Gandhi book has been written by Paro Anand to mark 150th birth anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi.

23. “Turbulence & Triumph: The Modi Years” have jointly authored by Rahul Agarwal and
Bharathi S Pradhan.

24. Venkaiah Naidu released the ‘Himalayan Odyssey’ book, written by Shri M.P. Veerendra
Kumar.
• It is an English translation of the Malayalam original - ‘Haimavathabhuvil’, written
by Shri M.P. Veerendra Kumar.

25. Fernando Ricksen (footballer from Netherlands) has passed away.

26. Zoological Society of London and London’s Natural History Museum have discovered a
new species of giant Chinese salamander (scientific name is Andrias sligoi) – world’s
largest amphibian.
• The study was published in the journal “Ecology and Evolution”.
• 3 distinct species of Chinese salamanders are Andrias davidianus, Andrias sligoi and
another new discovery yet to be named.

27. Shondol dance (the royal dance of Ladakh) has entered into the Guinness Book of
World Records as the largest Ladakhi dance as 408 women gathered for this dance.
• It was performed during the annual Buddhist carnival Naropa festival near the
Hemis Monastery, Ladakh.
• It was organised by the Live to Love India, Drukpa Charitable Trust, and the Young
Drukpa Association.
 127

28. From Leeches to Slug Glue: 25 Explosive Ideas that Made (and Are Making) Modern
Medicine book has been authored by Roopa Pai.

29. Permanent Record is the memoir of Edward Snowden.

30. “India in the Persianate Age: 1000-1765” book has been authored by Richard M Eaton.
• This book mainly focuses on the rise of Persian culture.

31. ‘Girl Power: Indian Women Who Broke The Rules’ book has been authored by Neha J
Hiranandani.

32. Davo Karnicar (Slovenia) – the first person to ski down Mount Everest completely – has
passed away at 56.

33. “Reset: Regaining India’s Economic Legacy” book has been written by Subramanian
Swami.

34. Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi has written the book “Loss” which is a memoir on death
and grief, drawing on a string of personal losses - of his parents and a beloved pet.
• The Last Song of Dusk, The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay, The Rabbit & the Squirrel are
his other books.

35. A new species of cat snake has been named as "Thackeray's cat snake'' (scientific name
“Boiga thackerayi”) named after the Tejas Thackeray found in Sahyadri tiger reserve in
Maharashtra.
• The new species was published in the journal of the Bombay Natural History
Society.

36. Bathukamma is an annual floral festival, observed in Telangana and some parts of
Andhra Pradesh.

37. “The Game of Votes: Visual Media Politics and Elections in the Digital Era” book has
been written by Farhat Basir Khan.
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QUESTIONS
Q.1) Which company has partnered with [D] Both A and B
Ministry of Electronics and Information [E] Both B and C
Technology to initiate the 'Build for Digital
India' programme? Q.6) Which of the following country (high
[A] Amazon commissioner) is not among the
[B] Intel organizers of Namaste Pacific event?
[C] Microsoft [A] Australia
[D] Apple [B] Fiji
[E] Google [C] New Zealand
[D] Papua New Guinea
Q.2) What is India’s rank in the Global [E] Estonia
Happiness Index 2019 released by Ipsos?
[A] 11th Q.7) Where was the South Asian Speaker’s
[B] 53th Summit held?
[C] 23th [A] Maldives
[D] 46th [B] Myanmar
[E] 9th [C] Singapore
[D] Indonesia
Q.3) Which institution is anchoring the [E] Thailand
Samudrayaan mission of India?
[A] National Centre for Coastal Research Q.8) What is the new extended timeline
[B] Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre for Prepaid Payments Instruments for
[C] National Centre for Ocean Information conversion from minimum KYC to full KYC
Services complaint PPIs?
[D] National Institute of Ocean [A] 24 months
Technology [B] 18 months
[E] National Centre for Antarctic and [C] 12 months
Ocean Research [D] 10 months
[E] 21 months
Q.4) Which country has hosted the 4th
General Assembly of Association of World Q.9) How many Public Sector banks are
Election Bodies? being merged by Ministry of Finance?
[A] China [A] 10
[B] South Korea [B] 4
[C] India [C] 15
[D] Nepal [D] 12
[E] Bangladesh [E] 27

Q.5) Which Indian naval ship(s) has Q.10) Which of the following bank is being
reached the Laem Chabang Port in merged with Canara Bank?
Thailand for a port call? [A] Allahabad Bank
[A] INS Sahyadri [B] Oriental Bank of Commerce
[B] INS Kiltan [C] United Bank of India
[C] INS Chennai [D] Syndicate Bank
 130

[E] Corporation Bank [C] Canara Bank

[D] Axis Bank
Q.11) What is the compound annual [E] Union Bank of India
growth rate of digital payments in India,
according to KPMG report Fintech in India Q.16) With which Indian company has
– Powering mobile payments? Bangladesh signed an agreement for the
[A] 14.5% supply of 718 MW of power for 22 years?
[B] 12.7% [A] National Thermal Power Corporation
[C] 11.9% [B] PTC India
[D] 10.8% [C] Power Grid Corporation of India
[E] 9.7% [D] Adani Power
[E] Reliance Power
Q.12) Budget 2019 proposed to charge a
TDS of 2% on cash withdrawal of above Q.17) Which country is the world’s largest
____? importer of Australian Coking coal?
[A] 2 crores [A] China
[B] 1.5 crores [B] India
[C] 1 crore [C] Peru
[D] 3 crores [D] Russia
[E] 2.5 crores [E] South Korea

Q.13) What is India’s GDP growth rate in Q.18) Who has been appointed as the
the Q1 of FY20, according to Central Director-General of Border Security
Statistical Office? Force?
[A] 5% [A] Vivek Kumar Johri
[B] 5.9% [B] Vishal Kumar Johri
[C] 6% [C] Vitharv Kumar Johri
[D] 4.9% [D] Vismay Kumar Johri
[E] 5.8% [E] Viral Kumar Johri

Q.14) What is the percentage of Rs 500 Q.19) Who has become the first motor
notes in circulation (in terms of volume) sports athlete to get the Arjuna Award?
as of March 2019, according to RBI’s [A] Aishwarya Pissay
annual report 2018-19? [B] Gaurav Kumar Gill
[A] 19.8% [C] Nitten Kirrtane
[B] 23.1% [D] Arup Basak
[C] 12.7% [E] C Lalremsanga
[D] 14.5%
[E] 17.6% Q.20) Which institute has developed the
biggest ever computer chip- RV16XNano?
Q.15) Which bank had first launched the [A] Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rupay debit and credit card in India? [B] IIT-Kharagpur
[A] Bank of Baroda [C] Columbian University
[B] Maharashtra Bank [D] University of Cambridge
 131

[E] Stanford University [D] Rajasthan

[E] Uttar Pradesh
Q.21) Who is the head of the high-level
group which suggested to declare Right to Q.26) Where has Ministry of Health and
Health as the fundamental right? Family Welfare inaugurated the Central
[A] Randeep Guleria Government Health Scheme services
[B] Akhilesh Ranjan headquarters – CGHS Bhawan?
[C] Ashish Gokhale [A] Delhi
[D] Manish Patwardhan [B] Mumbai
[E] Dhanraj Goel [C] Bangalore
[D] Chennai
Q.22) Where is India’s tallest Air Traffic [E] Lucknow
Control tower established?
[A] Rajasthan Q.27) Where has the 5th Aqua Aquaria
[B] Delhi India been inaugurated?
[C] Kerala [A] Andhra Pradesh
[D] Madhya Pradesh [B] Karnataka
[E] Karnataka [C] Kerala
[D] Odisha
Q.23) How much maximum penalty will [E] Telangana
be imposed on a person committing
violence against the doctors and hospital Q.28) With which institute has Amazon
premises? partnered to launch the ‘National Artificial
[A] Rs 10 lakhs Intelligence Resource Platform’?
[B] Rs 20 lakhs [A] IIT-Delhi
[C] Rs 15 lakhs [B] IIT-Kharagpur
[D] Rs 25 lakhs [C] IIT-Mysore
[E] Rs 30 lakhs [D] IIT-Delhi
[E] IIT-Chennai
Q.24) Which organization will award PM
Modi for the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan? Q.29) Which company has developed the
[A] Amnesty International design of world’s first space hotel?
[B] Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [A] Samsung Electronics
[C] Blue Planet Network [B] Foxconn
[D] CARE International [C] JD.com
[E] Geneva Call [D] HP Inc.
[E] Gateway Foundation
Q.25) Which state has launched the AB-
MGRSBY scheme by merging the Q.30) Where is the first-ever joint naval
Ayushman Bharat and Bhamashah Health exercise between ASEAN and USA being
Insurance Schemes? held?
[A] Madhya Pradesh [A] Yellow Sea
[B] Odisha [B] East China Sea
[C] Maharashtra [C] South China Sea
 132

