Union government released The money was released directly into the

Rs. 18,000 crore under PM- accounts of over 9 crore farmers under PM
PM-
KISAN Scheme KISAN Scheme through the Direct Benefit
Transfer via video conferencing. The day, 25th
Led by Ministry of December, also marked the birth anniver
anniversary
Agriculture and Farmers of former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Welfare (Observed as Good Governance Day)
PM Modi launched the Social The scheme will cover the remaining one crore
Endeavour for Health and population that wasn’t covered under the
Telemedicine- SEHAT scheme Ayushman Bharat Scheme
in J&K
Operation Greens Scheme The ministry announced that a 50% transport
subsidy is being provided to 41 notified fruits
Led by Ministry of Food
and vegetables from the Himalayan and the
Processing Industries North Eastern states
Atma Nirbharat Bharat This will incentivise creation of new
Rozgar Yojana employment opportunities during COVID
COVID-19
recovery phase. The beneficiaries of the
scheme include employees in EPFO registered
establishments who were on monthly wages
less than Rs 15,000
Kisan Suryodaya Yojana
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually
launched Kisan Suryodaya Yojana in Gujarat,
under which, farmers will be able to avail of
power supply from 5 am to 9 pm

Mission Shakti
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath launched
the 'Mission Shakti' programme to ensure the
safety of women in the state. It was
implemented for six months till the 'Basant
Navratri' in April 2021

36
Vivad se Vishwas The direct tax scheme was announced in
Led by Ministry of Finance Budget 2020, for settling tax disputestes between
individuals and the income tax department.
Earlier, the scheme offered complete waiver
on interest and penalty to the taxpayers with a
full and final settlement of the dispute if the
scheme was availed by March 31, 2020, was
extended till 31 Dec 2020
Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) Implementation of the scheme is expected to
Led by Ministry of Jal Shakti benefit 8350 Gram Panchayats in 78 districts in
7 States. ATAL JAL will promote panchayat led
ground water management and behavioural
change with primary focus on demand side
management.
PAHAL scheme (Pratyaksh Under modified scheme, LPG consumer can
Hanstantrit Labh) receive subsidy in his bank account by Direct
Led by Ministry of Petroleum Benefit Transfer (DBT)
& Natural Gas
Ayushman Bharat Scheme The biggest health financing scheme in the
(National Health Protection world with an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh.
Scheme or NHPS) 1.5 lakh wellness centers will be opened across
Led by Union Government the country for about 55 crore beneficiaries
benefici
from 10 crore poor families
Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan 2.0 The scheme aims to link higher education
institutions with a set of at least five villages,
Led by Ministry of Education so that they can contribute to economic &
social betterment of village communities
mmunities
Expansion of Pradhan Mantri Government has set a target to provide 8 crore
Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) free LPG connections to poor families under
Led by Ministry of Petroleum Ujjwala scheme
and Natural Gas
PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas The scheme was launched in 2015 to ensure
Yojana) housing for all by 2022. The Union Ministry of
Housing & Urban Affairs announced that 30.76
Led by the Ministry of lakh houses for the urban poor have been
Housing and Urban Poverty sanctioned. 15.65 lakh houses es are at various
Alleviation stages of construction and 4.13 lakh houses
have been constructed

37
Saubhagya - Pradhan Mantri ●Its aim was to complete the electrification
Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana process by December 2018. The total outlay
of the project is Rs.16, 320 crore, while the
Revived by Ministry of Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) is Rs. 12,320
Power crore. The outlay for the rural households is
Rs. 14,025 crore while the GBS is Rs. 10,587
crore
AMRUT (Atal Mission for Providing basic services, including water
Rejuvenation and Urban supply, sewerage, urban transport & building
Transformation) of amenities in cities to improve quality of life.
It aims to transform 500 cities and towns into
Led By Ministry of Urban efficient urban living spaces over a period of
Development five years
PMUY (Pradhan Mantri Replacing the unclean cooking fuels mostly
Ujjwala Yojana) used in rural India with the clean and more
efficient LPG (Tagline – ‘Swachh Indhan, Behtar
Led by Ministry of Petroleum Jeevan’)
& Natural Gas Targets 5 crore LPG connections to be
distributed to BPL households over 3 yrs
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Replaced existing National Agricultural
Yojana (Crop insurance) Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified NAIS
(MNIAS)
Led by Ministry of Farmers will have to pay a uniform premium of
Agriculture & Farmers 2% for kharif crops, 1.5% for rabi crops, 5% for
Welfare (MoA&FW) annual commercial & horticultural crops
The remaining share of the premium will
continue to be borne equally by the Centre &
respective state governments
Sagarmala Project Transforming existing Ports into modern world
class ports. Integrating port development, the
Led by the Ministry of Industrial clusters & hinterland and efficient
Shipping evacuation systems through road, rail, inland
and coastal waterways
Namami Gange – National 231 projects have been launched under the
Mission for Clean Ganga Namami Gange programme. The idea is to
maintain minimum ecological flows in the river
Led by Ministry of water Ganga with the aim of ensuring water quality
resources and environmentally sustainable development

