SPOTLIGHTM O N T H L Y C U R R E N T A F F A I R S

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R B I G R A D E B 2 0 1 9S E B I G R A D E A 2 0 1 9N A B A R D G R A D E A 2 0 1 9

C O M P L E T E C O U R S E S :

FEBRUARY 2020 SPOTLIGHT

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FEBRUARY 2020

SPOTLIGHT WWW.ANUJJINDAL.IN

WHY OUR COURSE!

7) 1) Save Videos offline 8) 2) Downloadable &

printable PDFs 9) 3) Weekly Revision

Class - #2020Pledge 10) 4) Sectional Tests &

Comprehensive Mocks with All India Ranking System

11) 5) We Check Your English Papers English is the most scoring in Phase 2

12) 6) Video Series is available for FREE on YouTube Channel

TITLE PAGE

NATIONAL NEWS 03

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 65

BANKING AND ECONOMY 77

APPOINTMENTS 107

IMPORTANT DAYS 110

AWARDS 113

SPORTS 121

MISCELLANEOUS 129

QUESTION BANK 132

ANSWERS 171

NATIONAL NEWS

1. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has taken over the process of issuing and managing International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers of 15 digit from Mobile Standard Alliance of India (MSAI). • DoT will change the IMEI and rename it as “Indian Counterfeited Device Restriction”

(ICDR) to ban the import of fake IMEI numbers. • It has been prepared by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). • ICDR has been launched on the Central Equipment Identity Register’s (CEIR) web

portal. 2. According to the 9th annual Traffic Index report released by TomTom (Dutch navigation

and mapping company), India has 4 out of top 10 most congested cities in the world. • It covers 416 cities across 57 countries on 6 continents. • Parameter – free-flow travel times of all vehicles on the entire road network all time. • Bengaluru is at the top position.

3. Google has given $1 million grant to Internews (non-profit organization) for promoting

news literacy in India. (this is covered in Jan spotlight). 4. Andhra Pradesh has launched the ‘YSR Pension Kanuka’– a doorstep pension delivery –

scheme to deliver pension at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries aged 60 years. • Disabled people will get Rs 3,000 per month and people affected with Dialysis will

receive Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per month. 5. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that Ministry of Civil Aviation will

launch the Krishi Udan scheme to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products.

6. Indian Navy has conducted the exercise ‘Matla Abhiyaan’ (named after Matla River in West Bengal) in West Bengal to spread awareness about coastal security.

7. In 2019, Uttar Pradesh had launched the one product one district scheme to promote

MSME products to make UP a $1 trillion economy by 2024. • Under the scheme, every district of a state has been developed into a specialized

signature industry. 8. India and Maldives have signed five MoU for establishing the Addu Tourism zone in five

islands of Addu (Maldives) at a cost of $2.49 million. • Also, sixth MoU to set up a bottled water plant in Hoarafushi (Maldives) was also

signed. 9. Madhya Pradesh has organized the Amarkantak Narmada Mahotsav 2020 on the

occasion of Narmada Jayanthi. • During the Mahotsav, one day will be reserved for all women activities under the

theme of “Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao”. 10. Madhya Pradesh is at the first position in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Matru

Vandana Yojana, according to Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani. • Indore district has won the first position for better performance of the scheme. • In the category of state/UT with less than 1 crore population, Dadar and Nagar

Haveli has won 1st prize. Note: - the scheme is covered in ESI >> govt scheme>> Ministry of Women and Child Development document. 11. CSIR-CFTRI and APEDA have signed an MoU to set up a Liaison Office in Guwahati,

Assam to provide technical support to the food industries in the North East region. • CSIR-CFTRI stands for CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute. • APEDA stands for Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development

Authority. 12. Supreme Court has directed the states to set up ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ within four weeks

under the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 (the act was enforced in 2009). • Currently, Gram Nyayalayas are only functional in Kerala, Maharashtra and

Rajasthan.

13. Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) has developed a Classical Swine Fever (CSF) cell culture vaccine to treat the swine fever in pigs. • The CSF is one of the deadliest diseases of pigs causing a loss of Rs 400 crores to

India annually. • Pigs contribute 10% to the total meat production of India.

14. The expert panel, headed by N K Singh (Chairman of 15th Finance Commission), is

looking into ways to raise money for defence capital acquisition. • It is considering suggestion such as raising money through long-term defence bonds,

creating a Rs 25,000 crore special fund, monetizing the surplus land available with the armed forces.

• While a cess of 2-3% on income tax to purchase new weapons for defence is also one of the suggestion.

• Rs 1.15 lakh crore has been allotted to defence capital acquisition fund by the budget 2020.

15. Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh, has

chaired a meeting to fast-track the implementation of Ujh Multipurpose (National) Project. • Purpose: for enhanced utilization of waters of Eastern Rivers allotted to India as per

the Indus Water Treaty that presently goes across border unutilized. • Ujh river (flowing in Kathua district) is the major tributary of river Ravi in Jammu

and Kashmir. Flow of Ravi River (origin in Himachal Pradesh; destination in Pakistan):

About Indus Water Treaty: Signed – 1960 Purpose – Treaty Between India and Pakistan for utilisation of the waters of the Indus system of rivers.

16. President Ram Nath Kovind opened the annual Udyanotsav in Mughal garden in

Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

17. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana

(PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and suggested to create a digital platform for settlement of claims under the schemes. • PMJJBY is a life insurance and PMSBY is an accident insurance scheme launched in

2015. • PM also directed the Department of Financial Services to “revisit the criteria and

policy of the lien period” in both the policies. Note: Both the schemes are covered in detail in ESI >> Govt schemes >> Ministry of Finance document. 18. According to the Greenbone Networks (German Security Firm), nearly one million

medical files and 107 million related medical images of Indian patients have been leaked in India and are easily accessible on internet. • Doctors use Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) to store

medical images. DICOM use Pictures Archiving and Communications System (PACS) to store them.

• Maharashtra has topped in terms of medical data leak followed by Karnataka. • Data of around 120 million Indian patients were leaked and was freely available on

the internet. • The report classified countries based on 3 categories namely “good”, “bad” and

“ugly” based on the actions taken by government after the release of the 1st report in October 2019. India has been ranked second in the “ugly” category after USA.

19. International Sugar Conference was organized in Pune. 20. Rajasthan police and Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation have flagged off Mukti

caravan to create awareness about child trafficking. 21. GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) has signed a concession agreement

with Karnataka govt under the UDAN scheme to commission, operationalise and maintain the Bidar airport in North Karnataka. • Bidar will be connected with Bangalore.

Note: UDAN scheme is covered in ESI >> Govt scheme >> Ministry of Civil Aviation doc. 22. BOILER INDIA 2020 – an industrial expo – will be organized by Orangebeak Technologies

Pvt Ltd in association with Directorate of Steam Boilers (Maharashtra) in Pune. • Global India Business Forum is the association partner of the event.

23. India and South Korea have held a meeting to enhance bilateral security cooperation.

• Both countries exchanged a roadmap for Defence Industries Cooperation which seeks to promote investment in Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

• South Korea’s Defence Minister – Mr Jeong Kyeongdoo South Korean currency – South Korean won South Korean capital – Seoul

24. Department of Science and Technology has launched a scheme called “Sophisticated

Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI)” in September 2019. • Purpose: to enable academia, start-ups, manufacturing, industry and R&D labs to

access the science & technological instruments at one place. It also aims to reduce dependency on foreign sources.

• Govt has planned to set up five SATHI Centres every year for the next four years. • The govt will provide Rs 500 crores to 100 top-performing departments in

universities and IITs etc to improve their research facilities to global benchmarks. 25. IIT-Madras has developed an AI-technology to convert brain signals of speech-impaired

humans into language. 26. L&T MBDA Missile Systems’ has set up a missile integration facility at Defence

Industrial Corridor — Coimbatore (in Tamil Nadu). • L&T MBDA Missile Systems’ (Chairman – JD Patil) is a joint venture between L&T

and MBDA Systems which owns 49%. 27. India's biggest rural technical festival titled 'Antahpragnya 2020' was organized at Rajiv

Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies-Basar (RGUKT-Basar) in Telangana. • Theme: Spot and encourage rural tech innovators. • RGUKT is the first institute in India to implement block-chain technology. • The team of Antahpragnya, in collaboration with Society for Space Education,

Research and Development (SSERD), is organizing an Astrospace camp to create awareness about the career in the space.

28. India has organized the 4th East Asia Summit (EAS) Conference on Maritime Security

Cooperation in Chennai. • Organizer: Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with the Governments of

Australia and Indonesia.

• Knowledge Partners of the Conference: National Maritime Foundation and Research and Information System for Developing Countries.

• PM Modi had announced to host the EAS conference in India during the 14th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Bangkok in November 2019.

Fun Fact: The previous three EAS Conference on Maritime Security Cooperation were also held in India.

18 Members of EAS are:

29. Karnataka has launched ‘Janasevaka’ scheme in a few municipal corporation wards to

provide home delivery of various govt services like ratio cards, senior citizen identity and health cards. • The scheme has been launched under the Sakala program of Karnataka. Sakala was

launched to provide in-time delivery of government services to citizens. 30. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has partnered with Ministries of MSME, agriculture and

food processing along with NITI Aayog to stimulate innovation in various sector in India. • AIM will give demo sessions to these ministries and various stakeholders to help

them adopt innovative solution to increase their yield. 31. Union Cabinet has approved Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) Laws

(Amendment) Bill, 2020 to give the status of institute of national importance to 5 IITs in Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur. • It will allow IITs to issue Bachelor of Technology or Master of Technology or PhD

degree. 32. According to a report submitted by National Productivity Council (NPC), the application

of Soil Health Card scheme’s recommendations has led to a decline in the use of chemical fertiliser by 8-10% and increased the productivity by 5-6%.

Note: - Details of Soil Health Card Scheme has been covered in ESI >> Government scheme >> Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Part 2. 33. India and Norway have signed 4 MoU in the field of research and higher education.

Indian institute which signed the MoU

Norwegian institute which signed the MoU

Purpose

IIT-Delhi UiT, The Arctic University of Norway

for cooperation in fields such as bio-photonics, health and diagnostic tools, nanotechnology, water management and renewable energy

Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology

UiT, The Arctic University of Norway

to facilitate exchange of students and staff; and to consolidate joint efforts towards projects of national and EU area

IIT Jammu and IIT Mandi Norwegian University of Science and Technology

To jointly work in landslides, tunnels, water management, hydropower, project-based learning, student and researchers

‘Soil Health Card scheme'

‘Development of Model Villages’

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare has launched the ‘Development of Model Villages’ program in 2019-20 to promote soil testing with the help of farmers.

Under the scheme, one village in each block is being selected and the farmers and unemployed youth, up to 40 years, are being encourage to set up testing labs for ascertaining the quality of soil.

Soil Health Card scheme was launched in 2015 by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare to reduce the decline of soil nutrients.

Central/State govt will provide 75% of the cost of setting up the lab. Central govt has sanctioned 429 static labs, 102 new mobile labs, 8,752 mini labs, 1,562 village-level laboratories and strengthening of 800 existing labs

Under the Soil Health Card Scheme Phase-I (Years 2015 to 2017) 10.74 crore cards, while under the Phase-II (Years 2017 to 2019), 11.69 crore cards were given to farmers

mobility and cold region technologies

34. YSR Pension Kanuka (also known as 'Intivadhakey Pension' programme) has covered

90% of the 60 lakh pensioners with 6 days of its launch. • Andhra Pradesh govt launched this first of its kind scheme on February 1 to provide

doorstep delivery of pension at an outlay of Rs 1,320 crore. 35. According to the Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, West Bengal and

Tripura witnessed highest number of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries. • He cites NCRB’s Crime in India 2018 report to mention that West Bengal witnessed

the highest number of crimes by foreigners at 661 followed by Manipur. 36. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, has informed Rajya

Sabha that the LPG connection have reached 96.9% (27.5 crore) households as on January 1, 2020. • Out of this, 8 crore connections were made under PM Ujwala Yojana.

37. Justice Amitava Roy committee, formed by Supreme Court to suggest measures for

prison reforms, has submitted its report (300 page). 38. According to the World Cancer Report released by International Agency for Research

on Cancer (a specialized unit of WHO), 1 in 10 Indian will develop cancer during their life-time and 1 in 15 Indians will die of cancer. • Reason: “socio-economic inequalities” is a major cause for the rapidly increasing

burden of cancer in India. • Together, the six common types of cancer accounted for almost half (49%) of all new

cases in both men and women. • India accounts for about 1/5th of the global burden of cervical cancer. • According to WHO, the cancer cases in the world will rise by 60% by 2040. Low and

Middle-Income Countries will see an increase of 81% in new cancer cases if current trends continue.

• World Health Organization has also released the “Report on Cancer: Setting priorities, investing wisely and providing care for all” which provides measures to save 7 million lives from cancer.

• Tobacco is the biggest risk factor for cancer, with about 80% of the world’s smokers in low and middle-income countries.

• 64% of the world’s daily smokers live in 10 countries, and half of the world’s male smokers live in just three countries - China, India, and Indonesia.

39. Rajya Sabha committee chaired by Bhupender Yadav has presented its 15

recommendations on the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019. • Major recommendations – allow single woman (divorcee or widow) to conduct

surrogacy; increase insurance cover for surrogate mothers from 16 months to 36 months; delete the definition of infertility.

• Definition of infertility in the bill – “inability to conceive after 5 years of unprotected intercourse”.

40. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has finalized the Drugs and Magic Remedies

(Objectionable Advertisement) (Amendment) Bill 2020 which makes false advertisements punishable. • It increases the number of disorders and diseases (caused by faulty drugs and

cosmetics) in the list from 54 to 78. 41. First ever India-Central Asia Business Council has been organized in New Delhi to

promote trade and investment between India and Central Asian countries. • Under the India-Central Asia Dialogue, the governments have committed to create a

vibrant partnership. • 5 central Asian countries namely Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan

and Kyrgyz Republic along with India have joined the council. 42. 12th Bengaluru International Film Festival has started in India.

43. Russian Helicopters has signed a road map with Indo-Russian Helicopter Ltd (IRHL) for assembling the Ka-226T helicopters in India. • IRHL is a joint venture between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Russian Helicopters.

44. Indian Navy will get the delivery of 3rd Scorpene submarine named Karanj by Dec 2020.

• In 2005, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd and Naval Group got the project of manufacturing 6 Scorpene sub-marines by 2022.

• INS Kalvari (1st scorpene submarine) was commissioned in 2018 and INS Khanderi (2nd Scorpene submarine) was inducted in 2019.

45. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has announced to modernize

25 fishing harbours in India beginning with Nizampatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Thoppumpady in Kochi, Kerala. • Purpose: to increase the value of marine products.

46. DRDO's High Energy Materials Research Laboratory has signed an agreement with

Rosobornexport of Russia to develop Advanced Pyrotechnic Ignition Systems for missile propulsion.

47. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has organized the 22nd India

International Sea Food Show (one of Asia’s largest food fair) in Kochi, Kerala. • Theme: Blue Revolution: Beyond Production to Value Addition • MPEDA has set a target to reaching exports of marine products to $10 billion by

2022 from $6.7 billion in 2018-19. • MPEDA chairman K S Srinivas has suggested about a three-pronged strategy –

increase productivity, expand area under cultivation and diversification of species – for promoting the fisheries sector in India.

• India is currently the fourth largest producer of seafood in the world. 48. Andhra Pradesh govt will establish 18 Disha Police Stations in the state by the end of

February 2020 to counter the crimes against women. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 23RD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON E-GOVERNANCE A) Mumbai Declaration on e-Governance was adopted during the 23rd National

Conference on e-Governance that was held in Mumbai. • Theme of the conference: India 2020: Digital Transformation

• Organizers of the conference: Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Maharashtra govt and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

• Purpose: The declaration will help to improve the e-governance and service delivery systems in India to achieve a good rank in the UN’s E-Governance Development Index.

• Goals: The declaration has 10 goals, the Declaration seeks to take forward the roadmap for e-Governance outlined in the Shillong Declaration of 2019.

B) National E-Governance awards were also distributed during the conference:

Category Winner Gold awards for government process re-engineering for Digital Transformation

National Health Authority for Ayushman Bharat

Gold awards for citizen-centric delivery of services

Antyodaya Saral initiative of Department of IT of Haryana

Gold award for outstanding research on citizen-centric services

IIT Roorkee’s Satellite based agriculture information system

C) During the conference, the 1st National e-Governance Service Delivery Index

Assessment (NeSDA) was released by the Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension to assess states/UTs on the basis of delivery of e-governance services. • States were divided into four categories - Union territories, remaining states, north-

east and hill states and central government ministries websites. • 7 Parameters: accessibility, content availability, ease of use, information security &

privacy, end service delivery, integrated service delivery and status & request tracking.

o The parameters were covered under the six sectors. • 6 sectors are: -

• Rankings were given on two basis – first is the overall portals and second is the

service portals. Overall portals (Top rankers)

North East States and Hill States Himachal Pradesh Remaining States Kerala Union Territories Andaman and Nicobar

Islands Central Ministries Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

Service portals (Top rankers)

North East States and Hill States Nagaland Remaining States Haryana Union Territories Delhi Central Ministries Central Board of Direct Taxes (Ministry of Finance)

• Portals of Ministry of health & family welfare, and Ministry of human resource

development have emerged leaders across "all parameters". D) During the conference, it was announced to develop Mumbai as the fintech capital of

India. India Fintech Festival will also be held in Mumbai in March 2020. • According to Satej D. Patil (Minister for Information Technology of Maharashtra),

Maharashtra is the first state to have launched a fintech policy. 49. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced to pair up 20 best performing

smart cities with 20 least performing cities to work as “sister cities”. • The pairing has been done on the basis of culture and region. • Purpose: to improve the performance of cities under the Smart Cities Mission

(launched in 2015).

50. Union Cabinet has given exemption to Alliance Air (Air India’s subsidiary) from the ‘5/20

rule’ for operating international flights between India and Sri Lanka. • Under the 5/20 rule of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, an airline can conduct

international flight operations only when it has 5 years of experience and minimum 20 aircraft.

51. According to the government’s response to an RTI query, for every 100 anganwadi (or

day-care centre) beneficiaries in India, only 7 belong to urban areas.

52. Ministry of Defence has announced to create 10 more defence attaches posts to 10

different countries. • An Export Promotion and Investor Cell has been set up under the Department of

Defence Production to access and manage defence exports. 53. Ministry of Food Processing Industries has sanctioned 39 mega food parks and 298

Integrated Cold Chain Projects under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY).

About PMKSY: Launched – 2017 Ministry – Ministry of Food Processing Purpose – to create modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

Note: - details of the scheme has been covered under the ESI >> Govt scheme >> Ministry of Food Processing document 54. Sports Authority of India and Hockey India will establish High-Performance Centers in 7

places in India that are Karnataka, Delhi, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra, Jharkhand.

• Purpose: to train the young hockey players (14 to 24 years of age) to participate in 2024 and 2028 Olympic games.

55. Duff & Phelps has released the celebrity brand evaluation report for 2019, which ranks

Virat Kohli (with a 39% jump in his brand value) at the top position for a third consecutive time. • Akshay Kumar is at the 2nd position. • Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone are both at the 3rd position.

56. 5 Indian banks – State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Exim Bank &

Union Bank of India – and two Nepalese banks (Everest Bank and NABIL Bank) have provided a loan of NR 100 billion for the Arun-3 hydropower project (the largest Indian-backed project in Nepal). • It is being developed on the Arun River in Nepal. • India’s Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) is building it through its subsidiary SJVN Arun-

3 Power Development Company. • In 2008, SJVN had signed an MoU with the government of Nepal for execution of

project. 57. First train from North-east India to Bangladesh (Agartala- Akhaura route on the

Gangasagar-Nischintapur railway track) will be constructed by 2021. • The project is developed by IRCON International Ltd. • Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region of India is financing the project

for the Indian side and Ministry of External Affairs of India is funding the project for Bangladesh side.

• As part of the project, first transhipment yard of the Northeast Region will be developed in Nischintapur, Tripura.

58. India’s first glass floor suspension bridge will be built on river Ganga in Rishikesh

(Uttarakhand) to replace the Lakshman Jhula. 59. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has set a target to increase

exports of marine products to $15 billion in the next 5 years. • During 2018-19, the exports were $6.7 billion as per provisional figures.

60. Madhya Pradesh’s revenue department has signed an agreement with Survey of India

to use drones for mapping villages. • This is the first time, the state is using drones for mapping villages.

• Survey of India is the country’s national mapping agency under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

61. Ministry of HRD and UNESCO have signed an agreement in the field of education during

the visit of UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay in India. • Also, they signed the Operational Agreement extending the presence of Mahatma

Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) for a further period of 5 years.

• MGIEP is a New Delhi based UNESCO’s Category 1 Research Institute that focuses on SDG 4.7 (education for building peaceful and sustainable societies).

62. IIT-Hyderabad has found a molecule – “AIM-4” – to help in the treatment of

“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis” (a rare neurodegenerative disease that can lead to paralysis and death) known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”.

63. Jammu and Kashmir administration has renamed the Public Health Engineering and

Irrigation and Flood Control Department as the ‘Jal Shakti Department’. • J&K has also implemented the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide piped water

supply to all households in the UT by December 2021. • Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide the piped water supply to every households by

2024. 64. Uttar Pradesh govt has allotted 5 acres of land to the Sunni Central Waqf board for the

construction of mosque in Dhannipur village in Ayodhya. 65. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched two indices for the year 2019 for

cities – Municipality Performance Index and Ease of Living Index – which will be conducted during Feb 1-29, 2020. • Purpose: both these indices will assess the quality of life of citizens in 100 smart

cities and 14 other million plus cities. Municipality Performance Index 2019 Ease of Living Index 2019 Parameters: Five enablers – Service, Finance, Planning, Technology and Governance – which have been further divided into 20 sectors which will be evaluated across 100 indicators.

Parameters: It will assess the ease of living of citizens across three pillars – Quality of Life, Economic Ability and Sustainability which are further divided into 14 categories across 50 indicators.

- Purpose: to provide a holistic view of Indian cities and assess the services provided by

local bodies, the effectiveness of the administration, the results generated through these services in terms of the liveability within cities and, the citizen perception of these results.

- Citizen Perception Survey: For the first time, a Citizen Perception Survey is being conducted as part of the ease of living index (which carries 30% of the marks of the Ease of Living Index).

66. Hyderabad metro network has become the second largest metro network in India after

Delhi metro. • Hyderabad Metro Rail Project has been constructed by L&T and it has become the

world’s largest public-private partnership (PPP) project in the metro sector with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crores.

67. IIT-Madras and AIIMS- Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh) have signed an MoU for improving

the patient safety and providing quality healthcare. 68. Minister of Textiles has mentioned that the govt has released a total of Rs 6,700 crore

under the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) during 2015-16 to 2019-20.

About ATUFS: Implemented – 2016 Purpose – to improve the competitiveness of Indian textile sector by providing subsidies. Ministry – Minister of Textiles

69. According to a study conducted by the Centre for Wildlife Sanctuaries and Wildlife

Institute of India, population of leopards in India has decreased by 75-90% in India in the past 120 to 200 years. • The research has been published in PeerJ journal. • Leopards live in the Western Ghats, the Deccan plateau’s semi-arid region, the

Shivalik hill-region in north India and the Terai region along the Gangetic plains. • There is no dedicated census for the leopard in India. The leopard population was

ascertained during the tiger census 2014 was around 12,000 to 14,000.

70. Northern Coalfield Ltd (subsidiary of Coal India), in collaboration with IIT-Banaras Hindu University, has set up a Research and Development centre named as ‘SARAS’ (Science and Applied Research Alliance and Support) to increase the coal production. • World Confederation of Productivity Science seminar has been organized in New

Delhi. • The CMD of Northern Coalfield Ltd - Prabhat Kumar Sinha - has been elected as the

member of World Academy of Productivity Science for his significant contributions to the coal sector.

71. As part of the “Abhedya” project of the India Army, Major Anoop Mishra has developed

the world’s 1st bulletproof helmet that can an AK-47 bullet attack from a distance of less than 10 meters. • Indian Army’s College of Military Engineering (Pune) has also developed India’s first

and world’s cheapest gunshot locator named as ‘Parth’ to detect the exact location of the bullet from a distance of 400 meters.

• Mishra had also developed the sniper proof jacket. 72. Haryana has launched the Mukyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana at a budget of Rs 1500

crores to provide financial aid. • Financial assistance – Rs 6000 per annum along with a crop insurance. • Income eligibility – up to Rs 1.80 lakh and land holding should be less than 5 acres. • The amount of Rs 6000 can be used to pay premiums in various central govt

schemes. 73. Kerala govt has announced in its budget 2020-21 that 1,000 ‘Kudumbashree’ hotels will

provide subsidised meals at Rs 25. 74. Kaamya Karthikeyan (aged 12) from India has become the world’s youngest girl to

climb Mt Aconcagua (highest peak in Andes Mountain Range in South America). • By 2021, she aims to complete “Explorers Grand Slam” (campaign to summit 7

highest peaks of the world). 75. Tamil Nadu govt has announced Cauvery Delta as the Protected Special Agricultural

Zone where non-agricultural activities will not be allowed without govt permission. • Cauvery is an interstate river which originates in Karnataka and falls into Bay of

Bengal through Tamil Nadu.

76. Beti Bachao Beti Padho scheme had its anniversary on National Girl Day on January 24. The scheme was first launched in Haryana in January 2015. All India expansion of the scheme was done in 2018.

77. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has organized the “Ek Bharat Shreshth

Bharat Campaign” across India to build cultural harmony among states. About Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat: Launched – 2015 Ministry – Ministry of Human Resource Development is the nodal agency for implementing the program.

78. For the first time, Tripura has observed the Hornbill festival (which is observed by

Nagaland). • Purpose: - to conserve the striking forest bird “Hornbill” and to boost the livelihood

of the people through tourism. • Last month, the Barmura hill (in western Tripura), one of the biggest hill ranges of

Tripura was renamed as “Hathai Kotor” (meaning “big hill” in the tribal language Kokborok).

79. Uttarakhand and Ministry of Civil Aviation have launched the first-ever helicopter

services on the Sahastradhara-Gauchar-Chinyalisaur route under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (Regional connectivity scheme - UDAN). • Heritage Aviation private limited will operate the helicopter on this route.

Note:- the scheme has been covered in ESI folder >> govt scheme >> Ministry of Civil Aviation doc. 80. DRDO Chief G Satheesh and NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat have inaugurated EPluto

7G vehicle manufactured by Pure EV.

81. According to a report “Uncompensate Victims” compiled on the basis of RTI queries filed by 5 lawyers from 25 states and 7 UTs, only 82 trafficking victims have received relief in last 8 years (2011-19). • This is the 0.2% rate of compensation in proportion to the total number of survivors. • The report has been released by Sanjog organization. • State-wise: Delhi has the highest number of compensated survivors at 47. • In 2012, the govt created Nirbhaya Fund of Rs 1,000 crore which is currently used

for funding the Victim Compensation Scheme (to compensate survivors of rape, acid attack and trafficking).

• Reasons for low compensation rate: lack of awareness among victims, lack of initiative on the part of legal services authority etc.

82. Department of Science and Technology is drafting the mission to build a 50 Qubits

‘Quantum Computer’ indigenously at a cost of Rs 8000 crores in the next 4-5 years. • The quantum technology would significantly reduce the time taken in decoding

other systems and implementing commands. • The quantum technology stores data in bits – either 0 or 1 – whereas quantum

technology stores data in quantum bits (qubits) – i.e., both in 0 and 1 – which increases the speed of a computer manifold.

83. According to a study by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) named as ‘Missing

Women and Children in India’, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh (particularly Indore) have shown the highest number of missing women and children respectively in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. • The study is based on the Crime in India Report compiled by NCRB for the years

2016, 2017 and 2018. • In Madhya Pradesh, Indore showed the highest number of missing children. • City-wise: - Kolkata has the highest number of missing women during 2018. Mumbai

also witnessed the highest incidence of trafficking.

• West Bengal was second both in number of missing children and women from 2016-18.

84. India will host the BIMSTEC Disaster Management Drill 2020 in Bhuvneshwar, Odisha.

• BIMSTEC – Bay of Bengal initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

• BIMSTEC has seven members which are India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand.

85. Rajasthan govt has announced to set up one agro-processing unit of cooperative sector

in each district of the state to increase preservation and processing of agricultural produce. • For this purpose, a fund of Rs 500 crore has been created in Apex Cooperative Bank

by the state govt. • Additionally, the govt has also announced to sanction 25% higher crop loans during

the Kharif season w.e.f. April 1, 2020. 86. Department of Justice has celebrated the 1.5 lakh registrations under the Tele-law

initiative and an MoU was signed between CSC Academy and Capgemini. • Tele-law initiative, launched in 2017 by the Ministry of Law and Justice, aims to

provide pre-litigation advice to the needy people. The program is being implemented in collaboration with Common Service Centers.

• Till now, this scheme has been expanded to 115 Aspirational Districts in 100 days programme of the Central Government.

87. For the first time, Jerusalem-Mumbai Festival will be organized in Mumbai by the

Jerusalem municipality.

• Purpose: - to strengthen ties between India & Israel and create a platform for cooperation among artists, tourism, cinema. The festival also aims to provide youth with exposure to different cultures.

• Israeli film The “Mossad” (directed by Alon Gur Arye) will be screened at the event. 88. Indian Air Force has planned to phase out the Kiran Mk II fleet and replace it with an

intermediate jet trainer (IJT) which is developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

89. The Parliamentary Standing Committee, headed by Bhartruhari Mahtab, has submitted

its recommendations on reforming some of the provision of ‘Labour Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions of Workers’ to include unorganized workers under the aegis of the bill. • The committee has recommended to use ‘workers’ for everyone in the workforce to

safeguard against any of them being excluded from the benefits of the code. • The committee has given several recommendations apart from this.

90. Central govt is planning to roll out a National Action Plan for a ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’

(expected to be completed in this year) worth Rs 336 crore to curb the increasing drug abuse. • Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has identified a total of 272 worst affected districts

mostly located in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, and the North-east. • The prevalence of Opioid use in India is three times the global average. • The new policy would aim to scale up the treatment centres as well as trained

personnel.

• The national plan is based on the AIIMS first ever “National Survey on Extent and Substance Use in India” which was published in June 2019 (covered in Spotlight).

91. 5th edition of AJEYA WARRIOR 2020 - joint military exercise of Indian Army and United

Kingdom Army will be conducted at Salisbury Plains, UK. 92. Central govt is planning to declare all SC/ST as ‘backward’ to pave the way for their

reservation in promotion. • The govt is also planning to remove Article 16 (4A), introduced through the 77th

amendment act, which provides for reservation in promotion if the states feel SC/ST are not adequately represented.

93. Ministry of Coal has launched a web portal for rating the coal mines to ensure safe and

sustainable mining practices. • The mines that score from 91 to 100% will get 5 star, 81 to 90% 4 star, 71 to 80% 3

star, 61 to 70% 2 star, 41 to 60% 1 star and mines that score from 0 to 40% will get No star on the portal based on star rating policy of Coal Mines of India.