[D] Korea Bay [E] Shivya Aggarwal

[E] Bohai Sea
Q.36) Where was the 72nd Regional
Q.31) How many UPI transactions took Committee Session of the WHO’s South-
place in FY19, according to RBI’s annual East Asia Region held?
report 2018-19? [A] Maldives
[A] 5.35 billion [B] Indonesia
[B] 6.15 billion [C] Malaysia
[C] 2.95 billion [D] Philippines
[D] 3.35 billion [E] India
[E] 4.95 billion
Q.37) Where is the Sanjay Gandhi
Q.32) With which company has the National Park located?
Central Bank of India partnered for co- [A] Odisha
lending to MSMEs? [B] Delhi
[A] ECL Finance Ltd [C] Arunachal Pradesh
[B] Indiabulls Housing Finance [D] Maharashtra
[C] Refinitiv [E] Madhya Pradesh
[D] IBM Technologies
[E] Aditya Birla Life Insurance Q.38) Where has the Garvi Gujarat
Bhawan been inaugurated?
Q.33) Who has been appointed as the MD [A] Gujarat
and CEO of Paytm money? [B] Maharashtra
[A] Pravin Jadhav [C] Delhi
[B] Pravin Bhosle [D] Rajasthan
[C] Pravin Bhargava [E] West Bengal
[D] Pravin Mehta
[E] Pravin Goel Q.39) How much assistance will India
provide to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Q.34) Who has won the gold medal at the Tuberculosis and Malaria as part of its 6th
ISTAF Berlin 2019? replenishment cycle?
[A] Samuel James [A] $41 million
[B] Cain Smith [B] $22 million
[C] Joshua Thompson [C] $30 million
[D] Michel Walton [D] $14 million
[E] Mitchell Hemmingway [E] $9 million

Q.35) Who has written the India’s Lost Q.40) Where has the Asia’s first 5th
Frontier – the Story of the North-West Generation – Virtual Reality (VR) based
Frontier Province of Pakistan book? Advanced Driver Training Simulator
[A] Raghvendra Singh Centre been launched?
[B] Kamlesh Sinha [A] Punjab
[C] Usha Udhavi [B] Kerala
[D] Avni Parikh [C] Andhra Pradesh
 133

[D] Tamil Nadu [C] Odisha

[E] Telangana [D] West Bengal
[E] Madhya Pradesh
Q.41) With which state has World Bank
partnered to provide funding for the pro- Q.46) Which bank has become the India’s
poor tourism development project? first bank to deploy 'Robotic Arms' to
[A] Uttar Pradesh count currency notes?
[B] West Bengal [A] HDFC Bank
[C] Rajasthan [B] HSBC Bank
[D] Chhattisgarh [C] Axis Bank
[E] Madhya Pradesh [D] ICICI Bank
[E] UCO Bank
Q.42) Where has the first-ever Terracotta
Grinder been launched by Khadi and Q.47) What is the new GDP projection for
Village Industries Commission? India for FY20 by DBS Bank?
[A] Uttar Pradesh [A] 6.8
[B] Odisha [B] 6.4
[C] West Bengal [C] 6.7
[D] Rajasthan [D] 6.1
[E] Gujarat [E] 6.2

Q.43) Which country has got the Q.48) Which company has become the
chairmanship of the Association of World first Indian original equipment
Election Bodies? manufacturer to meet BS-VI emission
[A] Romania norms for its trucks?
[B] Germany [A] Ashok Leyland
[C] India [B] Mahindra & Mahindra
[D] South Korea [C] Asia MotorWorks
[E] China [D] Swaraj Mazda
[E] Daimler India
Q.44) Which tourist destination in India
has been accredited with the “Best Q.49) How many gold medals have been
Swachh Iconic place” honour in the won by India at the ISSF World Cup
‘Swachh Iconic Places’ list released by Rifle/Pistol held in Brazil?
Ministry of Jal Shakti? [A] 9
[A] Taj Mahal [B] 5
[B] Tirupati Temple [C] 4
[C] Manikarnika Ghat [D] 2
[D] Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine [E] 7
[E] Ajmer Sharif Dargah
Q.50) Which batsman has topped the ICC
Q.45) Where is Konya Dam located? Men’s test cricketer rankings?
[A] Maharashtra [A] Virat Kohli
[B] Rajasthan [B] Pat Cummins
 134

[C] Steve Smith [E] Uttar Pradesh

[D] Jason Holder
[E] Rishabh Pant Q.56) India and Russia have signed a
Memorandum of Intent for development
Q.51) Which state has launched the C-Plan of maritime communications between
to curb communal violence? _____ and Vladivostok?
[A] Maharashtra [A] Kochi
[B] Rajasthan [B] Kandla
[C] Meghalaya [C] Vishakhapatnam
[D] Uttar Pradesh [D] Mangalore
[E] Delhi [E] Chennai

Q.52) Which Indian institute has been Q.57) What is the time period in which the
chosen by the Department of Science and external benchmark-linked lending rate
Technology for its SATHI initiative? will be revised by banks, according to
[A] IIT-Delhi recent RBI’s circular?
[B] IISc-Bangalore [A] 3 months
[C] ITI-Odisha [B] 2 months
[D] IIT-Chennai [C] 4 months
[E] IIT-Kharagpur [D] 6 months
[E] 5 months
Q.53) Yudh Abhyas is the joint military
exercise between India and ____? Q.58) What is the percentage of GST
[A] China collected in the first five months of 2019,
[B] France according to Credit Suisse’s report?
[C] Australia [A] 2.4%
[D] USA [B] 4.4%
[E] Russia [C] 6.4%
[D] 8.4%
Q.54) Which city has been categorized as [E] 9.4%
the World’s most liveable city according
to the Global Liveability Index 2019? Q.59) What is the name of Telegram’s
[A] Vienna cryptocurrency?
[B] Zagreb [A] Goldcoin
[C] London [B] Gram
[D] Paris [C] KickCoin
[E] Bangalore [D] Legos
[E] Beta Coin
Q.55) Where is the Sardar Sarovar Dam
located? Q.60) What is the business limit set by
[A] Gujarat Ministry of Finance for the public sector
[B] Madhya Pradesh banks to create a post of Chief General
[C] Rajasthan Manager?
[D] Andhra Pradesh [A] Rs 10 Tn
 135

[B] Rs 15 Tn [D] Brazil

[C] Rs 20 Tn [E] Qatar
[D] Rs 25 Tn
[E] Rs 30 Tn Q.66) From which company is India buying
the 83 light combat aircraft MK1A?
Q.61) Crisil Ratings has declined the GDP [A] Bharat Heavy Electric
growth rate for India for FY20 from ___ to [B] Reliance Defence
____? [C] GRSE
[A] 7.1% to 7% [D] Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
[B] 6.1% to 6.9% [E] Larsen & Toubro
[C] 7.9% to 7.3%
[D] 7.5% to 7% Q.67) India has provided a special line of
[E] 6.9% to 6.3% credit worth ___ to Russia in the 5th
edition of Eastern Economic Forum?
Q.62) How much fund has been approved [A] $1 billion
by Central Govt for revamping the fishery [B] $2 billion
infrastructure in India? [C] $3 billion
[A] Rs 36,000 crore [D] $4 billion
[B] Rs 25,000 crore [E] $5 billion
[C] Rs 60,000 crore
[D] Rs 10,000 crore Q.68) Where was the first-ever National
[E] Rs 12,000 crore Conference on Cyber Crime Investigation
and Forensics organized?
Q.63) Who has won the UEFA President’s [A] Delhi
Awards 2019? [B] Tamil Nadu
[A] Eric Cantona [C] Andhra Pradesh
[B] David Beckham [D] Telangana
[C] Ashley Cole [E] Punjab
[D] Frank Lampard
[E] Billy Wright Q.69) By which year will the WHO’s
Regional Committee for South East Asia
Q.64) Where is the headquarters of New Region eliminate the measles and rubella
Development Bank? from the region?
[A] Brazil [A] 2022
[B] Russia [B] 2023
[C] South Africa [C] 2024
[D] India [D] 2025
[E] China [E] 2026

Q.65) Where will the FIFA World Cup 2022 Q.70) Which Indian state has signed a
be held? sister-state agreement with Delaware
[A] Saudi Arabia state of America?
[B] France [A] Madhya Pradesh
[C] Spain [B] Maharashtra
 136

[C] Rajasthan [A] 2015

[D] Gujarat [B] 2001
[E] Arunachal Pradesh [C] 1990
[D] 1965
Q.71) With which nation has India [E] 2003
recently signed the Mutual Legal
Assistance in criminal matters treaty? Q.76) How much amount does the NHAI
[A] Philippines plan to raise through asset monetization?
[B] Maldives [A] Rs 40,000 crore
[C] Singapore [B] Rs 20,000 crore
[D] Thailand [C] Rs 35,000 crore
[E] Malaysia [D] Rs 90,000 crore
[E] Rs 85,000 crore
Q.72) Which country has been ranked first
in the World Travel and Tourism Q.77) Which bank has launched the
Competitiveness Index 2019? DigiSmart credit card at Rs 49 for the
[A] Germany customers?
[B] USA [A] HSBC Bank
[C] France [B] ICICI Bank
[D] Spain [C] Standard Chartered Bank
[E] Japan [D] SBI
[E] PNB
Q.73) Which company has signed the co-
origination agreement with SBI for Q.78) Who has been appointed as the
increase credit-lending to MSMEs? new MD of Nissan Motors India?
[A] Shriram Transport Finance Company [A] Rakesh Srivastav
Limited [B] Rakesh Sharma
[B] ECL Finance Ltd [C] Rakesh Kaushal
[C] Bajaj Finance Limited [D] Rakesh Kumar
[D] Muthoot Finance Ltd [E] Rakesh Mehta
[E] HDB Finance Services
Q.79) Odisha State Disaster Management
Q.74) How many institutes have been Authority has won the IT Excellence
recently granted the tag of Institute of Award 2019 for which of the following
Eminence by govt? app?
[A] 5 [A] SATARK
[B] 2 [B] ePathshala
[C] 19 [C] DigiSevak
[D] 10 [D] Umang
[E] 7 [E] Pencil