38
Skill India Aim to train 40 crore Indians in different skills
by 2022. It includes various initiatives like
Led by Ministry of Skill National Skill Development Mission, National
Development and Policy for Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship, 2015, Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) & the Skill Loan
scheme
PMYY (Pradhan
han Mantri Yuva Scheme will span over 5 years (2016--17 to
Yojana) for entrepreneurs 2020-21)
21) with a project cost of 500 crores
It will provide entrepreneurship education and
Led by Ministry of Skills training to over 7 lakh students in 5 years
Development & through 3,050 institutes (Include higher
Entrepreneurship (MSDE) learning schools, ITIs, schools and
entrepreneurship development centres)
Swasth Bachche, Swasth ● The programme is an initiative of Kendriya
Bharat Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to prepare a
physical
hysical Health & Fitness Profile Card for
more than 12 lakhs of Kendriya Vidyalaya
students
UJALA ● Energy Efficiency Services Limited ( EESL),
under the Ministry of Power, Government
of India has launched UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by
Affordable Lighting for All) Scheme in the
State of Melaka, Malaysia

Government News
News Narration
Shimla, Bengaluru In the Ease of Living Index 2020 released by the
ranked most livable Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Bengaluru was
cities ranked at the top in the category of million--plus
population cities, while Shimla was at number one in
the less than a million-population
million category

Haryana reserves jobs Haryana government approved a bill to offer 75%

for locals in the reservation in the private sector jobs to the state
private sector locals. The reservation will be applicable for the jobs
with a salary of up to Rs. 50,000 per month

39
India’s first Puga village of eastern Ladakh was identified as the
geothermal power hotspot of geothermal energy by the scientists. The
project set up in project will be completed in four phases
Ladakh

Samagra Shiksha Under this scheme, financial assistance is given to

scheme renamed after states and union territories to open and run
Netaji Subhas Chandra residential schools and hostels iin n hilly terrain, small
Bose and sparsely populated areas for children who are in
need of shelter and care. Preference is given to
educationally backward blocks, left wing extremism
affected districts, special focus districts & aspirational
districts identified by NITI Aayog

FASTag compulsory at The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH)

all toll plazas issued orders to make FASTag compulsory at all toll
plazas to promote fee payment using the digital
mode, reduce the waiting time and fuel consumption

Launch of e-Chhawani Via this portal, the residents of Cantonment areas can
portal register their complaints with respect to the civic
issues

Government to This year is the 125th Birth Anniversary year of Netaji

celebrate January 23 Subhas Chandra Bose and the government of India
has decided to celebrate it in a befitting manner at
as Parakram Diwas
the national and international level
every year
India Innovation Index Karnatak
Karnatakaa retained its position as the most innovative
2020: Karnataka major state in the index released by NITI Aayog. It was
followed by Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu. Bihar was
topped among major
ranked last in the index with 14.5 score
states, Delhi topped
among UT/ city states

40
Arunachal Pradesh to Vanadi
Vanadium is a high-value
value metal used to strengthen
be India’s prime titanium and steel. During an exploration by the
Vanadium producer Geological Survey of India, Arunachal Pradesh was
placed on the vanadium map and it is likely that the
geologists will soon find a deposit
PM Narendra Modi The virtual, flagship event helped in engaging and
inaugurated 16th connecting with the overseas citizens. The day
Pravasi Bharatiya commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from
Divas Convention South Africa
The website aims at providing relevant information on
The Union External major central and state government policies as well as
Affairs Minister, S on economic indicators
Jaishankar launched
the Economic
Diplomacy website