• Opencast Mines will be evaluated on 50 parameters and Underground Mines will be assessed on 47 parameters under 7 broad modules which are:

It is estimated that 8.5 lakh India inject drugs

4.6 lakh children and adults need help for inhalant

dependence

7.7 million Indians require help for

Opiod dependence

Against this rate of drug abuse, only 75% of the drug addicts who try

quitting it, did not receive any treatment

94. Haryana has launched the ‘Reading Mission- Haryana’ to inculcate reading habits

among students. 95. Gaurela-Pendra-Maewahi has been established as the 28th district of Chhattisgarh.

96. USA has approved to sell the Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS) to India

for $1.86 billion. • IADWS includes Air Defence Weapon System, AMRAAM Missiles among other things

to counter the threats posed by air attacks. 97. 6th edition of the Global Business Summit will be organized in New Delhi by Yes Bank

and the Economic Times. • Theme: - ‘Collaborate to create: Sustainable Growth in a Fractured World’.

98. Indian Army plans to procure over 2,000 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) from

domestic firms including both public and private. • The 3rd generation of ATGM missiles will replace thousands of Milan and Konours

missiles that are currently in service. 99. GMR Airports has signed a concession agreement with the GEK TERNA (Greek firm) to

develop and operate a new airport in Greece. 100. Ananth Technologies has become the first private aerospace firm in India to build

six satellites for foreign countries Sweden and France, in India. • CMD of Ananth – Subba Rao Pavuluri • Central govt had set up New Space India Ltd in 2019 to commercialize the ISRO’s

research and development work. 101. 3rd International Conference on Arbitration has been organized in New Delhi by the

Indian Council of Arbitration and FICCI. • The conference focussed on “Arbitration in the Era of Globalization”.

102. USA will monitor air quality in municipal locations across North India to help control

pollution level. • USA will distribute 58 low cost air quality monitors and 14 weather stations to the

Society for Indoor Environment, which will be installed in educational institutions. 103. United States Trade Representatives (USTR) has removed India and other nations

such as Brazil, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Africa and Argentina from its list of developing nations under its countervailing duty act (US-CVD Act). • Reason: - USA alleges that India and other nations mentioned above have a share of

more than 0.5% in the world merchandise trade and also a member of G20. • India’s share in the global exports was 1.67% in 2018. In global imports, the share

was 2.57%.

104. Punjab’s Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration has signed an

MoU with the National Institute of Smart Government for capacity building on e-government services in the state.

105. West Bengal govt has presented its budget for 2020-21, which grants Rs 2,500 crore

for the Bandhu Prakalpa scheme for providing a monthly pension of Rs 1000 to SCs who are above 60 years of age. • Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the Jal Johar Prakalpa pension scheme for STs.

According to USTR, if a country is a member of OECD, G20, or any other grouping classified as high income by the World Bank, then it is a developed country and not a developing

country.

As per the World Bank’s data, every country aforementioned has a per capita GNI below $12,375. Developing countries are

permitted up to 2% of export or production subsidies.

Implications – Now, it will become difficult for India to restore the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits.

In 2018, India exported goods worth $6.3 billion (as per USTR figures) to the US under the GSP, accounting for around 12.1%

of India’s total export to that country.

The average duty concession accruing to India because of GSP was almost $240 million in 2018.

• Under the Hasir Alo Scheme, no electricity bill will be charged from customers whose monthly consumption is less than 75 units.

• Rs 500 crore was allotted for the Chaa Sundari scheme for providing houses to tea garden workers.

106. Minister of Tourism informed Parliament that tourist arrivals in India and country’s

foreign exchange earnings from them grew at the slowest pace in a decade in 2019. • Around 10.89 million foreign tourists visited India in 2019 which is an increase of

3.1% against 5.2% growth in 2018. • Forex earning from tourists in 2019 grew 8.2% in 2019 against 9.6% in 2018. • In 2019, Bangladesh accounted for the highest number of foreign tourists arrivals at

21.37% followed by USA and UK respectively. 107. Supreme Court will convene an International Judicial Conference on “Judiciary and

the Changing World” in New Delhi. • During the International Judicial Conference 2020, the theme of 'Gender Just

World' has been introduced. • Representatives and heads of 22 countries, International Court of Justice and East

African court of justice are likely to participate. 108. Government has given approval to NTPC, REIL and EESL for setting up 2600 e-vehicle

charging stations in big cities within a year. • Actual sanctions of contracts will be given only after these PSUs will sign MoU for

lands. 109. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has set up an investment facility centre for

easing the process of investing in wind and solar energy projects. 110. 6th International Conference on Climate Services was held at the Indian Institute of

Tropical Meteorology, Pune (IITM). • Ministry of Earth Sciences is planning to conduct a ‘decadal forecast of climate’ to

ascertain a more accurate forecast. • The new climate forecast system would be explored as a research programme to be

taken up by the IITM along with collaboration from the Indian Meteorological Department and other entities.

111. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment has informed Lok Sabha that the number of people died by cleaning septic tanks and sewers has increased by 62% from 68 to 110 in 2019. • Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013

prohibits human employment as manual scavengers. • According to a National Survey was conducted in 194 districts in 18 states where

48,345 manual scavengers were identified till January 31, taking the total to 62,904. 112. A Supreme Court bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao has announced that an

individual cannot claim reservations in promotion as a fundamental right. • As per the judgement, a state is not bound to give promotion on the basis of

reservation and the court cannot issue a writ to the state govt for providing it. 113. Aam Aadmi Party has won 62 seats out of the 70 legislative assembly seats. Delhi

CM – Arvind Kejriwal. 114. Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has informed Parliament about the Pension to

Meritorious Sportspersons scheme that is providing a pension between Rs 12,000- Rs 20,000 to 627 sportspersons. • The sportspersons who have won medals in international or Paralympic events are

eligible for the lifelong pension under the scheme. 115. A group of ministers, headed by Rajnath Singh, will set up the threshold for deciding

the creamy layer criterion for OBCs. • The panel will decide on to increasing the income limit of Rs 8 lakh. It will also decide

whether there should be different criterion for classifying creamy layers in OBCs in rural and urban areas.

• Last time in 2017, the limit was raised to Rs 6 lakh. 116. National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (NICFS), in collaboration with

AIIMS, RML and other hospitals, has released a first of its kind study in India which requests for increasing the time collection for sperms from female genitals in cases of rape from the present 48 hours. • Reason: to avoid injustice to rape survivors. • The report has been submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

117. Union Cabinet has announced to include pending litigation in debt recovery

tribunals (DRT) in the Direct Tax Vivaad se Vishwas Bill, 2020.

• The disputes of search and seizures where the recovery is below Rs 5 crore can be taken in this scheme.

• Cabinet has also approved to infuse Rs 2500 crore into 3 PSU insurers – National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company and United General Insurance Company (which are also going to merge).

• Major Ports Authority Bill 2020 has also been approved to provide a greater operational autonomy to major ports in India. The bill will amend Major Ports Act, 1963.

• Cabinet has also upgraded some provisions of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Sri Lanka to strictly curb tax avoidance.

118. Odisha govt has formed the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes

(OSCBC) under the chairmanship of Justice Raghunath Biswal to protect the interest of OBCs in the state.

119. A technical committee headed by NITI Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar has been

formed to prepare an integrated social protection framework to reduce inequality and lift more and more people out of poverty.

120. A group on defence and internal security under the chairmanship of NK Singh has been formed for setting up a separate mechanism for funding internal defence and security. • Also, a separate fiscal committee will be formed with a few days to help the 15th

finance commission address its terms of reference. 121. President’s colour has been awarded to INS Shivaji (India’s premier naval training

center).

122. L&T will deliver the 1st high speed patrol boat built for Vietnam by September 2020. • In 2014, India has granted a $100 million line of credit to Vietnam under which 12

high speed patrol boats will be built by L&T for Vietnam. • In 2016, India had extended an LoC of $500 million to Vietnam in defence sector.

123. Government has notified Medical Devices Amendment Rules 2020 under which

medical devices (used for human treatment) will be considered as drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. • Now, registration of these devices will be mandatory.

124. World's largest cricket stadium – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium also known as

the Motera Cricket stadium – will be inaugurated in Ahmedabad by US President Donald Trump during his visit to India.

125. Ministry of Minority Affairs has organized 20th edition of the Hunar Haat was

organized in New Delhi on the theme of “Kaushal Ko Kaam”. • It aims to showcase the handmade indigenous products of master artisans and

craftsmen. • It is organized in different parts of the country and the next session will be organized

in Ranchi from 29th February – 8th March and in Chandigarh in March. 126. Central Government has renamed the National Institute of Financial Management

(NIFM) in Faridabad as “Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management” (AJNIFM).

127. “CLIMISHCON” – the international conference on changes in hydrological cycle,

ocean ecosystem, fisheries and food security due to global climate change has been organized in Kochi, Kerala. • Organizers – Department of Fisheries, Kerala and CUSAT’s School of Industries

Fisheries. 128. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will develop India’s largest air quality

monitoring network at 90 locations in Mumbai. 129. Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) has partnered with Zonal Cultural Centres of Ministry

of Culture to prepare the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). • The ministry is planning to launch the National Culture Mapping portal.

• SNA, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture is the nodal agency for the Scheme for ‘Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage and Diverse Cultural Traditions of India’.

130. Uttar Pradesh cabinet has approved the Ground Water Act-2020 to reduce the

depletion of ground water. • Through this act, online registration of submersible pumps has been made

mandatory. • Now, it has been made mandatory to install rainwater harvesting system in all

private and government schools and colleges. • People who would contaminate the groundwater will be punished.

131. Andhra Pradesh govt has signed an MoU with 11 agricultural institutions in India to

revolutionize the agriculture sector through technology and to increase farmers’ income by using organic and natural farming processes. • More than 11,000 Rythu Bharosa Kendras will be set up across the state by June

2020 to guide farmers. • Quality seed, fertiliser and pesticides will be made provided to the farmers through

centres. 132. Ministry of HRD and Ministry of Health have jointly launched the School Health

Ambassador Initiative under Ayushman Bharat. • The teachers will act as the School Health Ambassadors for children to provide

information about healthy habits. • The School Health Programme (SHP) under Ayushman Bharat was jointly launched

by Ministry of HRD and health in 2018. 133. National Water Conference was held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh to finalize the

guidelines of “Water Rights Act” or Right to Water Act. • After implementation of the act, MP will become the first state in India to

implement the Right to water act. 134. Union Cabinet has approved the Pesticide Management Bill, 2020 (to be tabled in

Parliament) for the benefit of farmers. • The bill will prevent the use of spurious pesticides and will regulate the sector by

fixing prices and set up an authority for regulating the sector. • It will replace the Insecticides Act, 1968.

• It provides for imprisonment of up to 5 years, up from 2 years at present, for pesticide companies for violating rules and regulations.

• Creating a corpus fund of Rs 50,000 crore to compensate farmers for pesticide-related crop failure.

• If the bill is cleared, farmers will receive compensation directly in their bank accounts linked to the fertiliser subsidy through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

135. Union Cabinet has also approved MoU signed between India and Iceland for

developing sustainable fisheries sector. This MoU was signed in Sept 2019. 136. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has received 55 Bhabha Kavach (India’s

lightest bullet-proof jacket developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre). 137. Puducherry has become the first UT to pass a resolution against the Citizenship

Amendment Act 2019, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register (NPR).

138. Ghaziabad police station (UP) has launched the “Operation Nakail” to prevent

harassment of passengers by auto-rickshaw drivers. 139. UP govt and eGov foundation of Bengaluru have signed an MoU for strengthen the

accounting systems of the govt and to implement the municipal financial accounting system.

140. INS Jamuna, under the commandment of Captain HA Hardas, has reached Colombo

to conduct the Joint Hydrographic Survey off the South West Coast of Sri Lanka. 141. BIMSTEC ‘Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking’ was held in New Delhi.

• Organizer: - Narcotics Control Bureau (operating under Ministry of Home Affairs). • 5th edition of the BIMSTEC summit will be held in Sri Lanka. • India has so far signed 26 bilateral agreements, 15 MoU and 2 security pacts with

other countries to fight the drug. 142. INS Dega (naval Dornier aircraft) has conducted an anti-hijack exercise at

Visakhapatnam Airport, Andhra Pradesh.

143. Ministry of External Affairs has announced to rename The Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra as Sushma Swaraj Bhawan and The Foreign Service Institute as Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service.

144. During the National Workshop on e-office held in New Delhi, the Centralized Public

Grievance Redress And Monitoring System reforms (CPGRAMS) were launched for quick redressal of grievances.

145. For the first time in India, a five-star hotel will be built above the railway tracks in

the Gandhinagar railway station in Gujarat. • Being built by Leela Hotel, the hotel is expected to be completed by Dec 2020.

146. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has informed that it received 38% more

notifications of Tuberculosis (TB) cases in 2019. • It is an increase from 17.36 lakhs in 2017 to 23.98 lakhs in 2019. • National Strategic Plan to eliminate TB was launched in 2017 to 2025. Govt aims to

reduce TB incidence up to 80% and mortality rate up to 90% by 2025 under this plan. 147. Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Shipping (Independent Charge),

Chemical, and Fertilizers has informed that as part of the Aarth-Ganga project, cargo volume on Ganga will be increased by 4 times with special focus on developing inland waterways. • Aarth-Ganga project aims to derive economic benefits from Ganga river basin in a

sustainable manner. • Almost 1/2 of the Indian population lives around Ganges River belt in which about

1/5th of all India’s freight originates and 1/3rd terminates in the states around Ganges Belt.

• As part of this project, National Waterway - 1 (NW-1) from Banaras (UP) to Haldia (West Bengal) will be strengthened.

• Ministry of Shipping is also developing Varanasi Freight Village and Sahibganj (Jharkhand) Industrial Cluster-cum-Logistics Park at the cost of Rs 200 crores to create synergy with Inland Waterways.

• India is allowing Nepal to use inland waterways, particularly NW-1 for transporting cargo under the Treaty for Transit of Cargo between India and Nepal.

148. Vice-President of Vietnam, Ms Dang Thai Ngoc Thinh visited India to hold bilateral

talks with the Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu. • Both countries launched direct flights between India & Vietnam. • An agreement to open a resident office of Voice of Vietnam in New Delhi was also

signed. • Vietnam is the chair of ASEAN for 2020.

149. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released a draft of the

Visionary Perspective Plan (2020-2030) to conserve ecosystems, habitats, avian diversity and landscapes of India. • According to the draft, there are 1,317 bird species in India. Out of these 72 are

endemic, 100 are threatened, 17 are critically endangered, 63 are vulnerable and 20 are endangered.

• Around 270 species (21% of avifauna) of birds fall under the “rare” category. Around 219 bird bio-diversity areas are under severe pressure generated by human activities.

• A total of 2,01,503 lakh wetlands spread across 2.25 hectares in India are under stress mainly due to agricultural run-offs and urbanization.

150. Ministry of MSME has launched “Apiary on Wheels” to transport beekeeping boxes

in an easy way. • Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched the concept as a part

of National Honey Mission (mission was launched in 2017). 151. Central Government has issued draft rules for setting up and operations of the

International Arbitration Centre in New Delhi under the New Delhi International Arbitration act, 2019.

• The new act amends the Arbitration and Conciliation act, 1996 to make Delhi an international arbitration centre to facilitate easy arbitration process.

152. India has announced to partially open the India’s poultry and dairy market for US

imports. • The tariff on Chicken legs will be cut from 100% to 25%. US negotiators want that

tariff cut to 10%. • On Dairy products, 5% tariff will be levied on selected item. • India is the world’s largest producer of milk. Opening the dairy market could have

negative repercussions for 80 million rural households. 153. First of its kind, National Organic Food Festival (to give an opportunity to women

entrepreneurs) will be organized in New Delhi by the Ministry of Food Processing to boost production of organic products. • Theme: Unleashing India’s Organic Market Potential • India is the world’s 9th largest agricultural organic market. India aims to increase of

the size of the organic sector to Rs 75,000 crores by 2025. • Organizers: - National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and

Management (NIFTEM) with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the Industry Partner.

154. Central govt has approved to set up 2 AIIMS institutes and 9 medical colleges in

Jammu and Kashmir under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). • PMSSY has been launched in 2006 to set up AIIMS like institutions and upgrade

Government medical college institutions to correct the regional imbalances in availability of medical services.

155. India and Portugal have signed 14 agreements in the field of culture, transport,

investment, industrial and intellectual property rights during the Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visit to India. • As part of the agreement on culture, India and Portugal will develop National

Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal, Gujarat. • Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has been chosen as the President of

European Council for 2021. 156. India’s first inter-city electric bus has been launched between Mumbai and Pune by

the Minister of Road Transport Nithin Gadkari.

157. A memorial of the Pulwama attack was inaugurated at the Lethpora camp, Pulwama, J&K.

158. Global Investors Summit 2020 will be held in Jammu and Kashmir in April. 159. Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat is planning to set up an first integrated tri-

service command for handling the air defence of India by June 2020. This command will be headed by an Air Marshal. • Western and the Eastern Command of the Indian Navy will be merged into a single

command, to be called the Peninsular Command. • Theatre commands will be completed by 2022.

160. South Central Railways zone has become India’s first railway zone to have 13

energy-neutral stations which can generate 100% electricity through renewable resources.

161. UDISE +, Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource

Development have released the ‘Gender Parity Index 2018-19’ (GPI). • It is a socioeconomic index usually designed to measure the relative access to

education of males and females and participation of girls in the school system. • GPI for the year 2018-19 at different levels of School Education is as under: -

Gender Parity Index (GPI) 2018-19 Particular Primary Upper

Primary Secondary Higher

Secondary Gender Parity

Index

1.03 1.12 1.04 1.04

• As per All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) Report 2018-19, there is an increase in Gender Parity Index in Higher Education across the country. It has increased during the last five years from 0.92 in 2014-15 to 1.0 in 2018-19.

162. Bihar govt has launched the ‘Pyaar ka Paudha’ initiative under the Jal Jeevan

Hariyali campaign to promote the practice of planting trees in the state. 163. Manipur has prepared a Rs 260-crore project to provide irrigation facilities by

pumping ground water and is awaiting the Centre’s approval. • The state has also launched the 'Anganphou Hunba' (Early Paddy Crop) programme

to provide irrigation water.

164. Naga tribes of Manipur celebrate the seed sowing festival known as ‘Lui-Ngai-Ni’. It

is the biggest festival of Naga community. • Theme – Oneness through Culture.

165. PM Narendra Modi has unveiled the 63 feet tall statue (made from Pancha Loha) of

Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay and also inaugurated Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre in Varanasi. It is the largest statue of Upadhyay in India. • PM Modi inaugurated more than 34 projects worth Rs 1000 crores in Varanasi.

166. Portugal’s President Mr Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has visited Goa and signed

various MoU in sectors like education, ship-building, water and sewage management. • Portugal will be the partner country of India at the Technology Submit 2020 to be

held in New Delhi. • Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has inaugurated the Chai-chai art work

exhibition at the National Museum in New Delhi during his visit to India. 167. 13th Asian Business and Social Investor Forum 2019-20 and the 4th Asia’s Greatest

Brands and Leaders 2019-20 event were organized in Bangkok, Thailand to promote investment in India and Asia. • AsiaOne Magazine & URS Media, in partnership with the Indo-Thai Chamber of

Commerce (ITCC), had organized a networking meet called ‘India-Thailand: Today, Tomorrow, Together’.

168. As per ISRO’s annual report, ISRO is planning to launch 10 earth observation

satellites, including first ever Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1, during 2020-21. • Apart from this, ISRO is also planning to launch 36 missions consisting of 6 Earth

Observation satellites. • It also plans to add 8 Earth Observation satellites in 2021-22.

169. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has launched “Yodhav” mobile app to curb the menace

of drug abuse in the state. 170. Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI – apex body

of Private Real Estate Developers Associations) has launched ‘Credai Awaas’ app to connect homebuyers with its member developers to purchase properties. • Credai President - Satish Magar

171. Haryana has announced rewards of Rs 6 crores for players who will win gold medals, Rs 4 crores for silver medallists and Rs 2.5 crores for bronze medallists at the Olympics Games under 'Haryana Physical Activities and Sports Policy-2015'.

172. Ambala City bus stand (in Haryana) has been renamed as the Sushma Swaraj Bus

Stand. 173. Punjab has launched the ‘Appreciate and Commend’ scheme for boosting the

confidence of police officers by awarding the best cops every month.

174. North India’s first bird ringing station for migratory birds will be established at Bhagalpur, Bihar. • It is India’s 4th state to have a bird ringing station after Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and

Orissa. • Bihar govt has signed an MoU with the Bombay Natural History Society for setting it

up. • Assam, Cambodia and Bihar are the only three breeding places of Greater Adjutant

bird in the world. 175. Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi) has become the 1st airport in India to

become completely free of single-use plastic usage, according to the Delhi International Airport’s information.

176. Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in India to implement the Performance

Regulation Act 2019 for the power department to provide timely and hassle-free service to electricity consumers. • Consumers will get compensation for delay in resolving their complaints by the

department. 177. Delhi Police has launched the “Himmat Plus app” at the Indira Gandhi International

airport, in association with Uber, to ensure the safety of the people travelling in cabs. 178. Central Government has renamed the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

(IDSA) after Manohar Parrikar (former defence minister and Goa CM) as the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

179. A Supreme Court bench led by DY Chandrachud has given permanent commission to

the women officer in the Army’s noncombat support units.

• Implication – it means that the women officers, inducted through short-service commission will now be able to serve longer than 10 years and get pension after retirement.

180. Ethnologue (research center for language intelligence) has mentioned that Hindi is

the 3rd most widely spoken language in the world with 615 million speakers. • Over 88% of people speak one of these languages as their native tongue, and many

hundreds of millions more speak them as second languages.

181. Government has set a target of doubling the milk processing capacity in India from

53.5 million tonnes to 108 million tonnes (MT) by 2025. • During the last 5 years, the milk production has grown by 6.4% from 146.3 million

MT in 2014-15 to 187.7 million MT in 2018-19. • Out of the total production of milk, about 54% is marketable surplus and remaining

46% is retained in villages for local consumption. • Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying is also working to intensify the Quality

Milk Programme for both cooperative and private sector with fund sharing basis. 182. All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has banned all the universities, govt

or private, from conducting both PGDM and MBA courses simultaneously in one universities and will have to choose either of the two. • AICTE is the regulator of technical and management education under the Ministry of

Human Resource Development.

Number of speakers in the world

Top 10 widelyspoken languages

183. Worldwide Educating for the Future Index (WEFFI) 2019 has been released by The Economist Intelligence Unit, which ranks countries based on their abilities to equip students with skill-based education. • The index and report are commissioned by the Yidan Prize Foundation. • It is the first comprehensive global index that focuses on the development of future-

oriented skills. The index concentrates on the 15-24 age band in 50 developed and developing economies.

• Parameters: - policy environment, teaching environment and overall socio-economic environment.

• Top Ranker – Finland at 1st place (overall score – 84.8) followed by Sweden at 2nd. • Bottom Ranker – Democratic Republic of Congo with overall 50th rank. • India’s Rank – 35th with a score of 53. In 2018, India was ranked 40th. • India’s growth has been attributed to the new education policy 2019 introduced by

the government. India’s Rank on 3 parameters in 2019

India’s scores on 3 parameters 2019 score 2018 score

41 policy environment 56.3 61.5 29 teaching environment 52.2 32.2 34 socio-economic environment 50.1 33.3

184. Andhra Pradesh’s government has launched the Nadu-Nedu scheme for

transforming the government hospitals in 3 years with a budget of Rs 15,337 crore. [the state govt had also launched the Nadu-Nedu scheme for transforming govt schools in Nov.] • The scheme will be implemented in three phases. • The state govt will open 16 new medical colleges and 16 new nursing colleges. • Also, the 3rd phase of Kanti Velegu scheme was launched to deliver free spectacles,

medicines and perform surgeries of eyes for free of cost for the needy till 31 July. [1st phase of YSR Kanti Velugu began on October 10, 2019]

185. Times Higher Education’s (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020

which ranks a total of 533 universities from 47 countries. • Out of the total 56 Indian universities, only 11 institutes from India were ranked

among top 100 universities. • Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore has been ranked at 16th position and

emerged as India’s top-ranked institution.

• For the first time, IIT-Ropar (at 63rd rank) and Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai (at 73rd rank) have been ranked for the first time in the rankings and both are in the top 100.

• Tsinghua University in China has been ranked at 1st place. Only China has more universities than India in the top 100 at 30.

• Countries were ranked on total 13 performance indicators.

186. India and Russia are set to cross $16 billion worth of defence deals including S-400

air defence systems, production of Kalashnikov rifles and Kamov Ka-226 helicopters. 187. According to an EY report, ‘Today for tomorrow: realising the potential of Life

Sciences 4.0’ which was released at BioAsia 2020 (Asia’s largest Life-sciences and Health-tech convention), the average drug manufacturing utilisation rate in India is roughly 75% across both active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and formulation production facilities. • The remaining 25% of the capacity is unused due to the inherent variability in

processes. • Indian pharma industry has a strong network of nearly 10,500 manufacturing sites. • On an average, 15-20% capacity can be realized through initiatives such as reducing

cycle time variability, quality check turn-around time, changeover, lead times, etc. • Globally, India is the largest provider of generic drugs and is also the supplier of over

50% of global demand for vaccines and 80% of global demand for antriretroviral drugs for AIDS.

• India is expected to capture about 8% of the global $62 billion biosimilar market by 2025.

188. Northeast frontier railway has constructed India’s tallest railway pier bridge as part

of 111 km Jiribam-Imphal railway project (to be completed by 2022) across the Makru river in Manipur.

189. Minister of Coal and Minister of Mines, Pralhad Joshi, has mentioned that India will

stop importing thermal coal from 2023-2024 during a two-day national workshop called ‘Chintan Shivir’ at kevada in Gujarat. • Coal India Ltd. (CIL) has a production target of achieving 1 billion tonnes by 2023-24. • CIL is also expected to generate 5 GW of solar power by 2023-24 and could diversify

into coal gasification with a target of 50 Million Tonnes by 2030. • Ministry of Coal has also announced to introduce a “Coal Minister's Award” soon to

recognize and appreciate best practices in coal production, productivity, safety, sustainability etc. by the coal companies.

190. 8th Ganga Kayak festival (a water sport) was held in Uttarakhand. 191. According to the 2nd Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2019-20

released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, total food grain production is likely to be 291.95 million tonnes (mt). • The estimated production is higher by 6.74 million tonnes than 285.21 million

tonnes production achieved during 2018-19. • In terms of average production of food grains in the last 5 years (2013-14 to 2017-

18), the production in 2019-20 is higher by 26.20 million tonnes. • Reason: - good monsoon.

Crops Production estimate (2019-20) Production (2018-19) Rice 117.47 mt 116.48 mt

Wheat 106.21 mt 103.60 mt Nutri / Coarse Cereals 45.24 mt 43.06 mt

Pulses 23.02 mt 22.08 mt Total 9 Oilseeds 34.19 mt 31.52 mt

Sugarcane 353.85 mt 405.4 mt Cotton 34.89 million bales 28.04 million bales

Jute and Mesta 9.81 million bales 9.82 million bales Maize 28.08 million tonnes 27.72 million tonnes

192. India and Myanmar have signed an MoU to facilitate regular passenger bus service between Imphal and Mandalay.

193. Minister for Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, has inaugurated

India’s Pavilion at the 25th GulFood 2020 exhibition held in Dubai, UAE. 194. Dr S. Jaishankar (Minister of External Affairs) has inaugurated the India pavilion at

the 70th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) held in Germany. • Dr Jaishankar also invited Berlinale participants to participate at the 51st India

International Film Festival to be celebrated in Goa in 2020. • Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, in collaboration with Confederation of

Indian Industry, is participating in Berlinale. 195. BAE systems in collaboration with Prismatic Ltd. has developed the Persistent High

Altitude Solar Aircraft (PHASA)- 35 which is a High Altitude Long Endurance vehicle (HALE) powered by solar energy. • It is the First ever long endurance solar-powered unmanned aircraft which has

successfully completed its maiden test flight. 196. Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami has announced to celebrate ‘State Girl

Child Protection Day’ on the birth anniversary of former CM Jayaram Jayalalithaa on February 24. • The state govt has also announced 5 schemes for the welfare of girl children

including Annadhanam scheme (free meals) in various temples. 197. Union cabinet has approved to upgrade the Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space

Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG) as the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics in Gandhinagar (Gujarat). • It will function under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

198. Union Cabinet has approved SEBI and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to sign

the updated Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) agreement. • The AIFMD agreement was signed in 2014.

199. Union Cabinet has approved the Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen)

to be implemented from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with a total budget of Rs 1.41 crores. • Open defecation free (ODF) campaign will be continued with focus on ODF Plus and

Solid & Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) will also be promoted.

• SLWM will be monitored based on the following four indicators – Plastic waste management, Bio-decomposed solid waste management (including animal waste management), Grey water management, Sewage sludge management.

• Fund sharing ratio: - States/UTs Funds sharing pattern

(Centre: state)

North-Eastern States and Himalayan States and UT of

J&K

90: 10

Other states 60: 40 Union territories 100: 00

200. Union Cabinet has approved the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

Regulation Bill, 2020 to keep in vitro fertilisation, embryo transfers and sperm banks in check. • It proposes a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh for indulging in sale/trafficking of embryo at the

first instance, and jail term of up to 12 years after that. 201. Union Cabinet has approved to create a 12-member “Technology Group” to advise

ministries, departments and PSUs on technology implementation. • The committee will be headed by Dr K Vijay Raghavan, principal scientific advisor to

PM Modi. 202. Union Cabinet has approved to constitute the 22nd Law Commission, which advises

the government on complex legal issues. • The law ministry will notify its new panel, which will have a three-year tenure. The

panel will have a full-time chairperson, 4 full-time members, and law and legislative secretaries in the law ministry as ex-officio members.

203. Nature Ranking Index-2020 has ranked Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR) at the 1st position followed by Indian Institute of science (IISC), Bangalore at 2nd position and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at 3rd position. • The index ranks institutions on the basis of total research output which the

institutions have carried out from December 01, 2018 to 30th November, 2019. • The index has ranked institutions on the basis of counts (C) – which means total

citations in numbers and a share percentage (SP) – means sharing percentage per article.

Institution Count SP Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

142 87.72

IISc 211 83.61 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

232 62.18

204. Cabinet Committee on Security has cleared the procurement of 24 MH-60R

Seahawk multi-role helicopters (also known as ‘Romeo’) worth $2.6 billion from USA for the Indian Navy. • Lockheed Martin (US-based company) will deliver the helicopters through the

foreign military sales (FMS) route of the US government. • The helicopters will take the position of Sea King helicopters, which were phased out

in 2000. 205. Indian Railways has launched the HRMS mobile app to allow the employees to see

the data related to their service. • The app has been developed by the Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS).

206. Indian Railways, in partnership with University of Birmingham, has launched the

‘Joint Masters programme in Railway Systems Engineering and Integration in academic year 2020-2021’ at National Rail Transportation Institute. • The initiative has been taken under the Centre of Excellence for Next Generation

Transportation Systems that had been set up by an MoU between the National Rail Transport Institute with the University of Birmingham (signed in 2019).

207. India’s first floating jetty (a landing stage at which boats can be docked) has been

launched on the banks of Mandovi river in Goa. • Also, an immigration facility has also been opened at a cruise terminal in Mormugao

Port in Vasco city, Goa.