Q.75) When was the mobile science Q.80) Where is Silent Valley National Park
museum program launched by Ministry of located?
Culture? [A] Kerala
 137

[B] Odisha [A] MS Dhoni

[C] Rajasthan [B] Virat Kohli
[D] Madhya Pradesh [C] Jasprit Bumrah
[E] Tamil Nadu [D] Rohit Sharma
[E] Rishabh Pant
Q.81) Which state has signed an MoU
with UNESCO to preserve its cultural Q.86) Where has the first Mega Food Park
heritage? been inaugurated?
[A] West Bengal [A] Madhya Pradesh
[B] Nagaland [B] Uttarakhand
[C] Rajasthan [C] Punjab
[D] Madhya Pradesh [D] Telangana
[E] Kerala [E] Odisha

Q.82) With which country does India hold Q.87) Where will the First-ever
the CORPAT – coordinated patrol? Conference on Military Medicine for SCO
[A] Sri Lanka members be held?
[B] Maldives [A] China
[C] Indonesia [B] India
[D] Thailand [C] Afghanistan
[E] Malaysia [D] Pakistan
[E] Uzbekistan
Q.83) From which country did India
procure the K-Vajra- T tracked self- Q.88) Where will the 40th Assembly of
propelled howitzer? International Civil Aviation Organization
[A] Russia be held?
[B] USA [A] USA
[C] France [B] Canada
[D] Israel [C] Russia
[E] South Korea [D] Switzerland
[E] Germany
Q.84) With which company has CBSE
partnered to train teachers in AI and cloud Q.89) Where is the 3rd edition of South
computing? Asian Parliamentarian Conference for
[A] Netflix Children 2019 held?
[B] IBM Technology [A] Sri Lanka
[C] Amazon [B] India
[D] Wipro [C] Singapore
[E] Microsoft [D] Maldives
[E] Indonesia
Q.85) Which Indian cricketer has
collaborated with World Wildlife Fund and Q.90) What is the new base rate for the
Animal Planet for the campaign to GDP calculation series, proposed by
conserve Rhinos? Ministry of Statistics?
 138

[A] FY12 [C] Sept 1-7

[B] FY09 [D] August 1-7
[C] FY05 [E] October 1-7
[D] FY13
[E] FY19 Q.96) What is the new name of the
Hyderabad-Karnataka region?
Q.91) Who has been appointed as the [A] Kalyana Karnataka
General Counsel and Company Secretary [B] Vimukti Karnataka
of International Cricket Council? [C] Aashani Karnataka
[A] Jonathan Swift [D] Tirumala Karnataka
[B] Jonathan Hall [E] Nizam Karnataka
[C] Jonathan Whitney
[D] Jonathan Harley Q.97) Where has railway station has the
[E] Jonathan Watson Indian railways opened the first-ever “Fun
Zone”?
Q.92) Who has won the “Oscars of [A] Maharashtra
Science" award 2019 for producing the [B] Gujarat
first image of Black Hole? [C] Telangana
[A] Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration [D] Andhra Pradesh
[B] Stable Isotope Analysis Facility [E] Kerala
[C] Roscosmos
[D] Operations Planning Software Lab Q.98) How many states have been given
[E] Table Mountain Facility the special status in Article 371?
[A] 11
Q.93) Who has become the youngest test [B] 9
captain in the world? [C] 10
[A] Steve Smith [D] 7
[B] Rishabh Pant [E] 13
[C] Rashid Khan
[D] Pat Cummins Q.99) Kameng district has performed the
[E] Ashton Agar best in improving its sex ration at birth.
Where is it located?
Q.94) Who is the Chairman of Khadi and [A] Assam
Village Industries Commission? [B] Tripura
[A] Vinai Kumar Saxena [C] West Bengal
[B] Vinod K Srivastav [D] Arunachal Pradesh
[C] Vishwas Mehra [E] Sikkim
[D] Vismaya Trivedi
[E] Vithala Gaur Q.100) Where is Mukurthi National Park
located?
Q.95) Which week is observed as the [A] Kerala
National Nutrition Week? [B] Tamil Nadu
[A] Jan 1-7 [C] Karnataka
[B] March 1-7 [D] Andhra Pradesh
 139

[E] Madhya Pradesh Q.106) When is International Literacy Day

observed?
Q.101) Which state observes the Onam [A] September 1
festival? [B] September 17
[A] Kerala [C] September 23
[B] Odisha [D] September 19
[C] Andhra Pradesh [E] September 8
[D] Telangana
[E] Tamil Nadu Q.107) Who has won Women’s singles in
the US Open?
Q.102) Where did the 7th RCEP Ministerial [A] Serena Williams
Meeting take place? [B] Bianca Andreescu
[A] Indonesia [C] Simon Halep
[B] Myanmar [D] Maria Sharapova
[C] Maldives [E] Staffe Graf
[D] Philippines
[E] Thailand Q.108) Which of the following cricketer is
not discussed in the Fortune Turner: The
Q.103) Where will the 24th edition of Quartet that Spun India to Glory?
World Energy Congress take place? [A] Bishan Singh Bedi
[A] [a] Saudi Arabia [B] S. Venkataraghavan
[B] Qatar [C] Bhagwat Chandrashekhar
[C] kyrgyzstan [D] Ravi Shastri
[D] UAE [E] Erapalli Prasanna
[E] Russia
Q.109) Who has won the Italy Grand Prix
Q.104) Which company has been elected 2019?
by RBI for developing its new app to help [A] Lewis Hamilton
visually impaired people in identifying [B] Harry Tincknell
currency notes? [C] Nicolas Lapierre
[A] IBM Technology [D] Andre Lotterer
[B] HCL Technologies [E] Charles Leclerc
[C] Daffodil Software Pvt Ltd
[D] Intel Q.110) Who has won the lifetime
[E] Infosys achievement award at the 19th Annual
Asian Achievers Awards?
Q.105) Who has been appointed as the [A] Harjit Singh Bhatia
new Chairman of Alibaba? [B] Anil Agarwal
[A] Daniel Zhang [C] Faisal Islam
[B] William Mark [D] Neeta Patel
[C] Zeng Lu [E] Rajesh Agarwal
[D] Chen Mi
[E] Jack Ma
 140

Q.111) Which country has recently

provided $1 million assistance to Q.116) What is the new target set by India
hurricane hit Bahamas? for land restoration by 2030, during COP-
[A] Russia 14 of UNCCD?
[B] France [A] 31 million hectares
[C] USA [B] 41 million hectares
[D] Canada [C] 21 million hectares
[E] India [D] 26 million hectares
[E] 14 million hectares
Q.112) Which city is the most preferred
city for co-living in India, according to the Q.117) Which bank has become the
Knight Frank’s Insights on Co-living: An India’s single largest platform providing
Asia-Pacific Perspective? interoperable banking services to the
[A] Mumbai customers of any bank through Aadhar-
[B] Chennai enabled Payment Services?
[C] Surat [A] Axis Bank
[D] Bangalore [B] HDFC Bank
[E] New Delhi [C] Bandhan Bank
[D] IPPB
Q.113) Where was 1st ever helicopter [E] DCB Bank
summit 2019 held?
[A] Goa Q.118) Committee on Development of
[B] Rajasthan Housing Finance Securitization Market
[C] Delhi recommended to set up an intermediary
[D] Assam under NHB. What will be NHB’s stake in
[E] Uttarakhand it?
[A] 51%
Q.114) What is the average life [B] 55%
expectancy in India, according to the SRS [C] 57%
Based Abridged Life Tables, 2013-17? [D] 63%
[A] 70 [E] 75%
[B] 69
[C] 63 Q.119) Who has been appointed as the
[D] 58 new managing director of Microsoft India
[E] 71 (R&D)?
[A] Rajiv Kumar
Q.115) Which of the following disease(s) [B] Ravish Kumar
are covered in the National Animal [C] Rajesh Kumar
Disease Control Programme? [D] Rajneesh Kumar
[A] Foot and Mouth Disease [E] Rakesh Kumar
[B] Brucellosis
[C] Listeriosis Q.120) In which month is World Water
[D] Both A and B Week observed?
[E] Both B and C [A] August
 141

[B] June [C] Section 80

[C] July [D] Section 78
[D] September [E] Section 60
[E] October
Q.126) Where will India’s first
Q.121) Sarala Puraskar is the highest International Women Trade Centre be
literary honor of which Indian state? built?
[A] Gujarat [A] Tamil Nadu
[B] Rajasthan [B] Uttar Pradesh
[C] Odisha [C] Maharashtra
[D] Kerala [D] Delhi
[E] West Bengal [E] Kerala

Q.122) Who is the world’s first bowler to Q.127) According to the first-ever Digital
score 5 international hat-tricks? Economy Report 2019, global Internet
[A] Rashid Khan Protocol traffic will increase to ___ per
[B] Jasprit Bumrah second by 2022?
[C] Lasith Malinga [A] 1,50,700 GB
[D] Wasim Akram [B] 2,10,700 GB
[E] Brett Lee [C] 3,19,700 GB
[D] 2,40,700 GB
Q.123) What is Bianca Andreescu’s rank in [E] 5,99,700 GB
the latest WTA rankings?
[A] 200 Q.128) Which company has been chosen
[B] 10 by NITI Aayog for developing India’s first
[C] 101 digital capability centre?
[D] 5 [A] Microsoft
[E] 12 [B] Oracle
[C] Accenture
Q.124) Where is Godavari dam and Darna [D] McKinsey & Co.
dam located? [E] Capgemini
[A] Gujarat
[B] Odisha Q.129) Which school has topped in the
[C] Assam 'Global Top 50 IB Schools 2019' list?
[D] Arunachal Pradesh [A] Cheltenham Ladies' College
[E] Maharashtra [B] St Josephs Institution
[C] Godolphin & Latymer
Q.125) Which section of the J&K [D] Dhirubhai Ambani Intl
Reorganization Act 2019 allows the [E] Anglo Chinese
central govt to form an advisory group for
appropriation of assets and liabilities of Q.130) What is the name of the app
J&K? launched by the Ministry of Agriculture &
[A] Section 85 Farmers Welfare to facilitate easy
[B] Section 84 borrowing of farm equipment by farmers?
 142