UMANG International Unified Mobile Application for New-age

New age Governance
App launched or UMANG completed its third year in 2020. On this
occasion, an international version of the App was
launched by Union Minister of Electronics and
Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad in
collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs
The award was conferred for undertaking innovative
Bihar was awarded digital initiatives amid the COVID-19
COVID 19 lockdown to
with the Digital India reach out to its citizens
Award 2020

Madhya Pradesh The law was passed to regulate and prohibit forced
Cabinet approved the religious conversions. The MP Freedom of Religion Bill
new anti-conversion 2020 introduced imprisonment of up to 2 to 10 years
law and a minimum fine of Rs 50,000 in case of forced and
unlawful conversion of a minor, woman or a SC/ST
Kerala government The collaboration will help in deepening and
and the UN women broadening the various pioneering initiatives for
joined hands to gender equality and women empowerment
establish India's first
gender data hub

41
 These corridors will be constructed in Uttar Pradesh,
India and the World Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
Bank signed the USD The loan carries a tenor of 18.5 years and a 5 years
500 million loan grace period
agreement for
development of green
national highway
corridors

The Ministry of sports To be held in Haryana, the event will hold Gatka,
included four Mallakhamb, Thang-Ta
Thang and Kalaripayattu
indigenous games in
Khelo India Youth
Games 2021
Nongpok Sekmai Uni
Union
on government selects best performing Police
(Manipur) was ranked Stations across the country every year to incentivize
as the best performing more effective functioning of police stations and bring
police station in the healthy competition among them
country
Odisha topped the The ranking from Praja Foundation was based on a
Urban Governance urban governance reforms study spanning over three
Index (UGI) 2020 years across 40 cities in 28 states and NCT of Delhi.
The UGI ranked states to indicate where they stand in
terms of real empowerment of local selfself-government
government
and grass root democracy
Submarine optical With an estimated cost of implementation of Rs. 1072
fibre cable crore including operational expenses for 5 years, the
connectivity between project would be funded by Universal Service
Kochi and Obligation Fund
Lakshadweep islands
Government will start The Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren
1000 Khelo India Rijiju mentioned that these centres will help retired
centres across the sports persons get employment or play some role in
country shaping the sports culture of the country
Lakshadweep was The UT was second after Sikkim & the first among UTs
declared as Organic to achieve the status of 100% organic region
Agricultural Area

42
India’s first Climate The knowledge portal will help in disseminating
Change knowledge knowledge among citizens about all the major steps
portal launched Government is taking at both national and
international levels to address climate change issues
National Portal for Developed under the Transgender Persons (Protection
Transgender persons of Rights) Rules, 2020, the portal will help the
launched transgender community to apply for identity card and
certificate online

WHO announced The new centre of traditional medicines will support

traditional medicine efforts of WHO to implement its strategy of
centre in India Traditional Medicines 2014
2014-23.
23. The strategy aims to
develop policies and action plans to strengthen the
role of traditional medicines in universal health
cover
coverage

Village water supply Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh

project based on solar Shekhawat launched the country’s first solar-based
solar
energy
Integrated Multi-Village
Multi Village Water Supply Project
(IMVWSP) in Arunachal Pradesh

Right to recall bill The Haryana Government passed a bill that provides a
passed in Haryana right to recall an elected member of Panchayati Raj
Institutions if they fail to perform their duties well.
The state government also provided 50% reservation
to women in these bodies

Renaming of Shipping The Ministry of Shipping was renamed to the Ministry

Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. PM Modi made the
announcement at the inaugural virtual event of Ro- Ro
Pax terminal at Surat’s Hazira
Launch of six Khelo The sports ministry approved six Khelo India Centres
India Centres of of Excellence in six different states, with an intent to
Excellence upgrade the existing sports infrastructure in all states
and Union Territories

43
 Country’s top food regulator, Food Safety and
India Trans Fat free by Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that recently
2022 notified trans fatty acid rules, aims to limit industrial
trans fat in all fats and oils to not more than 2% by
January, 2022, a year ahead of the target set by the
World Health Organization
Gujarat government decided to set up the world’s
World’s biggest zinc biggest zinc smelter project in Dosawada in Tapi
smelter project district of Gujarat