208. Ministry of MSME has launched a National Level Awareness Programme (NLAP) 2020 from Feb 17 to Feb 28, 2020 to create awareness about the schemes and activities undertaken by the Ministry and its attached organisations amongst students of colleges and educational institutes. • The drive will also encourage students/youth to take up entrepreneurship as their

career. 209. Indian Army will get a new headquarters building to be known as 'Thal Sena

Bhawan' in New Delhi. • Navy, Air force and Army all have their headquarters in Delhi.

210. Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, has informed the Lok Sabha

about the progress of the “Jiyo Parsi scheme” which was launched in 2013 to stop the declining population of Parsi community. • He informed that Parsi population in India has increased by 233 since 2013. • Parsis (Zoroastrians) are a notified minority community under National Commission

of Minorities Act 1992. • Their population had declined from 1,14,000 in 1941 to 57,264 in 2011, as per

census data. 211. India’s first ever squat machine has been installed at Anand Vihar Railway Station in

Delhi by the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) to promote the central govt’s “Fit India” initiative.

212. First-ever Bharat-Bangla Paryatan Utsav (tourism festival) has been organized in

Agartala, Tripura. • Purpose: - to commemorate the contribution of Tripura in 1971 Bangladesh

liberation war and to boost the tourism sector of Tripura. 213. India and Sri Lanka have signed an MoU for up-gradation of infrastructure in 9

plantation schools for estate workers of Indian origin with the help of an Indian grant assistance of Rs 30 crores. • India’s overall commitment to Sri Lanka for development purpose is around $3.5

billion dollars, out of which $560 million dollars are in the form of grants. 214. Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has upgraded the

ASK-DISHA (Digital Interaction to Seek Help Anytime) chatbox in Hindi language.

• In order to solve the queries of passengers, IRCTC had launched ASKDISHA chatbox in 2018 in English language.

215. Odisha government has presented a Rs 1.5 Lakh crore paperless budget 2020-21,

which is also known as the ‘green budget’. • 'Samruddha Krishi Niti-2020' has been proposed in the state budget to increase

income of farmers in the state. • Odisha, has become the first state in the country to introduce the nutrition budget

document, climate budget document. • Odisha has become the first state in the country to introduce a strategic budget-

making process to improve budget credibility. 216. Union Territory of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir will be brought under the

Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). • Until the government sets up CAT in the UTs, CAT of Chandigarh will take the

responsibility of J&K and Ladakh. • Under the Article 323A, the central govt has the powers to establish CAT to solve the

disputes of persons in public services. 217. Ministry of Textiles has organized “Kala Kumbh” exhibition to promote geographical

indication handicrafts in various cities. • These exhibitions are sponsored by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts.

218. Minister of Agriculture has announced that the government will launch the ‘Tilhan

Mission’ to make India self-reliant in oilseed production. 219. NITI Aayog will organize the Sustainable Development Goals Conclave 2020:

Partnerships, Cooperation and Development of North Eastern states in Guwahati, Assam. • Purpose: SDG localization in the north eastern region.

220. India and Norway have signed a Letter of Intent to develop a new framework for

collaboration on Integrated Ocean Management and Research. • ‘India-Norway Task Force on Blue Economy for Sustainable Development’ also held

their 3rd meeting in New Delhi. • The Task Force was launched jointly in 2019 to develop and follow up joint initiatives

between the two countries in the field of ocean management. Other discussions between India and Norway: -

Note:- Montreal Protocol has been covered in detail in ESI >> Growth and Development section >> Environment Convention and Treaties. 221. Government will set up a Consumer Protection Authority to implement the

Consumer Protection Act, 2019 w.e.f., April 2020. 222. Maharashtra govt has decreed to destroy the Thai Mangur (also known as Thai

Catfish/ African Mangur/foreign Mangur) fish breeding centres because of the unhygienic cultivation of fishes.

223. 4th anniversary of the Shyama Mukherji Rurban Mission was observed. It was

launched in February 2016 by Ministry of Rural Development. • Theme of the celebrations – Aatma Gaon ki , Suvidha Sheher Ki.

Note: - details of the scheme is covered in ESI >> govt scheme >> Ministry of rural development doc. 224. Union cabinet has proposed changes in the PM Fasal Bima Yojana and the

“Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme” (RWBCIS). • RWBCIS was launched in 2016, administered by Minister of Agriculture, to provide

insurance cover to farmers against the potential financial loss. Changes proposed under the schemes: -

India and Norway have decided that 2020s will be a decade of rapid action on climate and environment.

India and Norway decided to jointly work in the field of ocean plastic litter and plastic pollution.

India and Norway ministers discussed Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol was implemented in 2016 in Kigali (capital of Rwanda) to phase out the Hydro-fluoro-carbons (HFCs). India has recently phased out hydro-chloro-fluoro-carbon (HCFC 141-b).

India and Norway will cooperate on the implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001) and minimise the marine litter.

Note:- PM Fasal Bima Yojana is covered in ESI folder >> Govt schemes >> PM Fasal Bima Yojana PDF. 225. Union Cabinet has increase the interest subvention under the Dairy Processing and

Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) scheme to 2.5% from 2% per annum. • Total outlay of the scheme – Rs 11,184 crore • Funding period – FY19 to FY23 (earlier the period was FY18 to FY20) • Repayment period – extended up to 2030-31 with spill over to first quarter of the

2031-32. • Previous Outlay – Union Budget 2017-18, had announced DIDF scheme with an

outlay of Rs 10,881 crore for the period from 2017-18 to 2028-29. • Altogether 37 sub-projects have been submitted with estimated cost of Rs.4458

crore to promote the dairy sector to benefit about 95 lakh milk producers in about 50,000 villages.

• Milk drying capacity will be increased to 210 metric tonnes per day. 28,000 bulk milk coolers will also be established.

226. Telangana govt, Software Technology Park of India and the Ministry of Electronics and IT have jointly set up first incubation centre of India for firms focused in the VFX, AI, gaming technologies in Hyderabad. • IMAGE Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad has signed MoU with 5 partners including

International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad for providing training to the start-ups.

Insurance of crops has been made voluntary while states will have the flexibility to select any or many of additional risk covers such as localised calamity, mid-season adversity and post-harvest loss.

Central Subsidy under PM Fasal Bima Yojana and RWBCIS will be limited for premium rates up to 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops

Districts having 50% or more irrigated area will be considered as irrigated area/district in both PMFBY and RWBCIS.

Central govt's share in Premium Subsidy to be increased to 90% for North Eastern States from the existing 50:50 for both PMFBY & RWBCIS.

At least 3% provisioning of the total allocation for the Scheme will be made by Central govt and Implementing State Governments for administrative expenses.

Allocation of business to insurance companies will be for 3 years.

Enrolment in both the schemes has been made voluntary for all the farmers. Earlier, the loane farmers had to enrol in the scheme mandatorily.

227. Ministry of Skills development is preparing a roadmap to make India - the skills

capital of the world. [all the schemes mentioned below have been covered in detail in ESI >> Govt scheme >> Ministry of Skill Development’s doc]

228. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will organize the first-ever

summit on Artificial Intelligence - ‘RAISE 2020’ (Responsible AI For Social Empowerment 2020) in New Delhi from April 11-12. • Purpose: - to exchange ideas to use AI for social empowerment, inclusion and

transformation. • Govt has also launched the AI-Start up Challenge and the website of Raise 2020

event. 229. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, the central govt has

disbursed Rs 50,850 crore to farmers under the PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) scheme. • Total budgetary allocation for the scheme for 2019-20 was Rs 75,000 crores. • The scheme was launched in February 2019 with retrospective effect from

December 2018 to provide income support to all landholding farmers’ families. • In June 2019, the scheme has been extended to all farmers. • As per the estimates of the Agriculture Census 2015-16, the total number of

beneficiaries covered under the scheme is about 14 crore.

PMKVY

scheme

• PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana – launched 2016 to provide skilling to 10

million people for four years (2016-20) with an outlay of Rs.

12,000 crore.

• UPDATE - 6.9 million people have been trained since 2016.

SANKALP

• It stands for Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for

Livelihood (SANKALP).

• Launched in 2017 to boost Skill India Mission. It aims at providing

market relevant training to youth across the country.

STRIVE

• It stands for Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement

(STRIVE).

• Launched in 2017. Both SANKALP AND STRIVE are World Bank

funded programs.

GOVT SCHEMES FOR SKILL ENHANCEMENT

Note: - the scheme has been covered in detail in the ESI >> Govt schemes >> Govt schemes 2019 PDF. 230. Government has planned to increase the sales of tribal products to Rs 10,000 crores

in the next 3 years from Rs 300 crore last year. • ‘Go-tribal campaign’ was launched in June 2019 to promote tribal products.

231. Geological Survey of India (GSI) has declared that gold deposits of 160 kg have been

extracted in Sonbhadra district (in Son Pahadi and Hardi areas) of Uttar Pradesh. 232. World's largest airport-based 'Export Cold Zone' has been set up in Mumbai airport

(which is run by a joint venture between Airports Authority of India and GVK). • Purpose: - for processing and storage of agro and pharma products. • It can hold over 700 tonnes of cargo at one time with a combined annual capacity of

5.25 lakh tonnes. • Mumbai airport is the first airport in India and the 3rd in Asia to obtain "IATA CEIV

Pharma" accreditation. IATA CEIV:

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has created the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma), to help

pharmaceutical organizations and the entire air cargo supply chain to achieve excellence in handling pharmaceuticals.

233. India has assumed the Presidency of Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild

Animals (CMS) for the next three years. • As the president of CMS, India will focus more towards conservation of Central Asian

Flyway, which passes through India. • There are three Asian flyways - West Pacific Flyway, East Asian-Australasian Flyway,

and the Central Asian Flyway, stretching across 22 countries. • India’s National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-2031) has also emphasised the necessity

of conserving globally threatened migratory birds and their critical habitats along the flyways.

• Giraffe has become extinct in 7 African countries. Now, only 1 lakh giraffes are left across the African continent.

234. Andhra Pradesh has launched 'Jagananna Vasthi Deevena' scheme to provide

financial assistance to over 11 lakh students who are pursuing higher education after 12th.

• Total Rs 2,300 crore would be distributed to all students (of A.P. who are pursuing higher education) in two instalments, in February and July every year. The amount will be directly credited into the bank accounts of the students' mothers.

• Purpose: - to improve the gross enrolment ratio in higher education, which is just 23% in the state right now.

Courses Amount per student in each instalment

ITI Rs 10,000

polytechnic students Rs 15,000

Under-graduates and post-graduates Rs 20,000 each

235. National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) has released its first advance estimate

for “Rabi” cereal crop production for 2019-20. • NBHC is an Indian commodity and collateral management company.

236. During Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister – Sveinung Rotevatn’s visit to

India, both countries have agreed to jointly exert pressure on all countries for quick climate action.

237. India will install body scanners at 84 airports by March 2020 to detect threats which

metal detectors cannot. 238. National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) has released its final advance estimate

for “Kharif” crop production for 2019-20.

• Total oilseeds production will be 16.2 million metric tonnes, which is 23.78% less than the last year production of 21.2 million metric tonnes.

• Production of most of the crops are expected to decline except cotton (which is expected to increase 3.28% over the last year) and jowar (which is expected to increase 1.07% over the last year).

• Total production of kharif crops for 2019-20 will fall by 17% to 484.8 million metric tonnes (MMT) from 589.6 MMT in 2018-19.

Note: - Rice production is 93.7 MMT. 239. Maharashtra govt has announced to withdraw Rs 10,000 crore from its contingency

fund to implement the Jyotiba Phule farmer loan waiver scheme (launched in 2019). • Presently, the contingency fund is of Rs 150 crore which will now be increased by Rs

10,000 crore, taking the total size of the fund to Rs 10,150 crore. • The scheme, which provides a loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers, will be

implemented from February 22 to March 5. • The state cabinet has also announced to conduct health check-up of schoolchildren

under the National Child Health program which is a component of the National Health Program (launched in 2005).

240. India has proposed to include 10 wetlands in the Ramsar Convention (1971).

• Haryana and Uttarakhand will get their first Ramsar Sites if the proposal is accepted.

• Two wetlands in bird sanctuaries in Sultanpur and Bhindawas in Haryana have been considered for the first time for Ramsar accreditation.

• Lonar from Maharashtra, which is a unique wetland and the only crater lake in India, is also being proposed for Ramsar accreditation.

241. Red Throated Thrush and Plumbeous Water Redstart are the two new bird species

that have been found in Ladakh for the first time during the Great Backyard Bird count. • The bird count exercise was undertaken by the Wildlife Conservation and Birds Club

of Ladakh. 242. Central govt has formed a Special Task Force to study the issue of minimum age of

girls entering motherhood and suggest measures to improve it. • In 1978, the govt has raised the marriageable age of girls from 15 to 18 by amending

the Sharda Act, 1929. 243. Rajasthan govt, in its budget for 2020-21, has proposed to create a Nirogi Rajasthan

Management fund of Rs 100 crore to make Rajasthan a disease-free state. • The budget proposes to establish a Board of Investment to grant investment

approvals at one platform. • Also, Nehru Child Protection Fund will be established for protecting child rights, stop

human trafficking and child labour besides checking adulteration. Fast-track courts will also be established to resolve these cases.

• Rajasthan, in its budget, announced Saturdays to be ‘no- (school) bag’ days for children.

• Rajasthan CM - Ashok Gehlot. 244. In a meeting of RBI officials with Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, RBI

highlighted the inefficient implementation of the PM-Kisan Sammna Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan).

Signed in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran.

Headquarters - Gland, Switzerland at the HQ

of IUCNSecretary General -

Martha Rojas Urrego

Over 170 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention and over

2,000 designated sites covering over 20 crore

hectares have been recognized under it.Ra

msa

r Con

vent

ion

Mem

bers of Ramsar

• RBI highlighted that the scheme’s benefits are not reaching to the tillers. • Govt has so far spend Rs 55,000 crores out of the budgeted Rs 75,000 crore in the

2019-20 financial year. • The scheme, which was launched in 2019, has so far covered around 9 crore

farmers. • Orissa has managed to efficiently reach agri-workers by opening the scheme for all.

Note: - the scheme is covered in ESI >> Govt scheme 2019 document. 245. Haryana govt has announced to celebrate ‘2020’ as the ‘Sushashan Sankalp Varsh’

(year of good governance). 246. National Human Rights Commission (Chairperson – H.L. Dattu) has asked all State

Human Rights Commission to join the common portal – HRC Net – to avoid duplication of complaints.

247. US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a fact

sheet on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA), raising concerns over CAA. • Rankings – USCIRF ranked India as a Tier 2 country in terms of religious freedom (the

second poorest ranking group) and China as a Tier 1 ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (the category that fares poorest in terms of religious freedoms).

About UNCIRF: - Launched – through the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). Purpose – USCIRF is the first of its kind independent commission in the world that monitors countries on basis of freedom of religion or belief. Headquarters – USA Chair – Tony Perkins (term ending in May 2020)

248. According to data compiled by the CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF) – the nodal agency appointed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to manage CHILD helpline 1098 – 3 lakh cases of children seeking help were reported in 2018-19. • Total number of calls in 2018-19 was 62 lakh, out of which 17% calls were made for

reporting child abuse. • Out of the total abuse cases, 13% reported sexual abuse, 37% of the complaints

reported child marriage, and 27% were about physical abuse. 249. According to the IQAir company’s report ‘World Air Quality Report 2019’,

Ghaziabad (UP) is the world’s most polluted city in 2019. • 21 of the world's 30 most polluted cities are in India. The report ranked cities on the

basis of PM 2.5 pollutants (which includes pollutants such as sulfate, nitrates and black carbon).

• In 2019, India had launched the National Air Quality Program (NAQP) to reduce air pollution by 30% in 102 cities by 2024.

• National level of air pollution decreased by 20% in 2019 with 98% of cities experiencing improvement.

• On average, India exceeds the WHO’s target for annual PM 2.5 exposure by 500%. • CEO of IQAir – Frank Hammes

250. Prashant Kishor (Poll Strategist and a former member of the Janata Dal (United)) has

launched “Baat Bihar Ki” campaign to ensure that Bihar is counted among the top 10 states in India. • The campaign aims to connect 10 million youth in the next 100 days to develop

Bihar.

1. Ghaziabad2. Hotan (China)3. Gujranwala (Pak)4. Faisalabad (Pak)5. Delhi

1. Bangladesh2. Pakistan, 3. Mongolia 4. Afghanistan5. India

Top

5 m

ost p

ollu

ted

citie

s ran

k-w

iseTop 5 m

ost plluted countries rank-w

ise

251. According to environmentalists, Arunachal Pradesh government’s East-West

Industrial Corridor (being built in the state to connect West Kameng district with Manmao) will impact the species in the Nadampha National Park (India’s easternmost tiger reserve) and Pakke Tiger Reserve in the state. • This corridor will be a threat to the adjoining Nameri Tiger Reserve in Assam as well.

252. Justice Dharmadhikari Committee (1-man committee) was set up to ensure fairness

in allocation of power sector employees between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under the A.P. Reorganization Act, 2014.

253. ISRO will launch India’s first Earth imaging satellite in a geostationary orbit – GISAT

1 – on GSLV launcher named F10 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. • GSLV stands for Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.

254. Maharashtra Assembly has passed the ‘Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and

Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020’ to make teaching of Marathi language compulsory in classes 1-10 in all schools starting from 2020-21. • Violating institutions will be punished with Rs 1 lakh penalty.

255. Bihar’s Education Minister K N Verma had launched "Unnayan Bihar" scheme in

2019 to provide quality education in schools with the application of technology. • Now, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has announced to launch an awareness drive against

pornography in schools under Unnayan scheme. • In order to promote higher education after 12th, Bihar had launched “Bihar Student

Credit Card Scheme” (BSCCS) in 2016 to provide education loans to poor students. • BSCCS intends to boost the gross enrolment ratio to 30% in 5 years.

256. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched its 3rd

corporate passenger train – Kashi Mahakal Express between Varanasi (UP) and Indore (MP) – after two Tejas Express trains between New Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad. • The train, which connects three Jyotirlingas, also has a seat reserved for lord Shiva.

257. IIT-Palakkad has announced to set up a top-class Centre For Research And

Education In Data Science on its campus at Kanjikode.

• Also, IIT-Ropar has launched a Post Graduate Program in Data Science, in collaboration with Canada-India Centre for Excellence at Carleton University, Canada and International School of Engineering (India) for Senior and Middle Management roles.

258. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change will organize the 13th

Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. • Theme of COP 13 – Migratory species Connect the Planet and Together We

Welcome Them Home • Mascot of COP 13 – Great Indian Bustard • India has been appointed the Chair of the conference. CMS is the first biodiversity

summit organized in India. • India has started 2020 as the “Super year for Nature and Biodiversity” at the COP

13 of UN’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) to meet the 21 targets of SDGs.

• 2021-2030 is the UN’s Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. • For the first time, animal culture — studying the social behaviour of animals — has

been linked to the conservation of animals at the COP 13. • CMS Ambassadors Program was re-launched to promote conservation of migratory

animals. Ambassadors: - Terrestrial - Ian Redmond OBE (conservationist)

Avian - Sacha Dench (environmentalist)

Aquatic - Randeep Hooda (Bollywood actor and environmentalist)

About the Conference:

ª UN’s Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), also known as the Bonn Convention, aims to conserve terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory animals and their habitats.

ª As of November 1, 2019, CMS has 130 Parties. ª Secretariat – Bonn, Germany ª Signed on – Adopted in 1979 and entered in to force in 1983.

• During the conference, discussion on Gobi Bear, Persian Leopard and Urials were

also held.

• First ever State of India’s Birds report 2020 has been released during the COP 13. • Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal Florican have been classified as

"endangered migratory species" by the CMS COP-13.

Gobi Bear (aka Mazalaai in Mongolia) - It is the only bear in the world that lives in desert.Its only habitat is Great Gobi Desert of Mongolia.It is red-listed by Mongolian Redbook of Endangered Species and by the Zoological Society of London

Persian Leopard (aka Caucasian leopard) - is the largest leopard native to the Caucasus region (mountain range), southern Turkmenistan, parts of western Afghanistan and northern Iraq.Persian leopard is the largest cat in western Asia (after Asiatic lion and Caspian tiger disappeared), however it faces a high threat of extinction itself.

Urial - It is a wild sheep with long legs and relatively small horns. It is native to central Asia.

The population of Indian peafowl has risen sharply in the last decade.52% species showed a sharp decline.

The greatest decline was of raptors (which hunt prey and also includes vultures), migratory shorebirds, and habitat specialists, among others.

The findings were combined with the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and 101 species were categorised as “high concern”, 319 as “moderate concern” and 442 into “low concern”.

Out of the species categorised as high concern, 26% are classified globally by IUCN as “least concern”.

5)

Contrary to assumptions, the population of the house sparrow had stabilised though it is declining in major cities.

7)

The report assesses the status of 867 Indian birds.

The report is based on the data collected from the eBird India platform which is a part of theglobal ‘eBird’ platform, housed in Cornell University.

1) 2)

3) 4)

6)

259. Madhya Pradesh has become the India’s first state to launch the unified vehicle registration card. Both cards will have a QR code. • MP has become the 2nd state in India to launch unified driving license (1st state was

Uttar Pradesh) that will have all information about the driver. • In 2019, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had directed to bring uniformity

in driving licenses and vehicle registration cards across the country. 260. Indian Air Force and the British Royal Air Force have started the 5th edition of

Exercise Indradhanush at Hindan Air Force Station (Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh). • Theme: - ‘Base Defence and Force Protection’ • India and UK Navies conduct Konkan exercise and Armies conduct Ajeya Warrior.

261. According to 'Catch Them Moving' report by Knight Frank India, Indira Gandhi

International Airport (New Delhi) has the highest duty-free revenue per passenger at $10 to 11 per passenger in India. • The share non-aeronautical revenue of the airport is 70% (against the global average

of 40%). Out of this 70%, retail, food and beverage, and duty free components contribute 34%.

• Upcoming Jewar International Airport in Uttar Pradesh will add significant value and volume to Delhi's transit retail market.

• Delhi is the only Indian city to feature in world's top 10 business metro rails. • Delhi Metro has the lowest percentage share of non-fare box revenue at 12% when

compared to London and Hong Kong. 262. ISRO and Xiaomi have partnered to bring NavIC (Navigation with Indian

Constellation) technology on Xiaomi’s smartphones. 263. Union Cabinet has announced that the Department of Public Enterprise’s guidelines

will not be applicable on India Ports Global Ltd (IPGL) for a period of 5 years to develop Chabahar port in Iran at a faster rate. • In 2016, India and Iran signed the agreement to develop the port which is India’s first

overseas port for strategic purposes. • In 2018, India and Iran signed another agreement to lease Shahid Beheshti Port

(Phase 1 of Chabahar port) to IPGL for conducting interim operation on the port. • Chabahar port consists of two port complexes – Shahid Kalantari port and Shahid

Beheshti port.

264. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed the National Technical Textiles Mission for a budget of Rs 1,480 crore for 2020-21 to 2023-24. • Purpose: - to reduce imports of technical textiles in India. • The mission will help the industry take advantage of the growing demand in the

domestic market.

265. Government has abolished the anti-dumping duty on PTA (a chemical important for

textile fibres and yarns). 266. Union Cabinet has agreed to form a joint working group on petroleum with

Myanmar to enhance trade in this area, during President of Myanmar - U Win Myint’s visit to India. • India and Myanmar signed an MoU to deepen energy cooperation in refining,

stockpiling, blending and retail. • Both nations signed 10 agreements out of which 4 were aimed at ensuring better

development of Rakhine state of Myanmar. • In 2019, India agreed to provide 250 prefabricated houses and relief material for

displaced persons in northern Rakhine. • Both countries will increase the progress of 12 development projects under the

Mekong-Ganga Cooperation mechanism.

Current Rate

India's imports of technical textiles - $16

billion every year.

India accounts for only 6% of the total $250

billion worth of global market

Currently, market penetration of technical

textiles rate is low in India in a range of 5%-10% against

the level of 30-70% in developed countries

Target

growth rate of technical textiles to 15-20% per year by

2024.

Increasing total size of domestic market at

$40-50 billion by 2024

Out of the total budget, Rs 1,000 crores will be used to

promote research and development in the technical

textile field.

267. Cabinet has also cleared the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2020 which promotes

altruistic surrogacy and bans commercial one. 268. ‘Access to Nutrition Spotlight Index 2020’, released by Access to Nutrition Initiative

(a not-for-profit organisation), assesses companies on the basis of their efforts for improving nutrition. • First rankers - Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Nestle India. • PepsiCo (US based company) is the 2nd ranker. • A total of 16 food and beverage manufacturers were evaluated for policies,

practices and performance related to improving nutrition in their products. • All the 16 companies improved their score from 3 to 4.2 on 10 since the 1st and last

rankings released in 2016. 269. India and US signed three MoU, during US President Donald Trump’s first visit to

India, in the field of safety of medical products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) access in India, and mental health. • Mutual trade between the India-US is worth $150 billion annually. • India signed deal to acquire six AH-64E Apache helicopters from USA for $800

million. In 2015, Indian ordered to procure 22 Apache from USA.

Mekong-Ganga

Cooperation

Signed in 2000 at Lao PDR

Signed by India and 5 ASEAN

countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar,

Thailand and Vietnam)

To expedite cooperation

between these countries in

tourism, culture, education,

transport and communications

Ganga and the Mekong are civilizational

rivers.

Mekong passes through –

Vietnam, China, Myanmar (Burma),

Thailand, Laos, Cambodia

• Both countries decided to strengthen the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership to deepen defence and security cooperation.

Note: - ExxonMobil is a global company with group’s head office located in USA. 270. Celebrations of Losar Festival – Tibetan New Year – were held in Himachal Pradesh. 271. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), State Program Management Group-

Uttarakhand (SPMG-UK) and Indorama Charitable Trust (ICT) signed a tripartite MoU to develop the Ghat at Badrinath and Ghats and Crematoria at Gangotri in Uttarakhand at a total cost of 26.64 Crore. • The MoU is a step towards the govt’s initiative of ‘Har Kaam Desh Ke Naam’. • The MoU will be effective for a duration of 7 years.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 11TH DEFEXPO 2020: - Held in Lucknow, UP Theme- ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’

A. For the first time, India-Africa defence conclave was conducted during the Defexpo where a joint declaration – Lucknow Declaration – to fight terrorism and preserve maritime security was adopted by India and several African countries. o The declaration mentioned to strengthen UN Counter-terrorism mechanism.

B. India has signed 200 agreements including 71 MoU and transfer of technologies

agreements during a ceremony called ‘Bandhan’.

•Central Drugs Standard Control Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration signed the MoU.

•Purpose - to help in capacity building•Currently, US is unhappy with the price regulations on medical devices in India

and has indicated that such regulations hamper the introduction of innovative devices.

MoU on medical products

•Signed by ExxonMobil India LNG Ltd. (HQ-US), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), and Chart Energy & Chemicals (US) to expand LNG gas access in India by boosting transportation

•ExxonMobil will supply gas while Chart will help create “virtual pipeline systems” to deliver LNG by road, rail, and waterways to areas not connected by physical pipelines.

MoU on LNG

•Signed between Indian department of health and family welfare and the department of health and human services of USA.

MoU on Mental Health

o Uttar Pradesh has signed 23 MoU of worth Rs 50,000 crores.

C. PM Narendra Modi has announced to increase the exports of defence goods to $5 billion (about Rs 35,000 crore) in the next 5 years.

v Some important MoU signed during the DefExpo: -

i. Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and UK-India Business Council

(UKIBC) have signed an MoU to strengthen partnership between Aerospace and Defence sector of both countries.

ii. 5th edition of India-Russia Military Industrial Conference was held alongside DefExpo.

iii. 14 MoU were signed between Indian and Russian companies under the ‘Make in India’ initiative to manufacture the defence products.

iv. HAL has signed an MoU with Israel Aerospace Industries and Dynamatic Technologies Ltd for manufacturing and marketing IAI’s unmanned aerial vehicles for Indian customers.

v. HAL signed MoU with IIT Kanpur for providing logistic support to the Institution’s ‘Cloud Seeding’ projects through the Do-228 aircrafts.

vi. HAL has signed an MoU with Rosoboronexport (Russian company) to export spare parts and services to countries for which license has been given to HAL.

vii. Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has signed a tripartite MoU with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) and Elbit Systems for customizing Elbit’s Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) according to the needs of Indian Navy.

viii. Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) has launched Amogha-3 (anti-tank guided missile) and Varunastra (anti-submarine torpedo), manufactured by BDL with the help of DRDO.

ix. DRDO has started developing a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a strike range of 200 km, known as ‘Pranash’.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) at the University of Pennsylvania has released the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report which ranks world’s top think tanks. • Parameters – think tank’s leadership, staff reputation, quality and reputation of the

research and analysis produced, ability to recruit and retain elite scholars, analysts, academic performance, reputation, the impact of a think-tank’s research and programs on policymakers and reputation with policymakers.

Other details:

2. World’s largest solar telescope – Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST)– has

produced its first ever high resolution image of sun. • It is located in Hawaiian island of Maui.

3. Maldives has become the 54th member of Commonwealth of Nations.

• Commonwealth Secretary-General: Patricia Scotland • Commonwealth of Nations – formed in 1931 • Maldives President – Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

4. NASA has decommissioned its Spitzer Space Telescope (one of the greatest

observatories of NASA). • It was launched in 2003.

Total Number Of Global Think-tanks Assessed In This Report Are 176.

2019 Think Tank of the Year in the World –Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

(United States)

Raisina Dialogue (curated by ORF) is ranked as the 7th best conference inthe report (up from 12th position).Syama Prasad Mookerjee ResearchFoundation was the highest-rankedIndian think tank with a politicalparty affiliation at 31st position

India has the second-largest number of thinktanks at 509. USA has thehighest number at 1,871

India’s think tank rank –Observer Research Foundation(ORF) is ranked at 27th position(up from the 118th position in

2018).

Among non-US think tanksglobally, ORF was ranked at 15thposition and 3rd among theThink Tanks in the region –China, India, Japan and South

Korea

5. Mo O'Brien (aged 60) has become the first deaf person in the world (of either gender) to row Atlantic ocean.

6. WHO has released a report which mentions that cancer cases in the middle and low

income countries would increase by 81% by 2040. • For high-income countries, it might rise by 60% by 2040. • High-income countries have, through better care and prevention, reduced the

cancer mortality by 20% between 2000 and 2015. While, low income countries could reduce it by just 5%.

• WHO suggested that an investment of $25 billion over the next decade could save 7 million lives from cancer.

7. Bhutan has passed the 'Tourism Levy and Exemption Bill of Bhutan 2020' to end the

free-entry of tourists from India, Bangladesh and Maldives. • As part of the policy, tourists from these countries will have to pay a Sustainable

Development Fee of Rs 1200 ($17) and a permit processing fee. • Earlier, tourists from India, Bangladesh and the Maldives didn't pay any fees or carry

visa. 8. Pakistan Parliament has passed a resolution urging India to revoke its decision of

abrogating Article 370 of the constitution. • The resolution was passed on February 5, which is observed as the Kashmir

Solidarity Day in Pakistan every year. 9. US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has released a report on

pneumonia on the side lines of the First-Ever Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia held in Barcelona, Spain (in January).