[A] Eirmon Farm Machinery [A] Kerala

[B] Easy2get Farm [B] Karnataka
[C] MoneyWise Machinery [C] Maharashtra
[D] CHC Farm Machinery [D] Delhi
[E] Vozzby Farm Equipment [E] Telangana

Q.131) Which film has won the Golden Q.136) Which company has launched the
Lion for Best Film award at the 76th Good Vibes and Relumino apps for
Venice International Film Festival Awards deafblind and people with low vision?
2019? [A] Refinitiv
[A] Joker [B] Infosys
[B] The Americans [C] Wipro
[C] Sunrising [D] Samsung
[D] The 100 Years of Blossoming [E] Akshay Patra
[E] Loria Mundi
Q.137) Where is the 8th Asian Ministerial
Q.132) With which sport is Geoffrey Energy Roundtable being held?
Boycott related to? [A] Russia
[A] Chess [B] Saudi Arabia
[B] Squash [C] China
[C] Badminton [D] Singapore
[D] Cricket [E] UAE
[E] Wrestling
Q.138) Which country is the world’s most
Q.133) Where will the ICC T20I 2020 censored country, according to the report
World Cup take place? released by the Committee to Protect
[A] Australia Journalists?
[B] England [A] Cuba
[C] Poland [B] Syria
[D] USA [C] Vietnam
[E] Germany [D] Iran
[E] Eritrea
Q.134) When is World Suicide Prevention
Day observed? Q.139) Which country has become Asia’s
[A] August 10 first country to release the plain cigarette
[B] May 10 packaging?
[C] June 10 [A] Singapore
[D] July 10 [B] Thailand
[E] September 10 [C] Philippines
[D] Malaysia
Q.135) According to the “Turbocharging [E] Nepal
Delhi-NCR Startup Ecosystem" report,
which state/UT has the highest number of
startups and unicorn?
 143

Q.140) Where is the 22nd session of UN Q.145) Which institute has topped the
Committee on Convention on Rights of Times Higher Education ranking 2020?
Persons with Disability being held? [A] University of Oxford
[A] Switzerland [B] Stanford University
[B] UAE [C] IIT-Ropar
[C] England [D] University of Cambridge
[D] USA [E] California Institute of Technology
[E] Canada
Q.146) Which country has recently
Q.141) Who among the following has declared itself avian influenza free?
become the youngest governor in India? [A] China
[A] Biswabhusan Harichandan [B] Malaysia
[B] B. D. Mishra [C] India
[C] Jagdish Mukhi [D] Bhutan
[D] Anusuiya Uikey [E] Bangladesh
[E] Tamilisai Soundararajan
Q.147) In which state has the Market
Q.142) Who will be inducted into the 2019 Intervention Price Scheme been recently
Asia Pacific Golf Hall of Fame? launched?
[A] Bajrang Punia [A] J&K
[B] Rashid Khan [B] Himachal Pradesh
[C] Pawan Munjal [C] Uttar Pradesh
[D] PV Sindhu [D] Meghalaya
[E] Sania Nehwal [E] Maharashtra

Q.143) Which state of USA has passed the Q.148) In which year will the 3rd edition
AB 5 law to revive its gig economy? of RE-INVEST expo take place?
[A] Florida [A] 2020
[B] Hawaii [B] 2021
[C] Arizona [C] 2022
[D] North Carolina [D] 2023
[E] California [E] 2024

Q.144) Which state has become the first Q.149) Which country has recently joined
one to set up GeM Organizational the Global Antimicrobial Resistance
Transformation Team Project Research and Development Hub?
Management Unit, in association with [A] Malaysia
GeM? [B] Philippines
[A] Haryana [C] China
[B] Meghalaya [D] India
[C] Kerala [E] Timor-Leste
[D] Haryana
[E] Punjab Q.150) What is the name of the new
portal launched on Diksha app by Ministry
 144

of HRD to create repository of content [E] Rajendra Kumar

prepared by the teachers for students of
class 6th to 10th? Q.155) In which sport is Solheim Cup
[A] Vidya Daan awarded?
[B] Shiksha Daan [A] Golf
[C] Alekhee Daan [B] Tennis
[D] Shaikshik Daan [C] Badminton
[E] Sakshar Daan [D] Squash
[E] Archery
Q.151) Where will the 9th Asian
Ministerial Roundtable be held? Q.156) What is the name of the joint
[A] Russia military exercise conducted between India
[B] UAE and Thailand?
[C] Saudi Arabia [A] Varun
[D] Qatar [B] Garuda
[E] India [C] Bal
[D] Maitree
Q.152) With which of the following [E] Abhyas
organization has International Finance
Corporation signed an MoU for providing Q.157) Which ministry has signed an MoU
training to NBFCs in India? with Confederation of Indian Industry for
[A] Industrial Finance Corporation of India facilitating green initiatives?
[B] Small Industries Development Bank of [A] Ministry of Corporate Affairs
India [B] Ministry of Textiles
[C] National Housing Bank [C] Ministry of MSMEs
[D] Finance Industry Development Council [D] Ministry of Railways
[E] India Infrastructure Finance Company [E] Ministry of Renewable Energy
Ltd
Q.158) Which state has launched the Jan
Q.153) Who has been elected in the Soochna Portal to give a boost to the RTI
managing committee of Indian Banking Act, 2005?
Association? [A] Maharashtra
[A] Mahabaleshwara MS [B] Uttarakhand
[B] Rajnish Kumar [C] Uttar Pradesh
[C] Sunil Mehta [D] Arunachal Pradesh
[D] Hasmukh Adhia [E] Rajasthan
[E] M R Kumar
Q.159) Which company has launched the
Q.154) Who has been recently honored first ever maritime communication
with the Order of Zayed II? services in India?
[A] Rajdeep Singhal [A] BPCL
[B] Mandeep Sinha [B] GRSE
[C] Navdeep Suri [C] Reliance
[D] Umesh Raj Sinha [D] BSNL
 145

[E] NELCO [E] Indonesia

Q.160) Which state has signed 41 MoU to Q.165) According to the recent ‘on-tap
attract investments worth Rs 8,835 crore? licensing’ regime, minimum paid-up
[A] Kerala capital requirement for SFBs has been
[B] Odisha revised to ____ instead of ₹100 crore
[C] Andhra Pradesh earlier?
[D] Telangana [A] Rs 150 crore
[E] Tamil Nadu [B] Rs 200 crore
[C] Rs 250 crore
Q.161) Which state has topped the Leads [D] Rs 300 crore
Index 2019? [E] Rs 350 crore
[A] Maharashtra
[B] Gujarat Q.166) When is Hindi Divas observed?
[C] Delhi [A] September 14
[D] Maharashtra [B] September 23
[E] Odisha [C] September 8
[D] September 18
Q.162) Samudra Lakshmana is the [E] September 23
bilateral naval exercise between India and
___? Q.167) Who has become the 1st woman
[A] Malaysia to score 2 white-ball hat-tricks in the test
[B] Australia series?
[C] USA [A] Stafanie Roxann Taylor
[D] Indonesia [B] Shashikala Siriwardene
[E] Thailand [C] Lisa Carprini Sthalekar
[D] Megan Schutt
Q.163) Which state has launched the [E] Katherine Helen Brunt
‘Mukhyamantri Dal Poshit Yojana’ to
provide pulses at a low price? Q.168) Who has been appointed as the
[A] Uttar Pradesh head of the UN mission to Hodeidah?
[B] Rajasthan [A] Abhijit Guha
[C] West Bengal [B] Abhijit Sinha
[D] Assam [C] Abhijit Gulati
[E] Uttarakhand [D] Abhijit Singhal
[E] Abhijit Goel
Q.164) Where has the Southeast Asia's
largest solar power farm named as ‘Dau Q.169) Who has become the first
Tieng Solar Power Complex’ been cricketer to score 10th consecutive half
launched? centuries against one nation in Ashes
[A] Laos series?
[B] Cambodia [A] Pat Cummins
[C] Singapore [B] Steve Smith
[D] Vietnam [C] Stuart Broad
 146