Uttar Pradesh secured the first place under PMPM-

PM-SVANidhi Scheme SVANidhi Scheme by approving the highest
highest number of
loans in the country. It is one of the most ambitious
schemes, meant to benefit street vendors in rural,
urban and pre-urban
pre areas
The Union Home The Union Government had amended the Unlawful
Ministry declared 18 Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 in August 2019, to
more individuals as include the provision of designating an individual as a
terrorists under the terrorist. Prior to this amendment, only organizations
Unlawful Activities could be designated as terrorist organizations
organizations
(Prevention) Act
Anemia Muky Bharat
rankings Haryana was ranked at the top in the Anemia Mukt
Bharat (AMB) Index among the 29 states in India

Panchayati Raj Law in The Union Cabinet approved the adoption of J&K
J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989. The decision has paved the
way for local body elections in the Union territory
Violent clashes The boundary issue between Assam and Mizoram
between Assam & dates back to the formation of Mizoram, first as a UT
Mizoram citizens over in January 1972 when it was separated from Assam,
50-old border dispute and later as a full
full-fledged state in 1987.

44
India's longest The state government of Assam inaugurated a 1.8 km
ropeway on ropeway across the river Brahmaputra and described
Brahmaputra to it as the coun
country’s longest river ropeway
opened for public in
Assam
Textiles Minister Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani launched the
launched Kasturi first
first-ever
ever brand for India’s premium cotton on the
Cotton brand and logo occasion of Second World Cotton Day on October 7,
2020. The Indian cotton will now be known to the
world by the name ‘Kasturi Cotton’.
India-Nepal Border Nepal released a new political map that claims
Dispute Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh of Uttarakhand
as part of Nepal’s territory. The area of Susta (West
Champaran
hamparan district, Bihar) is also in the new map.
India rejected the new map of Nepal saying that
Nepal's unilateral act involves artificial enlargement of
territories, not based on historical facts and evidence
HRD Ministry is now The renaming followed a suggestion provided in the
officially Ministry of latest draft of the New National Education Policy, NEP
Education as it gets 2020, prepared by K Kasturirangan
President’s nod
Centre launched Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) will be the first nationwide
online delivery-based online delivery-based
delivery based gas trading platform. It will act
gas trading platform, as a delivery-based
delivery based trading platform to deliver natural
Indian Gas Exchange gas. IGX launch aims to help the nation move towards
(IGX) free
free-market pricing of natural gas
Indore was awarded As per ranking announced by ministry of Housing and
the cleanest city in the Urban Affairs, Indore is the cleanest city of India (> 10
country in the Swachh Lakh population) for the fourth time in a row. The
Survekshan 2020 secon
second
d and third positions were held by Surat and
Navi Mumbai

45
India's first 'Kisan Rail' This is the first ever multi commodity train of Indian
flagged off from Nasik Railways that carries fruits like Pomegranate, Banana,
Grapes etc and vegetables like Capsicum,
Capsicum, Cauliflower
etc. The train will run on a weekly basis

The launch of Kisan Rail is a step towards achieving

the target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.
The train is in pursuance of an announcement made
by Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman iin n Union
Budget 2020
2020-21
‘Nisarg’ cyclone The cyclone led to mass destruction & property
created mass damage in coastal Maharashtra districts
destruction in coastal
Maharashtra
Senior Akali Dal leader The move was protest against proposed farm bill
& minister of Food legislations that will supposedly destroy the
Processing Industries agriculture sector & harm farmers’ interest in the long
Harsimrat Kaur Badal run
resigned from the
union cabinet
Haryana launched 15--20
20 lakh families with a monthly income below Rs
Mukhyamantri Parivar 15,000 will benefit from the scheme.
Samridhi Yojana to
provide financial Eligible beneficiaries will get Rs 500 per month, of
assistance of Rs. 6000 which Rs 330 will be paid as life insurance premium of
to families below the at least one member in the family falling in the age
poverty line (BPL) group of 18 to 50 years
Union Cabinet The NEP, app
approved
roved by the union cabinet, makes
approved the National sweeping reforms in school and higher education
Education Policy 2020 including teaching. Some of the biggest highlights of
the NEP 2020 are, 1) a single regulator for higher
education institutions, 2) multiple entry and exit
options in degree courses, 3) discontinuation of MPhil
programmes, 4) low stakes board exams, 5) common
entrance exams for universities.

46