About India About World A) In India, a total of 14% (approx. 1.27

lakh) children under-5 years die due to pneumonia. 50% of the cases were recorded from northern India

A) Globally, 9 million children U-5 will die in a decade because of pneumonia, if prevention is not strengthened

B) India aims to reduce the pneumonia mortality rate from 5 per 1,000 live births, at present, to less than 3 by 2025

B) In 2019, more than 8 lakh children died because of pneumonia U-5 every year

- C) 6.3 million children U-5 are expected to die due to pneumonia from 2020-2030

- D) Highest number of deaths – Nigeria (1.4 million), India (880,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC- 350,000) and Ethiopia (280,000)

- E) Johns Hopkins University model – Increasing pneumonia prevention services can save 3.2 million children U-5 years. It would also prevent 5.7 million extra child deaths from other major childhood diseases at the same time.

- F) Outdoor air pollution causes 17.5% of under-5 pneumonia deaths among children U-5 worldwide

- G) Indoor pollution contributes to an additional 29.4% (1.95 lakh) deaths

10. Somalia has declared a national emergency to tackle the menace of locusts. It has

become the first country in East African region to declare an emergency over the infestation. • Pakistan has also declared national emergency to tackle the locusts destroying

crops.

11. UAE has discovered a new natural gas field - Jebel Ali gas field - containing 80 trillion standard cubic feet of gas in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. • Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Dubai Supply Authority will develop the

shallow gas. 12. US Senate has acquitted President Donald Trump from impeachment in the case of

Ukraine call controversy. 13. Bangladesh, India and Nepal (BBIN countries) have signed an MoU to implement the

BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement to regulate personal, passenger and cargo vehicular traffic. • BBIN countries are Bangladesh, India, Nepal with Bhutan. • The BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement was signed in 2015 but Bhutan could not ratify

it. • Asian development Bank is funding the BBIN Motor Vehicular Agreement.

14. Britain’s Prince Charles has disclosed a new Children’s protection fund for India as part of British Asian Trust. • He also announced Katy Perry (American singer) as the new ambassador for the

British Asian Trust Children’s Protection Fund for India. • British Asian Trust had been working with business, government and civil society, to

remove child labour as part of the Child Labour Free Jaipur Initiative. • British Asian Trust is chaired by Manoj Badale.

15. USA has launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance consisting of 27-nations

to protect and preserve the religious freedom of people across the world. • Reason: More than eight in ten people in the world live in a place where they cannot

practice their religion freely. • Poland will host the next ministerial in Warsaw in July 2020 to take this alliance

forward. 16. During the UN Security Council meeting in New York, UN has provided $30 million to

Syria for conducting humanitarian work in its Idlib province. • UN’s Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

– Mark Lowcock About Syria: Capital: Damascus Currency: Syrian pound

17. WHO has mentioned that treatment of the victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

can cause $1.4 billion per year globally. • Globally, 200 million women and girls undergo FGM. • Many countries spend about 10% of their total health expenditure annually on

treatment of FGM. In some Central Asia or African countries, the expenditure is up to 30%.

18. US-based Global Innovation Policy Centre has released the 8th edition of its

‘International Intellectual Property Index’ 2020. • Title of the report – “Art of the Possible” • Total Countries – 53 • Top Ranker – USA (95.28% score) • Bottom Ranker – Venezuela (24.06% score) • India’s Rank – 40 (38.46% score). India’s score is 19.23 out of 50. In 2019, India was

ranked at 36th position.

Top 5 economies

India score change

Parameters of the index: - Total 50 indicators were used in this index (including 5 new indicators and 2 additions to existing indicators). These indicators were classified into 9 categories.

19. MOOCLab’s Business School Rankings 2020 measures the performance of top business

schools which are offering open online courses on 3 major MOOC platforms – Coursera, edX and Futurelearn.

The indicators are classified in 9 categories:

1) patents; 2) copyrights,

3) trademarks; 4) design rights,

5) enforcement; 6) System efficiency

7) ratification of international treaties;

8) trade secrets;

9)commercialization of IP assets

5 new indicators are:

Plant variety protection, term of

protection

Membership of the International Convention for

the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, act of

1991

IP-intensive industries, national economic

impact analysis

Membership of the Convention on

Cybercrime, 2001

The Hague Agreement Concerning the

International Registration of Industrial Designs

Two additions to the existing indicators

Patent Cooperation Treaty (Added to

Indicator 46)

Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the

International Registration of Marks (Added to Indicator 45)

• Parameters – School’s performance across the number of MOOCs provided; facilities of learning pathways; provision of credit-granting credentials; school’s teaching quality; provision of MOOC-based degrees.

• Total – 16 business schools • Top Rankers – HEC Paris, France at 1st position, Wharton School of the University of

Pennsylvania, USA at 2nd position, IIM-Bengaluru, Karnataka at 3rd. 20. African Union Summit was organized in Addis Ababa (capital city of Ethiopia) on the

theme of “Silencing the Guns” to counter terrorism. • South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken over the chair of African Union

from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. • Recently, 50 African countries have signed Lucknow Declaration with India to

counter terrorism. About AU: Formed – 2002 HQ – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Members – 55 countries

21. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (Iranian Army) has launched “Raad-500”, a short-range

ballistic missile. • Raad is equipped with ‘Zoheir’ engine.

22. Mastercard has been allowed to set up a bank card clearing business in China as part of

the Phase 1 of the US-China trade deal.

23. According to the World Bank’s data, 44% adults (more than 2 billion) worldwide are obese or overweight and over 70% of them live in low and middle income countries. • In the category of children U-5, 79% of the obese children live in middle income

countries and 10% live in low and 11% live in high income countries. • In the category of children aged 5-19, 73% of the obese children live in middle

income countries and 9% live in low and 18% live in high income countries. • In the category of adults above 20 years, 71% of the obese children live in middle

income countries and 4% live in low and 25% live in high income countries. 24. According to the first-ever report released by the Centre for Research on Energy and

Clean Air (CREA) and Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the global cost of air pollution caused by fossil fuels is $8 billion a day which is a 3.3% of the world’s economic output.

• It is the first report assessing the global cost of air pollution specifically from burning oil, gas and coal.

• China, USA and India bear the highest costs of air pollution from fossil fuels at $900 billion, $600 billion and $150 billion per year.

• Air pollution causes 4.5 million premature deaths each year around the globe, including 1.8 million in China and a million in India.

• As per World Health Organization, 4.2 million deaths each year are caused by air pollution.

• The global cost for 2018 was $2.9 trillion. 25. “The Future for Earth 2020” report has been released by the South Asia Future Earth

Regional Office, Divecha Centre for Climate Change and the Indian Institute of Science. • The report has analysed 5 global risks which are : - i) failure of climate change

mitigation and adaptation, ii) extreme weather events, iii) biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, iv) food crisis, v) water crisis.

26. According to the World Meteorological Organization, Antarctica has recorded its

hottest temperature ever at 20.75 Degree Celsius for the first time since 1982. • Antarctic region stores more than 70% of world’s fresh water.

27. 43rd Annual Governing Council meeting of the International Fund for Agricultural

Development (IFAD) 2020 was held at the headquarters of Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) in Rome, Italy. • Theme – “Investing in sustainable food systems to end hunger by 2030” • During the meet, it was announced that the UN will not be able to achieve its SDG

targets by 2030 due to the lack of funds. • It will achieve the goals only by 2040 with an annual investment of more than $115

billion. • By 2030, around 100 million people will be pushed to poverty due to the climate

change. About IFAD – HQ – Rome, Italy President – Gilbert Houngbo

28. Munich Security Conference is being conducted in Germany.

• Other events alongside the conference are Cyber Security Summit and Energy Security Summit.

29. According to the “Military Balance 2020” report released by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, total global spending on defence has increased by 4% in 2019 (it is the highest increase in 10 years). • China and US have increased their spending by 6.6% which led to overall increase in

the spending at the global level. 30. Pakistan has issued visas to Indian Hindu pilgrims for visiting Katas Raj temples in

Pakistan’s Punjab province under The Pakistan-India Protocol on visits to Religious Shrines (1974).

31. United Arab Emirates has become the first Arab country to operate a nuclear power

plant named as Barakah nuclear power plant. • It is being built by the Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

32. According to the World Population Review (US think tank), India has become the 5th

largest country in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion. • India has overtaken United Kingdom ($2.83 trillion) and France ($2.71 trillion) in

2019. • USA is the world’s largest country followed by China, Japan and Germany are at the

2nd, 3rd, and 4th positions respectively. • In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), India’s GDP is $10.51 trillion, exceeding

that of Japan and Germany. • India’s GDP per capita is $2,170 because of India’s high population.

33. Pakistan has conducted a successful flight test of Ra'ad-II – air-launched nuclear-capable

cruise missile – with a range of 600 km. 34. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to continue to put Pakistan in its grey list

during its plenary meeting held in Paris. • Pakistan has been given time till June 2020 to improve its actions against money

laundering and terror financing otherwise it will be put on FATF’s blacklist. • At present, only Iran and North Korea are on the FATF’s blacklist.

35. According to a report, A future for the world’s children? released by WHO - UNICEF -

Lancet assesses the capacity of 180 countries to ensure that the children of a country can survive and thrive. • The index ranks countries on two parallels – flourishing index (which ranks countries

on the basis of children’s survival, health, education and well-being) and

sustainability index (which ranks countries on per capita carbon emissions and ability of children in a country to live healthy)

Category Flourishing index Sustainability index Top country Norway Burundi India’s rank 131st 77th Bottom country Central African Republic Qatar

• About 250 million children under 5 years in low and middle income nations are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential.

• 124 million children and adolescents were obese in 2016 as against 11 million in 1975.

36. Pakistan has organized the 9th Defence and Security Expert Working Group (EWG)

meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). • All SCO member nations – China, Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and India, and Pakistan participated in the meet whereas Belarus attended the meeting as the observer state.

• This was the first meeting of the working group under the “SCO Defence & Security Cooperation Plan – 2020”.

37. 3rd High-Level Global Conference on Road Safety for Achieving Global Goals 2030 was

organized in Stockholm, Sweden.

• World Health Organization, World Bank along with Swedish govt have jointly organized the conference.

• Minister for Road and Transport Nitin Gadkari has represented India here. • 2020-2030 is the UN Decade of Action to achieve the SDG. • 2011-2020 was the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety. • Road Accident in India report 2018 was released in November 2019. (covered in

spotlight of November in National news >> Pg - 60) 46.1) During the conference, World Bank released the report “Delivering Road Safety in

India” which mentions that India needs to invest an estimated extra $109 billion in road safety over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities.

• The report noted that this investment will bring economic benefits equivalent annually to 3.7% of GDP.

• The India road safety report is part of a regional report ‘Road Safety in South Asia: Opportunities for Shared Regional Initiatives’.

• According to the World Bank, India has one of the highest rates of road crashes in the world with 1.5 lakh deaths almost every year, and more than 5X that number are injured or maimed for life.

• Road crashes also cost the economy between 3% to 5% of GDP in a year. • The report mentions about the Geographic Information System - GIS-based program

in Tamil Nadu launched to map road accidents state-wide. 38. Swedish Central Bank - Sveriges Riksbank - has become the world’s first central bank to

begin testing of its digital currency e-krona. • Stefan Ingves is the Governor of Riksbank.

39. 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

will be held in October 2020 in Kunming, China. • Theme of the conference is “Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All

Life on Earth”. 40. 2020 UN Ocean Conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal.

• 2021 – 2030 is the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. 41. Storm Dennis has hit Britain. 42. Britain has announced to spend £1.2 billion for developing the world’s most powerful

weather and climate supercomputer.

43. USA has increased tariffs on Europe’s aircraft by 15% from 10%.

• Reason: - ongoing fight between US and European Union for offering ‘illegal’ (alleged by USA) subsidies to Airbus SE (Europe’s aircraft company). It made competition tougher for Boeing (US company).

44. According to the data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

(USCIS), Indians accounted for half (or maximum) of employer-sponsored green cards in 2019.

45. G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors Meeting was held in Riyadh, Saudi

Arabia. • Theme for G20 for 2020: - Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century For All • Saudi Arabia is the first Arab country to hold the presidency of G20 for 2020. • Saudi Arabia will host G20 leaders' summit in Nov 2020 under the same theme.

46. 43rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) was held in its

headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. • 44th session will be held in June-July, 2020 and 45th in September-October, 2020. • Recently, High Commissioner of the UNHCR – Michelle Bachelet – has filed a plea in

Supreme Court of India against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. 47. 74th session of UN General Assembly was held in New York, USA (Headquarters of UN).

• 75th session of UNGA will be held in September 2020 in New York. 48. The total number of Indian students who received UK visas for studies has increased by

93% in 2019 in comparison to 2018, according to the UK Immigration Statistics’ data. • Indians are the second most common nationality to be granted the study visas after

Chinese. • Over 57,000 Indians received skilled work visas in 2019 which is a 3% increase over

2018. • In 2019, UK PM Boris Johnson had allowed the foreign students to work for 2 years

in UK after completion of their studies. 49. CORONAVIRUS DETAILS: -

NAME - ‘COVID- 19’ (given by WHO) CAUSE (Possible) - Pangolin (most trafficked mammal of Asia)

o There are 8 species of Pangolins all over the world. THREAT - According to a ranking released by Robert Koch institute (Germany) and Humboldt University, Thailand is the most vulnerable country for coronavirus.

o India was ranked at 17th place. o Top 10 highly vulnerable countries: Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong,

Taiwan, USA, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia. INTERNATIONAL ACTION - WHO is setting up a conference in Geneva, Switzerland on combating the coronavirus.

o Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given an assistance of $2 million to Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to prevent its spread.

INDIA’S ACTION - formed a group of ministers, headed by Harsh Vardhan (Minister of Health and Family Welfare), to monitor India’s preparedness for tackling it.

o Kerala govt has announced the outbreak of novel coronavirus as state disaster. o Department of Biotechnology has partnered with the Coalition of Epidemic

Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI) of Norway to develop vaccines for Covid-19. EVENTS CANCELLED - Asian Olympic wrestling qualifying event scheduled to be held in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan's capital) got cancelled due to Covid-19.

o 2020 Mobile World Congress, to be organized by Global System for Mobile Communication, in Barcelona, Spain.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

1. ICICI Bank has launched a unique self-service delivery facility named as ‘iBox’ for its customers to collect their deliverables such as debit card, credit card, cheque book and returned-cheques, from a branch close to their home or office.

2. Indian Bank has launched ‘Corporate Loan’ (to offer loans at an affordable interest

rates) and ‘Ind Surya Shakthi’ credit products for the benefit of the textile sector. • Under the Surya Shakthi, a term loan would be given to set up roof-top solar power

plants to boost the renewable energy in the textile sector. • Indian Bank MD and CEO – Padmaja Chunduru

3. Drone Federation of India and Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd have

collaborated for launching insurance products for the drone operators.

4. OPPO and IIT-Hyderabad have signed an MoU for promoting research in the field of science and technology.

5. Bank of Baroda has partnered with Care Ratings to assess credit quality of its small and

medium enterprises (SME) customers.

6. NABARD has approved a loan worth Rs 140 crore to Punjab State Agricultural Development Bank (PSADB) at low interest rate to provide financial support to the latter. • NABARD Chairman – Harsh Kumar Banwala • PSADB Chairman – Kamaldeep Singh

7. According to the Ministry of Electronics and IT’s data, Bank of Maharashtra and State

Bank of India are the only two PSBs that showed ‘good’ performance in terms of digital transactions in December with a score of 77 and 68 respectively. • For digital transactions, the government has given a target of 4,000 crore digital

transactions for the current fiscal. 8. According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), fiscal

deficit was 132.4% (Rs 9.31 crore) of the full-year target at December-end due to low revenue collections. • Budgeted estimate of fiscal deficit is 3.3% of GDP or Rs 7.04 crore in the year ending

March 2020.

• Government's revenue receipts were 58.4% of the 2019-20 BE while the total expenditure was 75.7%.

• In 2018-19, the deficit was 112.4% of 2018-19 Budget Estimate (BE) during the same period.

• The Medium Term Fiscal Policy (MTFP) Statement presented with the Budget 2019-20, has estimated the fiscal deficit to be at 3.3% of GDP for 2019-20; 3% of GDP in 2020-21, and continue at the same level in 2021-22.

9. According to the study from Counterpoint, for the first time, Indian smartphone market

has surpassed USA to become the second-largest smartphone market globally. • India had reached a 158 million shipments in 2019 with 7% YoY growth. • China is the world’s largest smartphone market.

10. India’s coal imports has risen by 7.6% to 185.88 million tonnes (MT) during April-

December 2019. 11. HCL Technologies has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment for

setting up a global delivery centre in Colombo. • As part of the agreement, HCL will train local people, provide resources and boost

employment in Sri Lanka. 12. Economic Survey 2020 has been presented in the parliament by Minister of Finance

Nirmala Sitharaman. • It is prepared by Department of Economic Affairs under the guidance of Chief

Economic Advisor – Krishnamurthy Subramanian. It is a precursor to budget. • GDP growth rate for FY20 – 5% (lowest in 10 years). • GDP growth rate for 2020-21 – 6-6.5% • The survey has suggested to integrate “Assemble in India for the world” into “Make

in India” to become a manufacturer of products rather than the assembler of products.

• For this Indian export market share has to rise about 3.5% by 2025 and 6% by 2030. • Survey suggested to boost trade for creating 4 crore new well paid jobs by 2025 and

8 crore by 2030.

• Projected fiscal deficit – 3.3% • Survey suggests to create a health score/ranking of NBFCs to assess their financial

health on a timely basis. • Growth rate for Agriculture – 2.8%; Industrial growth – 2.5%; Services – 6.9% for

FY20. • Inflation for FY20 – CPI will be 4.1% and WPI will be 1.5%.

• Economic Survey 2020 observed that 2019 marks the golden jubilee of bank

nationalization which was done on 19th July, 1969. • In India, Bank Nationalization Day is observed on July 19.

13. National Statistical Office has estimated that GDP growth rate of India in 2018-19 was

6.1% against the 6.8% (mentioned earlier) due to lower growth in agriculture, manufacturing and mining sectors.

Sector Revised Growth rate (at constant prices during 2018-19)

Previous forecasted growth rate

Primary sector 1% 2.7% Secondary sector 6% 7.5% Tertiary sector 7.7% 7.5%

Gross Value Added (GDP minus net product taxes)

6% 6.6%

14. India has amended Customs Tariff Act to create the new tariff codes for wall fans,

panels of TV sets and solar cells to restrict their imports, most of which are from China. • Tariff on wall fans – 20%; Open cell – 15%; and Solar cell – 20%.

15. 100 new clusters will be setup under the Scheme of Fund for Upgradation and

Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI). About SFURTI:

• Launched – 2005 • Purpose – To organize the traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make

them competitive and provide support • Ministry – Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises

16. SEBI has proposed that the acquirer will have to pay an additional 10% interest to all the

shareholders over the offer price, in case of any delay in the open offer. • Open Offer: It is an offer made by the acquirer to the shareholders of the target

company inviting them to sell off their shares at a particular price. It aims to provide an exit option to the shareholders of the target company.

17. Ashok Leyland Ltd. (Hinduja Group is its parent) is the world’s 3rd largest bus maker in

2019 in the world with sales of 23,100 buses. • It is based on reports released by SIAM, OICA (Organisation Internationale des

Constructeurs d’Automobiles) and IHS Markit.

18. Central Board of Direct Taxes has clarified that the new income tax regime is provided without exemption. • Also, the individuals can switch back and forth between the old and new tax regime. • This option is not available for businesses.

19. Hotstar, Jio, SonyLIV, Network18 and Eros have signed up an agreement to set up

Digital Content Complaint Council (DCCC) which will be headed by a retired judge to address the grievances of customers. • DCCC will also officials from government.

20. India has allowed foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to buy corporate bonds worth an additional Rs 2.11 lakh crore ($30 billion). • Budget 2020 has increased the limit for this category of investors to 15% of total

stock of corporate debt from 9%.

21. Indian Oil Corporation has bought a minority stake in Phinergy (Israel’s battery

developer) for setting up a joint venture to manufacture aluminium air batteries for electric vehicles in India.

22. Central Board of Direct Taxes has clarified that mutual funds will only deduct 10% tax at

source on the dividend payment and not on the long-term capital gains (LTCG) arising from redemption of their units.

23. Fitch Ratings has predicted India’s GDP growth rate for 2020-21 at 5.6%.

• For FY20 (2019-20) – 4.6% • General Government Debt is projected to remain close to 70% of GDP through FY22

(2021-22). 24. Amazon India has partnered with Eastern Railways to set up a pick-up kiosk at Sealdah

railway station in Kolkata. 25. Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Yum Restaurants (owner of KFC,

Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) and Devyani International Limited (franchise of Yum) for the combination of acquiring certain equity shareholding and sale of certain KFC restaurants. • Yum Brands is headquartered in USA.

26. Rs 2.3 crore has been allotted to Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional

Industries (SFURTI) in the budget 2020. 27. RBI has increased the insurance cover on bank deposits to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh.

• Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI, provides the insurance cover.

28. Reliance General Insurance, a part of Reliance Capital, has launched health insurance plan called “Reliance Health Infinity”.

29. Union Cabinet has approved the amendments to Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to give

RBI greater control over urban and multi-state co-operative banks. • Currently, co-op banks are controlled by Cooperative Societies (through auditing,

supervising, management control etc.) and they are regulated by RBI. • Cabinet also approved to set up a major port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra, at a

project cost of more than Rs 65,000 crore. • The port will be developed by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) – largest port trust

developer in India.

30. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas

Bill 2020 in the Lok Sabha. • Through this scheme, the govt aims to resolve the tax disputes worth Rs 9.32 lakh

crore. 31. RBI has released its 6th bi-monthly monetary policy for 2019-20:

• Repo rate – at 5.15% (unchanged) – and other rates are unchanged. • Growth rate for FY21 – 6% • RBI has revised CPI inflation projection upwards to 6.5% for Q4 of 2019-20, 5.4-5%

for H1 of 2020-21; and 3.2% for Q3 of 2020-21.

Steps taken by RBI to boost economy:

Relaxed CRR on consumer loans

Long-term repo rate replaces short-term

repo

More time to recast builder loans

Extends One-time- Restructuring

scheme for MSMEs Step - RBI has relaxed the obligation of keeping cash reserve ratio for home, automobile, SME loans for the banks that have a higher lending to these sectors. o The relaxation will be

proportionate to incremental lending.

Step - Banks can borrow up to Rs 1 lakh crore at a repo rate of 5.15% for a period of 1-3 years (as per bank’s requirement).

Step - Banks have been asked to defer categorising loans (that turned bad due to genuine reasons) given to builders as NPAs by one year till March 2021.

Step - One-time restructuring scheme for the MSMEs has been extended to December 2020.

Implication - It will boost banks’ lending in these segments.

Implication - So far, banks were only allowed to borrow at repo rate for a short term. Now, they can borrow for 3 years at the same rate. It will boost their lending capacity.

Implication - It will lighten the banks’ NPA burden and give more time to realtors for discovering a path of resolution.

Implication - It will provide some relief for the eligible MSMEs.

32. India has cut the import duty on through bred horses to 0 from 30% on the request of

National Horse Breeding Society of India. 33. India and Russia have planned to start a joint venture in Amethi for manufacturing

assault guns for the Indian army as part of the Make in India initiative.

34. Reliance has signed an agreement with Balenciaga (Spanish luxury fashion brand of clothes) to bring the Balenciaga brand in India. • Balenciaga is owned by Kering.

35. According to GroupM (a part of British advertising company WPP) has forecasted India’s

advertising expenditure to grow by 11% this year in its annual ‘This Year, Next Year’ 2020 report. • Global market expenditure will rise by 5.1%. • India will become the world’s 8th largest ad market in this year.

36. According to the ‘Indian eHealth at a tipping point’ released by RedSeer Consulting,

India’s eHealth market will grow to $16 billion from $1.2 billion by 2025. • Number of households using eHealth services will grow 60 million by 2025 from 4.3

million. • Healthcare expenditure will grow $353 billion from $135 billion.

37. IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index has risen from 53.3 in December 2019

to 55.5 in January 2020 (which is a 7 year high). 38. Great Wall Motors – largest manufacturer of SUVs in China – has committed to invest

$1 billion in India. 39. Indian govt has finalized a provision to tax digital companies which sell, advertise or

stream products or services on an Indian IP address. • It will come into effect after the Organization of Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD) finalizes the framework for global digital tax. • India already has a 6% equalization levy in place since 2016. • India has introduced explanation 3A in Section 9 of the Income Tax Act of “income

attributable to operations carried out in India”. • Government had introduced the ‘significant economic presence’ (SEP) concept in

the finance Act, 2018. It was expected to be implemented in FY22 but now has been deferred to FY23.

40. Government has added a clause to the proposed IT intermediary guideline which

makes the social media companies responsible for the non-user generated content such as ads streaming on its platform. • Currently, Section 79-II of the Information Technology Act 2000 exempts online

intermediaries from liability towards third-party content shared on the platform. • The draft of IT intermediary guideline will be notified soon.

41. Nuvoco Vistas (Nirma Group’s cement arm) has finalized its acquisition of Emami

Cements for Rs 5,500 crore. 42. RBI will issue Digital Payment Index periodically to assess the performance of digital

payment industry on multiple parameters. • Benefits: It will help in ascertaining the level of payment digitization in India.

• Also, RBI would issue guidelines for setting up the Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) to increase communication between payment service providers and regulatory bodies.

43. Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee, headed by Praveen Shankar, is finalizing

guidelines to trade synthetic diamonds on Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) since FY21. • BDB had banned the trading of synthetic diamonds in 2015 to prevent mixing of

synthetic diamonds with real ones. 44. According to the Tea Board’s data, exports have marginally fallen to 248.29 million

kilogramme (mkg) in 2019 from 256.06 mkg in 2018 – a fall of 3%. • Major importers of Indian tea are CIS countries, which imported 59.13 mkg in 2019

followed by UK at 11.74 mkg, Pakistan, Iran and China respectively. 45. Ministry of Finance has declared that GST database and its associated infrastructure

are the protected system and hacking or damaging the same would attract a term of 10 year jail sentence.

46. French company TOTAL (Total Gas and Power Business Services SAS) has signed an

agreement with Adani Green Energy to buy a 50% stake in the latter for $510 million. • Adani has committed to become world’s largest solar power company by 2025 and

world’s largest renewable power company by 2030. Adani CEO Total SA CEO

Gautam Adani Patrick Pouyanne 47. According to ‘The Global Freelancer Income Report 2020’ survey released by Payoneer,

one in five Indian freelancers is a woman. • Female freelancers earn on average 84% that of men across all disciplines. • The report assessed 150 countries.

48. For the first time, India made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drones were exported to a

foreign customer by the Adani-Elbit (Israeli company) joint venture. 49. RBI has extended the deadline for one-time debt recast of MSMEs that have not been

classified as non-performing w.e.f. December 2020. • An assets becomes NPA if interest or principal amount is not paid within 90 days. • Banks were directed to link the loan rate to an external benchmark for retail loans

to MSMEs.

50. In its 6th bi-monthly policy, RBI has announced a new liquidity framework under which

standalone primary dealers are allowed to participate directly in all overnight liquidity management operations. • RBI has introduced Check Truncation System (CTS) across the country from

September 2020 to fasten up the process of check clearance. • CTS system was brought in India in 2010 by RBI.

51. The new Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), being conducted by the Ministry of

Statistics and Program Implementation for authentic results, mentions that the labour force participation rate is 36.9% and unemployment rate is 6.1% for 2017-18.

52. Cognizant Tech has acquired EI Technologies and Code Zero Consulting companies for

improve the expertise of its salesforce. 53. According to the Indian government’s data, India has received $118.3 billion

remittances during April 2018- September 2019. • Around 13.62 million Indians live abroad with majority of them living in Nepal, the

Middle East region, the UK, the USA, Malaysia and Germany. • RBI’s data: $76.4 billion was received as remittances during 2018-19 and $41.9

billion was received during 2019-20. • 72 Indians were involved in financial irregularities with the banks and were under

criminal investigation since 2015. 54. Cipla pharmaceutical company has acquired four brands – CPink, CDense, Productiv and

Folinine – of Wanbury pharmaceutical company for Rs 89 crore. 55. Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has set up a consultation committee to give

feedback on new functionalities in the GST system and new information technology platforms. • Members of the committee – GST Council, member secretary of GSTN, Central

Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and CII and ASSOCHAM, Confederation of All India Traders and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

56. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has submitted a 12-point plan to PM Narendra

Modi and Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, to de-criminalize 37 laws ranging from Partnership Act, 1932 and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

• The action plan also introduces a one-time settlement scheme and a compounding provision.

57. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has doubled the

minimum net worth criterion for pension fund managers to Rs 50 crore from Rs 25 crore. • Now, the licenses of pension fund managers will remain valid until cancelled by the

PFRDA. Earlier it was granted for 5 years only. • Also, a pension fund or its sponsor cannot acquire equity stake in another pension

fund. • However, existing pension funds that have such cross holdings can continue it but

cannot increase their holdings without the PFRDA’s permission. Extra Fact:

• Mutual Funds also have a minimum requirement of ₹50 crores, as per SEBI’s rules.

58. RBI has exempted banks from maintaining the cash reserve ratio for 5 years on their deposits for the amount equivalent to loans given to automobiles, residential housing, and MSMEs.

59. Public Enterprises Survey 2018-19 – an annual survey assessing the profits and losses of

CPSEs, ONGC, IOC, NTPC – has been released by the Department of Public Enterprises under the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. • The total income of CPSE is over Rs 24 lakh crores in FY19 against Rs 20 lakh crore in

FY18, showing a growth of 20.12%. Top 3 Profit Making CPSEs Top 3 Loss Making CPSEs

ONGC BSNL

IOC AIR INDIA

NTPC MTNL

60. New York based firm Tilden has sought RBI’s permission for purchasing a sizeable stake

in Lakshmi Vilas Bank. • RBI has cancelled Lakshmi Vilas Bank’s merger with Indiabulls.

61. Indian Banks Association (IBA) has decided to phase out the London Interbank Offered

Rate (Libor). IBA had decided to phase out Libor by 2021 following the Libor scandal. • Libor means the basic rate of interest used in lending between banks on the London

interbank market and also used as a reference for setting the interest rate on other loans.

62. Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman informed Lok Sabha, public sector banks'

(PSBs) bad loans has been reduced to ₹7.27 lakh crore at the end of September 2019 against Rs 8.96 lakh crore in March 2018. • The capital adequacy ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks has reduced to 15.1% in

Sept 2019 as against the 14.3% in March 2019. • Banks have recorded a recovery of ₹2.03 lakh crore over the one-and-half year

period ending September 2019 in the Lok Sabha. 63. RBI has a New Umbrella Entities (NUE) Plan for Digital Payment companies. It will be an

alternative digital retail payments organisation. • This has been necessitated for the prevention of “concentration risk” in India’s

digital payment landscape, which is largely monopolised by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

• Minimum paid up capital should be Rs 500 crore and a minimum net-worth of Rs 300 crore shall be maintained at all times.

• Proposed entity will have an RBI appointed independent director on the board. Eligibility to apply as a Promotor group for this new entity

v Only entities with at least three years’ experience operating as payment operator or service provider can apply as promoter group.

v Entities eligible to apply as promoter / promoter group shall be ‘owned and controlled by residents’.

v Promoters shall contribute capital of not less than 10 percent, that is, Rs 50 crore.

v No single promoter can hold more than 40 percent.