[D] Mathew Hoggard [C] England

[E] Steven Finn [D] Italy
[E] France
Q.170) Recently, Jayakar Bungalow will
have a digital library for researchers to Q.175) How many countries have
access rich film database of the National partnered with Russia in its Centre
Film Archive of India. Where is this exercise?
bungalow situated? [A] 4
[A] Maharashtra [B] 5
[B] Gujarat [C] 6
[C] Rajasthan [D] 7
[D] Madhya Pradesh [E] 9
[E] Delhi
Q.176) Who has been appointed as the
Q.171) Which country has become the head of the Home Affairs parliamentary
world’s top oil exporter, according to the panel?
International Energy Alliance? [A] Jayant Sinha
[A] UAE [B] Jual Onam
[B] USA [C] P P Choudhary
[C] Saudi Arabia [D] Rajiv Ranjan
[D] Iran [E] Amit Shah
[E] Qatar
Q.177) When is International Day of
Q.172) At which institute has Democracy 2019 observed?
Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy [A] August 11
Research been opened? [B] September 15
[A] ITI-Odisha [C] July 16
[B] IIT- Delhi [D] June 19
[C] IISc-Bangalore [E] October 10
[D] IIT-Mysore
[E] IIT-Kharagpur Q.178) Which country has won the Asian
Cricket Council U-19 Asia Cup 2019?
Q.173) Where will the 15th Indo-US [A] Sri Lanka
Economic Summit 2019 be held? [B] Maldives
[A] Delhi [C] India
[B] Mumbai [D] Pakistan
[C] Bangalore [E] Bangladesh
[D] Chennai
[E] Dehradun Q.179) Where will the FIFA U-17 Women’s
World Cup 2020 be held?
Q.174) Where was the 23rd Session of the [A] India
World Tourism Organization held? [B] Brazil
[A] Russia [C] Argentine
[B] Switzerland [D] Italy
 147

[E] France Q.185) Who has won the Maharashtra

government’s “Lata Mangeshkar Award”
Q.180) Which country has won the FIBA for the year 2019-20?
Basketball World Cup 2019? [A] Usha Khanna
[A] Portugal [B] Veena Kumar
[B] Spain [C] Vishal Singhal
[C] England [D] Priyal Ghosal
[D] France [E] Seema Mehul
[E] Italy
Q.186) Which of the following team has
Q.181) Where will the India’s first won the Solheim Cup 2019?
National Anti-microbial Resistance Hub be [A] Spain
established? [B] Italy
[A] West Bengal [C] Germany
[B] Maharashtra [D] Mexico
[C] Delhi [E] Europe
[D] Kerala
[E] Karnataka Q.187) Who has won the hosted first-ever
Myanmar International Series 2019?
Q.182) When was the Jammu and Kashmir [A] Kaushal Dharmamer
Public Safety Act enacted? [B] Sai Praneeth
[A] 1969 [C] Kidambi Srikanth
[B] 1971 [D] Chetan Anand
[C] 1965 [E] Aditya Prakash
[D] 1923
[E] 1978 Q.188) Who has become the first Indian
and 44th person in the world to complete
Q.183) When is the World ozone day the Enduroman triathlon?
observed? [A] Mayank Vaid
[A] June 11 [B] Pratul Joshi
[B] July 16 [C] Aditya Joshi
[C] August 23 [D] B. Sumeeth Reddy
[D] September 16 [E] Tarun Kona
[E] November 13
Q.189) Who has won the Yonex-Sunrise
Q.184) Which of the following Indian Film Vietnam Open 2019?
has entered into The Guardian's 100 Best [A] Sourab Verma
Films of 21st century list? [B] Dhruv Kapila
[A] Andhadhun [C] U. Vimal Kumar
[B] Gangs Of Wasseypur [D] Subhankar Dey
[C] Sultan [E] Syed Modi
[D] Piku
[E] Pk Q.190) Who is the top ranked batsman in
the ICC Men’s Test Rankings?
 148

[A] Virat Kohli [A] XPoSat

[B] Steve Smith [B] Aditya-L1
[C] Ian Botham [C] Mangalyaan-2
[D] Shane Warne [D] Exoworlds
[E] Jaques Kallis [E] Gaganyaan

Q.191) SITMEX is the trilateral naval Q.196) What is the maximum term of
exercise between which countries? imprisonment announced for selling or
[A] India, Singapore, Indonesia manufacturing the e-cigarettes for the
[B] Thailand, India, Guinea first-time offenders?
[C] Australia, Vietnam, India [A] 1 year
[D] India, Philippines, Singapore [B] 2 year
[E] Thailand, Singapore, India [C] 3 year
[D] 4 year
Q.192) Which organization has developed [E] 5 year
the Astra missile?
[A] Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd Q.197) Ministry of Commerce and
[B] DRDO Industry launched the SIMS web portal to
[C] Reliance Defence provide advance information about steel
[D] Larsen and Toubro import to government. What does ‘M’
[E] Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd stand for?
[A] Metal
Q.193) Which IIT has been chosen as the [B] Manganese
coordinating agency for the 1000 Ph.D. [C] Mentor
fellowship program for students from [D] Monitoring
ASEAN nations? [E] Mining
[A] IIT-Bombay
[B] IIT-Chennai Q.198) What is the name of the Export
[C] IIT-Delhi Credit Insurance Scheme launched by
[D] IIT-Mysore Export Credit Guarantee Corporation to
[E] IIT-Kharagpur enhance loan availability and ease the
lending process?
Q.194) In which institute will the National [A] Nirvik
Centre for Clean Coal Research and [B] Khaitan
Development be established? [C] Khar
[A] IIT-Madras [D] Manik
[B] ITI-Odisha [E] Suraksha
[C] IIT-Ropar
[D] IISc-Bangalore Q.199) According to RBI’s data published
[E] IIT-Chennai in the Handbook of Statistics on Indian
Economy 2018-19, Indian private and
Q.195) Recently ISRO and DRDO have public sector banks had a total savings
partnered for the cooperation for ___ deposits of _____ as on March 31, 2019?
mission? [A] Rs 19.02 lakh crore
 149

[B] Rs 31.12 lakh crore [B] Simona Halep

[C] Rs 39.72 lakh crore [C] Bianca Andresscu
[D] Rs 21.01 lakh crore [D] Serena Williams
[E] Rs 12.72 lakh crore [E] Naomi Osaka

Q.200) Who has become the first India’s Q.205) What is Prajnesh Gunneswaran’s
first woman officer to be posted as a rank in the ATP rankings?
military diplomat (Deputy Air Attache) in [A] 82
Russia? [B] 76
[A] Anjali Singh [C] 24
[B] Aastha Sethi [D] 42
[C] Anamika Tripathi [E] 71
[D] Aanchal Sen
[E] Avika Senegal Q.206) Where was the First of its kind
International Conference on Sustainability
Q.201) Who among the following has not Education 2019 held?
been appointed as judges in the supreme [A] India
court? [B] Switzerland
[A] S Ravindra Bhat [C] England
[B] Krishna Murari [D] China
[C] V. Subulakshmi [E] Sri Lanka
[D] V. Ramasubramanian
[E] Hrishikesh Roy Q.207) With which country has India
signed an MoU in the field of Fisheries
Q.202) Which state has declared 2020 as collaboration, Cultural cooperation and
the Year of Artificial Intelligence? exemption from Visa for Indian
[A] Madhya Pradesh diplomatic?
[B] Gujarat [A] Bolivia
[C] Maharashtra [B] Argentine
[D] Andhra Pradesh [C] Algeria
[E] Telangana [D] Switzerland
[E] Iceland
Q.203) Who has been awarded with the
Acadmie des beaux-arts Photography Q.208) With which country’s 2,000Watt
Award - William Klein 2019? Smart City Association has Pune
[A] Raghu Rai Metropolitan Region Development
[B] Vansh Sahai Authority signed an MoU for development
[C] Veer Roy of carbon-neutral smart townships in the
[D] Bhadra Sen Pune?
[E] Koushal Singh [A] Poland
[B] Iceland
Q.204) Who has won the Zhengzhou [C] Switzerland
Open 2019 WTA title? [D] France
[A] Karolina Pliskova [E] Japan
 150

Q.213) Who has been appointed as the

Q.209) Which state has become the first chairman of the Appellate Tribunal for
state in India to implement ‘vertical Prevention of Money Laundering Act?
property rules’ under which a property [A] Sunil Biswa
card (equivalent to ownership documents) [B] Sunil Dhanoa
will be distributed by the state govt to [C] Sunil Lamba
house owners of flats, buildings etc? [D] Sunil Gaur
[A] Andhra Pradesh [E] Sunil Khemu
[B] Maharashtra
[C] Uttarakhand Q.214) Who has become the first woman
[D] Uttar Pradesh to cross English Channel four times?
[E] Madhya Pradesh [A] Sarah Thomas
[B] Judi Swinton
Q.210) Who will head the company law [C] Maggie Smith
committee formed by govt to improve [D] Rachel Dench
the functioning of National Company Law [E] Tilda Weisz
Tribunal and review the Companies Act
2013 as well as the Limited Liability Q.215) Which country will host the 2022
Partnership Act 2008? winter Olympics and winter Paralympics?
[A] Aruna Sundaranjana [A] Russia
[B] Atanu Chakrobarty [B] Japan
[C] Injeti Srinivas [C] France
[D] PK Sinha [D] USA
[E] Piyush Goyal [E] China

Q.211) With which company has Visa Inc Q.216) What is the name of the new app
partnered for launching an interface to launched by Delhi Police for e-FIR, pay
enable recurring payment of SI (standing traffic challan, a missing mobile phone
instructions)-Hub? report etc.?
[A] Paytm [A] Tatpar
[B] PayPal [B] Saathi
[C] Mobikwik [C] Nirakshak
[D] BillDesk [D] Suraksha
[E] BharatPe [E] Sugam

Q.212) Which payment bank has recently Q.217) Which state will establish the
launched the 'Bharosa savings account'? Swachh Bharat World University?
[A] Airtel Payments Bank [A] Gujarat
[B] Vodafone m-pesa Limited [B] Maharashtra
[C] Paytm Payments Bank Limited [C] Rajasthan
[D] Fino PayTech Limited [D] Madhya Pradesh
[E] Aditya Birla Nuvo [E] Uttar Pradesh
 151