64. SEBI has directed National Stock Exchange to divest entire 37% stake in Computer Age

Management Systems within 1 year. • SEBI owns a little over 37% stake in CAMS through one of its subsidiaries, NSE

Investments Limited (NSEIL). 65. Tata sons’ watchmaking company - Titan has bought HUG (Hyderabad based technology

company) for an undisclosed amount. • HUG’s founder Raj Neravati has been appointed as the head of technology for

wearables at Titan. 66. Moody’s Investors Services has downgraded IndusInd bank’s outlook from stable to

‘negative’ at a rating of Baa-3.

Baa-3 ratings denotes lowest ratings in investment grade on long-term corporate obligation which carries moderate risks.

67. Dr Reddy Laboratory (DRL) has bought a 62 products of Wockhardt’s domestic

formulation business for Rs 1,850 crore. • DRL is set to become the 11th largest pharmaceutical company, up from the 14th

position. 68. Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that seven green shoots

or signs are the indicators of economic revival. • Focusing on Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, she mentioned that as of November

2019, 190 cases involving claims of Rs 3.67 lakh crore had been resolved, realising an amount of Rs 1.57 crore for creditors.

69. SEBI has asked CARE Ratings to sack its Chairman SB Mainak on the charges of alleged

in-appropriation of IL&FS ratings. 70. According to NASSCOM, Indian IT sector is expected to grow 7.7% in 2020 to $191

billion. IT exports will touch $147 billion. • NASSCOM President – Debjani Ghosh

71. SBI Mutual Fund is India’s largest Asset Manager with Rs 3.82 lakh crore assets under

management (AUM). • In equity assets, SBI Mutual Funds is the largest with Rs 1.94 lakh crore.

72. National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ordered the inclusion of Videocon’s oil

business in Brazil and Indonesia as part of insolvency proceedings being conducted in India. • It is the first instance of overseas incorporated subsidiaries being brought under the

ambit of local bankruptcy laws. 73. Max Ventures and Industries has formed a joint venture of 51:49 shareholding with

New York Life Insurance (the largest mutual life insurance company in USA) for developing a commercial real estate project in Noida.

74. S&P rating agency has forecasted India’s GDP to grow at 7% in 2021.

• In 2022 and 2023, GDP will grow at 7.4%. • Between 2020-24, the GDP growth average is 7.1%. • S&P estimates India’s GDP to grow at $4.3 trillion in FY24. India’s aim to become a

$5 trillion economy is difficult to achieve.

Higher FDI

Rise in FPI flows

Recovery in industrial growth

Sharp Rebound in (Purchase Manager's Index) PMI

Higher GST Collections

Rising Forex Reserves

Buoyant Stock

Markets

75. SEBI has banned portfolio managers from charging upfront fees from clients either

directly or indirectly. • Portfolio Management Services or PMS products are meant for the rich with the

minimum investment at Rs 50 lakh. • Operating expenses excluding brokerage, over and above the fees charged for

portfolio management service, shall not exceed 0.50% per annum of the client’s average daily assets under management.

76. Finance Bill 2020 has proposed a 5% tax collected at source on foreign remittances. 77. SEBI has developed an inhouse system to track movement of client securities that are

collateral by brokers. • SEBI has already developed an early warning mechanism to detect diversion of client

funds and securities. 78. IndusInd Bank has topped the ‘Top 500 Banking Brands 2020’ report released by

TheBanker, by witnessing the highest increase in its brand value at 122%. • China has topped the Top 50 Country table by brand value (which has been released

as a part of the 2020 report), followed by USA at 2nd and Canada at 3rd, UK at 4th spots and Japan at 5th spot.

• India has been ranked at 8th position against the 10th position in 2019 with an increase of 13% in its brand value in 2020 at $26,516 million.

• Total global brand value of the Top 500 banking brands is $1,327 billion. • Region-wise: Central and South America have increased the highest at 7.2%.

79. According to the ‘Printing of One Rupee Currency Notes Rules, 2020’ released by the Ministry of Finance, the one rupee note will be pink-green colour bearing the bilingual signature of Atanu Chakraborty (Secretary of Ministry of Finance). • The note will feature a design of grains which depicts the dominance of agricultural

in India. • At the backside of the note, a picture of ‘Sagar Samrat’ - the oil exploration platform

will be printed. • Sagar Samrat is still in service with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

80. According to RBI’s data on ‘Outward Foreign Direct Investment’ (OFDI), India’s foreign

investment has increased by 40% to $2.1 billion in January 2020 as compared to $1.47 billion in January 2019.

81. Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has downgraded its GDP growth forecast for the world

for 2020 to 2.2% from the previous 2.3%. • Reason: - due to the impact of novel coronavirus outbreak in China. • For China, the GDP forecast has been reduced to 5.4% from 5.9% earlier for 2020. • For India, the GDP forecast is 6.1% for 2020 as compared to 4.9% for 2019. • Reasons for upwards projection for India – Low interest rate in India will increase

the demand and Investment in 2020 and negligible spread of coronavirus. 82. Facebook, in partnership with National Commission for Women (NCW) and Cyber

Peace Foundation, has launched the “We Think Digital” programme to provide digital literacy training to 1 lakh women across 7 states. • 7 states – Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand

and Bihar. • Facebook has announced the programme in 2019 during the 2nd edition of South

Asia Safety Summit. 83. Odisha’s Department of MSME has signed an MoU with HDFC Bank to provide smart

banking solutions to Startups recognised by the Startup Odisha. 84. Amazon has announced to set up two data centres in Telangana at a cost of $1.6 billion.

85. Minister of Finance Nirmal Sitharaman has informed Lok Sabha that India will invest

over Rs 1 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector by 2024-25. • According to the FM, the nominal GDP of India has increased from $2 trillion in

2014-15 to $2.9 trillion by 2019-20. 86. SEBI has formed the Municipal Bonds Development Committee, headed by Sujit

Prasad, to find out ways for the development of primary and secondary market of municipal debt securities.

87. According to the Forbes ‘Real Time Billionaires’ Index, DMart’s founder Radhakishan

Damani is India’s 2nd richest person with a net worth of $17.8 billion.

Top 5 richest Indians: -

Mukesh Ambani

Radhakishan Damani

Shiv Nadar

Uday Kotak

Gautam Adani

88. During its 582nd meeting, RBI has decided to align its financial year (July-June) with the

government’s fiscal year (April-March) from 2020-21. • Currently, the proposal is sent to the government for its approval.

89. Moody’s has reduced India’s GDP growth rate for FY20 to 5.4% and for FY21 to 5.8%. 90. National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has approved JSW Steel’s

acquisition of the Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd.

91. RBI has started the first tranche of Long Term Repo Operation (LTROs) worth Rs 25,000 crore for 3-year validity. • RBI will conduct the second issue for Rs 25,000 crore for a 1-year tenor on February

24. • In its “Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies” released on Feb 6, RBI

has decided to conduct LTRO for 1 and 3 year tenors for up to a total amount of ₹1,00,000 crores at the repo rate.

92. India and World Bank have signed a loan agreement of $450 million to support Atal Bhujal Yojana. • The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in the states of

Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh and cover 78 districts.

Note: - the scheme has been covered in December 2019 ESI current affairs. 93. A panel, headed by Sanjiv Puri (CMD of ITC) has been formed by the 15th Finance

Commission to suggest measures to promote exports of agricultural goods and reduce imports by boosting production. • The panel will also suggest performance-based incentives for 2021-22 to 2025-26 for

the states in order to encourage reforms in the agricultural sector. 94. Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved ZF Friedrichshafen AG’s (German

car parts maker) acquisition of WABCO Holdings Inc. for $7 billion. • ZF will acquire 100% shares in WABCO through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary

Verona Merger Sub Corp. 95. Gujarat govt has signed an MoU with State Bank of India to fulfil working capital

requirement of entrepreneurs for starting new MSMEs within 15 days of making an application.

96. HDFC Bank, MasterCard and SAP concur have partnered to manage the expenses of the

corporate sector. • HDFC Bank will provide a corporate credit card (powered by Mastercard and

supported by SAP Concur) to business travellers for payment and expense management during business trips.

97. Bain and Co. and Google have jointly released a report titled as “Women

Entrepreneurship in India—Powering the economy with her”, which mentions that women entrepreneurs in India can generate 150-170 million jobs by 2030, which is more than 25% of the new jobs required for the entire working-age population. • Presently, there are an estimated 16 million women-owned enterprises (approx.

20% of all enterprises) that are creating direct employment for about 27 million people in India.

• The report mentions six dominant segments of women entrepreneurs. Out of the six segments, single person enterprises accounts for most of the women entrepreneurs.

Segment % of women owned enterprises

Single person 38% - rural non-farm home-based business owners 31% - urban self-employed women solopreneurs

Rural agripreneurs (farm based business owners)

18%

98. Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) has signed an MoU with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam

Ltd (BSNL) for installing 1,000 public charging stations for electric vehicles. • EESL has signed MoU with various agencies for setting up charging stations.

99. Twitter (HQ- USA) has acquired Chroma Labs (based in California) for an undisclosed

amount. • Twitter CEO – Jack Dorsey

100. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved to launch "Formation and

Promotion of Farmer Produce Organizations” (central sector scheme) to create and promote 10,000 Farmer Produce Organizations (FPO) within 5 years from 2019-20 to 2023-24 to ensure economies of scale for farmers.

Categories Details Outlay v The total outlay: Rs 6,800 crore (approx.)

o Rs 4496 crore - for five years (FY20 to FY24) o Rs. 2369 crore- for 5 years (FY25 to FY28)

Implementing agency

v Initially there will be 3 implementing Agencies to form and promote FPOs – Small Farmers Agri-business Consortium (SFAC), National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and NABARD.

v States may also, if so desire, nominate their Implementing Agency in consultation with Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW).

v Implementing Agencies will form the Cluster Based Business Organization in the States for promoting FPOs.

Members in an FPO

v 300 in plain area and 100 in North East & hilly areas

"One District One Product" cluster

v FPOs will be promoted under "One District One Product" cluster to promote specialization and better processing, marketing, branding & export by FPOs.

Credit Guarantee Fund

v There will be a Credit Guarantee Fund of up to Rs 1,000 crore in NABARD with equal contribution by DAC&FW and NABARD.

v There will be a Credit Guarantee Fund of Rs 500 crore in NCDC with equal contribution by DAC&FW and NCDC.

v Purpose of the funds: - for providing credit guarantee cover to increase credit to FPOs by minimizing the risk of financial institutions for granting loan to FPOs.

Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund

v It will be set up in NABARD to provide loans at concessional rate of interest to States/UTs. o Purpose - For developing agriculture marketing and allied

infrastructure in Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs). Note: - in interim budget 2019, the govt had proposed to create 10,000 new FPOs. 101. SBI Card and Landmark Group have jointly launched 3 new retail co-branded credit

cards - Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card, Max SBI Card and Spar SBI Card. 102. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched ‘UPI Chalega’

campaign to create awareness among the UPI users about the right usage of it and promote its usage.

103. RBI, under the aegis of Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC), has released

the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) report for the next 5 years till 2024. • It mentions that access to banking facilities should be available to every village

within a 5 km radius of 500 households in hilly areas by March 2020. • The report has suggested to make the public credit registry fully (database of credit

information of borrowers) operational by March 2022. 104. SEBI has amended the SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018 to

tweak the definition of ‘pledge’ by including ‘re-pledge of securities for margin or settlement obligations’ under the purview of ‘pledge’.

105. Mauritius has entered in the Financial Action Task force’s grey list.

Mauritius Capital Mauritius Currency Mauritius PM Port Louis Mauritian rupee Pravind Jugnauth

106. SEBI has banned officials of Resurgere Mines and Minerals India for up to 3 years for

manipulating the issuance of global depository receipts (GDR).

107. NTPC Ltd has signed an agreement with the Central Pollution Control Board for installing the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in 6 states and 3 UTs.

108. According to an RTI reply, banks have started to fill their ATMs with Rs 500 and

smaller denomination notes. • Last year, RBI has said that it has stopped printing of Rs 2000 notes.

109. Google has announced to wind up its project of providing free wi-fi on stations

programme globally in 2020 because of the reduced prices of mobile data. • In India, Google has been successfully providing free wi-fi to 400 stations in

partnership with Indian railways and RailTel since 2015. 110. Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has partnered with the Indian Institute of Foreign

Trade (IIFT) to train its officers on product identification, export incentives, commercial documentation and customs procedures to increase the exports of defence goods. • India’s defence exports grew seven-fold to Rs 10,745 crore in 2018-19 from Rs 1,521

crore in 2016-17. • The government has mandated 41 ordinance factories and 9 defence PSUs to

explore the opportunities for exports in the international market. • It has also authorised companies to export military equipment to 42 countries.

111. Ministry of Finance has issued an advisory to the Indian Banks’ Association to avoid

referring companies with loans defaults of less than Rs 200 crore to the bankruptcy tribunal.

112. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has announced to create a $10 billion fund to fight

climate change. This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, non-governmental organizations for research. • Amazon is committed to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

113. Union Cabinet has cleared the Vivaad Se Vishwas Scheme (No Dispute But Trust) for resolving the disputed direct tax cases. • The scheme aims to resolve 4.83 lakh cases worth ₹9.32-lakh crore. • The cabinet has approved certain amendments into the percentage of amount to be

paid by the taxpayers in two different scenarios, that are: -

114. Government is planning to set up ultra-mega renewable energy parks of 50 GW in

(Khavada) Gujarat and (Jaisalmer) Rajasthan of 25 GW each in both states. • It could be the world’s largest renewable energy investment programme.

115. KPMG has released its India CSR Reporting Survey 2019 which measures Corporate

Social Responsibility (CSR) compliance the N100 companies with respect to policy and reporting in annual report of companies.

IN CASE OF APPEALS FILED

BY TAXPAYERS

1) In case of appeals made by the taxpayer, the full

amount of disputed tax will have to be paid till March

31, and 25% more in case of search cases. Penalty and

interest will be waived.

2) In case the amount of penalty, interest or fee is the

matter of dispute, then only 25% of that amount will

have to be paid, while the rest will be waived off.

1) After March 31, however, the taxpayer will have to

pay 10% more on top of the full disputed tax amount,

and 35% more in case of search cases.

2) Similarly, in case the amount of penalty, interest or

fee is the matter of dispute, 30% will have to be paid.

IN CASE OF APPEALS FILED

BY TAX DEPARTMENT

1) In case of appeals made by the tax department, or

where the I-T department has lost a case, 50% of

disputed tax will have to be paid, and 62.5% in case of

search cases. Penalty and interest will be waived, here

too.

2) In case the amount of penalty, interest or fee is the

matter of dispute, then only 12.5% of that amount will

have to be paid, while the rest will be waived off.

1) After March 31, however, the taxpayer will have to

pay 55% of the full disputed tax amount, and 67.5% in

case of search cases.

2) Similarly, in case the amount of penalty, interest or

fee is the matter of dispute, only 15% will have to be

paid.

BEFORE MARCH

31, 2020

AFTER MARCH

31, 2020

• The number of companies which are spending more than the 2% mandate for CSR is increasing.

116. RBI has approved Kotak Mahindra Bank to cut its promoters’ stake to 26% from

29.96% within 6 months. • The voting rights of the promoter will be limited to 15% from April 1.

117. France's Groupe ADP will acquire 49% stake in GMR Infrastructure's airport business

for Rs 10,780 crore. • France's Groupe ADP CEO & Chairman – Augustin de Romanet • GMR Infrastructure Chairman – GM Rao • GMR Infrastructure MD & CEO – Grandhi Kiran Kumar

118. Department of Telecom has approved the merger of Indus Towers with Bharti

Infratel which will create the largest tower company in the world outside China. • The new entity will be named as Indus Towers Ltd. • Vodafone will get 29.4% stake in the new company in exchange for its 42% stake in

Indus Towers. • Airtel’s stake in the new company will be diluted to 37.2%, from 53.5% it currently

holds in Bharti Infratel.

119. India Inc will offer an average pay hike of 9.1%, lowest in a decade, to their

employees in 2020. The hike is less than 9.3% paid in 2019. • The study analysed data from over 1,000 firms from 20 sectors.

120. ICRA (rating agency) has revised its outlook on the Indian pharmaceuticals sector to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ due to a potential disruption in key raw material supplies from China following Covid-19. • China accounts for 65-70% out of the total APIs (Active pharmaceutical Ingredients)

and intermediaries into India. 121. World’s biggest palm oil importer– India has lifted its ban on the import of palm oil

from Nepal. • Directorate General of Trade Remedies (under Ministry of Commerce and Industry)

has decided to not extend 5% safeguard duty against Malaysian Palm Oil. • In September 2019, the govt had imposed 5% duty on imports of refined palm oil

from Malaysia, taking the customs levy to 50% for six months. • The duty was increased under the “India-Malaysia Comprehensive Economic

Cooperation Agreement” (Bilateral Safeguard Measures) Rules, 2017. 122. Asian Development Bank has listed its 10 year Masala Bonds worth Rs 850 crore on

India INX (global debt listing platform) to support local currency lending and investment in India. • ADB’s Masala Bonds are already listed on Luxembourg exchange.

• This is the first time a foreign issuer and an international body is doing a primary listing with Indian INX.

123. Hindustan Unilever Ltd has set up a new manufacturing subsidiary (100% owned by

it) with an authorized capital of Rs 2000 crore. 124. Ministry of Finance has reduced the limit of expenditure of govt departments,

ministers and offices to 10% of their budgeted allocation against 15% (that was set earlier) for March 2020.

125. Sebi has launched a mobile app – 'Sebi SCORES' (Sebi Complaints Redress System) –

to provide convenience to investors in lodging grievances. • SCORES allows investors to lodge online complaints against listed companies,

registered intermediaries and market infrastructure institutions with SEBI. • The platform ‘SCORES’ was launched in 2011.

126. According to the Worldline India Report Q3 of 2019 released by Worldline India,

Bengaluru has recorded the highest number of digital transactions in 2019 followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. • Unified Payments Interface (UPI) was the most preferred mode of payment.

127. Cube Highways (Singapore-based infrastructure investment platform) has won the

bid to acquire India’s longest road tunnel — the 9.2-km Chenani-Nashri project of IL&FS in Jammu & Kashmir. [lenders of IL & FS will vote for approving the sale]

Asian Develop-

ment Bank

HQ –Manilla,

Philippines

Members -67

President-MasatsuguAsakawa

Estd - 1966

128. Axis Bank and Max Financial Services and Max Life Insurance have signed

agreement to increase Axis Bank’s share in Max Life. • MD and CEO of Axis Bank – Amitabh Chaudhry • MD and CEO of Max Group – Analjit Singh

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UNION BUDGET 2020: -

A) Budget 2020: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that “by 2030, India is set to have the largest working-age population in the world”.

• It is the longest budget speech in Indian history. Sector Budget allocation Education Rs 99,311.52 crore (5% increase) Health sector Rs 69,000 crore Skill development Rs 3,002.21 crore Jal Jeevan Mission (for drinking water) Rs 11,500 crore Agriculture Rs 2.83 Lakh Crore For hosting the G20 Presidency in 2022 in India

Rs 100 Crore

• Budget mentions that, as part of the TB Harega Desh Jitega campaign, India will eliminate TB by 2025.

• Agriculture credit target has been set at Rs 15 lakh crore for NABARD for the year 2020-21.

• Milk production target has been double from 53.5 million metric tonnes to 103 metric million tonnes by 2025.

• Gross enrolment ratio of girls at the elementary level is 94.32%; at the secondary level it is at 81.32% as against 78% for boys at the same level; and at the higher secondary level, the ratio is 59.70% as against the to 57.54% for boys.

• 5 Archaeological Sites – Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (UP), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) – will be developed as the ‘iconic destinations’.

• Govt proposed to set up an international bullion exchange at IFSC in GIFT City (Gujarat). The GIFT City would set up an International Bullion Exchange(s) in GIFT-IFSC – International Financial Services Centre.

B) Budget 2020: it proposed to tax the income of non-resident Indians that is earned

or generated in India. • The Budget also proposed to reduce the period of stay in India to 120 days from 182

days earlier for persons of Indian origin to be categorised as non-resident Indians.

C) Minister of Finance has presented the FINANCE BILL, 2020 (provisions relating to direct taxes) along with the Budget 2020.

Key Highlights of the Finance Bill 2020: A) Removal of Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT):

o Earlier the dividend distributing companies had to pay a 20% DDT. Now, this requirement has been removed.

B) Allowed a 15% tax rate for power generation companies. C) Taxpayer’s charter has been proposed to enshrine the rights of tax payers. Indian tax

administration has to adhere to the charter’s rules. D) Tax Rules for Data collected from India: Companies generating revenue (in India or

outside) by using the data collected from India will have to pay tax as per domestic tax provisions.

E) Amendments have been made in the tax regime to align with Multilateral Instrument (MLI). o MLI was developed by G20-OECD in 2017 to tackle the problem of Base Erosion

and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project). o India ratified it in October 2019. It will become effective, in India, from 1st April

2020. o MLI will prevent abuse of tax treaties by companies. It will restrict companies from

shifting base into low tax countries and prompt them to pay legitimate taxes.

D) Budget 2020 has proposed to divest a part of government’s shareholding in LIC through Initial Public Offer and sell its remaining share in IDBI bank.

• For FY21, government has set a divestment target of Rs 2.1 trillion as compared to Rs 1.05 lakh crore target for FY20.

• For FY20, government has lowered its divestment target to Rs 65,000 crore from Rs 1.05 lakh crore.

E) New Schemes proposed in Budget 2020:

A) ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ scheme – Under the proposed ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ scheme, a

taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get complete waiver of interest and penalty, provided he pays by 31st March 2020. Those who will avail the scheme after 31st March 2020 will have to pay some additional amount. The scheme will remain open till 30th June 2020.

B) NIRVIK (Niryat Rin Vikas Yojana) – it will provide enhanced insurance cover to exporters and reduce premium for small exporters.

C) One-Product One-District – to promote for better marketing and export in the Horticulture sector. Under the scheme, the govt will promote one district to get specialization in one kind of horticulture product.

D) Kisan Rail to be setup by Indian Railways through PPP: To support faster supply of perishables goods (milk, meat, fish, etc). Express and Freight trains will have refrigerated coaches.

E) Village Storage Scheme: It will be run by the Women Self-Help Groups to provide farmers a good warehouse and reduce their logistics cost. • Women will regain their position as Dhaanya Lakshmi through this scheme.

F) Budget 2020 income tax slabs (optional regime):

Previous tax slabs:

G) Budget 2020: Government has targeted to raise Rs 1.33 lakh crore from the telecom

sector for 2020-21. • The upcoming spectrum auctions would generate Rs 40,000-50,000 crore as upfront

revenue and, along with the licence fee of Rs 20,000-25,000 crore and spectrum usage charge, would fetch the government around Rs 75,000 crore.

• Total net tax revenue for the fiscal year 2021 is set at Rs 16.4 lakh crore.

H) Union Budget 2020 proposes to defer tax payment on Employ Stock Option (Esop) for employees at start-ups which are exempt under the Section 80-IAC of the Income Tax Act.

• Deferred period – Instead of paying tax at the time of stock allotment, the employees can pay it when they leave the company or at the time of selling the shares or 5 years after the allotment, whichever is earlier.

• Implication – it would make esop more attractive to employees and eligible startups can now opt esop as a key compensation component in their initial years when they face a liquidity crunch.

I) Union Budget 2020 has announced fiscal deficit targets for:- Year % Absolute amount 2019-20 (FY20) 3.8% Rs 7.67 lakh crore 2020-21 (FY21) 3.5% Rs 7.96 lakh crore

• For FY20, the fiscal deficit target was earlier fixed at 3.3%. • The medium-term fiscal policy strategy, which is released along with the budget,

projects the fiscal deficit for FY22 at 3.3% and for FY23 at 3.1%.

• Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) committee, headed by NK Singh, has recommended to reduce fiscal deficit to 2.8% by FY21 and 2.5% by FY23. [FRBM Act was implemented in 2003]

J) Budget 2020 had proposed to develop the five new smart cities on the pattern of

Gandhinagar’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT). • Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is working closely with

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to identify the cities. • These cities would be set up as business districts.

Note: - complete budget is analysed in this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_I7spG1IU&t=1394s

APPOINTMENTS 1. Arvind Krishna has been appointed as the CEO for IBM (US based technology company).

• James Whitehurst has been appointed as IBM President. 2. M Ajit Kumar has been appointed as the chairman of the Central Board of Indirect

Taxes and Customs (CBIC). 3. Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iraq. 4. Deepa Malik (para-athlete) has been appointed as the President of Paralympic

Committee of India. 5. Pramod Agrawal has been appointed as the new CMD of Coal India Ltd.

6. Sandeep Mathrani has been appointed as the CEO of WeWork.

7. US President Donald Trump has appointed Prem Parameswaran (an Indian American)

as a member of the Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. • He is the only Indian to be appointed as a member in the 13-member commission. • Parameswaran is the President of Eros International’s North America operations.

8. Albin Kurti has been elected as the new Prime Minister of Kosovo (country in the

Southeast Europe). • Kosovo’s capital – Prishtina; Kosovo’s currency – Euro

9. Indian Olympic Association has invited Sourav Ganguly (BCCI President) to become the

Goodwill Ambassador of India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

10. World Bank has appointed Aart Kraay as its interim chief economist. • World Bank’s current chief economist Pinelopi Goldberg will resign on March 1,

2020. 11. Jeff Weiner has been appointed as the Executive Chairman of LinkedIn.

12. Thomas Gottstein has been appointed as the new CEO of Credit Suisse (which is

headquartered in Switzerland).

13. G Narayanan has been appointed as the Head of the New Space India (NSIL). • NSIL is the new unit of ISRO that seeks to commercialize the technologies of ISRO.

14. Rajesh Magow has been appointed as the CEO of MakeMyTrip.

• Deep Kalra (former CEO of MakeMyTrip) has been appointed as the executive Chairman of the company.

15. Ajay Patel has been appointed as the President of All India Chess Federation (AICF).

• Bharat Singh Chauhan has been appointed as the secretary of the AICF. • Other Appointees – Vipnesh Bhardwaj as vice president and Arun Singh as joint

secretary. 16. Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the CMD of Air India.

• India aims to sell 100% in the Air India.

17. Rishi Sunak (Indian origin) has been appointed as the new Finance Minister of the United Kingdom. • Now, UK has 3 Indian-Origin ministers – Alok Sharma (Secretary of state for

business, energy and industrial strategy), Priti Patel (Home Secretary), and Rishi Sunak.

18. Vinay Dube has been appointed as the CEO of GoAir.

19. Alok Sharma (Secretary of business in the UK Cabinet) has been appointed as the Minister-In-Charge of the COP 26 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Glasgow, UK.

20. Ashraf Ghani has been elected as the President of Afghanistan for a 2nd time.

21. Supratim Bandyopadhyay has been appointed as the Chairman of the Pension Fund

Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

22. Sanjay Kothari has been appointed as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner. • Bimal Julka has been appointed as the new Chief Information Commissioner in the

Central Information Commission. • Suresh Patel has been appointed as Vigilance Commissioner and Anita Pandove as

Information Commissioner. 23. Sarbvir Singh has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of policy bazaar.

• Yashish Dahiya (present CEO and co-founder of policy bazaar) has been appointed as the group CEO in the company.

24. Sunil Gurbaxani has been appointed as MD and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank by RBI. 25. Mahant Nritya Gopal Das has been appointed as the President of the Ram

Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust. • Champat Rai has been appointed as its general secretary. • Nripendra Mishra has been appointed as the chairman of the Ram Temple Complex

Development Committee. • Central government has formed this 15-member trust, headed by K Parasaran

(Former Attorney General), to oversee the construction work of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

• The trust will have 1 individual from Dalit community. 26. Vijay Advani (CEO of Nuveen) has been appointed as the new chairman of the global

board of directors of US-India Business Council (USIBC). • Tim Cahill and Mahesh Palashikar (GE South Asia president & CEO) have been

appointed as the other members of the council. • Headquartered in USA, USIBC is the forum to promote business and investment

between India and USA.

27. Michael Miebach will take over as the President of Mastercard w.e.f., April 1, 2020 by replacing the role of Ajay Banga. • Present CEO Ajay Banga will be appointed as the Executive Chairman w.e.f., April 1,

2020. 28. Rajlaxmi Singh Deo and M V Sriram were re-elected as the president and the secretary

general of the Rowing Federation of India for a 5-year term.

29. Banks Board Bureau (BBB), headed by Bhanu Pratap Sharma, has recommended to appoint Chintala Govinda Rajulu as the next chairman of NABARD. • Chintala is currently the MD of Nabfins – it is a non-deposit taking NBFC-subsidiary

of NABARD. [A formal notification about the appointment will be issued shortly.] 30. Riek Machar has been appointed as the first-ever Vice-President of South Sudan.

• South Sudan Capital – Juba; Currency – South Sudanese pound 31. RBI has approved the appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as the CEO of IndusInd Bank for

3 years.

IMPORTANT DAYS

1. 72nd National Martyrs’ Day (Shaheed Divas) is observed on January 30 to commemorate the death of Mahatma Gandhi. • Digital Gandhi Gyan Vigyan Exhibition Phase-II has been organized by Department

of Science & Technology in association with M/s Vizara Technologies Pvt. Ltd and IIT-Delhi.

• Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has launched an online certificate course on “Relevance of Gandhi in the Contemporary World”.

• Titan, in collaboration with Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), has developed the first ever khadi watches.

2. World Wetlands Day is observed on February 2.

• Theme: Wetlands and Biodiversity 3. World Cancer Day is observed on February 4. 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the

day which was started in 2000. • The day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).

• Theme: 'I am and I will'

About UICC: Founded – 1933 CEO – Cary Adams Member countries – 173

4. International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation is observed on February 6 by UN. • Theme - Unleashing Youth Power: One decade of accelerating actions for zero

female genital mutilation. • UN aims to end Female Genital Mutilation by 2030. • ‘A Piece of Me’ campaign was also organized by the United Nations Fund for

Population Activities (UNFPA) to eradicate this practice. 5. RBI will conduct the Financial Literacy Week 2020 from February 10-14, 2020 on the

theme of “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises”. 6. National Deworming Day is observed twice in a year on February 10th and August 10th

by the National Health Mission to kill the worms in the stomach of children aged 1-19. • As per WHO, around 241 million (28% of total children) children in India between 1

to 14 years are affected due to parasitic intestinal worms.

7. 2nd edition of the World Pulses Day was observed on February 10, 2020 by the UN’s

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to highlight the importance of pulses. • National Agricultural Cooperative Federation of India (NAFED), in association with

Global Pulse Confederation (GPC), has hosted the global celebrations of the day in New Delhi.

• In the crop year 2018-19 India produced 22 million tonnes of Pulses and for the next year a target of 26.30 million tonnes is projected.

• A coffee table book named Family pack of NAFED pulses and NAFED Organic pulses (which records the journey of NAFED since inception in 1958 till present) and an FAO’s “Global Economy of Pulses” books were launched during the event.

About Global Pulse Confederation: Established – 1963 Headquarters – Dubai

8. International Day of Women and Girls in Science is observed on February 11 by

UNESCO. • Theme - Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth.