Q.218) When was Accessible India [B] HCL Technology

Campaign launched? [C] Reliance
[A] 2011 [D] Wipro
[B] 2005 [E] Google
[C] 2015
[D] 2013 Q.223) According to “International
[E] 2018 Migrant Stock 2019”, which country has
currently the highest number of diaspora
Q.219) Which state has signed an people in the world?
allotment agreement with Centre for [A] USA
Deocha Pachami Dewanganj-Harinsingha [B] India
coal block? [C] Mexico
[A] Madhya Pradesh [D] China
[B] West Bengal [E] Japan
[C] Karnataka
[D] Odisha Q.224) In how many districts will the Loan
[E] Kerala Melas be organized by banks and their
partner NBFC?
Q.220) With which company has Ministry [A] 200
of Skill Development and [B] 400
Entrepreneurship partnered to train [C] 300
10,000 faculty members from ITIs across [D] 640
India in AI technology across the country? [E] 250
[A] Google
[B] Microsoft Q.225) Who has been appointed as the
[C] IBM new chief of Air staff?
[D] Intel [A] RKS Bhadauria
[E] Flipkart [B] RKS Bhardwaj
[C] RKS Bhaghel
Q.221) Recently, All India Council for [D] RKS Bajwa
Technical Education has organized WAWE [E] RKS Bhabha
Summit 2019. What does ‘E’ stand for?
[A] Energy Q.226) When is World Patient Safety Day
[B] Enterprise observed?
[C] Elastic [A] September 17
[D] Entrepreneur [B] August 23
[E] Enclave [C] July 16
[D] June 18
Q.222) Which company has partnered [E] January 12
with Nasscom's Data Security Council of
India and Ministry of electronics and IT to Q.227) Who has been awarded with the
launch the 'Digital Payment Abhiyan' Education Excellence Award 2019?
awareness campaign? [A] Anand Kumar
[A] Microsoft [B] Avinash Kumar
 152

[C] Anshul Kumar [D] IIT-Bombay

[D] Akshat Kumar [E] ISB-Hyderabad
[E] Ajay Kumar
Q.233) Ministry of Human Resource and
Q.228) What is Indian men team’s rank in Development has launched the NEAT
FIFA rankings? scheme to improve higher education with
[A] 103 AI technology? What does ‘A’ stand for?
[B] 104 [A] Amalgam
[C] 118 [B] Analogy
[D] 120 [C] Alliance
[E] 117 [D] Amateur
[E] Artificial
Q.229) Which film has won the best
picture award at the 20th International Q.234) Which state/UT has become the
Indian Film Academy? first state in India to launch the e-beat
[A] Andhadhun book for its police personnel?
[B] Raazi [A] Andaman and Nicobar
[C] Saaho [B] Delhi
[D] Kalank [C] Chandigarh
[E] Badla [D] Maharashtra
[E] West Bengal
Q.230) When is world bamboo day
observed? Q.235) Which institute has topped in the
[A] August 12 QS’ Graduate Employability Rankings
[B] September 18 2020?
[C] July 14 [A] Massachusetts Institute of Technology
[D] June 15 [B] Stanford University
[E] September 17 [C] University of California and Los
Angeles
Q.231) Which railway station has got the [D] Harvard University
CII-IGBC Green Platinum rating recently? [E] The University of Sydney
[A] Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
[B] Old Delhi Railway Station Q.236) Where was the 63rd International
[C] Howrah Railway Station Atomic Energy Agency General
[D] Secunderabad Railway Station Conference held?
[E] Ghum Railway Station [A] Geneva
[B] Dublin
Q.232) Which institute is India’s top [C] Zagreb
ranked institute in business course, [D] Hague
according to Forbes Best Business Schools [E] Vienna
rankings 2019?
[A] IIM-Rohtak Q.237) What is the new GDP growth rate
[B] IIM-Ahmedabad for India by OECD for 2019-20?
[C] IIM-Amritsar [A] 6.3%
 153

[B] 5.9% [A] Rajkumar Hirani

[C] 5.7% [B] Vikas Khanna
[D] 6.1% [C] Steven Spielberg
[E] 5.3% [D] Alfred Hitchcock
[E] Martin Scorsese
Q.238) Who heads the working group
formed by SEBI to suggest framework for Q.243) On whose name has the new
the Social Stock Exchanges? National Unity Award been instituted?
[A] Ishaat Hussain [A] Lala Lajpat Rai
[B] Salim Naqvi [B] Atal Bihari Bajpayee
[C] Shyam Hussain [C] Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
[D] Rakesh Sharma [D] APJ Abdul Kalam
[E] Shyam Benegal [E] Rajendra Prasad

Q.239) What is the new corporate tax rate Q.244) Who has made the world record
for the domestic companies incorporated by taking 17 wickets in the first-class
on or after 1st October 2019 making fresh cricket of England?
investment in manufacturing? [A] Kyle Abbott
[A] 15% [B] Jofra Archer
[B] 25% [C] James Anderson
[C] 25.17% [D] Stuart Broad
[D] 22% [E] Michel Stark
[E] 18.5%
Q.245) Who is the author of the book
Q.240) Who has been appointed as the Being Gandhi?
chairman of the Audit Bureau of [A] Payal Maitreya
Circulations? [B] Chanchal Wadhwan
[A] Madhukar Kamath [C] Srishti Deshpande
[B] Mahesh Kamath [D] Paro Anand
[C] Magadh Kamath [E] Aanchal Jadon
[D] Mehul Kamath
[E] Manish Kamath Q.246) Which ministry will be managing
the UMMID (Unique Methods of
Q.241) What is the theme of World Management and treatment of Inherited
Alzheimer’s Day? Disorders) initiative?
[A] Raising awareness and challenging [A] Ministry of Women and Child
stigma Development
[B] Fight Against It [B] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
[C] Speak for Safety Against Alzheimer [C] Ministry of AYUSH
[D] Sustain Health [D] Ministry of Science and Technology
[E] Support Patients of Alzheimer [E] Ministry of Earth Sciences

Q.242) Who is the director of The Last Q.247) Which company will invest $2.5
Color? billion in Tellurian Inc to give access to
 154

India up to 5 million tonnes of gas per

year for over 40 years? Q.252) When is World Rhino Day
[A] ONGC Ltd observed?
[B] Bharat Petroleum [A] September 22
[C] Reliance Oil and Gas Ltd [B] October 12
[D] Hindustan Petroleum [C] August 15
[E] Petronet [D] July 19
[E] January 23
Q.248) Where will the National e-
assessment centre be set up? Q.253) Who among the following has won
[A] Delhi the only silver medal at the AIBA World
[B] Karnataka Boxing Championships 2019?
[C] Tamil Nadu [A] Shiva Thapa
[D] Maharashtra [B] Vijendra Singh
[E] Madhya Pradesh [C] Amit Panghal
[D] Manish Koushik
Q.249) What is the name of the [E] Akhil Kumar
agriculture digital platform launched by
the Bank of Baroda for catering to Q.254) Who has won the women’s singles
agricultural needs of India? title in the China Open 2019?
[A] Baroda Kisan [A] Naomi Osaka
[B] Sashakt Kisan [B] Simona Halep
[C] Kisan Sabha [C] Serena Williams
[D] Kishtwar Kisan [D] Carolina Marin
[E] Sambhav Kisan [E] Ashleigh Barty

Q.250) Which country has been ranked as Q.255) How many centre of excellence
the world’s best real-time payment does the Ministry of Sports want to open
service provider by the ‘Faster Payments to train athletes in India?
Innovation Index’? [A] 20
[A] Russia [B] 14
[B] China [C] 17
[C] Japan [D] 23
[D] Singapore [E] 12
[E] India
Q.256) Logistics cost accounts for __% of
Q.251) Which actor has been appointed as GDP in India?
the brand ambassador of the Madhya [A] 9%
Pradesh state tourism? [B] 5%
[A] Amitabh Bachchan [C] 10%
[B] Govinda [D] 14%
[C] Shahrukh Khan [E] 12%
[D] Hritik Roshan
[E] Aamir Khan
 155

Q.257) In which state has the Union [D] 48

Ministry for Animal Husbandry, Dairying [E] 52
and Fisheries has launched the ‘Assistance
for Deep Sea Fishing’ scheme? Q.262) Which of the following company
[A] Kerala has not started the Global Internet Forum
[B] Odisha to Counter Terrorism?
[C] Telangana [A] Facebook
[D] Tamil Nadu [B] YouTube
[E] Andhra Pradesh [C] Microsoft
[D] Google
Q.258) Princeton University signed an [E] Twitter
MoU with ReNew Power and IIT-Delhi in
the field of renewable energy. Which Q.263) What is the estimated food grain
country does the university belong to? production, according to the First Advance
[A] USA Estimates of production of major Kharif
[B] Mexico crops for 2019-20?
[C] Canada [A] 140.57 MT
[D] Netherlands [B] 137.76 MT
[E] Ireland [C] 128.90 MT
[D] 117.13 MT
Q.259) What is the name of the first tri- [E] 124.45 MT
services amphibious exercise of India and
USA? Q.264) Which company has signed a co-
[A] Konkan origination loan agreement with Bank of
[B] Tiger Triumph Maharashtra for co-lending?
[C] Yudh Abhyas [A] Power Finance Corporation Ltd
[D] Maitree [B] Bajaj Finance Limited
[E] Sunrise [C] Paisalo Digital
[D] Paisabazaar.com
Q.260) Who has become Arunachal [E] Muthoot Finance Ltd
Pradesh’s first woman Lieutenant
Colonel? Q.265) What is the limit mandated by SEBI
[A] Ekaparana Jadon for mutual funds to keep in liquid assets
[B] Himaja Negi like cash and government securities w.e.f.
[C] Girija Khemu April 2020?
[D] Ponung Doming [A] 14%
[E] Sangboi Tamang [B] 20%
[C] 35%
Q.261) How many countries have agreed [D] 18%
to achieve net zero carbon dioxide [E] 30%
emissions by 2050?
[A] 56 Q.266) Who has been appointed as the
[B] 66 MD & CEO of Federal Bank?
[C] 71 [A] Shyam Srinivasan
 156