9. World Unani Day is observed on February 11 to commemorate the birth anniversary of

Hakim Ajmal Khan (Unani scholar and social reformer). 10. National Productivity day is observed on February 12 to increase the productivity

culture in India. • It commemorates the establishment of the National Productivity Council (NPC)

under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. • Productivity week will be celebrated from Feb 12 to Feb 18, 2020.

11. National Women’s Day is observed on February 13 on the birth anniversary of Sarojini

Naidu. • International Women’s Day is observed on 8th March annually.

12. World Pangolin Day is observed on 3rd Saturday of February (9th World Pangolin Day

on Feb 15, 2020). • For the first time in India, Madhya Pradesh govt radio-tagged the Indian Pangolins

to learn about their ecology. 13. World Day of Social Justice is observed on February 20 by the UN on the theme of

“Closing the Inequalities Gap to Achieve Social Justice”.

14. International Mother Language Day is observed on February 21 by UNESCO. • Theme: - “Languages without Border”. • Indian Ministry of HRD has celebrated the day as ‘Matribhasha Diwas’ on the theme

of “Celebrating our Multilingual Heritage”. • The theme reflects the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.

AWARDS 1. 7th MSME Excellence Awards and summit was organized by ASSOCHAM in New Delhi.

• Amulya Mica (Purbanchal Laminates Pvt Ltd) was given the Most Promising Brand of the Year 2019 Award. MD of Amulya Mica is Rakesh Agarwal.

• “ASSOCHAM MSMEs Excellence Awards” were instituted to recognize the contribution of MSMEs in empowering the nation.

2. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has been honoured as the Central Banker of the Year -

Asia-Pacific for 2020 by 'The Banker' magazine of London.

3. 16th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF-2020) award winners: Category Winner

Best Documentary Film of the Festival Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (director -

Barbara Paz) of Brazil Best Short Fiction Film An Essay of Rain (director - Nagraj Manjule)

Best Animation Film (shared by-)

Portrait of Suzanne (director - Izabela Plucinska)

The Fox of the Palmgrove (director - Divakar SK)

4. Vinod Kumar Shukla has won the first edition of the Mathrubhumi Book of Year Award

2020 (which is given 16 categories) for his book ‘Blue is Like Blue’. • It is translated from Hindi by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai. • Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters was held at Thiruvananthapuram,

Kerala. 5. Waheeda Rehman won the National Kishore Kumar Award for the year 2018 given by

Madhya Pradesh government. 6. Association of State Road Transport Undertakings has awarded Delhi’s DTC with the

Road Safety Award 2018-19 for lowest accident rate. • Nagaland’s state transport has won the Road Safety Award 2018-19 for the lowest

rate of accidents in the hilly area category. • The award was given during the 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on

Public Transport Innovation (ICEPTI) 2020 in New Delhi. 7. 73rd BAFTA 2020 awards have been announced:

Category Winner

Best film &

Outstanding British film &

Best cinematography &

Best production design &

Best sound &

Best special visual effects

1917 (DIRECTOR - Sam Mendes)

Best Director Sam Mendes (for 1917) Best leading actress Renée Zellweger (for Judy) Best leading actor Joaquin Phoenix (for Joker)

Best film not in the English language &

Best original screenplay Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)

Best animated film Klaus Bafta Fellowship award Kathleen Kennedy (American film producer)

8. Big Bang Boom Solutions Pvt Ltd (India's fastest growing start-up in the defence sector)

has won the SKOCH award for developing the ‘Boron Nitrate Based Personal Hybrid Combat Armour’. • BBBS CEO: Praveen Dwarakanath

ABOUT THE AWARD: • Established in 2003. • It is the highest independently instituted civilian honours in India. • Given for best practices in India in the fields of governance, finance, banking,

technology, corporate citizenship, economics and inclusive growth. 9. Dinkar Keshav Raikar has been awarded with the lifetime achievement award by the

Mantralaya & Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh of Maharashtra. • Reason: for his contribution to journalism.

10. Manoj Das (Odia and English writer) has been chosen for the Mystic Kalinga Literary award in the Indian and Global languages. • He will receive the award during the 4th edition of the Mystic Kalinga Festival to be

held in Odisha. • He has recently won Padma Bhushan 2020 in Odia and English literature.

11. President Ram Nath Kovind presented the International Gandhi Awards for Leprosy to

Dr NS Dharmashaktu in the individual category and Leprosy Mission Trust in the institution category. • Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation has instituted the awards to eradicate the

prejudices associated with leprosy.

12. Dr S Krishnaswamy has been awarded with the Dr. V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award by govt for his lifelong contribution to Indian non-fiction filmmaking at the Mumbai International Film Festival 2020. Awards: -

Category Winners Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Award for Best Debut Film of a Director (Govt of Maharashtra)

Grandfather (director – Anant Dass Sahni)

IDPA Award for Best Student Film Naked Wall (director – Umashankar Nair & Gaiti Siddiqui)

Special Award for Best Short film on Water conservation & Climate Change (up to 15 mins.)(For Indian filmmakers only)

The Wetland’s Wail (director – Aravind M)

Note: - Only the important categories have been provided here. You can check the entire list of awards at https://miff.in/miff-awards-2020/ 13. Pullela Gopichand has become the first Indian coach to receive the Coaches Lifetime

Achievement Award for 2019 by International Olympic Committee. 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo, Japan. 2022 Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing, China.

14. 92nd Academy awards (also called ‘Oscars’) for the year 2019 presented by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. • Parasite has become the first non-English language film to win best picture. • Bong Joon Ho has become the first Asian and South Korean filmmaker to win the

Academy Award for original screenplay. • Mathew Cherry is the 2nd sportsperson after Kobe Bryant to win an Oscar.

Category Winners Best Picture Parasite (Director - Bong Joon Ho) Actor In A Leading Role Joaquin Phoenix for "Joker" (directed by

Todd Phillips) Actress In A Leading Role Renée Zellweger for "Judy" Best Director Bong Joon Ho for "Parasite" International Feature Film Parasite (a South Korean film) Original screenplay Parasite Best Supporting Actor Brad Pitt for One Upon a Time in Hollywood Best Supporting Actress Laura Dern for Marriage Story Short animated film Hair Love (director - Matthew Cherry)

15. ESPNcricinfo Awards for the year 2019 has been given to recognise the best individual

batting and bowling performances in cricket over a calendar year. Category Winner Countries the players

belong to Captain of the year Eoin Morgan England Test batting performance of the year

Kusal Perera Sri Lanka

Test bowling performance of the year

Kemar Roach West Indies

ODI batting performance of the year

Ben Stokes England

ODI bowling performance of the year

Matt Henry New Zealand

T20I batting performance of the year

Glenn Maxwell Australian

T20I bowling performance of the year

Lasith Malinga Sri Lanka

Debutant of the year Jofra Archer England Women's batting performance of the year

Meg Lanning Australia

Women's bowling performance of the year

Ellyse Perry Australia

16. Adi Godrej (Chairman of the Godrej Group) has been awarded with the Lifetime

Achievement Award by the EY company.

17. Amit Panghal has been ranked at the number 1 position by the International Olympic

Committee’s Boxing Task Force. He is the 2nd Indian boxer to be ranked as number 1. • Vijender Singh was the first Indian to be ranked as number 1 in 2009.

18. Australia Cricket Awards for the year 2019 were given:

• Sharon Tredrea, Betty Wilson and Craig McDermott were inducted in the Cricket Hall of Fame.

Category Winner ODI Player of the Year Male – Aaron Finch

Female – Alyssa Healy T20 Player of the Year Male – David Warner

Female – Alyssa Healy Prestigious Belinda Clark Award Ellyse Perry Allan Border Medal David Warner

19. Indian Bank Association’s 15th Annual Banking Technology Conference, Expo and Awards 2020 were held in Mumbai, Maharashtra. • South Indian Bank has won Most Customer Centric Bank Using Technology award. • The bank was the runner up in the ‘Best Payments Initiative’ category for Small

Banks • South Indian Bank HQ – Kerala; MD and CEO – VG Mathew

20. Telangana government will give Genome Valley Excellence Award of BioAsia 2020 to Dr

Carl H June (American immunologist and oncologist) and Dr Vasant Narsimhan (CEO of Novartis) at the Telangana’s annual global biotechnology & life sciences forum. • The award is given to individuals and organizations for their contributions towards

the life science research and public health sectors. 21. Ministry of HRD has presented Indian Achievers Awards 2020 to: -

• Rajendra Indraman Singh, founder and chairperson of Priyadarshini Group of schools and colleges for his “Outstanding Contribution to Indian Education”.

• Dr Sohini Sastri was awarded with the Best Astrologer of the year award during the Indian Achievers Awards ceremony.

22. Dan David Foundation (headquartered at Tel Aviv University in Israel) has presented its

‘Dan David Prize 2020’. • The award is given in 3 categories of Past, Present and Future.

• From India, Gita Sen has been awarded. She works in the Public Health Foundation of India.

23. Gully Boy has been named as the Best Film in the 65th Amazon Filmfare Awards 2020. 24. Ernst and Young (EY) has presented awards.

Category Winner EY Entrepreneur of the year award Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (CEO of Biocon) Lifetime Achievement Award Adi Godrej Transformational Impact Person of the Year award

Tuhin Parikh

Financial Services Yashish Dahiya (CEO and co-founder of Policy Bazaar)

25. ESPN Multi-Sport Annual Awards for the year 2019 has been announced. Category Winner ‘Sportsperson of the year’ (Female)

& Moment of the Year

PV Sindhu (Badminton)

‘Sportsperson of the year’ (Male) Saurabh Chaudhary (shooter) ESPN India courage award Dutee Chand (for the 1st time) (athlete) Lifetime Achievement Award Balbir Singh Sr. (hockey) Comeback of the year Koneru Humpy (chess) Emerging Sportsperson of the Year Deepak Punia (Wrestler) Team of the Year Manu Bhaker – Saurabh Chaudhary

(shooting) Differently-abled athlete of the year Manasi Joshi (Badminton) Coach of the Year Pullela Gopichand (Badminton)

26. Ahmer Khan has won the 2019 Kate Webb Prize by the Agence France-Presse for his

reporting on Kashmir’s condition after scrapping of Article 370.

27. Shri P. Ramakrishnan (Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly) has been awarded

with the Ideal Legislative Assembly Speaker/ Ideal Legislative Council Chairman Award 2019 presented by M. Venkaiah Naidu.

28. Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has presented National

e-Governance Awards to RailMadad (grievance redressal portal of Indian Railways) for “Excellence in providing Citizen-centric delivery” in category II. • The award was presented during the 23rd National Conference on e-Governance

held in Mumbai. Note: - National E-Governance awards in other categories have been mentioned in Feb 1-15 current affairs document. 29. Curt Bergfors Foundation has created the ‘Food Planet Prize’ – world’s largest prize, to

be awarded in later 2020, for sustainable food solutions with a worth of $1 million. • Jury will be co-chaired by Johan Rockstrom and Line Gordon. • Curt Bergfors Foundation was founded by Curt Bergfors in 2019 to emphasize the

challenges in food system. • The award will be given in two categories - "an existing scalable solution for

sustainable foods" and "innovative initiatives that could transform the global food sector".

30. BRICS Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BRICS CCI) has organised the 2nd Annual

Direct Tax Summit and Awards 2020, in association with Achromic Point. • Dharampal Satyapal Limited has won the award for Best In-House Direct Tax Team

of the Year. 31. Veteran actor Manoj Kumar has been awarded with the WBR Golden Era of Bollywood

honour for his contribution to Indian cinema by the World Book of Records, London.

32. Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2020 were presented: - Category Winners

Best Actor Hritik Roshan for Super 30 Best film Super 30

Decade Star 2020 Anupam Kher Note: - only important awards have been mentioned here. If you want to know the entire list of awardees, you can click on this link -

https://www.news18.com/news/movies/divyanka-tripathi-to-kiccha-sudeep-complete-list-of-dadasaheb-phalke-international-film-festival-awards-2020-winners-2509463.html 33. Adline Castelino (from Mangalore) has been crowned as the LIVA Miss Diva Universe

2020. She will represent India at the Miss Universe 2020. • Aavriti Choudhary was crowned as the Miss Diva Supranational 2020. She will

represent India at Miss Supranational 2020.

34. Sahitya Akademi’s Translation Prize for 2019 has been given to Susan Daniel for

translating ‘Kusumabale’ Kannada novel into English in the category of translation into English. • Kusumabale has been written by Devenoora Mahadeva (who is a Padma Shri

holder). • Shashi Tharoor has also won Sahitya Akademi’s award in the creative non-fiction

category for his novel ‘An Era of Darkness’. • Sahitya Akademy awards 2019 were given in 24 languages.

35. SERB Women Excellence Award 2020 has been won by Dr Niti Kumar (scientist in CSIR-

Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow). • She received the award from the President Ram Nath Kovind on National Science

Day on February 28. • Reason: in recognition of her work on understanding the protein quality control

machinery in human malaria parasite.

About the Award

• Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) under the Department

of Science and Technology has instituted the award.

• To honour women scientists below 40 years of age.

• Grant - Rs 5 lakh p.a. for 3 years.

36. FIH Hockey awards for the year 2019: -

Category Winner FIH’s Men Player of the Year award 2019 Manpreet Singh - Captain of Indian team

(first Indian to win it) FIH Women Player of the Year 2019 Eva de Goede (captain of Netherlands’

team) FIH Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year 2019 Vincent Vanasch (Belgium) FIH Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year 2019 Rachael Lynch (Australia) FIH Men’s Coach of the Year 2019 Colin Batch (Australia) FIH Women’s Coach of the Year 2019 Alyson Annan (Australia) FIH Women’s Rising Star of the Year 2019 Lalremsiami (from Mizoram, India) FIH Men’s Rising Star of the Year 2019 Vivek Sagar Prasad (India)

About FIH Headquarters – Lausanne, Switzerland President – Narinder Batra

SPORTS

1. 70th Senior National Basketball Championship 2019 was organized in Ludhiana in the month of December. • Now, Ludhiana is only city in India to conduct the National Basketball Championship

for 9th time since the inception of the Basketball Federation of India in 1951. 2. Indonesia Masters 2020 (Badminton tour) was held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

• Men’s Singles: Anthony Sin Ginting • Women’s Singles: Ratchanok Intanon

3. Thailand Masters 2020 (Badminton tour) was held in Bangkok, Thailand.

• Men’s Singles: NG Ka Long Ang • Women’s Singles: Akane Yamaguchi

4. Ngangom Bala Devi has become the first Indian woman to sign a foreign football club -

‘Rangers FC’ (a Scotland football club).

5. Christine Sinclair (Canadian soccer player) has become the top scorer in international soccer with 185 goals. • She achieved this feat during the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying

Championship 2020 held in USA.

6. ICC Women’s Ranking as of 9th March 2020: • ICC ODI Ranking:

Top Team Top Batswoman Top Bowler Top All-Rounder Australia Stafanie Taylor

(West Indies) Jess Jonassen (Australia)

Ellyse Perry (Australia)

• ICC T20I Ranking:

Top Team Top Batsman Top Bowler Top All-Rounder Australia Beth Mooney

(Australia) Sophie Ecclestone (England)

Sophie Devine (New Zealand)

7. ICC Men’s Rankings as of 9th March 2020:

• Test Top Team Top Batsman Top Bowler Top All-Rounder India Steve Smith

(Australia) Pat Cummins (Australia)

Jason Holder (West Indies)

• ODI

Top Team Top Batsman Top Bowler Top All-Rounder England Virat Kohli Trent Boult

(New Zealand) Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan)

• T20I

Top Team Top Batsman Top Bowler Top All-Rounder Pakistan Babar Azam

(Pakistan) Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)

Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan)

8. 108th Australia Open 2020 results:

• Men’s Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbian) • Women’s Singles: Sofia Kenin (America)

Extra Facts: • It is the 8th Australian Open title won by Novak Djokovic.

• ATP rank of Novak Djokovic is number 1. • WTA rank of Sofia Kenin is number 7. (Ashleigh Barty is number 1.)

9. Flame-throated Bulbul 'Rubigula' – state bird of Goa – has been declared as the official

mascot for 36th National Games 2020 to be held in Goa. • The games will be organized under the aegis of Indian Olympic Association. • CM of Goa – Pramod Sawant

10. National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has banned Ramshad AR (weightlifter) for 2 years

and Ravinder Kumar (wrestler) for 4 years for failing the dope test. 11. India has become the first country in the world to win with a clean sweep in the first

T20I 5 match series.

12. Harmeet Desai and Sutirtha Mukherjee have won gold medals in the National table tennis championship held in Gujarat.

13. 35th Senior National Weightlifting Championships 2020 was held in Kolkata, West

Bengal. • Mirabai Chanu was named as the Best Senior Women's Lifter. • Jeremy Lalrinnunga became the Best Senior Men's Lifter. He has won his first

national gold medal in 67 kg. • Indian Railways has won the overall both the men's and women's titles. • Rakhi Halder has won gold in the 64kg category.

14. 2020 Senior Asian Wrestling Championships will be organized in New Delhi by United

World Wrestling (UWW).

15. Davis Cup 2020 (tennis) will be held in Madrid, Spain in November 2020. • Rohit Rajpal is appointed as India’s non-playing captain for the Davis Cup. • Zeeshan Ali will be the coach of the team.

16. International Tennis Federation (ITF) has banned Abigail Spears (American tennis

player) for doping. 17. Aditya Mehta has defeated Pankaj Advani to win the men’s title at the National

Snooker Championship in Pune. • Vidya Pillai has won the title in women’s category.

18. Bangladesh team (captain - Akbar Ali) has won the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup

2020 in held in South Africa. • Yashasvi Jaiswal (India) was honoured as the Player of the tournament. • From India, Yashasvi Jaiswal, highest wicket-taker Ravi Bishnoi and Kartik Tyagi

were named in the ICC U-19 World Cup Team of the Tournament. • Indian U-19 cricket team captain – Priyam Garg

19. For the 2nd time, Australia has won the ICC women’s championship trophy 2020. Now,

Australia has qualified for 2021 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. • Meg Lanning was the captain of the team. • Qualifiers for the other teams for 2021 Women’s Cricket World Cup will be held in

Sri Lanka in July 2020. 20. Fed Cup Finals 2020 (women’s tennis tournament) will be held in Budapest, Hungary.

• Fed Cup qualifier will be held in Dubai, UAE in March 2020. 21. 77th Senior National Squash Championship will be hosted by the Tamil Nadu Squash

Rackets Association in Chennai under the aegis of the Squash Rackets Federation of India. • Joshna Chinappa won in the women’s category and Saurav Ghosal won in the men’s

category. 22. International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has announced to form the a new format

World Table Tennis (WTT) with a series of new events in 2021 to increase the commercial growth for Table Tennis.

23. Armand Duplantis (Swedish) has set a world record in pole vault at 6.17 meters in an

indoor championship in Torun, Poland. • Previously, Renaud Lavillenie (French vaulter) had held the world record at 6.16 m.

24. World Kabbadi Cup 2020 will be held in Pakistan from February 9-16, 2020.

25. India has won 4 silver and 1 bronze medal at the 64th Bocskai Istvan Memorial boxing

tournament 2020 held in Debrecen, Hungary. • Silver winners: - Gaurav Chauhan, Jyoti Gulia, Manisha, PL Prasad. • Bronze winner: - Sachin

26. Sophie Devine (New Zealand) has become the world’s first cricketer to hit 5 successive 50-plus scores in T20Is.

27. Indian cricketers – Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi and Bangladeshi cricketers – Towhid

Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan have been suspended for breaching ICC’s code of conduct during the ICC U-19 World Cup in South Africa.

28. All India Football Federation, in collaboration with the Spanish La Liga SmartBank co-

leader Cadiz CF, has launched its football management program named as “AIFF Masters”. • The program will enable students to gather knowledge about football by completing

their studies in Mumbai, Delhi and Cadiz (Spain). • AIFF President – Praful Patel

29. Bengaluru Raptors have won the Premier Badminton League 2020 for a 2nd time in a

row in Hyderabad, Telangana. • Player of the League – Tai Tzu Ying (Taiwan) • Emerging Player of the League – Priyanshu Rajawat • Indian Player of the League – N Sikki Reddy

30. The official motto of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is “United By Emotion”. 31. Badminton Asia Team Championships 2020 was held in Manila, Philippines.

Men’s Team 1st - Indonesia 3rd - India

Women’s Team 1st - Japan India did not play.

32. Koneru Humpy (Indian) has won the Cairns Cup Chess Tournament 2020 held in USA. 33. For a 3rd time, FIH Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup 2021 will be hosted by India.

• For the 1st time, FIH Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup 2021 will be hosted by Potchefstroom, South Africa.

34. First edition of the Khelo India Winter Games 2020 (also known as National Winter

Games) will be organized in Ladakh in the first stage and in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir in the second stage. • Ministry of Sports will finance both games.

• J&K Sports Council and J&K Winter Games Association will organized the games.

35. National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has banned Amit Dahiya (Javelin thrower) for 4 years.

36. India will host the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2022 organized by the Asian Football

Confederation. • India is the first South Asian country to host the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2022.

37. 20th Laureus World Sports Awards 2020, also known as ‘Oscars of Sport’, were

presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. • Tendulkar has become the first Indian sportsperson to win a Laureus World Sports

Award. • Bryan Habana (South African rugby player) has been inducted into the Laureus

World Sports Academy. Category Winner Laureus Sporting Moment of 2000-2020 Sachin Tendulkar’s 2011 World Cup-

winning moment Sportsman of the Year 2020 Lionel Messi and Lewis Hamilton (Formula

One driver) Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Simone Biles (American Gymnast) Laureus World Team of the Year South Africa Men’s Rugby Team Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award Dirk Nowitzki (German basketball player) Laureus Academy Exceptional Achievement Award

Spanish Basketball Federation

Note: - The award has been given in a total of 11 categories. Only the important awards have been mentioned here. To know about the complete list of winners, you can click on this link- https://www.laureus.com/world-sports-awards/2020 38. All India Football Federation (AIFF) has received the Asian Football Confederation's

"Grassroots Charter Bronze Level" membership to allow AIFF to promote its basic-level events under the label of ‘AFC recognised’.

39. Badminton World Federation (BWF) has organized the Brazil Para badminton

International 2020 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. • India has won a total of 10 medals. Pramod Bhagat won two gold medals, Suhas

Yathiraj and Nagar Krishna were other gold medal winners.

• China has emerged as the most successful team with 8 gold medals. 40. India will host the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup 2020 in 5 cities with the finals to

be played in Mumbai. • Official slogan of the world cup is ‘Kick Off the Dream’.

41. Pragyan Ojha has announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket. 42. Alex Danson-Bennett (Britain) has announced her retirement from hockey.

43. Russia will be the first country to host the new format of AIBA Team World Cup in 2020.

Final will be played in the city of Nizhny Novgorod in October. • The tournament will be coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the victory in World

War II under the motto "Boxing for peace".' 44. FC Goa has become the first Indian team to qualify for the group stage of the AFC

Champions League 2021 (venue not decided yet).

45. Maria Sharapova (Russian tennis player and 5-times grand slam winner) has announced retirement.

46. D Gukesh (13-year old grandmaster from India) has won the 34th Cannes Chess Open

held in Cannes, France. • Gukesh became the world's second youngest grandmaster ever in 2019. • Sergey Karjakin (Russian chess Grandmaster) still holds the record of world’s

youngest grandmaster at 12 years. 47. India has won a total of 20 medals (including five golds, six silver and nine bronze) at

the Asian Wrestling Championship 2020 held in New Delhi. • In women’s category, India won 8 medals — three gold, two silver and three bronze

— their biggest haul at the event. • Sunil Kumar has won India's 1st gold in Greco-Roman category in 27 years.

48. Venezuela's Yulimar Rojas has set a new world indoor triple jump record at the final

World Indoor Tour 2020 (annual indoor athletics tour) in Madrid, Spain. • With 15.43m, she surpassed the record of Tatyana Lebedeva (Russian). • Ukraine's Inessa Kravets had set the outdoor triple jump record at 15.50m in 1995.

49. New Zealand has won the Royal Stag Trophy in cricket in Christchurch, New Zealand. • In May 2019, Royal Stag (flagship brand of Pernod Ricard India) had launched the

limited-edition cricket world cup pack. 50. Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and Women’s Golf Association of India (WGAI)

have signed an “affiliation agreement” to promote golf for both genders in India. • PGTI President – Gautam Thapar • WGAI President – Kavita Singh

51. Asian Football Confederation’s women committee (chaired by Mahfuza Akhter Kiron)

has finalized India as the host of AFC Women Asian Cup 2022. • India is also organizing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup later this year.

52. International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour (Hungarian Open) 2020 was

held in Budapest, Hungary. • Men’s Singles: - Tomokazu Harimoto (Japanese) • Women’s Singles: - Mima Ito (Japanese) • Indian winners: - Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan won silver in men’s double category.

Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra have won bronze in mixed doubles. 53. M.R. Hansini (aged 10) won bronze medal in ITTF Mini-Cadet Girls’ Singles category at

the Swedish Junior and Cadet Open in Orebro, Sweden. 54. Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) has set a new world of completing 5 km race within 12

minutes 51 seconds. 55. Yash Fadte has won French Junior Squash Open Championship 2020 held at Lille,

France.

56. India has won the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania group-1 women’s tennis tournament held in Dubai, UAE. • Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina won the doubles.

57. Haryana has won the 10th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2020

held in Kollam, Kerala. 58. Australia has won the ICC Women’s T20I World Cup 2020 held in Melbourne Cricket

Ground in Australia.

• Australia’s Captain – Meg Lanning • Indian captain – Mithali Raj

MISCELLANEOUS

1. Rajat Chaudhuri has translated ‘Raater Kolkata’ into English as the “Calcutta nights”. • Published in 1923, the book was written by Hemendra Kumar Roy in Bengali.

2. Dr. Peter Wilf from Pennsylvania state university has discovered that the world’s oldest

bamboo fossil (Chusquea oxyphylla) is in reality a Conifer plant. • The fossil was first discovered in 1941 in Eocene, Patagonia. • It was published in open-access journal Phytokeys.

3. Lord J (Pop singer) has launched his autobiography “Lord J: Lord of Anonymity”.

• He is the world’s first and the only anonymous singer.

4. Kirk Douglas (Hollywood actor, director and producer) has passed away.

5. University of California has discovered a monster galaxy named as XMM-2599. • This galaxy existed around 12 billion years ago. • The discovery has been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

6. P Parameswaran – former RSS member, orator and an author of 21 books – has passed

away. • ‘Marx and Vivekananda: A comparative study’ and ‘From Marx to Maharshi and

Bhagavad Gita – Vision of a New World Order’ are some of his famous books. 7. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has released ‘A Child of Destiny’ an autobiography of

Professor Koneru Ramakrishna Rao (who is the current Chancellor of Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management University in Vishakatapatnam).

8. World’s first liquid hydrogen fuelled superyacht named as “Aqua” has been

manufactured by Sinot – a Dutch company.

9. “The Thin Mind Map” book has been authored by Dharmendra Rai (Brain Literacy trainer).

10. “Messages from Messengers” book has been written by Priti K Shroff.

11. “A Commentary & Digest on The Air, Act 1981” book has been written by Dr K K

Khandelwal and Apoorva Kumar Singh. • It was released by Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar.

12. NASA will equip SuperCam among 7 equipment – a new robot – on Mars rover (to be

launched in 2020) to study the minerals and chemistry of Mars. • NASA is undertaking a Mars Exploration Program in 2020 and the rover is a part of it.

13. Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA has discovered the ‘baby giant

planet’, nearest to the Earth at a distance of 330 light-years, called 2MASS 1155-7919 b. • The study is published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society

journal. 14. Mysterious Yara-virus has been discovered in an artificial lake - Pampulha - of Brazil. 15. Aditya Haksar has translated the famous sayings of Chanakya from Sanskrit to current

languages in the book titled as “Chanakya Niti: Verses on life and Living”.

16. India’s Atomic Energy Commission’s researchers have found lithium reserves of 14,100 tonnes in Mandya, Bengaluru, Karnataka. • Lithium is important for the manufacturing of e-vehicles.

17. Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, has released

the 64th edition of the “The Reference Annual- India/Bharat-2020” book. • The book has been published by the Publications Division (India) along with New

Media Wing (under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting). 18. Netherlands has named its newly founded species of snail – Craspedotropis

gretathunbergae – after Greta Thunberg (Swedish climate activist) to honour her. • The discovery of the snail has been published in the Biodiversity Data Journal.

19. Hosni Mubarak (former Egypt President) has passed away. 20. Educationist JS Rajput has written “Gandhi Ko Samajhne ka Yahi Samay” book.

21. For the first time, astronomers led by Junzhi Wang at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, have identified molecular oxygen (that is breathable) in a galaxy outside the Milky Way. • The oxygen was found in Markarian 231 galaxy which is around 581 million light

years away. • The discovery has been published in Astrophysical Journal.

22. “Who Is Bharat Mata” book – authored by Purushottam Agarwal – has been translated

into Kannada as “Yaaru Bharat Maate” by K E Radhakrishna. • The book contains writings and speeches of Jawaharlal Nehru and contains details

about the India's freedom movement. 23. Jaggi Vasudev has written “Death: An Inside Story” book.

• Jaggi Vasudev, aka Sadhguru, is a Yogi, author and founder of Isha Foundation. 24. Ajay Rai Sharma (Former Delhi Police Chief) has written the book “Biting the Bullet”. 25. Chitetsu Watanabe – world’s oldest person from Niigata, Japan – has died at the age of

112 years.