[B] Rajnish Kumar [E] Andhra Pradesh

[C] Priyal Sen
[D] Rama Ramakrishnan Q.272) National Resource Efficiency Policy
[E] Rajesh Kumar 2019 draft which aims to double the
recycling rate of key materials to ___ by
Q.267) When is International Day of Sign 2025?
Languages observed? [A] 75%
[A] September 9 [B] 50%
[B] September 21 [C] 45%
[C] September 15 [D] 70%
[D] September 19 [E] 60%
[E] September 23
Q.273) What is the name of the
Q.268) Which of the following movie has knowledge management portal launched
won the Emmy award in Best Comedy? under the BEE’s MSME Programme to
[A] Chernobyl train MSMEs for the early adoption of
[B] Fleabag energy efficient technologies?
[C] Barry [A] Suraksha
[D] Killing Eve [B] Sugam
[E] Game of Thrones [C] Vidyut
[D] Vilakshan
Q.269) Who has won the first Gauri [E] Sidhiee
Lankesh Memorial Award?
[A] Ravish Kumar Q.274) With which country’s Information
[B] Barkha Dutt Technology Authority has Indian Dept of
[C] Rajdeep Sardesai Space and Communications signed an
[D] Arnab Goswami MoU for Cooperation and Usage of Outer
[E] Sudhir Choudhary Space for peaceful and civilian purposes?
[A] Bhutan
Q.270) Where will the Women’s Rugby [B] Mongolia
World Cup 2021 be held? [C] France
[A] New Zealand [D] Russia
[B] France [E] Italy
[C] Australia
[D] England Q.275) What is the name of the app
[E] Iceland launched by Ministry for Agriculture and
Farmers Welfare to help in geo-tagging
Q.271) Which state has launched the and geo-fencing of crops and give weather
‘Abhinandan’ scheme to provide fiscal forecast message to farmers?
relief to students? [A] Krishi Kisan App
[A] Madhya Pradesh [B] Kheti Kisan App
[B] Karnataka [C] Krishak Sahayta App
[C] Assam [D] Khetihar Sampark App
[D] Maharashtra [E] Raiyat Samagar App
 157

[B] Neelima Choudhary

Q.276) Where is the 64th edition of the [C] Nilesh Shah
Commonwealth Parliamentary [D] Neena Bakshi
Conference being held? [E] Nalini Ghosh
[A] Nigeria
[B] Algeria Q.281) Who has been awarded with the
[C] Argentine SASTRA Ramanujan prize for 2019?
[D] Kenya [A] David Harper
[E] Uganda [B] Steve Cooper
[C] Adam Harper
Q.277) Recently, European Union's top [D] Jessica Collins
court has ruled that ___ company does [E] Peter Slain
not have to apply the “right to be
forgotten” globally? Q.282) Who has been awarded with the
[A] Facebook Dadasaheb Phalke award 2019?
[B] Google [A] Shatrugan Sinha
[C] Microsoft [B] Mamta Kulkarni
[D] Amazon [C] Amitabh Bachchan
[E] Twitter [D] Dilip Kumar
[E] Naseeruddin Shah
Q.278) Recently, RBI has imposed
restriction on the depositors of ___ bank, Q.283) Who has been awarded with the
prohibiting them from withdrawing more FIFA women’s Best Player of the Year
than ₹1,000 for six months? award 2019?
[A] Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative [A] Megan Rapinoe
Bank [B] Mia Hamm
[B] Jain Co-operative Bank Ltd [C] Birgit Prinz
[C] Bank of Maharashtra [D] Hanna Ljungberg
[D] Abhyudaya Co-operative Bank Ltd [E] Kristine Lilly
[E] Anyonya Co-operative Bank
Q.284) Who has won the ‘Vaccine Hero’
Q.279) Which company has topped the award 2019?
Forbes’ World’s Best Regarded Companies [A] Sheikh Hasina
2019 list? [B] Benjamin Netanyahu
[A] Ferrari [C] Narendra Modi
[B] Infosys [D] Boris Johnson
[C] Tata Consultancy Services [E] Donald Trump
[D] Visa
[E] Paypal Q.285) Who has won the IBSF World 6
Reds 2019 title?
Q.280) Who has been appointed as the [A] Laxman Rawat
chairman of Association of Mutual Funds [B] Pankaj Advani
in India? [C] Peter Gilchrist
[A] Naresh Sinha [D] Ray Edmonds
 158

[E] Michael Ferreira [C] Gautam Adani

[D] Mukesh Ambani
Q.286) Which state has launched the [E] Anil Ambani
Aponar Apon Ghar scheme for providing
home loan subsidy to its citizens? Q.291) What is the name of the Indian
[A] Maharashtra Coast Guard’s offshore patrol vessel
[B] Assam recently commissioned?
[C] Arunachal Pradesh [A] Varaha
[D] West Bengal [B] Vigraha
[E] Tripura [C] Vishal
[D] Vimukh
Q.287) By what percentage has the cases [E] Vishesh
of TB increased in India in 2018?
[A] 12% Q.292) Where was the first ever India-
[B] 5% Caricom leaders' summit held?
[C] 16% [A] Peru
[D] 10% [B] Brazil
[E] 11% [C] Argentine
[D] USA
Q.288) How much line of credit has India [E] India
extended to the group of Pacific island
nations for solar, renewable energy and Q.293) Where will the 25th Conference of
climate-related projects? Parties of the climate change summit be
[A] $100-million held?
[B] $150-million [A] Peru
[C] $110-million [B] Chile
[D] $250-million [C] Brazil
[E] $175-million [D] Columbia
[E] Jamaica
Q.289) How much mobile handsets does
India aim to produce indigenously by 2025 Q.294) According to the
under the National Policy on Electronics Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
2019? Change, the global average sea levels
[A] 1 billion could increase by up to ____ by 2100, in
[B] 50 billion the worst warming scenario?
[C] 5 billion [A] 1.2 m
[D] 25 billion [B] 1.1 m
[E] 12 billion [C] 1.0 m
[D] 1.3 m
Q.290) Who is India’s richest man [E] 1.4 m
according to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India
Rich List 2019? Q.295) Where has the world’s largest
[A] Azim Premji single-structure airport terminal named as
[B] SP Hinduja
 159

Daxing International Airport been [B] Rashid Khan

inaugurated? [C] Kuldeep Yadav
[A] South Korea [D] Shikhar Dhawan
[B] Japan [E] Babar Azam
[C] Philippines
[D] China Q.301) With which institute has the
[E] Singapore Jawaharlal Nehru University signed an
MoU for enhance research projects and
Q.296) What is the new GDP projection other academic activities?
for India for the year 2019-20 by Asian [A] IIT-Mysore
Development Bank? [B] IIT-Delhi
[A] 6.5% [C] IIT-Chennai
[B] 6% [D] IIT-Kharagpur
[C] 7.1% [E] IIT-Ropar
[D] 7%
[E] 7.3% Q.302) Ministry of MSME aims to increase
MSME’s contribution in the India’s GDP
Q.297) Which bank has launched the first from 29% to __?
of its kind Preventive Vigilance portal? [A] 50%
[A] Bank of Maharashtra [B] 60%
[B] Andhra Bank [C] 45%
[C] Bank of Baroda [D] 55%
[D] Indian Bank [E] 70%
[E] Punjab National Bank
Q.303) Which state has launched the
Q.298) Who has been appointed as the Mukhyamantri Kirayedar Bijli Meter
chief of International Monetary Fund? Yojana?
[A] Christine Lagarde [A] Karnataka
[B] Kristalina Georgieva [B] Madhya Pradesh
[C] David Malpas [C] Maharashtra
[D] Georgia Hemmingway [D] Kerala
[E] Joy Biden [E] Delhi

Q.299) When is World Maritime Day Q.304) Which state has launched the
observed? “Tikki Mausi” mascot, in collaboration
[A] September 12 with UNICEF, to raise awareness about the
[B] September 16 women and child nutrition?
[C] September 18 [A] Assam
[D] September 26 [B] Uttarakhand
[E] September 21 [C] Tripura
[D] West Bengal
Q.300) Who has been ranked at the top [E] Odisha
position in batting the ICC T20I rankings?
[A] Virat Kohli
 160

Q.305) Which two countries have [D] 5.7%

collaborated with Myanmar to set up a [E] 6.3%
tripartite mechanism for the repatriation
of Rohingya Muslims? Q.310) Which company has topped the
[A] Bangladesh and China “BrandZ Top 75 Most Valueable Indian
[B] India and Nepal Brands 2019” ranking?
[C] India and Thailand [A] HDFC Bank
[D] Thailand and China [B] LIC
[E] China and Laos [C] TVS Motors
[D] Infosys
Q.306) Which country has launched the [E] Wipro
world’s largest transport spacecraft –
Kounotori8 to ISS? Q.311) With which institute has
[A] Australia Employment Provident Fund Organization
[B] America has partnered to create a pool of officials
[C] Japan who can better handle the increasing
[D] Russia corpus of EPFO?
[E] China [A] IIM-Bangalore
[B] IIM-Ahmedabad
Q.307) When was the Partnering For [C] IIM-Calcutta
Green Growth And The Global Goals 2030 [D] IIM-Lucknow
initiative launched? [E] IIM-Indore
[A] 2017
[B] 2018 Q.312) When is International Day for Total
[C] 2016 Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
[D] 2014 observed?
[E] 2019 [A] August 12
[B] September 26
Q.308) With which company has Airtel [C] April 13
Payment Bank partnered to launch the [D] October 14
“Mosquito Disease Protection Policy”? [E] October 3
[A] Aegon Life Insurance Co.Ltd
[B] Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co.Ltd Q.313) In which field is the Shanti Swarup
[C] Bharti AXA Life Insurance Co.Ltd Bhatnagar Award given?
[D] SBI Life Insurance Co.Ltd [A] Science and Technology
[E] HDFC Ergo [B] Literature and Journalism
[C] Theatre and Performing Arts
Q.309) What is the new GDP growth rate [D] Sports
for India for calendar year 2019 predicted [E] Music
by United Nation Conference on Trade
and Development? Q.314) Who has become the first person
[A] 7.1% from India to receive the Changemaker
[B] 6% Award 2019 from Bill and Melinda Gates
[C] 5.9% Foundation?
 161

[A] Payal Jangir

[B] Sreshtha Talwar Q.319) What is the name of the 8th
[C] Sakshi Pathak continent, recently discovered by
[D] Chanchal Gujjar geologists?
[E] Ashika Panday [A] Greater Adria
[B] Aeolus
Q.315) Find the correct option: - [C] Arch Boreas
[A] World Environment Health Day – [D] Cerus
September 26 [E] Dionysus
[B] World food day – 24 October
[C] National Law day – 1 November Q.320) Which of the following bank has
[D] World Ozone day – 27 May been recently included in the prompt
[E] International day of non-violence – corrective action list?
June 11 [A] Lakshmi Vilas Bank
[B] Bandhan Bank
Q.316) What is India’s rank in the IMD [C] Indian Overseas Bank
World Digital Competitiveness Ranking [D] Standard Chartered Bank
2019? [E] Bank of Baroda
[A] 53
[B] 48 Q.321) What is the other name of the
[C] 14 green bonds?
[D] 23 [A] Climate Bond
[E] 44 [B] Eco Bond
[C] Organic Bond
Q.317) Which organization has developed [D] Masala Bond
the India’s first indigenous high [E] Green Collar Bond
temperature fuel cell?
[A] Council of Scientific and Industrial Q.322) Who has become the has become
research the first Indian and Asian to be appointed
[B] National Informatics Centre as the Chairman of the International Egg
[C] Department of Science and Commission?
Technology [A] Suresh Chitturi
[D] National Centre for Cell Science [B] Suman Chitturi
[E] Central Electronics Limited [C] Seema Chitturi
[D] Samuel Chitturi
Q.318) Recently, ISRO has initiated the [E] Shreshtha Chitturi
project NETRA to detect space hazards to
Indian satellites at a budget of Rs 400 Q.323) When is International Day for
crore? What does ‘N’ stand for? Universal Access to Information
[A] Nabelek observed?
[B] Narcissus [A] October 11
[C] Nexus [B] September 28
[D] Neutral [C] March 13
[E] Network [D] May 12
 162

[E] June 11 [D] Pandit Jasraj

[E] Hariprasad Chaurasia
Q.324) Which company has won the
United Nations Global Climate Action Q.329) Which country has launched the
Award in the ‘Climate Neutral Now’ coins in the denominations of 100, 1000
category? and 2500 in commemoration of 550th
[A] Tata Consultancy Services birth anniversary of Guru Nanak?
[B] Infosys [A] Bhutan
[C] Google [B] Bangladesh
[D] Apple [C] Myanmar
[E] Amazon [D] Nepal
[E] Bangladesh
Q.325) What is Deepak Punia’s rank in the
united world wrestling’s new ranking? Q.330) Which country has completed a
[A] 10 four-peat in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup
[B] 5 Division-A basketball tournament?
[C] 3 [A] South Korea
[D] 4 [B] Japan
[E] 1 [C] Philippines
[D] Russia
Q.326) With which country has India [E] Singapore
recently signed trade agreements worth
Rs 2,400 crore? Q.331) Who has won the men’s singles at
[A] Myanmar the BWF Korea Open Super 500
[B] Indonesia badminton tour?
[C] Vietnam [A] Chen Long
[D] Thailand [B] Shi Yuqi
[E] Singapore [C] Kento Momota
[D] Prannoy Kumar
Q.327) Which state has topped in the [E] Chen Yufei
larger state category in the NITI Aayog’s
School Education Quality Index 2019? Q.332) Which country has won the SAFF
[A] Chhattisgarh under-18 football championship?
[B] Telangana [A] China
[C] Maharashtra [B] Nepal
[D] Kerala [C] Bangladesh
[E] Karnataka [D] Mongolia
[E] India
Q.328) On whose name has an asteroid
been recently christened by International Q.333) Who has authored The Game of
Astronomical Union? Votes: Visual Media Politics and Elections
[A] Ravi Shankar in the Digital Era book?
[B] Amjad Ali Khan [A] Anupriya Sen
[C] Ali Akbar Khan [B] Salman Rushdie
 163

[C] Durjoy Dutta [D] Chhattisgarh

[D] Jerry Pinto [E] Rajasthan
[E] Farhat Basir Khan
Q.335) Where was the 7th annual World
Q.334) Which state(s) has the highest Hindu Economic Forum held?
number of adolescents who are either [A] Madhya Pradesh
obese or overweight, as per the first-ever [B] Karnataka
National Nutrition Survey? [C] Kerala
[A] Tamil Nadu [D] Assam
[B] Bihar [E] Maharashtra
[C] Madhya Pradesh

1 E 51 D 101 A 151 E 201 C 251 B 301 B

2 E 52 E 102 E 152 D 202 E 252 A 302 A
3 D 53 D 103 D 153 A 203 A 253 C 303 E
4 C 54 A 104 C 154 C 204 A 254 D 304 E
5 D 55 A 105 A 155 A 205 A 255 A 305 A
6 E 56 E 106 E 156 D 206 A 256 D 306 C
7 A 57 A 107 B 157 D 207 E 257 D 307 B
8 A 58 C 108 D 158 E 208 C 258 A 308 E
9 A 59 B 109 E 159 E 209 B 259 B 309 B
10 D 60 A 110 B 160 E 210 C 260 D 310 A
11 B 61 E 111 E 161 B 211 D 261 B 311 A
12 C 62 B 112 A 162 A 212 A 262 D 312 B
13 A 63 A 113 E 163 E 213 D 263 A 313 A
14 A 64 E 114 B 164 D 214 A 264 C 314 A
15 E 65 E 115 D 165 B 215 E 265 B 315 A
16 E 66 D 116 D 166 A 216 A 266 A 316 E
17 B 67 A 117 D 167 D 217 B 267 E 317 A
18 A 68 A 118 A 168 A 218 C 268 B 318 E
19 B 69 B 119 A 169 B 219 B 269 A 319 A
20 A 70 D 120 A 170 A 220 C 270 A 320 A
21 A 71 B 121 C 171 B 221 D 271 C 321 A
22 B 72 D 122 C 172 C 222 E 272 B 322 A
23 A 73 B 123 D 173 A 223 B 273 E 323 B
24 B 74 A 124 E 174 A 224 B 274 B 324 B
25 D 75 D 125 A 175 C 225 A 275 A 325 E
26 A 76 E 126 E 176 E 226 A 276 E 326 D
 164

27 E 77 C 127 A 177 B 227 A 277 B 327 D

28 B 78 A 128 D 178 C 228 B 278 A 328 D
29 E 79 A 129 E 179 A 229 B 279 D 329 D
30 C 80 A 130 D 180 B 230 B 280 C 330 B
31 A 81 C 131 A 181 A 231 D 281 C 331 C
32 A 82 D 132 D 182 E 232 E 282 C 332 E
33 A 83 E 133 A 183 D 233 C 283 A 333 E
34 C 84 E 134 E 184 B 234 C 284 A 334 A
35 A 85 D 135 D 185 A 235 A 285 A 335 E
36 E 86 D 136 D 186 E 236 E 286 B
37 D 87 B 137 E 187 A 237 B 287 C
38 C 88 B 138 E 188 A 238 A 288 B
39 B 89 A 139 B 189 A 239 A 289 A
40 D 90 A 140 A 190 B 240 A 290 D
41 A 91 B 141 E 191 E 241 A 291 A
42 A 92 A 142 C 192 B 242 B 292 D
43 C 93 C 143 E 193 C 243 C 293 B
44 D 94 A 144 E 194 D 244 A 294 B
45 A 95 C 145 A 195 E 245 D 295 D
46 D 96 A 146 C 196 A 246 D 296 A
47 E 97 D 147 A 197 D 247 E 297 E
48 A 98 A 148 A 198 A 248 A 298 B
49 B 99 D 149 D 199 C 249 A 299 D
50 C 100 B 150 A 200 A 250 E 300 E
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