QUESTIONS

Q.1) In which city is the first incubation centre of India for firms focused in the VFX, AI, gaming technologies will be set up by Telangana govt, Software Technology Park of India and the Ministry of Electronics and IT? [a] Hyderabad [b] Secundarabad [c] Warangal [d] Nizamabad [e] Adilabad Q.2) Where will the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology organize the first-ever summit on Artificial Intelligence - ‘RAISE 2020’? [a] Delhi [b] Hyderabad [c] Ahmedabad [d] Mumbai [e] Kolkata Q.3) What is the total budgetary allocation for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme for 2019-20? [a] Rs 60,000 crore [b] Rs 75,000 crore [c] Rs 80,000 crore [d] Rs 25,000 crore [e] Rs 30,000 crore Q.4) When was the SANKALP scheme launched? [a] 2014 [b] 2013 [c] 2015 [d] 2017 [e] 2018

Q.5) What does ‘E’ stand for in the full form of STRIVE? [a] Enlighten [b] Entrepreneur [c] Enterprise [d] Enhancement [e] Emerging Q.6) Where is the World's largest airport-based 'Export Cold Zone' established? [a] Indira Gandhi International Airport [b] Mumbai airport [c] Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport [d] Chennai International Airport [e] Calicut International Airport Q.7) Which country has assumed the Presidency of Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) for the next three years? [a] Maldives [b] India [c] Thailand [d] Saudi Arabia [e] Vietnam Q.8) Which of the following is an objective of the Jagananna Vasthi Deevena scheme of Andhra Pradesh? [a] To improve the gross enrolment ratio in higher education [b] To improve the sex ratio in the state [c] To improve the nutritional status of schools in Andhra Pradesh [d] To introduce AI technology in school curriculum

[e] To provide pension at the doorsteps of the citizens Q.9) What is the amount of estimated production of “Rabi” crops in 2019-20, according to the first advance estimate of National Bulk Handling Corporation? [a] 160.72 MT [b] 178.72 MT [c] 134.23 MT [d] 150.92 MT [e] 109.09 MT Q.10) What is the total production estimate for Kharif crops for 2019-20, according to the final advance estimate of National Bulk Handling Corporation? [a] 484.8 million metric tonnes [b] 967.90 million metric tonnes [c] 1013.02 million metric tonnes [d] 223.57 million metric tonnes [e] 112.25 million metric tonnes Q.11) Who is the Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister? [a] Kimmo Tiilikainen [b] Shinjiro Koizumi [c] Yoon Seong-kyu [d] Sveinung Rotevatn [e] Sussan Ley Q.12) Where is the only crater lake of India located? [a] Lonar, Rajasthan [b] Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh [c] Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh [d] Adilabad, Telangana [e] Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Q.13) Recently, during the Great Backyard Bird count, Red Throated Thrush and Plumbeous Water Redstart birds were located for the first time in ___? [a] Ladakh [b] Himachal Pradesh [c] Delhi [d] Maharashtra [e] Pondicherry Q.14) What is the total amount of contingency fund allocated for the implementation of Jyotiba Phule farmer loan waiver scheme by Maharashtra? [a] Rs 20,000 crore [b] Rs 31,002 crore [c] Rs 10,150 crore [d] Rs 45,120 crore [e] Rs 4,500 crore Q.15) Which state has announced to celebrate ‘2020’ as the ‘Sushashan Sankalp Varsh’? [a] Punjab [b] Haryana [c] Maharashtra [d] Gujarat [e] West Bengal Q.16) Which state will establish the Nehru Child Protection Fund for protecting child rights, stop human trafficking and child labour besides checking adulteration? [a] Andhra Pradesh [b] Maharashtra [c] Madhya Pradesh [d] Rajasthan

[e] Telangana Q.17) Who is the chairperson of National Human Rights Commission? [a] K L Mishra [b] H L Dattu [c] A P Yadav [d] N V Ramana [e] D Y Chaudhary Q.18) Who is the Chairperson of US Commission on International Religious Freedom? [a] Tony Perkins [b] George Eustice [c] Élisabeth Borne [d] Jonathan Wilkinson [e] Dmitry Kobylkin Q.19) Who has launched “Baat Bihar Ki” campaign to ensure that Bihar is counted among the top 10 states in India? [a] Akhilesh Yadav [b] Prashant Kishor [c] Nitish Kumar [d] Lalu Yadav [e] Sushil Gandhi Q.20) Where is the Nadampha National Park located? [a] Arunachal Pradesh [b] Madhya Pradesh [c] Karnataka [d] Assam [e] Bihar

Q.21) Which city is the world’s most polluted city in 2019, according to the ‘World Air Quality Report 2019’? [a] Ghaziabad [b] Nizamabad [c] Delhi [d] Jharia [e] Patna Q.22) What is the name of the India’s first Earth imaging satellite in a geostationary orbit to be launched by ISRO? [a] Cartosat 3 [b] HySIS [c] IRNSS-1f [d] GISAT 1 [e] HAMSAT Q.23) When was the Bihar Student Credit Card Scheme to provide education loans to poor students? [a] 2016 [b] 2019 [c] 2018 [d] 2015 [e] 2017 Q.24) What is the aim of "Unnayan Bihar" scheme? [a] To provide quality education in schools with the application of technology [b] To provide a subsidy of 2.5% to farmers [c] To establish 2000 Kisan Vikas Kendras in the state to improve technological use in agriculture [d] To improve the gross enrolment ratio of girls in higher education

[e] To reduce the Maternal Mortality Ratio of the state Q.25) Where is the Gobi Bear found? [a] Tunisia [b] Egypt [c] Maldives [d] Bhutan [e] Mongolia Q.26) Which state has become the first state to launch the unified vehicle registration card? [a] Karnataka [b] Madhya Pradesh [c] Gujarat [d] Kerala [e] Odisha Q.27) Where did Indian Air Force and the British Royal Air Force conduct the 5th edition of Exercise Indradhanush? [a] Hindan Air Force Station [b] Amritsar Air Force Station [c] Chandigarh Air Force Station [d] Sarsawa Air Force Station [e] Barrackpore Air Force Station Q.28) With which smartphones manufacturing company has ISRO partnered to install NaVIC in the smartphones? [a] Vivo [b] Xiaomi [c] Samaung [d] Oppo [e] Nokia

Q.29) National Technical Textiles Mission aims to increase the total size of domestic market of technical textiles to ___ billion dollars by 2024? [a] $20-30 Billion [b] $80-95 Billion [c] $40-50 Billion [d] $75-80 Billion [e] $50-65 Billion Q.30) When was the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation signed? [a] 2000 [b] 1996 [c] 2004 [d] 2013 [e] 2017 Q.31) How many countries does the Mekong river passes through? [a] 6 [b] 5 [c] 4 [d] 3 [e] 2 Q.32) Which Indian organization has signed an MoU with US’s Food and Drug Administration on medical products? [a] Indian Red Cross Society [b] Central Drugs Standard Control Organization [c] AIIMS - Delhi [d] Department of AIDS control [e] National Medical Commission

Q.33) How many companies were assessed in the ‘Access to Nutrition Spotlight Index 2020’? [a] 16 [b] 30 [c] 70 [d] 121 [e] 50 Q.34) With which company did National Mission for Clean Ganga, State Program Management Group-Uttarakhand sign a tripartite agreement to develop Ghats in Uttarakhand? [a] Indorama Charitable Trust [b] Goonj [c] Childline India [d] Child in Need Institute [e] Foundation for Excellence India Trust Q.35) Where was the G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors Meeting held? [a] Saudi Arabia [b] Malaysia [c] Thailand [d] Indonesia [e] Japan Q.36) Who is the High Commissioner of the UN Human Rights Council? [a] Michelle Bachelet [b] David Sassoli [c] Charles Michel [d] Ursula von der Leyen [e] Koen Lenaerts Q.37) What is the capital of Mauritius?

[a] Port Louis [b] Dili [c] Vientiane [d] Phnom Penh [e] Male Q.38) Which company has signed an agreement with the Central Pollution Control Board for installing the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring stations? [a] Coal India Ltd [b] Rural Electrification Corporation [c] NTPC Ltd [d] National Hydroelectric Power Corporation [e] North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Q.39) Union Budget 2020 proposes to defer tax payment on Employ Stock Option for employees of startups for ___ years after the allotment or the employees can pay it when they leave the company or at the time of selling the shares whichever is earlier? [a] 4 [b] 5 [c] 3 [d] 10 [e] 6 Q.40) How much taxpayers will have to pay before March 31, 2020, if the IT department file an appeal under the Vivaad Se Vishwas Scheme? [a] 50% [b] 70%

[c] 62.5% [d] 90% [e] 85% Q.41) What is the percentage of increase in the number of companies that have disclosed details of their CSR outreach in their annual reports, according to the KPMG’s India CSR Reporting Survey 2019? [a] 325% [b] 105% [c] 98% [d] 80% [e] 50% Q.42) To which bank has RBI recently given its approval to cut the promoters’ stake to 26% from 29.96% within 6 months? [a] Kotak Mahindra Bank [b] ICICI Bank [c] HDFC Bank [d] Axis Bank [e] Oriental Bank of Commerce Q.43) Which company will acquire 49% stake in GMR Infrastructure's airport business for Rs 10,780 crore? [a] ADEC Technologies [b] BEUMER Group [c] France's Groupe ADP [d] Cygnus Technical [e] Delta Obstruction Lighting Q.44) What is the revised fiscal deficit target for 2019-20? [a] 3.8% [b] 3.3%

[c] 3.9% [d] 3.4% [e] 3.6% Q.45) What is the revised fiscal deficit target for 2021-22? [a] 3.9% [b] 3.3% [c] 3.5% [d] 2.9% [e] 3.4% Q.46) Which is the world’s largest tower company (proposed) outside China? [a] Aster Pvt Ltd [b] GTL Infrastructure Ltd [c] Tower Vision India Pvt Ltd [d] Indus Towers Ltd. [e] Tata Communications Ltd Q.47) Which company has revised its outlook on the Indian pharmaceuticals sector to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ due to the potential threats of Covid-19? [a] Moody’s [b] ICRA [c] Standard Chartered [d] Normura [e] Merrill Lynch Q.48) Which company has signed an agreement with the Max Financial Services and Max Life Insurance have signed an agreement to increase the bank’s share in Max Life? [a] Axis Bank [b] Kotak Mahindra Bank [c] Oriental Bank of Commerce

[d] Bank of Baroda [e] UCO Bank Q.49) How many companies are the members of Asian Development Bank? [a] 37 [b] 22 [c] 59 [d] 80 [e] 67 Q.50) Economic Survey 2020 observed that 2019 marks the golden jubilee of which event? [a] Bank nationalization [b] Bank corporatization [c] Economic Liberalization [d] Rise of Labour Unions [e] Stock Market Crash Q.51) What does ‘R’ stand for in full form of the mobile app – 'Sebi SCORES' – to provide convenience to investors in lodging grievances? [a] Redress [b] Removal [c] Reparation [d] Retrieval [e] Rectification Q.52) Which state has recorded the highest number of digital transactions in 2019, according to the Worldline India Report Q3 of 2019? [a] Chennai [b] Bengaluru [c] Mumbai [d] Pune

[e] Kolkata Q.53) Who has been appointed as the new President of Mastercard? [a] Michael Miebach [b] Albert Addington [c] Harper Gladstone [d] Mathew Enfield [e] Stanley Hadlee Q.54) Who is the MD of Nabfins (a non-deposit taking NBFC-subsidiary of NABARD)? [a] Ashwani Lohani [b] Sudipta Bhattacharya [c] Chintala Govinda Rajulu [d] J Packirisamy [e] Ajay Kapur Q.55) Who has been appointed as the first-ever Vice-President of South Sudan? [a] Riek Machar [b] Jusuf Kalla [c] Mehriban Aliyeva [d] Fatoumata Tambajang [e] Joseph Boakai Q.56) Who has been appointed as the CEO of IndusInd Bank? [a] Rajiv Bajaj [b] P. S. Jayakumar [c] Varun Berry [d] Sumant Kathpalia [e] Anant Vardhan Goenka Q.57) Who has won the Best Actor award in the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2020?

[a] Irfan Khan [b] Amitabh Bachchan [c] Shahrukh Khan [d] Hritik Roshan [e] Varun Dhawan Q.58) Who is the writer of ‘Kusumabale’ Kannada novel? [a] P. V. Acharya [b] Shamba Joshi [c] S. V. Ranganna [d] Susan Daniel [e] Devenoora Mahadeva Q.59) Who has won the 2020 SERB Women Excellence Award? [a] Diljeet Kaur [b] Aakaanksha Khatri [c] Meghna Agarwal [d] Barkha Goel [e] Niti Kumar Q.60) Which country will host the AFC Women Asian Cup 2022? [a] Maldives [b] Thailand [c] India [d] Japan [e] South Korea Q.61) Who has won the 34th Cannes Chess Open 2020? [a] D Gukesh [b] Sergey Karjakin [c] Javokhir Sindarov [d] R Praggnanandhaa [e] Javokhir Sindarov

Q.62) How many medals did India win in the Asian Wrestling Championship 2020? [a] 10 [b] 20 [c] 25 [d] 12 [e] 30 Q.63)  Recently, Yulimar Rojas has set a new world indoor triple jump record at the final World Indoor Tour 2020. Which country does he belong to? [a] Australia [b] Venezuela [c] Guinea [d] Nigeria [e] Uganda Q.64) Who is the President of Women’s Golf Association of India? [a] Kavita Singh [b] Bhairavi Kamrath [c] Kishori Maheshwari [d] Kamya Tripathi [e] Zora Qureshi Q.65) Who has won the women’s singles at the International Table Tennis Federation World Tour (Hungarian Open) 2020? [a] Mima Ito [b] Zhu Yuling [c] Liu Shiwen [d] Kasumi Ishikawa [e] Miu Hirano Q.66) Who is the author of “Gandhi Ko Samajhne ka Yahi Samay” book?

[a] Raju Bharatan [b] JS Rajput [c] Anubha Bhonsle [d] Preeti Choudhry [e] Bahar Dutt Q.67) Who has translated the “Who Is Bharat Mata” book into Kannada? [a] Jyotirmoy Dey [b] K E Radhakrishna [c] Santosh Kumar Ghosh [d] Biju Govind [e] Kanchan Gupta Q.68) Who has written the “Death: An Inside Story” book? [a] Jaggi Vasudev [b] Sajjad Haider [c] Barjinder Singh Hamdard [d] Ashok Malik [e] B. K. Karanjia Q.69) Who is the Chairperson of Banks Board Bureau? [a] Murali M. Natrajan [b] Sandeep Bakhshi [c] Parthasarathi Mukherjee [d] Bhanu Pratap Sharma [e] Vishwavir Ahuja Q.70) Who has been re-elected as the president of the Rowing Federation of India? [a] Thiru K.V. Rama Moorthy [b] Rajlaxmi Singh Deo [c] Mukesh Sharma [d] C. V. R. Rajendran [e] N. Kamakodi

Q.71) Which city has topped the 9th annual Traffic Index report released by TomTom? [a] Bengaluru [b] Mumbai [c] Manila [d] Bogota [e] Jakarta Q.72) Which country will conduct the defence conclave with India, for the first time, during the DefExpo 2020? [a] Japan [b] South Korea [c] Australia [d] Africa [e] New Zealand Q.73) Which state had launched the one product one district scheme to promote MSME products to make it a $1 trillion economy by 2024? [a] Madhya Pradesh [b] Uttar Pradesh [c] Karnataka [d] Kerala [e] Andhra Pradesh Q.74) With which country has India signed an MoU to develop the Addu Tourism zone? [a] Nepal [b] Maldives [c] Sri Lanka [d] Myanmar [e] Australia

Q.75) Which think-tank has been ranked as the ‘2019 think-tank of the year in the world’ in the 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report? [a] Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (United States) [b] French Institute of International Relations (France) [c] German Institute of Development (Germany) [d] Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (United States) [e] Observer Research Foundation (India) Q.76) Recently, World’s largest solar telescope – Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope – has produced its first ever high-resolution image of sun. Where is the telescope located? [a] Alaska [b] Florida [c] Indiana [d] California [e] Hawaii Q.77) Which bank has launched the ‘Corporate Loan’ (to offer loans at an affordable interest rates) and ‘Ind Surya Shakthi’ credit products for the benefit of the textile sector? [a] HSBC Bank [b] Indian Bank [c] Indian Overseas Bank [d] Canara Bank [e] Punjab National Bank Q.78) Who is the MD and CEO of Indian Bank?

[a] Rajnish Kumar [b] S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao [c] Mrutyunjay Mahapatra [d] Padmaja Chunduru [e] Rajkiran Rai G. Q.79) Who is the Chairman of NABARD? [a] Harsh Kumar Banwala [b] G. Padmanabhan [c] P V Bharathi [d] P R Seshadri [e] Sandeep Bakhshi Q.80) Who has partnered with Care Ratings to assess credit quality of its small and medium enterprises customers? [a] Bank of India [b] Punjab & Sind Bank [c] Bank of Baroda [d] Oriental Bank of Commerce [e] Andhra Bank Q.81) According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts, fiscal deficit was ___ percent of the full-year target at December-end due to low revenue collections? [a] 132.4% [b] 142.3% [c] 121.6% [d] 112.5% [e] 102.7% Q.82) What is the fiscal deficit target for 2020-21, according to The Medium-Term Fiscal Policy Statement presented with the Budget 2019-20? [a] 3.7%

[b] 3% [c] 3.1% [d] 3.3% [e] 3.4% Q.83) What is the GDP growth rate for FY20 projected by Economic Survey 2020? [a] 5% [b] 5.3% [c] 4.9% [d] 5.2% [e] 5.1% Q.84) Who is the current Chief Economic Advisor of India? [a] Abhijit Banerjee [b] Arvind Subramanian [c] Gita Gopinath [d] Krishnamurthy Subramanian [e] Jagdish Bagwati Q.85) Who presents the Economic Survey of India? [a] Minister of Finance [b] Prime Minister of India [c] Home Minister of India [d] Chief Economic Advisor of India [e] President of India Q.86) Which sector has the highest growth rate projected by the Economic Survey 2020? [a] Services [b] Industry [c] Agriculture [d] Both A and B [e] Both A and C

Q.87) What is the consumer price inflation target for India, according to the Economic Survey 2020? [a] 4.2% [b] 3.5% [c] 3.2% [d] 4.1% [e] 2.2% Q.88) What is the Agriculture credit target set for NABARD for the year 2020-21, according to Budget 2020? [a] Rs 15 lakh crore [b] Rs 25 lakh crore [c] Rs 30 lakh crore [d] Rs 10 lakh crore [e] Rs 20 lakh crore Q.89) What is the gross enrolment ratio of girls at the elementary level, as mentioned by Budget 2020? [a] 94.32% [b] 81.32% [c] 57.54% [d] 59.70% [e] 78.23% Q.90) Who has been appointed as the CEO for IBM? [a] Brian Moynihan [b] Warren Buffett [c] Arvind Krishna [d] Sunil Bharti Mittal [e] Bob Dudley Q.91) Who has been appointed as the chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs?

[a] M Ajit Kumar [b] Nima Dawa Bhutia [c] Vipul Bansal [d] Ambrish Sharma [e] Anil Yadav Q.92) Who has won the men’s singles at the Indonesia Masters 2020? [a] Kento Momota [b] Anthony Sin Ginting [c] Chirag Shetty [d] Son Wan-Ho [e] Peter Gade Q.93) Who has won the women’s singles at the Thailand Masters 2020? [a] PV Sindhu [b] Carolina Marin [c] Sun Yu [d] Akane Yamaguchi [e] Sayaka Hirota Q.94) Who is the top bowler in the ICC ODI Ranking as of 1st February 2020? [a] Ben Stokes [b] Pat Cummins [c] Rashid Khan [d] Jasprit Bumrah [e] Mohammad Nabi Q.95) Who has won the women’s singles at the Australia Open 2020? [a] Serena Williams [b] Ashleigh Barty [c] Sofia Kenin [d] Naomi Osaka [e] Justine Henin

Q.96) Who has become the first Indian woman to sign a foreign football club - ‘Rangers FC’? [a] Aditi Chauhan [b] Ngangom Bala Devi [c] Jabamani Tudu [d] Sangita Basfore [e] Manisha Kalyan Q.97) Who has become the top scorer in international soccer with 185 goals? [a] Sam Kerr [b] Wendie Renard [c] Tobin Heath [d] Christine Sinclair [e] Lieke Martens Q.98) Who is the translator of ‘Raater Kolkata’ book? [a] Rajat Chaudhuri [b] David Davidar [c] Kewal Dheer [d] Mukul Deva [e] Akash Dixit Q.99) How much amount has been allocated to the education sector by Budget 2020? [a] Rs 99,300 crore [b] Rs 80,310 crore [c] Rs 49,120 crore [d] Rs 50,103 crore [e] Rs 75,390 crore Q.100) How many archaeological sites will be developed as iconic sites, as mentioned in the Budget 2020? [a] 5

[b] 4 [c] 10 [d] 3 [e] 2 Q.101) Which state observes the ‘Lui-Ngai-Ni’ festival? [a] Manipur [b] Nagaland [c] Tripura [d] Mizoram [e] Arunachal Pradesh Q.102) In which state will North India’s first bird ringing station for migratory birds be established? [a] Bihar [b] Uttar Pradesh [c] Haryana [d] Uttarakhand [e] Punjab Q.103) Which has become the first state in India to implement the Performance Regulation Act 2019 for the power department to provide timely and hassle-free service to electricity consumers? [a] Karnataka [b] Uttar Pradesh [c] Madhya Pradesh [d] Assam [e] Bihar Q.104) How many Indian birds were assessed in the First ever State of India’s Birds? [a] 867 [b] 523

[c] 280 [d] 490 [e] 1,137 Q.105) What is the position of Hindi in the world’s most spoken languages index, compiled by Ethnologue? [a] 3rd [b] 2nd [c] 1st [d] 10th [e] 9th Q.106) Government has set a target of doubling the milk processing capacity in India to ____ million tonnes by 2025? [a] 53.5 million tonnes [b] 100 million tonnes [c] 108 million tonnes [d] 200 million tonnes [e] 300 million tonnes Q.107) What is India’s overall rank in the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index 2019? [a] 70th [b] 35th [c] 90th [d] 102nd [e] 131st Q.108) Which institute has emerged as the top Indian institute in the Times Higher Education’s (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020? [a] IIM-Ahmedabad [b] IIT-Madras [c] IIT-Delhi

[d] IIT-Ropar [e] IISc-Bangalore Q.109) In which state has the Northeast frontier railway constructed India’s tallest railway pier bridge as part of 111 km Jiribam-Imphal railway project (to be completed by 2022) across the Makru river? [a] Assam [b] Bihar [c] Meghalaya [d] Manipur [e] Tripura Q.110) According to the 2nd Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2019-20 released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, total food grain production is likely to be ____ million tonnes? [a] 400.01 [b] 291.95 [c] 170.31 [d] 150.99 [e] 300.11 Q.111) Which state has announced to celebrate ‘State Girl Child Protection Day’ on the birth anniversary of former CM Jayaram Jayalalithaa on February 24? [a] Tamil Nadu [b] Kerala [c] Odisha [d] Maharashtra [e] Andhra Pradesh

Q.112) Under the Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), what would be the ratio of funds between Centre and state (excluding North-Eastern States and Himalayan States and UT of J&K? [a] 60:40 [b] 90:10 [c] 50:50 [d] 40:60 [e] 70:30 Q.113) Who heads the technology group formed to advise ministries, departments and PSUs on technology implementation? [a] Rajiv Kumar [b] K Vijay Raghavan [c] Shivam Teotia [d] Ajit Pal [e] RP Singh Q.114) Which institute has been ranked 1st in the Nature Ranking Index-2020? [a] IISc-Bangalore [b] Tata Institute of Fundamental Research [c] Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy [d] Institute of Tropical Medicine [e] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Q.115) From which country is India procuring the MH-60R Seahawk multi-role helicopters? [a] Russia [b] USA [c] Japan [d] UK [e] France

Q.116) In which state has India’s first floating jetty (a landing stage at which boats can be docked) been established on the banks of Mandovi river? [a] Goa [b] Maharashtra [c] West Bengal [d] Odisha [e] Telangana Q.117) When was the Jiyo Parsi scheme launched? [a] 2011 [b] 2013 [c] 2004 [d] 2002 [e] 1998 Q.118) In which railway station has the India’s first ever squat machine been installed to promote the central govt’s “Fit India” initiative? [a] Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus [b] Anand Vihar Railway Station [c] Howrah Railway Station [d] Kanpur Central Railway Station [e] Trivandrum Central Railway Station Q.119) Where was the First-ever Bharat-Bangla Paryatan Utsav (tourism festival) organized? [a] Tripura [b] West Bengal [c] Assam [d] Arunachal Pradesh [e] Madhya Pradesh

Q.120) Which year has been designated as the “Super year for Nature and Biodiversity” at the COP 13 of UN’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals to meet the 21 targets of SDGs? [a] 2022 [b] 2020 [c] 2024 [d] 2023 [e] 2021 Q.121) Who has been appointed as the CMS Ambassadors for aquatic migratory animals? [a] Randeep Hooda [b] Sacha Dench [c] Ian Redmond OBE [d] Leonardo Di Caprio [e] Martin Arthur Q.122) When was the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol implemented to phase out the Hydro-fluoro-carbons (HFCs)? [a] 2016 [b] 2013 [c] 2008 [d] 2014 [e] 2009 Q.123) As per the new amendments to the PM Fasal Bima Yojana and RWBCIS, Central government’s subsidy will be limited for premium rates up to __ for unirrigated areas/crops and ___ for irrigated areas/crops respectively? [a] 30% and 25%

[b] 12% and 15% [c] 40% and 50% [d] 25% and 50% [e] 30% and 35% Q.124) Under the Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) scheme, interest subvention has been increased to ___ from 2%? [a] 2.5% [b] 3% [c] 4% [d] 3.5% [e] 2.1% Q.125) Which has become the first Arab country to operate a nuclear power plant named as Barakah nuclear power plant? [a] Saudi Arabia [b] UAE [c] Bahrain [d] Oman [e] Qatar Q.126) According to the World Population Review (US think tank), India has become the ___ largest country in the world in 2019 with a GDP of $2.94 trillion? [a] 5th [b] 4th [c] 2nd [d] 6th [e] 3rd Q.127) According to the World Population Review (US think tank), what is India’s GDP in terms of purchasing power parity? [a] $10.51 trillion

[b] $8.77 trillion [c] $7.90 trillion [d] $5.51 trillion [e] $9.01 trillion Q.128) Which nation has organized the 9th Defence and Security Expert Working Group meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation? [a] Pakistan [b] China [c] Kyrgyzstan [d] Kazakhstan [e] Russia Q.129) What is India’s rank in the Flourishing index (published in the A future for the world’s children? report) released by WHO – UNICEF – Lancet? [a] 200 [b] 57 [c] 131 [d] 90 [e] 87 Q.130) Where was the 3rd High-Level Global Conference on Road Safety for Achieving Global Goals 2030 organized? [a] Sweden [b] Germany [c] Netherlands [d] Russia [e] Britain Q.131) According to the “Delivering Road Safety in India” report released by World Bank, mentions that India needs to invest an estimated extra ___ in road safety over

the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities? [a] $10 billion [b] $51 billion [c] $109 billion [d] $200 billion [e] $151 billion Q.132) Who is the governor of Swedish Central Bank - Sveriges Riksbank? [a] Robert Holzmann [b] Peter Kažimír [c] Olli Rehn [d] Stefan Ingves [e] Vitas Vasiliauskas Q.133) Where will the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity be held? [a] China [b] Russia [c] Brazil [d] Australia [e] India Q.134) Which is the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development? [a] 2011-2020 [b] 2021-2030 [c] 2031-2040 [d] 2041-2050 [e] 2051-2060 Q.135) Who heads the Municipal Bonds Development Committee formed by SEBI to find out ways for the development of primary and secondary market of municipal debt securities?

[a] Sujit Prasad [b] Vaillika Mehta [c] Priyam Deval [d] Migrakshi Mishra [e] Manjima Khaitan Q.136) Who heads the panel, formed by the 15th Finance Commission, to suggest measures to promote exports of agricultural goods and reduce imports by boosting production? [a] Sanjiv Puri [b] Shyam Srinivasan [c] Uday Kotak [d] Sandeep Bakshi [e] Amitabh Chaudhary Q.137) Which state govt has signed an MoU with State Bank of India to fulfil working capital requirement of entrepreneurs for starting new MSMEs within 15 days of making an application? [a] Maharashtra [b] Gujarat [c] Telangana [d] Odisha [e] Andhra Pradesh Q.138) Who is the CEO of Twitter? [a] Jeff Bezos [b] Satya Nadella [c] Ajay Banga [d] Jack Dorsey [e] Tim Cook Q.139) What is the amount of the Credit Guarantee Fund to be set up in NABARD with equal contribution by Department of

Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare and NABARD for providing credit guarantee cover to FPOs? [a] Rs 1,000 crore [b] Rs 2,500 crore [c] Rs 3,000 crore [d] Rs 2,100 crore [e] Rs 4,000 crore Q.140) Who has been appointed as the Minister-In-Charge of the COP 26 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change? [a] Priti Patel [b] Vinay Dube [c] Alok Sharma [d] Rishi Sunak [e] Meghan Pujari Q.141) Who has been appointed as the Chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority? [a] Supratim Bandyopadhyay [b] Dinabandhu Mohapatra [c] G. Padmanabhan [d] T N Manoharan [e] T C A Ranganathan Q.142) Who has been appointed as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner? [a] Bimal Julka [b] Suresh Patel [c] Anita Pandove [d] Sanjay Kothari [e] Neha Chakrabarty

Q.143) Who has been appointed as the new chairman of the global board of directors of US-India Business Council? [a] Vijay Advani [b] Ravi Krishan Takkar [c] Melwyn Rego [d] Mukesh Kumar Jain [e] Megan Ralph Q.144) When is the World Day of Social Justice observed? [a] February 20 [b] February 14 [c] February 5 [d] February 28 [e] February 12 Q.145) What is the theme of International Mother Language Day 2020? [a] Inclusion in and through education: Language counts [b] Languages without Border [c] Indigenous languages matter for development, peace building and reconciliation [d] Linguistic diversity and multilingualism count for sustainable development [e] Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education Q.146) Who has been awarded with the ‘Sportsperson of the year’ (Female) by the ESPN Multi-Sport Annual Awards 2019? [a] PV Sindhu [b] Saurabh Chaudhary [c] Dutee Chand [d] Balbir Singh Sr. [e] Koneru Humpy

Q.147) Shri P. Ramakrishnan is the speaker of which state’s Legislative Assembly? [a] Kerala [b] Karnataka [c] Manipur [d] Assam [e] Arunachal Pradesh Q.148) Which organization has created the ‘Food Planet Prize’ – world’s largest prize, to be awarded in later 2020, for sustainable food solutions with a worth of $1 million? [a] Earth Policy Institute [b] Transparency International [c] Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [d] Curt Bergfors Foundation [e] Amnesty International Q.149) Which country has won the Badminton Asia Team Championships 2020 in men’s category? [a] Philippines [b] Indonesia [c] India [d] China [e] Taiwan Q.150) Who has been awarded with the Laureus Sporting Moment of 2000-2020? [a] Lionel Messi [b] Lewis Hamilton [c] Simone Biles [d] Sachin Tendulkar [e] Dirk Nowitzki

Q.151) Where is Bandipur tiger reserve located? [a] Karnataka [b] Andhra Pradesh [c] Maharashtra [d] Meghalaya [e] Gujarat Q.152) Where is Matla river situated? [a] Tripura [b] West Bengal [c] Mizoram [d] Andhra Pradesh [e] Odisha Q.153) Which state has organized the Amarkantak Narmada Mahotsav 2020? [a] Uttar Pradesh [b] Madhya Pradesh [c] Delhi [d] West Bengal [e] Himachal Pradesh Q.154) Which state has received the award from Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani for effectively implementing the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana? [a] Telangana [b] Maharshtra [c] Gujarat [d] Madhya Pradesh [e] Rajasthan Q.155) Recently, Supreme Court has directed the states to set up ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ within four weeks under the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008. Currently, it is

operational in only three states. Which is the correct combination of states having an operational Gram Nyayalaya? [a] Kerala, Maharashtra and Rajasthan [b] Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Chhattisgarh [c] Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana [d] Bihar, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh [e] Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana Q.156) Which nation has become the 54th member of Commonwealth of Nations? [a] Singapore [b] Maldives [c] Hong Kong [d] Philippines [e] Fiji Q.157) Which of the following telescope has been recently decommissioned by NASA? [a] HubbleSpace Telescope [b] Kepler Mission [c] Spitzer Space Telescope [d] FermiGamma-ray Space Telescope [e] SwiftGamma Ray Burst Explorer Q.158) Who has become the first deaf person in the world (of either gender) to row Atlantic- ocean? [a] Ichika Hamasaki [b] Sara Harada [c] Mo O'Brien [d] Yua Amano [e] Yui Fukuhara

Q.159) Which country has become the second-largest smartphone market globally, according to the study from Counterpoint? [a] Vietnam [b] China [c] Hong Kong [d] India [e] Japan Q.160) What is the new GDP growth rate projected by National Statistics Office for 2018-19? [a] 6.2% [b] 7.1% [c] 6.9% [d] 5.4% [e] 6.1% Q.161) Recently, National Statistical Office has downgraded its growth projections for 2018-19. The growth rate for the primary sector has been reduced to ____ from 2.7%? [a] 2.5% [b] 1.0% [c] 2.3% [d] 1.5% [e] 2.1% Q.162) When was the Scheme of Fund for Upgradation and Regeneration of Traditional Industries launched? [a] 2005 [b] 2010 [c] 2012 [d] 2003 [e] 2015

Q.163) Budget 2020 proposed to reduce the period of stay in India to ___ from 182 days earlier for persons of Indian origin to be categorised as non-resident Indians? [a] 110 days [b] 120 days [c] 130 days [d] 150 days [e] 170 days Q.164) Who has been appointed as the President of Paralympic Committee of India? [a] Mariyappan Thangavelu [b] Devendra Jhajharia [c] Naresh Kumar [d] Deepa Malik [e] Karamjyoti Dalal Q.165) Who has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India? [a] Rajeev Suri [b] Pramod Agrawal [c] Shantanu Narayen [d] Shweta Bhargava [e] Sunil Pathak Q.166) Who has been appointed as the CEO of WeWork? [a] Kasper Rorsted [b] James Dimon [c] Salil Parekh [d] Sandeep Mathrani [e] Robert H. Swan

Q.167) What is the theme of World Wetlands Day 2020? [a] Wetlands and Climate Change [b] Wetlands and Biodiversity [c] Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future [d] Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction [e] Wetlands for our Future Q.168) Which brand has been given the Most Promising Brand of the Year 2019 Award by ASSOCHAM? [a] Amul [b] Amulya Mica [c] MESCO Steel [d] Tuborg [e] Pepsi Co Q.169) Recently, Flame-throated Bulbul 'Rubigula' has been declared as the official mascot for 36th National Games 2020. It is the state bird of which state? [a] Goa [b] Maharashtra [c] Tamil Nadu [d] Karnataka [e] Odisha Q.170) What is the new projection of Gross Value Added by National Statistical Office for 2018-19? [a] 6.3% [b] 5.7% [c] 6% [d] 5.1% [e] 4.2% Q.171) Ujh is the tributary of which river?

[a] Ravi [b] Beas [c] Satluj [d] Narmada [e] Tapti Q.172) Which state has shown the highest number of missing women cases, according to the National Crime Records Bureau’s study? [a] Maharashtra [b] Madhya Pradesh [c] Bihar [d] Uttar Pradesh [e] West Bengal Q.173) According to a new study by WHO, cancer cases in the middle and low income countries would increase __ by 2040? [a] 67% [b] 37% [c] 81% [d] 49% [e] 33% Q.174) High-income countries have, through better care and prevention, reduced the cancer mortality by __ between 2000 and 2015? [a] 20% [b] 30% [c] 15% [d] 10% [e] 5% Q.175) When was the Multilateral Instrument first put out by OECD?

[a] 2012 [b] 2014 [c] 2017 [d] 2010 [e] 2009 Q.176) How much divestment target has been set by govt for 2021-22 in the budget 2020? [a] Rs 2.1 trillion [b] Rs 1 trillion [c] Rs 1.5 trillion [d] Rs 1.2 trillion [e] Rs 3.2 trillion Q.177) Recently, the government has lowered its divestment target to ___ from Rs 1.05 lakh crore for FY20? [a] Rs 72,000 crore [b] Rs 13,000 crore [c] Rs 65,000 crore [d] Rs 80,000 crore [e] Rs 35,000 crore Q.178) Recently, budget 2020 has increased the limit for FPIs to buy corporate bonds to ___ of total stock of corporate debt from 9%? [a] 15% [b] 25% [c] 20% [d] 12% [e] 10% Q.179) When is the World Cancer Day observed? [a] February 7 [b] February 5

[c] February 10 [d] February 4 [e] February 1 Q.180) Who has been honoured as the Central Banker of the Year - Asia-Pacific for 2020 by 'The Banker' magazine of London? [a] Jerome Powell [b] Zhou Xiaochuan [c] Shaktikanta Das [d] Haruhiko Kuroda [e] Raghuram Rajan Q.181) Where is the Amrabad Tiger Reserve located? [a] Telangana [b] Andhra Pradesh [c] Maharashtra [d] Gujarat [e] Madhya Pradesh Q.182) During the DefExpo 2020, PM Narendra Modi has announced to increase the exports of defence goods to ___ in the next 5 years? [a] $15 billion [b] $10 billion [c] $1 billion [d] $5 billion [e] $2 billion Q.183) Department of Science and Technology has launched a scheme called SATHI to enable academia, start-ups, manufacturing, industry and R&D labs to access the science & technological

instruments at one place. What does ‘S’ stand for? [a] Sophisticated [b] Systematic [c] Symposium [d] Strategic [e] Standalone Q.184) Which country has organized the 4th East Asia Summit (EAS) Conference on Maritime Security Cooperation? [a] Australia [b] Japan [c] South Korea [d] India [e] New Zealand Q.185) Who heads the group of ministers formed by the government to monitor India’s preparedness for tackling the novel coronavirus? [a] D. V. Sadananda Gowda [b] Arjun Munda [c] Harsh Vardhan [d] Smriti Irani [e] Rajnath Singh Q.186) When was the soil health card scheme launched? [a] 2003 [b] 2015 [c] 2010 [d] 2019 [e] 2014 Q.187) According to the report submitted by National Productivity Council, the application of Soil Health Card scheme’s

recommendations has led to a decline in the use of chemical fertiliser by __? [a] 5-10% [b] 9-10% [c] 6.75-10% [d] 7.25-10% [e] 8-10% Q.188) Where is India's biggest rural technical festival – 'Antahpragnya 2020' – being held? [a] Telangana [b] Madhya Pradesh [c] Maharashtra [d] Assam [e] Arunachal Pradesh Q.189) How many under the Soil Health Cards were distributed during the Phase-I (Years 2015 to 2017) of the scheme? [a] 12.17 crore [b] 10.74 crore [c] 5.09 crore [d] 7.70 crore [e] 15.44 crore Q.190) How many villages will be selected from each district under the Development of Model Villages scheme for setting up the testing labs for ascertaining the quality of soil? [a] 1 [b] 2 [c] 5 [d] 4 [e] 3

Q.191) What is the percentage of children U-5 Pneumonia deaths in India according to the report released by US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation? [a] 12% [b] 14% [c] 30% [d] 21% [e] 5% Q.192) By which year does India aim to reduce the pneumonia mortality rate from 5 per 1,000 live births, at present, to less than 3? [a] 2024 [b] 2025 [c] 2022 [d] 2030 [e] 2023 Q.193) Which country has the highest burden of pneumonia deaths according to the report released by US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation? [a] Ethiopia [b] China [c] India [d] Nigeria [e] Albania Q.194) How much revenue does the government aim to raise from the telecom sector in 2020-21? [a] Rs 12500 crore [b] Rs 65000 crore [c] Rs 1.25 lakh crore [d] Rs 99000 crore

[e] Rs 1.33 lakh crore Q.195) What is the growth rate for India for 2020-21 by Fitch Ratings? [a] 6.7% [b] 4.2% [c] 5.6% [d] 4.9% [e] 6.2% Q.196) Who has been has invited by Indian Olympic Association to become the Goodwill Ambassador of India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics? [a] Sourav Ganguly [b] Bajrang Punia [c] Mirabai Chanu [d] PV Sindhu [e] Kapil Dev Q.197) For which book has Vinod Kumar Shukla won the first edition of the Mathrubhumi Book of Year Award 2020? [a] Blue is Like Blue [b] Broken Glass [c] Celestial Bodies [d] I Feel Bad About My Neck [e] The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Q.198) Who has won the National Kishore Kumar Award for the year 2018 given by Madhya Pradesh government? [a] Rekha [b] Waheeda Rehman [c] Vidya Sinha [d] Hema Malini [e] Sadhana

Q.199) Where was the 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Public Transport Innovation 2020 organized? [a] Gujarat [b] Assam [c] New Delhi [d] West Bengal [e] Maharashtra Q.200) Which film has won the Best film, Outstanding British film, Best cinematography, Best production design, Best sound and Best special visual effects at the 73rd BAFTA 2020 awards? [a] Joker [b] Judy [c] Klaus [d] 1917 [e] Parasite Q.201) Which Indian institute has signed an MoU with the UiT, The Arctic University of Norway for cooperation in fields such as bio-photonics, health and diagnostic tools, nanotechnology, water management and renewable energy? [a] IIT-Rohtak [b] IIT-Ropar [c] IIT-Madras [d] IIT-Delhi [e] IIT-Kharagpur Q.202) Intivadhakey Pension programme is the doorstep delivery program of which state? [a] Odisha [b] Telangana [c] Tamil Nadu

[d] Andhra Pradesh [e] Karnataka Q.203) According to the World Cancer Report released by International Agency for Research on Cancer, India accounts for about __ of the global burden of cervical cancer? [a] 1/3rd [b] 1/5th [c] 1/2nd [d] 1/4th [e] 1/6th Q.204) Which state has launched the ‘Janasevaka’ scheme to provide home delivery of various govt services like ratio cards, senior citizen identity and health cards? [a] Andhra Pradesh [b] Karnataka [c] Maharashtra [d] Himachal Pradesh [e] Kerala Q. 205) Who heads the 15-member trust formed by central government to oversee the construction work of Ram Temple in Ayodhya? [a] Amit Shah [b] Yogi Adityanath [c] Smriti Irani [d] K Parasaran [e] B Subulaxmi Q. 206) Which state has witnessed the highest number of crimes by foreigners

according to the NCRB’s Crime in India 2018 report? [a] Meghalaya [b] Manipur [c] Tripura [d] West Bengal [e] Nagaland Q. 207) Who heads the committee formed by Supreme Court to suggest measures for prison reforms? [a] Justice Amitava Roy [b] Justice NV Ramanna [c] Justice Kailash Nath [d] Justice Amritnath Goel [e] Justice G Rohini Q. 208) Which country has topped in the ‘International Intellectual Property Index’ 2020? [a] India [b] Russia [c] China [d] USA [e] Canada Q. 209) What is the new limit of insurance cover on bank deposits raised by RBI? [a] 6 lakhs [b] 5 lakhs [c] 2 lakhs [d] 4 lakhs [e] 3 lakhs Q.210) What is the repo rate kept by the 6th bi-monthly monetary policy? [a] 5.15% [b] 4.99%

[c] 5.02% [d] 5% [e] 5.11% Q.211) Which company has signed an agreement with Balenciaga (Spanish luxury fashion brand of clothes) to bring the Balenciaga brand in India? [a] Flipkart [b] Reliance [c] Amazon [d] Nykaa [e] Shopclues Q.212) Where will the 2020 Senior Asian Wrestling Championships be organized? [a] Punjab [b] Maharashtra [c] Odisha [d] Delhi [e] Kerala Q.213) In its 6th bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI has allowed banks to borrow up to Rs 1 lakh crore at a rate of 5.15% for a maximum period of _____? [a] 3 years [b] 4 years [c] 2 years [d] 7 years [e] 5 years Q.214) When was Banking Regulation Act come into effect? [a] 1960 [b] 1930 [c] 1923 [d] 1949

[e] 1967 Q.215) Which of the following statement is not true about the recent amendments to the Banking Regulation Act for giving more powers to RBI for regulating co-op banks? [a] RBI can supersede the management if cooperative bank fails [b] RBI will protect the interest of depositors [c] Cooperative banks will be audited as per RBI rules [d] Prior approval will be required from RBI for appointing CEO of co-op banks [e] RBI will take over the complete regulator control of co-op banks Q.216) How many Central Asian countries are a part of the First ever India-Central Asia Business Council? [a] 5 [b] 3 [c] 2 [d] 6 [e] 10 Q.217) What is the name of the 3rd Scorpene submarine to be delivered to Indian Navy by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd and Naval Group? [a] Kalvari [b] Khanderi [c] Krishna [d] Karanj [e] Kishwar

Q.218) Where was the 22nd India International Sea Food Show held? [a] Kerala [b] Maharashtra [c] Madhya Pradesh [d] Arunachal Pradesh [e] Karnataka Q.219) How much does the Marine Products Export Development Authority aim to increase exports of Indian seafood products by 2022? [a] $12 billion [b] $10 billion [c] $15 billion [d] $30 billion [e] $7 billion Q.220) Which govt initiative has won the Gold awards for government process re-engineering for Digital Transformation in the National E-Governance awards 2020? [a] Ayushman Bharat [b] Swadesh Darshan [c] Nirmal Bharat [d] Dekho Apna Desh [e] Incredible India Q.221) Which city will be developed as the fintech capital of India? [a] Bangalore [b] Chennai [c] Delhi [d] Mumbai [e] Ahmedabad Q.222) How many new mega food parks will be opened by Ministry of Food

Processing Industries under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana? [a] 39 [b] 40 [c] 54 [d] 60 [e] 70 Q.223) When was the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana launched? [a] 2011 [b] 2005 [c] 2014 [d] 2015 [e] 2017 Q.224) When was the BBIN – Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal – Motor Vehicle Agreement signed? [a] 2015 [b] 2013 [c] 2007 [d] 2014 [e] 2004 Q.225) Who has been appointed as the brand ambassador of the British Asian Trust Children’s Protection Fund for India? [a] Emma Stone [b] Olivia Wilde [c] Scarlett Johansson [d] Blake Lively [e] Katy Perry Q.226) When was the Check Truncation System introduced in India? [a] 2001 [b] 2010

[c] 2012 [d] 2015 [e] 2017 Q.227) What is the labour force participation rate according to the new Periodic Labour Force Survey being conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation for 2017-18? [a] 39.7% [b] 40.8% [c] 71.9% [d] 36.9% [e] 23.4% Q.228) When is the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation observed? [a] February 11 [b] February 2 [c] February 14 [d] February 21 [e] February 6 Q.229) Who has been appointed as the interim chief economist of World Bank? [a] Aart Kraay [b] Craig Reedie [c] Marco Lambertini [d] Gianni Infantino [e] Thomas Bach Q.230) Which Indian company has committed to become world’s largest solar power company by 2025 and world’s largest renewable power company by 2030?

[a] Reliance [b] Adani [c] Suzlon [d] Tata Power [e] ReNew Q.231) Recently, 5 Indian banks – State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Exim Bank & Union Bank of India – have provided financial assistance for the construction of Arun-3 hydropower project. Where is this project being constructed? [a] Nepal [b] Bhutan [c] Sri Lanka [d] Bangladesh [e] Myanmar Q.232) Where will India’s first glass floor suspension bridge be constructed? [a] Lucknow [b] Dehradun [c] Rishikesh [d] Haridwar [e] Shimla Q.233) Marine Products Export Development Authority has set a target to increase exports of marine products to ____ in the next 5 years? [a] $15 billion [b] $22 billion [c] $30 billion [d] $20 billion [e] $12 billion

Q.234) By which year does J&K administration aim to provide piped water supply to all households in the UT under Jal Jeevan Mission? [a] 2025 [b] 2024 [c] 2021 [d] 2022 [e] 2023 Q.235) How many enablers will be used in the Municipality Performance Index 2019? [a] 5 [b] 10 [c] 7 [d] 12 [e] 18 Q.236) Which of the following will not be considered as a pillar while assessing the Ease of Living Index 2019? [a] Quality of Life [b] Sustainability [c] Economic Ability [d] Technological advancement [e] None of the Above Q.237) When was the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme launched? [a] 2016 [b] 2015 [c] 2012 [d] 2014 [e] 2003 Q.238) Which state has launched the Mukyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana?

[a] Haryana [b] Jharkhand [c] Punjab [d] Tamil Nadu [e] Karnataka Q.239) According to a study conducted by the Centre for Wildlife Sanctuaries and Wildlife Institute of India, population of leopards in India has decreased by ___ in India in the past 120 to 200 years? [a] 75-90% [b] 75-80% [c] 40-60% [d] 50-80% [e] 45-70% Q.240) What is the name of the India’s first and world’s cheapest gunshot locator developed by Indian Army’s College of Military Engineering? [a] Arjuna [b] Dhananjaya [c] Parth [d] Dheer [e] Prahar Q.241) Who has become the world’s youngest girl to climb Mt Aconcagua (highest peak in Andes Mountain Range in South America)? [a] Anamika Tripathi [b] Preeti Sen [c] Chanchal Kamath [d] Kaamya Karthikeyan [e] Mansi Krishna

Q.242) Where does Cauvery river originate from? [a] Tamil Nadu [b] Karnataka [c] Kerala [d] Telangana [e] Andhra Pradesh Q.243) Which of the following is the mascot of the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals? [a] Himalayan Monal [b] Nilgiri Flycatcher [c] Blue-winged Parakeet [d] Bugun Liocichla [e] Great Indian Bustard Q.244) When was the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species adopted? [a] 1979 [b] 1966 [c] 1954 [d] 1973 [e] 1980 Q.245) Which country has launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance to protect and preserve the religious freedom of people across the world? [a] Germany [b] Russia [c] USA [d] India [e] Japan

Q.246) How many countries are members of International Religious Freedom Alliance? [a] 27 [b] 30 [c] 90 [d] 50 [e] 60 Q.247) What is IIM-Bangalore’s rank in the MOOCLab’s Business School Rankings 2020? [a] 3rd [b] 1st [c] 2nd [d] 5th [e] 6th Q.248) Where was the African Union Summit 2020 organized? [a] Ethiopia [b] Nigeria [c] Kenya [d] Egypt [e] Somalia Q.249) How much amount has India received as remittance according to the Indian government’s data? [a] $108.3 billion [b] $118.3 billion [c] $221.19 billion [d] $133.7 billion [e] $121.5 billion Q.250) What is the theme of Financial Literacy Week 2020? [a] Women Entrepreneurs

[b] Urban Development [c] Sandbox [d] MSME [e] Rural Regional Banks Q.251) Which state has observed the Hornbill festival for the first time in 2020? [a] Assam [b] West Bengal [c] Madhya Pradesh [d] Uttarkhand [e] Tripura Q.252) Which state has collaborated with Ministry of Civil Aviation to launch the first-ever helicopter services on the Sahastradhara-Gauchar-Chinyalisaur route under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik? [a] Himachal Pradesh [b] Uttarakhand [c] Punjab [d] Karnataka [e] Andhra Pradesh Q.253) Where will India host the BIMSTEC Disaster Management Drill 2020? [a] Tamil Nadu [b] Odisha [c] Kerala [d] Andhra Pradesh [e] Karnataka Q.254) How many countries are members of BIMSTEC group? [a] 7 [b] 10 [c] 5 [d] 15

[e] 20 Q.255) Where is Van vihar national park located? [a] Madhya Pradesh [b] Delhi [c] Uttar Pradesh [d] Haryana [e] West Bengal Q.256) Who has been appointed as the Head of the New Space India? [a] K Sivan [b] G Satheesh [c] G Narayanan [d] P Parameswaran [e] Atul Chakrobarty Q.257) Which country is organizing the global celebrations of the World Pulses Day 2020? [a] India [b] United States [c] Australia [d] Canada [e] Italy Q.258) Who has been awarded with the Dr. V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award by govt for his lifelong contribution to Indian non-fiction filmmaking at the Mumbai International Film Festival 2020? [a] Dr S Krishnaswamy [b] Dr Hemchand Aggarwal [c] Dr Kumud Srinivasan [d] Dr Chanchal Panghal [e] Dr Satheesh Parrikar

Q.259) Who has become the first Indian coach to receive the Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019 by International Olympic Committee? [a] Ramkrishnan Sridhar [b] Sanjay Bangar [c] Pullela Gopichand [d] Bharat Arun [e] David Quinn Q.260) Which country has won the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2020? [a] Bangladesh [b] India [c] South Africa [d] Sri Lanka [e] New Zealand Q.261) With which country does India conduct the joint military exercise - AJEYA WARRIOR 2020? [a] United Kingdom [b] Belarus [c] Australia [d] Japan [e] Germany Q.262) As announced by FM Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2020, how many new smart cities will be developed on the pattern of Gandhinagar’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-City? [a] 5 [b] 7 [c] 10 [d] 2 [e] 3

Q.263) Who heads the panel that has submitted its recommendations on reforming some of the provision of ‘Labour Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions of Workers’ to include unorganized workers under the aegis of the bill? [a] Satish Chandra Dubey [b] Ram Kumar Sharma [c] Bhartruhari Mahtab [d] Sarfaraz Alam [e] Santosh Kumar Q.264) Where will the 3rd International Conference on Arbitration be organized? [a] India [b] Switzerland [c] Netherlands [d] Germany [e] USA Q.265) Recently, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has doubled the minimum net worth criterion for pension fund managers to ___? [a] Rs 50 crore [b] Rs 90 crore [c] Rs 75 crore [d] Rs 20 crore [e] Rs 40 crore Q.266) For how many years has RBI exempted banks from maintaining cash reserve ratio on their deposits for the amount equivalent to loans given to automobiles, residential housing, and MSMEs? [a] 2 years

[b] 5 years [c] 4 years [d] 3 years [e] 10 years Q.267) According to the Public Enterprises Survey 2018-19, which PSU company is the top Profit-Making company? [a] ONGC [b] Indian Oil Corporation [c] NTPC [d] Coal India [e] TERI Q.268) When is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science observed? [a] February 12 [b] February 16 [c] February 21 [d] February 11 [e] February 2 Q.269) Which of the following picture has become the first non-English language film to win best picture Oscar? [a] Parasite [b] Judy [c] Joker [d] Hair Love [e] Marriage Story Q.270) Which of the following pair has won the FIH Women’s Rising Star of the Year 2019 and FIH Men’s Rising Star of the Year 2019? [a] Lalremsiami and Vivek Sagar Prasad [b] Rajani Etimarpu and Vivek Prasad

[c] Deep Grace Ekka and Nilam Sanjeep Xess [d] Reena Khokhar and Sumit [e] Nikki Pradhan and Harmanpreet Singh Q.271) Jal Johar Prakalpa pension scheme for STs is the scheme of which state? [a] West Bengal [b] Punjab [c] Maharashtra [d] Tamil Nadu [e] Odisha Q.272) Which country’s Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations has the Department of Biotechnology partnered to fund the development of vaccines for the novel coronavirus? [a] Norway [b] Switzerland [c] Denmark [d] Netherlands [e] Britain Q.273) Where was the 6th International Conference on Climate Services held? [a] Maharashtra [b] Tamil Nadu [c] Gujarat [d] West Bengal [e] Bihar Q.274) How much amount has been approved by the Cabinet for recapitalization of 3 PSU insurers – National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company and United General Insurance Company?

[a] Rs 2500 crore [b] Rs 4000 crore [c] Rs 2400 crore [d] Rs 3000 crore [e] Rs 2000 crore Q.275) Where is the World's largest cricket stadium located? [a] India [b] England [c] Sri Lanka [d] Australia [e] New Zealand Q.276) What is the percentage of obese children U-5 living in middle income countries according to the World Bank’s data on obese children? [a] 79% [b] 50% [c] 45% [d] 39% [e] 20% Q.277) According to the first-ever report released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the global cost of air pollution caused by fossil fuels is __ billion a day? [a] $4 billion [b] $2 billion [c] $8 billion [d] $5 billion [e] $3 billion Q.278) Recently, which Indian bank’s ratings has been reduced by Moody’s

from stable to ‘negative’ at a rating of Baa-3? [a] IndusInd Bank [b] HSBC Bank [c] Oriental Bank of Commerce [d] Bank of Baroda [e] Allahabad Bank Q.279) What is the new GDP growth rate for India for 2021 by S&P? [a] 6% [b] 7% [c] 5.3% [d] 6.9% [e] 6.1% Q.280) Who has been appointed as the CEO of MakeMyTrip? [a] Rajiv Bhattacharyya [b] Kamal Mukherjee [c] Rajesh Magow [d] Rohan Bahl [e] Advik Biswas Q.281) Who has been appointed as the CMD of Air India? [a] Siddharth Chatterjee [b] Raghav Bhatia [c] Parth Bedi [d] Aditya Goel [e] Rajiv Bansal Q.282) Who has been ranked at the number 1 position by the International Olympic Committee’s Boxing Task Force? [a] Amit Panghal [b] Floyd Mayweather [c] Chayaphon Moonsri

[d] Gervonta Davis [e] Jermall Charlo Q.283) Who has become the first Indian to win FIH’s Player of the Year award 2019? [a] Vivek Prasad [b] Harmanpreet Singh [c] Krishan Bahadur Pathak [d] Manpreet Singh [e] Varun Kumar Q.284) Who has won the Allan Border Medal in the Australia Cricket Awards? [a] David Warner [b] Josh Hazlewood [c] Kane Richardson [d] Nathan Lyon [e] Adam Zampa Q.285) Who is the President of All India Football Federation? [a] Praful Patel [b] Harjeet Singh [c] Krishan Pathak [d] Vikas Dahiya [e] Suraj Karkera Q.286) Where has the “CLIMISHCON” – the international conference on changes in hydrological cycle, ocean ecosystem, fisheries and food security due to global climate change been organized? [a] Kerala [b] Chhattisgarh [c] Karnataka [d] Gujarat [e] Rajasthan

Q.287) In which city will India’s largest air quality monitoring network be established? [a] Mumbai [b] Delhi [c] Jharia [d] Ranchi [e] Patna Q.288) Which state has approved the Ground Water Act-2020 to reduce the depletion of ground water? [a] Uttar Pradesh [b] Uttarakhand [c] West Bengal [d] Bihar [e] Arunachal Pradesh Q.289) When was the School Health Programme launched under Ayushman Bharat was by Ministry of HRD and health? [a] 2015 [b] 2013 [c] 2018 [d] 2016 [e] 2017 Q.290) Where was the BIMSTEC ‘Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking’ organized? [a] New Delhi [b] Karnataka [c] Punjab [d] Kerala [e] Karnataka

Q.291) For the first time in India, a five-star hotel will be built above the railway tracks in the ___ railway station? [a] Gandhinagar railway station [b] Howrah Junction Station [c] Lucknow Charbagh Station [d] Gorakhpur Railway Station [e] Cuttack Railway Station Q.292) National Strategic Plan (2017-25) aims to eliminate TB incidence up to ___ by 2025? [a] 80% [b] 60% [c] 50% [d] 70% [e] 40% Q.293) Which country has assumed the Chair of ASEAN for 2020? [a] Vietnam [b] Bangladesh [c] Philippines [d] Malaysia [e] Myanmar Q.294) How many birds species exist in India, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, draft of the Visionary Perspective Plan (2020-2030)? [a] 1,317 [b] 5,007 [c] 3,876 [d] 4,210 [e] 2,097

Q.295) What is the name of the initiative launched by the Ministry of MSME to transport beekeeping boxes in an easy way? [a] Apiary on Wheels [b] Transporting Apiary [c] Apiary on a Move [d] Hit the Sachet [e] None of the Above Q.296) Where will the National Organic Food Festival be organized for the first time? [a] Chhattisgarh [b] Tamil Nadu [c] New Delhi [d] Gujarat [e] Arunachal Pradesh Q.297) Where was the 43rd Annual Governing Council meeting of the International Fund for Agricultural Development 2020 held? [a] Geneva, Switzerland [b] Rome, Italy [c] Hague, Netherlands [d] Paris, France [e] London, England Q.298) What is the percentage of increase in the total global spending on defence in 2019, according to the “Military Balance 2020” report released by the International Institute of Strategic Studies? [a] 6.6% [b] 4% [c] 5% [d] 5.3%

[e] 4.2% Q.299) Which bank has topped the ‘Top 500 Banking Brands 2020’ report released by TheBanker, by witnessing the highest increase in its brand value at 122%? [a] IndusInd Bank [b] People's Bank of China [c] Bank of Japan [d] Federal Reserve System

[e] De Nederlandsche Bank Q.300) Where will the First edition of the Khelo India Winter Games 2020 be held? [a] Uttarakhand [b] Jammu and Kashmir [c] Nagaland [d] Arunachal Pradesh [e] Telangana

1 A 61 A 121 A 181 A 241 D

2 A 62 B 122 A 182 D 242 B

3 B 63 B 123 A 183 A 243 E

4 D 64 A 124 A 184 D 244 A

5 D 65 A 125 B 185 C 245 C

6 B 66 B 126 A 186 B 246 A

7 B 67 B 127 A 187 E 247 A

8 A 68 A 128 A 188 A 248 A

9 C 69 D 129 C 189 B 249 B

10 A 70 B 130 A 190 A 250 D

11 D 71 A 131 C 191 B 251 E

12 A 72 D 132 D 192 B 252 B

13 A 73 B 133 A 193 D 253 B

14 C 74 B 134 B 194 E 254 A

15 B 75 D 135 A 195 C 255 A

16 D 76 E 136 A 196 A 256 C

17 B 77 B 137 B 197 A 257 A

18 A 78 D 138 D 198 B 258 A

19 B 79 A 139 A 199 C 259 C

20 A 80 C 140 C 200 D 260 A

21 A 81 A 141 A 201 D 261 A 22 D 82 B 142 D 202 D 262 A 23 A 83 A 143 A 203 B 263 C

24 A 84 D 144 A 204 B 264 A 25 E 85 A 145 B 205 D 265 A 26 B 86 A 146 A 206 D 266 B 27 A 87 D 147 A 207 A 267 A 28 B 88 A 148 D 208 D 268 D 29 C 89 A 149 B 209 B 269 A 30 A 90 C 150 D 210 A 270 A 31 A 91 A 151 A 211 B 271 A

32 B 92 B 152 B 212 D 272 A

33 A 93 D 153 B 213 A 273 A

34 A 94 D 154 D 214 D 274 A

35 A 95 C 155 A 215 E 275 A

36 A 96 B 156 B 216 A 276 A

37 A 97 D 157 C 217 D 277 C

38 C 98 A 158 C 218 A 278 A

39 B 99 A 159 D 219 B 279 B

40 A 100 A 160 E 220 A 280 C

41 A 101 A 161 B 221 D 281 E

42 A 102 A 162 A 222 A 282 A

43 C 103 B 163 B 223 E 283 D

44 A 104 A 164 D 224 A 284 A

45 B 105 A 165 B 225 E 285 A

46 D 106 C 166 D 226 B 286 A

47 B 107 B 167 B 227 D 287 A

48 A 108 E 168 B 228 E 288 A

49 E 109 D 169 A 229 A 289 C

50 A 110 B 170 C 230 B 290 A

51 A 111 A 171 A 231 A 291 A

52 B 112 A 172 A 232 C 292 A

53 A 113 B 173 C 233 A 293 A

54 C 114 E 174 A 234 C 294 A

55 A 115 B 175 C 235 A 295 A

56 D 116 A 176 A 236 D 296 C

57 D 117 B 177 C 237 A 297 B

58 E 118 B 178 A 238 A 298 B

59 E 119 A 179 D 239 A 299 A

60 C 120 B 180 C 240 C 300 B

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